13 recipes with cha lua
Cha lua (silk sausage) - picture from flavorboulevard.com
Not to be biased but I think cha lua (silk sausage, also known as lean pork sausage) is the best and most versatile sausage out there. Ok, of course I’m biased, but who isn’t when it comes to their motherland’s cuisine. So can we make cha lua? There are scores of recipes, from Ravenous Couple‘s touch of familiarity to the indifferent instruction on VietnameseRecipes.com… There are also scores of recipes labeled as “cha lua” but are actually giò thủ (head cheese), industriously copied from one another, I’m not sure who started first, but yum-recipes.com, recipehound.com, keyingredient.com just to list a few, all share the same formula with 8 oz of meat from a small pig head.
For those with not much more than a skillet and a spatula in a kitchenette (hello, grad students!), it’s best just to buy a loaf from your nearest Vietnamese sandwich shop or Asian market.
Now what? Here’s a list of 13 dishes with cha lua to churn out at your castle (in no particular order), requiring no special cooking hoopla or obscure ingredients (unless silk sausage is considered an obscure ingredient).
1. CƠM ÂM PHỦ (Hades Rice):
Hades rice - picture from Viet World Net (www.vietwn.com)
Among the Huế creations, this one has kind of a freakish name. But the only thing, if any, that can freak you out would be how much shredding and slicing you need to do. The ingredients are flexible: some kind of meat (chicken, pork, beef, squid, elephant, etc.), cha lua, cucumber, omelet, some good nuoc mam with sugar, salt and chili pepper. The orange powder atop the rice is shrimp powder (tôm chấy), but it’s just makeup, not essential. For a detailed recipe, visit Kiki Rice.
There are two stories behind this intriguing name. In the more fairy tale-like version, a king one day decided to go around town by himself to see how his people lived. In the late evening, he got hungry and knocked on some door, asking for a meal. Living in the small straw house was a poor old lady, who did not recognize the king dressed in common clothes, nonetheless she kindly took everything she had in the kitchen to prepare a rice dish. Despite its simplicity and lack of spectacular ingredients, the hungry king thought it was quite good, and he was so touched by her hospitality that he invited her to be his chef in the royal palace. Because the house was built on lowland, it was dark outside, there was no electricity and the poor lady wasn’t lighting candles everywhere, the king’s dinner had some underworld feel to it, so he called the dish Hades Rice. Moral of the story? The best way to a king’s kitchen is via his stomach.
In the more modern, unromantic version, there once was a small dining hut, where only one dish was served: rice with thinly sliced meat and vegetable. It was opened at night, mostly for poor workers, rickshaw pullers, and people on their way home from a late theatrical show. Again, because of the low light, the quiet and somewhat rusty, rugged ambience, the dining hut was known as Âm Phủ (Hades), and its only dish the Hades Rice.
So which story do you prefer?
2. CHA LUA KIMBAP
cha lua kimbap - picture from FlavorBoulevard
Cha lua makes a great substitution for crab stick in kimbap. It has the sleek, chewy texture, and it has flavors. I wrote a post on this feeble attempt a while back, if you’re interested in recipes.
3. XÔI MẶN or XÔI GẤC:
Savory rice - picture from PiloPia-BCmem
Xôi mặn (savory sticky rice) with Chinese sausage, chicken, pork floss (rousong) and of course, cha lua (recipe from Ravenous Couple). Xôi gấc is sticky rice colored with the gac fruit, fairly simple to make if you can find the fruit. I haven’t seen any in either Houston or San Jose, but maybe you can steal some from Ravenous Couple’s aunts’ garden, or just raid their kitchen.
Simply put, cha lua goes well with sticky rice, whether the sticky rice is sweet or savory, red or white, steamed and clumpy or boiled in shape (bánh chưng bánh tét).
4. Breakfast English muffin sandwich, with a slice of cha lua and a fried egg.
English muffin with cha lua and egg - picture from FlavorBoulevard
No need to toast it or butter it, the juicy silk sausage can savorize the sandwich all by itself. You can see how I try to minimize cooking.
5. BANH MI CHA LUA
Banh mi cha lua from Saigon Express, Berkeley - picture from FlavorBoulevard
There’s no need to describe the tasty harmonious symphony in a banh mi. It’s cheap ($2-3 from the sandwich shops), but it’d be fun to whack this out at home. Buy a few crisp baguettes, follow Wandering Chopsticks’ instruction for pickled carrot and daikon, and your imagination for the rest.
Pepper braised cha lua - picture from afamily.vn
6. CHẢ KHO (braised silk sausage)
Two words: salty and sweet. The key is nuoc mam (fish sauce). Here’s my adaptation from Hang’s Fooood Experiment‘s recipe of tomato braised sausage: Start with 3 tablespoons of sugar and coconut water to make the caramel sauce, then add the sliced sausage, 3 teaspoons of nuoc mam, a little bit of water (just so you can stir), a pinch of pepper, and diced tomato if you feel like it. Simmer on low heat, stir when most of the liquid has evaporated and serve it dry; or you can add more water in the beginning to have a nice brown sauce over rice. Gastronomy has cha kho with porridge. Mmm… salty, sweet, and bland innocence.
7. CHA LUA FRESH ROLL (goi cuon): wrapped in rice paper (bánh tráng) with herbs and blanched shiitake, dipped in nuoc mam. Without shiitake, this is a Nha Trang style snack. I got the mushroom inspiration from the food column of VnExpress.net, where they suggest an appetizer with cha lua, shiitake, carrot, and green bean tied together with scallion, worth a try as well.
8. CHA LUA SOUR SOUP: tomato, sweet onion, egg, and diced cha lua. Also native to Nha Trang.
9. CHA LUA and CRAB SOUP:
Cha lua and crab soup - picture from bepgiadinh.com.vn
Shredded chicken breast, diced cha lua, boiled quail eggs, crab meat, sweet corn, and diced onion cooked in boiling bone stock for 10 minutes. Pour in some corn starch (mixed with water) and crack an egg. Serve hot with a dash of cilantro and a big bowl, because it’s light and you’re hungry :-). (Recipe translated from bepgiadinh.com.vn)
Papaya, orange and cha lua salad - picture from tintuconline.vietnamnet.vn
10. PAPAYA, ORANGE, and CHA LUA SALAD:
The stuff: shredded green papaya (the type that goes in Wandering Chopsticks’ green papaya salad), diced orange, bean sprout, and sliced cha lua.
The sauce: nuoc mam, olive oil, vinegar, sugar, water combined in ratio 1:1:1:2:2 (tablespoon), throw in chopped garlic and chili paste for kicks.
Mix’em all up.
————————————————————————————————————————————————-
And that was 10 amateur-friendly recipes. But Mai, you said 13! Yeah well call me a cheater. Here are three cha lua affairs that I utterly love but will never make at home because I’m afraid to screw them up. So here for the professionals who can never fail and the kitchen masochists who want to spend half of their day by the stove (just kidding, cooks are my heroes :-D):
Banh day gio from Gio Cha Duc Huong, Houston - picture from FlavorBoulevard
11. BÁNH DẦY GIÒ: sticky rice bun with cha lua. The chewiest bun of all buns. The sticky rice is bland, the sausage is juicy and savory. You’d either hate it or love it. My dad hates it, I love it. I bought it and wrote about it. Ravenous Couple made it.
Banh cuon at Tay Ho Restaurant, Houston - picture from FlavorBoulevard
12. BÁNH CUỐN: another old timey, steamed rice roll stuffed with pork and mushroom. If one day I live far away from the Vietnamese community, this would be my most frequently missed favorite, so I have to blogged up on them as a way of savoring memories. Ravenous Couple don’t have to worry about that, because they can make their own.
13. BÚN MỘC
Bun moc at Tay Ho Restaurant, Oakland - picture from FlavorBoulevard
A soup laden with meat, yet the stock is so fresh and light. I feel at home at Tay Ho in Oakland, so I’ll keep going there for my soups. But maybe, just maybe, one day when the right planets align I will gain enough courage to make a pot. Guess whose instruction I will follow?
Seriously, is there anything that these guys haven’t made?
You are my inhalation, I own few web logs and rarely run out from to brand.
1Thanks for this wonderful post, I am glad I discovered this site on yahoo.
2Thanks so much for publishing this interesting article. I truly enjoy your web page. Many thanks for giving me the opportunity to comment on your article. I would love to see additional interesting updates from you in the coming days.
3I dugg some of you post as I thought they were invaluable handy
4Hello there, just became alert to your blog through Google, and found that it is truly informative. I’m going to watch out for brussels. I will be grateful if you continue this in future. A lot of people will be benefited from your writing. Cheers!
5Attractive section of content. I just stumbled upon your weblog and in accession capital to assert that I acquire actually enjoyed account your blog posts. Any way I will be subscribing to your augment and even I achievement you access consistently fast.
6Hiya, I’m really glad I’ve found this information. Today bloggers publish only about gossips and internet and this is actually frustrating. A good blog with interesting content, that’s what I need. Thank you for keeping this web site, I will be visiting it. Do you do newsletters? Cant find it.
7The very core of your writing while appearing reasonable initially, did not really settle well with me personally after some time. Somewhere throughout the sentences you were able to make me a believer unfortunately just for a while. I still have a problem with your jumps in assumptions and one would do well to fill in all those breaks. If you actually can accomplish that, I could definitely end up being impressed.
8서울출장마사지 서울출장안마 셀럽은 고객이 머무는 장소에서 관리를 받을 수 있도록 방문 서비스를 안내합니다. 자택이나 숙소의 위치, 원하는 이용 시간, 코스를 알려주시면 예약 가능
9I am constantly invstigating online for articles that can help me. Thank you!
10I really appreciate this post. I have been looking all over for this! Thank goodness I found it on Bing. You’ve made my day! Thanks again
11수원출장안마 셀럽의 출장마사지 코스와 가격, 선입금 없는 현장 결제 방식을 안내합니다. 영통·광교·인계동·권선동·장안구 등 방문 가능 지역과 예상 도착 시간
12I like this site its a master peace ! Glad I observed this on google .
13I like this website very much so much great information.
14I know this if off topic but I’m looking into starting my own weblog and was curious what all is needed to get set up? I’m assuming having a blog like yours would cost a pretty penny? I’m not very internet savvy so I’m not 100 positive. Any recommendations or advice would be greatly appreciated. Many thanks
15I have recently started a web site, the info you provide on this web site has helped me greatly. Thanks for all of your time & work.
16Exactly what I was looking for, thankyou for putting up.
17There is noticeably a bundle to know about this. I assume you made sure good factors in features also.
18Thanks for your personal marvelous posting! I quite enjoyed reading it, you’re a great author.I will ensure that I bookmark your blog and will eventually come back later on. I want to encourage that you continue your great posts, have a nice holiday weekend!
19Thankyou for this marvellous post, I am glad I discovered this web site on yahoo.
20I’ve read several just right stuff here. Definitely worth bookmarking for revisiting. I wonder how a lot attempt you place to create any such excellent informative web site.
21An impressive share, I just given this onto a colleague who was doing a little analysis on this. And he in fact bought me breakfast because I found it for him.. smile. So let me reword that: Thnx for the treat! But yeah Thnkx for spending the time to discuss this, I feel strongly about it and love reading more on this topic. If possible, as you become expertise, would you mind updating your blog with more details? It is highly helpful for me. Big thumb up for this blog post!
22My brother suggested I would possibly like this web site. He was once totally right. This publish actually made my day. You cann’t consider just how so much time I had spent for this info! Thank you!
23I really like your writing style, superb information, appreciate it for putting up :D. “Let every man mind his own business.” by Miguel de Cervantes.
24Utterly written content material, thankyou for entropy.
25I was very pleased to find this web-site.I wanted to thanks for your time for this wonderful read!! I definitely enjoying every little bit of it and I have you bookmarked to check out new stuff you blog post.
26I’ve learn several good stuff here. Definitely price bookmarking for revisiting. I surprise how a lot effort you place to make the sort of magnificent informative site.
27I genuinely enjoy reading on this website , it has got excellent posts.
28An interesting discussion is worth comment. I think that you should write more on this topic, it might not be a taboo subject but generally people are not enough to speak on such topics. To the next. Cheers
29You have brought up a very great points, thanks for the post.
30Saya mendapatkan info yang bagus dari blog Anda.
31That is the correct blog for anybody who needs to seek out out about this topic. You realize so much its nearly hard to argue with you (not that I really would need…HaHa). You definitely put a brand new spin on a subject thats been written about for years. Nice stuff, simply nice!
32