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| Vietnamese Spring Rolls | ||
I have put together a kind of handbook for spring rolls here, that include the basic building blocks, optional ingredients, and several sauces. Make them any way you'd like. Building Blocks: A) Rice
paper sheets (found at Asian markets and sometimes at supermarkets
now)
E) Dipping Sauces :
To Make and Serve: You can make the rolls yourself. Or, have everyone make their own at the table: Serve everyone a plate with the meat/seafood, which can be hot or cold. You can distribute the vegetables, herbs and vermicelli among everyone's plates, or make one big plate for everyone to pick from. Serve the rice paper on a plate with a wide bowl of warm water for moistening (I put water in a medium sized frying pan, since this is a good shape and has a handle.) - Don't take the rice papers out of the package until the last minute, since they will pickup moisture from the air and start to curl. Moisten the rice paper. Lay some of the ingredients in the middle. Wrap up, dip and enjoy! (hint: If you fold bottom over once the ingredients, then fold in the two sides, then finish rolling, it holds together better) If you want, you can wrap the lettuce around the completed spring roll, but it's easiest to dip and less messy if you put the lettuce inside the spring roll. Nuoc Cham Sauce You can put shredded carrot into this, like many restaurants do (although I think it's more for show than for taste so I don't bother) 1 Tb plus 2 tsp sugar Combine sugar, garlic and chilies in a mortar and pound to a paste (you can mash with the back of a spoon in a mixing bowl...I bet you could use a food processor too). Add lime juice and pulp and continue to blend. Add water and fish sauce and mix thoroughly. Makes about 3/4 cup. Hoisin Peanut Sauce 4 medium cloves garlic, peeled Mince the garlic in a food processor or by hand. Grind the peanuts to a coarse meal. Combine and mix in the remaining ingredients. Mint Dipping Sauce 2 cloves garlic, peeled and diced In a food processor, or by hand, mince the garlic, chili pepper, and mint together. Add the remaining ingredients and mix well until the sugar is dissolved. Rice Vermicelli Boil like you would any pasta. Keep separating with fork or pasta fork while cooking. When it's done (it only takes a few minutes), drain and spread out on a plate to cool. You might separate/fluff it a few times while cooling to prevent sticking. Meats and Seafoods You can always just grill or cook beef or pork without seasoning it. But if you want to give it some Asian flavor, here are my thoughts on cooking meat. Season it with a spice rub. One suggestion is to put the rub on the whole piece then let sit for 30 minutes, then grill, then slice thinly. Another suggestion is to slice it first, sprinkle with the rub, let sit 30 minutes, then grill the slices or put them on a cookie sheet and bake them in the oven at a high heat (maybe even broil them for a few minutes). You could probably fry them in a pan too, but if you do, it might work better if you use a tiny bit of oil and fry. Here's how I made a rub. You can do any combination of stuff. The brown sugar helps the meat caramelize and the salt is pretty mandatory, but you could probably use less if you like. A tsp might be a good-sized measurement
to use here for the "parts". With shrimp, you could probably also season it with a little of this rub, although too much could overwhelm the delicate flavor. I usually just cook it plain. Or marinate it in a little lime juice, safflower oil with a little sesame oil added, and with some of those spices. You could use crabmeat too (or "Krab"). Maybe even experiment with monkfish or other firm fish. _____________________________________________________________________________________________ List of Asian Market Ingredients - Rice paper sheets - these come in different sizes
and shapes. Any could work, but I use the larger round ones.
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