Sunday 29th March '09

Today I had homemade bun bo hue for lunch. I made the stock a few nights ago (remember my stolen groceries escapade!?) and finished making the soup base last night.

The stock was just some water that I boiled with a large juice piece of ham hock. I removed the ham hock - which my mum cleaned the meat off and chopped up the cartilage bits for Simba - and then reheated the stock on the stove. To this I added some lemon grass stalks, dried shrimp, star anise, cracked black pepper, sambal chilli paste and fish sauce. After the soup came to the boil, I simmered it for a while to allow the flavours to infuse. I had to taste it a few times and added some sea salt and more chilli paste to adjust the flavour. I added some pork belly rashers and beef balls and allowed them to cook for a while before removing them and slicing them up.

I usually use shrimp paste that comes in a bottle for this soup base, but when I went to open a new bottle, the contents exploded all over the sink and me - they'd gone off and there was a build up of gas produced by the bacteria. Let's just say it really really smelt bad. So that's why I used the dry shrimp, at my mum's suggestion.

To serve, I put some freshly cooked Vietnamese rice noodles in a bowl, then added some of the sliced pork belly, beef balls, some bean shoots, thinly sliced red onion, and ladled in lots of the soup. I garnished with some fresh mint and freshly cut chillies. It was delicious!

In the evening, I prepared what would be my lunch for work tomorrow - Chicken Enchiladas. These are one of my favourites that I fell in love with during my time working at Lenards Chicken all those years ago. Ling, Meng - remember!?

Anyhoo, I fried some diced onion in a pan, then added some diced chicken, diced roma tomato and a can of mixed beans that I'd rinsed in water. Add a packet of taco seasoning (can't remember the brand but you purchase it from the 'Mexican food' aisle of the supermarket) and a bit of water - voila!

I used some mini wholemeal tortillas to wrap the mixture with and placed them altogether in a container to take to work tomorrow with a bag of grated cheese. I hope Andrea and Nadine enjoy them!

Dinner
Chorizo, Mushroom & Spinach Spaghetti

Christina loves pasta with chorizo in it, and she had one in the fridge so asked me to make something with it. I sliced it thin and made this dish with mushrooms, spinach, onion, garlic, chilli flakes, and lots of olive oil.

*Groan* Not looking forward to work tomorrow.