Salmon in Rice Paper Wraps with Coconut Ginger Sauce & Seasoned Grilled Corn

I had Nathan Hyam’s Salmon in Rice Paper Wraps with Coconut Ginger Sauce at K & J’s home a while back and liked them so much that I asked for the recipe. K’s a big fan of salmon, so she had a cookbook of 100 and something salmon dishes. I glanced at the recipe, googled this dish when I came home that night, and have made it a few times since then. The crispness of the fried rice paper goes well with the creamy sauce and fatty fish. It’s a great way to do something different with salmon, so thought I’d share it with you. I guess it can be considered a Thai-inspired dish. I took the liberty of adding garlic to the sauce, garnishing with fried scallions and fresh basil and adjusting the amount of ingredients to my taste.

Salmon in Rice Paper Wraps with Coconut Ginger Sauce
(Yields 4 Light Entrée Portions)

Adapted from New Thai Cuisine
by Nathan Hyam

Wraps

• 1 lb skinless salmon fillet, cut into 4 pieces
• Soy sauce
• 4 rice paper wrappers
• 8 basil leaves
• Knob fresh ginger, minced (save some for sauce)
• Olive oil

Coconut Ginger Sauce

• Olive oil
• 2 shallots, sliced
• 2 tsp minced ginger
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 cup coconut milk
• Soy sauce to taste
• 1 tbsp brown sugar
• 1 tbsp lime juice
• 3 tbsp chopped basil (save a bit for garnish)
• 2 scallions, sliced on bias

Season salmon fillets with soy sauce. Rub one side of the salmon with minced ginger.

Fill a wide shallow pan with warm water and spread a dish towel on a counter. Dip a wrapper in the water for about 10 seconds to soften it, then place on the towel.

Place two basil leaves in the center of the rice paper. Place a piece of salmon on top of the basil with ginger side facing up. Fold the wrap around the salmon to enclose it securely. Place the salmon packages seam-side down on a plate in a single layer. Cover and refrigerate until cooking time; it can be prepared to this point up to four hours ahead.

To make sauce, heat oil in a saucepan over high heat. Add the shallot, garlic and ginger and saute until they are soft and translucent. Add the coconut milk. Bring it to nearly a boil and add the soy sauce, sugar, lime juice and basil. Take off heat and then reheat later when ready to plate.

At cooking time, heat the oil in a non-stick skillet over high heat and fry the scallion to use as garnish. Fish out the scallion and set aside. In the same skillet, place the salmon packages seam-side down. Cook uncovered for about two minutes on each side or until done.

Place some sauce on plate and place the wraps seam-side down so the basil leaves show through the rice paper. Garnish with fried scallion and fresh chopped basil.

Look at these beautiful yellow corn ears! I love holiday weekends because it seems these are the only times that supermarkets stock tons of fresh corn ears with the husks on. They were 10 for $2, so I couldn't resist! Ever since the Gastronomer tantalized me with her grilled corn from Vietnam, I've been dying to duplicate it. For some reason, it always rains when I plan to grill corn, so I've always had to resort to the oven. Fortunately, though, I've figured out how to "grill" with the oven. :)

All you have to do is put the rack on the highest notch and preheat the broiler on 500F. Yes, that's 500F. :) Sprinkle the ears with salt and smoked paprika and brush with scallion oil. Pop them in the oven for 10 minutes (or until golden brown) and then turn them to cook the other side for another 10 minutes. As soon as they come out of the oven, brush them again with a bit of scallion oil and top with fried scallions. If you've got a couple wedges of limes sitting around, squeeze a bit of juice on these ears and you'll be in heaven. So yummy!!! :)

Turkish Bulgur Salad (Kisir) & Grilled Lamb Chops

Bulgur is whole wheat that has been parboiled and cracked for quick and convenient cooking. They come in course, medium and fine textures and can be used in place of rice or couscous since they contain higher nutritional value. In Turkish cuisine, the fine-textured bulgur is often used to make kısır, which is a variation of tabouleh. It’s usually served as an afternoon snack or meze, but I like it just fine as a side dish. This recipe is from S’s mom who also brought him a bottle of homemade pomegranate syrup from Turkey. Yummy!

Turkish Bulgur Salad (Kısır)
(Yields 4 Side Portions)

• 1 ½ cups of fine bulgur
• 1 ½ cups hot water
• 1 tbsp tomato paste
• 1 tbsp red pepper paste
• 1 big clove garlic, minced
• 8 scallions, finely sliced
• 1 bunch flat leaf parsley, finely chopped
• 2 banana peppers, seeded & finely chopped
• 2 tbsp pomegranate syrup
• 1 lemon, juiced
• 2 tsp pul biber
• 1 tsp mint flakes
• ½ tsp cumin
• ¼ to ½ cup fine extra virgin olive oil
• Sea salt & freshly cracked black pepper to taste
• 2 tomatoes, seeded & diced

Pour bulgur into a large bowl and cover with hot water for 5-10 minutes. Drain and blot with towel to remove excess water. Toss bulgur into a salad bowl along with the tomato paste and pepper paste and use your hand to mix thoroughly. Next, add the rest of the ingredients except tomatoes and toss well. Adjust seasoning and then fold in tomatoes near the end so that salad does not get mushy. Chill for an hour and then serve.

To complete this meal, I rubbed some fine sea salt, freshly cracked black pepper, ground cumin and oregano flakes onto several lamb chops and brushed them with olive oil before throwing them on a hot grill. This was such the perfect pairing and was a most satisfying meal!

Homemade Granola with Kefir & Berries

In his ongoing effort to get me to lead a healthier life with exercise and a sensible diet, S has been forcing me to eat granola. He buys each ingredient from the Whole Foods Market and toasts them himself. As someone who grew up eating steaming noodle soups for breakfast, I was initially repulsed by this cold and unexciting dish. After much reluctance, I slowly began to eat a little bit of it with my morning coffee. I still don't like granola, but the refreshing kefir and berries make it much more enjoyable. And I'll have to admit: I feel much better throughout the day with this breakfast than a hot bowl of ramen. Well, physically anyway. :)

Fried Rice (Com Chien)

Ingredients:

• Extra virgin olive oil
• handful raw bay scallops
• handful raw shrimp, chopped
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 3 shallots, chopped
• 2 stalks scallions, sliced into rings
• 3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• ½ tsp fresh minced ginger
• a few red chilies, chopped
• handful diced carrots
• handful peas
• handful corn
• 4 cups cooked jasmine rice
• ½ tsp sesame oil
• 1 tbsp Chinese rice wine
• Vietnamese fish sauce, soy sauce, salt & freshly-cracked black pepper to taste
• Bit of sliced chives to garnish

You can season the seafood and egg in separate little bowls prior to cooking, or if you’re lazy, you can just wait until the end and season everything.

Heat up wok with a bit of oil to fry the scallops until almost done and transfer to plate. Put wok back onto the burner and do the same with the shrimp and then the scrambled eggs.

Bring wok back on burner again and drizzle with a bit of oil. Throw in shallots and toss until fragrant. Add scallions, garlic, ginger, chilies, carrots, peas and corn and sauté until almost done. Add half the rice and toss until evenly mixed and then add the remaining and continue to toss. Season the rice with sesame oil, rice wine, fish sauce, soy sauce, salt and pepper. Continue to toss until it looks like fried rice. Hehehe. When almost done, put the shrimp, scallops and egg back into the wok and toss for another couple minutes. Transfer to plate and garnish with chopped chives.

Köfte with Cacık

I attempted to make a Turkish meal all by myself tonight. It was decent, but not exactly what I'd hoped for. Some photos to document my experiment. Recipes will follow once I've finished the tweaking. :)

Kofte (herbed meatballs) with grilled chilies, saffron rice and a salad of romaine lettuce, cherry tomatoes and sweet red onion.

Cacik made with plain yogurt, diced cucumber, crushed garlic, sea salt, dried spearmint and sumac.

Vietnamese Chicken Congee (Chao Ga)

I was in the mood to cook something that reminds me of home. This soup is probably cooked at every single one of our family gatherings or when someone in the family is sick. I grew up looking forward to catching a cold just so I could have this chicken congee. My family made nearly everything from scratch, so I never tasted canned chicken broth until I was living on my own. My sister would go to the farm to buy live chickens, and that entire day, every meal would revolve around chicken since no part of the animal went to waste. I never did any cooking while living at home because my job was usually to wash and chop the herbs. Just the fragrance alone of the three herbs pictured here transports me home immediately. This recipe is my simple adaptation of this chicken congee from Hue, Vietnam.

Thai basil (rau que), spearmint (rau hung) & Vietnamese coriander (rau ram).

Stock:

• 5 chicken thighs, bone in & with skin
• 1 two-inch knob fresh ginger, peeled & halved lengthwise
• 5 whole cloves garlic, peeled
• 1 onion, peeled & quartered
• 10 peppercorns

Congee:

• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 3/4 cup jasmine rice, rinsed & drained
• 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 3 shallots, diced
• 1 tbsp fresh, minced ginger
• 4 stalks scallion, thinly sliced (white for soup, green for garnish)
• 2 tbsp Vietnamese fish sauce
• fine sea salt and freshly cracked black pepper to taste
• handful fresh Vietnamese coriander leaves, chopped
• handful fresh Thai basil leaves, chopped
• handful fresh spearmint leaves, chopped
• lime wedges (optional)

To make stock, put first set of ingredients into a 6-qt stock pot and fill up with cold water. Bring to a boil and immediately lower heat to let stock gently simmer. Allow chicken to poach for about 25 minutes or until cooked through. Remove chicken and allow to cool. Carefully take meat off the bones and try to keep the meat in large pieces. Return skins and bones to stock pot to continue simmering. The chicken meat can then be shredded into long, thin strips for use in congee or salad. Continue to add hot water to stock pot to keep ingredients submerged for the remainder of cooking time. I like to simmer my stock for at least 2 hours, but ideally it should simmer for 6 hours or longer. Once done, pour stock through a fine mesh strainer into another stock pot. Discard the solids.
Rinse and drain rice. Heat up a skillet with olive oil, shallot, ginger, garlic and rice and toss until rice is fragrant and fully coated with oil. Transfer rice to pot of simmering stock. Cook for another 30 minutes or until rice is tender. Add white part of scallions, fish sauce and salt & pepper. Serve in soup bowl, topped with shredded chicken and chopped herbs. You can squeeze a bit of fresh lime juice for a burst of freshness. Mix all ingredients up before eating in order to savor all the wonderful flavors.