5.29.2011

Vietnamese Egg Rolls


This is the kind of food that will make you happy when you eat it, after you eat it, and whenever you think about it after you've eaten it. It's a traditional Vietnamese dish that my family would make every time there was a reason for celebration (birthdays, holidays, anniversaries, etc), and it is a great meal to feed a crowd, though you may want a crowd to help you make it as well. A group effort definitely makes it go faster! The amount that I am writing the recipe for would easily feed 6-8.

Ingredients:
- 2 pounds ground beef/ground pork/any mixture of the two
- 2/3 cup "Dried Black Fungus" (2/3 cup dried/PRE-soaked)
- 2 little bundles "Glass" vermicelli noodles (typically come in a pink netted package with several bundles in each package)
- 1-2 large carrots, grated
- 1 large onion
- 1 Tablespoon Ground black pepper
- 8-10 dashes of Fish Sauce (straight from the bottle, not the mixed dipping sauce)
- 1 large egg
- 1 large egg white + 2 tablespoons of water
- 2 packages egg roll skins (there are lots of different varieties, and they are found in the freezer section of most asian stores. Make sure you take them out of the freezer and put them in the fridge the day before you want to make these so they have time to defrost.)
Served with:
- 2 packages dried Round Vermicelli noodles (interesting article on Vietnamese noodles here)
 (Make as directed, which is something close to boiling them for 5-7 minutes, or until they are soft. Rinse them with cold water; then when you are ready to serve, run them under hot water to warm them up again.)
- Bean sprouts
- Fresh basil
- Baby greens salad mix
- Crushed peanuts
- Dipping sauce     --------------------------------------------------------------->>> 
Dipping Sauce
- 1/2 cup Fish sauce (photo)
- 1/3 cup Rice vinegar (photo)
- Chili paste (1 tsp/to taste) (photo)
- 1/2 cup Sugar
- Several cloves of fresh chopped garlic
- 2-3 cups Very warm water

(If you want to make it like my family does, use 1 cup fish sauce, 1 cup sugar, and 1/2 cup vinegar instead of the quantities above. Yeah, pretty intense.)
Mix all together in a quart mason jar. Seal airtight in the refrigerator.



Assemble:
Soak the dried mushrooms and "glass" vermicelli noodles in room temp water for at least 15 minutes. The mushrooms should be completely rehydrated, and the noodles should be mostly translucent. Sometimes there are hard stem-like knobs on the mushrooms that I like to cut off and throw away. 
Mix together the ground meat, grated carrots, 1 whole egg, pepper, fish sauce. Chop the mushrooms till fine; a food processor works great for this.  Chop the onions as well; food processor works well again. Use kitchen scissors to cut the soaked noodles into approx 1-inch pieces and add. Mix well; using my hands works best for me. 
Before I roll, I usually take a half-dollar sized piece of the meat mixture and cook it in the microwave so I can taste it. I like to taste the meat before I make 75 egg rolls and have them maybe accidentally end up tasting yucky. Just an idea. 

After the meat mixture is ready, it's time to roll. Take out the egg roll skins, and cut them in half DIAGONALLY (from one corner to another). Mix together the egg white and water till its a bit frothy. You'll use this as an adhesive to keep the rolls from falling apart. 
Place one of the triangle skins on a flat workspace in front of you. The longest edge should be closest to you, with the apex of the isosceles triangle pointing away from you. Dab your finger into the egg white and apply generously to the top corner. Using a fork, place an approx 1-inch x 2 1/2 inch x 1 cm rectangle of meat mixture in the center along the bottom edge of the skin. Take the right corner and fold it directly over the meat, keeping the bottom edges on top of each other, then the left corner over to the right as well. Roll up snugly till the moistened top corner sticks to the roll. I hope that made sense; please comment and let me know if you can't figure it out! They should look something like those you see below. 

This process will take the longest. In this case, many hands definitely make light work. Roll, roll, roll!
Place them on a cookie sheet, and only stack them on top of each other if you put a later of plastic wrap between them. They WILL stick together and then tear when you try to pull them apart. 

After they are all rolled, you can keep them in the fridge to cook later that day, or the next day. I wouldn't recommend keeping them uncooked longer than that; their tendency to stick and rip increases with the time they sit uncooked. 

Fill a fryer with enough oil to cover the egg rolls when they are placed in the pan. Heat the oil first, then cook on medium high till they are nice and brown and crispy. Remember that they do have raw meat in them, so if you have the heat too high, the skins will brown or burn before the meat is cooked all the way through. Fry one or two, then break them open to see how long it takes for the meat to cook through; if they happen to be done, then of course you need to try them... somebody's got to make sure that they taste good... =) 


After they are done, let them drain on a paper-towel-covered plate to get the excess oil off.



Serve in big bowls layered as such (from bottom to top): bean sprouts, salad greens, noodles, fresh basil, egg rolls, chopped peanuts, and a generous helping of the dipping sauce (at least a 1/4 cup).
The picture below has everything on a plate instead of a bowl so you can see the layering and proportions a bit easier.

Enjoy!


5.27.2011

Apologies

Sorry I disappeared this week... Tyler left to study language abroad for the summer yesterday morning (he'll be gone three months), so we were busy at the beginning of this week and since he left, I haven't felt like doing much. I do have pictures in queue to be posted, so once I get the recipe written down, it will be coming your way. I promised him that I wouldn't do too much pity-me baking, but I definitely feel the need for something chocolate sometime soon. We'll see what happens =P.

5.18.2011

New Picture!

I quite literally could not wait long enough to eat this to go downstairs and get a sufficient camera while I dug in. So, here is a very low-quality picture off of my phone of the Cinnamon Pull-Apart bread finally. The recipe can be found HERE!

5.16.2011

Naan


You can find the recipe here as well as posted below. I actually grilled one side of each naan in a cast iron frying pan, then held the other side over the open flame of my gas burner stove with metal bbq prongs to get the nice burnt and bubbly look. Not necessary, but kinda cool. I also added some garlic powder to the dough, and it added a real nice flavor. I also did all of the kneading and rolling out on a big cutting board which made clean up SO much easier. I should have thought of that a long time ago. Enjoy!





  • 1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast
  • 1 cup warm water
  • 1/4 cup white sugar
  • 3 tablespoons milk
  • 1 egg, beaten
  • 2 teaspoons salt
  • 4 1/2 cups bread flour
  • 2 teaspoons minced garlic (optional)
  • 1/4 cup butter, melted

Directions

  1. In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Let stand about 10 minutes, until frothy. Stir in sugar, milk, egg, salt, and enough flour to make a soft dough. Knead for 6 to 8 minutes on a lightly floured surface, or until smooth. Place dough in a well oiled bowl, cover with a damp cloth, and set aside to rise. Let it rise 1 hour, until the dough has doubled in volume.
  2. Punch down dough, and knead in garlic. Pinch off small handfuls of dough about the size of a golf ball. Roll into balls, and place on a tray. Cover with a towel, and allow to rise until doubled in size, about 30 minutes.
  3. During the second rising, preheat grill to high heat.
  4. At grill side, roll one ball of dough out into a thin circle. Lightly oil grill. Place dough on grill, and cook for 2 to 3 minutes, or until puffy and lightly browned. Brush uncooked side with butter, and turn over. Brush cooked side with butter, and cook until browned, another 2 to 4 minutes. Remove from grill, and continue the process until all the naan has been prepared.

5.13.2011

The Best Appetizer Ever.

Mmmm. No explanation is really necessary. Just take it all in. And yes, it does taste as good as it looks. No, even better. 
If you tilt your head to the left as you look at this picture, you will see what my face looks like after eating this. Cross-eyed with delight and smiling like a fool. 

- Fresh sliced tomatoes
- Fresh mozzarella
- Fresh basil leaves 
- Freshly ground pepper
- Olive oil
- Balsamic vinegar
- Baguette (not pictured) to mop
up the remaining oil and vinegar





Combine those ingredients as pictured above, and the result should look something like this:









5.11.2011

Bacon/Asparagus Quinoa


So this is admittedly one of my strangest concoctions... It was a brainchild that resulted from plain ol' hunger and whatever I found in my cupboards and fridge. It ended up tasting like a kind of fried rice, with all the nutrients and protein of quinoa.
Ingredients:
- Quinoa, cooked as directed but with chicken or beef stock instead of water
- Bacon, cooked and cut into pieces
- Asparagus spears, cut into 1-inch pieces and boiled till tender
- Fresh chopped garlic to add to the quinoa after it's cooked

Mix it all up. I added some salt and pepper to taste. I can't say that this was the absolute best tasting thing I've ever made, but it was good, wholesome, very filling, and quinoa is supposedly the most healthy grain you can eat. So it's still a win-win for me =).



5.09.2011

Chicken/Bacon/Spinach Salad


This, my friends, is the good stuff. I love salads, but (I know this sounds weird) always had a hard time eating them without making a mess. But this is definitely worth the trouble.

(This is my anthro inspired re-covered ottoman which is now used as a coffee table/table/desk/ottoman/chair/pillow/couch extension)

Throw all of the following into a medium sized mixing bowl:
- Spinach
- Crumpled Bacon
- Sliced Chicken Breast
- Diced Fresh Tomatoes
- Fresh parmesan cheese
- Your favorite salad dressing (I used a nice balsamic vinaigrette)


Mix it all up together with tongs, and transport onto plate. I always like mixing everything up with the salad dressing before I put it all on my plate because it's a bit more ready-to-eat. You don't have to struggle with getting the dressing everywhere it needs to be while getting it everywhere it -doesn't- need to be. (I guess that's probably just something I deal with cause I'm special like that...)  Put a little extra parmesan cheese on top, and voila! And forever feel guilty for paying $13 for a fancy salad at Macaroni Grill. 

5.05.2011

Brownsies

I found this recipe when I was looking for something light and relatively healthy to bake. I have to admit that until this point, I had never actually made brownies before. Crazy, I know. I guess I could just never fully justify it; there is absolutely nothing redeemable in most brownie recipes. So when I found this recipe that used applesauce and only a 1/4 cup of sugar and 1/4 cup butter, I figured I should probably try it. Just for moral reasons. 
The result was a definitely more cake-like and much lighter than most typical heavy chewy brownies. Thus, the name "Brownsies." For me, I actually preferred them this way. But don't take my word for it...

Ingredients: 
- 1/4 cup butter
- 1/4 cup pure maple syrup
- 1/4 cup white sugar
- 1/3 cup applesauce
- 2 beaten eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/3 cup cocoa powder
- 1/3 cup (wheat if you want to be good) flour
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon baking powder

Make:
Preheat oven to 350*. Grease and flour a 8-inch pan. 
Brown the butter in a medium saucepan. Remove from heat and add sugar and all the wet ingredients; mix well. Mix the dry ingredients together, then add to wet mixture and mix well. 
Pour into pan and bake for 20 minutes. 



To make a simple frosting, combine 3 tablespoons butter, 3 tablespoons cocoa, 1 tablespoon honey, 1 teaspoon vanilla, and 1/2 cup powdered sugar. Spread while brownsies are still warm.


5.03.2011

Sauce

This family recipe was given to me by some good friends, so I'm not sure if I have permission to publish it quite yet. For now, I'll tempt you with pictures.





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