Mango Sticky Rice

Yields 4 servings
Preparation time: 1 hour

Courtesy of http://www.godsdirectcontact.org

Ingredients:

• 2 cups uncooked sweet rice*, soaked in warm water about 3 hours and drained (or 5 cups cooked sticky rice)
  
• 1 can (14 oz. or 1 ¾ cups) coconut milk
  
• 1 cup granulated sugar
  
• 1 teaspoon salt
  
• 4 ripe mangos (or 6 small ripe mangos)*

* Also available in Asian markets

Directions:

1. Steam the sweet rice in a steamer about 30-40 minutes or until fully cooked.
   
2. Cook the coconut milk, the sugar, and the salt in a small saucepan on low heat for about 10 minutes.
   
3. Add the coconut milk mixture to the cooked sticky rice about 30 minutes to 1 hour before serving.
   
4. Before serving, cut the mangos into "bite-size" chunks.

Decoration: * Place the sticky rice on a medium-sized plate, add the mangos in the middle, and place a mint leaf on top to add color.

Vietnamese Green Mango Salad

Courtesy of Spice Island Vegan http://spiceislandvegan.blogspot.com/

The essential ingredient for this salad is a fresh herb called Vietnamese Coriander, the Vietnamese name is rau răm. I went on a special trip to a Vietnamese market just to get it. It is not available in the usual natural food markets I frequently shop at. If this is not available in your area, you can use fresh lemon verbena. Whatever you use for a substitution, choose a fresh herb that has lemony flavor and smell. I took a good picture of it so you can see how it looks like if you are able to find a Vietnamese market near you (you know that language barrier can be a problem shopping in such a market). Probably, you can also ask your local Vietnamese restaurant if they know where to buy it.

The ingredients of the salad are as follows (from left hand corner, clockwise): green mango, firm cucumber (English cucumber), carrots, jicama, green apple, chopped herbs (Vietnamese coriander and fresh mint leaves).

As you can see that the green mango is light yellowish and not white. During my growing up years, I was able to pick green mango from my own tree in the yard before it turned light yellow (a bit too ripe). However, for the purpose for this salad, since the mango was still firm, it was good enough.

The ingredients were all cut in julienne manner or match sticks. This is a chore. I used a food processor but then found out that it was not a good idea since this tool tends to make the ingredients juicy. I will investigate of a good mandolin that can perform julienne cut fruit and vegetable the way I want it. A julienne peeler did not do a good job since it cut too small. Don't worry since all the effort to cut all the vegetable and fruit is well worth it. This salad is so refreshing, spicy, light, healthy, and very low fat.

Another unique ingredient is young coconut juice. It is the water/juice and not milk, ok? If you can find a young coconut and get the juice out of it, that's great (recently we have lots of young coconuts in nearby Asian and natural food markets). Otherwise, I recommend the one in a can without added sugar and no pulp. I am using it in the veganized salad dressing (originally, this salad has fish sauce in its dressing).

Vietnamese Green Mango Salad

Serve 4-6

Ingredients:

• 2 cups green mango, julienne cut (about 2 small green mango)
• 1 cup English cucumber, julienne cut
• 2 cups carrots, julienne cut
• 2 cups jicama, julienne cut (1 small jicama)
• 1 to 2 Granny Smith apple, julienne cut (about 1 to 1 1/2 cups)
• 1/2 cup Vietnamese Coriander, measure then chop
• 1/2 cup fresh mint, measure then chop

Garnish:

• Cilantro
• 2 tablespoons fried shallot, omit for lower fat
• 3 tablespoons chopped unsalted peanuts, omit for lower fat
• Sriracha hot sauce
• Rice chips or crackers

Salad Dressing:

• 1/4 cup light soy sauce or Bragg's Liquid Amino
• Note: refer to my blog about soy sauce I use
• 1/4 cup fresh lime juice
• 1/4 to 1/3 cup young coconut juice or vegetarian broth (room temperature)
• 1-2 tablespoons agave syrup
• 1-3 Thai chili or 1/2 jalapeno, chop finely (reduce amount for less spicy)
• 1 teaspoon minced fresh garlic

Preparation:

1. Combine all salad ingredients in a salad bowl or a large salad plate.


2. Combine all the salad dressing ingredients. Adjust the lime juice and agave syrup so this dressing is a sweet, sour, and spicy. Add enough young coconut juice to make it about 1 cup. Make sure the dressing is mixed thoroughly.


3. Just before ready to serve, pour the dressing over the salad and combine well.


4. Add garnish on top of salad, serve immediately in a room temperature with rice crackers, papadum, and drizzle with Sriracha hot chili sauce, if desired.

While shopping in Vietnamese markets, I discovered Vietnamese rice crackers that is usually served with this kind of salad. The Vietnamese name is Bánh da.

It is made of rice flour, tapioca starch, salt, water, black sesame seetd, and peanut. In this case, it was covered with black sesame seeds. It is crispy like a large cracker about 12-inches diameter and is broken into pieces when it is served with the salad. A closer look:

I thought that this rice cracker is quite delicious with the salad or even just for snacking by itself. It reminds me of Indian papadums. I guess every culture has chips as snacks and this one is a great Vietnamese snacks. Here is how this salad is served: rice cracker on the bottom, top with salad, and drizzle with Sriracha hot sauce. I made sure that every bite has all 3.

This is our favorite salad. It can be a light meal by itself for a hot summer. I cannot describe how good is the combination of sour green mango and green apple, sweet carrots, crispy jicama and cucumber, spicy sweet and sour dressing, refreshing herbs, and crackling rice chips all together. It was a party in our mouth!

Smoked Tofu and Mango Summer/Salad Rolls

Courtesy of Spice Island Vegan http://spiceislandvegan.blogspot.com/

Serve 16

Summer/Salad Rolls Ingredients:

• 16 Vietnamese rice papers
• 2 large ripe mango, peeled and cut in 4" by 1/2" thick
• 1 medium head of green lettuce, shredded thinly
• 1 English cucumber, cut in 4" by 1/2 " thick
• 2 cups julienne cut peeled carrots marinated with:
• 2 Tbsp. vinegar, 1 tsp salt, and 1 tsp vegan sugar
• 1 lb baked-and-marinated tofu or smoked tofu, cut in 4" by 1/2" thick
• 1 cup basil leaves, separate leaves from stems

Note: I like to use the Thai Basil type but I have used the Italian Sweet Basil too. Whatever is available in your area will be fine.

Optional: 2-3 cups cooked rice vermicelli or thin soba noodles

Clockwise from upper left hand corner: ripe mango, cucumbers, basil leaves, julienned-and-marinated carrots, smoked-baked tofu, and shredded green lettuce.

Peanut Dipping Sauce Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup hot water
• 4 Tbsp creamy peanut butter
• 2 Tbsp soy sauce
• 2 Tbsp agave nectar
• 2 Tbsp vinegar or fresh lime juice
• 1 Tsp sesame oil
• 1 Tsp Chinese Chili Garlic Sauce or Sriracha
• 2 Tbsp chopped green onion

Preparation:

1. Marinade the julienne cut peeled carrots with the vinegar, sugar, and salt. Combine and set aside for 30 minutes to 1 hour. The carrots will be limp and seasoned or pickled. Then drain them thoroughly (you can do this 1 day ahead if you like).


2. To make the peanut dipping sauce, combine hot water and peanut butter until it is well mixed and the peanut butter is melted and thinner. Then, add the rest of the peanut dipping sauce ingredients, set aside (you can to this 1 day ahead if you like).


3. Prepare a large bowl of warm water (about 120F), a damp and clean kitchen towel(wet a clean kitchen towel and squeezed the water out), a large plate or cutting board. Set all the ingredients of the Summer/Salad rolls around you so that it is within reach. BTW, I learned this method at Bryanna's vegan cooking school in 2004.
   
   
   
   


4. Dip a rice paper in the bowl of warm water and circle it around to make sure it is all wet and covered with water.
   
   
   
   


5. Quickly put the rice paper on the damp kitchen towel. Let the water soaks through the paper. I usually count about 30 seconds before I put the ingredients on it and start rolling.
   
   
   
   


6. Pile the ingredients on the wet rice paper. At this time the paper will be limp and pliable but it should not tear. If you wait too long the rice paper will be too soft and easily torn. You'll have to work QUICKLY.
   
   
   
   


7. Start rolling like making burrito. I like to put the basil leave on the outside layer of the roll to make it prettier. I usually put the leave right side down. You can put 1 leave or 2 to 3 leaves in a row. You'll see the result later. It's nice!
   
   
   


8. Then, continue wrapping it like burrito. Again, work QUICKLY!
   
   
   
   


9. Roll and tada! Here is the final result and you'll see the leave behind the transparent rice paper. It's an art!
   
   
   


10. Repeat steps 4 to 9, 15 times. It looks hard but with practice it will become easier and easier each time. If the rice paper is torn or stuck together, you can throw it away and start all over again. It's cheap, you know. Believe me, I have done that and been there before but I am persistent and determined to tackle this skill. I had practiced many times and ate many smoked tofu and mango goi cuons which is not too bad of an experience. DH loves it too that I practiced a lot.


11. Then, you can eat the roll whole with the peanut dipping sauce or cut it in a diagonal like the picture below.
    
    
    
    

If you are allergic to peanut, I have a peanut-free dipping sauce for it. Check out the salad dressing in my blog titled Vietnamese Green Mango Salad. This dressing is great for a dipping sauce for this salad roll.

Regarding the smoked-baked-marinated tofu, you may want to check on Bryanna's blog regarding A Nifty Gadget for Pressing Tofu. This kind of tofu is great for this recipe. I don't have this nifty gadget myself but I usually buy an extra firm tofu. Bryanna suggesteds 2 parts soy sauce, 1 part maple syrup, and a little sesame oil for the marinade. I added 1 part of water, 1 tsp liquid smoke, 1 tsp garlic powder, and 1 tsp onion powder for the smoked tofu marinade sauce. Make sure that all the tofu slices are covered in the marinade sauce and let them submerged in the marinade for at least 4 hours. Then, you can bake them in a 400F oven for 15-20 minutes or pan fry them in a skillet. Basically, you can create your own version of the marinade sauce.

These rolls are to be eaten within a day (we have no problems with that). They are not good to be refrigerated and eaten the next day (have done that, too).