Main Ingredients:

See below ingredients and instructions of the recipe

Cooking Preparation of the Recipe:

1 tb Roasted rice powder Freshly ground black pepper
Scallion oil Peanut Sauce
Crisp-fried shallots Vegetable Platter
1 tb Roasted peanuts, ground 8 oz 6 1/2-inch rice paper rounds
1 lb Raw shrimp in the shell -(banh trang)
1 tb Salt 12 Inch piece fresh sugar cane
6 Garlic cloves, crushed Packed in light syrup,
6 Shallots, crushed -drained
2 oz Rock sugar, crushed to a 12 Eight 1/2-inch bamboo
-powder, or -skewers
1 tb Granulated sugar Vegetable oil, for shaping
4 oz Pork fat -shrimp paste
4 ts Nuoc mam (Vietnamese fish 8 oz Extra-thin rice vermicelli
-sauce)

Prepare the roasted rice powder, scallion oil, crisp-fried shallots
and roasted peanuts. Set aside. Shell and devein the shrimp. Sprinkle
the salt over the shrimp and let stand for 20 minutes. Rinse the
shrimp thoroughly with cold water. Drain and squeeze between your
hands to remove excess water. Dry thoroughly with paper towels.
Coarsely chop the shrimp. Boil the pork fat for 10 minutes. Drain and
finely dice. In a food processor, combine the shrimp, garlic,
shallots and sugar. Process until the shrimp paste pulls away from
the sides of the container, stopping as necessary to scrape down the
sides. The paste should be very fine and sticky. Add the pork fat,
roasted rice powder, fish sauce and black pepper to taste to the
processor. Pulse briefly, only enough to blend all of the
ingredients. Cover and refrigerate. Meanwhile, prepare the Peanut
Sauce and Vegetable Platter. Cover the rice papers with a damp towel
and a sheet of plastic wrap; keep at room temperature until needed.
Peel the fresh sugar cane; cut crosswise into 4-inch sections. Split
each section lengthwise into quarters. (if using canned sugar cane,
split each section lengthwise in half only, then thread 2 pieces
lengthwise onto a skewer.) Pour about 1/4 cup of oil into a small
bowl. Oil your fingers. Pick up and mold about 2 tablespoons of the
shrimp paste around and halfway down a piece of fresh sugar cane.
Leave about 1 1/2 inches of the sugar cane exposed to serve as a
handle. (If using canned sugar cane, there is no need to leave a
handle. The skewers will serve as handles.) Press firmly so that the
paste adheres to the cane. Proceed until you have used all the shrimp
paste. Prepare a charcoal grill or preheat the oven to broil.
Meanwhile, steam the noodles, then garnish with the scallion oil,
crisp-fried shallots and ground roasted peanuts. Keep warm. Pour the
peanut sauce into individual bowls and place the Veget- able Platter
and rice papers on the table. Grill the shrimp paste on the sugar
cane over medium coals, turning frequently. Or Broil, on a baking
sheet lined with foil, under the broiler, about 6 inches from the
heat, for 3 minutes on each side, or until browned. Transfer to a
warm platter. To serve, each diner dips a rice paper round in a bowl
of warm water to make it pliable, then places the paper on a dinner
plate. Different ingredients from the Vegetable Platter, some noodles
and a piece of the shrimp paste, which has been removed from the
sugar cane, are added. The rice paper is then roiled up to form a
neat package. The roll is dipped in the Peanut Sauce and eaten out of
hand. The remaining sugar cane may be chewed. Note: If both types of
sugar cane are unavailable, use skewers. Shape the shrimp paste into
meatballs and thread 3 or 4 on each skewer. Yield: 4 to 6 servings.
From "The Foods of Vietnam" by Nicole Rauthier. Stewart, Tabori
Chang. 1989.

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