The sun was shining, the breeze was wafting through my 3rd floor apartment, and it really felt like spring -- and that always puts me in mind of dishes that use fresh greens, raw and crispy!
You may have found Vietnamese salad rolls in a restaurant, but they are easy and fun to make at home.
While the traditional roll includes shrimp and mint leaves, this dish can be used like a taco -- make it fusion, and use what you have.
My wrappers, yesterday, used:
shredded carrots
very fresh bean sprouts
watercress leaves, on the stem
shredded green onion
japanese shredded ginger pickles
shredded chicken
tofu puffs (for my son, who thought the chicken was "too soft")
very fresh bean sprouts
watercress leaves, on the stem
shredded green onion
japanese shredded ginger pickles
shredded chicken
tofu puffs (for my son, who thought the chicken was "too soft")
Here's how you make the dipping sauce:
One part honey
Two parts rice vinegar
One part finely chopped peanuts (or less, to taste)
Two parts rice vinegar
One part finely chopped peanuts (or less, to taste)
I serve the sauce in individual ramekins (custard cups).
The trickiest thing is the rice wrappers -- until you figure them out!
They come out of the package looking like thin sheets of woven plastic. Soften them at the table. In a round shallow dish -- perhaps a pretty tart pan -- heat up some water to a comfortable but hot temperature. Lave the wrappers, one at a time, in the water, first one side, then leave them in on the other side. It takes 20-30 seconds for them to soften up, depending on the water temperature.
This is a great job for a young person at the table -- to keep the wrappers coming for everyone else.
Only take as many as you'll need out of the package, since they draw water from the air, and you can't really put them back. Seal the package air-tight if you don't use a whole package at once. This is a good application for the little dessicant packets you might have from something else, if you save those.
Each person takes a wrapper, loads it up (lightly! they're fragile), and wraps it like a flauta or thin burrito. Voila! The center of dinner.
On the side, we had fresh crisp radishes, with a tiny dish of salt for dipping. For dessert we had lotus bean pastries from the Chinese grocery.
After the meal, I took the leftover veggies and dipping sauce and dumped them in the broth from preparing the chicken. That was breakfast -- and a good memory -- this morning!
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