A friend of mine called me at work and asked if I wanted to go out for dinner. Since next 30 days' theme is "I am on a budget", I proposed something different. Fixing dinner by our own. I picked up things in the supermarket. As I got home at 6:30, and my friends wouldn't show up for another hour or so, I thought I was going to fix everything by myself. Vietnamese. Well, the recipe is in my head, and it's easy. I learnt how to cook spring rolls and pho from a Vietnamese friend's mother back in college. I am sure they are supposed to be very real.
Anyway, it was great. I picked up "the third beer" instead of real beers tonight. This is not classified as beer according to the government's tax system. Drinks with more than 67% malt are categorized as "beer". The tax of a pack of beer would be 77 Yen while the third beer whose malt content of less than 25 percent only costs 24 Yen. One pack of a 350mil-litter real beer costs 180 Yen = $1.66 = €1.33. A pack of the 3rd beer only costs 120 Yen. 60 Yen = $0.55 = €0.44 difference. I bought 24 packs, you do the math. :-) For your information, I hardly consider "Bud light" a beer. I thought I wouldn't like the third beer. Wow, it tastes good and VERY beer. If you are really careful, you can notice the difference. If I get drunk, I will notice the difference less anyway. Now I understand why the third beer has become very popular here in Japan. Nodogoshi-Nama by Kirin is reommended! I am reasonably drunk now. It was a very pleasant cheep dinner moment :-) Now going to bed... Happy weekend!
So how did you do the vietnamese rolls?
Hi Sven,
Well, it's pretty simple. I hate cooking and I can do these which means it's darn easy. :-) The ingredients are
Rice Paper
Pork Back Ribs
(If you are religiously unable to eat this, go for Lamb)
Prawns
(Shells on still, heads shouldn't be removed when they are sold)
Bean Sprouts
(The thicker, the better....Oh, I heard that before in a different situation)
Rice Noodles
(The thinner, the better. Thick ones are too much. )
Perilla
Spearmint, and Pepper Mint
Chinese chives.
Put "cold" water in a pot and put uncut (blush) pork back ribs in there.
Start boiling the water. Don't let it be over boiled. It will be dark unappetizing
meat if you let it happen. Just make sure it's cooked thoroughly.
Do not get rid of the water you just boiled. It's to rehydrate rice paper. It's better than rehydrating it with just water.
Remove any unwanted guts from prawns. Do not peel shells off yet. Fry them up in a pan. Simmer the gas down a little bit and cook them throughly with the lid on. The choice of oil can be anything but I prefer sesame oil.
Peel shells off. Cut them in half.
Boil rice noodles with the water used to boil the pork. Put them in a sieve basket to let them drain.
Get rid of any thick stems if there are any from Perillas, and Spearmint. Cut chinese chives and make them 10cm long. If there are any hard, thick stems right there, they will tear out rice paper. Wash them and dry these.
Put the rice paper on a large, flat, dish or something. The smoother side should be bottom. Sprinkle the water used to boil the pork on the rice paper. It's better not to put a lot of water in the center are as ingredients are going to sit there.
Make sure you put Prawns and Chinese chives on the front side. That way, they will be visible through the rice paper when you warp it. You can put the rest of the ingredients on the back side. As a matter of fact, you can put them however you like it. But make sure you wrap it pretty.
I am not gonna get into details but the trick is to rehydrate rice paper with the water used to boil the pork. That's very effective. The sauce, you can make it from scratch but I guess it's available in an asian food store. It's o.k. to use it. I use it instead of making it by myself.
Whew, I am not fond of cooking so this is the very first time for me to write the recipe. I hope you understand how I made them.
Oops, my coffee is getting colder. I should get another cup. You have a great weekend and thanks for stopping by!
Shigeki
Thanks a million, you are very clera in your instructios. I'v copied this and will try it soon. Have to see the japanse shop across town for some of the ingrediants. Will be fun! :)