Vietnamese Salad Rolls (Woo HOO on ME!)
OK. They may not look like much to you, but these are my very first Vietnamese Salad Rolls, one of my favorite eats in the whole world.
And I am giving myself a BIG WOOO HOO for doing them.
You all think I am much braver and more experimental than I really am. I have loved these for probably 15 years, but on my own I could never figure out how to make them, and I really didn’t want to try. I told myself I couldn’t get all the ingredients, anyway.
“Oh yes!” said my French friend, mistress of the kitchen, nothing she couldn’t do, and she invited us for dinner and the first course was Vietnamese Salad Rolls, made in her own kitchen. “They have the rice wrappers at all the Phillipino stores in Kuwait.”
Who knew? My French friend knew ALL these little secrets.
She carefully explained how to make them, but my mind shut down when she said “There is one part that is a little tricky – the rice wrapper has to soak for ONE SECOND in a pan of hot water, but only one second!” To me, that sounded very scary and daunting.
Then she gave me two packages of the wrappers.
I took them out now and then and read the instructions and put them back in the cupboard. I even shipped them from Kuwait to Doha with me. I read detailed instructions on the internet. I printed some out.
Yesterday, I found more wrappers at the MegaMart and bought two packages and now, with plenty of back up and with an unanticipated energy and hopefulness, I thought “why not give it a try tonight?”
The secret to making these is to have everything ready in advance – a bowl of cooked shrimp, sliced in half down the spine (so both halves look like a shrimp), a bowl of basil leaves, a bowl of mint leaves, a bowl of chopped parsley, a bowl of thinly sliced lettuce, a bowl of julienned carrots, a package of the rice wrappers, the cooked vermicelli in a strainer (it stays flexible because these go together fairly fast) and a flat round pan of hot water to soften the rice wrappers.
Once you have the ingredients assembled, the assembly – which for some reason was the part that daunted me – goes fairly easily and rapidly. If you soak the thin, brittle wrapper for exactly one and a half seconds, and lay it on a cutting board, it becomes very flexible and exactly the right texture. I started 3 inches from the top with the shrimp, then lay the rest of the ingredients in a row vertically, but almost on top of each other. Then I pulled the bottom up over the ingredients and tucked it in – not too tightly, but very snugly, folded in the sides, then wrapped the top over the already-rolled up section, and wow – a salad roll!
Vietnamese Salad Rolls
INGREDIENTS
• 2 ounces rice vermicelli
• 8 rice wrappers (8.5 inch diameter)
• 8 large cooked shrimp – peeled, deveined and cut in half
• 1 1/3 tablespoons chopped fresh Thai basil
• 3 tablespoons chopped fresh mint leaves
• 3 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
• 2 leaves lettuce, chopped
•
• 4 teaspoons fish sauce
• 1/4 cup water
• 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 2 tablespoons white sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic chili sauce
• 3 tablespoons hoisin sauce
• 1 teaspoon finely chopped peanuts
DIRECTIONS
1. Bring a medium saucepan of water to boil. Boil rice vermicelli 3 to 5 minutes, or until al dente, and drain.
2. Fill a large bowl with warm water. Dip one wrapper into the hot water for 1 second to soften. Lay wrapper flat. In a row across the center, place 2 shrimp halves, a handful of vermicelli, basil, mint, cilantro and lettuce, leaving about 2 inches uncovered on each side. Fold uncovered sides inward, then tightly roll the wrapper, beginning at the end with the lettuce. Repeat with remaining ingredients.
3. In a small bowl, mix the fish sauce, water, lime juice, garlic, sugar and chili sauce.
4. In another small bowl, mix the hoisin sauce and peanuts.
5. Serve rolled spring rolls with the fish sauce and hoisin sauce mixtures.
FOOTNOTE
• The fish sauce, rice vermicelli, chili garlic sauce, hoisin sauce and rice wrappers can be found at Asian food markets.
These are so fresh-tasting and light, perfect for a hot summer evening, perfect for a special Ramadan breaking-the-fast appetizer. Once the rolls are made, seal them on a plate under a couple layers of saran-type wrap to keep the wrappers from drying out. You can make them a couple hours in advance and wrap them good and store them in the refrigerator; they keep well for a couple hours. Don’t make more than you can eat the same day; they don’t keep well overnight.
The recipe above uses a different sauce than we use. The Vietnamese in France use this sauce, which is more of a vinaigrette, but the Vietnamese in Seattle and in St. Petersburg, Florida, use a peanut sauce:
1/2 cup peanut butter
2 Tbs Thai sweet chili sauce (sometimes called chili pepper sauce for chicken) it is that thick, sticky sweet orange-y red sauce with pepper flakes in it)
2 Tbs soy sauce
2 Tbs rice vinegar
1 Tbs sugar
1 Tsp finely chopped ginger
1 Tbs tahina
Cook one minute in microwave and stir until all the peanut butter is dissolved. Then add liquid – can be water or orange juice or pomegranate juice or chicken broth or sake (!) to thin to a thick salad dressing consistency.
AdventureMan was so amazed and delighted when he came home and saw I had been able to make these all by myself! I am so amazed and delighted that I can do it! Wooo HOOOOOOO! We didn’t eat them as an appetizer; we like them so much, we ate them as the main course, with some finger-food veggies – snow peas and carrots – as side dishes.
Where to Find the Perseids in 2009
I’m getting so many hits on my Perseids article today, that I thought I would tell you how to spot them. This is from earthsky.org, where you can learn a lot more about the night sky.
What is WAY cool is that they suggest a camp out as the best way to watch the Perseid showers. 🙂 No better place than the desert, so pack those tents and head out of town, away from the ambient light. One problem – moonlight.
With the 2009 Perseid meteor shower due to peak on the mornings of August 12 and 13, people are asking, How can I find this constellation in the night sky, so that I can see the meteors?
One note before the excitement starts to build. This year, there will be a waning moon in the sky during the peak hours for the Perseids. So 2009 is not the best possible year to see this shower. You might try watching for meteors in the early part of the night. Or you might see some Perseids in bright moonlight – in the peak hours between midnight and dawn – on the mornings of August 12 and 13.
Moonlight is just a local problem. The meteors will be raining down as always, even if moonlight drowns them from view. The Perseid meteor shower is named for the constellation Perseus the Hero. It’s from this part of the sky that the meteors will appear to radiate. Today’s chart shows Perseus ascending over the northeastern horizon around midnight. That’s why this meteor shower is better after midnight: because after midnight, the radiant point for the shower is above the horizon. Just remember, the glare of the waning gibbous moon will wash out some Perseid meteors during the peak hours of 2009.
Notice the W-shaped constellation Cassiopeia just above Perseus. The constellation Perseus is faint, but Cassiopeia is noticeable and can help you find it. If you do see a Perseid meteor in 2009, and trace its path backward, you will find that it radiated from a point in the sky within the boundaries of the constellation Perseus. When the moon is out of the way, a meteors are raining down in all parts of the sky, you don’t need to know the whereabouts of a shower’s radiant to enjoy the shower. But people always ask! So here you are.
Many people look forward each summer to the Perseids. This shower always peaks at this time of year, and it reliably produces 60 or more meteors per hour at its peak, or an average of about one a minute. It’s great fun to give meteor-watching a try! It’s a chance to go to a dark site with friends and family – a chance to see some stars and enjoy the night air – and see some meteors. The 2009 shower will be troubled by the moon, but there’s still fun to be had, if you and your friends and family want to try a camp-out on the peak nights.
WeatherUnderground has an entire section devoted to the night sky specific to YOUR area; this is what the one looks like for Doha, Qatar:
How cool is that?
You will see Perseus on this map in the bottom left sector.
I thought there was a night sky thingy on Google Earth, too, but I can’t find it. Anyone know how to do that?
The Perseids Are Coming
August is always a wonderful month for sky-watching. The Perseids are coming, and Wednesday should be prime time!
Skywatchers set for meteor shower
From BBC: Science and Technology
Skygazers are getting ready to watch the annual Perseid meteor shower, which peaks on Wednesday.
The Perseid shower occurs when the Earth passes through a stream of dusty debris from the comet Swift-Tuttle.
As this cometary “grit” strikes our atmosphere, it burns up, often creating streaks of light across the sky.
This impressive spectacle appears to originate from a point called a “radiant” in the constellation of Perseus – hence the name Perseid.
“Earth passes through the densest part of the debris stream sometime on 12 August. Then, you could see dozens of meteors per hour,” said Bill Cooke of Nasa’s meteoroid environment office.
You can read the entire article on BBC News: Science and Technology by clicking on the blue type.
Finding the new Ponderosa Steakhouse in Doha
“Are you sure you know where it is?” AdventureMan asked.
“Well, pretty sure.” I answered, and God bless him, as hungry as he is and as tired as he is after a long day at work, he just sighs and trusts me.
“If this doesn’t work, we can always eat at Villagio,” he says, and I marvel at his equilibrium.
“The man at the other Ponderosa said you go three roundabouts from Ramada junction and it is on your right, and then he said something else but I didn’t understand.” I added.
We went three roundabouts, and then started taking the slip roads, an adventure in itself. We saw a lot of car repair places, some smaller Lebanese restaurants with all guys eating inside, and had to go back and forth, because sometimes the slip road ended, sometimes the shop roads ended. After another roundabout, and a long row of very modern, empty glass office-looking buildings on the right, there it was, clearly visible from the road, and I realize what the man had been telling me was that it was above the Pizza Hut.
This is what it looks like from Salwa:
This is what it looks like from the side road – “Ponderosa “steakhouse” in Arabic
Maybe about once every three months or so, when I really felt a need for some meat, we would brave the horrible road-trek at Cholesterol Corner, otherwise known as the Ramada Junction, to eat at Ponderosa. It isn’t fancy, but it truly is popular, with its buffet and inexpensive steaks. I really like their filet, just a little 6 oz. steak but they do it better than many of the big expensive hotel restaurants.
If this works, we have said to ourselves, it would be a real blessing for us, not to have to hassle with the traffic patterns of entrance and exits, not to mention the congestion.
When we get inside, the blessings just continue to pour forth – we learn that this is their first night open to the public (we didn’t know!) and that they had promotions going – the buffet was 29 QR – which is what the price was six years ago, before it started creeping up – and that every main entree on the menu included the buffet and tonight only was only 40 QR (around $11).
So for $11 each, AdventureMan ordered the fried fish, and I ordered the filet mignon. Taking a risk, I even ordered it MEDIUM RARE.
The Ponderosa Buffet is the Ponderosa Buffet. It has some American salads, some Arabic salads, and a taco bar, and a dessert bar and a soft ice-cream machine. It was all very very clean and well presented.
When my steak came and I bit into it – it was truly amazing – medium rare! AdventureMan said his fish was very lightly battered and very hot and fresh tasting.
I didn’t remember to take photos until about halfway through. I must be the absolute worst restaurant reviewer in the world. That’s where my filet steak used to be, LOL:
Yes. I used some A-1 Sauce. I love it on steak. But I tasted the steak first, and it was a great steak.
There used to be four pieces of this hot, delicious fried fish.
The dessert bar:
I had watermelon, AdventureMan had a lot of the fruits, but I could see most people were going for the chocolate pudding and the soft ice cream. 🙂
The Ponderosa is upstairs, over the Pizza Hut. You enter from the side road. Paved parking is limited – maybe 12 spots – but there is that hard rocky surface, lots and lots of it. This is supposed to be the biggest Ponderosa in Doha, and it may be – it is full of booths, all very private, several different areas.
We won’t go that often – we have other favorites – but we are really really glad this Ponderosa has gone in, and we don’t have to go down to C-ring anymore in that maze of mad motorists. We also think that with all the housing going farther and farther out of Doha, they chose a very smart location to attract those moving away from the center. And – I am impressed – my steak really was medium rare!
Doha Roadwork
You think you know your way around, but in Doha, that can all change from day to day due to the roadwork. I was in that position this last week, found myself not wanting to re-do a 2 kilometer detour, so figured I could find my way through the back streets, which I did.
I didn’t know there were still streets in Doha I had never seen, but these were such streets, and oh what fun. I found this unusual and delicate mosque:
While lost, I also discovered a traffic roundabout I had been looking for. Expats have different names for many of the roundabouts, and those names are totally different from the real, local names, like The Mall roundabout, Green Steps roundabout – we know what they are, but those aren’t the real names.
The roundabout I had been looking for was Kotub, but I found it – Qutub – also called Library roundabout. Nearby is supposed to be a take-away place called Felasteen; someone told me they have the best felafel in the city. We used to go to place on Najma called Al Quds, but now he doesn’t do felafel any more, only sweets. We especially liked his bread, thin but with toasted sesame seeds embedded in the bread – oh YUM. We are hoping the Felasteen measures up to the old Al Quds felafel.
The Fingerprint Factory
Drama Drama Drama. It used to be the last dreaded event before getting your residence. You had to have fingerprints taken and it was in this big mob-scene, huge mobs of people and hot hot hot, no air, and the ink was HORRIBLE, and even if you brought your own soap and washed right away, you still had ink under your fingernails for days. It was a hellish experience.
Today was the day. It started with drama – when I got to where I was supposed to be at 10:10, the receptionist told me I was supposed to be there at 9:30, I had missed my appointment. I was really sure my husband had told me my appointment was at 10:30, so I waited while she called, and it was one of those experiences where she was NOT happy being wrong, and I got to sit out in the not-air-conditioned hall to wait for my group to go.
When my group got to the fingerprint place, there was no mob. There WAS more drama. There was only a very nice be-thobed gentleman who said that the fingerprint computer was broken. It was broken yesterday, and they got it working again this morning until 9 o’clock, but now it is broken. I asked “how long until it is fixed?” but it was one of those insh’allah things, no one knows how long it will take to get the system up again. We would have to come back tomorrow.
And then, just as we were walking out the gate back to the van, he called to us “Come back! Come back!” The fingerprint machine was working again.
Inside, it was orderly and air conditioned. Take a number, take a seat. Wait your turn. Very cool, watching people’s fingerprints, handprints, etc show up in huge prints. If there was any blur, the machine showed red – like a red thumb – and it had to be done over again.
For some reason, I had to have several done over again. I don’t know if it was me, or if the machine was just finicky. All I know is that the system was up long enough for me to get my fingerprints taken, and there was NO mess. None. Wooo HOOOO.
I still have my old Qateri driving licence. I am praying – please keep me in your prayers – that they will just renew it and I won’t have to take a road test on the roads of Qatar. Although – after driving in Kuwait – I can drive anywhere. 😀
Happy Birthday, Mom
“You make me sound so OLD!” my Mother scolded me, when I wrote about how she was 85 years old and still living on her own. Mom keeps active. She can’t do all the things she really wants to do – travel, mostly – because she can’t manage a heavy bag or standing too long – but she keeps up her own place, fixes her own meals, goes out with friends, exercises, makes and keeps her own appointments. We should all be so fortunate, when we hit our 80’s.
(This is not my Mother’s birthday cake, but when I looked up cakes I found this on Kay’s Cakes.com and knew it was a cake my Mom would love, if she loved cake. Actually, she loves Lemon Meringue Pie, and that is what she really had at her birthday party.)
My younger sister has shown her a couple really nice places where she could have more assistance on a daily basis, beautiful places with activities and transportation for elders.
(I can already hear her wincing at using the word ‘elder’)
She doesn’t want to be surrounded by old people. She stays young by being as active as she wants to be.
She has signed up for a three-day mini university course at a nearby university, where they use the college facilities during the summer months to offer interesting mini classes. One of the four classes that she has signed up for is Early Islamic Spain. I’m impressed, Mom.
She keeps up with the news, sends me clippings, reads books we tell her are worth reading, and keeps up with her friends. She is good at managing her money, and researching her investments. She does better than most women half her age.
Happy Happy Birthday, Mom, and many more to come.
More Doha Museum of Islamic Arts Photos
I have been so blessed. Since I moved back to Doha, five sets of visitors have come – in a mere eight weeks. My most recent guests were the most fun kind – they loved everything I love, especially the Souq al Waqif and the Doha Museum of Islamic Art. Even though we had a dust storm their entire visit, we laughed and had a wonderful visit.
I got to re-visit my Iznic pieces, most of these centuries old:
And last, but not Iznik, a showstopper necklace that just knocks my socks off every time I see it.
Those large chunks of rock? Real emeralds, the size of pebbles. Real diamonds, the size of ice cubes. Real pearls, a little wobbly, some of them, but they add such gloss and character. What red blooded woman wouldn’t love this piece?
The Museum, on Saturday, had many groups – closely-dropped Americans from the military base, black abaya’d school girls, a grouup of one mixed – maybe a religious family group, visiting particular exhibits of religious interest – and the Museum welcomed so many visitors and absorbed them without us feeling the least bit crowded. . . well, maybe once when we watched a group of about 40 enter one very large elevator. We chose to take the next elevator, which we had entirely to ourselves.
It was never noisy – the water from the fountain tamps down the sound. Even the normally intrusive ringing of the security guard phones was stilled during the afternoon visit. Pity the Book of Secrets exhibit is now closed.
Every time I go to this museum, I am awed by the beauty, the expense, the spaciousness – and in amazement that this beautiful facility is a gift to the people – there is no charge for admission. I just really really wish they would put in a coffee shop!
It was another delightful day at the DMIA. 🙂
Residence
We all know the drill, the expat drill we all go through to become residents. Residency is not something to be sniffed at, if you don’t have it, really bad things can happen.
So today was the day I needed to get my medical exam. What a difference from the last time, six years ago.
Six years ago, we went to an old, dilapidated hospital in the center of town with terrible parking. There were long lines in the hot sun everywhere. I don’t remember there being any air conditioning. What I do remember is walking down a hallway littered with the used cotton balls people had discarded after having their blood taken for the blood tests. I was nearly ill – blood carries diseases, and here were these bloody balls all over the floor.
When it was my turn to have my blood taken, the women who took my blood – six years ago – was eating salted pumpkin seeds. I saw the thought cross her mind that she ought to put on the gloves, right there in the box on her desk, but if she did, she couldn’t continue munching, so she decided not to. I watched her take a fresh needle – I was saving my protest to insist on a fresh needle had she decided she could re-use an old one. I choose my battles.
I closed my eyes and prayed. She did OK, she got the blood she needed and was still munching on the pumpkin seeds as I left to go get my X-ray.
In the X-ray room there were all these women in USED hospital gowns, one would take one off and the next woman would put it on. I had been warned to bring a white T-shirt, and that would be acceptable, which it was. There was no dressing room, just one big changing room.
I couldn’t get out of there fast enough.
Fast forward six years – new, modern air conditioned medical facility outside the city with lots of parking. I’m already feeling more positive, although I do have my clean T-shirt. The phlebotomist is in a white jacket, clean and neat, and is supplied with all kinds of sterile supplies. The blood work takes maybe 30 seconds, thanks be to God, because I am a little squeamish about people taking my blood, and one time, I even fainted, but just for a few seconds. Not this time – it was over before I could even get too worried about it.
The X-ray was orderly, and there were stacks and stacks and stacks and bags of clean gowns, and even three fairly clean changing rooms. I still wore my own T-shirt, since I had it. The only thing that bothered me was that there were bins to put the used gowns when the X-ray was finished, but the women tossed them on the floor! There is a part of me that almost picked them all up and put them in the bin, but they called my name just as I was about to do it.
The process was so orderly, so painless this time! And, God willing, soon I will be a legal Qatar resident and even, soon, insh’allah, a legal driver. I still have my old Qateri driving license, it will just need to be renewed. (I also have my 10-year Kuwait license, because in expat world, you just never know. I also have my lifetime German driving license because in expat world, you just never know. And I have my stateside driver’s license to take care of me there. 🙂 )
Souq Al Waqif and The Tajine
I can’t let Little Diamond leave Doha without one more visit to the Souk al Waqif. She used to go with me in the old days, when the souk was really really really HOT, and stuffy, and even a little dirty, and the pathways were dark and potholed, so you could easily trip or fall down. Some people I would take loved the place, some didn’t want to set foot inside. It was considered dangerous, and off limits to the military folk.
I miss the scribes. I miss the shoemakers. I miss the little hardware stalls, where when I would ask for masonry nails, 3/4″, they would take me by my sleeve to the man who sold masonry nails. It was a sweet souk then.
It is a WOW souk now. Many of the vendors are the same, even though some have gone missing. There is still the canvas sailmaker, and the fishing supplies man, and the bird souk. There is still the HUGE kitchen souk, and I don’t mean it is a large store, I mean it is a store for giant people, who cook in pots the size that a grown man or woman – or both – could hide in!
When we lived in Jordan, we used to be invited to feasts, Mensefs, a huge rice dish, served with goat most often, sometimes chicken, rarely lamb or mutton (sheep) if it was a really really special occasion on huge round trays. The trays in the Souk Al Waqif would probably serve twenty men at one time, they are so huge.
People say you can’t stop progress. When we lived in Doha the last time, the municipality put in meters for paid street parking. Qatteris were so outraged that the meters were ripped back out without ever being used. I wonder where all those hundreds of unused parking meters ended up?
Today there is a story in the paper about paid parking going in at the Souq al Waqif, and they quote five or six people who are wildly enthusiastic about the idea and all I can wonder is . . . where did they find people who would publicly say they were in favor of PAYING for parking that they always have had for free? The article says that now they will have less competition from large trucks, but when we are there at congested times, it is normal everyday SUV’s and family goat-trucks that are competing for the parking spaces. I wonder if the public perception has changed so much in five years that people are now openly praising paid parking?
It isn’t costly. It’s going to be like 3QR – less than a dollar. It also isn’t covered, and when you park your car in the lot, it is hotter than anything you can imagine when you come out, even if it is only 0930 and only been sitting there for an hour. The best time to go is night, during these hot summer months, and even so – the place is hopping. Even on a week night, there are so many good restaurants down in the Souk al Waqif restaurant row that it is a go-to place for a dinner out.
We tried the Tagine, as we all like Moroccan Food.
The greeting was warm, and the service was attentive.
The food was excellent. Now I have an admission to make, one I have had to make frequently – I forgot to take a photo when the food was served, so all you can see is the mostly eaten remains. I am so sorry, sincerely sorry, but it smelled SO good, and we were SO hungry.
We sat overlooking the souks. There is a wonderful terrace for outdoor dining, but it is just a little too hot and humid for us to enjoy eating outside right now. We can hardly wait for October, when those cooler breezes start blowing.
These are the pre-starter nibbles, delicious olives, a tangy spicy Harissa paste, and delicious fresh-baked bread that melts in your mouth:
We ordered the mixed hot starters, which all disappeared before I thought to take a photo, and Little Diamond had the Addas (lentil) soup, also very good, also not photographed. We had the Moroccan Salad and Zaalouk, an eggplant/ tomato salad we adore. Yep. We were so hungry I forgot to take photos.
AdventureMan ordered Chicken With Slim Bread because we had never heard of it before and it sounded interesting. It was good. He shared with me. 🙂 He also chose the CousCous with 7 Vegetables, because when we lived in Tunisia, we were told traditionally it was always supposed to have seven vegetables (and one was always squash, and there were always garbanzo beans, and there was always tomato, and pretty much always carrot – it was always a very vegetable-y dish). It doesn’t sound like we ordered that much, but it was so delicious, and so filling, that it there was food left over.
The bill was reasonable. Wine and beer are not available, and that keeps the totals lower. We rolled ourselves back to the car, already planning our next trip to his delightful restaurant.
Once the sun goes down, the heat isn’t so bad. The Souq Al Waqif is so much fun at night. Everyone goes there – the locals, the expats, the tourists – it thrills my heart to see a public space so well loved, so well used. There are some very cool art spots going in, too!
One of my good friends told me there is a blog in Arabic that talks about searching for a restaurant I had written about in Mubarakiyya, only to find out it was in Doha. The blogger had invited guests. I felt so bad. So I will add this: WARNING WARNING THIS RESTAURANT IS IN DOHA, QATAR, NOT IN KUWAIT!
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