Nui Xao Bo - Stir Fry Beef Rice Macaroni

This fun and delicious stir fry wasn't around when I was little but nowadays it's all over Vietnam.  It is the Vietnamese take on Western pasta, which have gain a lot of popularity amongst children and teens.  I remember trying it for the first time several years ago in Saigon, it was an awesome mix of both worlds.  You get the rich tomato flavor but then you get hints of familiar Asian seasoning.  Unlike Western pasta where the sauce is pile on top, Vietnamese pasta is more dry.  The sauce is part of the the seasoning that coat the macaroni, the sauteed beef seasoned perfectly is piled on top, and then you get some fresh veggies on the side to help cut some of the oil.  I make this almost weekly because it doesn't take a lot of time and effort.  Enjoy!

Ingredients:

1 bag of rice macaroni 14 oz
1 lb sliced beef (1 cup)
1 yellow onion (sliced)
4 stalk of green onions (cut into 1 in)
2 tablespoon of minced garlic
1 shallot thinly sliced
2 tablespoon of sugar
1/2 tablespoon of mushroom seasoning
3 tablespoon of oyster sauce
2 tablespoon of soy sauce
1/4 cup of tomato paste
cooking oil
wok
cilantro (garnish)
tomato (garnish)
cucumber (garnish)
fish sauce

1.  Boil rice macaroni until about 75% done, otherwise it will break when you stir fry it.  Drain water and set aside for later.
2.  Marinade beef with 2 tablespoon of oyster sauce and 1/2 tablespoon of mushroom seasoning.

3.  Heat up oil in a wok, add the garlic and shallots until fragrance. Add the sliced onions and green onions, then add the beef.  Stir fry everything until beef is cooked.  Remove and set aside.

4.  Heat up 4 tablespoon of oil in a wok, add the rice macaroni, 1/4 cup of tomato paste, 2 tablespoon of soy sauce, 2 tablespoon of sugar,  1 tablespoon of oyster sauce.  Make sure you coat the macaroni with all the liquid ingredients and tomato paste evenly. Stir fry macaroni until it's al dente or tender to your liking.

5.  Add the sauteed beef and all its liquid from earlier back in the wok and mix.   Your stir fry is ready for eating.
6.  Transfer to a plate and garnish with chopped cilantro, cucumber, tomato, and a dash of ground pepper on top.
7.  Enjoy!

Thit Bo Xao Dua Chua - Beef Sauteed with Pickled Mustard Green

My mom makes the best dua chua (pickled mustard green), I swear i'm not bias! I have eaten others and it never compares to my mom. It always lack one of the following; texture, color, or taste. Good dua chua must come out crunchy, if there is no crunch when you bite into it something went wrong during the pickling process. The color should be yellowish green, like an olive green. Finally it should taste sour and not too bitter. She knows I love her dua chua, so every time I visit she has a tub for me to take home.

There are a lot of different ways to use dua chua in Vietnamese cooking but my favorite is to sauteed it with beef. A while ago one of my reader asked me to post a recipe on canh dua chua (pickled mustard green soup). I will get to that recipe the next time I have access to my mom's dua chua.

For this recipe you want to use a fatty cut of beef with a little bit of tendons, I like to use beef chuck. Not only will it give the dish more flavor but I just love the chewy texture with the crunchy mustard green. During Lent I also like sauteing pickled mustard green with squids, I will save that for a future post.

I have to say there's something very addicting about dua chua. The dua chua give a sourness to your dish that is very pleasing to our taste buds. The liquid that is produce from the pickled mustard green and beef marry together and become this wonderful sauce. I can seriously just eat the sauce alone with white rice and you can still taste the beef and pickled mustard green.

Ingredients:

1 lb of beef chuck cut into thin strips

2 cups of pickled mustard green

2 medium tomatoes (cut into smaller chunks)

4 stalk of onions (cut down to 1 inch)

2 teaspoon of minced garlic

2 teaspoon of minced shallots

fish sauce

sugar

cooking oil

1. Marinade the beef with the garlic, shallots, and 3 tablespoon of fish sauce for about 30 minutes.

2. Heat up cooking oil in a pan/wok.

3. Once the pan is hot enough add the beef and stir. You don't have to cook it all the way through but enough to brown the outside.

4. Add the pickled mustard green to the beef and add 3 additional tablespoon of fish sauce.

5 At this point there should be a lot of liquid produce in the pan by the beef and pickled mustard green. Let the beef and pickled mustard green braise in the liquid on medium to low heat for about 10 minutes.

6. Add the tomatoes and let it cook down.

7. At the very end add the green onions.

8. Enjoy with a bowl of rice!