catfish springrolls

I don't see many types of fresh fish in hanoi's local market
Mostly just catfish "basa", some tiny red fishes and lots of huge fish head

There are lots of super fresh seafood, shrimps, mussels, squid and crabs ...
the crabs, whenever i look at those crabs, I can almost hear them calling me

"buy me, buy me, I'm super-delicious"

but naah, i know better than that, I could picture myself trying
to slaughter a giant crab only to have another fight with its thick shell.
craby, pick someone with a stronger willpower, not a lazy arse like me.

so it is decided, catfish it is ...
I'll just have to figure out how is best to cook them ...

After several catfish dinners, I could post my spicy pan-fry catfish
or the lemony honey-glazed catfish but then ... I went to this restaurant
called Highway 4 which is famous with its catfish spring rolls.
There I totally fell deeply in love with it, a perfect blend of mayonaise,
dill and fried catfish rolled in a thin rice paper. Just when I though I was already
in Spring rolls heaven, I dipped the rolls onto their special dip,
thick brownish sauce mixed with wasabi! Oh .. Hell! devil in Sunday hat!

I'm far from copycating their recipe and honestly my recipe will do no justice
to the original Highway 4 - catfish spring rolls, but I'm trying my best ...
um, despite the fact that I'm going back there tomorrow
for another round of catfish rolls.


Catfish spring rolls

1/2 cup all purpose wheat flour
1/2 cup corn flour
1tbs salt
1/2 tbs black pepper
1/2 tbs garlic powder
1/2 tbs cayenne powder
200g catfish filletcooking oil

for the rolls :
rice paper
a bunch of dills
mayonnaise

- lay catfish fillet horizontally on cutting board, cut to 2.5 x 1.5 inch strips
- mix all the first 6 ingredients, add catfish strips, shake to coat.
- heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat, add coated catfish strips,
fry for 2minutes on each side

- dab rice paper to a damp paper towel until it softens (it should be a bit crisp)
- put the rice paper on a plate, on the center of the rice paper put 1 catfish strips,
top it with mayonnaise and small bunch of dill- roll the rice paper around the filling
in a cigar shape



For a soft spring rolls I used a bowl of water and briefly dip the paper rice.
This catfish spring rolls wrapped with a crispy rice paper, that's why I only
dab it on a damp paper towel. Just soften the paper to be able to fold it.

I tried to make the wasabi sauce and it end up as a disaster. After the 6th tries,
i just gave it up, no idea what they mixed into the sauce, soy sauce, wasabi
and something else .... any hint?

enjoy!

WHooFeR !!!

I've been craving for Burger King Double WHOPPER
This remind me when the Burger King went bankrupt in Indonesia
and disappeared for a while. For years, I'd hassled my friend whom
were flying in from Singapore to doggy bag a Whopper, I'd drove all the way
to the airport to pick them up just so I could eat the soggy Whopper.

Now this is ... a country without Burger King ..
You know that craving, when you just want "it" and start to daydream about "it"
well, this has to come to an end, before I foolishly blackmail my friend to fly in with Whopper.

so here's for dinner,
a recipe for whoever desperately need a quick fix in a burger-less country


























Hamburger

1/2 pound ground beef
1 tbs beer
1 tbs whiskey
1 tbs worcestershire sauce
1/2 tbs black pepper powder
2 cloves minced garlic

-mix all ingredients in a bowl, leave it in the fridge for 1 hour
and shape the mixture into 2 patties
-lightly oil the skillet, cook the patties on the preheated skillet
for 5-8 minutes per side (well-done)
*I used skillet but griller is best

enjoy!

homesick dinner

mine was : Indomie goreng (instant fried noodles) and Double whopper burger king
Bouh's was : mom's veggies soup

we both grew up in a completely different background, while he munched on veggies and fruits surrounded by trees and animal, I had greasy burgers and KFC in mall surrounded by the most dangerous creature in the world, "the mall dwellers human teens".

Last nite, we got a bit homesick and miss our food ...
Bouh tried to recreate his mom's veggies soup by raiding the fridge and throwing every bit of veggies into the pot, aubergine, zuchinni, potatoes, paprika etc
and I tried to replicate Indomie goreng (instant fried noodles) without having the key ingredients, sweet soy sauce, which means "it's not going to taste rite!" but i was desperate.

so here is

"homesick Indomie Goreng"
- instant egg noodles (the yellowish noodle)
- 1 tbs sesame oil
- 2 tbs light soy sauce
- 1 tbs shallot oil (this is the key! - fry shallots in oil- take out the shallots)
- photos of mom/hometown

boil the noodles, mix all the ingredients in a bowl, toss the noodles into the bowl.
serve hot with mom/hometown photos on side.

OR .. buy the indomie online! I stumble on a very good international food website, it sells stuff from all over the world, the prices are acceptable (remember, I'm desperate ...) and it also sends up to almost everywhere.

links : INTERNATIONAL FOOD DELIVERY

this is the culprit i've been missing ...

gỏi cuốn-vietnamese spring rolls

who doesn't love fresh spring rolls?
nop, the question would be, anyone dare to make a spring roll?
with its super thin rice paper wrapper, how to bloody fold the thing!

yesh, i always felt intimidated by the rice paper wrappers and never gave it a try
although Vietnam is the land of spring rolls (and Pho - rice noodles soup)
and fresh ingredients can be found in every farmers market, dirt cheap as well.

I've been ordering spring rolls in almost every restaurant we went to, it's SUPER delicious.
Well, today I decide to give my clumsy hand a chance or a challenge, depends on how you see it. Without taking any vietnamese springrolls cooking class which offered for 35USD, I went to the farmers market, picked the herbs i need, bought a bag of frozen prawns and the widest possible rice wrappers.


Next thing i did is browsing the youtube (a geek will always be a geek ...) to watch how-to-fold-springrolls tutorial. The making was not as complicated as i thought, basically on the soggy rice paper just put together whatever herbs I got (cilantro, basil,mint), prawns, rice noodles, shredded carrot and salad, fold it, try not to torn the paper or getting a meltdown after failing over and over again, et voila ... 15 fresh "messy" spring rolls.

here's my 3 messy spring rolls master piece!



and here's the link of the how-to-fold-springrolls tutorial,

links : HOW TO FOLD SPRING ROLLS

there's a lot in youtube but somehow i like this one better

Pesto party

Here in vietnam, 3 days before the tet (chinese new year)
is not the best day to stock up on food to survive the next
"dead city week" - but - that's what i've been warned.
stubborn as i am, i went to a nearby supermarket
and witnessed the shopping war and ran out for my dear life.

On my survival mode, i walked down to the local market
(which I usually avoid - code red area with the language barrier),
strolling around with a smile and 10.000VND on my hand,
spotted some fresh basil leaves, grabbed 2 huge bunch
and within an hour a big jar of fresh pesto will assure our survival.

Green pesto
3 cups fresh basil
3 cloves garlic
1/2 cups roasted peanuts
2/3 cups parmesan cheese
1 cup extra virgin olive oil
salt & pepper

Place garlic, peanuts, parmesan cheese in a food processor.
Gradually add the basil and olive oil.
continue to blend until smooth, add salt & pepper to taste.












the good thing about pesto is you can store it in the fridge for 2 weeks
it goes well with shrimps/fried bacon/sausages/cherry tomatoes
or mixed a bit in mashed potatoes. yummy ...