Shrimp Spring Rolls and Peanut Sauce

I LOVE Vietnamese food and spring rolls are probably one of my favorite Vietnamese foods to eat. The best part is that it is actually super easy to make! Aside from boiling a few items together, there isn't a whole lot of cooking involved. I usually prefer this with a peanut sauce, but you can eat this with prepared fish sauce too. I absolutely love how light the meal is but yet filling at the same time. I was able to make about twenty spring rolls with this recipe, but this can vary depending on how small or big you make it. I think that this is the perfect meal to get the whole family involved in making.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 package of a 14 oz bag of vermicelli noodles
• 1 package of rice paper
• 3/4-1 lb shrimp, cooked
• 1 head of lettuce
• 1 long cucumber or 2 short cucumbers, peeled
• 2 C mint leaves
• 1 C hoisin sauce
• 2 tbs creamy peanut butter
• 1 C crushed peanuts
• chili garlic oil sauce (optional)
• 1 bunch of scallions, cut in halves (optional)

Instructions:

• Start by washing and preparing the veggies and letting it drain while you prepare the peanut sauce.
• For the cucumber: cut off the ends, cut in half (long cucumbers only), then cut in half again length wise like the picture above.
• Scope out the seeds in and cut into long thin pieces.

• Boil just a little over 1 quart of water and add noodles when it comes to a boil. I typically end up cooking the noodles longer than the package states. Do a strand test to be sure the noodle is just soft enough but not soggy.
• When the noodles are cooked, drain them but do not dump the starchy water! I like to use this for the sauce because it creates a thicker consistency than water.
• Rinse the noodles with cold water and set aside.
• Pour 4 C of the noodle water in a pot and bring to a boil.
• Add the hoisin sauce and peanut butter. Stir well and add hot sauce if desired.
• Let cool and it will thicken a little more.

Now, get a large bowl of hot water ready and set up the assembly line like this:

(Use a round plate slightly bigger than the size of the rice paper)

• Let the water cool enough so that it is hot but will not burn. Dip the rice paper in the water and place on the plate. The trick is to dip quickly, rotate the rice paper, and continue until it is mostly wet. You do not want it to be too wet and soggy because it will stick together and become difficult to work with. Once it is on the plate, you can use your fingers to spread the wet dry areas.
• Start by laying down a piece of lettuce towards the bottom of the paper (closest to you). Then, add noodles, cucumbers, and mint.

• Fold the lettuce in half to encase the other ingredients and place it about 2/3 down the rice paper.

• Fold the bottom of the paper up over the veggies, then fold in both sides neatly.

• Lay 3-4 shrimps in a row above the veggies. By doing this, you get to showcase the shrimp. This is a better presentation in my opinion. I have also noticed that this keeps the shrimp from dropping out when you dip it in the sauce.
• Add a piece of green onion between the shrimp and veggies, if desired.

Roll it up as snuggly as you can and there you have it!

Get your peanut sauce, toss in some crushed peanuts, and enjoy!

Ginger Chicken and Stir-Fried Garlic Green Beans

Today I made ginger chicken again. I made it for the first time a couple of weeks ago from a recipe that I found on PBS Foods and really enjoyed it. I couldn't wait to make it again. If you like ginger and a clean tasting meal, then give this a recipe try: Indulge in Sweet and Savory Ginger Chicken. I paired it with some crisp garlic stir-fried green beans.

*Snapshot from PBS Food

• I added a dash of black pepper, chili powder, and a spoonful of hot chili oil while cooking. Give that a try if you like spicy.
• I used about 1.5 lb of chicken breast and doubled the rest of the ingredients. Do this if you like sauces and want a slightly more flavorful taste.
• I did not use oil during cooking.
• I like to use longer cut pieces of scallions during cooking and garnish with smaller chopped pieces.

 Instructions:

• Mix the soy sauce, sake, honey, and ginger. Pour the mixture in a ziplock bag, add cubed chicken, and shake well. Let that sit in the fridge for 30 mins.
• After you remove the meat from the fridge, cook at medium heat for about 10 mins uncovered. Add your spicy ingredients, if preferred.
• Lower the heat and cover for about 5 minutes.
• Uncover, add your longer cut scallions, and cook for 2 minutes.
• Remove from heat and garnish with smaller cut scallions.

The green beans are super easy to make and I thought it went well with the chicken. I stirred fried about 1 lb of green beans with a small minced onion and about 2 tbs of minced garlic. Add a dash of pepper and salt to taste. I cooked this dish about 8 mins uncovered, 3 mins covered, then 3 mins uncovered. You can change this up to achieve your desired level of crispness (or softness).

Kaeng Hang Lay (Burmese/Thai Pork Belly Curry)

I went to a Thai restaurant called Pok Pok in Portland with a few people this summer.  I was terribly sick during our entire Seattle/Portland trip, so I didn't get a chance to taste much of the food.  Everyone thought the food there was delicious and the favorite was a Burmese/Thai pork belly curry called Kaeng Hang Lay (or Kaeng Hung Leh and other variations).  When we came back from our trip, I decided that I needed to make this based on the rave reviews.  After finding many recipes, I finally decided to go with this one: http://www.austinbushphotography.com/blog/how-to-make-kaeng-hang-lay.html.  This looked the most authentic and the pictures of the old lady making this in the kitchen of her home in Thailand was too perfect.  I've made this twice very recently and this is probably in my top 3 favorite dishes and the BF approves!

Here is a picture of the curry, about an hour into cooking.  I don't have any process pictures right now, but the link provided above has some you can check out.

Spicy, savory, D-E-L-I-S-H!

Ingredients:

*Snapshot from the original poster's blog

• Make sure you have a good butcher knife to cut through the pork belly skin.  After learning from my time, I tipped the butcher to cut it up for me into 1.5 in pieces.
• I also only used 6-7 chili peppers (use even less if you don't care for spicy).
• For the store-bought chili sauce, I used chili pepper soaked in a hot oil that comes in a jar in asian stores.  This is much hotter than Sriracha or other bottled sauces (i.e. Lee Kum Kee).  This was also why I cut back on the fresh chili peppers.  You'll have to customize this to your liking and based on what you can find.
• I didn't use any oil since I was using a non-stick pot and because there is plenty of fat from the meat.

Modified Instructions:

• Using a mortar and pestle (or whatever you might have available in the kitchen) combine the ingredients for the chili paste.  I didn't have any issues with just using a bowl and the flat side of a whisk.  I smashed it up just enough to break down the contents some.
• If you didn't get your pork belly pre-cut, then cut it into 1.5 in pieces.  Toss this in a large pot and add the chili paste you just made, chili sauce, ketchup, soy sauce, turmeric powder and marsala powder.  Mix it up well and stick this in the fridge for 30 mins.
• Heat the pot at medium heat after you remove it from the fridge.  I tossed (not stirred) it up enough just to keep meat from sticking to the bottom, but was careful not to over do it.  This helped seal the mixture.  Do this for 5 mins, then add just enough water to cover the pork.
• Let it go to boil, then lower the heat and let it simmer for 1.5 hrs.  Check it constantly to make sure that the liquid doesn't get reduced too quickly within the first 30 mins.  After the first 30 mins, liquid reduction is fine.  In order to get the meat to cook evenly and keep parts of the meat from getting dry (exposed areas), I constantly turned the pieces of meat over (with minimal stirring).
• Add the last rest of the shallots and garlic and ginger.  Cook for about 20 mins and then add tamarind, sugar, and salt to your liking (personally, I prefer 1-1.5 tsp of tamarind, 1/4 tsp of sugar, and no salt).
• Cook for another 10 mins or until the meat and skin is tender (the skin should be pulling from the meat).

It seemed a little intimidating when I first looked into the recipes and it requires a lot of "babying",  but it was well worth it!