Ingredient 23 - Galangal

Galangal is a member of the ginger family. It is quite bizarre in appearance – very ‘knob like’ with its characteristic orange rhizomes, and has a similar flavour to ginger although is a little stronger and more citrus in nature.

Galangal is available in fresh, dried or powder form, and is used in a wide range of Asian dishes such as clear soups and curries. Here it adds an excellent punch to some yummy rolls.

Enjoy!

Caramelised Beef and Galangal Vietnamese Rolls

Makes 8 rolls

1 piece rump steak (approx 350g)

galangal – 6cm x 3cm piece

ginger – 3cm x 1cm piece

1 tsp minced garlic

1 tbsp sesame oil

½ tbsp fish sauce

½ tbsp rice wine vinegar

½ cup packed brown sugar

juice of 1 lime

1 red chilli

200g piece of sweet potato

1 tbsp olive oil

large handful baby spinach leaves

100g packet vermicelli noodles

8 rice paper wraps

lime wedges – to serve

• Preheat oven to 180°. Peel the sweet potato and chop into fine matchsticks, about half the length that the rolls will be. Place on baking tray, drizzle with olive oil and cook in oven for 15min or until just tender.
• Peel the skin off the galangal and ginger pieces and then using a grater, grate into thin fine pieces.
• Slice the rump steak into thin strips and remove any excess fat.
• Heat the sesame oil in a large fry pan. Add the galangal, ginger and garlic and stir around the pan until aromatic. Add the fish sauce, rice wine vinegar, lime juice and sugar and stir all ingredients until just combined.
• Add the beef and bring the ingredients to a bubble in the fry pan, stirring occasionally to ensure meat browns. Initially there will be a lot of liquid released from the meat, however let it continue to bubble and it will reduce. Keep on heat for around 15min or until the liquid has reduced more than half and the beef is cooked but still lovely and tender. Place beef on a plate with the remaining sauce.
• Cover the vermicelli noodles in a bowl of boiling water and let it stand for 15min or until tender. Drain the noodles well and quickly run a knife through the noodles in bowl to chop into more manageable size. 
• Chop the spinach and finely dice the chilli.
• Now get the bench set up – this is the key to a good roll! Arrange all the ingredients on little plates, have a shallow dish of boiling water to soften the rolls (ie. a quiche flan is perfect), a chopping board for rolling and a clean plate to put the finished rolls on.
• Dip the rice paper roll in the boiling water for around 5 seconds; it should still feel firm and not completely soft. Remove quickly and lie flat on the chopping board – the board will soak up extra water as well as continue to let the wrap get softer. Place some noodles, spinach leaves, sweet potato and then beef strips in a little row in the centre of the roll, leaving a gap at each edge (ie. at least two thumb prints size). Sprinkle with a little chilli and drizzle with some juices. Fold in the edges in first, and then roll from the bottom upwards, tucking in the ingredients as you go.  The finished product should be firm and not too big or the ingredients will pop open.
• Serve the rolls immediately with extra lime wedges and remaining sauce.