Do you ever get into a rut of making the same old favorites for dinner week after week? I often cook new things but I give in to requests for someone’s favorite dish of the day. Today was no old favorite but it’s going to be soon.
Who doesn’t like food on a stick? Nobody, I know. I made Vietnamese grilled pork patties on skewers and served them with a pickled vegetable salad with fresh herbs and two wonderful sauces and some rice. I ate like I was a skinny person.
This whole meal is easy although there are quite a few ingredients. I started the pickled vegetable salad the night before so the flavours would have time to develop. The pickling liquid is a bit of rice wine vinegar and some sugar, garlic and chilli and pop the carrots in. The cucumbers have no chilli or garlic – even easier.
Why Vietnamese? I was trolling the net yesterday and found an Australian website that does all sorts of tours around the world. The tours that caught my attention first were food tours to all sorts of wonderful places like Cambodia, Italy, Morocco, Peru, Argentina and others. I sat there for the longest while imagining myself trekking through Peru tasting everything I could get my hands on.
My Adventure Travel also has a search box on their front page that’s auto filled with suggestions and the first one that came up was Vietnam and instantly I knew that was going to be my first ‘interesting’ meal. My getaway from the same old meal. I went off in search of inspiration.
I fell for the food on a stick and the peanut sauce and the dipping sauce, plus that pickled vegetable salad was speaking to me too. Off to the shop for ingredients and I was in business.
- 2 tablespoons jasmine rice
- 500g (1 pound) pork mince
- 1 tablespoon fish sauce
- 1 egg
- 3 green spring onions, ends trimmed, finely chopped
- 2 garlic cloves finely chopped or minced
- 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1 teaspoon caster sugar
- 8 bamboo skewers
- Soak bamboo skewers in water.
- Heat a small frying pan to medium and add the rice. Stir for four or five minutes until the rice is golden brown. Cool for 5 minutes than place in a mortar and pound with a pestle until finely crushed.
- In a large bowl, add the crushed rice, pork mince, egg, spring onions, garlic, fish sauce and sugar and mix well to combine.
- With wet hands form 24 uniform balls and thread three patties on each skewer. Refrigerate the pork skewers for 30 minutes before placing on a hot grill (or grill pan) for 10 to 12 minutes or until cooked through.
- Serve with pickled vegetable salad, dipping sauce and peanut sauce for happy faces everywhere.
The pickled vegetables are perfect with the meatballs – you really must try this salad. It’s wonderful
- 4 large carrots, peeled, cut into thin matchsticks
- (1/2 cup) rice wine vinegar
- (1/4 cup) water
- 1 tablespoon caster sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 red birdseye chilli, deseeded, finely chopped
- 2 garlic cloves, crushed
- 4 Lebanese cucumbers, ends trimmed, halved lengthways, thinly sliced diagonally
- (1/2 cup) rice wine vinegar
- (1/4 cup) water
- 1 tablespoon caster sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- Butter lettuce leaves
- Bean sprouts
- Fresh mint leaves
- Fresh coriander (cilantro) leaves
- Fresh ThaI basil leaves
- Add the carrots, vinegar, water, sugar, salt, chilli and garlic in a large glass or ceramic bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and place in fridge for 6 hours or overnight
- Add the cucumbers, vinegar, water, sugar and salt in a medium glass or ceramic bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and place in the fridge for 6 hours overnight
- Drain the carrots and cucumbers. Arrange the lettuce, carrot, cucumber, bean sprouts, mint, coriander and basil on a serving platter.
Finally, once you make these sauces, the pork patty skewers and the pickled vegetable salad, you’ll be like me who said all through dinner, “I want to go to Vietnam if this is how they eat!”
- 1 tablespoon peanut oil
- 1 garlic clove, finely chopped
- 1 long fresh red chilli, deseeded, finely chopped
- 80g (1/2 cup) unsalted roasted peanuts, finely chopped
- 125ml (1/2 cup) water
- 2 teaspoons peanut butter (or as much as you like)
- 80ml (1/3 cup) coconut milk
- 1 tablespoon tamarind puree
- 1 tablespoon fish sauce
- 1 tablespoon finely chopped palm sugar
- Place a small frying pan over medium heat and add the oil, garlic and chilli and cook, stirring, for 1 minute or until aromatic.
- Add the chopped peanuts and cook, stirring, for 2-3 minutes or until golden. Add the water and coconut milk and stir until well combined. Bring to the boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and cook, stirring, for 5 minutes or until the sauce thickens slightly.
- Add the tamarind, fish sauce and palm sugar and stir to combine. Set aside for 10 minutes to cool before serving
- 60ml (1/4 cup) water
- 60ml (1/4 cup) fish sauce
- 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
- 2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
- 1 tablespoon finely chopped palm sugar
- 1 tablespoon shredded carrots
- ½ stem lemon grass, pale section only, finely chopped
- 2 long fresh red chillies, deseeded, finely chopped
- 1 garlic clove, crushed
- Combine all ingredients in a large measuring cup and stir until the sugar has dissolved.