This recipe was part of my final class at Whole Foods San Mateo last month.  It was nice to have some of my students whom I have been working with for many years  – Nancy, Bernie, Chris and Yuko were there, as well as my friend, Joyce and the new host of my cooking class in the Peninsula, Wally. It was a nice way to “wrap” up a 7-year teaching stint at Whole Foods.  We wrapped and we ate, and wrapped and ate a variety of spring rolls.

Chef’s tip:   Fresh beancurd skin is quite difficult to find.  Hodo Soy is probably the only folks who sell it in the US.  If you ever see some, you just have to buy it and taste the difference.   For this recipe, if you can’t find the fresh ones, the frozen ones will have to do.  The dried ones would not work.  When rolling the spring roll, ensure no air bubble is trapped within.  Make it compact and dense by pushing out any air bubbles.

Marinade

¼ teaspoon white pepper
1 tablespoon fish sauce
1 teaspoon black, thick soy sauce
1 tablespoon soy sauce to taste
½ teaspoon sesame oil
2 teaspoons Five Spice powder
1 teaspoon cornstarch
1 lb pork fillet or pork loin, cut into small cubes
3/4 cup water chestnut
1/2 cup cilantro stems, chopped
1/4 cup green onions, chopped
¼ cup yellow onions, chopped

20 pieces  6X6 inch fresh beancurd skin/ yuba
1 Tablespoon cornstarch mix with a little water to make a slurry
6 cups canola oil for deep frying

To make the springroll

1. Mix filling ingredients together and marinade for 30 minutes, up to overnight
2. To assemble lobak, place beancurd skin square with one corner facing you.  Next place about 2 Tablespoons of the filling on the bottom third of the skin.  Shape the filling into a cylinder, about 3-inches long.  Fold the bottom flap up and over the filling.  Fold the left and right side over the filling. Holding the sides in place, roll up into a tight cylinder.  Moisten edges with the cornstarch slurry to seal.  Lay the rolls flap side down on a baking tray.  Repeat folding the remaining rolls.
3. Heat oil over medium heat till 350F. Deep fry springrolls till golden brown, about 5-6 minutes.

LOH BAK DIPPING SAUCE

1 cup chicken stock
1 teaspoon salt
1 Tablespoon sugar
1 Tablespoon soy sauce
¾ teaspoon Chinese Five Spice powder to be mixed with a bit of water
A pinch of white pepper

1 Tablespoon cornstarch mixed with 3 Tablespoons water
1/2 egg white
1 teaspoon oil

To make the sauce:

4.     Mix all the seasoning ingredients with the stock and bring to a low boil.

5.     Add cornstarch mixture slowly to thicken the sauce.  You may not need all of it.

6.     Beat the egg white and drizzle into the sauce, wait till the egg white becomes opaque white, then stir slowly.  Finish with 1 teaspoon of oil.

Serves: 10

Tags: Malaysian, springrolls, street foods.

Crispy rolls filled with chicken, mushrooms and glass noodles, with characteristically- Thai flavors of lemongrass and fish sauce.  This spring roll differs from their Vietnamese counterpart as it is sweeter and uses eggroll wrappers instead of rice paper.

Chef’s tip: Cutting off an edge of the spring roll wrapper means less pastry around the filling, and would allow the spring roll to thoroughly cook through faster.

2 Tablespoon canola oil
4 small garlic cloves, minced
3 coriander roots, about 2 Tablespoons, scraped and finely chopped (substitute: stems)
3 small shallots, minced
1 lemongrass, white part only, finely minced
1 Thai bird’s eye chili, seeded, finely chopped

6 oz ground chicken
4 oz shrimp, peeled, cleaned, chopped into ½ inch pieces
2 Tablespoons fish sauce
1 Tablespoon palm sugar
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 large egg

1 cup wood ear mushroom, fresh or reconstituted, tough stems removed, sliced thinly
1 cup shiitake mushroom, stemmed, small diced
½ yellow onion, thinly sliced
1 stalk green onions, thinly sliced
½ carrot, peeled and grated
2 oz cellophane mung bean noodles, reconstituted in water, cut into 2 inch length

20 pieces 8×8 inch egg springroll wrapper

8 cups canola oil

1.     In a sauté pan. heat oil over medium heat and sauté the garlic, coriander roots, shallots, lemongrass and chilies until fragrant, about 4 minutes.  Let cool.  Set aside.
2.     In a large bowl, add chicken, minced shrimp fish sauce, palm sugar, black pepper, and egg and mix to combine.
3.     Add cooled sautéed garlic mixture, chopped mushrooms, onions, green onions, carrots and bean thread, Stir until just combined.  Do not overmix.
4.     Cut off one corner of a springroll wrapper.  Moisten uncut edges with water.  With the cut corner closest to you, place about 2 Tablespoons of the filling on the bottom third of the wrapper.  Shape the filling into a cylinder, about 3-inches long.  Fold the left and right side over the filling. Holding the sides in place, fold the bottom flap up and roll the roll up into a tight cylinder.  Lay the rolls flap side down on the moistened towel and cover with another moist towel.  Repeat folding the remaining rolls.
5.     Frying the spring rolls:  Heat canola oil till 330F.  Drop several spring rolls into the oil and fry till golden brown, about 5 minutes each.   Do not overcrowd. Immediately drain on a wire rack over a baking sheet.  Bring the oil back up to temperature and continue until all the spring rolls have been fried.

Serves 10

Gluten-free option: Replace springroll wrappers with rice paper wrappers for Step 4

1 lb package 8 inch round Vietnamese rice paper wrappers

3 Tablespoons sugar

4.     Line a baking sheet with a damp tea towel and have another damp towel ready to cover the rolls. Line a cutting board with a third damp towel.  Fill a large sauté pan with 2 inches of water. Add sugar, bring water to a boil, then turn heat to very low. Working with one sheet of rice paper at a time, dip half the disc into the hot water, holding one corner with your fingers or a pair of chopsticks. Let it sit for about 5 seconds. Quickly dip the other half and remove and spread out flat on lined cutting board.    Place about 2 Tablespoons of the filling on the bottom third of the rice paper.  Shape the filling into a cylinder, about 3-inches long.  Fold the left and right side over the filling. Holding the sides in place, fold the bottom flap up and roll the roll up into a tight cylinder.  Lay the rolls flap side down on the moistened towel and cover with another moist towel. Patch any broken areas with small pieces of soaked, rice paper.  Repeat folding the remaining rolls.

THAI SWEET & SOUR DIPPING SAUCE

1/2 cup water
3/4 cup sugar
1 cup rice vinegar
2 Tablespoons Sriracha
2 Tablespoons fish sauce

1 Tablespoon ginger, minced
2 cloves garlic, minced

To make dipping sauce, place water, sugar, vinegar, and Sri Racha and fish sauce in a small saucepan. Heat over high heat until mixture boils, stirring occasionally, until sugar dissolves. Continue boiling until sauce is reduced by half, about 8 to 10 minutes, and the sauce has thickened to maple syrup consistency.   Stir in the ginger and garlic.  Cool.

Tags: springrolls, street foods, Thai.

Here is another mango salad recipe.  A Malaysian Nyonya version.  The key flavoring here is belachan.  Now, the following paragraph may scare you away from this recipe, but do trust me, once the belachan is roasted and mixed into the sambal, the salad is just absolutely scrumptious!  Ask any Malaysian, and they will surely defend the belachan.

Belachan is to Malaysian cooking what fish sauce is to Thai cooking.  To get the full, sweet flavor of belachan, buy a block of it, slice it up and dry toast it in a skillet.  Just be aware that your neighbors may not be liking it too much!  When I lived in Guangzhou about 20 years ago, I toasted some belachan and thought I was smart to leave the windows opened….after all, I was in US consulate housing and I don’t think my neighbors really dig the smell!  Before I knew it, every fly in Guangzhou decided to join me in the cooking!  After a humourous battle tracking down the flies and shooing them away, I was able to get all but one fly out of the apt.  To get the last fly out, I placed my bottle of now sweetly toasted belachan by the window sill.  The lone fly decided to come out of hiding and follow the waft of the belachan by the window sill.  At that point, I turned on the fan, and off he went out of the window!

Chef’s tip: You can also roast the belachan in an oven.  400F.  Chop up the belachan, spread it on a baking sheet and roast about 7 minutes.  Using a wooden spoon, break up the pieces further till crumbs form.  Return to oven for another 5 minutes.  Store leftover roasted belachan in an airtight bottle for future use!

Sambal Belachan:
6 Fresno/ red jalapeno chilies
1 Tablespoon belachan, more if desired

Dressing:
2 Tablespoon prepared sambal belachan
3 Tablespoon lime juice
2 Tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

2 Tablespoon dried shrimp, soaked
2 Tablespoon dessicated shredded coconut, toasted
2 green mangoes, peeled and shredded
2 shallots, finely sliced
4 kaffir lime leaves, finely chiffonaded

1. In a food processor, finely grind the red chilies into a paste. Mix with belachan.
2. Make kerabu dressing – mix together sambal belachan, lime juice, sugar and salt.  Set aside.
3. Soak dried shrimp in water until soft.  Drain and pound coarsely with a mortar and pestle or pulse with a food processor.  Set aside.
4. Toast desiccated coconut in a pan till golden brown.  Pound coconut lightly.  Set aside.
5. Shred mangoes, cut shallots into thin slices lengthwise.  Slice kaffir lime leaves finely.
6. In a large bowl, mix all ingredients with the dressing. Serve immediately.

Note: Mangoes must be green, unriped firm mangoes

Serves: 6

Tags: Malaysian, nyon, Salads.