Banh Trang-Spotting

Good MORNING!! I didn't write last night as I got a little distracted but you'll have two recipes today, count'em, TWO!!

The first is what we made for dinner last night ( Well, I made...the boys enjoyed immensely... ) and the second is my contribution to the enormous family potluck tonight...

The first, is

Banh Trang-Spotting

Banh Trang is only ONE ingredient here, the rice paper wraps. We found them at T&T Supermarket but you could most likely find them at any Asian market or even bigger grocery stores...they are stiff, white and circular and very inexpensive.

The rolls themselves are called Goi Cuon, and when you see them on a restaurant menu those two words are followed by a variety of other words, depending on what's inside, meatwise...shrimp, pork, beef, chicken, just veggies, it's all good...I made beef ones because I had a gorgeous little piece of steak in the fridge...

Grill your meat ahead of time, and slice it super super thin....

Thinly slice cucumbers, julienne carrots, shred some lettuce, have some fresh mint, basil and/or cilantro on hand, and either make some rice vermicelli ( you won't need a lot ) or I made these with basmati rice since that's what I had.  You need to have all your stuffin's ready ahead of time so that you can just load them and roll them before the rice paper dries.  You don't have to have anything in there that can't be easily bitten through, as the rolls are a bit delicate and you want to be able to bite through it in one go or it will fall apart.

I make my peanut sauce ahead of time, too, the recipe is below

In a food processor or blender..

1/2 c water or broth

2 tbsp smooth or crunch peanut butter ( I prefer the crunchy )

2 tbsp Hoisin sauce

( you can add 2 tsp sugar but the Hoisin is sweet anyways )

chopped roasted peanuts for garnish

If you find the sauce too watery, just add a bit of peanut butter and Hoisin in equal parts until the thickness is something dippable...

Fill a flattish bowl with warm water, it has to be big enough to fit the rice paper sheet.  Dip ONE sheet at a time, if you put  more than 1 in, they will stick together and by the time you get to the second one it'll be gross. 

Dip the sheet in and feel it with your fingers as it's in there. You'll feel the texture on the sheet disappear and the sheet will become soft and very limp.  Remove the sheet and lay it out on a board, plastic or glass works better as it doesn't soak up the water.  Lay out a very small handful of rice or noodles along one side and fold the sheet over and tuck it under, then lay your meat and veggies, herbs and lettuce along the side.  Bring the sheet up and over, capturing everything inside.  Flip the sides up and over and then finish rolling. 

Look on YouTube for Salad Rolls or Goi Cuon and you'll find a wealth of videos showing you different ways of rolling them.

And that's it! They're served room temperature or cold, and the peanut sauce for dipping, it's awesome...

I'll post the potluck recipe when I decide what I'm making! Aaarrgghhh...everyone always wants to make sure their dish is emptied fast...

Enjoy your day!