Growing a pair

This part has nothing to do with the title. I’ve been neglecting this blog of late, and for that, I apologize. To add on to the busiest month that I’ve had since opening my company, I’ve taken on a new roll – I am a columnist. The Urban Eater and I have been asked to contribute to the Flavor section of the Tampa Tribune. With that being said, I’ll be moving to new digs soon, with the combined efforts of The Urban Eater and myself. Details will follow.

Now for that title; I’m a weenie. Done. I said it. I am completely uncomfortable in the world of Asian food. Sure, I’ll throw a few Asian ingredients into the mix of my normal cooking; but real Thai, Vietnamese, Filipino, or any other dishes from that part of the world all elude me.

I owe a debt to a dinner with internet (food) porn princess, Jaden Hair. I cooked, but she bestowed upon me gifts of live lemongrass and Kafir lime leaves. Lovely gifts, they forced me to sack up and do something with them. It would be rude not to.

I made a resolution to attempt my favorite Vietnamese dish – which I’m embarrassed that I cannot give the real name of – which is thinly sliced grilled pork with ginger, lemongrass and chiles over rice vermicelli. This may seem like child’s play to some of you, but prior to now, it would have left me fetally rocking and quivering in the corner. “It’s hard, it’s scary, it doesn’t follow classical technique, and I’m going to make bad food. Don’t make me do it ::sob sob::”.

I’m going slowly into this, with no small amount of trepidation. Grab some country style pork ribs, put them in the freezer for about 30 minutes. This will make it easier to slice. Slice the pork very thinly. Dice 1 or 2 stalks of lemongrass, grate a nub of ginger about the size of the first joint of your thumb, and mince 4-5 cloves of garlic and put these in a bowl. Put these into a bowl and add about 2 tablespoons of ponzu. Research said that I should use soy, but as I was reaching for it, I found the ponzu and gave it a quick taste. The sweet/saltiness of the ponzu suited me, so I substituted for the soy. Toss the pork into this mixture, mix it well and put it in the fridge for an hour.

Light a grill and let the coals do their thing. Boil some rice noodles, chop some lettuce, grab some bean sprouts, and pick some cilantro leaves from the stem. Set these off to the side until needed. Then mix equal parts fish sauce, rice vinegar, and water and add a bit of garlic and chile sauce to this and put it aside, as well.

Put your pork slices on some wooden skewers and head for the grill. About two minutes per side over the hottest part of the coals should yield crisp, perfectly cooked nuggets of porcine beauty.

To finish this all, put the rice noodles in a bowl, top it with the lettuce, bean sprouts, and cilantro leaves. Take the pork off of the skewers and put these on top of the lettuce. Finally, dump the fish sauce mixture over the top of all of this.

As it stands, I was fairly impressed with my first journey into real Vietnamese food. Perhaps a little tart from too much vinegar, but all in all, it satisfied.

It didn’t hurt, and I’ve finally grown a pair of Asian ones.