happy chinese new year

It's been a very busy week (as for the lack of blogging)!  The week was spent doing a lot of cooking.  First off was supper club.  This month's theme was Chinese New Year.  I enlisted some help from one of my co-workers for a recipe - well, or list of ingredients.  Turned out she cooks like I do - throw it all in a bowl until you like how it tastes.  This makes it a little hard to pass on the recipe to others though.

Based on the list of ingredients, this is how I made my version of Vietnamese Summer Rolls with Peanut Dipping Sauce.

Vietnamese Summer Rolls
Vietnamese rice paper wraps (this was the only ingredient I couldn't find at my local grocery store)
Vermicelli noodles
Chicken breast
Pork chop
Bag of red leaf lettuce
Cilantro
Cucumber (cut into small sticks)
Bean sprouts
Mint

Boil the chicken and pork, shred it up and season with salt and pepper.  Mix up the lettuce, cilantro, cucumber, bean sprouts and mint in a bowl.  I actually cut up the lettuce but you don't have to.  Cook the noodles according to the package and season with salt and pepper.  Heat up some water.  Take one rice paper wrap and soak in the warm water for about 5 seconds.  Place some lettuce, then meat and noodles on top.  Tuck in the sides and then roll it up - similar to a burrito or egg roll.  The rice papers look a lot more fragile than they are.

Peanut Dipping Sauce
1 cup hoisin sauce
1/3 cup peanut butter
3 tbsp natural honey
Salt & pepper to taste
Siracha sauce to desired heat level

In a small sauce pan heat up all the ingredients.  If it's too thick add water.

I wasn't so sure about this as I was making them but I have to say - VERY tasty!!!  I was surprised by the mint but added a really nice touch.  I had never had the siracha sauce either but I'll be using it on a lot of things.  It adds a really good heat but not too much.