Vietnamese Feast

I am on a quest to learn as many Vietnamese dishes that I can.  It is embarrassing when people ask me if I can cook any Vietnamese food.  My husband would usually interrupt and say “She makes good Italian food”.  I don’t know that many and none of the family recipes are written down.  So it is my mission to learn as many as I can and document them so that I can put together a family cookbook.  That way my half-Asian kids and their kids will have these recipes!  So I started off this weekend making banh xeo (“Vietnamese Crepes”), nem nuong cuon (BBQ Pork Spring Rolls), nuoc mam (Vietnamese Dipping Sauce made with Fish sauce), and peanut sauce.  Traditionally the crepes are made with pork and shrimp.  However, I make it with chicken.

Below is one of many Vietnamese Crepes eaten this weekend with nuoc mam.  This is a time consuming dish but well worth it!  Thankfully my mom was able to show me some techniques this weekend.

So this is a new recipe for my family.  My family usually “integrates” pre-mix nem nuong with additional real pork.  My sister Christine and I’s mission on Saturday was to completely make it from scratch.  This was tasty!!!  It needed less sugar for our taste.  We made some diced green onion garnish.

 

The nem nuong was wrapped in rice paper, cucumbers, lettuce, cilantro, vermicelli noodles, and deep fried spring roll wraps to give it a crunch!  Dip it in the peanut sauce and your taste buds will go crazy!

I will need to post photos of the sauces!  I’ve been making these two for a while from memory, so I was glad to teach my sister it!