Shiitake And Black Bean Ho Fun With Crisp Pastrami Food

REUBEN PASTRAMI/ NAVEL PASTRAMI

Steps:

• For the brine: Add 1 gallon of water to large pot. Add salt, sugar, garlic and curing salt and stir until it dissolves.
• Put navel in brine fully submerged. Leave in refrigerator for 5 days.
• For the pastrami: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and remove the navel from the brine. Stir together the allspice, coriander, pepper, brown sugar, garlic powder and dry mustard in a bowl. Sprinkle the rub all over the navel until fully covered. Place in a roasting pan and cover with foil. Bake until a fork can easily pierce through, about 1 hour. Slice when ready.

HANOI CRISP PARCELS WITH VERMICELLI SALAD: BUN NEM RAN

Steps:

• Put the mushrooms in a bowl, cover with water and soak for 20 minutes, then drain and thinly slice.
• Soak the bean thread vermicelli in water for 20 minutes, then drain and cut into 1 1/2-inch/4 cm lengths.
• Place the sliced jicama in a muslin cloth and squeeze out its juice, then discard.
• In a large mixing bowl, combine the mushrooms, vermicelli, jicama, pork, crabmeat, onion, sugar, 2 teaspoons sea salt, 2 teaspoons white pepper, and fish sauce.
• Knead the mixture in the bowl for 10 minutes, or until your arms get tired.
• Working with one rice paper at a time, submerge the rice paper in a large pan of warm water, then transfer it to a chopping board or work surface.
• Take 1 1/2 heaping tablespoons of the mixture and place it on the bottom edge of the rice paper. Fold the 2 adjacent sides, one on top of the other, into the center.
• Roll the apex to form a nice firm roll, and secure with a dab of beaten egg white. Repeat until you have filled all the rice papers.
• Pour the oil into a wok and heat to 350 degrees F/ 180 degrees C, or until a cube of bread dropped into the oil browns in 15 seconds.
• Fry the parcels in 3 batches for 6 minutes, or until lightly browned and crisp.
• Evenly distribute the rice vermicelli noodles among 4 to 6 bowls, top with sliced herbs, then cut the parcels into the bowls.
• Pour 2 tablespoons nuoc cham into each bowl and garnish with fried shallots and peanuts.