Vietnamese Spring Rolls

I finally made Vietnamese Spring Rolls, or Goi Cuon!

I used Youki brand rice paper wrappers, and since this was my first experience with rice paper, I have no idea if that's a good brand or not.  All the recipes I read online said soak the wrappers in water for 2-5 seconds. I did that, and said, "Huh, it doesn't seem soft enough." (As if I had any idea what I was doing.) So I soaked it longer. The wrapper then proceeded to tear, stick, and be otherwise ornery. So then I tried 5 seconds.  Worked like a charm after that, just like making a burrito.

I stuffed them with shrimp, green leaf lettuce (not iceberg!), bean sprouts, carrots, cucumber, green onion, cilantro and mint. I also threw in some cooked Mai Fun rice sticks because I couldn't find bean threads. I would've loved some roast pork, but no deli around here has it, and I wasn't about to roast some pork on a Tuesday night after working my ass off all day. More herbs would've been nice, like basil (but my plant died, I'm the only person in the world who can kill basil), or Vietnamese coriander (good luck finding that in a 30 mile radius!).

For a dipping sauce, I made hoisin peanut dipping sauce, courtesy of Todd and Diane from White on Rice Couple.

And who would've thought of this but a 14-year old obsessed with pasta, but leftover Mai Fun is pretty good with garlic, butter and parmesan.

Nasty cold? Try pho.

I've got a nasty virus. (Hubby was gracious enough to share.)

So, not feeling up to cooking, we got takeout from Pho Saigon Express in Escondido yesterday. Verdict? Best pho I've ever had in CA. (Can anyone tell me the HTML code for the o in pho? I can't seem to find it.)

I had the Dac Biet Xe Lua (again, need help with special characters please!), which has rare steak, well-done steak, flank, brisket, tendon and tripe. Yes, tendon and tripe. Normally I, too, would say "Ugh!". But with pho, it's different.

The bun (noodles) and meats were packed in a takeout container, the broth in a styrofoam, the garnishes in a plastic bag. The garnishes (sprouts, jalapeños, basil and lime) were fresh, and ample. Vietnamese coriander was missing, unfortunately, but I'm not going to complain too much about that.

The broth? Wonderful. The star anise flavor came through nicely, and there wasn't too much fat on top. It had that unctuous smooth velvety feel to it that makes you think it'll solidify when refrigerated (it didn't). Tasty.

The meats were also nice - superthin slices of raw beef, and slightly thicker slices of well-done beef, flank and brisket. I couldn't tell you which was which other than the raw beef, but it doesn't matter - it was all good. Only a couple pieces of tendon, which is fine with me, because I like one or two pieces, but more than that is just too much. The tripe is the shreddy crunchy nubby kind, nothing like what you get in menudo. I love this stuff.

Packed on top of the noodles and meat were thinly (and I mean thinly) sliced onions, chopped cilantro, and sliced green onion. I also got a small container of something dark red and spicy - not the normal chile-garlic sauce, this was a smooth sauce. Don't know what it was, but I added some to the broth - I think it scared away the nasty virus that I've been hosting for the last few days.

The whole thing cost me $6.26. And I ate it for dinner last night and lunch today. I've never been this happy and this sick at the same time.

Vietnamese Coffee Ice Cream

David Lebovitz is my new favorite person. This coffee ice cream from The Perfect Scoop was super-simple and absolutely delicious.















Brew coffee with 1/2 cup of grounds and 1 1/2 cups of water. This should yield about a cup. Whisk the coffee together with a can (~400g) of sweetened condensed milk, and 1/3 cup of whole milk. I used skim milk mixed with half & half, because that's what I had. Chill thoroughly in the freezer, then chuck it in your ice cream maker. While it's churning, add a large pinch of coffee grounds. When done, scoop into containers and freeze. It won't freeze as hard as regular ice cream, and it melts really fast. I think it's because of the sweetened condensed milk, but I'm a chemist, not a food scientist, so what do I know?

Make this. You'll love it. Unless you don't like coffee, in which case, I can't help you.

Vietnamese Lemongrass Chili Sauce

I bookmarked Wandering Chopsticks' recipe for Tuong Ot Xa, or Lemongrass Chili Sauce, back when she first posted it. My serranos are extremely proliferative this year, and, at WC's suggestion, I used them for the sauce.















I started by mincing lemongrass, then finely chopping it, almost pureeing, in my spice grinder. Same with onion and garlic. Same with the fresh serranos, and the dried chilis de arbol (seeds removed).















(That's a bowl of ground-up chilis. Sorry for the blurriness and overexposure. Oh, and here's a tip - don't stick your face right over the grinder when you take the lid off.)

Saute it all up in a bunch of oil (I used mostly canola with a smidge of peanut), throw in your sugar, salt, fish sauce, and Sriracha, and let simmer for 10 minutes.















My conclusion?

Either WC has an extremely high tolerance for pain, or I used some damn-hot chilis! However, it's soooo tasty. I can't wait to put it on absolutely everything.