During the Christmas break….I wanted to start off 2019 with an ORGANIZE HOME!!! So…I started to declutter a little bit everyday. I started off with the REFRIGERATOR!!! I EMPTIED out everything…wipe it down and READ every label to see if I had any expire condiments…or items. Next, I moved to my pantry FREEZER!! OH MY GOODNESS!!! Seems like it was a bottomless pit!!! I finally got a chance to wipe it down and throw away things that I wasn’t gonna eat. Throughout the years…people have given me food that I don’t eat, like…deer meat, certain fish, or chicken from their farm. I felt bad so I just toss it in there and I NEVER got around to cooking it. So …I toss it all out. I made this magnet chart on the side of my freezer ….listing the items that I did have in the freezer currently so that I can start to meal plan around those items until my freezer gets EMPTY!!
Next, I moved on to the cabinets/drawers in my kitchen…these didn’t look so bad because I usually clean and organize it every night. This was a VERY simple process.
Now, I wanted to move into my master bedroom. Ever since I renovation my house, I never got a chance to REALLY unpack…there were many things that I just threw in my closet and call it a day. So, what I did first was took everything out my closet and brought it into my master bedroom. This process will take me a couple of weeks …because I am starting my 13 weeks of subbing at my kids school. So, I came up with a game plan that I will give my closet 30 minutes every night to do a little at a time. I will give you an update on my progress every few days. This is the state that its in NOW!!! Trust me….don’t be shock that you see a KITCHEN AID mixer in there LOL
So…this brings me to DINNER every night. I have to try to make something easy and FAST but STILL have to taste good…and I am TRYING to use up what I have in my freezer. Tonight, I am making banh uot kho from a bag. It literally took me less than 20 minutes to cook the banh uot kho/tapioca flakes and cut up all the vegetables and meat up. I already had the fish sauce pre-made. I used left-over nem nuong (pork meat) that I had the night before. If you don’t have time to make your own nem nuong…they sell them in the freezer section at the Asian market..take about 20-30 minutes to bake..depending on the temperature and how you prepare the meat. Takes 20 minutes if you roll the pre-made nem nuong into a golf size ball. But if you leave the whole slab in a meatloaf shape …it would take around 30-45 minutes at 350 degrees.
INGREDIENTS:
2 bag of Tapioca flakes
GARNISH:
Cha Lua (pork sausage) you can get at the Asian market in the freezer section
Thinly sliced cucumber
herbs (mint, basil, cilantro)
dried onions
bean sprouts
shredded lettuce
Nem Nuong (optional–you can buy the premade ones in the freezer section)
premade fish sauce
DIRECTION:
Cook the tapioca flakes according to package. This particular brand that I used said to cook it for 5 minutes in boiling water then take it out and shock it in cook water.
I took a big stock pot and filled it 3/4 ways up and put it on medium high heat. Once the water starts to boil..I pour in the 2 bags of tapioca flakes and stir it around so it doesn’t clump up and all stick together. I put my timer on for 5 minutes. Once the timer went off…I took the pot off the stove and poured it into a colander and rinse it with COLD WATER. Then I added a little olive oil to the COOKED tapioca flakes and kinda separate the pieces so it doesn’t clump up. I plated it and garnish with what I liked…I love making this dish because everyone can choose what they want on it. I have some of my kids want sliced cucumbers…others want shredded lettuce etc. You can put any type of meat that you like on here. When I go to this restaurant in Houston, TX I like it with thit nuong (grilled pork meat). So, it is all up to you what you like on it. Its such a great dish to make that takes no time to prepare BUT STILL taste DELICIOUS!!!
SIDE NOTE: You can saute ground minced pork with shitake mushroom and add this to the banh uot kho.
