Pan-Fried Chicken and Chinese Basil Rice Paper Rolls (Please Enjoy Right Away)

Once a long while I'd like to dig into more troubled hassled work in the kitchen. Things like making bread and noodles from scratch, or this pan-fried rice paper roll recipe.

Some might find it a soothing process, but trust me, all that handcraft work doesn't necessarily translate to therapeutic especially when you have to cook up few other dishes at the same time. But it's definitely fun and especially fulfilling once the result is successful.

Pan-fried chicken and Chinese basil rice paper rolls - 

Ingredients (about 20 medium small or 10 medium large pieces)?

• 20 medium small or 10 medium large rice paper
• 380 grams chicken tenders
• 40 grams Chinese or Thai basil
• 1 medium red bell pepper
• 2 garlic cloves
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon Chinese rice cooking wine
• 1/2 teaspoon fish sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar
• Some olive oil
• Some sweet chili sauce (optional) 

How?

Remove the tendon from chicken tenders then slice the meat to smaller cubes. You can simply use ground chicken but I think hand-slicing the chicken to smaller cubes adds more texture.

Marinate the chicken with 1 tablespoon of soy sauce and 1 tablespoon of rice cooking wine.

Meanwhile, peel and chop the garlic cloves. Destem, remove the seeds and pith from the red bell pepper, then slice to small cubes. Save some whole basil sprigs for garnish in the end, and chop the remaining leafy part.

Have a pan ready and drizzle about 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Switch to medium heat then add in the garlic. Give it a quick stir-fry till aromatic but not burnt.

Add in the chicken, try to stir-fry while breaking the meat to smaller bits, cook for about a minute. Add in red bell pepper and stir-fry for another minute. Add in chopped basil leaves and cook for a quick 30 seconds.

As for the seasonings, add 1 tablespoon of soy sauce, 1/2 teaspoon of fish sauce, and 1/2 teaspoon of sugar. Mix till evenly blended and continue to cook till the whole thing appears more concentrated and darker color. Scoop them out and set aside till cool-off.

You have to really wait till the chicken filling has completely cooled-off, that means the temperature won't affect the rice paper much.

Have a plate with some depth filled with drinkable room temperature water. Also try to find a non-stick working surface to lay the rice paper on top.

So take out the dry rice paper, doesn't matter the package shows Thai or Vietnamese rice paper, gently soak one rice paper in the water till softened and shapable. The package should also have some instructions on it for you to follow.

Move the softened rice paper to the working area. I actually put a damp towel on the working area too to further prevent any possible sticking issue. Spoon over some of the chicken filling then wrap into a roll. Remember to tug in both ends. Repeat till you finish up all the rice paper or chicken fillings.

Have a pan ready and drizzle 2 to 3 tablespoons of olive oil. Switch to medium heat and wait till the oil gets hot. Carefully pick up the rolls one by one and add to the pan. Make sure these rolls do not touch one another, otherwise they might stick together.

Just leave the rolls there and sear till you feel the bottom has been set and turned golden color. Carefully flip to the other side and sear till golden again.

Set up a big plate lined with paper towel. Once both sides get that good sear, transfer the rice paper rolls there. You might have to pan-fry these rolls in few batches depending on the size of pan. If so, drizzle more oil and repeat the process. 

It's better to sear fewer rolls at once instead of crowding the pan. Once these rolls touch and stick to one another, that'll definitely give you a big headache, way more troublesome then searing these rolls in few batches.

Once all set, transfer pan-fried rolls to serving plate. Garnish with whole basil sprigs and see if you'd like to serve with additional Thai sweet chili sauce on the side. However, the filling is flavorful enough, these rice paper rolls still taste great even without the extra sauce .

Working and folding the semi-sticky rice paper is no easy job at first, but trust me you'll get a hang of it after a few tries. So don't get discouraged or frustrated when the first few pieces turn out somewhat mis-shaped.

And even if you do have some slightly deformed rolls, you can still pan-fry them till nice and golden as long as the filling is still nicely sealed inside. The final look won't be so bad after all with golden pan-fried color on both sides.

One final note, please make sure to enjoy these pan-fried rice paper rolls right away. As they turn cold, store overnight, or even reheat afterwards, the rice paper will become soggy and soft. It'll be like eating a sheet of gelatinous mass instead, not good.

Other recipes using ground chicken:

• Mountain yam, shio kombu, and ground chicken patties 山藥塩昆布雞肉餅
• Ground chicken and shiitake mushroom congee 香菇雞肉粥

Taiwanese Pumpkin Rice Vermicelli 金瓜米粉

Surprisingly I had my most share of pumpkin rice vermicelli back in California. The thing is that my own family doesn't really make "pumpkin" rice vermicelli, but it's like one of the most common Taiwanese household dishes. 

So as an international student many many years ago, my fellow Taiwanese friends often invited me to their home and have family meals together during holidays. And guess what? They've always had pumpkin rice vermicelli on the table. Man that was such a comforting dish, especially when the chef (auntie) was very good at making all sort of Taiwanese dishes.

Taiwanese pumpkin rice vermicelli 金瓜米粉 - 

Ingredients (about 6 portions)?

• 200 grams 100% rice vermicelli
• 360 grams matsusaka pork
• 300 grams pumpkin
• 150 grams wood ear 
• 1/2 medium small cabbage
• 1/2 medium small carrot
• 8 dried shiitake mushrooms
• 2 tablespoons dried shrimps 蝦米
• 2 stalks scallion
• 4 garlic cloves
• 3 tablespoons soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons oyster sauce
• 1 tablespoon Chinese rice cooking wine
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar
• Few dashes white pepper powder
• 3 tablespoons goose's grease or olive oil
• 1 cup shiitake soaking water
• 1 cup chicken stock

How?

Rinse then soak the the dried shrimps using room temperature water. Once rehydrated a little, drain and pat dry with paper towel. Fine chop the dried shrimps.

Rinse and soak the dried shiitake mushrooms using room temperature water too. Preferably drinkable water. Once rehydrated, save the mushroom soaking water, which should be about 1 cup. Destem the mushrooms then slice the caps.

Meanwhile, slice the matsusaka pork to medium large bite size, preferably with a little thickness to it. If you can't find matsusaka pork, regular pork slices with a bit fat or even strips are doable too. Marinate and massage the pork using 2 tablespoons of soy sauce and 1 tablespoon of Chinese rice cooking wine.

Trim-off the tougher cabbage stem then slice the rest to medium threads. Trim-off the tougher wood ear center then slice the rest to threads too. Peel and julienne the carrot. Peel the pumpkin then cut into about 1mm thickness slices. Note that much of these veggies will slowly cook-down later on so bigger or thicker pieces are totally fine.

Destem and section the scallion. Peel and slice the garlic cloves.

Prepare the rice vermicelli according to package instruction. Some might require a short soaking time, some might need to quickly cook in hot water first. I used 100% rice vermicelli here so it gets soft and break apart easily. All I need to do was simply soaking the vermicelli in room temperature water till slightly separated then drain for later use.

Have a big wok or a big pot ready, if you have goose's grease then definitely use it, otherwise drizzle 3 tablespoons of olive oil instead. Switch to medium heat and add in chopped dried shrimps, garlic, scallion sections, and 1/2 teaspoon of salt right away.

Wait till the heat goes up and these aromatics start slightly browning on the edges. Add in pork along with the marinade. Sear till half-way cooked through then add in the shiitake. Continue to sear till aromatic for a little longer.

Add in carrot now. I prefer to add in the carrot early because I don't really like eating "hard" carrot in Chinese dishes. However, the actual cooking time is up to you. I myself actually cook the carrot sticks for two minutes first here.

Then add in the cabbage, wood ear, and pumpkin. Give it a quick stir-fry then season with 1 tablespoon of soy sauce, 2 tablespoons of oyster sauce, 1/2 teaspoon of sugar, and 2 dashes of white pepper powder. Mix till evenly blended.

Pour in 1 cup of reserved shiitake mushroom soaking water and 1 cup of chicken stock. Bring to a light boil and cook for 3 more minutes.

Add the prepped rice vermicelli to the wok and mix till evenly blended with all the ingredients. Put on the lid and cook in medium or medium low heat all the way till the rice vermicelli reaches desired texture, should be around few minutes.

Remove the lid and do a final flavor check. Adjust with additional seasonings if needed. By the time most of the pumpkins should be semi-melted into the sauce already, adding a hint of sweetness to the whole rice vermicelli. 

I also think that's the key to pumpkin rice vermicelli. If you can still find whole and hard pumpkin pieces in this dish, to me that means the flavors have not yet been fully soaked in yet, no good.

So memorizing the days in California, how lucky I was that I still get to eat all the authentic Taiwanese homemade meals back in California. Not the somewhat look-alike Taiwanese food at the restaurants, but true local-flavored home-cooked version with my friend's family.

The heart-warming feeling of friends and families gathered together and enjoyed countless homemade dishes. That feeling was rooted in my heart that I still treasure till now. You know I don't really get the same vibe here back in Taiwan. First of all my own family is kind of small, and secondly most of my close friends in Taiwan don't really know how to cook.

Good thing is that as long as I go ahead and buy that airplane ticket to fly all the way to America, at least I can still relive the holiday gathering moment again, surrounded by friends and so called my CA families with lots of delicious homemade food. Yes! I've got to make that happen again soon.

Extended reading:

• Curry flavored beehoon/rice vermicelli stir-fry 咖哩炒米粉