Tag: appetizer
Spring Rolls with Hmong Sausage
Spring Rolls with Hmong Sausage
These spring rolls are very similar to the Vietnamese variety that you might be familiar with. Hmong sausage is thinly sliced and used as the protein. Spring rolls are fairly easy to make, but they require a lot of prep work. Really a lot. Once assembled, serve them with the sweet peanut dipping sauce.
Ingredients
- 3 Hmong sausages
- 2 packets vermicelli noodles prepared according to package directions
- 1 packet rice paper
- cilantro
- mint
- Thai basil
- carrots shredded
- purple cabbage shredded
- cucumber cut into long strips
- green leaf lettuce
Peanut Dipping Sauce
- 1/4 cup chunky peanut butter
- 1/2 cup sweet chili sauce
- 1/2 cup water
- 1 tsp fish sauce
- 1 tbsp lime juice
- 2 green onions finely chopped
- 1/4 cup cilantro finely chopped
Instructions
Dipping Sauce
- Heat up the water, peanut butter, sweet chili sauce, and fish sauce in a small pot. Simmer for 3 minutes.
- Turn off the heat. Stir in the lime juice, green onions, and cilantro. Set aside and let cool.
Spring Rolls
- Add your Hmong sausages to a hot sauté pan over medium high heat.
- Sauté for 5-6 minutes a side until browned and cooked through. Set aside and let cool.
- Prep all of the ingredients.
- Dip a sheet of rice paper in warm water to loosen. First lay down the lettuce. This will hold the ingredients. Fill with the rice noodles, carrots, cabbage, cucumber, and herbs. Place a couple slices underneath the lettuce.
- Fold over the left and right sides. Fold over the bottom side and roll tightly.
- Repeat these steps until the Hmong sausage is used up. You should yield 10-12 spring rolls.
- Anything you don’t plan on instantly eating should be wrapped in plastic wrap and eaten within the next 2 days.
Char Siu Pork Belly
Char Siu Pork Belly
It’s no secret that I’m obsessed with char siu. So why not apply the marinade to pork belly?! It might take 3 days to marinate, but once ready to cook, the pork belly is ready in under 30 minutes. The skin on the bottom turns crispy while a portion of the fat renders out, making the pork belly super tender and flavorful. Thinly slice and serve as an appetizer or as a main course over steamed rice with a vegetable.
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp hoisin sauce
- 1 tbsp light soy sauce
- 1 red bean curd cube plus 1 tbsp of the juice
- 1 tbsp shaoxing cooking wine
- 1 tbsp honey plus 1 tbsp for the glaze
- 2 tsp 5 spice powder
- 1/2 tsp sesame oil
- 1 garlic clove grated
- 1/4 tsp white pepper
- 1/4 tsp red food coloring
- 2 skin on pork belly slabs 1/2-3/4lb each
Instructions
- Mix all of the marinade ingredients together.
- Marinate the pork belly for 3 days in a storage bag, making sure to squeeze out all of the air.
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Place the pork belly on a wire rack on a baking sheet lined in foil. Bake for 15 minutes.
- While pork belly is baking, add the extra marinade to a pot with a tbsp of honey. Simmer for 5 minutes over medium heat, constantly whisking until it becomes a thick glaze.
- Take the pork belly out of the oven. Brush with the glaze. Return to the oven and bake for 5 minutes. Do this process a total of 3 times.
Moroccan Offal Kebabs
Moroccan Offal Kebabs
Skewers of grilled organ meat are a common Moroccan street food. Typically you’ll see skewers of heart, kidney, and liver; beef or lamb; marinated with paprika, cumin, salt, and cayenne. Sometimes the each organ will be on it’s own skewer; sometimes they’re combined. Since the organ meats are fairly lean, pieces of fat trimmed from the kidneys are put in between each cube of meat on the skewer. This adds some flavor, adding to the richness of the offal.
Equipment
- metal skewers
Ingredients
- 2 lbs heart, kidney, and liver beef or lamb; trimmed; cut into cubes
- kidney fat
- 2 tsp paprika
- 2 tsp ground cumin
- 2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
Instructions
- Marinate the organ meat for an hour.
- Skewer the organs in this particular order: heart, fat, liver, fat, kidney, fat, heart, fat, liver, fat, kidney.
- Turn on your oven’s broiler. Place the kebabs on a rack on a baking sheet lined in foil.
- Broil for 10-12 minutes in total; turning every 2-3 minutes to ensure even cooking. Alternatively, you can grill the kebabs the same way over grey charcoal.
