Vietnamese – Cravings in Amsterdam

Vegetarian Banh Mi-Style Nachos

cravingsinamsterdam Asian, Recipes, Vegetarian March 13, 2016March 13, 2016Banh Mi, carrot, greek yogurt, nachos, pickled, snack, sriracha, vegetarian, Vietnamese 2 Comments

I’ve been craving nachos lately so I made these banh mi-style. I made quickly pickled carrots, but you can also add daikon if you want. Instead of tortilla chips, I used spring roll wrappers which I cut into squares and then deep fried. And for the sauce, I made a Greek yogurt and Sriracha sauce with lime juice. These “nachos” are slightly sweet, sour, spicy and very crunchy. A very addictive snack!

This recipe serves 2.

Ingredients:

125gr of square frozen spring rolls wrappers for frying (I got the small ones of about 10x10cm), thawed

1 litter of vegetable oil

1 red chili, thinly sliced

A handful of coriander leaves

For the quickly pickled carrots:

1 cup of shredded carrots (you can also make it with half carrots and half daikon)

½ cup of vinegar

¼ cup of sugar

1 teaspoon of salt

For the Greek yogurt – Sriracha sauce:

1/3 cup of Sriracha

1/3 cup of Greek yogurt

Juice of ½ lime

1 teaspoon of white vinegar

Salt to taste

The night before, place the frozen spring roll wrappers in the fridge to thaw.

In a medium bowl, mix the vinegar, sugar and salt to pickle the carrots. Add the carrots and mix well. Keep it in the fridge until ready to serve (Let it pickle for at least 15 minutes).

I find that just one sheet of the spring rolls is too thin, you can do it like this but I prefer to leave 2 sheets sticking together because they hold the toppings better. I used kitchen scissors to cut each double sheet into 4 squares. Repeat until you are done with all of the wrappers.

Pour the oil into a medium saucepan over medium heat. Once the oil is hot, start frying the wrappers in small batches. Fry them until they are golden. Then place them in a large plate lined with paper towels. Repeat until all of them are fried.

To make the Greek yogurt-Sriracha sauce, just mix all of the ingredients in a bowl. Add salt to taste. Pour it into a zip lock bag.

Drain the pickled carrots.

To serve, place the fried wrappers on a large plate. Spread the pickled carrots all over. Then slice off the tip of the zip lock bag with the sauce, and drizzle it over the nachos. Finish it by adding fresh coriander leaves and finely sliced chili. Enjoy!

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Vietnamese Garlic Spaghetti Squash with Thai Chicken Meatballs

cravingsinamsterdam Asian, Meat, Recipes, Weeknight November 3, 2015January 25, 2016asian, chicken, garlic, garlic noodles, meatballs, Spaghetti, Spaghetti Squash, thai, Vietnamese 0 Comment

This is my Asian version of spaghetti and meatballs. Last Saturday at the Farmer’s market, I saw spaghetti squash for the first time. I’ve seen a lot of recipes with it but I had never actually looked for it here. I had actually been looking for delicata squash but no luck so far. When I bought it, the man selling it asked me if I knew that it was spaghetti squash. I said yes with excitement. I wasn’t sure what to make with it until I remembered a recipe an American friend of mine told me a few weeks ago. She told me about a Vietnamese garlic noodles with crab recipe and it sounded so good that I wrote it down on my to-do list. Long story short, decided to make the noodles but with spaghetti squash and served them with Thai chicken meatballs.

This recipe serves 3.

Ingredients:

For the spaghetti squash:

1 spaghetti squash

3 tablespoons of butter

2 tablespoons of olive oil

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 tablespoon of brown sugar

4 tablespoons of fish sauce

Salt to taste

For the chicken meatballs:

500 grams of minced chicken

1 stalk of lemongrass, white part only, finely chopped

Pinch of garlic powder

1 tablespoon of grated fresh ginger

¼ cup of breadcrumbs

Zest of one lime

1 teaspoon of fish sauce

2 teaspoons of caster sugar

1/2 a bunch of coriander, chopped

Pinch of onion powder

½ teaspoon of salt

Pinch of pepper

Extra:

Vegetable oil to cook the meatballs

Chives for garnish

Preheat the oven to 200C/400F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Slice the squash in half. Spoon out the seeds and the stringy bits of flesh. Place the squash with the cut side down on the prepared baking sheet. Add ½ cup of water. This will help it steam. Roast it for 30 to 40 minutes, depending on the size of the squash. Remove it from the oven and using a fork, scrape off the flesh. Transfer it to a bowl. Set it aside.

To make the meatballs, place all of the ingredients in a bowl and mix it with your hands. Then cover it with plastic wrap and let it sit in the fridge for 30 minutes.

Once the 30 minutes are up, start shaping the meatballs. I made them small, about 22 meatballs. Once they are all done, pour about 1/3 of a cup of vegetable oil into a large pan over medium heat. Once the oil is hot, cook the meatballs until evenly browned and cooked through. This will take about 8 minutes. I cooked them in 2 batches.

To make the Vietnamese garlic sauce, add the butter and olive oil to a large pan over medium heat. Once the butter has melted, add the garlic and brown sugar. Cook for a few minutes while stirring. You want the sugar to melt as much as possible without burning the garlic. Then add the fish sauce and some salt. Stir and add the cooked spaghetti squash. Mix it well with the sauce and taste for salt.

Serve the spaghetti squash with the meatballs and garnish with some chopped chives.

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