Green Papaya Slaw, Shrimp & Grits, Kaiserscharrn

After I wrote about her Spring Rolls last week, Sally's student Thuy sent me her recipe for the wonderful traditional Peanut Sauce she makes to accompany them.

Vietnamese Peanut Sauce

1 cup Hoisin Sauce (less expensive from an Asian Market than a megamart)

1/2 to 3/4 cup peanut butter 

up to 1/4 cup water

Sriracha or Garlic Red Chili Paste for a kick, to taste

In a small pot, on very low heat, begin to melt the peanut butter. Whisking as you go, add the hoisin sauce a bit at a time to dilute the lump of peanut butter. Keep whisking and dilute with the water to the consistency you want. Finally, add the spice paste, to taste. Some like it hot, some like it not.

Often the sauce is presented with a sprinkling of peanuts on top.  You could make the sauce using chunky peanut butter, if you like.

Green Papaya Salad/Slaw

Here's another Southeast Asian recipe.  This one will be hard for my northern readers to make. But if you live anywhere near where papayas grow, you owe it to yourself to make this.  It's a "slaw" because the main ingredient - papaya - is shredded, not just cut or ripped leaves.

This is one of those dishes I've heard about for years, but for some reason never made. I was out looking at one of Sally's papaya trees (planted from seed a couple years ago) the other day, and I saw several nice sized fruit were forming, but still green.   That got me thinking about this recipe.   So I lopped off a nice sized green papaya - about a pound and a half, 8 inches long and 2"+ in diameter. You don't want a papaya that has the slightest bit of yellow or red.

By itself green papaya has little taste, so it could make a great palette for a variety flavors. The traditional dressing is really fabulous though. Try it first before you go experimenting. This is not hot and spicy, not tart or bitter; just very refreshing.

For the Salad

2 cups Papaya, peeled and shredded (the one I picked yielded about 4 cups)

12-16 Cherry Tomatoes, halved

1/2 Red Bell Pepper, julienned

1/4 cup peanuts, roasted

optional -- julienne slices of hot chili peppers, to taste

SaladMastertm Slicer with shredded green papaya

For the Dressing 

3 Limes, juiced

3 Tbsp sugar

1 Tbsp Soy Sauce (low sodium preferred)

1 Tbsp Asian Fish Sauce (Really! Trust me. But if you chicken out use another Tbsp of Soy)

1 tsp Sriracha Sauce, or more, to taste

2 cloves Garlic, minced

Toss the salad ingredients to combine. In a small container stir together the dressing ingredients. Pout about half the dressing over the slaw and toss to combine.

A double or triple batch of the dressing would make a great base for an Asian-inspired ceviche!

A thinned out Peanut Sauce would make a great dressing here too!

Asian Dinner -- Vietnamese Spring Roll, Thai Green Papaya Salad, Cumin Rice

Kaiserschmarrn

Kaiser what? Schmarrn what?  Well, schmarrn translates as "scrambled pancake". What? 

Kaiser Franz Joseph I of Austria was apparently really nutso for this  scrambled pancake with fruit .  It was the assassination of his nephew, the Arch Duke Ferdinand, which precipitated WWI, but that's not a culinary story.

Kaiserschmarrn is a favorite meal or dessert in Austria, southern Germany, Hungary, Slovenia and northern Croatia.

Make a batch of pancake batter. I used a buttermilk packet mix and added water. Don't make a thin crepe batter, though. 

You'll also need some fruit.  I used blackberries, but raspberries or strawberries would also be good.  The original 19th century recipe called for rum-soaked raisins to be added to the batter before pouring.  If only I hadn't drunk all the rum....

Heat your griddle to medium-high, add butter or oil and ladle out a giant sized pancake worth of batter. Let it cook for a few seconds to a minute. Then use your turner to scrape and turn the batter over, and over again after a minute or so. Repeat. Make sure to scrape up the bits that stick to the griddle. 

Continue until the batter cooks into pieces that are browned on the outside and cooked done in the middle. Scoop this onto a plate and spoon some fruit over.  Honey is good too. 

Jumbo Shrimp & Grits

We have a new business at the City of Fort Myers Yacht Basin, where I live, called the Downtown Crab Boat.  It's a top-notch seafood market. Fresh from the Gulf seasonal goodies. It really is a refurbished crab boat, with large chillers and an ice machine on deck rather than commercial fishing gear. The owner does his own crabbing (with another boat), and buys his fresh seafood from the fish docks at Fort Myers Beach and Pine Island. When I stopped by the other day he had among other things red and yellowtail snapper, mullet, clams, tilapia, blue crab, a huge side of mahi-mahi, and some of the best looking head-on jumbo shrimp I've seen in a very long time. Time for Shrimp & Grits!

There are a million recipes for shrimp & grits.  This is mine; loosely based on a Creole version, it features a Trinity, tasso and andouille 'gravy'.  

For the Grits

My regular Creamy Dreamy Grits recipe from the January 5th post.

For the Shrimp

"Some" shrimp. Depends on size and your craving for crustaceans. Head-on or at least shell-on give better flavor, but peeled are more convenient.

1/2 Tbsp Spice Blend

Oil

Heat the griddle medium. Splash on some EVOO. Dust the oil with the spice blend. Add the shrimp.  Cook only until the shrimp start to change color on one side. Flip and repeat. Don't overcook or you end up with shrimp flavored rubber.   Remove from heat and reserve. Use the hot griddle or skillet to make the "gravy".

For the Gravy

6" Sausage, spicy and smoked, diced small. Andouille if you can find it. NOT Italian!

1/4 cup diced Tasso, if you can find it.  Otherwise use ordinary Country Ham

1/4 White Onion, diced

1/3 Red Bell Pepper, diced

1 stick Celery, diced

1 Chicken Bouillon cube

Cajun seasoning to taste

3/4 cup water

1 tsp Corn Starch

Add everything except the water to the hot griddle and cook until the veg is softened. Add the water and bouillon cube and cook a few minutes longer. Mix the cornstarch with another splash of tap water and stir to dissolve. Add to the griddle and stir as things begin to thicken up.

Plate it Up

Lay down a bed of grits. Ladle some of the gravy into the center, and surround with shrimp.