Misadventures in Spring Roll Making

Nicole left lots of goodies from her brief stay here last summer, things I rarely, if ever, buy. Things like arborio rice, nori and spring roll wrappers. I'd been eyeing those spring roll wrappers for some time and I had most of the ingredients from my pad thai experiment earlier in the week. So Saturday I invited my boy over to make spring rolls.

As we julienned cucumbers and soaked rice noodles, I realized that I needed hoisin sauce (for the marvelous dipping sauce) and limes (to create a dressing for the vegetables within the rolls). N. graciously agreed to run around the corner to A. Chau for me. He returned, wowed by the vast array of products in a tiny space. When we had finally finished all the prep work (the rice noodles were cooling, the shrimp had been poached), I decided to clean my work area and set up for the assembly process. I have to laugh at myself now, I mean, I went to all this trouble to make spring rolls and I couldn't even find the wrappers. N offered to go back, yet again to A. Chau, although I was worried they might become suspicious of this man returning hourly to buy inconsequential items. But go he did, thanks honey, and now we were just minutes from our very own, homemade spring rolls.

The spring roll wrappers are soaked in warm water, one at a time, for a couple of minutes before the ingredients are laid down; first the cilantro and basil, then the minced jalapeno, sticks of cucumber and carrot, topped with lettuce, rice noodles, nestle some shrimp along the top and sprinkle chopped peanuts over the lot. I am not an adept roll wrapper so they came out very large and not very tight. I'll just have to keep practicing!

Dressing
2 T. lime juice
1 t. sugar
1 T. fish sauce

Filling
1 large cucumber, peeled and cut into matchsticks
1 c. shredded carrot
1 cup lettuce
2 oz. cooked rice noodles
1/4 c. cilantro
1/4 c. mint (I used thai basil, still delicious)
2 jalapenos, minced
1/2 c. minced peanuts
1 lb poached shrimp
spring roll wrappers

Dipping Sauce
1/4 hoisin sauce
1/4 peanut butter
1/4 c. water (I used shrimp stock)
2 T chili-garlic sauce
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/3 c minced peanuts


Toss the first three ingredients together and put aside. Prep the vegetables and pour the sauce over the top and mix. While I was doing this, I brought a couple of cups of water to a boil. Once boiling, I turned off the heat and added the shrimp. They cooked for 3-4 minutes, then I drained them but reserved the liquid. Once cool, peel and discard shells/tails. You don't really need the liquid but I saved it to make the dipping sauce, which by the way, you just mix all ingredients until smooth and top with peanuts. This sauce is so good, make sure you have this on hand or the spring rolls won't be nearly as good.

As for the assembly, get a clean work area with all the different ingredients within reach. Add damp kitchen towels and a pie plate with warm water to your station. The first step is soaking the spring roll wrapper in warm water until pliable, about 2 minutes. DO ONE AT A TIME! Once softened, lay on damp towel, add vegetables, then rice noodles, then the shrimp and lastly the peanuts. Fold over once, then fold each side in over itself and continue to roll up. I made the mistake of filling them too full so they were enormous and unwieldy. Place the finished rolls on a plate and cover with a damp towel to keep them from drying out.

A Pad Thai Tale

This post has many parts, be patient with me.

It all started in 1999 when I worked at Stickers in Portland, OR. Stickers was owned by an American couple who lived all over Asia for years and came back to open a restaurant that featured their favorite dishes from various countries. Buffalo doesn't, or didn't, have a sizable Asian population as I was growing up so my exposure was limited. Pad thai was one of the dishes on the menu at Stickers and it was the first time I'd ever tasted it. Thailand's national dish, it consists rice noodles, bean sprouts, egg, herbs and peanuts in a spicy-sweet sauce. Thai food is kown for its wonderful balance of pungent, savory, salty, sour and sweet and this dish really exemplifies that well. Since then, I've ordered pad thai at other places and have never been satisfied; glutinous noodles, overly sweet, I had pretty much given up.

With Nicole's fantastic gift of the Cook's Illustrated cookbook, I spied a recipe for pad thai and I decided to try this one out. I've seen several recipes, made a few, and haven't been pleased. Some even call for ketchup! Who would ever think ketchup has a place in Thai food is sick indeed. So this is my new recipe of the week.

There were some special ingrediants I needed to pick up so I swung by A. Chau on Niagara Street. It's run by a Vietnamese family but they have a wide assortment of unusual (to me, anyway) fruits and vegetables, dusty packages with mysterious markings, kitchen utensils and the like. I don't have any idea how much things cost individually but I bought a lime, two shallots, basil, an industrial size bottle of fish sauce, peanuts, tamarind concentrate and dried shrinp for $9.66. Nice.

So, ready and armed, I returned home to put together my concoction. It was fairly labor intensive but so worth it. I'll go through the reicpe and then explain what I did differently or what I'll change next time.

Pad Thai

Sauce:
3 T. tamarind concentrate, soaked in 3/4 c. boiling water
3 T. fish sauce
3 T. sugar
2 T. vegetable oil
1 T. rice wine vinegar
3/4 t. cayenne

The Rest:
8 oz dried rice noodles
2 T. vegetable oil
12 oz mediem shrinp, peeled and deveined
1 medium shallot, minced
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1/4 t salt
1 T dried shrimp, chopped fine (optional)
2 T chopped, salted preserved radish (optional)
1/4 c. unsalted, roasted peanuts, plus extra for garnish
3 c bean sprouts
5 scallions, sliced on the diagonal
1/4 c loosely packed cilantro leaves
1 lime, cut in wedges

1. OK, this first part, I will admit, is a huge pain in the ass. Tamarind concentrate is a sticky block that includes pits and all. You have to soak it for ten minutes in boiling water and then push it through a fine mesh strainer. I did this for about 5-7 minutes and gave up. This is necessary though. Don't be lazy. After you're done with that, mix in the other sauce ingredients. Be careful with the fish sauce. I squeezed the bottle with exuberance and I'm pretty sure I squeezed some right into the heating vent. That's not going to smell good tomorrow.
2. Bring 4 quarts of water to a boil, turn off the heat, add rice noodles and let sit for ten minutes. That's right, I said turn off the heat. Otherwise they get all mushy. I actually would do it for about 8 minutes next time but I like a little bite to my noodles. Drain and set aside.
3. Heat the oil in a skillet over high heat. Add the shrimp, sprinkle with 1/8 t of salt and cook until shrimp are opaque and lightly browned on the edges, about three minutes, remove and set aside. Let me be frank. I'm balling on a budget so there was no fresh shrimp in my dish. But I'm sure it would be way better. You can also use tofu (extra-firm) for a good and common addition to the dish.
4. Add shallot, garlic and remaining salt to the pan. Speaking of the pan, I used my trusty 12 inch cast iron skillet. Go bigger if you can. I spilled all over the place. Anyway, cook over medium heat for a few minutes until golden brown. Stir in the eggs, mixing constantly until scrambled and barely moist, about 30 seconds. Interestingly, the eggs were perhaps one of my favorite bits, just picture it, all full of shallot and garlic. Mmm.
5. Add rice noodles, dried shrimp and radish. I think next time I will add 2 T. of choppped shrimp, the earthy, briny flavor didn't really stand out. The radish was optional anyway, which is good because I didn't find it. So you can skip that. Add the sauce and toss to combine evenly.
6. Add cooked shrimp (if you're not broke like me, that is), peanuts, bean sprouts and scallions and cook until the noodles have absorbed the sauce. The best bits are the ones that get nicely browned on the bottom. Turn off the heat and toss with cilantro. I added equal parts julienned basil and truly, I can't believe Cook's Illustrated didn't add that. I think the dish wouldn't be the same. Anyway, top each portion with more chopped peanuts and a couple wedges of lime.

A final word: If you don't have these ingredients, don't substitute. It won't be good, I promise. As I was eating it, I thought, this is good but something is missing. So I went back to the kitchen for more peanuts (just dump them on, the crunch is beautiful) and realized I forgot my lime wedges. I squeezed the lime atop my platter and I was rewarded with the exact brightness and acidity I was craving. This was really delicious and highly recommended. Although the recipe says whatever it says about limes and peanuts, I would say to have extra peanuts and lime on hand. They really make the dish.

Weekend Roundup

I've been eating some mighty fine food this weekend, although cooked mostly by other people. Friday brought me to Rochester for work. My co-worker, who joined me, used to live in Rochester and she was dying to go to her favorite Thai place, The King and I. No sooner had we ordered than two cups of steaming, chicken soup, redolent with lemongrass and fish sauce, were brought to the table. The only thing I didn't love, weirdly, were the small pieces of chicken in the soup; it kinda got in my way of the real deal. Then I had a chicken dish in a red curry-coconut sauce that disappeared quickly.

You'd think since I had a late, and very filling lunch that I wouldn't have been keen on going out for a fish fry-that hallowed, Friday evening tradition. But pops had a hankering and I happily agreed to join him. I'm still trying to figure out where my favorite fish fry in Buffalo is. As a default, we go to the neighborhood joint, which is pretty good but this time the fish was a bit tough. But it's fast and cheap and they now serve REAL french fries, not those awful crinkle-cut ones.


(This is not my picture, nor my fish fry and sadly, not my martini)


And finally, I was invited over to a friend's house for banana-cream pie and coffee. Interestingly, my hosts are lactose-intolerant, so the filling was made with soy milk (delicious still) and instead of whipped cream, we had unbaked meringue on top. I have never had meringue that wasn't baked on top of a luscious lemon pie and I was surprised by how much I liked it, not too sweet.

Saturday night, I went to a party that featured green chili and roast pork on an outdoor spit. Yes ma'am! We could hardly believe we were having an outdoor party in Buffalo in November! With a fire, some mulled cider and that steaming chili, full of tender chunks of beef and pork, tomatoes and fresh, plump corn kernels, we were perfectly content.

This afternoon, I have a date with D. to make Vietnamese pho. I do love that rich broth of beef shank, lemongrass and star anise but I've never made it before so I'll report back later on that. Cilantro, bean sprouts, lime and recao, mmmmm. I'm ready for lunch and I haven't even had breakfast!