Chao, by Diane

 

When I'm in Vietnam, my most favorite breakfast (before pho!) is chao, aka congee or jook- there are tons of Asian cultures that eat this with different names. It is a simple rice porridge made with broken white rice, and then you can top it with various things. After making my amazing pork seaweed rolls last week in the snow, I realized I had all the toppings for chao in my house and decided to try and make it for warm savory breakfasts. While this turned out amazing flavor-wise and very comforting, the consistency was off no matter how hard I tried to adjust. It came out with soft but intact grains of rice in a thick porridge, but I was looking for rice that had broken down more. In the end it was delicious but I'll try it with white rice next time (brown was what I had on hand).

*note- I am not sure about the correct ratio here of water to rice but will update next time! I had to boil the excess liquid off for 20 min at the end which you aren't supposed to need to do.

Ingredients:

1 cup rice

6 cups water (I used 4 water and 2 beef stock)

1 tsp ground ginger

2 tbsp soy sauce

Toppings: pork floss, sliced green scallions, soy sauce, fried shallots

Directions:

Combine all ingredients but toppings and bring to a boil, lower to simmer and cook one hour or until it gets to the desired consistency (mine took almost 2 and then I boiled it for the last 20 stirring constantly to get a thick, glossy porridge that was super flavorful).

Peanut Dipping Sauce, by Diane

 

This is not my photo but we forgot to take a good one here! This was a sauce for the Vietnamese Shrimp Summer Rolls we made for a big Asian-inspired dinner back in January. I customized this a lot, but the og recipe is from evolvingtable.com In the end it was awesome, so I suggest you tweak all ingredients until you're happy with the taste! I also added in chili crisp bc we love this!!

Ingredients:

1/2 cup smooth peanut butter

2 tbsp soy sauce

2 tbsp brown sugar

1 tbsp rice wine vinegar

1 clove minced garlic 

3-6 tbsp warm water

2 tbsp chili crisp

Directions:

1. Add all ingredients except water to a bowl and whisk until combined.

2. Slowly add in water 1 tbsp at a time until you get the desired consistency.

Vietnamese Shrimp Summer Rolls, by Diane

 

We made these back in January for an Asian-themed dinner. They are so simple to make, and you can customize as needed. We chose steamed shrimp for ease and they were a big hit! We served them with a peanut sauce which is posted here. These are my fave meals in the summer when it's hot out and you don't want to cook, only to eat something easy and cold. Yum!

Ingredients:

1 lb steamed shrimp, cleaned and deveined and chilled

1 package rice paper wrappers

hot water

1 package cooked rice noodles (we used vermicelli)

4 large carrots, shredded

1 head red butter leaf lettuce

2 large cucumbers, sliced into long matchsticks

1 bunch fresh cilantro

1 bunch fresh mint

Directions:

1. Have all your ingredients set to go in a line with a lightly greased try at the end to put the rolls on (the rolls get sticky as the set!). We found that lettuce on the bottom, noodles next, carrots/cucumber/cilantro/mint next, then shrimp last worked best! 

2. At the beginning of your line, have a large shallow pan filled with very warm water.

3. Soak a sheet of rice paper in the water until soft for a few seconds (if it doesn't get soft, the water isn't hot enough). Lay the circle out on a board.

4. At the bottom 1/3, lay down ingredients in the order as written above.

5. Wrap by folding over once, tucking in the sides, and the folding the rest of the way. Make sure it's as tight as possible without ripping the roll!

6. Serve chilled with a peanut sauce.