Hủ Tiếu Bà Năm Sa Đéc | Mrs. Five's Noodle Dish from Sa Dec Recipe

Pork Hủ Tiếu Bà Năm Sà Đẹc no broth

This noodle dish is one of my favorite dishes which harkens from vùng Cửu Long the land of the 9 dragons (aka Mekong Delta) of Hokkien-Khmer origin.  It is a specialty attributed to Bà Năm Sa Đéc|Mrs. Five of Sa Dec.  Who this mythical Bà Năm|Mrs. Five  is, I don't know; it's very common in the South to call people by their birth order rather than their personal/intimate name and when they're married by their spouse's birth order depending on which one you are related to or know (VN is a relational language so the pronouns are not fixed but based on one's relationship).

When I was in my first trimester with my daughter and nothing appealed to me, my parents made Hủ Tiếu Bà Năm Sà Đẹc and my appetite restored.  My stepdad is from the Mekong and was raised in a Buddhist monastery where he learned to cook as a trade.  This is the recipe my parents taught me.  The glass noodles are served with ground pork in a tomato paste base with shrimp and served with a side of pork broth, though chicken or beef broth could be substituted. This is my quickie version without the battered shrimp cakes.  I made two versions in the last few months, one with chicken legs since I was out of my organic hog share and one when I picked up my organic, pasture raised hog share for the year.  I added zucchini to one because we just harvested it from the garden and I'm always looking to boost the veggie content.  Also, my lifelong allergy to onions was recently cured (!!!) by my chiropractor (not just for bad backs, yo!), so onions are back in my pantry for the first time since I moved away from home and started cooking for myself (almost two decades).

Hủ Tiếu Bà Năm Sa Đéc

Ingredients

• 1 lb of sustainably-raised ground pork or 3 chicken leg quarters, deboned & ground
• 1/2 cup of dried shrimp soaked in hot water for 20 minutes and minced in food processor
• 3 tbs of tomato paste
• 1 shallot, minced (or substitute with 1/2 sweet onion)
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• Black pepper
• Red Boat fish sauce
• Organic greens of choice
• Zucchini, julienned (optionally added to stir fry or to broth)
• Tiger shrimp, squid or other seafood (frozen without preservatives)
• Korean sweet potato noodles (dang myun)
• pork broth (can substitute chicken or beef broth) served as a side
• chopped green onions for garnish

Directions

Boil water and make noodles according to directions.  Usually about 10 minutes.  Warm up your broth of choice.

Blend ground meat and shrimp in a food processor until just mixed.

Stir fry ground meat & shrimp mixture, add shallots & garlic, several dashes of fish sauce and pepper.  Cook for until the meat starts to brown but is still pink.  Add tomato paste and saute for a few minutes until cooked.  Remove from heat.

If you wanted additional seafood, poach them in the broth at this time.

Serve the glass noodles with the pork-tomato paste, any seafood, and greens and a side of broth garnished with chopped green onions.  The broth can be used to moisten the noodles to taste/consistency you prefer and/or sipped during the meal.

Ăn Ngon Lành|Eat Delectably!

The Source

There's a new sheriff in town (yes, the Whole Foods* mecca is now open in Fremont) so I thought I'd update this list...
 
That old folk wisdom adage "you are what you eat" holds true.  Nowadays we've grown up with industrially produced meat & produce and have no idea what real food tastes like.  Organic foods not only taste better, though not prettier, and are less likely to pollute your body & the earth with carcinogenic toxins or feed into the impending zombie apocalypse.

I get a little more into why eating organic, sustainably-raised food is important to our family here.

Overall, though in our family we eat chicken & fish far more frequently, I prefer pork which I only eat if I can source sustainably-raised/organic at the very least, pasture-raised and corn-free at the best.  Here's my go to's:

PRODUCE

• Our garden!
• Ramirez Pesticide-Free Farm (Cherry-Guardino--Fremont) Pesticide free produce, small selection of staples like kale, cilantro, squashes.
• Perry's Organic Farm (Ardenwood--Fremont) Organic, great selection
  
• Newark Farmer's Market (New Park Mall) Stress-free parking and pesticide-free Asian vegetables
• Whole Foods Market (Fremont) I was pleased to see they carry Perry Farm's produce and it is so beautiful inside.
• Sprouts Market
• Trader Joes
• Costco

CHICKEN

• Indian Market (Central Fremont) organic, halal chicken (whole, breast, quarters, livers)
• Maiwand Market (Centerville--Fremont) organic, halal chicken (whole, breast, quarters, livers) 
• Holistic Moms Network Tri-City Chapter buying coop for organic, grain-free, pasture-raised chickens & eggs from Early Bird Ranch (Pescadero, CA)
• Whole Foods Market (Fremont)
• Sprouts Market
• Trader Joes
• Costco 

EGGS

• Azure Standard has organic, pasture-raised eggs for a great price
• Local Farmers market
• GoodEggs.com
• RealFoodBayArea.com

DUCK

• Fremont BARF Coop (Northgate--Fremont) Sustainably raised duck leg quarters, hearts & livers & fat from Sonoma County Poultry Liberty Ducks
• Whole Foods Market (Fremont) 

FISH

• Fremont BARF Coop (Northgate--Fremont)Sustainably caught whole fish (seasonal) from EcoPawz
• Holistic Moms Network Tri-City Chapter Sustainably caught seafood from Lummis Island
• Whole Foods Market (Fremont) 
• Marina Poultry & Seafood (San Leandro/Newark) Sustainable seafood!  Locally caught!  Technically the physical storefront is not in the Tri-City area, however rumor is they have a booth at the Newark New Park Mall Farmers Market on Sundays.  HMN TC recently did a Chinook salmon buy through them and it was excellent!
  
  
• Costco 
• Trader Joes

PORK

• Heritage Foods USA Food hub.  organic heritage hogs--red wattle is the most succulent
• Clark Summit Farm organic heritage hogs, offal & fat
• Holistic Moms Network Tri-City Chapter buying coop for organic, mostly grain-free, forest-raised/forage-fed hogs from Early Bird Ranch (Pescadero, CA)

BEEF

• Pampero Ranch raises free range, grass fed longhorn steer (might not be organic).  Their headquarters are based in Sunol.  The steer are raised in Modesto. 

• Backyard CSA sources organic, pasture-raised beef soup bones, liver & shanks from Mendocino County with delivery in the Tri-City area.
• Whole Foods Market (Fremont)
• Sprouts Market
• Maiwand Market has a full service butcher stall with halal, grain-fed lamb & beef.

ORGANIC COMMUNITY SUPPORTED AGRICULTURE (CSA) & GREEN BUYING COOPS

• Holistic Moms Network Tri-City Chapter Buying coops for organic/green products from Azure Standard, Frontier Wholesale, Red Boat Fish Sauce (me), among other things...
• Dig Deep Farms CSA this is a locally grown, affordable social enterprise of the Alameda County Deputy Sheriff's Activities League
• Azure Standard this Oregon based farm & buying coop is a fantastic source for organic grains, and many many other consumer goods at wholesale prices.  They have drop points all over the West Coast with drops in Newark and one in Warm Springs/Fremont.
• Frontier Coop a great organic wholesale buying coop.  I have access through HMN but you could set up your own local coop.

RANDOM ORGANIC PRODUCTS

• Grocery Outlet Bargain Market (Newark, Fremont & Milpitas) In our household, we call it GrocOut.  They have organic eggs, and random assortment of grocery items ranging from organic olive oil, salad mix, soy milk, etc.

Ăn Ngon Lành|Eat Delectably!

*Full disclosure: I am a Whole Foods Fremont Foodie Ambassador.  What does that mean? I have no idea.  This is a new unpaid pilot program that was launched to tie into the Fremont opening.  WF gathered a select group of foodies who represent the diversity in Fremont as well as diverse dietary needs.  We got to have a nice little wine & gnosh get together & swag before the grand opening in exchange for social media promotion.  But nothing has happened since.  Don't expect this to go to my head.

Red Boat Nước Mấm Rocks!

Being Việt , I don't have a fear of fish sauce.  I use nước mấm with a lot of things besides Vietnamese food--eggs, bone broth, any soup or stew, salad dressing, meat marinade, quinoa, thai food, cambodian food, laotian food, adobo chicken/pork, pasta puttanesca or pasta sauce, kimchi, kimchi jigae, miyuk gook, and an experimental dessert (in progress)--typically in place of or to enhance sea salt.  Because fish sauce is fermented and nutritionally dense, I add it at the end of cooking after the stove is turned off when possible.  No sense in cooking off those nutrients, amino acids, vitamins, etc.

I only use locally-headquartered Red Boat Fish Sauce (Milpitas, CA).  Red Boat is a nutritionally dense, fermented sacred food meaning it is a nutrient-dense food vital to a cultural foodway prepared according to a centuries if not millenia-old method with whole ingredients.

I don't know about "The Best in The World" business, I mean in Việt Nam most families worth their salt make their own nước mấm.  And every family knows their homemade nước mấm is The Best.  For those who've relocated to urban areas and no longer make their own, they will go to great lengths to return to the mother's family home and bring home batches and batches of nước mấm.  (Aside: I actually have a funny somewhat related anecdote about flying in-country with mấm and mít|jackfruit when my husband, siblings and I went to VN together in 2007, but I'll save that for another post/blog or in person recounting.  You kinda have to know what mấm and mít are and be familiar with Công Sản officiousness to get the humor in it.  Like many anecdotes it's the telling of it that is so hilarious.)  Weo, I guess "Best Commercially Produced Fish Sauce Export in the World" didn't really have that je ne sai quoi ring to it.  I would be remiss not to mention that Red Boat is winning the approval of all sorts of celebrity chefs and foodies all over the US.  I won't name drop, because I am bad with names and what is with the cult of personality anyways.  Just google it.

Nước mấm taste test --Don't try this at home, kids!

After doing a nước mấm taste test on a "hot date night" (which was exactly what you think a fish sauce taste test would be like on a date night for a domesticated couple), I will credit it with "Best Fish Sauce in the Western Hemisphere" for sure.  I expect there to be a vast quantity of inferior bootleg versions of this in the next year--Gold Boat, Red Yacht, 2 Red Boats, 3 Red Boats, 2 Red Boats and a Dinghy.  I hope Red Boat has a good trademark lawyer...

Anyheo, I am currently was organizing a wholesale coop for Red Boat for Holistic Moms Network Tri-City & San Jose chapters and my phamily & homies in the Bay and SoCal with the approval of the gracious owner Cường Phạm (no relation, that I know of.  I mean, one never knows.  Obama and every US President but one is related to King John of England for pete's sake.  Yeah, King John of Robin Hood notoriety.  Deep innit?).  I can be a little ... enthusiastic about things I like (see pimping pork for example).  I seriously was on the verge of fermenting my own fish sauce when hallelujah, I found Red Boat--saving me the hassle of sweet-talking the husband, finding a spigot crock, sourcing sustainable, wild caught anchovies, fermenting dead fish, fobbing off angry neighbors and intrepid/gangsta racoons (if you don't know about the gangsta racoons of Alameda County, weo count yourself lucky).  My husband is relieved and instead my phamily, friends, acquaintances, strangers, Sunset magazine, the universe has to put up with me singing the praises of Red Boat and hella dissing whatever piss-swill fish sauce they use (it's endearing in context, really).  FYI I will seriously throw-down epidemiology with any MD who spuriously claims that fish sauce causes strokes.  Let's see the correlating research on say, the entire subcontinent of Southeast Asia, controlled studies, or did med school not teach them evidence-based medicine?  I was not a research analyst for almost a decade without knowing a thing or two about substantive proof.  Fear of salt is yet another American cultural myth while fear of the lack of salt is a colonized people's legacy.

The order ended up being 9 cases which totally exceed my expectation for 3 cases.  I should have just gotten 10 cases because there were a lot of latecomers who wanted in and I am not willing to break into my personal reserves and it also makes a great gift.  My aunty Len, the Phamily matriarch, says the company should give me free fish sauce for being a one-woman promotional dervish.  Never mind the fish sauce, I want stock options!  (Actually, anh Cường, I'd be happy with free nước mấm or like y'know, a bad-ass Red Boat t-shirt/swag. Just sayin'.)

I am usually too busy cooking or eating or doing stuff to make food porn.  I do have a few relevant photos scattered over various social media sites so I'll dig them up eventually and add them to this particular post here.  I'm a busy work-at-home mom starting up a new birth support worker business, freelance writing, making art, following my bliss, living and loving, on top of the blogging.  Hence the sporadic nature of my posts.  (FYI there's several drafts in the queue--local organic meat sources, nước cốt dừa|coconut milk, Brown Rice Bánh Xèo|Savory Crepes, Bún Măng Vịt|Duck & bamboo soup, Bánh Da Lợn|Pandan Mung bean cake-ish whence we get into the origins of the name, and Râu Câu|Seaweed jelly birthday cake using homemade fruit food coloring--so subscribe to my blog for updates on the food front.)

As with all my recipes, I try to use organic or sustainably produced ingredients where possible.  It just tastes better.  Also, I eliminate wheat, dairy, soy (when possible), chemical additives, and refined sugars.

Recipes below:

1. Anchovy Salad Dressing
2. Gỏi|Slaw
3. Gỏi Cuốn|Spring rolls
4. Nước Mấm Pha|Dipping sauce

Ăn Ngon Lành|Eat Delectably!