// cold noodles + pork //

chopped ginger + garlic

mint + cilantro (Viet staples)

pho noodles (any wide rice noodle will do - "that's what she said!")

cook in boiling water for about 4-6 minutes

ground peanuts

sliced cucumbers, peanuts, mint + cilantro

mix everything w/the sauce + the cooked ground pork

Being the typical Asian - even in the hot summer days, I still crave noodles. This cold noodle recipe happened to show up in my inbox from the lovely Tasting Table site.  They tend to have really enticing (and easy) recipes shared by chefs and sous chefs coming from all different types of restaurants/regions. I practically made this the same week that I saw it since the ingredients were so simple and cheap...AND it's been uncomfortably hot out.  I'll definitely keep this on my regular rotation for summer dishes. It's very easy to assemble and the only thing I substituted was mushroom soy sauce for the dark soy sauce. I also didn't have any star anise or Chinese five spice powder, so I omitted that. Still came out really good.

// chinese sausage omelette //

 guest blogger, cousin tawn

Nellex and I grew up in a large, large, LARGE Vietnamese family. Feeding the troupes wasn't always an easy chore for our mothers. But, a chore that they excelled at and reveled at. Our mothers are sisters, the youngest two of six (they also had four brothers).

The sisters (our moms are smallest ones in the front row), looking goofy,
from their younger days in Vietnam. Why my mom had curly hair here,
is beyond me! Lol :)

The sisters are to put it mildly, competitive when it comes to their food. They take pride in their cuisine. Each has a special ingredient or tweak that they add to a standard dish to make it their own. Rarely do they divulge their family recipes. If and when they do, after you beg, and beg and grovel, you are sworn up and down to secrecy. So, please don't tell my mom on me ;)

Below, is my (and my mother's version) of a Chinese (lap cheong) sausage omelette. A popular dish in our immigrant household. It was cheap to make, served many, and used simple ingredients that were standard in our Vietnamese home. My mother used to serve it as one of the dishes that were part of our family-style dinner. I sometimes make it for lunch and eat it with jasmine rice.


 INGREDIENTS ( for two 10" omelettes): :

6 eggs
1 small sweet or yellow onion, sliced
2 lap cheong sausages, sliced
2 springs green onions, sliced, whites separated from greens
1 Tbsp. fish sauce
1/4 cup of cream
freshly ground pepper
vegetable oil

1. Prep ingredients

2. Mix eggs, cream, greens of green onions, fish sauce and pepper together in a small bowl.

3. Heat oil in a 10" pan (non-stick is better if you have it) over medium heat. 4. Add onions, whites of green onions and sausage. Sautee until onion is softened.

5. Add egg mixture. As egg starts cooking, gently lift the omelette
from side to side and redistribute raw egg to cook.

6. Maintaining medium heat so that omelette cooks low and slow (to prevent a tough omelette), lid if necessary until desired doneness is achieved.

Serve topped with freshly cracked pepper, as part of your family dinner...

or with a side of rice as a complete meal.