A Very Vietnamese Thanksgiving Pt. 1 of 3

A recipe for rice noodle rolls and pictures of egg roll making with Mom

Sometimes, you gotta shake things up a bit. This year, my family is doing Vietnamese Thanksgiving as I partner with my mom to cook. This opportunity lets me practice making traditional Vietnamese dishes while trying a few new recipes on the fam as well! For the lunch, turkey, egg rolls, Banh Hoi, and rice noodle rolls were served. Oh and I’m also baking chocolate chip cookies. Very Vietnamese indeed.

My mom and I started working on the egg rolls early as it requires a lot of prep work. There was a lot of chopping, slicing, and mixing involved to get the egg rolls just right. As I watched my mom prepare it, I took down notes and suggestions. Next time, she wants me to make them on my own to start practicing and perfecting my own recipe (I’ll probably just continue to use hers… it’s amazing every time!). Unfortunately, I cannot share the recipe as it’s a family secret, but I’m sure there’s a ton out on the interwebs!

Once my sister arrived, it was time to start the hard work, rolling 100 egg rolls. The egg roll skins were dried out, which was NOT ideal for egg rolls, but we made do. I ended up rolling the majority of the egg rolls since I can be a bit of a perfectionist at times (and was fixing my sister’s egg rolls to make sure they were all a consistent size). But we both agreed that her rolling skills were hindered by the dry egg roll skins!

My mom was on frying duty, to ensure the egg rolls were golden, brown, and delicious!

My one experiment for Thanksgiving that I wanted to share the recipe for are rice noodle rolls. Typically, you can find these at any dim sum restaurant. I LOVE these things so much that the last time I went to Hong Kong, I went on a mission to find the ONE place nearby that served this wonderful dish all day (but that’s for another post).

I found a recipe for these homemade rolls and sauce and adapted it for my own use:

http://thewoksoflife.com/2015/01/cheung-fun-homemade-rice-noodles/.

I combined all of the ingredients for the rice noodle rolls and let the batter rest for 45 minutes.

When it came time to steam the rolls, my mom and I had to make another makeshift steamer. The key to making these rice noodle rolls is to use a NONstick pan, or use a lot of oil to coat the bottom of the pan.

Once the water was boiling in the steamer, I placed my pan on top of the steamer and poured a ladle full of batter. I picked up the pan and spread the batter to ensure it was in an even layer, about ⅛ inch thick. I covered the pan with a lid and and cooked the roll for 3 minutes.  

Once the batter was cooked through, I used a spatula to carefully roll the rice noodle onto itself. This process took me much practice, so do not worry if it takes a while to do it well.

I repeated the same process until all the batter was gone. As a tip, stir the batter before you ladle it into the pan, the rice flour has a tendency to sink to the bottom.

Once I had all of the rolls done, I slathered on the soy sauce and peanut butter sauce. Viola!

Ingredients

1 ½ c of rice flour

½ c + 2 tbsp of tapioca starch

½ tsp of salt

2 tbsp of oil

1 ½ c lukewarm water

1 c of boiling water

2 tbsp dark soy sauce

1 tbsp oyster sauce

1 tsp of molasses

½ c of water

1 tbsp of PB2

2 tbsp of water

Instructions:

Rice Noodles:

1. Combine the rice flour, tapioca starch, salt, lukewarm water, and oil.
2. Once well combined, stir in boiling water and let batter rest for 45 minutes.

Sauces:

Soy Sauce

1. Place water in a microwavable bowl and microwave for 2 minutes
2. Add in dark soy sauce, oyster sauce, and molasses
3. Combine well

Peanut Butter Sauce:

1. Combine water and PB2 in a small bowl (it should be a watery consistency, but still taste like peanut butter

After 45 minutes have passed:

3. Prepare the steaming pan and oil it generously.
4. Ladle in the batter and ensure that it coats the pan evenly.
5. Cover the pot and steam for 3 minutes, or until the rice noodle batter is firm and bubbling.
6. Carefully roll the noodle upon itself with a spatula. Remove and repeat steps 3-6 until the batter is gone.
7. Top the rice noodle rolls with the sauces and serve immediately

If you're interested in seeing some recipes of the dishes pictured below, keep on the lookout for my blog posts over the next two days!

Most of the dishes my mom and I made for Thanksgiving 2016