straight forward recipes

Xiu Mai or Vietnamese meatballs are seen in Chinese and Khmer Krom cusine with some variation which is as much by the cook as by the style of cusine. Some versions have a crunch element added with the addition of Water Chestnuts whereas other versions are completely smooth allowing a very soft and spreadable product suitable for use as a soft terrine as a sandwhich filling. Some are enhanced with a final braise in a tomato based sauce another and others in a caramel sauce. Northern Vietnam variations will often add a BBQ cooking period to the process to add in that wonderful BBQ flavour.

All recipes have an addition of sugar  or caramel and the ubiquitous fish sauce and black pepper. Garlic and shallots or onions are a common ingredient.

 Ingredients:

• Fish sauce (Nuoc Mam) 2 Tbsp
• 1 kg minced pork
• 6 cloves garlic
• 4 red shallots.
• 4 green onions
• 1 tsp freshly ground black pepper.
• Caramel Sauce (Nuoc mau: pre-prepared for convenience)

Method:

1. Prepare your caramel sauce and put this aside.
2. Squash and dice the garlic.
3. Dice the shallots and finely slice the green onions to the end of the core (somewhere where it begins to turn green)
4. In a bowl mix the ground meat, shallots, green onions, garlic, pepper and fish sauce. Mix until fairly uniformly blended.
5. Roll dollops of the mixture into 4 cm balls and place aside.
6. Grease or oil a pan and heat this to a moderate temperature suitable for frying the meatballs.
7. Place the meatballs in the pan and fry these carefully to retain their shape and to firm up. Final cooking will follow so complete cooking is not important. I mentioned the optinal additional BBQ cooking step and this may be added here. The par-cooked meatballs can be placed in a spring-form BBQ holder without squashing the meatballs and searing the balls carefully over a smokey charcoal BBQ. Then continue on.
8. Remove the meatballs when adequately cooked and place them into a saucepan and add a quarter to half a cup of caramel sauce plus a half cup of water.
9. Heat over a low flame and allow to reduce for about an hour. Watch the liquid level and add small amounts of water if it threatens to dry. Ideally you want about a quarter cup of the sauces at the end of the process. The sauce can be further seasoned with salt if desired but the addition of salt if preferred to the final served product by the diner is a reasonable option.
10. The meatballs can be cooled and refrigerated if required or frozen in batches with a little of the sauce.
11. The final consistency is somewhere between the spreadability of a pate and the firmness of a terrine, but easily spread as part of the filling composite of a Banh Mi Xiu Mai sandwhich.

Pickling utilizing the properties of fermenting rice as a method for production of the pickling chemicals is used widely in Thailand and Laos. The technique with some variations is used for treating both meat and fish. The resultant product can be enjoyed uncooked or cooked and is a delicious option for meat or fish preparation.The process can be shortcut by using sodium nitrite but is not something that is recommended as being a very safe option. The pickling process otherwise can be allowed to proceed under it's own mechanics, typically two to three days refrigerated or at room temperature.

This process is ideal for small strips of pork and then completely rounded off by cooking in a smokey barbecue. Traditionally this is deep fried consequently the tag "Tod".

Ingredients:

• 250 gm (9oz) pork meat filleted into 1x1 by 6 cm strip pieces.
• 10 cloves of garlic crushed and sliced
• 2 tsp salt
• 6 Tbsp cooked steamed rice ( use when temp is down to a comfortable handling temp or lower)

Method:

1. Mix all the ingredients together by hand.
2. At this stage you can roll the ingredients into blls or rolls and cover with kitchen film. make sure to exclude the air. To be double sure wrap the packages again. You can also place the mixture into a glass jar with a minimum of head space. You need to minimise the surface to air contact.
3. This then is placed into the refrigerator for a minimum of two days three nights.
4. Remove the packages from the fridge and release the contents.
5. Separate the meat strips from the rice and garlic.
6. These strips now are able to be cooked. ideally in a barbecue with a smoking facility or a kettle barbecue with some smoking wood or leaves.

The cooked strips of meat are ideally enjoyed hot and maybe served with other sides such as salads or steamed jasmine rice. The use of a garlic chillie sauce goes well also.

• The "normal" option  to deep fry the strips of meat produces a very nice, quite crispy surface.

Ingredients:

• 250gm (9 oz). end section of pork ribs
• 10 cloves garlic (crushed and sliced)
• 2 tsp. salt
• 6 tbsp. steamed rice

Method:

1. Put pork in a  bowl. Add salt, garlic and rice.
2. With your  hands knead the ingredients together.
3. Put the mixed pork in a glass bottle and seal the cap. Now, keep it in refrigerator for 3 nights.
4. After 3 nights, deep fry the pork for 20minutes or until cooked alternatively  cook  in the oven.

This dish is fantastic. It's both the mixture of texture with the easy chewing of the cartilage tips of the ribs together with the wonderful sour garlic flavour of the pickling mixture that has permeated the whole of the meat.
In Thailand it's served both as a course addition and as "beer food" for casual snacking. The flavour can be spiced up with the addition of a chillie garlic dipping sauce.