Saturday, September 12, 2015

Bo Bia Spring Roll Recipe

When it comes to Vietnamese food, I usually let Nhan do the cooking. Although I have tried to make a few classic Vietnamese dishes, they never turn out quite as good as Mom's cooking despite all those years spent as her "sous chef" in Mom's kitchen.  And like many hand-me-down recipes, Mom's instructions usually consist of "a pinch" of this, or "a spoon" of that.  I really need to start convincing her to measure everything and write it all down so these recipes can truly be preserved. Nevertheless, I was able to pick up a thing or two. 
Spring rolls are one of my favorite Vietnamese appetizers. There are so many different types of spring rolls. What's so great about them is how light and refreshing they usually are and that you can eat a ton of them without feeling bloated and heavy afterwards. One of my favorite spring rolls is bo bia: stir fried jicama root with fresh mint leaves, eggs, and Chinese sausage wrapped in rice paper and accompanied by a peanut dipping sauce.




Bo Bia Recipe

Ingredients:

  • 1 Jicama root
  • 2 cups fried tofu
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp black pepper
  • 1 tablespoon fish sauce
  • 8 eggs
  • 4 Chinese sausages
  • 2 cups mint leaves
  • 1 package spring roll paper
  • 1/2 cup peanut butter
  • 1-1.5 cup orange juice
  • 1/2 cup hoisin sauce
  • Rooster red chili pepper (optional)
Instructions
  1. Peel jicama root and shred using a slicer/mandolin
  2. Cut fried tofu cakes into strips 1cm thick
  3. Stir-fry shredded jicama root and tofu in a large pan on medium-high heat for 5 minutes. Add salt, pepper, and fish sauce to season. Remove from heat. 
  4. In a bowl, beat 8 eggs. Pre-heat a pan on medium-high heat and spray with cooking spray. Pour a small amount of egg mixture onto the preheated pan, turning pan to coat, then pour out any left over egg mixture back into the bowl. Cook for 45-60 seconds then flip egg to other side and cook for an additional 30 seconds until no runny egg remains.
  5. Repeat until all of the egg mixture is cooked. 
  6. Stack the fried eggs. Slice fried eggs into 1cm slices and set aside.  
  7. Boil water in a small pot and cook Chinese sausage for 15-20 minutes until they are cooked through (you can tell because the sausage will float once cooked).
  8. Remove sausage from water and slice diagonally into slices about 1/2cm thick. 
  9. For the sauce, mix peanut butter and orange juice until smooth. Add hoisin sauce and mix thoroughly. Add additional orange juice as needed to reach desired consistency (I like the dipping sauce a little on the thicker side so I only use 1 cup orange juice). Add Rooster red chili pepper to sauce mixture to create desired spiciness. 
  10. Dip rice paper in a bowl of warm water and set on a clean plate.
  11. For tips on rolling, see pictures below. Add a scoop of the jicama-tofu stir fry and a 3-4 strips of fried egg to the bottom third of the rice paper. Fold bottom of rice paper (closest to you) over the stir-fry mixture and fold over again once. Add 2-3 slices of Chinese sausage and fold over once. Add 2-3 mint leaves and fold sides of roll towards center. Finish rolling. 
Step 1:
Step 3: 

Steps 4-5:
 Step 7:
 Step 10:






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