In the last few years, I have increasingly hit markets with no pre-conceived notion of what I want to serve for dinner or other meals for the upcoming week. I tend to buy what’s in season, what looks best, and what is well-priced. Sometimes, I stock up on unusual items if I think that I will have time to experiment on a dish or two. After my foraging in two markets, described in this previous post, I realized we had just way too much food in the house, and with only a few hours notice, managed to get a few friends together for a really casual Saturday dinner, with several experiments that may or may not have resulted in possible disaster. But with a wide selection of dishes, I knew everyone would find something to eat. With just six guests for dinner, I had to make something that had no pork, no shellfish and no coriander. This is the mongrelized Asian meal we threw together, to surprisingly good reviews! Up top a quick pickle made with small red western radishes (as opposed to daikon radishes or our own labanos) sliced thin and marinated in a rice vinegar, salt and sugar liquid. The red color of the skins leached into the pickling solution, creating these stunning looking discs. They were still crunchy and tasted quite refreshing.
To start we had two dishes of raw fish, up top, a kinilaw na tanguigue or ceviche of spanish mackerel with coriander sprouts as a garnish. In the foreground, an appetizer of thinly sliced raw salmon with a dressing of rice vinegar, soy, ginger and a garnish of onion sprouts. A dish I spotted on Nigella Lawson’s cooking show, this was a HUGE HUGE HIT. So incredibly easy to make, and delicious to eat! More on that in another post.
A large dish of homemade vietnamese rice paper rolls, stuffed with copious amounts of boiled shrimp (don’t you hate restaurant versions where they stretch a single shrimp through the entire roll?), herbs, and blanced mung bean vermicelli. These are relatively easy to make, and the homemade ones have trumped purchased versions consistently. Here likewise garnished with coriander sprouts so guests could get as much or as little hit of coriander as they desired.
A dipping sauce of thai fish sauce, lots of dayap or lime juice, coriander and chilies…
…and a second dipping sauce of peanuts and hoisin. I love these fresh spring rolls and could have had these along for a very satisfying dinner. But there was more on the menu.
We had a small bowl of deep-fried lechon for those who enjoyed pork, classic liver sauce on the side. And we also had some pan seared yakiniku cut wagyu beef, also sourced at the weekend markets. Sorry, no photo of the latter.
A plateful of lovely gai lan or kai lan, simply blanched and bathed with some oyster sauce.
And finally, some singkamas pickles to cleanse the palate between all the different dishes. A little pinoy, a little vietnamese, a little Japanese and a little bit Nigella. This all looks like it could give you indigestion, honestly I would agree, but the dinner worked out very nicely, and guests all ate heartily. :)
31 Responses
drooling with each photo, MM! would have attacked the lechon first …
What an easy and delicious dinner to put together. Thanks for the inspiration.
Lovely as usual MM, and of course lechon isn’t really pork…no, seriously, I really loved the sauces you offered at Zubuchon as opposed to the classic liver sauce (though Manila born and raised). We’re now on our 3rd airfreight, wonder if you could send those sauces with the lechons? I understand if you might have technical/logistic problems with that though. My staff love the lechons so much though that any excuse will do to pick up the phone and order, and I think the driver can make his way to the pickup point blindfolded. We’re actually back in Europe, but because it’s a family birthday, despite absence of celebrant, they’re going to party on our behalf this week! PS, try those radishes another time the French way, just whole, very cold, with unsalted butter and coarse salt on crusty bread. I love it.
Homemade vietnamese rice paper rolls? You made the rice paper yourself?
What a feast!
Josephine, I love the radishes with butter and salt, here. :) Have emailed you separately. Thanks.
Gej, sorry, we aren’t that made from scratch… we bought the rice paper and made the rolls ourselves… :)
Top photo fooled me into thinking they were slices of bright red tomatoes! Except for the lechon, this dinner spread is very healthy and yet looks so appetizing! I think I’ll gorge on your Vietnamese spring rolls..alone…never saw one “na ganito kahitik sa hipon”! :)
Thanks . The rolls look really nice, with the shrimp bulging.
BTW I saw a picture in Facebook of the lechons served during the Bonfire at the Ateneo (celebrating the basketball championship) . At least two of them were Zubuchons!
The salmon looks very good.
no sugar in the thai fish sauce? :)
“..don’t you hate restaurant versions where they stretch a single shrimp through the entire roll?..” YES!
You’ll also be surprised how well it works with a prawn, avocado( with lime ) & papaya filling along with beansprouts for crunch. Sometimes, you don’t even need a sauce!
Vietnamese salad rolls are a house favorite too…but I make ours with avocados, julienne ripe firm mangoes, mint and cilantro and sweet red peppers and lemongrass chicken….try it next time, MM.
May I suggest eclectic. Mongrel has suggestions of a common cur, giving off not an altogether positive vibe when talking about a Filipino dinner.
When asked about the pedigree of a lovely dog we had once, reply was “the mother is wire-haired terrier, sire is from a good neighborhood.”
Footloose, welcome back. Eclectic does sound better, just more elitist. :) Hahaha.
I have made your Vietnamese spring rolls a few times and then again just last Thursday – my mom asked where I got the recipe and I said Marketman ! She looked at me like I was talking about a superhero – indeed you are my food superhero!
Hi MM, care to share your recipe on the kinilaw na tanguigue? Thanks in advance :)
Thanks for the quick welcome, just like the opposite of decompression for a resurfacing scuba buff, I’m just reading through the archives to bring myself up-to-date with the MM clique.
In case anyone here missed it, there is a good profile of Christopher Kimball in the NYT food issue. Can hardly believe that I have been following his publication for close to twenty years now. https://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/14/magazine/cooks-illustrateds-christopher-kimball.html?_r=1&ref=magazine
And for those who have good net connection and ample idle time on their hands, here are two of his testers being interviewed in connection with the publication of their new tome which I suspect is not very different from that of another fave, Harold McGee: https://www.npr.org/2012/10/16/163002343/test-kitchen-chefs-talk-the-science-of-savory
A very nice, mouth watering and eclectic spread. :D
I’m thinking the salmon dish would taste well along with some cold soba noodles. Or even served donburi style, a different take on Salmon Zuke Donburi.
Ms. BettyQ, kahapon lang nag-vietnamese spring rolls ako, and I filled it just like yours – with a avocado and bell pepper (the yellow ones). Plano kong lagyan ng singkamas, kaso hindi maganda yung nabili ng husband ko. I will try the mango sometime. I also put some Vietnamese cilantro and sprinkle with choped roasted garlic.
With the sauce, I cook slow the mixture of (2 kinds) hoisin sauce & peanut butter with sauteed ginger, garlic, turmeric, lemon grass, and spring onion. Sarap, sarap.
Pag namamadali, I used the store bought rotiserrie chicken.
I like ‘mongrelized’ better.
Footloose! You are sooooo missed! But isn’t it that time of the year when you should be basking in the sun?
Naku ebba…pag nag mura ang presyo ng chicken thighs, pakyawin mo and make the lemongrass chicken….pack in zip plck bags and freeze. Barbecue as needed and iyon ang filling mo as Vietnamese salad rolls and our hubby will inhale it! Just kidding, Mr. T!!!!!
Passing it ulit, MM?….thanks!
La Emp, CWID, Ros-Anna or anybody….anyone wants to make longganisa using attachments for KitchenAid? I have a grinder and sausage stuffer attachment that’s practically brand new, still in the box and never been used….decluttering so give me a holler…won’t be able to get back to you till first week of November.
Ms. BettyQ,
Pwede ba sa akin na lang grinder sausage maker mo? I’ll email you tomorrow kung bakit. Basically I want to make my own organic turkey or chicken sausage.
Thanks in advance. Thanks din sa advice mo ng lemongrass chicken.
Ok…early bird gets the worm! Just send me an e-mail, Ebba, and I can mail it before I leave.
Ms. BettyQ, thanks, sent you the email this morning.
What are micro-greens? Recently I bought Broco Sprouts which kindda taste like Alfalfa but a little more grassy and bitter. I also had wheat grass but have not tried it yet since I don’t have a juicer. I was just curious what other sprouts out there are available, kasi included in my diet ay mga various seeds sprouts. Sana lang hindi sila kasing taste like eating “gumamela” leaves, which I did nung childhood ko.
I am even contemplating of doing my own sprouting para matiyak ko na “organic” and result.
Thanks for this post.
what a spread! thank you for sharing MarketMan! this reminds me of just how much farther i should really explore what can be done at home :)
about the raw salmon, how did you prepare it? i’m worried about bacteria. (needless to say, i’ve never dared to make my own kinilaw.) are there any tips or tricks you can share to keep me from food-poisoning my fellow diners? :)
I need to know where to buy these rice rolls in Manila…please advise.
thanks
hell MM ur dipping sauce with lemon juice does it have vinegar as well? thanks
-a novice in ur site
i mean hello sorry for the typo error excited lang po!
caroline, did you mean dayap and patis sauce? Just lime and patis, no added vinegar. But it really is better with dayap than with lemons…