Vietnamese-style Stuffing

INGREDIENTS

• 250g dried bread cubes (See Notes)
• 150g shallot
• 100g celery
• 100g unsalted butter
• 1 egg
• 300ml chicken broth
• 4tsp fish sauce
• 1tsp ground black pepper
• 1tsp five spice powder
• 20g cilantro
• 15g tía tô (purple perilla)
• Unsalted butter or olive oil for greasing

DIRECTIONS

1. Dice celery and shallot.
2. Chop cilantro and tía tô.
3. Preheat oven to 180°C/350°F.
4. Melt butter in a large skillet on medium heat.
5. Add in the diced shallot & celery.
6. Season with black pepper, fish sauce, and five spice powder. Depending on the salt content of your broth, you may need to adjust the amount of fish sauce.
7. Reduce heat to medium low and sauté until soft and shallots have browned slightly, about 10 minutes.
8. Stir in half of the broth and turn off heat.
9. Add the bread cubes to a large mixing bowl.
10. Pour the mixture over the bread cubes along with the herbs and mix to combine. Let cool (to prevent the egg from cooking in Step 12).
11. Beat the egg with the remaining broth.
12. Pour over the bread cubes and fold gently to combine.
13. Grease a baking dish with melted unsalted butter or olive oil.
14. Transfer the stuffing to the prepared baking dish and cover with foil.
15. Bake for 30 minutes.
16. Uncover and bake for another 15 minutes or until the top is golden and crispy.

NOTES

Dried bread cubes: You can either buy packaged bread cubes or make your own like I did. Get yourself a loaf of bread (I chose a basic country loaf), cut it up into pieces between 1-2cm (depending if you prefer a more uniform stuffing or a more rustic one with bigger pieces), and toast them on a baking sheet at 180C/350F for 10-15 minutes until they are dry and crispy.

Recipe Source: MMBonAppétit