Bo to cuon banh trang suits a big table, because everything is laid out and each person rolls their own. Straw seared veal is sliced thin and rolled with green banana, star fruit and pineapple, then dipped in a rich pineapple mam nem. The hardest parts are taking the strong smell off the veal and keeping the banana and star fruit from turning brown.
Rubbing the meat with salt and ginger wine, then rinsing it, decides how the whole table smells. Sliced banana and star fruit go straight into lightly salted water with a splash of vinegar, since a few minutes in open air is enough to darken them.
This batch weighs about 1.7kg, at roughly 91 calories per 100g.
Method
Rinse 400g straw seared veal, rub it with salt and ginger wine to take off the strong smell, then rinse it again.
Halve 1 piece of ginger and 3 stalks of lemongrass, then bruise them.
Peel 2 green bananas, slice them thin, rinse them several times and soak them in lightly salted water with a splash of vinegar. Do the same with 2 half ripe star fruit. Slice 1/2 pineapple. Wash the rice paddy herb, cilantro and Thai basil, then drain.
Tie the veal into a roll with string, boil it for 20 minutes until tender, slice it thin and scatter roasted white sesame seeds over the top.
Make the mam nem: take 1/2 a ripe pineapple, blend half of it for the juice and finely chop the other half.
Fry 40g garlic and 10g shallot until fragrant, add 4 chilies and toss quickly, then add the chopped pineapple, the pineapple juice and 200g mam nem.
When it comes to a boil, add 18g kOBE Monk Fruit Blend and 40g lime juice, then taste and adjust. Pour it into a bowl and stir through 40g roasted sesame seeds and 40g roasted peanuts.
To eat, lay a sheet of pho rice noodle on a piece of rice paper, add herbs, pineapple, green banana and star fruit, put 1 to 2 slices of veal in the middle, roll it up gently and dip it in the mam nem.
Tips
Rubbing the veal with salt and ginger wine before boiling clears the strong, grassy smell.
Rice paddy herb grows in water, so it needs a long soak in salted water before it is eaten raw.
Tying string around the meat before boiling gives round, even slices that hold their grain.
The meat cools a little before slicing, since slicing it hot gives pieces of uneven thickness.
kOBE Monk Fruit Blend dissolves slowly in thick mam nem, so the bowl needs another stir after 5 minutes before further seasoning.
The peanuts and sesame go in just before eating, because they soften and lose their aroma if stirred through early.
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The recipe above is sweetened with kOBE Monk Fruit Blend, measured 1:1 like sugar. See the product page or send us a message.