The Ninja Combi has thirteen functions total. For this recipes, I wanted to know more about the "Sear / Saute" and something called "Combi Crisp". Does the oven act like a stovetop and how does it make food crispy? Could I adapt Ron's recipe to test drive those Ninja Combi functions? What would happen?

What I experienced was surprisingly delicious with the added bonus of a gorgeous, delectable rice crust. The photo below does not do the rice justice. I've never had a rice crust develop so evenly and up the side of a pan like this. A number of things factored into getting that crust -- the rice and the fat, but it's the Ninja Combi that made the difference. I never thought an appliance could make such a difference.

In this post, I'll share with you what I did to adapt a conventional recipe for cooking in the Ninja Combi™ steam oven. There's also a video of the cooking process. This small countertop steam oven is a mighty but slightly quirky machine. Borrow my tips here for other rice dishes!

How to adapt recipes for the Ninja Combi

What I learned while experimenting with this recipe for the Ninja Combi:

• Capacity: The Ninja Combi has a capacity to make food for two (2) very hungry people or four (4) moderate eaters. If your recipe serves 4 to 6, scale things down to not overwhelm the machine and ensure things cook well. Ron's original recipe made enough for 4 to 6 with four medium chicken leg quarters (2 ½ pounds total). I bought two large chicken leg quarters weighing 1 ¾ pounds total, guessing that they would fit nicely in the cooker pan. By weight, I scaled the original recipe back by one third (30 percent).
• Organize ingredients: Prep ingredients to smoothly flow through the cooking process. You want to use the machine's heat and momentum to reduce wait time for the oven to heat up. You also want to focus on programing the machine, which can be confusing with all settings involved. Also, leave energy to monitor cooking and finessing cooking settings to get the Ninja Combi to do what you want it to. The last thing you need is to be whacking on a lemongrass stalk. Once you get everything in the pan (on the right) and in the oven, then have a glass of wine!

• Make ahead: The Ninja Combi has a "keep warm" function but you don't need to use it to keep something hot. This steam oven stays warm for a long time. You can just turn the heat off. However, the heat plate stays hot for a long time so for this recipe, you may burn the rice. It's better to pull the cooker pan from the oven and let it sit out, covered, to avoid drying. About 15 minutes before serving reheat the casserole in the combi.
• Check the grains for crispiness: Look at the perimeter of the pan for golden brown, crispy grains. Use a wood or silicone spatula to look. If it's not to your liking, heat some more in the Ninja Comb. Remember that the bottom will brown faster than the walls of the pan. The rice will remain crisp for a good 30 minutes!

I was jotting down notes as I used the Ninja Combi so I could write this recipe for you! We had to hold off on eating all of the casserole. Enjoy it and and please report your results and tweaks. More pointers for cooking rice are in this rice-y newsletter dispatch.

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Ninja Combi Roast Chicken and Crispy Rice Casserole

Here's my adaptation of chef Ron Hsu's chicken and rice casserole recipe that was originally prepared on the stovetop and in the oven. Cooking in the Ninja Combi yields a super tasty casserole that also comes with a crispy rice crust to boot! Use fresh shiitake mushroom with big, thick caps if you want them to stand out. Otherwise choose large cremini (aka baby bella) mushrooms.

Course Main Course

Cuisine Asian American

Keyword chicken and rice casserole, ninja combi, ninja combi oven

Equipment

• Ninja Combi Oven

Ingredients

• 2 large (1 ¾ pounds | 780g) chicken leg quarters, split into drumsticks and thighs
• Fine sea salt
• Ground white pepper
• 1 tablespoon neutral oil
• ½ cup | 60g finely chopped onion
• 3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced (1 tablespoon)
• 1 packed tablespoon minced peeled ginger
• 4 ounces | 140g big cremini mushrooms, cut into ½-inch (1.25cm) thick pieces
• 2 cups | 380g raw jasmine rice, rinsed and drained well
• 1 can (14.5 oz | 411ml) chicken broth, preferably Swanson
• ¾ cup | 180ml coconut milk
• 2 lemongrass stalks, trimmed, split lengthwise, and crushed with the side of a knife or meat mallet
• 3 tablespoon chopped cilantro
• 3 tablespoon thinly sliced green onion, green parts only
• ½ lime, cut into wedges (optional)

Instructions

• Season, sear, and roast the chicken: Season the chicken with salt and white pepper, lifting the skin to get some underneath to flavor well.
• Using the Air Fry/Stovetop mode, set the oven to SEAR / SAUTE at medium heat (default). When hot, add the oil to the deep Combi cooker pan. Add the chicken, skin side down. Let let sear 3 minutes, undisturbed, until pale gold. Stop the Ninja Combi and leave the pan in the oven.
• Set the oven to BAKE at 390F (default temp). Roast the chicken until golden brown, 5 minutes, then flip the chicken and roast for an additional 5 minutes. Stop the Ninja Combi. Transfer the chicken to a plate or small baking sheet. Leave about 2 tablespoons of oil and fat in the pan.
• Saute the aromatics: Set the Combi to SEAR / SAUTE on medium heat (default level). Add the onion, garlic and ginger. Cook, stirring frequently, until the onion is soft, translucent but not brown, about 4 minutes.
• Increase the SEAR / SAUTE temp to High, then add the mushrooms and continue to saute, stirring often, until soften, 3 to 4 minutes. Stop the Ninja Combi.
• Pour in the broth and coconut milk, then taste and season with salt and white pepper to finish bold. Add the rice, stir to combine the level out. Arrange the chicken on top and add any cooking juices. Add the lemongrass pressing it down slightly into the rice. Return the pan the oven.
• Combi Crisp the casserole: Switch to COMBI COOKER mode and set to COMBI CRISP at 390F (the default level). Let cook 15 minutes, pausing midway to open the door and cover with the Ninja Combi lid.
• When done cooking, remove the pan from the oven and let rest, covered, for 10 minutes to finish cooking the rice grains. For a crisp bottom, set the oven to Combi Crisp at 350F and let cook, uncovered, for about 5 minutes, until the rice grains at the edge are richly golden brown.
• Rest and serve: Cool briefly then shower the pan with cilantro and green onion. Serve from the pan with wedges of lime, if you like. The aromatic lemongrass is inedible.

The post Ninja Combi Roast Chicken and Crispy Rice Casserole appeared first on Viet World Kitchen.

In his debut cookbook, Down South + East written with Hugh Amano, chef Ron admits that the casserole started out as a mistake. He was trying to make Hainan chicken and rice in the oven. The traditional recipe, called com ga Hai Nam in Vietnamese, is a splendid dish of poached chicken, delicate broth, gingery-garlicky rice plus a bunch of spicy, oniony, zippy sauces. Ron admitted that his initial experiment to tweak the classic resulted in a hodgepodge of flavorless tough chicken and rice. He kept trying and refining his recipe to land on this one, which keeps certain flavors in check, like the garlic, ginger and fatty richness of the chicken.

Cheffy pro tips for good chicken and rice casserole

Chef Ron stuck to some basics but goes rogue by deploying some of his Michelin star-chef methods, honed through decades of professional cooking. Of note, browning and roasting the chicken and then cooking the rice in the oven is not an Asian method for old school Hainan chicken and rice.

Many chefs efficiently cook rice in the oven to evenly cook the grains. It's also hands-off cooking. Aside from the oven cooking, there's mushroom and coconut milk in the mix too plus lemongrass, which are not usually in Hainan chicken and rice. In total, Ron has devised a smart way to build layered flavors with little stress. The result is a delicious casserole that's achievable for many home cooks. Ron says this chicken and rice casserole is now one of his family's favorites! I've made and understand why.

Some recipe pointers

This is a keeper recipe but do keep the following mind when selecting ingredients:

• Why use chicken leg quarters? They ensure you get an equal amount of drumsticks and thighs but if you lean one way or another, go for it. Just make sure you have the total weight amount at the end. Dark meat chicken has more flavor and juiciness than chicken breast.
• How to choose the rice? Jasmine rice cooks up to a chewy fragrance whereas other kinds of long-grain white rice may not. Jazzmen is a domestic version of jasmine rice grown in Louisiana; I've used Jazzmen instead of jasmine so you can too!
• How to prep the mushroom? Cut them thick so they'll withstand the cooking well. I cut through the cap and stem to keep them intact. If you don't want to eat the shiitake stems then discard them. Fresh shiitake stems are totally edible.
• Can I use black pepper instead of white pepper? Yes, but the flavor tends to be hotter. Whichever pepper you choose, used freshly ground pepper. It will have fresher flavor.
• What's the difference between chicken stock and broth? Stock means it's more all purpose whereas a broth is more dish specific. But, people use the terms interchangeably. Use Swanson brand if you don't have home made around.
• What does the lemongrass do? During roasting the lemongrass imparts aroma. I did not detect much flavor when eating the rice. In other words, you could skip the lemongrass, if you want. But stick to Ron's recipe for your first time out to get how his chef brain works.

Why this recipe is a keeper

Ron's approach to building flavor work to infuse the rice with aroma, umami and chicken-y goodness. While the casserole bakes, make a salad or throw some lightly oiled asparagus onto a sheet pan to roast in the oven for 8 to 10 minutes. You'll be sitting down to dinner in about 45 minutes. Down South + East: A Chinese American Cookbook is full of solid recipes to learn from as you cook up one good dish after another.

The post Chinese American Roast Chicken and Rice Casserole appeared first on Viet World Kitchen.

So, satisfy your fast pho cravings with something much better. All you need is about 30 minutes and basic staples for my fast chicken pho recipe. Grab some canned or boxed broth, dried noodles, chicken, spices, and aromatics and get going. You'll make enough for two hungry people. Share your pho prowess or save it for your next pho meal! This is a great recipe for beginners and anyone craving a quick, delicious bowl of pho.

How and why this fast chicken pho recipe works

Know what makes this shortcut chicken pho recipe great before making a batch:

• This fast pho broth involves doctoring up the broth so it tastes "pho-ish." So choose wisely. For instance, select a broth brand that tastes like chicken. My go-to chicken broth is Swanson's low sodium chicken broth. It tastes closer to homemade than other brands. You can use two cans or one large box for this recipe.
• Keep the spices simple. Use coriander and a touch of clove here, just like in my traditional chicken pho recipe. Star anise and cinnamon are not part of the chicken pho playbook. The spices for chicken pho and beef pho are different because you're cooking with different animals proteins. They should be seasoned differently.
• Toasting spices and lightly searing ginger and green onion imparts complexity to the broth. Those techniques help to extract flavor fast. You'll smell the signature pho aroma during these initial cooking steps.
• You'll efficiently use green onion in the broth and as a topping so read the recipe carefully.
• Poaching chicken in the broth adds savory depth. The chicken livens up the pho broth so it tastes fresh. You'll have a homemade-ish flavor. Using pre-cooked chicken will won't add as much flavor to your pho broth.
• Choose chicken breast for leaner pho. Chicken thighs will yield slightly deeper flavor.

Pho add-ins

Pho is customizable and personalizable. It has evolved throughout its history as Vietnam's default national dish so feel free to play with it. For example, add what you want to your bowl. This fast chicken pho can go in many directions based on what's on hand.

• Chicken pho herbs: Hanoi-style chicken pho is presented topped with cilantro with a side of mint. There is no Thai basil involved. If you do not have mint nearby, stick with cilantro. If you have Thai basil, go for it! Italian basil does not have as much pep so you'll want to more in the bowl.
• Sriracha or fresh chile: I'm a fresh chili person. Go for sriracha if you want a heat blast.
• Ginger dipping sauce: That's advanced pho eating. Some people dip the cooked chicken into a nước chấm gừng, a gingery nuoc cham dipping sauce. I usually skip it because it's too fussy; I want a fast, quick bowl of chicken pho! A squeeze of lime will give the bowl a bit of tang, if it needs it.
• Pho noodles: Cooks in Vietnam often use fresh pho noodles for this noodle soup. They also cook dried noodles too. Abroad there are more options for dried noodles than fresh. Look around and use this guide to source pho noodles. Try new noodles like these purplish ones I found.

Let me know your feedback to this recipe and any tweaks you may have!

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Quick Chicken Pho | Phở Gà Nhanh

The original version of this recipe appeared in my award-winning book, The Pho Cookbook.

Servings 2

Ingredients

• .5 oz | 15g section ginger (a chubby ¾-inch | 2 cm section)
• 2 medium-large green onions
• .5 oz | 15 g cilantro sprigs
• 1 ½ teaspoons coriander seeds
• 1 whole clove
• 3 ½ to 4 cups | 840 ml to 1L low-sodium chicken broth (use 2 cans or 1 box)
• One 8 oz | 225g boneless skinless chicken breast or thigh
• About ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
• 4 to 6 oz | 150 to 180g dried narrow rice sticks or pad Thai-style noodles
• 1 tablespoon fish sauce
• Sugar, to taste (organic works well)
• Black pepper as garnish

Optional extras:

• 2 handfuls bean sprouts
• 1 thinly sliced chile, such as jalapeno, serrano, or Fresno
• 2 to 3 bushy mint sprigs
• 1 lime cut into wedges
• Hoisin sauce
• Sriracha

Instructions

• Prep the produce: Slice the ginger crosswise into 4 or 5 coins, then smack with the flat side of a knife. Set aside. With the green onions, cut the hollow green parts into thin rounds to yield 2 to 3 tablespoons; set aside for garnish. Cut the leftover solid sections into pinkie-finger lengths, bruise, then add to the ginger.
• Coarsely chop the leafy tops of the cilantro to yield 2 tablespoons; set aside for garnish. Set the remaining cilantro sprigs aside.
• Cook the soup: In a 3 to 4-quart (3 to 4L) pot, toast the coriander seeds and clove over medium heat until fragrant, 1 to 2 minutes. Add the ginger and green onion sections. Stir for about 30 seconds until aromatic. Slide the pot to cool burner or turn off the heat. Wait 15 seconds or so before pouring in all the broth. Add 2 cups (480ml) of water along with the cilantro sprigs, chicken, and salt. Bring to a boil over high heat, then lower the heat to gently simmer for 30 minutes.
• While the broth simmers, soak the rice noodles in hot tap water for 10 to 20 minutes, until pliable and opaque. Drain well, rinse to remove excess starch, and set aside.
• About 5 to 10 minutes into the simmering, the chicken should be firm and cooked through; it should yield slightly when pressed. Transfer to a bowl, flush with cold water to arrest the cooking, then drain. Set aside to cool, then cut or hand-shred into bite-size pieces. Cover loosely to prevent drying.
• Strain and season: When the broth is done, strain it through a fine mesh strainer (line it with muslin for super clear results) into a 2-quart (2L) pot. Discard the solids. You should have about 4 cups (1Ll). Add fish sauce to create a strong savory note. Season with sugar by the ¼ teaspoon to round out flavors.
• Assemble and serve: Bring the broth to boil. Put the noodles in a noodle strainer and dunk into the hot broth to heat and soften, 5 to 60 seconds. Wiggle with chopsticks to facilitate cooking. Lift from the pot and divide between 2 bowls. Arrange the chicken on top. Add the chopped green onion, cilantro, and sprinkling of black pepper. Re-taste the broth to verify, return it to a boil, and ladle into the bowls. Serve with any extras.

The post Fast Chicken Pho Recipe appeared first on Viet World Kitchen.

Last year at a professional food service conference, I tried a hamburger that had been cooked in a Rational combi oven. The plush buns had been baked in the combi oven and the patty was seared and cooked in. It was a fantastic burger. That particular combi oven, the size of refrigerator, is for professional kitchens. Is there an affordable home kitchen equivalent? That's why I purchased Ninja's version. Let's test drive the Ninja Combi to evaluate its worthiness for your kitchen.

What is the Ninja Combi and its 14-in-1 versatility?

"Combi" refers to the combination of cooking methods that allows you to choose to cook with steam heat, dry heat, or both. The Ninja Combi oven is a smallish squareish box designed as a multi-cooker. The Ninja.com product description promises the world:

• 14-in-1 versatility: Combi Meals, Combi Crisp, Combi Bake, Rice/Pasta, Sear/Sauté, Steam, Bake, Toast, Pizza, Slow Cook, Proof, Sous Vide, Air Fry, Broil.
• Frozen to table in under 30 minutes: No need to defrost-super-heated steam will quickly thaw frozen ingredients and cook them to a safe temperature in under 30 minutes.
• Complete meals that cook in 15 minutes: Cook your proteins, veggies, and pasta or grains all at the same time and make a meal 50% faster than in a wall oven.
• One stop shop in your kitchen: With its all-in-one functionality and included accessories, the Ninja Combi is the only appliance you will ever need-no more cluttered countertops and endless piles of dishes to clean afterward.
• Easy cleanup: The Combi Cooker Pan doubles as a serving dish and all accessories are dishwasher safe to make cleanup a breeze.
• Ninja Combi™ cooker technology: HyperSteam and Air Fry combine to create juicy insides and deliciously crispy outsides all at once; super-heated steam evenly cooks and locks in juices while rapid cyclonic air crisps food to perfection.

How does a combi oven compare to a regular oven?

Conventional ovens and air-fryers usually operate with just dry heat and the difference between the two is how the hot air circulates. Steam ovens are tightly sealed, cleverly designed ovens that allow you to cook efficiently with convection dry heat and moist steam heat. The rationale for steam is this: steam helps to keep food moist while cooking it faster than dry heat. That's because steam distributes heat very efficiently to cover more surface area of the food being cooked.

Why the Ninja Combi oven? It is a compact steam oven designed for home cooking. Its size is great for small spaces and households of four or less people. Luxe combi ovens made by Miele cost thousands of dollars. Counter top ones can run $500. The Ninja Combi looks awkward. But, but at about $200, it costs way less than the competition. Size and affordability makes the Ninja Combi very attractive.

Watch how the Ninja Combi oven works

But before buy one, see how it works. In the video below, look for basic accessories that come with the oven -- a deep baking tray, perforated tray that goes inside the deep tray for air-frying and roasting, plus a baking sheet. The oven comes with a a lid too.

The instruction manual has minimal instructions. A label on top of the unit says to not operate the Ninja Combi under kitchen cabinets! You will naturally figure the machine out. I did! To easily move the oven around, I stuck these feet under the combi oven.

About the combi oven air fry function

A combi oven needs to do more than refresh bread to make it worth owning. How about air-frying? I've not succeeded in air-frying fried squid. It usually comes out of a regular air-fryer wind tunnel dry. Can the combi oven do the job better?

In the Ninja Combi, it was chewy crisp with a pleasant briny flavor that reminded me of squid that's been left to dry in the sun in Vietnam (a delicacy). Alas, the texture was not up to par, my husband said. I tried the air fry mode on a couple shrimp and they were much more successful than the squid.

Air-frying happens when you combine the perforated tray and the deep baking pan that comes with the Ninja combi oven. I coated the squid and shrimp with a little oil, then a mixture of salt, pepper, Thai rice flour and tapioca flour. In about 8 minutes on 390F, the shrimp were done with crispy outsides. The squid took more like 20 minutes. The Ninja Combi difference is this: food does not dry out as it does in a regular oven, toaster oven, or air-fryer. It has a lot to do with how it traps steam in the cooking chamber.

In the above photo, the vapors coming out is steam from the squid. I didn't put any water into the oven. (And, if you're curious, we dipped the goodies in sweet Thai chili sauce.)

After the squid and shrimp, I did something easy: roast peanuts on the Bake setting. They came out more evenly roasted than in my regular oven and were done faster than usual because the preheating time is less in the smaller oven. In a toaster oven preheating time is less but the roasting is uneven. So, on a small task like roasting nuts or seeds, the combi oven will save you time and money spent on electricity or gas. After the nuts, I moved on to baking a yeast-leavened bread in the Ninja Combi oven.

As the video showed, the hypersteam action was real. You see so much steam emanating from the top vents of the oven during the baking process. What's also cool for geeky cooks like me is the bread browned practically before my eyes because you get a very close up look at the cooking process in the Ninja Combi. It's fun for food geeks like me. At the 15-minute mark using the Combi Bake mode, I turned down the heat to 350F to slow down cooking. I actually pulled the bread out at 18 minutes because it looked cooked and the temperature signaled doneness. Meanwhile, the regular oven had just preheated to 450F, the original recipe temperature.

Baking in a regular oven vs baking in a combi oven

Here's a comparison of the oven-baked one and the focaccia that resulted from the Ninja Combi Bake mode.

The combi oven-baked bread is the lower one. Look at how the bubbles seemed to push more upwards in the combi oven baked bread. The dough was the same batch. So, you get a different bake due to the steam action that happens for about half of the bake time. When you bake certain breads, steam is help for for crisp crust but I didn't think it would do much for focaccia. Guess I was wrong!

How to clean the combi oven

Cleaning the Ninja Combi oven is easier than you think. Wash the removable parts by hand or do it in the dishwasher. The oven gets very hot so after turning it off, unplug it and leave the door open to hasten cooling. Then I wipe down the oven walls, if needed. The pans themselves, including the perforated tray was so much easier to clean than the tray for my Cuisinart air-fryer, which I have loved for many years.

Pros and cons of a combi oven

The Ninja combi oven is quirky but has potential for being an MVP in your kitchen. My evaluation thus far:

• Combi oven pros: It's affordable, compact, easy to clean, heats up faster and seems to cook faster than a regular oven. The air fry mode is good and there's plenty of space on the crisper tray to fry a nice batch of shrimp or wings for snacking. The viewing window allows you to observe cooking close up. It is easy to dial in temperature and cooking time.
• Combi oven cons: It beeps a lot, heats up very hot, and you need to operate it near a window or with ventilation. Looks wise, it is not sleek and cool. This Ninja Combi is great for anyone cooking for households of four or fewer people.

Is a combi oven worth the investment? I don't know yet. These initial experiments with the Ninja Combi oven make it a very interesting appliance to play with. Let's see what else it can do and how well it can do it. I'm interested in what "combi crisp" does!

The post What is a Combi Oven and What Can It Do? appeared first on Viet World Kitchen.

There's a certain level of technique involved but you can do it if you've folded up a business letter, rolled a cigarette, or made a burrito. This bread is best prepared with Korean all-purpose flour (more on that below) but I have a decent supermarket substitute for you. The dough is cooked in a skillet so it's fun to observe the cooking process up close. And, eating the bread with a stir-fry like cumin lamb or a bowl of soup like hot and sour soup is well . . . divine!

Tips for your sesame-scallion bread journey

Choose flour wisely. As mentioned, Korean flour sold at Asian markets works best. Ranch 99 and H-Mart carries it for sure, as do other Chinese and Korean markets. It's unbleached and has a low protein (about 10 percent) level, which means it's more tender. Many many swear by it for Asian-style breads, dumplings and the like. If you don't have it, my substitute is below using standard all-purpose flour (such as Gold Medal or Bob's Red Mill) and pastry flour (unbleached or whole wheat, sold at hippie health food markets or online).

Chop the green onions int small pieces. No big chunks to get caught in teeth or not distribute well in the dough. Mix in some Chinese chives (garlic chives) with the scallion. Regardless, make the pieces very small.

Expect a soft, slightly sticky dough. It will seem like it won't behave but it strangely will. That's my experience. Don't add too much flour to firm up the dough. When you have to roll out the dough to a thin rectangle, it will seem hard to do at first. However, the dough will take to your rolling pin and get to the shape you want -- with little flour required on your board. Amazing! You can even pull on the edges slightly to get it to do what you want.

Do a trifold then roll or trifold again. The initial tri-fold helps to more randomly distribute the scallion and sesame oil. Then you can do a jellyroll and coil up the log. Or repeat that trifold to make a square. I like the coil on the far right best delivers a nice distribution of flavor throughout the bread. Check the photo further down of the cut bread; the one on the right is of the coiled dough.

Cook in a heavy skillet. You need to conduct heat well and slowly. I've made these in a carbon steel and cast iron skillet. A heavy stainless steel skill will work too. No thin, lightweight pan here. If the pan maintains heat well, then you can flip and peek and slow and hasten cooking as you want without changing the temperature too much. Also, you need a lid.

The breads end up being thick and very fun to eat. We enjoyed the first one with soup for lunch. It would be great with the stir-fried cumin lamb with green onions because well... you'll have some green onions in your fridge after making this bread!

The post Sesame-Scallion Bread, a Chinese Islamic wonder appeared first on Viet World Kitchen.

Ideas for Lunar New Year celebrations

Lunar New Year is celebrated big time by Chinese, Korean and Vietnamese communities but there are many other folks who get in on the lunar calendar action. Look for celebrations wherever you are because you never know! Given the diversity of Lunar New Year, you can combine different dishes from various cuisines to make your table extra interesting. It's not simply "Chinese New Year". It's Lunar New Year. It's about moon phases. How to eat Tet? My Vietnamese table centers certain must-have dishes and these are what you'll often find on mine.

• Banh Chung Tet Sticky rice cakes are square and hefty, filled with mung bean, pork, and sticky rice. They are simple but incredibly savory and fragrant from the leaves they are wrapped in. You can make them, or buy them from a Viet market or deli. Then you want to refresh them so they're like fresh from the pot (see the video below). Cutting the cake and other info are in this post. You can fry it up into a crispy banh chung pancake too.

• Braised Pork Ribs in Caramel Sauce (suon kho) gives a nod to the notion that at Tet, the family harvests a pig and cooks up every part. Eat the saucy simmered pork with banh chung. Its salty sweetness is divine with the sticky rice!
• Char siu pork ribs can be done in the oven or on a grill, if going outside is your thing.
• Make a pomelo or grapefruit salad (goi buoi). You can use grapefruit for this salad recipe here or use pomelo for a more traditional Vietnamese salad.
• Want a feast? My family had Mandarin pancakes with Chinese roast duck. The pancake recipe is at my newsletter along with a quick duck recipe. But, you can elect to do the Full Monty by making this glorious Peking duck.
• And if you have friends or family who do not enjoy duck like I do, serve the pancakes with moo shu, a simple stir-fry that is clasically prepared with pork but you can use any meat or go vegetarian with the moo shu recipes here.

Have a pan-Asian noodle time

You cannot go wrong with noodles, a symbol of longevity. Here are some favorites:

• Beef Chow Fun is a classic and favorite at Cantonese restaurants. Get my recipe to make it at home to guarantee flavors your way. 
• Garlic Noodles are a newish Vietnamese-American dish. There many renditions to choose from. Try my basic garlic noodles recipe, the chanterelle mushrooms and garlic butter noodles, or a garlic and daikon "noodle" recipe (they're all on this website). Or, venture to my newsletter for an umami shiitake garlic noodles or the delicious crab and asparagus garlic noodles.

• Singapore Noodles are spicy and sultry. Yes, you cake a batch from grocery store ingredients from my newsletter recipe here.
• Ginger, Carrot, and Scallion Noodles  should be made with lots of young or mature ginger so they're loaded with gingery sweet heat. Get the naturlly vegan recipe at my newsletter.
• Panfried noodles with a crown of beefy tomato stir-fry is a Cantonese classic. I return to this recipe over and over and so should you. If you're gluten-free or just like rice noodles, panfry rice noodles into a pancake then top it with a saucy stir-fry. My crispy rice noodle pancake recipe and video how-to wild guide you.
• Pad Thai was influenced to a certain extent by Chinese foodways. Flat rice noodles are Chinese, for instance. If you serve me pad Thai, especially when it's prepared from the recipe at my newsletter, I would not complain.

Sweet endings

The post Recipes for Pan Asian Lunar New Year Menus (here are 25 ideas) appeared first on Viet World Kitchen.

Basic pointers

Here's a Peking duck countdown:

• Up to 2 month ahead: Make the Mandarin pancakes. Freeze for up to 2 months or refrigerate for up to 2 days . See the Mandarin Pancake Mini Class and recipe at my newsletter, Pass the Fish Sauce.
• 2 days before: Blow up the duck and give it a tan. Refrigerate to let it dry.
• Day 3 (the big Peking duck day):
  • 4 hours before serving: Remove the duck from the refrigerator to take the chill off.
  • 3 hours before serving: Preheat the oven, then roast the duck. Meanwhile, prep the duck sauce and accompaniments (the recipe is in the Mandarin Pancake Mini Class). Return the mandarin pancakes to room temperature.
  • 1 hour before serving: After the duck is done and has cooled a bit, remove its skin, then loosely tent the skin with foil and keep warm in the oven. Take the duck apart, remove the flesh in large piece; tent loosely with foil and keep warm in the oven. Save the bones for soup broth or another project.
  • 15 minutes before serving: Steam the pancakes, set the duck accompaniments at the table. Cut up the skin and flesh and arrange on 1 or 2 plates. Serve with the Mandarin pancakes and accompaniments.

First up, where and how to buy a duck?

I don't have a live poultry shop near me so I bought my duck at a Chinese market in San Jose, California. Such a grocery store has a high turnover of duck and they are freshly butchered with the head and feet still attached. Don't be turned off as that is how they traditionally come. Do your best to find an unblemished duck and check the packed date. Ducks by Maple Leaf and Culver are often sold at Asian markets. They are gutted and cleaned already. In 2026, at about $4.50 per pound, a 4 ¼ pound (2 kilo) duck is $18. Supermarkets and specialty grocers may carry Marys, Hudson Valley Farms, and Liberty Farms ducks for $30 to $40 each. This all may seem expensive but I assure you that homemade Peking duck will taste like a million bucks! Okay, not that much, but a lot!

Major steps to Peking duck happiness

What to expect to do for this recipe? Here's a summary of the three major steps.

• Day 1, Step 1: Blow up the duck  -- This may sound nonsensical but you do need to blow up the bird. The purpose of blowing up the duck is to loosen the skin from the flesh so the skin will crisp during roasting. If the skin is attached to the flesh then hot air cannot go through and melt the fat to crisp the skin. Cantonese ducks, in the main, do not get the blown up so the skin is attached to the flesh. The Peking duck technique is genius and required. On the blow up the duck page, you'll see my high tech and low tech options for taking care of this task. Maybe you'll have a new idea for doing it that you'll share! Get extra pointers for this step in Homemade Peking Duck Step 1: Blow up the Duck.

• Day 1, Step 2: Scald the duck and give it a tan -- This second step to preparing the duck should be done right after you blow it. That's because you're in the Peking duck zone and along with blowing up the duck you want to scald it and give it a tan. Scalding the duck tightens up the pores to facilitate drying in the fridge and later on, crisping in the oven. Tanning the duck sets the color and imparts a little spicy flavor to the skin too. Do not skip this step. For the full lowdown on how I arrived at the method and to Homemade Peking Duck Step 2: How to scald the duck and give it a tan.
• Day 2: Let the duck chill (this isn't really a step) By this point, you may need a rest and so does the duck. Let it hang out in the fridge to dry and develop rich color. If you have not, get the Mandarin pancakes recipe and make a batch. Plus, prep the sauce in the duck feast recipe that follows the mandarin pancakes. Your homemade duck will be superior to the shortcut hacks offered in that post. Trust me.
• Day 3, Step 3: Roast the duck and eat -- Home cooks have tried many methods to roasting the duck to mimic what Chinese professional cooks do. The true Peking duck shops in China use wood. I've not graduated to that level but through a series of experiments I have an exceptional method. You'll need something to stand the duck up. I use a vertical roaster but you could try a beer can chicken roaster. If you'd like the lowdown on roasting Peking Duck, check out the post titled, Homemade Peking Duck Step 3: How to Roast the Duck.

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Peking Duck

Review all the content in the main post, including extra articles on blowing up the duck, etc., so you're well prepared for this fun and delicious project. See Notes for the Mandarin Pancakes info. For an air pump, I used an exercise ball pump but you can use a bicycle pump or something like that. A vertical roaster is what I use but you could try a beer can chicken roaster is key to standing up the bird. It's a great tool to have.

Course Main Course

Cuisine Chinese

Keyword homemade peking duck, peking duck, roast duck

Servings 6

Equipment

• 1 vertical roaster
• 1 air pump

Ingredients

• 1 (4 ¼ pound | 2kg ) duck, with head and feet intact
• 2 tablespoons fine sea salt
• .75L | 3 cups water
• 160 ml | ⅔ cup Shaoxing rice wine or dry sherry
• 3 tablespoons brown rice syrup or honey
• 1 tablespoon regular soy sauce
• 1 ½ teaspoons plus 1 tablespoon dark soy sauce

Sauce

• 80 ml | ⅓ cup sweet bean sauce or hoisin sauce
• 1 tablespoon Shaoxing rice wine or dry sherry
• 1 tablespoon water
• 1 teaspoon sugar optional
• 1 ½ teaspoons sesame oil optional

Accompaniments

• 4 or 5 slender scallions cut lengthwise into thin strips about 3 inches (7.5cm) long, soak in ice water for 10 minutes
• 1 small English or 2 Armenian cucumbers, quartered lengthwise, seeded and sliced into thin strips
• 16 to 20 Mandarin Pancakes see Notes for link to recipe

Instructions

• Refresh the duck: Remove any excess fat in the body cavity near the rear opening. To refresh the duck, vigorously rub the salt into its cavity and on its skin. Rinse, drain, and pat dry with paper towel. Put the duck, breast side up, on a baking sheet. Sew up the duck's abdominal cavity with a bamboo skewer; break off the protruding long section, if you like.
• Blow up/inflate the duck: To inflate the duck, use the tip of a paring knife to pierce a hole at the bottom of the duck's neck. Aim for the firm center of wish bones (like the human clavicle/collar bone).
• Wash the nozzle of an air pump (or bicycle pump or air compressor) before inserting the nozzle under the skin. Inflate the duck, directing air to one side, then the other. The duck should puff up to reveal a six-pack abs like structure. If the duck just puffs, then you may be pumping air into the cavity and not under the skin. Reposition the nozzle higher. If there is an air leak in the skin, make a new hole below the original one and retry. Flip the duck over and inflate its back side, making a hole at top of the spine. Expect the duck to lose some air once you remove the pump nozzle.
• Trim the duck: Put the duck on a cutting board and use a heavy cleaver or knife to cut off its legs, right below the knee joint. Then cut off the first two joints of its wings. Finally cut off its neck, leaving about 2 inches attached to the body. Cut off the head and discard. Refrigerate the remaining spare parts for the soup broth. Put the duck, breast side up, on a rack placed on a baking sheet and set near the stove.
• Scald the duck and give it tan: In a saucepan, combine the water, rice wine, honey, light soy sauce, and 1 ½ teaspoons of the dark soy sauce. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat to simmer. Because the duck will darken more on the breast than legs during roasting, tan the duck lighter on its upper part than its lower part. Slowly ladle ⅔ of the mixture to bathe the duck from the top of its thighs to the top of its neck. Part way through flip the duck over and repeat on its backside.
• Now add the remaining 1 tablespoon of dark soy sauce to the leftover tanning mixture, stir and ladle the liquid over the lower portion of the duck. It's okay if some of this darker liquid runs to the upper part.
• Chill the duck: Lift the duck off the rack and set aside briefly. Discard the tanning liquid and wash the rack and baking sheet. Replace the rack in the baking sheet, then put the duck on top, breast side up. Slide the duck into the refrigerator and let it air chill, uncovered for 1 ½ days, roughly 36 hours. Expect the skin to darken as it dries and feel somewhat like parchment paper. Meanwhile, make the mandarin pancakes.
• Roast the duck: Return the duck to room temperature before roasting. Position a rack in the lower third or bottom of the oven to allow the duck to roast upright in the middle of the oven; the top of its neck should be about 3 inches from the broiler element.
• Preheat the oven to 450°F (230°C) for 30 minutes. If needed, lightly spray or oil a vertical roaster (or similar tool). Turn and pull the bamboo skewer out to open the duck's body cavity by about 3 inches. Insert the vertical roaster. It's okay if the luck leans forward or slouches a bit. Place in a roasting pan, add a good ¼ inch of water, then slide the pan into the oven.
• Roast for 15 minutes, then lower the temperature to 350°F (175°C) and continue roasting for 1 to 1 ¼ hours until the skin is crisp, richly browned and shiny. Turn the pan if the skin browns unevenly. When done, tap on the skin and it should sound hollow.
• Prep the sauce and accompaniments: For the sauce, whisk together the bean sauce, rice wine, and water in a small bowl. Taste and add sugar and/or sesame oil. The sauce is ready to use.
• Put the scallion and cucumber on one or two plates. Set the sauce and vegetable garnishes at the table. Ready the steamer and Mandarin pancakes for reheating.
• Carve and serve: When the duck is done, remove from the oven and let rest for 10 to 15 minutes. Twist and pull the chopstick and skewer out. To remove the skin without it getting soggy, keep the duck on the roaster. Visualize the duck skin as four long quadrants. Now use a knife to cut downward through the skin, first to split the breast, then down the two sides and the back. Pry and peel away the large pieces skin. You will have to make some additional horizontal cuts to remove the skin. Set the skin aside on a plate as you work.
• Remove the vertical roaster from the skinless duck, then disassemble the carcass, cutting and/or pulling the flesh off the bones. Hold on a plate and tent with foil, if not serving right away.
• To serve, cut the skin into pieces about 1 by 2 inches (2.5 by 5cm) big, and arrange on a platter. Include the duck meat or present it separately. At the table, invite guests to take a pancake, smear on some sauce, top with a piece of skin, piece of meat, and a few scallion and cucumber strips. Fold or roll up the pancake and eat.

Notes

For the Mandarin pancakes, check out the Mandarin Pancake Mini Class and recipe at my newsletter, Pass the Fish Sauce. This duck will be more glorious than the hacks. 

The post Homemade Peking Duck Master Recipe and Plan for Success appeared first on Viet World Kitchen.

With a smart formulation of seasonings (I'm choosing ginger, warm spices, and orange here) plus a little technique, you'll have a pile of slightly sticky, addictively good Chinese-style wings coated with wonderful layered flavors. The cooking takes about 30 minutes. I went many rounds to develop this recipe and my neighbors were my primary taste testers. They ate up every batch and asked for more. There are few tricky dance moves with this recipe but you can make them ahead for a party, if you like.

The cooking process boils down to layering on flavors. First, tumble the wings in rice wine vapors to set a perfumy foundation. Then cook the wings in a vigorous simmer with lots of ginger, citrus peel, and star anise. Finally, bathe the wings in a bubbly bath of slightly sweet soy sauce. In total, this cooking process allows the wings to become tender rich and coated in a mahogany sauce reduction. Ginger provides a sweet undercurrent of heat; while eating the wings, I like to nibble on the ginger to cut their richness.  

Ginger and orange prep insights: You can chop the ginger and orange peel but my easy prep method leaves those seasonings in big pieces that you can pull out. If cut to a fine chop, they'll appear like a bunch of bits cluttering up the lovely wings. Keep those ingredients as largish pieces. Slice the ginger about ¼ inch (6mm) thick before smashing. No orange peel around? Use a different citrus, like tangerine, lemon, or lime. To peel or not to peel the ginger? Unpeeled ginger is hotter than peeled ginger so it's your call. For a ginger primer, look to this post.

Why the soy sauce combo? The light soy sauce offers salinity and a mahogany color. It's a standard condiment in Chinese cooking. Adding a bit of it to the dish with regular soy sauce creates a savory flavor with a lovely reddish-brown color. We partially eat with our eyes! If you don't have it, use regular soy sauce but the color will not as handsome. A primer on Asian soy sauce in this mega post.

Smart pan selection: Cooking this dish gets the pan coated with messy good, sticky bits. With repeated rounds of testing the wings, I found that a nonstick pan works great for clean up. I used a Joyce Chen Excalibur nonstick coated wok for most of the recipe testing. It was super easy to clean between batches. I reviewed the wok a while ago and till today, the nonstick coating has held up and not disappointed. It's great for these wings and more.

If you wonder . . .

Spice tweaks: Instead of star anise, try a short cinnamon stick for sweet earthiness. You don't like chile heat? Skip the Thai chiles.

Cooking chicken wings for a party? These wings darken a bit as they sit. The wings may be cooked hours ahead and reheated in the microwave oven.

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Spicy Ginger-Orange Chicken Wings 

Be sure to serve these wings with lots of napkins. Beer would be a perfect match.

Course Appetizer

Cuisine Asian

Ingredients

• 900 g | 2 pounds chicken drummettes and flats
• 60 ml | ¼ cup Shaoxing rice wine or dry sherry (see Notes)
• 480 ml | 2 cups just-boiled water
• 6 to 8 strips orange peel, each about the length and width of your index finger (see Note)
• 45 g | 1 ½ oz peeled or unpeeled ginger, thickly sliced and gently crushed
• 2 fresh Thai chilies, lightly smashed, plus more for garnish
• 1 star anise, 8 robust points total
• 3 tablespoon regular, light Chinese soy sauce
• 2 teaspoon dark Chinese soy sauce
• 2 tablespoon molasses, such as Mother's unsulfured brand
• 1 tablespoon packed dark brown sugar
• ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
• 60ml | ¼ cup chopped green onions, green and white parts

Instructions

• Perfume the wings with wine: Because this first move is fast, set the chicken, wine, and hot water near the stove. Put the orange peel, ginger, chile, and star anise in a small bowl.
• Heat a large (13-inch) wok or similarly-shaped pan over high heat. (See my tip above for pan selection so your clean up will be easy.) When hot -- flick a bit of wine into the pan and it evaporates within seconds -- pour the wine into the pan then dump in the wings. Immediately stir to coat the chicken in the evaporating wine.
• Simmer with the base seasonings: When most of the wine is gone, add the hot water, orange peel, ginger, chile, and star anise. Cover, bring to a boil, then lower the heat to medium. Let vigorously simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
• Add the salt-sweet seasonings: Stir in the light and dark soy sauces, molasses, brown sugar, and salt. Recover and continue cooking for 15 to 18 minutes, stirring now and then, until only about a third liquid remains. To test progress, insert a paring knife tip into a wing flat and it should meet very slight resistance.
• Cook to glaze: Uncover, and if you like, use tongs to remove the orange peel and star anise. Turn up the heat to high to boil and cook down the sauce. Stir constantly for 5 to 7 minutes to coat the chicken with sticky goodness and prevent scorching. When the chicken is mahogany and glossy and no liquid remains (some of the sugary sauce will darken and stick to the wok walls), turn off the heat. Let sit a minute to settle flavors. Taste and if the heat is not enough, smash 1 or 2 more Thai chiles and stir them in.
• Garnish and serve: Add the green onions, stir to distribute and slightly wilt them, then transfer to a serving plate. njoy warm with lots of napkins. Chew on the ginger for a contrasting bite. Tell diners to enjoy or avoid the chiles.

Notes

Use a vegetable peeler to obtain the orange peel strips. If you like citrus, use more.

For an assist, check out the mega soy sauce buying guide or the Shaoxing rice wine buying guide.

The post Spicy Ginger-Orange Chicken Wings  appeared first on Viet World Kitchen.

Many cooks freeze Italian basil in oil or as pesto cubes but for Thai basil, I like to blanch then freeze the leaves. Why? First off, most of the time, Thai basil is added to a dish at the table or to finish a stir-fry like the iconic Thai bai gaprao (which is technically made with holy basil but you can prepare it with Thai basil too). Freezing Thai basil with oil for such uses wouldn't allow the herb to function well in Southeast Asian dishes.

I've tried freezing raw Thai leaves, but they just discolor and turn to mush after thawing. The loss of color and texture come from natural enzymes that exist to decompose plant material. If the plant is left raw, the enzymes keep doing their work, even if the plant material is kept frozen in the freezer. If you dunk basil leaves in hot water then you'll stop those enzymes by killing them.

How to freeze Thai basil leaves

Prep and set up: Wash the sprigs then pinch off the leaves and tips. Select a wide pot or deep skillet plus a wide mesh strainer for blanching the basil. Test the mesh strainer's ability to sink deeply into the pot. You want to very quickly submerge the leaves in very hot water and then pull them out. Practice the dunk or else you'll fumble like I did my first time out! and I over blanched my leaves. When satisfied, add water to the pot and set it over high heat to bring it to a boil.

Very quickly blanch: Meanwhile, get a large bowl and put an ice tray's worth of ice cubes (about 12) in the bowl. Add enough water for the ice to float. When the pot of water comes to a boil, put all the basil leaves into the strainer then dunk it into the pot. If needed, gently stir the leaves to submerge and wilt them all. The dunk-and-wilt step should only take 2 to 3 seconds total. I've let it go longer and lost flavor to the water in the pot. Afterwards, if you spot discolored leaves like the one in the right hand photo at center, remove them if they are too dark and sad in color and flavor.

Cool then drain and dry: Set the strainer containing the blanched leaves in the ice bath (or dump the leaves into the bowl if your strainer won't easily fit). Let cool for 2 to 3 minutes then remove the strainer (or scoop out the leaves).

Arrange the leaves on a clean dry dishtowel more or less as a layer. Use another dishtowel to blot or pat away excess moisture. (Or, roll the dishtowel up to remove excess moisture then unroll.) Let air dry for 30 minutes or so, to dry a little more.

The post How freeze fresh Thai basil appeared first on Viet World Kitchen.

When making herb oils, some people blanch the leaves and then blend them with oil. That oil does not keep as well as this one, which eliminates much, if not all of the moisture, in the basil leaves. The result is beautiful color, thick texture, and basil-ish flavor. I've used the oil to dress salads (below are greens with avocado, tofu, soy sauce, salt and pepper. Drizzle the oil onto scooped up silken tofu and finish with good soy sauce and a few bits of chile garlic sauce and you have what looks like an unusual sundae! Toss warm rice or wheat noodles in the oil too! You could cook with the oil to green up a dish, though the oil, like basil's flavor, would fade quite a lot as it mixes with other ingredients.

Things to consider before diving in

Can you use Italian basil or other herbs? Yes to Italian or other kinds of basil. Yes to other kinds of soft leaf herbs like cilantro or parsley. You are simply making an herb oil.

Aim for dry basil leaves with little moisture. If you do that, once blended, the oil does not have to spend too much time over the heat. I quickly rinsed the sprigs, shook off some of the water then pinched off leaves. Not wanting the too much of the purplish color to be in the oil, I separated some of those out. Then I spread the leaves out as one layer on a dish towel and patted them mostly dry. Then I let the leaves sit, uncovered to air dry.

Use a scale to weigh the leaves. Many recipes have a volume measure but I prefer a weight measure for the basil leaves. For each 25 grams of leaves, I used ½ cup (120ml) of oil. You could go up to 30 grams of basil leaves. My measurements here are metric and U.S. standard because it's easier to weigh the basil leaves in grams than ounces.

What kind of oil to use? I used rice bran for its slightly nutty flavor and high smoke point. Refined peanut oil would work well too, as would sunflower or canola oil. Use what you have! There are dregs left of solids and to not waste it, you could put strain it separately in a strainer lined with paper towel, pressing on the solids to expel as much oil as possible. That oil will may have dark bits. Or, let the solids sit and the oil may naturally separate from the dregs and then you can decant the oil.

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Thai Basil Oil

Read the main post for extra pointers. This recipe makes about ⅔ cup (160ml) but the ratio is: 25 to 30 grams of basil leaves to ½ cup (120ml) of neutral oil. Make at least 50 to 60g of leaves so you use 1 cup (240ml) of oil and will have enough material in the pan. I've made this with 75g of Thai basil leaves and 1 ½ cups (360ml) of oil to yield 1 cup (240ml).

Course condiment

Keyword green herb oil, herb oil, thai basil oil

Ingredients

• 50 to 60g Thai basil leaves (see main post for pointers)
• 1 cup (240ml) neutral oil, such as rice bran, peanut, sunflower, or canola

Instructions

• Blend and heat: Put the basil leaves and oil in a blender then whirl until smooth and dark green. Pour and scrape into a small saucepan, the set over medium to medium-low heat. Bring to a gentle simmer, stirring now and then, until the oil goes from olive green to emerald green (watch the video to see the transformation), about 6 minutes.

  While the oil cooks, get a bowl of ice water ready; use 12 ice cubes and enough water to make them float. Set near where you're working so it will be ready for quickly cooling the strained oil.

  When the oil has turned emerald green oil, pull it from the heat.
• Strain, cool and strain: Set a fine mesh strainer over a measuring cup then carefully pour the hot oil through. Very gently press on the solids, if you want. Now, put the strained cup of oil into the ice bath. Let sit to cool completely. If you like, restrain the oil through a very fine mesh strainer into a jar. The oil is ready to use or cap it and refrigerate for up to 6 months. Always stir and use a clean spoon to retrieve the oil.

The post How to make Thai basil oil appeared first on Viet World Kitchen.