Tag: chicken

Chicken, Dinner, Meat, Mexican, Sandwiches, Vegetables, Vietnamese

Bánh Mì Quesadillas (Vietnamese Quesadillas)

by thebusyspatula7 Comments on Bánh Mì Quesadillas (Vietnamese Quesadillas)

Vietnamese Quesadillas 4I found something that has changed my life: cook-and-serve flour tortillas from TortillaLand. After reading this post about these tortillas, the first thing I did was do a quick search and found that the only Walmart that carried them were over 10 miles away. Now, I know 10 miles is nothing in other parts of the country, but for me? 10 miles is far, especially when there is a Walmart less than 4 miles away. I almost gave up on them, but I was haunted by their flaky, perfectly puffed up pictures and I had to have them. So I dragged my butt over to the Walmart and acquired a package of it. And as much as I wanted to have them right away, I couldn’t! I mean, yes, I could’ve tossed in a few well-chosen ingredients and called it a day, but these were special and I needed the final product to be as special as its base.
Vietnamese Quesadillas 3If you are not familiar with a bánh mì, it is a Vietnamese sandwich that is filled with meat, a mayo-based spread, cucumber, pickled carrots and daikon, cilantro, and chili peppers inside a baguette. If you’ve ever had a great bánh mì, you would know that it is an explosion of flavor and contrasting textures. In this spinoff, the mayo spread is replaced with mozzarella cheese, the bread with the tortilla and the meat with a Vietnamese fish-sauce shredded chicken.
Vietnamese Quesadillas 2Before I go on about the awesomeness of this quesadilla, I must warn you about this Vietnamese fish-sauce shredded chicken. It is a modified version of the famous Pok Pok’s wings. I’ve made the fried wings for this year’s Star Wars Day and it was the most delicious chicken wing I’ve ever put in my mouth (and I’ve had my fair share of fried chicken wings). The only downside is it will make your house smell like fish sauce. Now for some people, this might be a deal breaker but I swear to you, it is worth suffering a day of a fish sauce stink for it.
Vietnamese Quesadillas 1This is a minimum two-day project. You need a day to pickle the shredded daikon and carrots. It wouldn’t hurt to make the shredded chicken a day before either because it’s a little complicated than the average chicken recipe. But when you bite into that crispy flaky tortilla filled with warm melty cheese, garlicky chicken, tangy pickled vegetables and the crisp crunchy cucumber and jalapeño, it will make you say, “I can eat this every day of my life.” Because I did… every time I made it this week.
Vietnamese Quesadillas 2Bánh Mì Quesadillas (Vietnamese Quesadillas)

Pickled Daikon and Carrots

Ingredients:
1 large carrot
1 small daikon
2 tbsp. chopped fresh cilantro
½ c. vinegar
¼ c. sugar
½ c. water

Instructions:

  1. At least a day before making the quesadillas, grate the carrot and daikon over the large holes in a box grater.
  2. Heat vinegar, water and sugar together until sugar dissolves.
  3. Place carrot, daikon and cilantro in a heatproof bowl and pour the vinegar mixture over the vegetables.
  4. Once cooled, marinate in the refrigerator for at least 24 hours.

Vietnamese Fish-Sauce Shredded Chicken

Ingredients:
8 large cloves of garlic
½ tsp. kosher salt
¼ c. warm water
½ c. fish sauce
½ c. sugar
1 ½ lb. chicken, cooked and shredded

Instructions:

  1. Finely mince the garlic and place into a small bowl.
  2. Sprinkle salt over it and add warm water to the bowl and stir. Let rest for 5 minutes.
  3. Pour the garlic mixture over a sieve and push the garlic to extract as much juice as possible. Reserve the garlic juice and garlic bits separately.
  4. Stir fish sauce and sugar together with the garlic juice until sugar is dissolved.
  5. In a small pot, pour a few tablespoons of oil and heat until oil shimmers.
  6. Fry the reserved garlic bits until it turns golden brown and drain on a paper towel.
  7. Add the fish sauce mixture into the small pot and simmer until it becomes a thick sauce.
  8. Once thickened, pour over the shredded chicken and mix until completely covered.
  9. Add the fried garlic pieces and mix thoroughly.

Assembly

Ingredients:
pickled daikon and carrots
Vietnamese fish-sauce shredded chicken
seedless cucumbers, sliced into thin strips
mozzarella cheese, shredded
jalapeño, sliced thinly
flour tortillas*

Instructions:

  1. Heat a nonstick pan over medium heat.
  2. Toast the tortillas on both sides. (If using the cook and serve tortilla, cook the tortilla on both sides.)
  3. Spread mozzarella cheese evenly across a tortilla and melt.
  4. Once the cheese has melted, spread the shredded chicken over half of the tortilla.
  5. Layer the pickled daikon and carrots, followed by the cucumber and then the jalapeños.
  6. Fold tortilla in half and press down to secure the fillings.
  7. Remove from pan and cut into wedges.
  8. Enjoy

* I highly recommend the cook-and-serve flour tortillas from TortillaLand.
** Picked daikon and carrot adapted from All Recipes.
*** Vietnamese fish-sauce shredded chicken adapted from Pok Pok by Andy Ricker.

Beef, Chicken, Dinner, Meat, Mexican, Simple Sundays

Easy Galbi Tacos {Simple Sundays}

by thebusyspatula8 Comments on Easy Galbi Tacos {Simple Sundays}

Kalbi Tacos 7I wasn’t sure if I should really put the word “Galbi” (aka Kalbi / 갈비) since this recipe isn’t a traditional Galbi recipe. Galbi is a Korean grilled dish made by marinating meat in a soy sauce based sauce. It usually requires grated onions and Asian pears, and to be honest some days I don’t even have the time to do that. So this is my extremely simple version of Galbi sauce. You literally put everything in a glass bowl, whisk, put meat in and you are done. The only utensils you need are measuring cups and spoons, and no cutting boards, or knives are required. Is it going to taste traditional? No.  But it’s darn tasty, I can guarantee that.
Kalbi Tacos 6On the weeks I know I will be short on time, I cut up whatever meat I have on hand (usually short ribs or chicken breasts) make this marinade and toss it in. Over the next few days, I’ll cook it up little by little incorporating it to whatever dish I decide for the day.
Kalbi Tacos 9Kalbi Tacos 2Whenever I decide to make tacos, I usually buy more corn tortillas than I need and freeze the leftovers for another day. If you toast it over a (clean) gas burner, it reheats well and becomes soft and pliable in the middle and toasty crisp on the edges. I happened to have some frozen corn tortillas in the freezer and decided to make quick tacos.
Kalbi Tacos 8Kalbi Tacos 1You can really top this with whatever you’d like. On this particular day, I ran out of cheese, sour cream, parsley, avocados… pretty much every traditional taco ingredient and put my meat on a bed of mixed greens, topped it with Sriracha and sesame seeds. It still turned out delicious.
Kalbi Tacos 4Easy Galbi Tacos

For the marinated meat:
½ c. brown sugar, packed
½ c. soy sauce
¼ c. water
2 tbsp. mirin (rice wine)
2 tbsp. balsamic vinegar
2 tsp. granulated garlic
1 tbsp. sesame oil
½ tsp. freshly ground black pepper
2 lbs. of meat, cut into strips (I usually use chicken breasts or short ribs)

Instructions:

  1. In a large glass bowl, whisk all the ingredients (minus the meat) until combined.
  2. Place meat into bowl, turning to coat.
  3. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and put into the fridge to marinate.

For the tacos:
½ lb. mixed greens
12 corn tortillas, toasted
¾ lb. cooked, marinated meat
Sriracha sauce
toasted sesame seeds

Instructions:

  1. Cook the meat to desired doneness.
  2. Top toasted tortillas with mixed greens.
  3. Top with meat, Sriracha and sesame seeds.
  4. Consume.