Beef Stew Vietnamese Style with Kway Teow (flat rice noodle)

I love vietnamese food as I find them very light and appetising. I was lucky to grab hold of a vietnamese cookbook at the library - The Vietnamese Cookbook by Diana My Tran and like the recipes. The look very simple for a FTWM like me. So I gave this one a try as it sounds delish looking at the ingredients used. I am very happy to have tried it as my family loves it. The taste is light but very satisfying. You can serve this with kway teow/noodles or bread.

Of course mine looks very very far from the authentic dish *LOL*

Here is the recipe. I added potatoes because my husband likes potatoes. You can add about 1 or 2 medium potatoes, cube

For the dipping sauce, I used store bought chicken rice chilli but you can use whatever chilli sauce that you like.

Ingredients
1 - 1.5 lb beef, cut into cubes
1 lemongrass, cut the green part off and bruised the white portion
1 medium onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
3 carrots, cut into cubes
5C water
2-3T oil
salt to taste

Marinade
1/2t five spice powder
1/4t curry powder
1/4t chilli flakes/pepper flakes (more if you like it spicy but I omit this because my kids can't take spicy stuffs)
2T oyster sauce
2T tomato paste

Garnish
thai basil
lime wedges
hoisin sauce and chilli sauce for dipping

Method
1. Mix all the marinade ingredients and marinate the beef with it for 15mins
2. Heat pot with oil and sautee chopped onion and garlic till fragrant (don't burn the garlic)
3. Add the marinated beef and stir till it browned a little bit
4. Add water and lemongrass and let it simmer, skim off the froth and foam
5. Let it simmer for 30mins than add the carrots, salt to taste and continue simmering till the meat is tender usually about 1hr or more
6. Serve it hot with kway teow and the garnishes or just french loaves

I used my thermo pot and cooked over the stove for about 30mins then transfer the inner pot to the outer pot and let it cook for the next 6hours. The meat came out very tender.

Sliced Cheese Cheesecake

This cheese cake recipe caught my attention because it doesn't use cream cheese. Instead it uses sliced cheese which I always keep stock in the refrigerator. It is not difficult to make really and it yields a very soft cake which my kids love. It is best served chilled.

I got the recipe from myresipi.net which is originally in malay. I have translated it and make minor changes to the ingredients used.

Ingredients
5 sliced cheese
200ml fresh milk
70g butter
70g cake flour (high ratio flour)
65g sugar (original is 70g)
4 eggs, separated
1 tsp vanilla essence

Method
1. Tear cheese slices into small pieces and add to the milk in a small pot
2. Heat milk and cheese on low heat till cheese melts, stir mixture to prevent lumps
3. Add butter, let it melt and stir till well blended
4. Beat egg white till frothy and slowly add sugar and beat till glossy and stiff, leave aside
5. In another clean bowl, beat the yolks till creamy and add it to the milk mixture with the vanilla essence
6. Slowly stir in flour and gently mix till smooth
7. Then add 1/3 of the meringue and gently fold into the milk+egg+flour mixture, once blended, add the the remaining 2/3 and gently fold till you don't see any streaks
8. Pour batter into an 8 inch pan
9. Bake in a preheat oven, baine marie at 170C for 20mins and lower the temperature to 140C and bake it for further 40mins
10.Chill it first before you cut and serve

Beef + Sugar Beans in Sweet & Sour Sauce

I always associate sweet and sour sauce to be red. However this one is on a brown side due to the beef but I am still ok with it *LOL* My sister made something similar during our holiday trip to Phuket and I just have to make it at home to have it with hot steamed rice. I am red meat person and this is just nice for us. It is very easy to make, you can use your own sauce or just use the ready made ones.

Ingredients:

250-300g sliced beef, coat with a bit of cornflour (best to use for stir frying)
1 large clove garlic chopped
1 packet sweet sour sauce (you can use whatever brand that you like)
1 pack of sugar beans (sorry I can't remember the weight)
enough water to dilute the sauce
2Tbsp oil
salt & pepper to taste (optional)

Method:

1. Heat oil in wok and brown the beef slices, once it turned brown, push them aside and add the chopped garlic and stir for a minute
2. Add a bit of water followed by the sauce stir the meat in and add bit more water if you want more gravy
3. Let it simmer for a few minutes and then add the sugar beans and let it simmer for another few minutes till it is soft enough for you and the meat is tender
4. Serve it hot with steamed rice

Enjoy !