Great job forming them — they look professional!
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Totally GORGEOUS. May I please have a dozen?
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SOUTHERN SALAD ROLLS / Gỏi Cuốn - Into the Vietnamese Kitchen
Note to self: don’t use too hot water to soak rice paper, and take out the rice paper when it is barely malleable. It will continue to soften.
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Those look excellent! My friend has a trick for those wrappers – place a single one on a large plate, run briefly under the faucet to moisten, and then immediately pour off the water. Seems to make them easier to handle.
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Big Asian markets sell perforated plastic mats that you rest the wrapper on after you briefly run it through warm water. I once took a little class on making these at my library and that’s how I learned about them.
Just keep practicing, rolling them up tightly.
You bring some from the bottom, then fold in the two sides, then roll up the rest of the way.
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Will try that next time, thanks. This time I dipped them in a pie plate.
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Cool will keep an eye out for that!
I just saw a tip for this that was exactly the same _ don’t use warm water if you’re not an expert, it acts too fast. Barely moisten a sheet and set it down, because as you arrange your fillings it will go from “oh I used too little water” to fully hydrated, but not sticky.
(I’ve got the plastic mats but haven’t used them yet. But I don’t think paraphernalia is necessary to a good outcome.)
I also have the little plastic stand for the brief soaking.
At my class, the instructor preferred Three Ladies brand of wrappers.
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I should have guessed I wouldn’t go the quarter without making this recipe from Vietnamese Food Any Day 
Very easy and infiitely flexible. I skipped the mushrooms this time and added sauteed napa cabbage and shrimp.
Always delicious, and easy is a bonus.
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GAENG RAWAENG, Food and Wine magazine March 2021
I was flipping through an old issue of F&W, contemplating making one of the dishes in a spread featuring chicken dishes from various restaurants when I noticed that Andrea Nguyen had submitted this one. That sealed the deal, plus it had been several months since I’d made a Thai curry, and my husband had been requesting one.
Nguyen says that the recipe mimics the popular chicken dish at THIS restaurant in San Francisco.
This was delicious, of course. I made just a couple of modifications, but in the name of COTM I weighed out the fresh ingredients just to make sure I had the recommended proportions.
- I used red instead of green chiles because that’s what I had (unfortunately they were barely spicy)
- I didn’t have cilantro, so I added some lime zest to the paste
- I used chicken thighs instead of whole chicken
- I used about 4x the spices called for, as the amounts in the recipe border on miniscule
A fresh-turmeric based paste is a nice variation that I haven’t made in a long time. It’s earthy and beautifully colored. I was surprised how well the paste came together in my blender, but then I realized that the turmeric and its added moisture were probably the reason.
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STIR-FRIED TOFU, SHRIMP, & PEAS, Asian Tofu, p. 100
I had passed this by numerous times and then somehow it popped up on my EYB feed and the reviews were good. I took a chance, and I really enjoyed it! Usually like bolder flavored things, but this ended up having lots of flavor from the stock (instead of shrimp stock, I used a bottle of clam juice, as I was using frozen and pre-peeled shrimp). Basically you make the stock from the shells while putting the rest of this together. Combine salt, sugar, sherry, and soy sauce to make a sauce. Heat oil and add ginger and green onion, then cut up shrimp, then pour in the sauce. Once the shrimp is starting to cook you add the sauce, then the cut up tofu and peas. Stir to combine and let bubble away for about 3 minutes. Add cornstarch mixed with a little water and sesame oil and stir, then take off heat and add white pepper. LLD is a big white pepper fan, so I added more and more at various points. I would definitely make this again.
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VIBRANT TURMERIC COCONUT RICE from Vietnamese Food Any Day, pg. 188
This is one one of my favorite cookbooks, and this month’s COTM has pushed me to try some new-to-me recipes from it.
I bought coconut water specifically for this recipe back when this book was COTM on CH – how many years ago? I never got around to making the rice, and the coconut water has been in my cabinet ever since. I even moved the carton to a new house 4 months ago, telling myself I would definitely use it soon. Well, COTM Round 2 was the final push I needed. The carton “expired” in December 2023, but I used it anyway and just didn’t let anyone else eat the rice (or other recipe) the first day. I ate alone, and I’m here to tell about it, so now I can share what I make with the remainder of the carton.
So this rice. Nguyen says she’d always had trouble producing a good coconut rice until coming upon the idea of using coconut water instead of coconut milk. I’d had trouble in the past too, but mostly with the rice darkening/burning at the edges (not in a good, extra-flavor way). Nguyen’s version didn’t completely cure that issue for me, but it was better, and the rice tastes great.
Rinse 1 1/2 c rice, then cook it with 1 3/4 c coconut water, salt, and some turmeric (I used grated fresh this time, leftover from making the Thai curry). Once the rice has rested, fluff it and stir in some coconut oil.
The coconut oil made the rice a little sweeter than I prefer, but I will be playing with the ideas in this recipe in the future. Generally, it’s a winner.
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CHARRED (ZUCCHINI) BRUSSELS SPROUTS WITH COCONUT from Vietnamese Food Any Day, pg. 170
Another use for my opened carton of coconut water, and a very good, very easy recipe. This is what to make when you have the vegetables but no other interesting ingredients.
Deeply brown your vegetables (sliced zucchini, in my case) in oil, then add a little coconut water and cover. When tender, stir in some fish sauce, then cover again for just a minute to steam it all together. That’s it.
I used THIS vegetarian fish sauce. It caught my eye when at the market, and it was excellent in this application. Alone I’d say its flavor is right between soy sauce and fish sauce, and that was a perfect combination with sweet coconut water and peak vegetables.
I will definitely make this again. Looks like I’ll be buying a replacement carton of coconut water.
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Will this carton last another 5 years? HA HA
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UMAMI GARLIC NOODLES
This sounded so good that when I read Saregama’s review I wanted to make it. I did so last night and it was delicious. Made some adjustments: fettuccine for my noodles, used the whole pound (everyone is home all day, so leftovers are good for lunches); did 1 1/2 times the sauce, added chopped baby bok choy. Delicious. I can definitely see adding shrimp to this. Was so excited I forgot to take a picture.
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That sounds kind of good, I may have to try it!
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SHAKING SALMON (e-book, Everygreen Vietnamese)
This was delicious. I made the recipe basically as written (no rice flour so I used corn starch instead), and we loved the salmon. I found the salad a bit too sweet, so next time I would probably serve it with a different vegetable; maybe a cucumber salad or Asian slaw or roasted broccoli. But the salmon was so flavorful and easy! Cut into bite sized pieces, dust with the rice flour, saute on high for about 3 minutes, then add a sauce of garlic, ginger, corn starch, soy sauce, fish sauce, sesame oil and black pepper and heat together for about 30 seconds.
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Interesting! I love shaking beef, so I was a bit dubious about fish instead, but this sounds great!
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I don’t think I have ever had shaking beef. I was a vegetarian for over 20 years, and still don’t love red meat, but I could be talked into trying it because this flavor profile was right up my alley.
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