Dinner · 60 min · vietnamese

Lau Chay

Weeknight-friendly Vietnamese cooking: Lau Chay comes together in 60 minutes with vegetable stock, lemongrass, and not much else.

✓ USDA-verified nutrition data

Ingredients

• 10 cups Vegetable stock
• 4 stalks Lemongrass
• 1 2-inch piece Fresh ginger
• 3 tbsp Fermented tofu
• 3 Tomatoes
• 1 cup Pineapple
• 2 cups Taro
• 8 oz Fried tofu puffs
• 8 oz King oyster mushrooms
• 1 lb Baby bok choy
• 1 bunch Water spinach
• 8 oz Thin rice noodles
• 1 cup Fresh herbs
• 1 Lime
• 2 Red chilies
• 1/4 cup Soy sauce

Steps

1. Bruise the lemongrass and char it with the ginger in a dry pot until fragrant. Charred aromatics give the broth a smoky backbone that plain simmered vegetables cannot.
2. Add the stock, quartered tomatoes, and pineapple. Whisk the fermented tofu with a ladle of hot broth until smooth, then stir it in. It smells funky from the jar and melts into pure savory depth.
3. Simmer 20 minutes, then season with soy sauce until the broth tastes bright and deeply savory.
4. Set a portable burner at the table with the simmering broth. Arrange everything else on platters: taro and mushrooms first, greens and tofu puffs within reach, noodles in a bowl of warm water.
5. Cook in order of density: taro goes in first since it takes 10 minutes, then mushrooms, then tofu puffs, then quick greens last. Fish things out as they turn tender.
6. Ladle broth over noodles in individual bowls and add cooked vegetables from the pot. Serve soy sauce with lime and sliced chilies for dipping. The pot keeps going as long as the conversation does.

Build my plan — free

← All recipes