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Friday, May 23, 2008

A feast a feast!

Back in the kitchen and just in time. Since we're nearing the end of the month, that also means we're nearing the due dates for all the awesome blogging events I take part in. I can't believe how the list has grown! But since this was the first it will always be near and dear to my heart.



It's time for Platinum Chef Challenge! As you may or may not remember (or may or may not care) Danielle was picked as the hostess for the month. That means she gets to pick all the great ingredients. And the ingredients she picked were SO great, that a bunch of us brilliant chefs all came up with THE SAME IDEA ON HOW TO USE THEM! Impressive for folks to share a brain when they live across the country, no?

And what were these magical, brain sharing ingredients? Bok Choy, Mango, Mint, Panko, and Yogurt. Which was perfect because I was already planning on making Mango and Crab springrolls before she even rolled out the ingredients! The original recipe called for Mango and Mint, so I knew it wouldn't be too much of a stretch to add some bok choy. Then panko always screams SHRIMP to me (and Cara, and Tpox) I thought that adding some panko shrimp with a thai peanut-yogurt sauce would be fantastic.

Which leads me to my entry:
Mango and Crab Spring Rolls with Panko Shrimp and Two Dipping Sauces


The Ingredients:
1 cup rice wine vinegar
1/2 cup sugar
1 Tbsp Sriracha
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 cup plain yogurt
1 Tbsp honey
1 lemon (not pictured - he was REALLY shy and chose to stay in the fridge until he made his grand entrance)
1 Tbsp soy sauce (not pictured - he was REALLY hard to find in my pantry)
1 1/2 cans of crabmeat
1 ripe mango, peeled and diced
1 shallot, minced
rice paper sheets
cilantro
mint leaves
1/2 lb shrimp (this time peel it and devein)
panko


1) Combine the vinegar, sugar, sriracha, and 1/4 cup of water (Crap she most certainly did not mention water in the ingredients. Looks like another trip to the store....or the sink...just turn around, fill 'er up and quit complaining). You should probably use a bigger bowl than the one pictured. Mostly because it was hard to stir without making a mess and dipping would be near impossible. But I didn't realize this until too late. Learn from my mistakes.

2) In a different bowl (well duh) combine the peanut butter, yogurt, soy sauce, honey, ginger, and the juice of half a lemon. (Save that other half, you'll use it later - promise). Around this time begin to wonder why you're calling this Thai peanut yogurt sauce since there's nothing especially Thai about the ingredients. Get flashbacks of Chicken Satay Skewers and decide not to focus too much query. Notice how this fits ever so nicely in the little bowl.

3) Saute the leaves of some bok choy over low heat, just until they begin to wilt. Like spinach! Then set them aside to cool.

4) Combine crab meat, mango, shallot, salt and pepper.

5) Fill a pie plate with warm water and throw caution to the wind! Or just throw your rice paper in there for a couple seconds to make it pliable. Transfer to clean, dry workspace and blot any excess water with a paper towel - be gentle because these things are fragile.

6) Now comes the easy part. Place 1 bok choy leaf at bottom of paper, and top with 3 mint leaves and 1 cilantro sprig.

7) Top that with 2 Tbsp of the crab/mango mixture.

8) Fold bottom of rice paper over mixture and tick in sides and roll up. Set roll on plate and cover with a damp paper towel.

You'll find the rolling to be very cathartic and there will be more and more and more of them!

9) Preheat your broiler. Remember that half of a lemon I told you about? The one you were supposed to keep? Well pull that bad boy out and squeeze it into a bowl. Pour your panko onto a shallow dish and dip the shrimp in lemon juice and then panko. Place on your favorite broiler pan and broil those puppies 3 minutes per side, or until golden.


10) Top your spring rolls with your golden shrimp and serve with the Chili dipping sauce and peanut yogurt dipping sauce.

8 comments:

  1. What a great entry for Platinum Chef!!!! Very creative!

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  2. This is a very creative entry for the event. Well done:D You could cook dinner for me anytime thanks:D

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  3. That's very innovative and looks absolutely yumm....

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  4. There must be some air wave activity happening that so many would have zoomed in on the same kind of entry - When I looked at it I thought "man, that's original" and now you're telling me not so much? I barely know what to do with panko let alone mix it with the other ingredients. I think it's really special.

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  5. You are a creative cook, I love Spring rolls!

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  6. i love panko. i love shrimp. i love spring rolls!

    i also love that a lot of your ingredients come from my new favorite place, trader joe's. i may just have to give this recipe a shot - it looks yum.

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  7. Oh, well done! I just made spring rolls yesterday for the very first time. Surprisingly simple technique, but assembling and prepping all the different items can be such a pain. Cheers for you!

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