My first bowl was in Paris 30 years ago. It brought instant devotion. Hot steaming broth with wafts of ginger, anise and clove, slick rice noodles, slices of rare beef, and flanking the bowl was a plate of what is called "table salad" (sa lach dia in Vietnamese), a heaping platter of additions, like fresh herbs, bean sprouts, greens, lime and chiles—this is the essence of North Vietnam's Pho (pronounced "fuh") soup. Entire restaurants are built on this one dish and all its variations.
Chicken Larb (Laotian Chicken and Herb Salad)
In the United States, we don’t usually see ground meat on skewers, but it is typical throughout the Middle East and Africa. The trick to this dish is not to overmix the lamb, so it doesn’t become mealy. I like these meatballs nice and small so the bite you get is fully caramelized—lamb on the outside, onion on the inside.
This recipe requires advanced techniques, accurate measurements using the metric system, specialist equipment and professional experience to achieve good results.
Ingredients
A moutabel dip is a must on the Eastern Mediterranean mezze table. A traditional Syrian specialty, it was usually made with eggplant, but nowadays there are a variety of moutabels, such as beet, potato and zucchini.
Often called shrimp al pip-pil, this northern favorite can be either spicy in the sense of piquant, with plenty of cayenne pepper, or spicy in the sense of heavily seasoned, with garlic, cumin, sweet paprika, and a pinch of cayenne pepper, plus plenty of fresh cilantro and parsley. This recipe is the latter, though you can add firepower as desired. The shrimp can also be prepared in individual terra-cotta dishes and served as an appetizer.
The secret of this delicious, easy to prepare and inexpensive dish lies in the use of preserved vegetables, which are typical of northern Chinese cuisine. In the north, people must preserve vegetables by salting or pickling, since the winters are long and cold. If you like your dish a bit spicier, like me, use Sichuan preserved vegetables.
This dish is great for a dinner party. Each guest puts a helping of each ingredient into a hollow lettuce leaf and eats it with their fingers. Serve with a bowl of hoisin sauce.
This is the real thing, straight from Spain and translated for us by the ever-diligent David Rosengarten . For the best results, puree the vegetables in a Vita-Mix and strain through an Anolon cone strainer. If a Vita-Mix and Anolon strainer are not in your cupboard, it is delicious simply whirred in a food processor or blender.