Vietnamese Salad Rolls

With the summer heat making it almost unbearable to use the oven and stove without causing one to go into a gross sweat, I decided upon making a dish that would be quick, fun, easy and anti-diaphoretic. I'd always wanted to try making Vietnamese Salad rolls, as I often buy them for a quick lunch at my favorite Asian supermarket T&T. They usually come 3 to a pack and are accompanied by a delicious satay-peanut sauce. However, since I'm trying to save money (what with the crazy HST kicking in and making everything 12% more expensive then necessary) I thought I should try to save money by making my own salad rolls. Also... it's more fun making your own food :P
Vietnamese Salad Rolls (Yields 14 rolls)

Ingredients:
- 14 pieces of Rice Paper Sheets
- 21 pieces of shrimp, cooked
- 115g rice noodles
- 2 cloves garlic, minced very finely
- 2 tbsp ginger, grated finely
- 1/2 small onion, finely chopped
- 2 tsp soy sauce, or more to taste (add slowly - a little goes a long way)
- Pinch of sugar, to taste- 1 tsp white vinegar or rice wine vinegar- 1/3 cup carrots, shredded
- 1/3 cup snow peas, diced
- 1 cup lettuce, shredded
- Hoisin sauce, Sweet Chili sauce, or Spicy Peanut Sauce (see recipe below) to serve
Method:
1. Prepare the shrimp by cooking them and cutting them in half lengthwise; set aside.
2. Prepare Rice Noodle Filling: Place rice noodles in a bowl and cover with boiling water. Let stand for 2 minutes, strain, rinse with cold water, strain again to remove any access water and set aside in a large mixing bowl. To the noodles, add the grated ginger, garlic, onion, soy sauce, sugar, vinegar, carrots and peas. Toss well with tongs to combine the ingredients and set aside.

Note: Adjust the flavor of the filling to your liking by adding soy sauce (to increase saltiness), sugar (to alter sweetness) or vinegar (to adjust sourness). Other vegetables may also be used in lieu of or in addition to the carrots and peas. Examples: shredded cucumber, green onions, sliced red pepper, sweet corn niblets and any other summer vegetable you enjoy!
3. Prepare Your Work Station: Arrange your work station so it is easy to wrap your salad rolls.
- Soak a clean cloth in warm water and ring until all excess water is removed, place on your work station.
- To the right of your cloth-covered wrapping area have the filling (noodles, shrimp, lettuce) ready to go.
- To the left of your wrapping area have a shallow pan of lukewarm water ready for soaking the dry rice paper sheets.
- Have a dish ready to place your completed salad rolls.

My poorly drawn illustration of what my wrapping-station looked like.

Rice noodle filling atop a sheet of rice paper

4. Ready to Wrap: Quickly dip 1 sheet of dry rice paper in the pan of water, wetting one side and then flipping it over to wet the other side. Place the rice roll on the damp cloth on your wrapping area, fold cloth to cover the rice wrap and let it remain covered for ~30seconds. Unfold cloth, place 3 half-pieces of shrimp onto the lower 1/3rd of the rice sheet, cover with some lettuce and place some noodle filling on top. Fold the lower portion of the rice sheet to cover the filling, fold in the left and right sides of the rice sheet and then roll the rice sheet to make your salad roll. Repeat process for the remaining salad rolls.

5. Can be stored in the fridge, but is best served the say of preparation. Serve chilled, with Hoisin Sauce, Sweet Chili Sauce or Spicy Peanut Sauce.

Spicy Peanut Sauce (Yields 1/3 cup sauce)

Ingredients:
- 3 tbsp crunchy peanut butter
- 1 tbsp ginger, minced
- 1/2 tsp sambal oelek
- 1/2 tsp sriracha (adjust to spice preference)
- 1 clove of garlic, minced
- 1 tsp soy sauce
- 1 tsp white vinegar
- 1/2 tsp sugar
- 1/2 tsp chili pepper flakes
- 1 to 2 tbsp warm water

Method:
1. Whisk together all ingredients in a small bowl.

I more or less guesstimated how to make these salad rolls, but a friend of mine liked this dish so I'm trying to standardize my ingredients list and the method. I think I've recreated the recipe to be almost exactly like the rolls I made yesterday, so if there are any issues with it please let me know and I'll try and touch it up a bit.

I will most definitely be making these salad rolls again sometime soon, especially if the weather continues to be unbearable warm. Well, since the weather is so nice, I should probably go out and enjoy it... so, bye bye computer :P

Soba Time

I decided on a minimalist meal for lunch today. Its not that I was feeling lazy and not wanting to cook up anything spectacular, it's just that for some reason (probably from watching too much Gintama) I was craving the simple Japanese dish of Kake Soba (hot soba noodles, in soup with scallions). After cooking the soba noodles to an aldente state, I made my soba soup using a pre-made soba dipping sauce. I did not really use a standardized recipe, but simply eye-balled all the ingredients (I'm slowly becoming more like Rachel Ray) and seasoned it to my personal taste. I added some water and soy sauce to the pre-made dipping sauce, mixed in some granulated sugar and minced ginger, and brought the whole mixture to a boil. Once the soup boiled, I added in the chopped scallions and turned off the heat (I didn't want the scallions to start wilting on me). I placed servings of soba noodles in each of the bowls, and topped the noodles with some sliced nori, julienned green onions (julienned carrots would have been a nice addition) and sesame seeds. I slowly poured the hot soup over the cooked noodles, and lunch was ready to be served.

To get more information on soba noodles, and a few great recipes check out Just Hungry. This site has a ton of great information specifically relating to Japanese cuisine.

Lunch-time Delights: Coconut Lemongrass Noodles

I felt like using some coconut milk and noodles to make a yummy soup for lunch. So, I scoured my cookbook-full shelf in search of the perfect recipe. I finally settled on this recipe from "Cooking Smart for a Healthy Heart"... an amazing book that I had purchased at Winners quite a while back, but had not used before. Well, it's never too late to make something new...

Chicken with Lemongrass (serves 4)
Adapted from Cook Smart for a Healthy Heart

Ingredients:
- 1 small red chili, split open but left whole (I used 2 dried red chilies that had been soaked in hot water for 10mins)
- 1 garlic clove, cut in half
- 1 cm fresh ginger, peeled and cut into 4 slices
- 2 stalks lemongrass, bruised and cut in half
- 1 cm piece of galangal (my addition to this recipe)
- 650g bone-in chicken pcs (I used chicken breast)
- 1 shallot, finely chopped
- 250g green beans, trimed and cut into bite-sized pcs
- 1 zucchini, sliced lengthwise
- 1/3 cup coconut milk
- grated rind and juice of 1 lime
- salt + pepper to taste
- 2 tbsp fresh coriander, chopped (garnish)
- 200g uncooked egg noodles (or whatever noodles you like)

Method:
1. Boil 4 cups of water in a large saucepan over high heat. Spear chili, garlic, ginger and galangal on a skewer and add it to the pan with the lemongrass. Continue boiling for 1 minute, remove from heat, cover and set aside to infuse for 30mins.

2. Return liquid to a boil, reduce heat to low. Add chicken, shallots and green beans; poach for 12-15mins or until chicken is cooked. Add in the zucchini slices for the final 2 mins of cooking.

3. Transfer chicken, beans and zucchini to a warmed bowl. Add a little of the poaching liquid to keep them moist, cover tightly and keep warm.

4. Return liquid to a boil and add the coconut milk, stirring until it dissolves. Continue boiling for 5-6mins, or until liquid has reduced by 1/3rd.

5. Remove chicken meat from bones and shred it. Return chicken, beans and zucchini to the soup and stir, reheating briefly. Add in grated lime rind and juic, season with salt and pepper.

6. Cook the noodles as directed and divide them amongst your serving dishes. Divide the chicken and vegetables amongst the 4 soup bowls, spoon the liquid over the noodles and meat, discard the lemongrass and skewer. Sprinkle with coriander and serve.

I was a little disappointed with the taste of this dish. I was expecting something very strong, sour, savory and coconuty. But instead, this dish was far from rich, not spicy enough and lacked the strong tang of "real" thai food. Alas, I will have to search for a better recipe next time... oh well, at least this recipe's healthy for my heart.

Lunch-time Delight: Tuna Fettucine with Red-wine & Garlic Sauce

Going crazy with trying out different types of vinegar (*drool* vinegar is so tasty); last time I used Balsamic, but this time I decided to use red-wine vinegar. We had some left-over fettucine hanging out in the fridge and I wasn't really wanting to go through the hastle of making an entire meal from scratch (shame on me, I know!) and some canned tuna left-over from Macaroni Bake last Monday. My mind was racing with different combinations of ingredients, and as I tossed the carefully chosen ingredients into the sizzling pan I felt just like a real italian chef. I was frying the aromatics in the tangy sauce, adding in the pasta and tossing it around in the pan with (and without) my fancy cooking tongs. Oh what fun can be had in the kitchen!

Fettucine with Red-wine and Garlic Sauce

Ingredients:
- 2 cups cooked fettucine pasta
- 1/4 cup canned tuna, flaked
- 1/2 cup cilantro, finely chopped
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 1 shallot, sliced
- 1 small onion, very thinly sliced
- 2 tbsp mustard
- 2 tbsp honey
- 1/2 cup red wine vinegar

Method:
1. In a bowl, toss together cooked pasta, tuna and cilantro until well combined
2. Heat mustard, honey, vinegar in a non-stick pan over medium heat. Mixing well to blend the ingredients
3. Add in shallot, garlic and onions; frying for 1 minute, or until raw smell is removed
4. Add pasta mixture to pan and toss until pasta is well coated with the sauce. Continue to fry pasta just until heated through.
5. Remove from heat and serve.

I quite enjoyed this dish. Anything with vinegar in it, I will devour. The tangy punch of the red-wine vinegar, mixed with sweetness of the honey, adds a beautifully full body to this pasta dish. Again, my mom had come back from work just in time to help herself to some of this pasta. She's not really into the fancy-schmancy dishes of pasta (she'd rather just have alfredo or tomato sauce with meatballs) but she did comment on how unique the flavor was. I suppose that's a compliment, but to tell you the truth, the only opinion that really matters is your own. I loved this meal, and I will definitely be making it again! Bon Appetite

SHF #42: Matcha Tortellini

March 29th:

Ooooo... this is my kind of event. I'm so excited to be doing another SHF, it makes me feel so creative. With the theme being 'Asian Sweet Invasion', I think I'll know my way around using some interesting Asian ingredients. The thing I have to decide on is what ingredient I want to use, and what traditional recipe do I want to play around with to make my new creation?

April 17th:

Yes! I've finally completed (well, semi-completed) my SHF recipe. It took me soooo long to decide on what I would make. I knew it would have to be something different, but not so different that no one in my family would touch it :P What would I make for the Asian Sweet Invasion? (see link: http://www.lapetiteboulangette.com/2008/03/shf-asian-sweet-invasion.html) I wanted to fuse two different types of cuisine, and I determined that Italian and Japanese were my best options. Although they are quite different in terms of style and ingredients, I knew that these two would work together beautifully. So... voila! I came up with Matcha Tortellini with Adzuki-Coconut Filling.

Matcha Tortellini

(Yields approximately 16 pieces of tortellini + some tasty scraps)

Ingredients:

- 1 egg, beaten

- 2 tbsp water

- 3 tbsp matcha powder

- 3 tbsp confectioner's sugar

- 1 cup flour

- 1 recipe of Adzuki-Coconut filling (recipe follows)

Method:

1. On a clean surface, mix together the flour, matcha and sugar until combined.

2. Make a well in the center and add in the egg and water.

3. Use your hands to combine the egg and flour until it forms a ball.

4. Form into a square, wrap in cling-wrap and let rest in the fridge for 30mins.

5. Place dough on a well-floured surface and roll-out until very thin (1/6th inch).

6. Use a 2 1/2 inch round, pastry-cutter to cut out pasta circles.

7. Fill each circle with 1 tsp of adzuki filling, moisten edge of circle with water and fold over into a semi-circle.

8. Press the pointed edges together and voila! You have tortellini that is ready to be boiled (or fried, and had with ice cream!)

Adzuki-Coconut Filling

Ingredients:

- 1 egg yolk

- 1/4 cup adzuki bean paste

- 1 heaping tbsp coconut cream

- 1 tsp sugar

- 1 tbsp toasted sesame seeds (optional)

Method:

1. Mix filling ingredients together until they are well combined. Use with matcha tortellini recipe!

I'm planning on frying these babies tonight. I'll post the photos when I'm done indulging in my Asian Creation! Until then...

Lunch-time Delight: Korean Noodle Stir Fry

Hurrying home from my last class of the day before the Easter long-weekend, my mind was racing. Yeah! I'm finally free (well, for the next 4 days) from the burden of having to use my mind :P Well, my sisters decided that they would have cup-o-noodles today... because I "deprived" them (their words) of eating it the other day, when I prepared the soup and Sweet-potato bread. I wasn't particularly fond of the thought of eating wax-covered, styrofoam encased, under-cooked, cup-noodles so... I whipped up a creation of my own. Inspired by the thought of noodles, I decided that I'd do a stir-fry version, and I ended up with this...

Korean Noodle Stir Fry

Serves 2

Ingredients

- 150g dried egg noodles

- 2 tbsp vegetable oil

- 1 shallot, minced

- 1 clove of garlic, minced

- 2 tsp ginger, minced

- 1/2 medium onion, sliced into semicircles

- 1/3 cup zucchini, julienned

- 1/3 cup cabbage, chopped

- 1/2 tomato, diced

- 3 heaping tbsp soy bean paste (doenjang)

- 2 tsp soy sauce

- A handful of cooked shrimp (frozen & defrosted)

- 1/4 cup of sliced meat (I used pork, but chicken or beef can work)

Method

1. Boil egg noodles and cook until al dente. Once cooked, rinse under cold water, drain and set aside.

2. Heat oil in a frying pan over medium heat. Fry onions, garlic, ginger and shallots until fragrant.

3. Add in tomato, zucchini and cabbage, continuing to fry until zucchini is slightly tender.

4. Add in bean paste, and stir in soy sauce. Continue to mix until well incorporated. Stir in the shrimp, meat and egg noodles; cook until heated through.

5. Dish out and serve!

This actually turned out to be an unexpected treat. I really enjoyed the fragrant taste of the soy bean paste, and it added a hint of spiciness to the dish as well. My mom came home just after I had prepared this dish (that makes plenty for 2 people) and she was starving. Yeah! The perfect person to try out my new creation. She liked the spice of the paste as well, but couldn't quite figure out what it was until I told her. Just a month ago, she had complained that we would never finish all of the paste... but using it in this dish, I showed her that we could do it!

Click on the link for more information on soybean paste (doenjang).

Lazy Lasagna

Decided to use up some left-overs again (surprise, surprise). This time it was rotini pasta. I was really craving lasagna but was too lazy to go out and buy the lasagna pasta, and since I had a lot (about 4L) of rotini I thought that this would do. Surprisingly everyone else in the family was delighted to have this faux-sagna! I used this recipe for the "Lazy Lasagna", but instead of spaghetti sauce, I used low-sodium tomato sauce and added in my own mix of herbs. I'm sure you could use macaroni or any other shaped pasta and it would taste just as good. As you can see, the family dug right into the "lasagna" with two large spoons :P ... that means it's gotta be good!

Lunch-time Delight: Thai Noodle Salad

My second attempt at creating a healthy and delicious lunch for myself. The other night my family had spaghetti with pasta sauce and like always... we ended up with leftover pasta, but not enough pasta sauce to go with it! What were we to do? My dad usually stir-fries the leftover noodles with veggies, chicken, soy sauce and chili... but this time I wanted to be extra creative and make up a recipe using the spaghetti noodles. And here's my recipe for Thai Noodle Salad...

Thai Noodle Salad With Peanut Sauce

Ingredients:

- 350g spaghetti (cook as directed)

- 1/4 cup sesame seeds

- 1/4 plus 2 tbsp natural peanut butter

- 1/4 cup sesame oil

- 1/3 cup roasted peanuts/cashews (or other nuts)

- 1/3 cup low-sodium soy sauce

- 1 tbsp rice wine vinegar

- 1 tbsp sherry

- 2 garlic cloves

- 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes

- 3/4 cup coconut milk

- 1 tbsp thai red curry paste

- 1 tsp sambal olek

- 2 tbsp brown sugar

Method:

1. in a food processor, combine the peanut butter, sesame oil, peanuts, soy sauce, vinegar, sherry, garlic and red pepper flakes. Process to puree.

2. Mix the curry paste, sambal and brown sugar into the coconut milk, until well combined.

3. Add the coconut mixture to the peanut mixture, and process to mix.

4. Stir in half of the sesame seeds.

Assembly:

1. Drain noodles and place them in a bowl.

2. Add in the peanut/coconut sauce and toss the noodles.

3. Place serving sizes into individual bowls and sprinkle the noodles with remaining sesame seeds. Serve noodles garnished with your choice of chopped green onions, grated carrot, cilantro, cucumber or all of the above.

NOTE: This recipe can be served warm or cold. If preparing the recipe ahead of time, you must keep the noodles and sauce stored separately; combine the two just before serving... otherwise the noodles will absorb all of the sauce and get soggy.