Last week, my brother, Trung, left me a message saying that he didn't see asparagus crab soup (sup mang tay cua) on the site. In Vietnamese, asparagus is mang tay and literally translates to "bamboo French". Anyway, I think it's one of his favorite soups.

So, I asked my mom for her recipe and she gave me the steps to making the soup. It's amazing the amount of recipes she keeps in her head. I have a hard enough time remembering just one of them. That's one of the reasons why we started documenting everything on SND.

The soup is easy to make and is essentially an egg drop soup with asparagus and crab. Like making pho, a charred onion is used to add more flavor to the stock. Hungry Bear and I don't like our asparagus mushy and brown, so I only cooked it for a few minutes. The soup turned out great and tasted like my mom's, which made me and my tummy very happy!

There you have it, Trung. Ask and you shall receive. Now, does anyone else have a Viet recipe request for my mom?

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I'm not sure how traditional this salad is, but I grew up eating this Vietnamese steak and watercress salad. It's a colorful salad with tomatoes and eggs, but the star of the dish is the stir-fried beef and onions. It's a great combination of savory and sweet.

The marinade for the beef is commonly used in Viet stir-fries. It's just a simple mix of fish sauce, soy, sugar and black pepper. As a kid, my mom would lightly dress the watercress in a vinaigrette. This time, we dribbled a little nuoc cham (Viet dipping sauce) over it. It's good either way.

The salad is delicious on its own, but we like to eat it with jasmine rice. Give it a try the next time you want a salad as a meal.

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Growing up in Allentown, PA, my family would take trips down to Washington, DC to visit my great aunt and uncle. As an active kid, I always dreaded going down to DC because I had to spend most of the time cooped up inside my great aunt and uncle's apartment. The highlights of the trips were the amazing home cooked Vietnamese meals prepared by my great aunt. Her roasted chicken (ga ro ti) and sticky rice were my favorite dishes.

It's been over two decades since I had ga ro ti. I never see it at restaurants (at least in San Francisco), as most Viet places serve grilled chicken (ga nuong) with five spice. So last week, I decided to make Vietnamese roasted chicken. I called up my parents to get advice. Unfortunately, neither of my parents make the dish and my great aunt passed away several years ago. My dad said, "marinate it in soy, fish sauce, garlic and a little sugar"...like every other Viet dish, not much help there. I was on my own with this one.

I remember my great aunt pan fried her chicken low and slow. I believe this "roasting" method was used because traditional ovens weren't available in Vietnam back in the day, unless you were wealthy. My great aunt's chicken had an extra crispy skin and the meat was shreddable by hand, almost like a confit. To get this texture, the chicken needs to be cooked longer than normal.

I tried the pan frying technique and produced a good ga ro ti, but it required a lot of time and flipping of the chicken (props to my great aunt!). I debated covering the chicken, but was afraid the skin would get soft from the moist heat. Next, I tried browning the chicken in an oven-proof skillet and then finishing it off in the oven. I liked this method best. It produced a nice crispy skin and I didn't have to stand by the stove top. If you are thinking, why don't you skip the pan frying and just roast it in the oven, then my answer is... I have more control over browning with a skillet and the brown bits in the pan can be de-glazed to make a flavorful dirty sticky rice with scallions.

Hungry Bear and I enjoyed the ga ro ti so much, we made it again for Sunday night dinner along with the dirty sticky rice, stir-fried hollow greens and a light carrot cake for dessert. The chicken had a nice salty, garlicky flavor with a crackling skin. I never eat all of my chicken skin. I usually try a little and then pass the rest to Jane, who likes everything full fat. But the skin on this roasted chicken was so good, I wasn't sharing it with anyone! The perfect complement to the chicken was the dirty sticky rice, which has scallions and all the wonderful flavors from the de-glazed frying pan!

My great aunt's ga ro ti will always be number one in my heart. I may not have re-created her roasted chicken exactly, but I got pretty damn close!

SNDsters: Jane, Mark, Hungry Bear, Chuck

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Sometimes the simplest food is the best food. It doesn't get any easier than fried eggs and shrimp (trung chien tom). Throughout my childhood, my mom made this dish, serving it with steamed rice. It was so simple, yet so satisfying.

This past Sunday night, I made fried eggs and shrimp for the SNDsters and Hungry Bear baked a carrot cake. We'll share the carrot cake recipe next time. In my family, we served trung chien tom on a bed of greens and tomatoes. Then we dunked it all in Vietnamese dipping sauce (nuoc cham) and ate it with jasmine rice. I'm not sure how normal it is to eat it this way, but it's ingrained in me and I'm sticking with it. Does anyone else eat it like this?

The meal has a nice combination of sweet, salty and slightly bitter from the watercress. The greens and tomatoes cut down the richness and makes it a little healthier. Fried eggs and shrimp is such a comforting Vietnamese dish for me. It's super easy to make and is absolutely delicious!

SNDsters: Jane, Mark, Hungry Bear, Chuck

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Hungry Bear and I were snowboarding in Whistler the last five days. We had a great time on the slopes and relaxed in a very posh hotel with a ski concierge service... talk about being pampered! But after five days of eating ski resort food, Hungry Bear had a major craving for rice and I needed something spicy. I was definitely going through chili pepper withdrawal, especially from my homemade Vietnamese chili garlic sauce (tuong ot toi).

I grew up using Huy Fong's Rooster sauces — Sriracha chili sauce in pho and other soups, and tuong ot toi in just about everything else. Over the years, as my heat tolerance grew, I began eating fresh chili peppers and trying out other hot sauces. But I've never found a really good hot sauce. Most were too vinegary, too smokey or generally overpowering. All I wanted was heat to enhance my meal and not interfere with the flavors of the dish.

These days I just have a fresh chili pepper or some homemade chili garlic sauce with my food. My parents started making their own tuong ot toi around ten years ago. They wanted something hotter and fresher than the Rooster sauce. The end result was an habanero chili garlic sauce that is a blast of pure heat with a wonderful floral aroma. The sauce is not cooked and is a simple puree of chili peppers, garlic, salt, sugar and vinegar.

I am completely addicted to the sauce and can't imagine going back to the Rooster chili garlic sauce. The homemade sauce contains no preservatives and can be adjusted to taste — from chili selection to sugar, salt and vinegar balance. Depending on the pepper you choose, the sauce can vary from relatively mild to scorching hot. Either way, the chili garlic sauce will be a fresh and spicy complement to any dish.

Related Recipes

Several months ago, I shared this chili garlic sauce recipe with Andrea Nguyen of Viet World Kitchen. She made a variation of my parent's recipe along with a cooked version by another one of her readers. And here's another adaptation of tuong ot toi from Holy Basil.

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Vietnamese fresh spring rolls? Summer rolls? Salad rolls? What do you call these things? It's goi cuon in Vietnamese. The literally translation is salad (goi) roll (cuon). Whatever you call them, they are light, refreshing and delicious. Most restaurants serve salad rolls with nuoc cham, a fish sauce based dipping sauce, but did you know, it's ten times better with a spicy peanut Hoisin sauce.

A few weeks ago, Hungry Bear had a major craving for goi cuon after Nikki, a.k.a. Canary Girl, asked me to share my recipe. My version is a common shrimp and pork salad roll recipe that most Viet people make. As long as the ingredients are fresh, especially the lettuce and herbs, the salad rolls are going to be good.

I made goi cuon this past Sunday night as part of our Vietnamese/Chinese New Year celebration dinner with our SND friends. Every time I make a batch of salad rolls, I have more respect for my mom's ability to crank these things out. They are easy to make, but time consuming to prep and roll. My mom can probably roll 2 or 3 batches in the time I can make one. Next time, I'm just going to do the prep work and we'll have a salad roll rolling party.

Now to the best part, my Dad's spicy peanut Hoisin sauce. This peanut sauce completely rocks! And it's super easy to make, taking only five minutes. The sauce relegates the goi cuon to just a delivery device to get the peanut sauce into my mouth. It's a great combination of spicy, sweet, salty and creamy. The next time you make Vietnamese salad rolls, dip it in this spicy peanut Hoisin sauce and you won't ever go back to nuoc cham!

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Crispy spring rolls, egg rolls or imperial rolls, whatever you call them, it's cha gio in Vietnamese. My mom's cha gio was one of my favorite things to eat growing up. Nothing compares to my mom's crispy spring rolls. I know I say that about all of her cooking, but I really mean it. When I was younger and attended a lot of Viet gatherings and parties, I would always leave thinking my mom's cooking was better.

Cha gio comes in many different sizes and can be made with spring roll wrappers or rice paper. Traditionally, rice paper is used in Vietnam, but my mom has been using spring roll wrappers for as long as I can remember, so I'm partial to them. I grew up on pork and shrimp cha gio, but a few years ago, my dad became a pescetarian. So last month when I visited my parents, my mom made shrimp and crab rolls.

I don't eat cha gio very often because it's deep fried. So it was a really special treat when my mom made the rolls. Of course, she doesn't measure any ingredients and just cooks by taste and feel. She knew I wanted to document the process for SND and indulged me by measuring everything out. Isn't she great?

The cha gio were fantastic. They contain a few of my favorite things — crab, shrimp, cabbage and shiitake mushrooms. Since they are deep fried, they are obviously nice and crispy. Wrapped up in a fresh piece of lettuce and dipped in nuoc cham (Vietnamese dipping sauce), they are absolutely delicious and take me back to my childhood.

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I have a lot of friends who love Vietnamese dipping sauce (nuoc cham). When they ask me for the recipe, I tell them it's a closely guarded family secret. However, I have finally received permission from my parents to disclose the formula. It took a lot of groveling on my part and even a few tears were shed, but I got their blessing.

Okay, I made the last part up, but wouldn't it be more special if it really was a secret? Anyway, every Vietnamese family has a dipping sauce recipe. The ingredients in nuoc cham are generally the same, but the proportions vary based on personal tastes and regions in Vietnam. According to Vietnamese cookbook author, Andrea Nguyen, "as you move south the sauce gets sweeter, hotter, and more garlicky."

This may explain why I don't like the nuoc cham made in San Francisco restaurants, which are generally too sweet for my tastes. My family is from the middle part of the country and I was born in Da Nang. It all makes sense now.

As you gain experience with this dipping sauce, adjust it to suit your preferences. There's no secret formula. It's just a simple sauce with a great blend of salty, sour, sweet and spicy. For some meals, I like adding or substituting ginger for the garlic (nuoc cham gung). The ginger dipping sauce is great with a meal of roasted duck and sticky rice.

I'm going to post the recipe for my mom's crab and shrimp egg roll (cha gio) shortly, which requires nuoc cham. To whet your appetite, I leave you with this picture.

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A Vietnamese kho is a savory-sweet dish simmered in a caramel-based sauce and is traditionally prepared in a clay pot. It's the ultimate comfort food for me. There are many variations of kho with different proteins used. My favorite kho is ga kho xa ot, which is chicken quickly braised with lemongrass and chili peppers.

Nothing beats my mom's ga kho xa ot! Whenever I visit my parents, it's the first thing my mom prepares for me. I don't ask for it. She just knows it's my favorite meal and I would be a little disappointed if she made anything else. Yes, my mom spoils me. I have no problem admitting it!

I love the dish for its simplicity and wonderful flavors. It has a great combination of salty and sweet from the fish sauce and caramel sauce. While the chicken simmers, the lovely aroma of lemongrass fills the kitchen. The spiciness from the chili peppers is critical and balances the sweetness of the dish.

The best part of the ga kho xa ot is the flavorful sauce that goes fantastically over rice with a few dashes of Crystal Extra Hot Hot Sauce. Give me a bowl of rice and mix in just ga kho sauce and I would be a happy camper. The sauce is that good!

In my family, we serve ga kho xa ot with a side of steamed vegetables, usually cabbage. This may sound bland, but once you dip the cabbage in the chicken sauce there's no need for any other seasoning.

Hungry Bear has asked, "If you had to choose one dish to eat for the rest of your life, what would it be?" Her choice is fried rice. I could never give her a definitive answer, because I like to eat everything... life is a big buffet for me. But I'm finally going on the record and stating that it would be my mom's ga kho xa ot!

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Jane and Mark love braised oxtail, as do I. Every very few months, we get a major craving for oxtail, so I made it for Sunday night dinner this past week. The last time I braised oxtails, I used a Ming Tsai recipe, which had too many ingredients. Sometimes I love his East meets West fusion food, but this dish was not one of them.

I wanted a more traditional Chinese recipe and stumbled upon an aromatic Chinese oxtail stew recipe by Jennifer McLagan. The ingredient list was simple, and I really liked how the sauce is refrigerated overnight, which makes removing the fat easier. The orange zest and juice were the only things I didn't like in the recipe. I think this stems from my aversion to orange beef.

Of course, I had to screw around with the recipe and incorporate other ingredients. For ideas, I immediately thought of my favorite Vietnamese noodle soup, bún bò Hue, which uses oxtails and lemongrass. Instead of the orange in McLagan's recipe, I replaced it with lemongrass and a lime. I also increased the amount of star anise, added whole cloves, shiitake mushrooms and Thai chili peppers for some much needed heat!

My additions make the ingredient list seem long, but the dish was easy to prepare because there's hardly any chopping. Once the oxtails were simmering in the oven, the aromas were simply heavenly! The smell reminded me of Vietnamese pho from the star anise and cloves. After three hours of braising, the oxtails were very tender and the meat was falling off the bone. It was hard not to eat them immediately, but the sauce was on the greasy side and the fat needed to be removed, so begrudgingly, I strained the sauce and threw it all in the fridge.

The next day, I skimmed the layer of fat that collected on top of the gelatinous sauce. It's not a pretty process, but it makes the dish healthier. This is my way of rationalizing that it's okay to eat oxtail on regular basis. Once the sauce was re-heated, I poured it over the oxtails and added the shiitake mushrooms.

After an agonizing hour of braising, the oxtails were finally ready and were covered in a thick, dark sauce. We served them over jasmine rice and a side of bok choy. The oxtails were garnished with diced scallions and a squeeze of lime juice. They were fantastic and flavorful from the soy and aromatics. The sour lime juice was a nice addition and cut the richness of the meat and sauce.

The savory sauce was wonderfully soaked up by the plain rice. The shiitakes gave the sauce an earthy taste and a strong mushroom fragrance. We really enjoyed the added flavor and texture of the shiitakes, but they are completely optional. I called my recipe Chinese braised oxtail stew, and while the flavors are predominately Chinese, it's really a melting pot of Asian flavors, which "live together in perfect harmony."

For dessert, we intended to make something light with fruit, but somehow ended up serving root beer floats. What's that quote? "The best-laid plans of mice and men go oft awry." That pretty much sums up our dessert choice.

After all the rich and heavy meals recently, Hungry Bear and I agreed to cook lighter for a little bit. Let's see how quickly my love for braised hunks of meat foils this pact.

SNDsters: Karen, Garry, Mark, Jane, Hungry Bear, Chuck

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