There is a clear winner, technical knock-out in round 2, if you will. The soba noodles with the cilantro and sesame seeds beat the Vietnamese spring rolls by far. Perhaps the recipe was to blame, or my bold move to think, leaving away the duck would be ok for a vegetarian version of these rolls. So really it’s hard to say why they didn’t turn out the way I had envisioned. The taste I found too bland, the rice paper too sticky. Perhaps it was doomed from the start? I’ve had these rolls, no, much much better than these, in Atlanta a few years back. The kind that’s not deep fried and instead wears a transparent rice paper wrapper. It must have either set my standards too high or I’ve simply miserably failed this one…the absence of duck could’ve been the secret to making this a delish course, but frankly, I doubt it. ;)
(in lack of proper results, I omitted the recipe)
To redeem myself I thought of another Asian inspired dish. Our recent shopping spree at a local Asian food store sure came in handy. Walking through the isles, loosing track of time and feeling like little kids in a candy store, we couldn’t help but to purchase a whole set of different noodles. They all looked so intriguing with a promise to magically turn every dish into a delicious dish and besides, N. always falls for nicely designed packaging! With the soba noodles at hand and a recipe I came across earlier this week I got started. The original recipe, presumably the most simplistic one imaginable – right out of another brand new cookbook (N. just acquired ;) & already decorated with lots of pink and yellow post-its – merely contained noodles and parsley. I thought of substituting a good deal of the parsley with cilantro, toss the noodles in a mix of peanut and sesame oil and add a few sesame seeds to the seasoned mix. Soooo easy and soooo good. It would probably also make a perfect cold summer snack, but it was gone too quick…O.
Cook soba noodles to package directions. Meanwhile chop parsley, cilantro and red chili. Lightly brown all of the sesame seeds in a separate pan.
Heat up the mix of peanut & sesame oil in a pan, add the spicy chili and the drained soba noodles.
Blend well, season to taste with kecap manis and soy sauce and finally add the herbs & the sesame seeds.
Sesame Soba Noodles
Recipe source: Own creation
Required time: overall ~20min.
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Ingredients (amounts by guess and by gosh):
soba noodles
sesame seeds
peanut & sesame oil
cilantro
parlsey
red chili
season with kecap manis & soy sauce
Jun 23rd,
2005
hmmm
This is so sad as Rice paper rolls can be a revelation, especially in the summer and it's hot. There are few things that I am wondering since your recipe is not here and I have gleaned from the photo.
1) Did you put lots of herbs in?: mint and coriander - for the fresh taste these are vital.
2) the dipping sauce, what did you use? you need something zippy and fresh ( I have a really good easy authentic nuoc cham recipe if you want to try it)
3) how long did you soak the rice sheets for? and in what temperature water? The water should be warm and they need to soak only for about 10 seconds til they have softend enough to roll no more or they will become sticky
4) Prawns are fantastic in these ;)
Sorry if that was presumptious.... I am so glad that the soba noodles worked so well, it looks awesome