Weekend Diversion: Night Of The Ponies
Pedway, First Store Open At Block 37
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We love Vietnamese spring rolls and, fortunately, they're available year round. But we wanted to try our hand at making them at home. The good news is that you can't mess these up. Pack them with fresh vegetables and meat, if you like, and dip them in a sauce...what could be easier? And if you've got kids, they can tell you exactly what they want in them and roll them themselves. Instructions in the gallery captions. Enjoy!
Start with fresh vegetables cut into strips to make them easy to lay in the roll. Here, you can see that we used cucumber, red onion, tomato, green pepper, red pepper, and avocado. We also used poached chicken. Rice noodles are the norm but we only had buckwheat noodles on hand so we used those. We also used a head of green leaf lettuce and some fresh cilantro. (Photo by Stolpman)
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Dang, pretty cool. Even I can't fuck this one up. I think.
Stealth - totally. It's just vegetables and noodles and possibly some meat. If you want some more specifics on the dipping sauce, let me know. Good luck!
-L.
Can you buy pre-made sauces? And if so what kinds are good? I've seen a few in stores on Argyle I think. That would make it even more Stealth-proof.
The sweet chile sauce I mentioned is a brand called Mae Ploy. I found a picture of it here:
http://importfood.com/samp1001.html
Sometimes it is a bit thick and you can add some water or vinegar (and even fish sauce if you have it) - but it is probably good by itself, too.
My personal favorite is a peanut sauce. I'd imagine they have them bottled in the Asian section, too. You could add some fresh cilanto to freshen it up a bit.
Since it is mainly vegetables, you could dip it in salad dressing, really. I mean, I feel sort of wrong saying that about spring rolls but honestly, it's about what tastes good to you and hell, if you're getting your vegetables...knock yourself out. :)
Cilantro? That's a great addition to peanut sauce I have yet to try. Mine usually has a few splashes of sesame oil, sriracha, fish sauce, honey, and lime. Making my own sauce is infinitely better than any prepackaged I have found.
The sweet chile sauce I mentioned is a brand called Mae Ploy. I found a picture of it here:
http://importfood.com/samp1001.html
Sometimes it is a bit thick and you can add some water or vinegar (and even fish sauce if you have it) - but it is probably good by itself, too.
My personal favorite is a peanut sauce. I'd imagine they have them bottled in the Asian section, too. You could add some fresh cilanto to freshen it up a bit.
Since it is mainly vegetables, you could dip it in salad dressing, really. I mean, I feel sort of wrong saying that about spring rolls but honestly, it's about what tastes good to you and hell, if you're getting your vegetables...knock yourself out. :)
Thanks a lot. My usual chicken-breast-with-a-vegetable was getting pretty boring.
Yo L-Stop
When you gonna do a Chicagoist write up of the most, off the chain( and most spicy) Korean BBQ joint in the city? Aint you Korean? And if you aint then you should be because I need the 411 for spicy Korean BBQ
and I heard you got an il du like Dear Leader Kim Jong-il
Holla!
What up, Spook!
I am, indeed, Korean. Mmmmm, bulgogi and kalbi. Okay, I gotta get on that; I'll ask my mom about where she thinks is best and then go hit up some of them. You need some quick recommendations? Because I can think of a few. I didn't know this until I looked at their menu more closely but you can get good bulgogi and kalbi at Kohen in the UIC area (it is owned by a Korean couple).
You're gonna smell like smoke and meat, Spook. Mmmm, smokey Spook!
-L.
Stealth, the one way to screw this type of thing up is to soak the wrappers too long... I recently tried making spring rolls at home following a Thai class at Chopping Block. I left the wrappers in water too long while finishing up the prep and they disintegrated when I tried to pick them up. Other than that, super easy...
my boyfriend and i experimented with making spring rolls earlier this year. we had mostly good results.. you are giving me some good ideas for next time, though!
Benjy, thanks for the tip. so just dip the wrappers a few seconds in warm water? What do you place them on, a plain plate. A paper towel? is there a surface you DON'T place them on if you want to pick them up in one piece?
we put them in the water for a few minutes and then blotted them off on paper towel before filling them. you can sort of tell by touching them when they've been in the water long enough.
Hrm, I just read Rachelle's answer - you may have to experiment a bit, Stealth. My mom used a frying pan and filled it with water and then heated it. The pan is good because it's really wide and you can put the flat, round wrapper in it easily. She only had it in there for 1-2 seconds (she flipped it once - each side for 1-2 seconds). I think she just sort of shook off the water and she put them on a plate. They didn't stick badly to the plate at all. Make sure you don't get the 'thin' or 'extra thin', though.
-L.
The temperature of the water and the thickness of the wrapper prob make a big difference.
Beautiful pictures
Thank you, Sherlaura!