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Appetizer
Grilled
Pork Meat Ball (Nem Nuong)
Barbecued Shrimp Paste on Sugar Cane
(Chao Tom)
Thit Bo Cuon La Luop (Vietnamese Beef in Grape Leaves)
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Grilled
Pork Meat Ball (Nem Nuong) |
Ingredient:
- 2 T fish sauce
- 1 T vegetable oil
- 2 t sugar
- 1 small shallot, peeled and minced
- 1 small clove garlic, peeled and minced
- Freshly ground black pepper to taste
- 1 pound ground pork
- 2 T potato starch
- Bamboo skewers, soaked for 20 minutes and drained
Instruction:
- Whisk together the fish sauce, oil and sugar until the sugar is completely dissolved, stir in the shallot and garlic, season with pepper and stir the meat into the marinade until evenly coated. Refrigerate and marinate for 1 hour.
- Place the pork between the palms of your hands and squeeze tightly to get rid of the excess liquid, then put in a container set in the freezer for 1 hour. Put the partially frozen pork in a food processor and pulse to loosen the meat, about 2 minutes. Add the potato starch and continue pulsing until mixture has a firm, paste-like consistency, about 5 minutes.
- Pinch off about 1 T of the pork paste and form it into a ball, repeat until you have used up the paste (makes 20 meatballs). Cook on a well oiled grill pan over medium high heat by rolling the meatballs around in the pan until they are cooked through (5-7 minutes) and browned. Serves 4-6
Nuoc Leo (Peanut Dipping Sauce)
- 1 T peanut oil
- 1 large clove garlic, peeled and minced
- 1 or more bird's eye or Thai chilies, seeded and minced
- 3 ounces unsalted roasted peanuts, finely ground
- 1 c chicken broth
- 1/3 c unsweetened coconut milk
- 1 T hoisin sauce
- 1 T fish sauce
- 1 T sugar
- 1 T chopped unsalted roasted peanuts for garnish
Heat the oil in a small saucepan over medium heat and when hot, add the garlic and chiles and stir fry about 5 minutes until fragrant, add the ground peanuts and stir fry 5 minutes more. Add the chicken broth, coconut milk, hoisin sauce, fish sauce and sugar, and bring just to a boil over medium heat. Reduce heat to low and simmer until the oil from the peanuts starts to surface then transfer the sauce to a heatproof serving bowl, garnish with reserved chopped peanuts and serve. Makes about 2 cups.
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Barbecued Shrimp Paste on Sugar Cane
(Chao Tom) |
Ingredients: Makes 12 rolls or serves 6.
- 1 lb Shrimp, shelled and deveined
- 2 ts Salt
- 2 Garlic cloves
- 2 Shallots
- 2 ts Sugar
- 1/4 ts Black pepper
- 1 tb Toasted rice powder
- 1 tb Vietnamese fish sauce (nuoc mam)
- 2 tb Ice water
- Vegetable oil to oil your -hands
- Three 6-inch long canned -sugar cane sections
- 1 Cucumber, peeled and cut into thin slivers
- 1 cup Fresh mint leaves
- 1 cup Fresh coriander leaves
- Twelve butter or red leaf -lettuce leaves
- Twelve 8-inch round dried rice papers
Dipping Sauce
- 4 Garlic cloves
- 2 Fresh Serrano chiles
- 2 tb Sugar
- 6 tb Vietnamese fish sauce (nuoc man)
- 4 tb Fresh lime juice
- 6 To 8 tablespoons water
Directions
- The Vietnamese use a small indoor earthen stove fueled with coal set on the table to simmer, boil and barbecue.
You can broil this dish in an oven, with excellent results. Sugar cane makes this recipe visually exciting and exotic. Its sweetness subtly melts into the shrimp paste. Sugar cane comes fresh and canned in better Asian markets; the former is scarce and very expensive. Check with the grocery clerk to make certain that you are buying the 6- to 7-inch long stalks, not the cubes. The recipe serves well as a buffet appetizer or as a first course for a dinner party.
- Shell and devein the shrimp. Toss with salt; let sit for 10 minutes. Rinse with cold water; drain thoroughly. Blot dry. In a food processor, finely mince the garlic and shallots. Add sugar, pepper, toasted rice powder, fish sauce, and shrimp; process into a smooth paste.
- With the machine running, pour the ice water through the feed tube; process until the shrimp is light and fluffy. Cover and refrigerate. Pour vegetable oil into a small bowl. Place a wire cooling rack on a baking sheet; brush with oil.
- Cut the sugar cane lengthwise into quarters to make 12 long strips. Dip your fingers into the oil, then take about 2 tablespoons shrimp paste and evenly mold a 1-inch cylinder around a sugar cane strip, leaving 1 inch free at both ends.
- Arrange the rolls on the rack diagonally, and keep them from touching each other.
- Arrange the cucumber, mint and coriander leaves, and lettuce on a platter; set aside.
- Broil the shrimp rolls about 6 inches from the heat, turning once, until the edges are bright orange and the filling feels firm to the touch, 2 to 3 minutes per side.
To serve
- Take a rice paper sheet and set it on a plate. Dip a pastry brush into a bowl of water. Brush the entire rice paper generously with water.
- Let it sit until the paper is pliable and somewhat flimsy. Put a lettuce leaf on one end of the paper.
- Place a cucumber sliver, mint and coriander leaves on top of the lettuce.
- Take a hot stick of sugar cane, break off the shrimp and place it on top of the vegetables. Begin rolling up the paper to enclose the filling; form it into the shape of a cylinder. Drip into the nuoc Cham Dipping Sauce,. and take a bite, then chew on the sugar cane for the sweetness (do not swallow the sugar cane).
- NUOC CHAM DIPPING SAUCE: Grind the garlic, chiles and sugar into a paste in a mortar, blender or mini-food processor. Stir in fish sauce, lime and water. Strain into a dipping bowl.
- NOTE: If sugar cane is not available, use a skewer or inexpensive bamboo chopsticks. Soak them in water overnight before wrapping with shrimp paste.
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Thit Bo Cuon La Luop (Vietnamese Beef in Grape Leaves) |
These have a great char-grilled flavor and are perfect for summertime and outdoor cooking.
Ingredient:
- 1 lb lean ground beef
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 teaspoons nuoc nam (spicy fish sauce)
- 2 teaspoons fresh minced gingerroot
- 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
- 1/2 teaspoon sugar
- 1 dash black pepper
- 1/4 cup finely chopped green onions
- 25 canned grape leaves
- 4 tablespoons fish sauce
- 1/2 cup water
- 2 tablespoons vinegar
- 2 teaspoons sugar
- 3/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 3 tablespoons gingerroot, peeled and shredded
- 2 tablespoons carrots, shredded
Instructions:
- Rinse grape leaves in hot water; drain.
- Mix beef with garlic, 2 tsp nuoc mam, ginger root, cilantro, 1/2 tsp sugar, dash black pepper, and green onion.
- Place generous tablespoonful on grape leaf, and roll envelope-style.
- For sauce, mix together 4 tbsp fish sauce, 1/2 cup water, 2 tbsp vinegar, 2 tsp sugar, the red pepper, and the 2 cloves of minced garlic.
- Stir in 3 tbsp shredded ginger and 2 tbsp shredded carrots to the sauce.
- Place on skewers and grill (If using wooden skewers, soak in water for 20-30 minutes before using), or broil, 6" from heat for 10-12 minutes.
Serve rolls with dipping sauce.
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