Ca Kho

Today I will be making ca kho, also known as claypot catfish.  It is very similar to thit kho, the dish that I cooked in my previous blog post.  It is the most popular Vietnamese seafood dish.

The first thing I did was place three catfish steaks (totaling about one pound) and two one-inch pieces of pork belly (for extra flavor) in a small pot.  Then I poured coconut soda into the pot until all the catfish steaks were submerged.  I then added two teaspoons of nuoc mam, one teaspoon of coconut caramel, and let it cook on the stove for 30 minutes on medium heat.

After 30 minutes had passed, I turned the catfish steaks, added another teaspoon of nuoc mam, and let it simmer on medium heat for an hour (I had to cook this dish longer than my thit kho dish because I used more meat and coconut soda this time).  After another 30 minutes had passed, I put in eight whole pieces of Thai chili peppers and a couple dashes of black pepper. Then I let it simmer for the remaining 30 minutes.

The finished dish turned out exactly how I wanted it to be.  The fish was perfectly cooked; it wasn't overcooked to the point where it can easily break into little pieces.  The sauce was really good too; it wasn't too thick like my thit kho sauce.  I was afraid the sauce would be too spicy because I used a lot of Thai chili but it had just the right amount of spice to it.  This dish is meant to be eaten with white rice and I recommend pouring liberal amounts of the sauce over your rice.

Thit Kho

For this blog post, I will be making thit kho, a braised pork dish with a coconut caramel sauce.  Kho is a Vietnamese cooking technique of simmering meat (usually pork or catfish) in coconut juice until the sauce caramelizes and thickens.  The dish is sweet, savory, and spicy.  I learned how to cook this dish from my mother and this will be my first time making it by myself.  It takes about one hour to make.

The ingredients that I used to make the sauce are:
Two teaspoons of nuoc mam (Vietnamese fish sauce)
One teaspoon of coconut caramel sauce (you can usually find this at any Asian grocery store)
One half can of coconut soda
I mixed all of these ingredients in a small pot and simmered it on medium heat.

I then cut up a half pound of pork belly into one inch pieces and put them in the pot with the sauce.

I let it simmer on medium heat for 30 minutes before turning the pork.  After 20 more minutes I gave the sauce a taste, which was too sweet so I added one more teaspoon of nuoc mam.  I also added a pinch of black pepper and a teaspoon of Sriracha hot sauce for spiciness (Thai chili peppers are preferred but I didn't have any on hand).  After another 10 minutes, I knew the dish was done because the sauce had completely thickened.  There was no more liquid in the pot.

The meat was really tender but the sauce was a little too thick.  I should have cooked it for about 40 minutes instead of one hour.  It didn't quite taste like the thit kho that my mom makes because the sauce was too thick, but overall, I'd say the dish was a success.  Next time I will attempt to cook ca kho, which is another popular kho dish with catfish instead of pork.

Dinosaurs Vietnamese Sandwiches and Crepes

Vietnamese sandwiches (known as banh mi in Vietnamese) are the product of Vietnam's history of French colonialism in Indochina.  It's an "East meets West" dish that takes influences from the cuisines of both cultures.  It's a popular street food in Vietnam and is gaining popularity in the States as well (evidenced by the existence of banh mi chains like Lee's Sandwiches).  The banh mi joint featured in this review is Dinosaurs Vietnamese Sandwiches in San Francisco.  I discovered this restaurant through Yelp and I thought they had made a mistake with the name because "Dinosaurs" sounds quite unusual for a place that serves Vietnamese sandwiches.  It is a very small establishment that consists of only a small kitchen, a cash register, and some tables outside (there is no indoor dining).  I found it uncomfortable eating at their outdoor tables because the tables are made of metal, and because they don't have any umbrellas or canopies on them, they reflect quite a bit of sunlight on a sunny day, which bothered me during my dining experience.

The first sandwich that I ordered was the Special, which is the typical combination banh mi offered at other places.  It had all the usual ingredients: pickled daikon and carrot relish, cilantro, cucumbers, Vietnamese mayonnaise, liver pate, cha lua (a type of Vietnamese bologna), and Vietnamese ham; but I noticed one missing ingredient that is usually found in banh mi sandwiches: headcheese.  I'm assuming they left it out because the gelatinous texture of headcheese might be too strange for most Americans.  The crust of the baguette had a very smooth glazed texture.  The baguette was crunchy on the outside but it had the density and chewy consistency of sourdough bread; maybe they baked the bread this way to appeal more to San Franciscans?  The bread tasted great, however, and I welcomed the sourdough-like texture.  The mayonnaise they used was authentic Vietnamese mayonnaise, which is thicker and more buttery and oily compared to regular store bought mayonnaise.  One complaint I had with this sandwich is that they put too much pickled daikon and carrot relish in it, which let the sweet and sour flavors overpower the flavors of the other ingredients (such as the deli meats).  This sandwich costs $5.00, which is about twice as much as a combination sandwich from other banh mi places.

The second sandwich that I ordered was the Pork, which had everything from the Special but with grilled pork instead of deli meats.  The pork was quite good; they used a lemongrass marinade, which gave it the taste of grilled Vietnamese pork chops.  I preferred this sandwich because I could really taste the flavor of the marinaded pork, compared to the deli meats in the Special, which were overpowered by the relish.  At $4.75, it even costs less than the Special (although I still consider it overpriced).

At around $5 a sandwich, it's hard to recommend this place to people (especially college students since it's located near SFSU) on a budget.  But if you're willing to pay a little more for slightly above-average sandwiches and don't feel like driving to San Jose for better, cheaper Vietnamese sandwiches, then go for it; it's one of the few places in San Francisco that even serve banh mi sandwiches.  I would rate Dinosaurs Vietnamese Sandwiches a 6/10.