The more traditional version of this dish is Ốc xào me, or snails with tamarind sauce. For my North American context, snails aren’t necessarily an easy sell and they’re also not exactly easy to find as an ingredient....
This is my North American adaptation of an Australian take on a traditional Vietnamese technique for doing steamed fish, cá hấp. It’s great, though I won’t even begin to pretend this is authentic, or that I know anything about the cultural context....
The Slanted Door, in San Francisco, is one of my favorite restaurants. Possibly the first time I ever ate there, many years ago, I ordered the lemongrass chicken, and I set about trying to recreate it....