Passport & Plate - Summer Saudade
Hungary | Friday, March 14, 2014 | 5 photos
These are photos from our first Vietnamese Summer Roll Festival in Budapest, Hungary on January 13, 2013. All credit to Péter Határ
List of ingredients:
1. FOR SUMMER - SAUDADE - ROLLS
Gábor's Essentials:
N.B. all should be easy to find in most urban Asian stores/Farmers' Market - but if you can't get these in your hometown, do an internet search what to replace those elusive gems with or how to make them at home yourself! ;-) thank god for globalization!!!
- 1 pack of Rice paper (round)
- 1 pack of Rice vermicelli
- 1 shredded Iceberg lettuce
- 1 pack of Soy bean sprouts
- 1 thinly sliced cucumber
- thin slices of Tofu/Vietnamese Pork/halved King Prawns
- 1 large bundle (each) of Fresh Basil, Mint, Cilantro
Optional to play with :-)
(Use your imagination and preferrably a ton of local produce!)
Any - seasonally - fresh vegetable (thinly sliced) you deem your tongue experimental enough to match with the above core ingredients, e.g. spring onions, carrots, celery, bell peppers, bok choy
FOR PEANUT SAUCE
- 1 cup creamy or chunky peanut butter
- 4 tablespoons of hoisin sauce
- 1/3 tablespoon of sesame oil
- freshly squeezed juice of 2 limes
- half a cup of water
- 2-3 medium cloves of garlic, minced
- soy sauce, sugar, chili flakes to taste
FOR nước chấm SAUCE
Equal quantities of:
- fish sauce
- water
- freshly squeezed lime juice
- sugar
+ minutely-chopped chili
How to prepare recipe (2000)
FYI
It is really important to have everything ready in front of you so that you can go through the process quickly for each roll (and then land the result in your mouth after dipping it in either or both of the sauces... so i'll start with the sauces :-)
PEANUT SAUCE
I usually warm it all up together in a small pan and then cool off but heating is not necessary. Top with some roasted, chopped peanuts even if your base is chunky for decoration. If you like only creamy peanut butter, satisfy your eyes first and then discreetly discard decoration :-) If you have peanut allergy, you should pop a pill. Seriously, this is not to be missed, I sometimes pig out simply on this with a dessert spoon.
NướC CHấM SAUCE
Simply blend all ingredients. Some use more water to cut the taste, it all depends how much your buds appreciate the fish sauce :-)
(DRUM) ROLLS
This is probably one of the easiest and most fun recipes I know. You do need some manual practice but most of you who ever get to this recipe will have rolled sushi, it's very similar... Golden rule: fret not if the first roll(s) fall apart. Experiment, you'll be a master after the possibly discardable (into the chef's mouth, oh the horror) pieces for sure! :-)
1. Soak rice paper in lukewarm water for 30sec.
2. Spread a large pinch of vermicelli, one streak (each) of shredded lettuce, sprouts, cucumber, any optional other stuff and your choice - mix is OK. very OK. - of Tofu/Pork/Prawns at approximately the bottom 1/3 line of the paper. Top off with ample twigs of basil, mint and cilantro.
2. Fold paper to cover all and gently start rolling from the bottom. After a few humps, tuck in the sides and finish rolling. Do it as tight as possible and then re-size to fit your ideal serving size.
Dip away. (I'm drooling every time I get up to here in the description... Shame on you Worldnomads :-)))
Story behind recipe
I remember my first summer roll like it was yesterday. It's kind of like losing your virginity (WITH a food orgasm) or getting introduced to a new type of drug... I was sitting alone at a table in Song Que in London one sunny day in the winter of 2008 and it was - if not the most intense because it's after all not a steaming hot dish, but definitely - the most memorable bite of my life so far :-) My taste buds were drugged forever!
I have been chasing Vietnamese buffets in all the cities I went to ever since. From New York to Berlin, fortunately this cuisine is very popular, so I got my fix :-) But eventually in 2010 I realized I needed more than the occasional binge on a weekend trip somewhere in Europe and set up a Facebook group to put together - collectively with fellow Viet-enthusiasts - a buffet in my hometown Budapest, Hungary. https://www.facebook.com/groups/vietyum/
In the end, my scouting trips sucked me in (I fell in love with a guy in Berlin and moved to Lisbon a year ago) and my business/marketing skills proved to be humble. Nevertheless, a famous Hungarian food blogger picked up on my FB group and she and then a fellow blogger started introducing Vietnamese food (pho, mostly) to the Hungarian collective culinary imagination. Four years later, there's at least half a dozen Vietnamese eateries in Budapest and a real pho-mania, I would say :-) That makes me very happy. Then again, to kill two birds with the same stone, right before I moved to Lisbon, I teamed up with a good friend Kata to start a DIY foodie tradition. More on that here: https://www.facebook.com/events/400178176737339/
In Lisbon I have rolled quite a few times again for friends in picnics and birthday parties, or just munched away at home. I confess, I'm an addict :-) Hopefully by the time you had your first one, you'll know what I'm talking about.
