Spicy Tofu

This is called spicy tofu for a reason, but the flavors of mushroom, celery, and garlic all come together perfectly. I hesitantly tried and modified this recipe from 'Simply Delicious Vegetarian' by Carla Bardi. This cookbook is not my favorite, but I bought it from the discount shelves of Barnes & Noble for $5 and figured I'd eventually give a few of these recipes a shot. Happy to have tried this one, though I reduced the liquids called for quite a bit and added mushroom soy sauce (which is thicker than regular soy sauce) for extra flavor.

1 floret of dried black flower mushroom, soaked for 15 minutes in hot water, drained, water reserved, and diced finely

1 block tofu, cubed

2 tbs peanut oil

2 stalks celery, finely diced

3 cloves garlic

2 red chilli peppers, sliced on the diagonal

1 vegetable bullion cube

1 tbs soy sauce

1 tbs mushroom soy sauce

1 tbs toasted sesame oil

1 tsp sugar

1 tbs water

1 tsp cornstarch

ground pepper

1.) Dry fry the cubes of tofu in an un-oiled skillet, tossing gently every few minutes, for about 10 minutes, until the tofu is golden on all sides. This removes a lot of moisture and firms up the tofu for better texture.

2.) Meanwhile, soak the black mushrooms in hot water.

3.) Heat peanut and sesame oil in a skillet. Add the peppers, garlic and celery and cook for several minutes to soften.

4.) Add the soy sauce, mushroom soy sauce, half cup of the drained mushroom soaking water, vegetable bullion cube and sugar to the skillet and continue to stir.

5.) Add the tofu and mix well, adding water if needed.

6.) Mix the cold water and cornstarch together in a cup and mix slowly into the skillet, stirring constantly. This will thicken the mixture and give it a nice glazed look.

7.) Season with pepper and sprinkle with diced black mushrooms.

Serve with rice, bok choy, or other grains and vegetables for a complete and completely delicious meal.

Wilted Bok Choy with Cashews

This has got to be the fastest vegetable to cook besides, say, spinach or zucchini blossoms. Literally, I feel a little silly even writing up a 'recipe' for this delicious side dish because it's just that easy.

I use about a head of baby bok choy per serving. With a little bit of toasted sesame oil heating in a skillet, add the bok choy leaves, halved, to the oil. Dash about 1 tbs of soy sauce per head, a sprinkle or two of red pepper flakes and in moments, the bok choy is tender. Be careful not to over cook! Mushy bok choy is about as appetizing as soggy broccoli. Chop a handful of roasted cashews and sprinkle over bok choy just before serving. Enjoy!

Asian Spicy Sweet Mustard Salad Dressing

With ready salad greens and a random assortment of veggies in the fridge you can make any salad in no time. If you haven't planned the perfect salad, any veggies will do, though then there's more emphasis needed on a good salad dressing.

I used a mixture of readied greens that was mostly rucola and spinach leaves (plus this pretty looking kind with red veins which I couldn't find out the name in English for- in Finnish it's punamangoldi) The rest of the ingredients were chopped red cabbage, red onion, tomatoes, and bean sprouts. I refrained from over complicating this one- as fridge veggies go I could have also added cucumber, carrots, beets, avocado, celery, just to name a few (I think I have an assortment from the whole vegetable section of my grocery store in my fridge).

Now for the dressing, I wanted to make something Asian inspired to go with the shrimp egg rolls I was serving. From enough Chinese food experiments, I happened to have these ingredients already on hand, but if you don't already have them, go make the investment from your local asian market. I really recomment. None of it goes bad for a long time and you will find other occassions to use them that really give authenticity and flavor to your other recipes:

This will make enough for 4 servings only- you can double the recipe if you need, but it's so fast to make that I just whip it up whenever I'm in the mood. Balsalmico and olive oil are my typical standbys;

3 tbs rice wine vinegar (sushi vinegar)

1 tsp toasted sesame seed oil

4 tbs vegetable oil

2 tbs prepared mustard (I like to use a very spicy one, but honey mustard or dijon will also work)

1 tsp sugar or honey

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp Chinese 5-spice blend

Put all of the ingredients into a tupperware, seal the lid on top. Shake well until well combined (over the sink if your tupperware lids aren't fitting well). These ingredient porportions can, of course be tweaked to your personal preferences

Shrimp Egg Rolls with Cucumber Sauce

I had wanted to make these for a long time. If you like this, you may like another eggroll recipe without seafood. This is another one of those recipes adapted from my fave, Giada de Laurentiis from the Foodnetwork that does a lot of Italian and Californian style recipes. I keep a bag of jumbo shrimp in my freezer, mostly for when I have guests over or want to make something that looks fancy fast. Ok, this recipe is not a fast one. It takes some time to chop and roll. With the hang of it it gets faster. I made these for T & G for dinner last Sunday and the words 'very impressed' were used, by T, which means more than when coming from G (doesn't take much to impress that one ;)

I started with the sauce because as with most sauces the longer is marinates together in the 'fridge the better it tastes when time comes to devour it. 

Cucumber Dipping Sauce

1/2 cup sour cream

1/2 cup mayonaise 

4'' piece of cucumer diced finely

1 tsp lemon juice

1/2 tsp chilli sauce (the kind I used has extra garlic in it)

Blend these ingredients well and cover with plastic wrap or in a tupperware and store in the fridge until ready to use.

Shrimp Egg Rolls

18 egg roll wrappers (premade is the way to go here)

2 shallots

2 cloves garlic

1 carrot

3/4 lb (500 grams) shrimp, cooked, peeled and deveined

1 cup of mixed mushrooms (I used shitake and black flower fungus)

1 cup lightly cooked bean thread noodles

2 tbs soy sauce

2 tbs sugar

1 tbs fish sauce or oyster sauce

peanut oil for frying 

1.) Finely chop the onion, garlic and carrot as best you can. Add to a larg bowl.

2.) Prepare the shrimp, chop them, chunky, not too small. Add to the vegetable mixture.

3.) Chop the mushrooms also a bit smaller than the shrimp but not as small as the vegetables. This all goes more easily with the help of a food processor, but if like me you do not have one, this is not impossible, just time consuming. My mushrooms were in the dried form, so this step required soaking in hot water for about 20 minutes before chopping. Add to the mixture.

4.) Add the soy sauce, sugar, and fish sauce to the mixture and blend well.

5. ) Now that the mixture is ready to roll, set up your rolling area so that you have everything you need in close proximity. You may want to roll the egg rolls and lay them flat on a baking sheet until ready to fry. Have a small bowl of water on hand for dipping your fingers in and wetting the ends of the wrapper when ready to close, have the bean thread noodles, drained, cooled and possible chopped into 2'' or otherwise manageable lengths. and as you can see from my picture of course, coffee.

6.) Starting with an egg roll with the point facing toward you, like a diamond, place a heaping tablespoon of the shrimp and veggie mixture in the middle of the square. Add a few of the bean thread noodles on top. Don't over do it, you'll need to wrap this soon, but you'll figure out the best amount as you go.

7. Roll tightly the first half up. Tuck in the two sides. On the last triangle, dab some water on the tip with your fingers and finish the rolling. The water keeps the roll 'glued' together. Place on the baking sheet with the closed side down (this gives it some time to firm the seal).

8.) When almost ready to serve, heat the peanut oil in a large pot or a deep saucepan. You will want just enough oil to almost cover one egg roll dropped in, not much more. The deeper the pot or saucepan the less likely it is for you to get splattered with hot oil. When the oil is hot enough, an eggroll will take only about 20-30 seconds to brown. You may have to gently flip the egg roll to the other side if it is not completely submerged in oil. This part goes relatively quickly.

9.) Return to the baking sheet and drain on top of paper towels for several minutes.

10.) Transfer to a serving dish or plates and serve with the cucumber dipping sauce.

Curried fish soup (Me ga thi)

This soup is inspired by something from Laos though I think it's pale in comparison in both heat and lime-ishness. Yes, I said lime-ishness. Spell check can stick it where the sun don't shine.

2 large onions, diced

3 stalks celery, diced
2 carrots, peeled and diced
3 gloves garlic, crushed
2'' piece of fresh ginger, peele and finely diced
2 tbs peanut oil
1 vegetable boullion cube
2 tbs yellow curry
1 tsp tumeric
1/2 tsp red chilli flakes
4-5 potatoes, peeled and cubed
100 grams white fish (I used frozen Alaskan Pollock)
1/2- 1 cup coconut milk
handful of cherry tomatoes, quartered
handful of fresh coriander, chopped roughly

salt and pepper to taste

1. Heat the oil in a large pot or dutch oven. Add the garlic, onion, ginger and spices and fry on medium high until the onions are translucent and the spices are aromatic.

2. Add 4 cups of water, the coconut milk, and vegetable bullion cube and turn heat down to simmer.

3. Add celery, potatoes, carrots and fish and return to a low boil. Heat until potatoes and carrots are tender. I used frozen fish, so I put the whole filets in the broth and once cooked, the filets were easily flaked apart.

4. Add tomatoes and coriander just before serving.

Ok, so the tomatoes and potatoes aren't really Laos, but I needed to use these potatoes finally and I didn't have any lime on hand, so I used the tomatoes for a little acidity. For me it didn't quite hit the spot, and next time I'll just go out and get some lime. For this I was just happy to be able to use what I had already laying around.

Cleaning out my fridge after Vappu means I have a few veggies left (including asparagus which is finally in season :) a half bottle of whiskey and a bottle of sparkling wine.... Hmmm...

Tangyuan

A common Chinese dessert is Tangyuan, or glutinous rice balls. They've got to come up with a better name because 'glutinous' and 'balls' together doesn't sound so appetizing (ok maybe a few of you need to wipe the drool from your mouth, but only a few of you) . Actually, it's a popular dessert in various Asian cultures, although each culture has different adaptation of this. The version I've made here is very simple and easy to make if you take a few shortcuts. The cooking time will vary depending on how you prepare your filling, and if you make a syrup or not. Since the recipe will vary according to how much you want to make and what you want to put as your fillings, I'll provide only a simple explanation:

Start with the glutinous rice flour- Using about 1 cup of flour will yield about a dozen filled balls.
Mix cold water slowly into the flour, enough to form a stiff dough.

Your fillings can be either savory or sweet, in this case sweet- depends on how you like your balls! Examples of typical fillings include peanuts, sesame paste or mung bean paste (as I used). In this case, the red mung bean paste was bought from the Asian market pre-made, but can also be made by soaking mung beans in water over night. Then blanching the mung beans and removing the skin, and finally mashing the beans into a paste with sugar (or if you're really awesome you'll grow your own organic mung beans first).

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I would recommend portioning small marble sized balls of filling and then freezing them on a baking sheet. This makes it much easier to encase in the dough when it comes time to wrap them. Using about a large marble-sized ball of dough, flatten into a pancake in your palm. Place the filling in the center, and gently wrap dough around the filling to seal. Avoid tears in the dough or else the filling will come out when boiled.

Next, boil the balls in water for approximately 3 minutes. If you'd like to eat them in a syrup, syrup can be easily made by melting brown or white sugar in a saucepan, adding aromatics, like ginger, orange peel, or star anise.

The last time I made this, I rolled the balls in flaked coconut, making them easier finger food. Next time I want to try the Japanese version with salty balls, and maybe fill 'em with smoked salmon or avocado inside. Suggestions for other filling combinations welcome :)

Chinese Soy-'Beef' Wontons

Another fun afternoon activity while you are watching a movie and have time idle time, is to wrap your own filling into wontons. Buying pre-made wonton wrappers frozen from your nearby Asian market, like Vii Voan, is the best way to skip the mess and hassle of making wonton dough on your own. I have made my own, and I can tell you that unless you have a LOT of time and a spacious kitchen (unfortunately I have neither), then this isn't worth it. Just buy these:

The filling:

• 1/2 cup dried textured soy
• 1 cup water
• 1 cube veggie or beef bullion
• 1 cup finely chopped cabbage
• 1/4 cup scallions diced
• 1 carrot, grated
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 tbs ginger, powder or grated
• 1 tbs corn starch
• 1 tbs soy sauce
• 1 tbs oyster sauce
• 1 tsp crushed red pepper
• dash of salt and pepper
• wonton wrappers
• 1 tsp roasted sesame oil
• peanut oil for frying

1. Boil the textured soy in water and bullion until soft and completely rehydrated (about 10 minutes)
2. In a large saucepan, heat some peanut oil. Add the garlic, ginger, scallions and lighly fry until soft.
3. Add the cabbage and carrot to the saucepan and cook until softened (about 10 minutes)
4. Add soy sauce, oyster sauce, corn starch and other desired spices, and sesame oil.
5. Add textured soy to the cabbage mixture and mix well. Allow to cool.
6. Using a small bowl of water, line 2 sides of a sqaure wonton wrapper with water.
7. Place 1 tsp of filling in the center of the wonton, fold in half and press to seal.
8. Continue the process, leaving ready wontons on a lined baking sheet until you have run out of filling (or time or patience).
9. Add wontons to soup, or fry them quickly in hot peanut oil** and serve with sauce.

*Since this recipe makes about 4 dozen wontons, you may want to freeze some. To do this, I suggest placing the whole baking sheet with wontons into the freezer for about 2o minutes so that the wontons are frozen separately. Then, you may add them to a container or a bag inside the freezer. Do not throw them together in a bag before they are seperately frozen, or else they will stick together and become a mess.

** Peanut oil or coconut oil is recommended because of it's higher smoke temperature. You are able to fry the wontons quickly at a high heat without burning or creating smoke.

Tofu Soup

This soup can be made with several different broth bases so it's very easy to modify to your own arsenal of ingredients. You can also add veggie dumplings or other vegetables to this soup!

I started out with a mushroom stock base leftover from my mushroom spring rolls. I added another 2 cups of water, and a vegetable bullion cube.

• 1/3 block firm tofu, cubed
• tbs ginger, fresh or 1/2 tbs ginger powder
• 3 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 carrot, julliened
• 1 bunch scallions, diced
• 1 tbs soy sauce
• 1 tbs balsalmic vinegar
• 1 tsp roasted sesame oil
• coriander, salt, pepper, chilli paste or flakes, to taste

1. Fry tofu cubes dry in a non-stick pan on low heat for half an hour, using a spatula to turn them around and firm them on all sides. This dries out the extra moisture, giving a golden color to the outside. Be sure to stir every 5 minutes or so to avoid tofu cubes sticking.
2. While the tofu is frying, cut all other vegetables, garlic and ginger and add them to the broth.
3. Add all other ingredients, season to taste. When the carrots are soft, the soup is read.

Wild Mushroom Spring Rolls

I am lucky to have someof the best friends and know some of the nicest most generous people in Helsinki. With their support, I havebeen able to make Helsinki my second home.

One of them, currently my landlord, MK, and his girlfriend LY, are now my neighbors. They are also Chinese. I wanted to make them a special dinner to show my gratitude, but I was given a special challenge. LY is allergic to seafood, and accustomed to mainly meat dishes. In any case, I was excited about this chance to try making some authentic dishes that the true experts could judge for themselves. I was rewarded with the compliment that it tastes 'better than in some Chinese restaurants in Helsinki'. I know that's not really saying much, but it made me happy!

First, I wanted to start with these mushrooms typical to China. There is the typical shitake mushroom, which is meaty and juicy, and then the black fungus, which when rehydrated, unfurls into a beautiful flower like form, but has a rather delicate yet distinct taste. I bought these from Vii Voan on Hameentie 3, for 3,50e and 1,90e respectively.

Then I decided to make mushroom spring rolls, using frozen spring roll pastry, only 1,90e for 280 grams. I had way more wrappers than needed for this recipe, so I can use the rest to make different spring rolls another time! The rest are waiting for me in my freezer.



Wild Mushroom Spring Rolls (makes about 12-15 rolls)
Preparation time: 1 hour 15 minutes*

• about 1lb of mushrooms, rehydrated (this is about 4-5 handfulls of dried mushrooms)
• bunch of scallions, diced
• 1 carrot, shredded
• 2 cups cabbage, shredded
• 50grams bean thread noodles (1 individual packet, if you can find them packaged as shown below), blanced (easiest if you leave the string tied around it while it soaks in boiling water)
• frozen spring roll wrappers
• 1/2 tbs ground ginger, or fresh grated ginger
• 3 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 tbs soy sauce
• 1 tbs roasted sesame oil
• 1/2 tsp Chinese 5-spice blend (I ground equal portions of star anise and cloves with pestle and mortar then added a pinch of salt, pepper, and cinnamon)
• 1 egg, beaten
• peanut oil for frying
• Spicy Mustard Dipping Sauce (recipe follows)

Bean thread noodles

1. Soak the mushrooms in warm water for approximately an hour. If the shitake mushrooms still seem hard in the center, cut them in half after soaking partially and soak longer. They should double or triple in size. Drain, but save the water (this makes invaluable mushroom stock for soup recipes).
2. Dice mushrooms.
3. In a large pan, heat a few tablespoons of peanut oil. Add the garlic, ginger and scallions and fry until fragrant, about 1 minute.
4. Add the diced mushrooms to the pan and fry for another minute.
5. Add the cabbage, carrot, spices**, soy sauce, and sesame oil and continue to fry until tender.
6. Using a large space, prepare your roll wrapping area by placing the beaten egg in one bowl, the stack of wrappers thawed and handy for use, the blanched bean thread noodles, and mushroom mixture in two separate bowls, and one parchment lined baking sheet.
7. Placing the wrapper at a diagonal, place about 2 tbs mushroom filling, topped with a thin layer of bean thread noodles, and roll the wrapper until the filling is covered.
8. Fold in outer corners of wrapper, brush the end triangle with egg, then continue rolling all the way. Place on baking sheet.
9. Heat oil to a high temperature, and fry each spring roll until golden and rest on paper towels to drain. Serve and enjoy immediately.

Spicy Mustard Sauce

• 1/2 cup spicy yellow or dijon mustard
• 1/4 cup hot water
• 3 tbs rice wine vinegar
• 1 tsp roasted sesame oil
• 1 tsp sugar

1. Blend all ingredients together.

* I know this seems like a long time, and rolling the filling into the wrappers can be tedious. But do what I did and enjoy the rolling process while watching a movie :) I watched 'Hurt Locker' which was very intense and seemingly realistic but enjoyable.

** Also it would be good to add about 1 tbs oyster sauce, though I did not add it due to LY's allergy.

Bok Choy Tofu Stir Fry

A little inspired from my recent trip to Aseanic Trading, near Hakaniemi on Kolmaslinja 3, I decided to whip up this quick and easy dinner for one.

Although the ingredients could be modified, I simply used these:

1 onion, diced

3 heads of bok choy, quartered

2 cloves garlic, diced

2 tbs peanut oil

1/3 block of firm tofu, cubed

3 tbs soy sauce

bunch of fresh basil leaves

1 tbs oyster sauce (optional)

1. I first sauteed onion and garlic in the peanut oil until softened and aromatic.
2. I then added the tofu and let it brown, 5 minutes.
3. Next, add the bottoms of the bok choy, soy sauce and oyster sauce and let soften, 5 minutes.
4. Lastly, I added the tops of the bok choy, since these are more leafy and take less time to soften, and the basil and left on the skillet still just long enough to warm through.

All together the result is a heaping pile of warm, tasty tofu for one. This is an extremely good, fast, and low-carb but filling dinner if you just want to chow down without feeling guilty afterwards. Also consider adding sliced or diced carrots, bamboo shoots, watercress, or any other vegetable you have on hand. Can be served over rice, udon, raman or other noodles, or plain, as I have eaten it.

Enjoy!

Chung Cake

Happy Year of the Dragon to everyone! Here in Helsinki they have a nice afternoon to celebrate bringing in the New Year in Lasipalatsi square, featuring acrobatics, musicians, artists, singers, and fireworks for entertainment. They also provide a market place where local artisans and Chinese restaurants can sell their good and delicious food. I bought a beautiful set of chopsticks while I was there and tried some sesame rice rolls filled with sweet red bean paste- yum!

They also provide a live television showing of the entertainment going on in Beijing, with the parade and other spectacular events. Despite the cold weather outside, the event that took place for the third consecutive year here had a good turnout.

As it turns out, this New Years date is commonly celebrated by all cultures with ties to the Haan Dynasty, such as Taiwan, Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia, Laos, Vietnam, and so forth....

So for that very reason, my friend N, who has been living abroad in Finland for quite some years, decided to make her very first Chung cake. And I must say, what a success! Chung cake has a nice story behind it, dating back almost 4000 years. At this time, Prince Lang Lieu was hopeful that he would be selected the next emperor, so in an effort to seal the deal, offered both square and round cakes. The square represented the earth, which was thought at the time to be a square, and the round represented the sky. He was selected as the next emperor, and the tradition continues to this day as a way to worship ones ancestors!

Chung cake is a tedious thing to make, and though I did not make it myself, I could tell that N put a lot of time and care into getting it right. There is pork meat in the authentic recipe, so it is not vegetarian unless alterations are made. The basic ingredients are rice, pork and green beans. The latter are enveloped into the rice, and the rice is then secured within bamboo leaves. The bamboo leaves shape the cake into a square, and then the cake is steamed for a very long time. The result is this beauty!

Chuc ngon mieng! Chuc mung nam moi!

Sushi

Making sushi at home can be a fun activity to make your favorite kinds of sushi and can be a great way to save money. With a little practice, sushi making can go relatively fast, making it an easy and healthy dinner option.
Sushi is the tradition of raw or fermented fish and vinegar rice that started out as convenient street vending food in Tokyo Japan. There are so many versions of sushi now, that sushi can be made to any preference and with a wide range of ingredients.

My Brazilian friends J and F have been making sushi at home for a while, and they've really mastered the art. I just watched this time, to soak up a few tips and make a mental inventory of all the ingredients I would need. Now that J and F have the hang of it, the preparation goes relatively fast.
They start with the rice ahead of time.

Sushi Rice:

A short grained rice with more gluten in it should be used for sushi, because it sticks together more easily.

Rinse the rice several times until the water runs through clear. That way any talc or other starches can be removed before cooking

Cook rice in almost equal ratios to water. For example, 3 cups of rice to 3.5 cups of water. Bring to a boil uncovered, then cover the rice for approximately 20 minutes.

Let the rice cool.

Vinegar seasoning:
5 tbs rice vinegar (only rice vinegar will do)

2 tsp sugar

1/2 tsp salt

Bring these ingredients to a slow simmer in a pan until the sugar dissolves and remove from heat. Gradually stir the seasoning into the rice and allow to cool uncovered.

Now for the other ingredients, these can be varied to preferences of course:

seaweed or nori sheets

fresh fish (the very freshest possible)

cooked shrimp/crab meat

carrots and cucumber julienned to matchstick size

mayonnaise

wasabi paste

soy sauce

pickled ginger (I've been told that this is to cleanse the pallete in between tasting different sushis)

chives or spring onions

The amounts of the ingredients depends on how many you plan to serve and can be judged by just eyeballing the amounts.

J & F made Temaki sushi, which is a type of presentation of sushi in which the ingredients are rolled up into the nori in the shape of a cone. The nori sheets can be quartered into four squares for this. If making this kind of sushi, it is easier if some of the fish is chopped very finely, mixed with a small dab of mayo and wasabi paste, and sprinkled with diced chives. Then the rest of the ingredients can be added as you wish.

Other great ways of preparation are to slice the fish (in this case, we used salmon, as it is most commonly available, fresh and inexpensive in Finland) thinly, and to leave it raw or to quickly sear the fish slices on each side. To sear the fish, the pan must be hot before adding the fish, and you should have tongs or chopsticks on hand to flip the slices quickly. To sear the fish briefly give the fish a smooth texture.
On the seared salmon slices, J spread some of her special seasoning mix on top for flavor. This consisted of mayonnaise, wasabi paste and chives. I'm sure a little lemon juice would also be nice, or if you prefer cilantro or lemongrass to chives it could be a good option.

If making makisushi, or the rolls you are used to ordering at a sushi restaurant, you will need also a bamboo mat, or some other surface that can be easily rolled. For uramaki, in which the rice is on the outside of the roll, you will need some sesame seeds to sprinkle before adding the rice, so it does not stick to the mat. If making futomaki or hosomaki, with the nori on the outside, you don't need to worry about sticking as much. Spread the rice thinly along the mat or the nori before adding filling. You will need a very sharp knife to cut the roll into slices afterwards.

Most importantly, remember to relax and have fun. There is no one right way to make sushi, and as long as you use fresh ingredients you are bound to have a delicious and healthy meal!

Douzo meshiagare! (Enjoy your meal!)

Rice Paper Wraps and Sup Tom Xao Lan (Shrimp Soup)

V for Vendetta.... or Vietnamese (food)

First time back to the ethnic markets on Hameentie in over 3 months! I bought some rice paper and veggies and decided to make some wraps. I'm making these fresh, summery wraps mid-January in celebration of my and my and A's new year's commitment to eat more healthy. You may even blanch the vegetables a bit to warm them up and make this a warm dish. However, Vietnamese cuisine is known for its use of healthy and fresh ingredients, and a range of spices such as lemongrass, mint, coriander and basil. And because of the Buddhist influence, there are many vegetarian Vietnamese recipes!

To make it a meal, I'll make some shrimp soup, or Sup Tom Xao Lan to accompany it with something warm and hearty. Shrimp can be substituted with tofu, naturally, without compromising anything of the taste.

Sup Tom Xao Lan Soup

1 liter boiling water
4 tbs Nuoc Cham sauce (recipe follows)
raw or frozen shrimp
three stalks lemongrass or half tsp lemongrass powder
one can of mushrooms, straw mushrooms preferrably or whatever is avaiable
1 scallion or small onion
the juice of 3 limes
3 keffir lime leaves, or a scant pinch of keffir lime leaf powder
salt and pepper
fresh coriander (optional)

Prepare or thaw the shrimp. Cut the tops off the lemongrass, if you're using fresh, then add them to the water, with shrimp shells if you have, and the keffir lime leaves or powder to make a stock. Bring to a boil, strain, then return the water to the pot. With pestle and morter, grind lemongrass stalks, before adding them to the pot of soup. Then add the remaining ingredients exept for the shrimp, and simmer for 10 minutes. If adding tofu, this is the time to do that as well. Save the shrimp for last, so that they don't become overcooked- they can tend to get rubbery.


The recipe calls for Nuoc Cham sauce, which is simply a mixture of the following ingredients, according to regional and personal preferences:
garlic
sugar
lime juice
fish sauce
red pepper flakes
water

The name of this recipe makes me wanna have a friend named Tom Xao Lan, so I can see him on the street and shout ''Sup Tom Xao Lan!?. Let's wrap and roll!'

Rice Paper Wraps with Vegetables

as many rice papers as you intend to serve (2-3 per serving)
an asorment of julienned vegetables: red and yellow peppers, snow peas, bean sprouts, carrot, mushrooms, and possibly strips of firm tofu, raw or pan seared in some of the dressing sauce
other herbs: cilantro and/or basil
buckwheat or soba noodles seasoned with rice vinegar and sesame oil

Soak rice papers one at a time for approximately 30 seconds in warm water to re-hydrate. Roll each wrap one at a time. Soaking more than one rice paper at a time will likely end up with papers stuck together, impossible to separate, and spoiling the aesthetics and logistics of making a wrap.

Roll portions of vegetable mixture, noodles, and some sauce to the middle of the rice paper, fold in sides, roll to the end. Not as easy as it sounds, but with a little practice I'm sure I'll get the hang of it.... the dipping sauce is the easy part.

Dipping Sauce

1/3 cup orange juice
2 tbs sugar
2 tbs soy sauce
1 tbs lime juice
1 tbs sesame oil
salt
chili flakes
1 tsp balsalmic vinegar

Mix the ingredients to taste, trying to mix the yin and the yang. In Vietnamese cooking as well as lifestyle, it is important to have a balance of the elements. Spicy with sweet, salty with sour, salty and sweet....all great combinations. Way to celebrate the funny way opposites attract, and why chocolate covered pretzels and salt and vinegar chips both rock.