Wilted Dandelion and Kumquat Salad

Lightly sauteeing kumquats and carrot in butter.

Added dandelion greens to be wilted. 

Completed dish.

Vietnamese Cabbage Salad with Poached Pork and Shrimp

This is a variant of a very popular and common Vietnamese salad with poached chicken (goi ga). I swapped out chicken for slow poached pork and shrimp cooked in liquid of water, soy sauce, fish sauce, cider vinegar, bay, star anise, garlic and chile de arbol. The veggies in the salad are red cabbage, poached shiitake, Vietnamese coriander, mint, pickled carrot, Thai chile, pickled onion and cilantro. It was served with toasted sesame and dried shrimp rice cracker (not shown).

Watermelon Radish, Tomato and Cilantro Salad

Watermelon radish, tomato and cilantro salad with queso Cotija in white balsamic and chile dressing.

Brown Sugar Glazed Bone-In Pork Chop with Celery Leaf Salad

Brown sugar glazed double thick bone-in chop with roasted garlic and salsa rojo with celery leaf and red onion salad with soy vinaigrette.

Vietnamese Red Cabbage Chicken Salad with Prawn Crackers

Vietnamese red cabbage and chicken salad.

Salad served with fried prawn crackers. 

Dressed salad in mixing bowl.

*Note: for vegetarian version, replace chicken with poached shiitake, oyster or king oyster mushroom. For vegetarian version, you could use soy sauce or try this recipe from The Chubby Vegetarian blog. (I have not tried it myself but it sounds very tasty).

Ingredients:

(This recipe portion will serve four people)

3 Chicken thighs, gently poached with half an onion, 2 crushed garlic cloves, 4 cloves, bay leaves, 2 star anise pods. Poach for about 20 minutes, remove and let cool then shred into small bite sized pieces. The cooking liquid could be reduced and other ingredients added to make a stock. I don't waste any of it. Try adding things like mushrooms, carrots, celery and you will have a pretty classic chicken stock.

Half a small red cabbage, finely shredded with mandoline or sliced with knife. Do not grate as the texture will change.

Small piece of ginger, finely minced.

Two jalapenos or chile of your choice, thinly slice with seeds intact.

One small red onion, thinly sliced then quick pickled in vinegar for about 15 minutes.

Two small carrots (or one large), shredded or julienned.

Bunch of Vietnamese coriander, roughly chopped.

Bunch of cilantro, roughly chopped.

Lime or lemon juice, to taste.

Prawn crackers, fried. (They can be bought at most Asian markets and come in a small box. They can also be microwaved as a hack but won't be as light and crisp as frying in oil).

Fish sauce dressing:

Fish sauce, 1 part

Water, 3 parts

Rice wine vinegar, 1 part

Sugar to taste

Lime or lemon juice to taste

Crushed garlic

Crushed ginger

Crushed chile

Assemble ingredients in large bowl, dress, mix well and keep in fridge until ready to serve.

Quick cucumber salad with shishito peppers

A very quick and tasty salad. 

Dry roasting shishito peppers

Ingredients:

Korean cucumber

Shishito peppers

Soy bean sprouts, blanched

Korean chili powder

Salt

Rice wine vinegar

Sesame oil

Lemon juice