Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Rice Paper Rolls

In the last year I have, how do you say, porked up. So I'm trying to eat better.  In truth, what I should be doing is eating less, but I've opted for eating better. So today, I made a healthy dinner. I made rice paper rolls. I love this meal. It's quick to make, it's tasty, and it's messy and sticky and fun to eat.


Ingredients:

Fillings
  • Rice papers
  • Vermicelli noodles 
  • Ice-berg lettuce, shaved
  • Cucumber, julienned 
  • Coriander
  • Mint
  • Beef (I used porterhouse steak)
  • Ginger
  • Garlic
  • Chilli
  • Soy
 Amazing dipping sauce
  • Crunchy peanut butter
  • Hoisin sauce
  • Soy
  • Sesame oil
  • Ginger
  • Chilli
  • Brown sugar

Ok, so here's what you do. Prepare your salad ingredients. Shave your lettuce, chop your cucumber, pluck the tasty little leaves from your herbs.


Then soak your vermicelli in hot water and drain them. Grate a generous lump of ginger and finely chop the chilli and garlic. Trim any fat from your steak, and finely slice into stir fry pieces. Heat some sesame oil in a wok and toss the garlic, chilli and ginger with the beef. Add a splash of soy and cook the beef until the all the pink has just disappeared.



Finally, prepare your sauce. Put all the things into a pot. If you measure them, you're doing it wrong. Just go with what looks good, until it becomes a sticky dark mass and tastes delicious on your finger.


Put everything into appropriately sized bowls. Fill another large bowl with hot water. You'll need this to soak your rice papers one at a time. Then assemble all the yummy elements and roll it all up nice and tight, stick some sauce on it, and shove it in your face.


NB These can easily be made using any kind of filling you like. Prawns are excellent, and puffed tofu makes a beautiful vegetarian/vegan version.

Further NB I ate six. That's not so many, right?... Right?

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