Tag: appetizer
Nam Khao (Crispy Rice Salad)
Nam Khao (Crispy Rice Salad)
Nam khao is a Laotian salad with roots in Thai and Vietnamese cuisine. The Thai influence stem from the ingredients used to make the crispy rice balls, dressing, and toasted rice powder. The Vietnamese influence comes from the salad toppings such as the mint, basil, and cilantro. This salad has just about every flavor and texture you can imagine; all perfectly balanced. Nam khao is definitely an advanced recipe; with the crispy rice balls taking the brunt of the endless prep work to it’s completion. It will be all worth it in the end. So puff, puff, puff; don’t bother passing; puff a few more times; take a deep breath, and get ready to cook.
Servings: 2
Equipment
- sticky rice bamboo steamer
- cookie dropper scooper
Ingredients
Crispy Rice
- 3 cups glutenous rice
- 3 tbsp red curry paste
- 2 garlic cloves minced
- 1 shallot finely chopped
- 4 lime leaves finely chopped
- 4 tsp fish sauce
- 4 tsp sugar
- 1 large egg beaten
- vegetable oil for frying
- spinach/arugula mix
Nuac Chom Dressing
- 1/3 cup warm water
- 2 1/2 tbsp sugar
- 2 tbsp fish sauce
- 1/2 lime juiced
- 1 1/2 tbsp rice vinegar
- 2 garlic cloves minced
- 1 red Thai chili finely chopped
Salad Toppings
- som moo (Laotian fermented sausage)
- mint
- basil
- cilantro
- toasted peanuts
- toasted rice powder
- green onions
Instructions
- Soak the rice for a minimum of 4 hours.
- Place the rice in a bamboo steamer basket in a pot of boiling water. Place a cover over the top.
- Steam the rice for 30 minutes, flipping half way through the cooking process.
- Mix in the rest of the crispy rice ingredients.
- Heat up 2” of cooking oil in a pot over medium high heat. Using a cookie dropper scoop, drop round balls of the rice into the oil, making sure to not overcrowd the pot. Fry the rice balls for 3-4 minutes.
- Drain the grease from the rice balls on paper towels.
- Mix together all of the dressing ingredients.
- Prep all of the other topping ingredients.
- Break up the crispy rice balls. Toss them with the som moo, mint, basil, cilantro, toasted peanuts, green onions, and the dressing.
- Place the spinach/arugula mix in the bottom of a bowl.
- Place the crispy rice salad on top of the spinach/arugula. Dust the top with toasted rice powder.
Muhammara Dip
Muhammara Dip
Muhammara is a roasted red pepper dip eaten all over the Middle East. It is extremely easy to prepare, which is great, since it is extremely easy to eat a whole batch. All of the ingredients get puréed in a food processor. Then the dip will need to sit in the refrigerator for an hour to allow the flavors to meld with one another. Serve the muhammara dip with pita chips.
Equipment
- food processor
Ingredients
- 12 oz roasted red peppers 1 jar
- 1 cup walnuts
- 1/2 cup breadcrumbs
- 2 garlic cloves
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
- 1/2 tsp salt
Garnish
- olive oil
- parsley chopped
Instructions
- Place all of the ingredients in a food processor.
- Pulse until the dip is smooth. Let sit in the refrigerator for an hour before serving.
Pita Chips
Once you make pita chips on your own, you will never buy packaged ones again. All you have to do is cut pita bread into 8 pieces, toss with olive oil and seasonings, and bake for 15 minutes at 400 degrees. Once the pita chips are finished baking, they will need to cool completely to crisp up.
Ingredients
- 4 pita bread
- olive oil
- garlic powder
- onion powder
- salt
Instructions
- Cut the pita bread into 8 pieces.
- Toss the pita with olive oil, garlic powder, onion powder, and salt.
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Place the pita on the baking sheet.
- Bake the pita for 15 minutes, flipping half way through. Let the pita chips completely cool before serving.
Tamagoyaki
Tamagoyaki
Tamagoyaki literally means “grilled egg” in Japanese. You will typically see tamagoyaki served for breakfast, as a side dish, in bento boxes, and even in sushi as nigiri, wrapped with nori on top of sushi rice. In Japan, customers dining in at a sushi restaurant will order tamago nigiri first to asses the chef’s sushi making skills.Tamagoyaki consists of eggs, mirin, soy sauce, and sugar cooked on a special omelette griddle called a yakimakinabe. The griddle has high edges, with one side flat and the other rounded. Small amounts of the egg mixture is cooked, then rolled to the flat side of the griddle. The omelette is pushed to the rounded side of the griddle and more of the egg mixture is poured in. Once the eggs set, the egg roll is rolled over the set eggs. These steps are repeated until all of the egg mixture is used up and you’re left with a thick omelette roll. The omelette is then sliced into 4 pieces.
Equipment
- tamagoyaki griddle
Ingredients
- 4 large eggs beaten
- 1 tbsp mirin
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 1 pinch salt
- vegetable oil
Instructions
- Whisk together the eggs, mirin, soy sauce, sugar, and salt.
- Lightly grease your tamagoyaki griddle with 1 tsp of vegetable oil over medium heat. Pour in 1/4 cup of the egg mixture and let set for a minute.
- Gently push the eggs to the flat side of the griddle. Your first ladle of the eggs doesn’t need to be rolled perfectly.
- Push the egg to the rounded side of the griddle. Pour in another 1/4 cup of the egg mixture. Let it set for 30 seconds.
- Roll the omelette over to the flat side of the griddle. Push the omelette to the rounded side of the griddle.
- Repeat the steps until all of the egg mixture is used up. You should get somewhere between 4-6 rolls during the entire cooking process.
