Vietnamese Rice-cake (BÁNH CUỐN)

It is quite cool this morning.  Autumn is here and leaves are falling down.  The sky is so clear.  I go outside and walk around for a while.  It is a perfect day to take a walk in the park.  Some people are jogging, some are running and some walk their dogs with friends.  I feel relaxed and calm.  Then I think of making this healthy, simple and mouth-watering dish for lunch.

Preparation time: 15 minutes

Cooking time: 20 minutes

Serve: 1

Ingredients:

- 4 pieces of rice-paper

-  25g onion (finely chopped)

- 3g pre-shredded black fungus

- 60g minced pork

-1 garlic clove (finely chopped)

-30g carrot (finely chopped)  

-½ shallot (finely chopped)

- 20g rice vermicelli 

- 1 tsp olive oil

-3 tbsp water

-¼ tsp salt

-¼ tsp dried coriander leaves (or fresh minced coriander leaves)

Seasoning:

n  ½ tsp sesame oil

n  1 tsp soy sauce

n  ½ tsp sugar

n  a pinch of ground black pepper

Nuoc Cham (Vietnamese Dipping Sauce):

n  1 tbsp Thai fish sauce

n  2 tbsp sugar

n  3 tbsp drinking water

n  ¾ tbsp lime sauce

n  ⅓ small red Thai chili (minced)

n  ½ garlic clove (minced)

Method:

1.	Season the minced pork with sugar, sesame oil, black pepper and soy sauce.
2.	Soak the black fungus in 100g hot water for 15 minutes until tender.  Discard the water and then finely chopped the black fungus.
3.	To cook the filling, add oil in a non-stick pan over medium heat.  Put the garlic, carrot, black fungus, shallot, onion, salt and 3 tbsp water into the pan and stir-fry for 1-2 minutes.  Then add the minced pork and coriander leaves, and stir-fry for another 5 minutes.  Set aside to cool.
4.	Mix all the ingredients of Nuoc Cham in a small bowl to prepare the dipping sauce.
5.	Boil 200g water in a small pan and add a pinch of salt.  Put the rice vermicelli into the boiling water over medium heat and simmer for 3 minutes until tender.  Use the chopsticks or a fork to stir occasionally.  Drain well.  Divide the rice vermicelli into four equal portions.
6.	Soak a piece of rice paper in warm drinking water until a bit tender.  Place the rice paper on a board or a big plate.
7.	Wrap the rice cake in square shape: Divide the filling into four equal portions, put one portion in the middle of a rice paper.  Place one portion of rice vermicelli on top of the filling.  Fold the bottom part of the rice paper to cover the rice vermicelli. Then fold the two sides towards the middle.  Turn the upper side to close the rice cake.
8.	Garnish with spring onion and sesame oil.  Ready to serve.