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.

Chicken with Vermicelli noodle soup

I love summer.  It is the most beautiful season.  It is becoming warm in UK.  The weather is very nice during these two weeks. My family members would like to have a change of appetite.  They like eating some with sweet and sour, some with soup and more cold desserts.   Today I cooked chicken with vermicelli noodle soup using my husband's favorites, like mussel meat and dried shrimps.  He loved it very much.

Preparation time: 15 minutes

Cooking time: 20 minutes

Serve: 2

Ingredients:

l  100g chicken breast (shredded)

l  12g dried shrimp (cleaned and soaked in half cup of water for 10 minutes)

l  70g mussel meat

l  130g dried rice vermicelli

l  100g chinese leaf (sliced)

l  1 spring onion (diced)

l  10g Tianjin preserved vegetable (cleaned)

l  6g ginger (shredded)

l  ¼ tsp salt

l  ¼ tsp sesame oil

l  ¼ tsp dried coriander or a handful of fresh coriander

l  6-8 ice cubes

 

Seasoning:

l  ½ tsp fish sauce

l  1 tsp soy sauce

l  1 tsp sugar

Method:

1.	Marinate the chicken with fish sauce, soy sauce and sugar.
2.	Boil 1L of water in a saucepan.  Add the dried rice vermicelli noodles into the boiling water for 3-4 minutes.  Give the noodles a stir to loosen them up for every minute. Stop cooking until tender.  Do not overcook the noodles, otherwise they will become mushy.
3.	Place ice cubes into a bowl of water, add the cooked rice vermicelli noodles.  Stir to loosen them up and let it cool down.  Use a colander to drain them once.  Transfer the noodles to two serving bowls.
4.	Boil 1L of water in a pot over medium heat, add in ginger, Chinese leaf and dried shrimp and boil for 15 minutes.
5.	Reduce heat to medium-low, add mussel meat, chicken and Tianjin preserved vegetables and boil for 5 minutes.
6.	Season with salt and add sesame oil.  To serve, divide the cooked mixture between bowls and scatter over spring onion and coriander.

	Tips:
1.	Since this dish is in a soup, add the noodles just before serving.  Monitor closely to make sure they don’t over-cook.
2.	If the noodles will be used in a stir-fry dish, they should be under-cooked a bit. They will absorb the sauce and become more moisture.  Then they will be more tendered in the stir fry. If the noodles are perfectly cooked from the very beginning, they will turn to mush in the stir fry.
3.	The Tianjin preserved vegetables is quite salty.  It is still a bit salty after cleaning.  Then do not add too much salt into the soup.