Every once in a while I love to feature and highlight one of the recipes of one of my beloved Top Chef Contestants, and here is a good one! Chef Hung Huynh is a Vietnamese chef that ended up winning season 3. He stayed very low key after that, for the most part. When I came across this recipe of his, I HAD to cook it! You should now that A) I don’t have a clay pot, so cooking it in a regular pot worked just fine, and B) the recipe calls for ginkgo nuts, which I found impossible to find, so I replaced them with cashews. It still turned out super delicous. Happy cooking!
What you’ll need:
- 1 cup short grain rice
- 2 oz shiitake mushrooms, quartered
- 2 scallions, coarsely chopped
- 1 tbs plus 1 tsp soy sauce
- salt and pepper
- 2 thick slices of bacon, cut into 1/2 inch dice
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 2 tsp fresh minced ginger
- 1/2 cup ginkgo nuts (I used cashews instead)
- 1 cup water
In a bowl, cover the rice with water and let the rice soak for about one hour. Drain.
In another bowl, toss the mushrooms and scallions with 1 tbsp of soy sauce. Season with salt and pepper. Marinate for 10 minutes.
In a clay pot or medium pot, cook the bacon over medium heat until the fat is rendered and the bacon is crisp, about 5 minutes.
Add the garlic and ginger, cook, while stirring, for another minute. Add the soaked rice and stir to coat with the fat.
Add the nuts, marinated mushrooms and scallions, the water, and 1 tsp of soy sauce. Bring to a boil over medium heat. Drizzle oil around the edge of the pot, so it runs down the insides. Cover the pot and cook the rice over low heat until the liquid has been absorbed, about 10 minutes. Raise the heat to high and cook the rice, covered, until it’s sizzling and a crust forms on the bottom, about 5 minutes. Remove the pot from the heat and let it stand, covered, for about 5 minutes. Fluff the rice and serve.
Bon Appétit!
