I am finally back to my normal eating and sleeping schedule. It has been almost two weeks since Kevin and I returned back to Ohio from our honeymoon in Italy and we already miss the endless supply of carbs (mostly pasta and pizza). We had to run quite a bit of errands over the weekend and stopped just long enough to savor some chicken wing vermicelli bowls. Vermicelli bowls are one of my favorite bowls to order whenever I eat at a Vietnamese restaurant. Growing up in Brooklyn, I grew accustomed to the ease of access I had to the local Vietnamese restaurant right by where my family lived. Whenever I had a craving for Vietnamese food, I would stop by the local restaurant and order myself a chicken, pork, or shrimp vermicelli bowl. Oftentimes, I may even order some summer and/or spring rolls. When I moved to Ohio, I missed the easy access I had to Vietnamese food immensely. If I wanted a good vermicelli bowl, I had to either drive quite a bit to the nearest Vietnamese restaurant to get my fix or make my own at home. I opted to make my own vermicelli bowls over the weekend using some chicken wings I had in my refrigerator. I started by marinating some chicken wings in a blend of my favorite Asian sauces. While the chicken wings were marinating, I prepared the lettuce, carrot, cucumber, cilantro, and vermicelli noodles for adding to my bowl. The base of my favorite vermicelli bowls always includes a combination of these ingredients cut into small pieces. Most of the elements of the vermicelli bowl are served cold. The protein, in this case, chicken wings, are the only items served hot. Once I finished preparing the cold ingredients, I cooked the chicken wings until golden brown in color. Depending on my mood, I would alternate between picking chicken, pork, or shrimp as the protein of choice for my vermicelli bowls. I put my own spin this time around by adding chicken wings. Vermicelli bowls are typically served with a side of sweet vinegar sauce. Instead of the sweet vinegar sauce, I topped my bowls with some sriracha, hoisin sauce, and soy sauce. My vermicelli bowls made for the perfect light lunch on a weekend. The contrast of the hot and cold ingredients balanced with the sweet and savory sauces made for the perfect, satisfying lunch bowl. Kevin absolutely loved the vermicelli bowl and wished there were more chicken wings in his bowl. My chicken wing vermicelli bowls gave me the fuel I needed to power through the rest of the weekend and start the work week off on a strong note.
For the chicken wings:
· 1 teaspoon fish sauce
· 1 teaspoon Shaoxing wine
· 1 teaspoon hoisin sauce
· 1 teaspoon honey
· 2 teaspoons soy sauce
· 3-4 chicken wings, drums and middle parts separated
· 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
For the rest of the bowl:
· ¼ package dried rice vermicelli
· 1 carrot, peeled and julienned
· 1 small cucumber, thinly sliced
· 3 large leaves of Romaine lettuce, thinly sliced
· 6-8 sprigs of cilantro
· 2 stalks of scallions, thinly sliced on a diagonal, green parts and white parts separated
For serving:
· sriracha
· hoisin sauce
· soy sauce
Directions:
1) In a bowl, combine the fish sauce, Shaoxing wine, hoisin sauce, honey, and soy sauce. Add the separated chicken wings to the bowl. Set aside. Allow the chicken wing parts to marinate for 5-10 minutes.
2) Cook the rice vermicelli according to the package instructions. Set aside. Prepare all of the ingredients that will go into the vermicelli bowl (carrot, cucumber, lettuce, cilantro, and scallions). Set aside.
3) Heat a skillet on medium heat. Once hot, add a tablespoon of vegetable oil and the white parts of the scallions to the skillet. Let the scallions infuse with the oil for about 30 seconds. Add the separated chicken wings. Cook for 5-7 minutes per side, until the chicken wing parts are browned and cooked through. Turn off heat. Let the chicken wings rest for 5 minutes before serving.
4) Assemble the vermicelli bowls by equally distributing the vermicelli, julienned carrot, thinly sliced cucumber, thinly sliced lettuce, cilantro sprigs, and scallions between the two bowls. Distribute the chicken wing parts equally between the two bowls.
5) Serve the vermicelli bowls with sriracha, hoisin sauce, and soy sauce.
Takeaways: The vermicelli bowls can easily be customized with your favorite vegetables and protein. Sometimes, I may add some thinly sliced onion to my vermicelli bowls for an extra crunch. If you prefer beef or pork, you can follow the same marinating and cooking process above adjusting the cooking time based on the protein of choice.