Sunday, August 23, 2009

P-nut Butter time.

I don't know why, but I always laugh whenever Jamie writes P-nut butter on the grocery list. Hm. Anyway, BSI time! We're doing an early early dinner since we won't be getting back until late tonight.

On hot summer days (or cool fall evenings or chilly winter nights...) I find myself craving Vietnamese Summer Rolls. They usually leave my belly pleasantly full and my tastebuds thrilled at the light, refreshing, somewhat salty/sweetI'm not too skilled at the summer roll rolling, I decided to make a summer roll my way...the messy way:

I present to you, a Summer Roll Explosion:
taste. Since I'm not just going to grab an order of summer rolls from a restaurant, and At the heart of this is meal is a spicy and sweet peanut butter dressing inspired by the typical sauce served with summer rolls and the nuoc cham served with my other favorite dish - Bun.

I used about 1/4 package of rice noodles:
And tossed them with some radishes, cucumber, carrots, bean sprouts, chopped lettuce and basil (for some reason I couldn't find Thai basil ANYWHERE - weird) before adding the peanut butter sauce. Verdict? Delicious. It has all the flavors I was looking for and minimal work! The hardest part was chopping up the veggies and remembering exactly what I put in the sauce!

Peanut Sauce
1 1/2 tbsp creamy peanut butter
3 1/2 tbs hoisin sauce
1 1/2 tbsp fish sauce
2 tbsp rice wine vinegar
1 tsp chili garlic sauce
1 tbsp chili oil
1 tbsp lime juice
1/4 tsp grated ginger
2 tbsp salad oil
1/4 tsp sriracha sauce
4 tbsp water

Stir first 10 ingredients together in a bowl. Add water slowly until sauce thins out. Add to rice noodles and veggies.

I love dinners like this - ones that are crisp, refreshing and filling...and leave just a hint of spice in the back of your throat :)

Ok, I'm off to a staff meeting out in VA...ON A SUNDAY! At least I'm getting paid for it hehe. We've got one more errand to run and then I'm hoping to FINALLY catch up on all the posts in my Google Reader. Yikes! I feel so out of the loop!! Hope you're having fun Sunday meals :)

10 comments:

Redkathy said...

A true explosion indeed, looks superb!

Anonymous said...

Looks So good! I adore savory dishes made with PB. Im so mad I missed the BSI, though! I hope you win! :-)

Jamie said...

thats not how you spell p-nut butter? dang my crappy english skills

Anonymous said...

Wow, that looks so good! Great BSI entry!

Paige@ Running Around Normal said...

Ooh that looks delicious! Love the explosion hehe

Angharad said...

Mmmm p-nut butter. Ha ha ha.
That explosion looks like it wants to explode in my mouth...way yum looking!

Rosey Rebecca said...

You always make the most creative dinners!!

Anonymous said...

I second Rosey Rebecca!! Always impressed with these menus of yours :)

Mia {runs and rests} said...

That sauce is bursting with flavor! Very refreshing dish indeed. Hope you win BSI!

Karena said...

Thanks! The leftovers weren't as flavorful so I'm thinking it could have used a more potent sauce. Definitely a summer dish worth trying...maybe with some shrimp or tofu!