Bahn Coun - Vietname Roll with Wood Ear Mushroom and Ground Pork

Bahn Coun - Vietname Roll with Wood Ear Mushroom and Ground Pork

Friday, February 12, 2021

 

Plating: Banh cuon can be eaten warm or at room temperature. To warm, place a single layer of banh cuon on a plate or dish, cover with a damp paper towel and microwave for 30-60 seconds.Jan 1, 2013

Eating Banh Cuon

Banh cuon is eaten with fresh veggies like cucumbers, mint, cha lua, fried shallots, and nuoc cham. You can customize your toppings however you like. After making this batch, I brought some over to a friend’s place, and she wasn’t a huge fan of the cha lua. So she ate just the banh cuon with the cucumbers. I personally LOVE the cha lua, so I ate her portion too lol.

Vietnamese Rice Paper Rolls (Spring Rolls)

Vietnamese Rice Paper Rolls (Spring Rolls)

Monday, January 4, 2021

 

Recipe video above. Vietnamese Rice Paper Rolls are incredibly fresh and healthy. The Vietnamese peanut dipping sauce that accompanies this is sensational and completely addictive!

Prep Time20 mins

Total Time20 mins

Course: Appetizer, Finger Food, Starter

Cuisine: Vietnamese

Keyword: Vietnamese Rice Paper Rolls

 

Servings: 7

 

Calories: 135cal

 

Author: Nagi | RecipeTin Eats

Ingredients

• 7 - 14 sheets of 22cm/8.5" round rice paper (Note 1)
• 11 small cooked prawns/shrimp (about 12cm/5" in length, unpeeled including the head)
• 50g / 1.5 oz dried vermicelli noodles
• 7 lettuce leaves - use a lettuce with soft leaves, like Oak or Butter Lettuce (Note 2)
• 14 mint leaves
• 1 cup bean sprouts

Vietnamese Peanut Dipping Sauce (Note 3)

• 1 tbsp peanut butter, preferably smooth (crunchy is ok too)
• 2 tbsp Hoisin Sauce
• 1 1/2 tbsp white vinegar (or lime juice)
• 1/3 cup milk (any fat %) (or water)
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1/2 tsp crushed chilli, samba oelak or other chilli paste, adjust to taste (optional)

Instructions

• Peanut Sauce: Combine the Peanut Dipping Sauce ingredients. Mix briefly (it won't come together), then microwave for 30 seconds. Mix again until smooth. Set aside to cool. Adjust sour with vinegar, salt with salt and spiciness to taste.  Thickness can be adjusted with milk or water once cooled.
• Place vermicelli noodles in a bowl and cover with warm water for 2 minutes, then drain (or follow packet instructions).
• Peel the prawns, slice in half lengthwise and devein (watch video).
• Remove the crunchy core of the lettuce leaves (watch video).
• Tip - LETTUCE BUNDLE (Note 4): Place some vermicelli noodles and bean sprouts in a lettuce leaf, then roll it up, finishing seam side down. Repeat.
• Fill a large bowl with warm water. The bowl doesn't need to be large enough to fit the whole rice paper in one go.
• Place two rice papers together (if using 2). Note which side is the smooth side - this is supposed to be the outside of the spring roll. Submerge the rice papers into the water (both of them at the same time, together) for 2 seconds. If your bowl isn't large enough to fit the whole rice paper in one go, that's fine, just rotate it and count 2 seconds for each section you submerge into the water.
• Place both the rice papers (one on top of the other, they will stick together) on a board or the counter with the smooth side down.
• On the top part of the rice paper, place 3 prawns with a mint leaf in between, as per the photo below.
• Place the lettuce bundle with the seam side down onto the middle of the rice paper.
• Fold the left and right edges of the rice paper in, then starting from the bottom, roll up to cover the lettuce bundle. Then keep rolling firmly. The rice paper is sticky, it will seal itself.
• If you placed the ingredients on the rice paper as per the photo below, your rice paper rolls should look pretty with the prawn and mint leaves on the smooth side of the roll and the seam on the side or underside of the roll.
• Serve immediately with the peanut dipping sauce.

Notes

* Peanut free sauce alternative: sweet chilli sauce.

1. Tip to make your rice paper roll life easier: use 2 rice papers per roll. Easier to handle and less prone to tearing. The ends of the roll where there are quadruple layers of rice paper will be a bit chewier, but not super chewy, it is still soft. 

Nowadays, rice paper is sold even at supermarkets here in Australia, in the Asian section. It's super good value too!

2. Lettuce: I use butter or oak lettuce because they are softer and more pliable than iceberg which makes it perfect for rolling up. Iceberg and other crunchy lettuce doesn't work as well because they break when you scrunch them, and are prone to tearing the rice paper. If you can't find a soft lettuce, then I suggest shredding the lettuce - it will make it much easier to handle!

3. Sauce: Some Hoisin sauces differ in strength of flavour so adjust the flavour to taste at the end by adding more peanut butter or vinegar, then milk or water to adjust thickness. Milk doesn't add flavour to the sauce, it just makes it a lighter colour so you know it's a peanut sauce - the colour you get at Vietnamese restaurants. So you can use water if you prefer, but the sauce will be a darker brown. Or even coconut milk!

4. My tip for rolling these up is to wrap the bean sprouts and vermicelli noodles in the lettuce then roll it up and/or scrunch it lightly so it stays together. Then roll it up in the rice paper. Much easier to handle!

5. STORAGE: Some recipes will tell you that you can make rice paper rolls the day before and you can keep them moist with a damp paper towel. Firstly, I find that the rice paper rolls smelt like the paper towel and secondly, they didn't hold up that great anyway. My rule of thumb is 6 hours (max 8) - you can make them up to 6 hours ahead, tightly wrap each one in cling wrap as soon as you make them and refrigerate. Don't just put them on a plate and put cling wrap on the plate, you should roll up each on in cling wrap (you should be able to fit 2 per piece of cling wrap - wrap one first, then place another next to it and roll up with the remaining cling wrap).

DIY OPTION: A popular menu item at Vietnamese restaurants here in Sydney are DIY rice paper rolls. So lay out all the components in this recipe out on a table with a large bowl of water, and let everyone make their own!

6. OTHER FILLING IDEAS: * Julienned vegetables like carrots, cucumbers* Alfalfa, watercress and other similar shaped vegetables* Thinly sliced tofu* Shredded chicken and other proteins* Other herbs like coriander/cilantro, chives (this is classic Viet)

7. ORIGINAL PEANUT DIPPING SAUCE: As requested by a reader! The one provided in the recipe is more authentic and akin to what you get at Vietnamese restaurants here in Sydney. But here is the original one, FYI:

½ cup smooth peanut butter1 tbsp sugar4 tbsp hoisin sauce1 tbsp sweet soy sauce (kecap manis, it's thick like syrup)2 small garlic cloves (or 1 large), minced1 birds eye chilli, finely chopped1 tbsp sesame oil2 tbsp lime juiceWater

Mix together ingredients, using water to thin to a dippable consistency.

8. Nutrition per rice paper roll, no sauce.

Vietnamese Noodle Salad

Vietnamese Noodle Salad

 

Noodle Salad

This is a great, fresh salad with a fantastic Vietnamese dressing based on a recipe by Bill Granger, a famous Australia chef. I really like this dressing because it's got plenty of flavour but the fish sauce is mild in it. I love Nuoc Cham, which is the classic Vietnamese dipping sauce that doubles as dressings. But some people find that the fish sauce flavour is too strong. Plus, it's an art form to get the flavour balance right!

Prep Time15 mins

Cook Time5 mins

Total Time20 mins

Course: Salad

Cuisine: Modern Vietnamese

 

Servings: 2 - 3

 

Calories: 273cal

 

Author: Nagi | RecipeTin Eats

Ingredients

Garlic Shrimp (Prawns)

• 12 - 15 medium shrimp (prawns), shelled and deveined (about 5 - 7 oz / 150 - 200g, excluding shells)
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 2 garlic cloves , minced
• Pinch of salt and pepper

Dressing

• 1/4 cup lime juice
• 1/4 cup fish sauce
• 2 tbsp rice vinegar
• 1 tbsp caster sugar
• 1 large garlic clove , very finely chopped
• 1 tsp very finely chopped red chili , adjust to taste (I use birds eye which is spicy)

Salad

• 2.5 oz / 75g dried rice vermicelli noodles (Note 1)
• 3 cups iceberg lettuce , shredded
• 1 cup carrot , cut into fine matchsticks
• 1 1/2 cups cucumber , cut into matchsticks
• 1 1/2 cups beansprouts
• 1/4 cup coriander leaves , lightly packed
• 1/4 cup mint leaves (ordinary or Vietnamese), lightly packed

Instructions

• Combine the Garlic Shrimp ingredients in a small bowl and set aside for 10 minutes.
• Combine the Dressing ingredients in a small jar, give it a shake then set aside for 10 minutes.
• Heat a skillet / fry pan over high heat. Add the shrimp, scraping in the olive oil and garlic from the sides of the bowl. Cook for 2 minutes, or until browned and the shrimp is just cooked through. (Note 2)
• Remove the prawns from the skillet onto a plate.
• Prepare the vermicelli noodles according to the packet directions. I like to just soak them in hot tap water for a few minutes, this ensures they don't overcook. Then drain the noodles.
• Arrange the noodles and remaining Salad ingredients on a large plate (like the photo) or toss together in a bowl. Top with prawns (warm or at room temperature). Drizzle over the Dressing (or toss through), or you can serve the Dressing on the side.
• Serve immediately.

Notes

1. You can use any type of vermicelli noodles in this, rice or bean. The bean ones are slightly more see through. You can also increase the quantity if you want, to fill it out more.

2. How to tell if prawns are cooked: raw prawns hang almost straight, perfectly cooked prawns curl into a "C" shape and overcooked prawns form a tight "O" shape.

3. This salad is also fantastic with chicken. Just omit the Garlic Shrimp completely and replace with cooked, diced or shredded chicken.

4. Nutrition per serving assuming this serves 3 people. The sodium looks very high because of the amount of dressing made. You need that much dressing to pour it all over the salad, but I'd guess around 1/4 ends up pooled at the bottom of the plate at the end.