Making spring rolls

I ran out of rice wine vinegar. Normally, I buy it at Megabalcones, which is part of the Mexicana Comercial chain. They were out, Walmart was out, Chedraui was out. Husband suggested Pascadeli. Pascadeli is a wholesale grocery outlet which stocks various foreign food ingredients. I now have what seems like a lifetime supply of whole cardamon seeds in my freezer.
The rice wine vinegar however was available in a normal size bottle. On the shelf were it was located were also some other interesting including Vietnamese Spring roll wrappers.
I looked in my cookbooks, I searched online, then I looked in the refrigerator. Here are my ingredients for Spring Rolls waiting to be combined, minus the soy sauce.
Here are the ingredients for the sauce minus the ginger. The cute little bowls came from the state fair, they have a large metal roofed building where they sell kitchenware and blankets.


I didn't have any bean sprouts, so I left them out. I also only had red cabbage, so I used that. The spring rolls came out a decidedly pink colour.

The results were delicious none the less. There are bean sprouts available at the supermarkets, they just don't appeal to me. I did make some lentil sprouts recently, and they were really,really good. Today, I am going to start some more sprouts. I have Thai Basil growing in the garden and it was a good touch, ideally I would have like to combine some mint, but I can't seem to keep mint growing and the bunches at the market were not worth buying. I'm thinking of using some purslane since it also grows well here and would add a nice crispness and a little bite.
The dipping sauce was okay, Husband thinks we should have had a peanut sauce, so I am going to do that next time too.

Dipping sauce for Spring rolls

Dipping sauce for spring rolls

• ¼ cup soy sauce
• ½ cup water
• 1 tbsp corn starch
• ¼ cup rice vinegar
• 2 cloves garlic, minced and crushed
• ½ inch fresh ginger root, grated
• ¼ cup sugar

Combine all ingredients in small saucepan and simmer for 3-5 minutes, stirring, until sugar dissolves and corn starch is well mixed. Cool before serving.

Spring rolls

Fresh Spring rolls

• 12 Vietnamese Spring roll wrappers 9 inch (if you use 6 inch makes then you will need more rolls)
• quarter of a cabbage shredded (I used all red, but you can use a mix of both or just green cabbage)
• 5 green onions, chopped
• 1 cup thin noodles, pre-cooked bean thread noodles*
• 1 cup fresh herbs (I used Italian parsley and Thai basil you can use cilantro,basil or mint too)
• 2 small carrots, grated
• 1 tbsp lime juice1 tbsp soy sauce1/2 tsp fresh ginger, grated

Toss together all ingredients together except wrappers in large bowl. Submerge wrappers in hot water until pliable, about 15 seconds. Place about 1/4 of mix on wrapper and wrap like a burrito or egg roll. Refrigerate until cold. Serve with your favorite dipping sauce


*to precook rice noodles (also called rice vermicelli),Bring a medium saucepan of water to boil. Boil rice vermicelli 3 to 5 minutes, or until al dente, and drain.

jocote de marañón

If you want to know what fruit is in season, check out the guys who sell fruit on the street. I don't mean the roadside stands, I am talking about the brave souls who hang out at the stoplights on the major intersections, passing between cars like matadors slipping aside from the charging bull. Like matadors they entice, waving clear plastic produce bags bulging with colourful fruits.
We stopped, the vendor gestured with his bags, bored I started to look away, then, I spotted what looked like apples, no they looked like chiles, hmmm, what was that fruit? It didn't take long for him to notice my interest.

Husband asked "¿Que tipo de fruta es?
The answer was" mamey".
I leaned across Husband "No, no el mamey, el otro. ¿Que es y como lo usas?".
"Marañón, haces licuado" time was getting short so he added "treinta pesos".
I fumbled for the money, Husband passed me the fruit and off we went.
When he could take his attention off the traffic, Husband asked me what I had bought. I hemmed and I hawed and finally I admitted that I wasn´t sure. They looked really familiar and I thought that maybe they were mangosteen. I also had a second idea but I didn't want to admit it.So before I did anything I looked those puppies up. If you click on the link, you'll learn all about the mangosteen, including the fact that these aren't them.
Look at the little thing on top of the fruit, it looks like a cashew. It is a cashew! I bought fresh cashews! The red psuedo fruit is called a cashew apple or in Spanish jocote de marañón. The nut shaped thing is the actual fruit.
The fruit doesn't ship well, but you can buy the bottled juice. I am off to make my licuado de marañón.

Caldo Tlalpeño

This recipe originally came from Authentic Mexican by Rick Bayless. I added more vegetables and changed it a little.

2 quarts chicken broth
1 large chicken breast*
1 teaspoon dried parsley
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 large onion, diced
2 large carrots, peeled and sliced
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 can garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed**
1 teaspoon dried epazote
salt to taste
1 to 2 tablespoon(s) chile chipolte en adobo diced and seeded***
1 ripe avacado,peeled,pitted and diced
1 lime or sour orange cut into wedges

1. If using chicken breast, place chicken breast and broth in a 4 quart saucepan,bring to a simmer. Skim off any gray scum that rises to the top. Add the parsley and simmer for 15 minutes. Remove the breast, skin and de-bone it, shred the meat and set aside. Strain the broth and skim off any fat that rises. If you are using canned chicken, combine the broth with liquid from the chicken and parsley, reserving the meat, bring to a simmer.
   
2. While the chicken simmers, heat a frying pan over medium heat,add the olive oil. When the oil is hot, add the diced onion and carrots. Cook until the onions and carrots begin to brown, add the garlic and cook an additional minute.
   
3. Add the vegetables, garbanzos and epazote to the broth. Bring to a simmer, cook at a low simmer for half an hour.
4. Add the chile chipolte and the reserved chicken to the soup. Serve in bowls topped with diced avocados accompanied by lime wedges.
   

Notes:
* I have used canned cooked chicken breast successfully, in which case, I skipped the simmering
** I have left the garbanzos out before, it's better with!
*** I buy chile chipoltes en adobo that is pre-seeded and already chopped

I made jelly!

Not being able to sleep I started making jelly last night around 10 pm and I finished this morning at 7am. I did go to bed around 11pm, so I really can't say that I stayed up all night making jelly.
I did my internet research, I also looked at every cookbook that I own and finally settled on a recipe for Jalapeño Jelly to adapt. This recipe for Pinapple Habanero Jelly looked really good too but it called for pectin which I haven't found or made yet. I did a cross between the two. My recipe can be found here.
I didn't have any fresh cranberries so even though I was making a half recipe I used almost as much water as the original recipe called for, I also used an entire bell not a half,so my recipe still yielded almost 4 cups of jelly. I wasn't sure if my granny smith apples were tart enough so I still used an entire cup of the dried cranberries.
I think that I might use one more habanero next time, but it's hard to say. The thing about chiles is that the amount of heat varies from chile to chile.
I haven't found any canning jars so I recycled a jar. I am not trusting it to seal properly so I am storing my jelly in the refrigerator.
Now I need to make some bread to go with that jelly.

Habanero Jelly

Ingredients

• 2 lbs of tart apples (e.g. Granny Smith), unpeeled, chopped into big pieces, including the cores
• 2 bright orange peppers, sliced in half lengthwise, the seeds and ribs removed from 3 of them (for mildly hot jelly. If you want a hotter jelly leave the seeds and ribs in all of them.)
• 1 orange bell pepper , seeds and ribs removed, chopped
• 1 cup dried cranberries
• 2 1/2 cups water
• 1 1/2 cups white vinegar
• 3 1/2 cups sugar (7/8 cup for each cup of juice)

1. Combine habaneros, bell pepper, and vinegar in food processor or blender process until well mixed, pour mix into large pot. Add the apple pieces, apple cores (needed for their pectin content), cranberries , and water in a large pot. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to medium-low, simmering for about 20 minutes, or until the apples, cranberries, and peppers are soft. Stir occasionally to make sure nothing is sticking to the bottom of the pan where it might burn.
   
2. Spoon the mash into a fine mesh sieve, muslin cloth, or a couple layers of cheesecloth, suspended over a large bowl. Leave to strain for several hours (even overnight). If you want a clear jelly, do not squeeze or force through the mesh. Just let it drip. If you want a fuller flavor jelly and don't mind that the result won't be clear, you can force some of the pulp through the mesh. If your pulp is too thick, and nothing is coming out, you can add an extra 1/2 cup or cup of water to it. You want to end up with about 4 cups of juice.
3. Measure the juice, then pour into a large, wide, thick-bottomed pot. Add the sugar (7/8 a cup for each cup of juice). Heat gently, stirring to make sure the sugar gets dissolved and doesn't stick to the bottom of the pan and burn.
4. Bring to a boil. Cook for 10-15 minutes, using a spoon to skim off the surface scum. Continue to boil until a candy thermometer shows that the temperature has reached 220-222°F (8-10°F above the boiling point at your altitude). Additional time needed for cooking can be anywhere from 10 minutes to an hour or longer, depending on the amount of water, sugar, and apple pectin in the mix.
5. Pour jelly into sterilized jars* to within 1/4" from the top and seal.

   Makes approx. 4 half-pint jars.