Maifun, Asian Rice Noodles

Every time I go grocery shopping I try to purchase something I have never used before.  This week was anchovy paste (I have no idea where that will take me).  A month or so ago I bought fennel.  It was a fairly yummy, but it made my heart do some funny flip flops for a day and my blood pressure dropped, so no more more me.  I bought some Asian rice sticks not to long back and they were sitting in my cupboard beckoning me to use them.  I found this recipe for Asian Cold Noodle Salad.  I switched out some ingredients, naturally.

• 1 6.75-ounce package rice stick noodles (maifun)
• 4 1/2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 3 tablespoons fish sauce (such as nam pla or nuoc nam)
• 6 teaspoons chili-garlic sauce
• 4 teaspoons soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 1 pound peeled deveined cooked medium shrimp
• 1 cup thinly sliced cucumbers
• 1 8-ounce package sugar snap peas, cut crosswise into 1/2-inch pieces (about 2 cups)
• 1 red bell pepper, thinly sliced
• 1/4 cup cilantro (dried)

I mostly liked this salad.  The fish sauce, another new purchase,  was a little much.  It tastes like... well, like fermented fish liquid.  I think this would be good with a curry vinaigrette. 

I really liked the lightness of the noodles.  Mouth-feel was like vermicelli, but less starchy tasting. 
I look forward to trying these in other meals, stir-fry maybe?

Eggroll Wrappers, Not Just for Eggrolls?

Egg roll wrappers/skins

Last night's post mention egg roll wrappers in passing.  I love these things!  The wrappers are really thin sheets of pasta.  I have heard you can make them at home but they are difficult with a kitchen pasta machine, and extremely difficult by hand.  (Have you rolled normal pasta dough by hand? It is very hard!)  I originally bought these to make my Mexican Egg rolls.  I had some leftover sheets and noticed a recipe on the back for... Cannelloni?!  Boil water, drop sheets in for a minute, place ricotta filling on edge, roll, cover in sauce, and bake for 20 minutes?!?!?!  I tried it!  Super easy super yummy cannelloni that I can make on my lunch break, (microwave for 5 to 10 minutes is another time saver).  That success sold me on the wonderful little guys.  I keep them on hand, always.  Leftover chicken and vegetables?  Make a broth, add the chicken, veggies, and sliced wrappers... instant home made chicken noodle soup.  I love lasagne, but to be frank lasagne noodles are a pain, even the no-boil kind.  So on a whim I decided to try the egg roll wrappers.  Everything in lasagne is pre-cooked, so you are only "marrying" all the flavors.  I layered my wrappers into individual servings of lasagne (Demarle is awesome).  They came out light, almost fluffy, without the starchiness of regular noodles.  Another score for the wrappers!  As I was looking online today for other recipes for my wrappers I came across a recipe using them to make cups.  Baked longer if re-baking (filled with custard) or shorter is filled with cold filling (taco salad).  My goal is to make a few of these recipes in the near future.  I'll post them when I try them.

A couple tips to keep in mind:

While assembling the egg rolls, keep the stack of wrappers moist by covering them with a damp towel. You can seal the rolls with a "glue" made with cornstarch and water. Store them in the refrigerator or freezer, but let them come to room temperature before using.