Curry Elvis Cooks - Fusion Cuisine Recipes and Food Philosophy

After showing you so many pictures of Vietnamese food and talking about it at length, I finally scoured my old electronic journal and found my own recipe for a dry vermicelli dish generically called Banh (bun). It's similar to pho (fuh) but without the soup broth. It's typically served with "salad" (shredded lettuce, julienned cucumber and carrots, and bean sprouts) and grilled meats. Because it's a dry dish, it's also served with nuoc mam (fish sauce). With you chopsticks, you dip a piece of grilled meat into the nuoc mam and then dab the meat onto the noodles to transfer moisture. The rice vermicelli noodles have a rib-sticking quality, but can be eaten in any time of year without making your stomach feel heavy (unless you overeat, of course). I find that rice noodles don't feel as heavy in my stomach as the same quantity of steamed rice. This is likely due to the fact that rice vermicelli noodles don't have as high a percentage of starch as plain rice.

A photograph of this dish is here. (Actually, the picture is taken at a Vietnamese restaurant. My recipe closely approximates the dish for grilled beef strips, not the meatballs shown in the photo.)

Ingredients

• Rice stick (banh/bun) vermicelli (round, not flat) - enough for one person
• Sliced beef (paper thin) - 5-9 slices (available at oriental supermarkets)
• Soya sauce to marinate the beef
• 1/2 cup of julienned carrots and cucumber
• 1/4 cup shredded lettuce
• 1/2 cup bean sprouts
• Partly-crushed peanuts
• Fish dipping sauce
• Hoisin for dipping [optional]
• Sriracha for dipping [optional]
• Chopped green onion pre-soaked in a bit of fish sauce.

Preparation

• Soak the rice vermicelli in a bowl of hot water for 10 minutes.
• In the meantime, marinate the sliced beef in soya sauce.
• Set a large pot of salted water to boil to cook the noodles.
• Drain and rinse the vermicelli in cold water.
• Heat up a flat grill or frying pan on high.
• Using a fine mesh "net" with handle, immerse the vermicelli in the boiling water for 3-4 minutes, until cooked. Note that while rice stick can easily get soggy if overcooked, it also dries out very quickly. It is better to slightly overcook the noodles.
• In the meantime, grill the pieces of sliced beef, either in a oven pan over the grill, or on a skewer. Because the pieces are thin, they will cook very quickly (l-2 minutes, depending on method).
• Remove the vermicelli and shake off the excess water. Place noodles in a large soup or noodle bowl.

Presentation

• Serve quickly while noodles are still warm.Arrange the vermicelli in a deep oriental-style soup bowl.
  
• Place the grilled beef on one half over the noodles.
  
• Sprinkle crushed peanuts over the beef. On the other half, arrange bean sprouts, julienned carrots, cucumbers, and lettuce.
  
• Reserve a few pieces (3-9) of julienned carrots for the dipping sauce.
  
• Make hoisin sauce as well as sriracha available, as well as a small bowl of dipping sauce. Add the reserved carrot to the sauce.
  

(c) Copyright 2005-present, Raj Kumar Dash, http://curryelviscooks.blogspot.com

Technorati : fusion cuisine, noodles, rice vermicelli, vietnamese food