Fresh Spring Rolls with Spicy Carrot Sauce

I have another guest post for you today, and I can't even begin to tell you how much I love this one!  This cool and refreshing recipe comes from Liren of Kitchen Confidante - her and I go waaaaay back, all the way to when we first started our blogs.  Even from the beginning, I knew I liked her warm heart and friendly spirit, and her blog is a place where she shares inspiring recipes with gorgeous photos.  I also really love her writing, she has a voice that is calm and real, and I always find her posts informative. 

With this recipe for Fresh Spring Rolls with Spicy Carrot Sauce, Liren has touched on so many things that I adore: first, you know how I can't resist fresh and seasonal veggies, and in this recipe, they are the star.  Liren was even lucky enough to find some pea shoots at the farmers market, which make these spring rolls extra special.  Second, she elevated standard spring rolls to greatness by pairing them with an intriguing Spicy Carrot Sauce (I can't wait to try it myself!).  And last, but certainly not least, Liren encourages us to share these rolls with friends and family - a concept that is near and dear to my heart, since I learned to make these rolls from a good friend, and have shared them with family ever since.  

I know you will just love this recipe from Liren, and be sure to stop by Kitchen Confidante and check out all her other recipes - I have still been thinking about her post from last year on making beer bratwurst, if you are into homemade foods and DIY projects, this one is for you.  Enjoy!

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I am so honored to share a post today on The Cilantropist. Amanda and I both started our sites at about the same time, and it has been a delight getting to know one another better through our kitchens and the world of food. I have also had the joy of meeting Amanda in person, and I have to tell all of you - she is as sweet and kind and as passionate about food in person as you can imagine. Having once been in her grad school shoes, I well know the stress of that world - dissertation drafts, defenses, meeting upon meeting...I honestly don't know how she does it all whilst cooking, photographing, writing and sharing it here -- and beautifully so -- for all of us. So I am more than happy to share something with Amanda's readers, while she gets all that hard work done.

It's been a sweltering summer for much of the country, and while it's been unusually mild here in the Bay Area, I am often chatting with family and friends that are melting in heat and humidity. I have the utmost empathy for them; I well remember the oppressive heat, when your excursions outdoors are greeted by hot sidewalks, heat permeating from every inorganic material - I've crossed many a taxi filled street in NYC to know. All you want to do is find air conditioning, all you want to eat is something light and refreshing.

Like Amanda, I am a fan of cilantro, so for today's post, I thought I would serve up something cool and refreshing, that highlights vibrant herbs and vegetables. Perfect for these hot summers, you will find these Vietnamese-style Fresh Spring Rolls with Spicy Carrot Sauce satisfying with the crunch of carrots and cucumber, the coolness of slippery bean threads (rice vermicelli), succulent seafood, and peppy herbs such as mint, cilantro and basil. And if that isn't enough, sweet carrots were used to create a Spicy Carrot Sauce in which to dip your bundles of coolness.

Grilled Thai Coriander Chicken

I am really excited to share another guest post with you today - this one is from my good friend and co-worker, Steve.  Steve is not a blogger, but he is a true food connoisseur at heart.  His skills in the kitchen are undeniable, and he is always making really amazing Thai foods and other Asian dishes.  He and I talk about food ALL the time (he says this below, but I thought I would repeat it for emphasis), so many of the recipes you see here on The Cilantropist have been discussed with Steve over a cup of coffee before we start the workday.  He has given me invaluable advice on most, if not all, of the Asian dishes I have featured here, including my recipe for Tom Yum Goong (Hot and Sour Soup with Prawns) and Turkey Larb.  In fact, sometimes he even brings me fresh kaffir lime leaves, limes, or lemongrass from his parent's garden up in LA.   


All of Steve's cooking is fantastic, but I know he is an expert grill master, so I asked him to share one of his summer recipes with you today.  This Grilled Thai Coriander Chicken is perfect for an end-of-summer backyard barbecue, or to make for the upcoming Labor Day weekend, or just to make on a weekday for dinner.  The chicken doesn't need to marinate for very long, and is extremely easy to make. And as a bonus, Steve also shared his recipe for a Green Salad with Thai-inspired Lime Dressing!  Together with some extra grilled veggies, this is basically the perfect family summer meal. 


This is Steve's first time posting here or ever, and this a fantastic post so let's show him some love!  I am sure you will enjoy this recipe and I hope he will share more in the future. 

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Since Amanda is toiling away everyday working on her PhD thesis, I have observed firsthand the craziness of finishing up and graduating.  I am actually her friend and neighbor in the lab (our desks are next to each other), and I love food.  We both talk about it ALL the time and share each recipes and experiences in cooking with each other.  I have to say, I am pretty lucky to be able to taste The Cilantropist’s food.  So when she asked me to do the guest post, I was both honored and apprehensive, since this is the first time I have ever written a food post.  I really like to cook and try new things, but taking pictures and cooking at the same time is definitely hard and I give props to everyone that does this.  


Now, onto the food!

Many times you have guests come over unexpectedly, or a lot of visitors, and you want to make them something good, but that is still simple enough to manage.  I came from a very big Chinese-Thai family and we often had family gatherings (either random or planned) at my Grandma’s house.  My dad has 7 brothers and sisters, so I have lots of cousins and we all gathered at Grandma’s house.  When I was a kid, I remember running around the house playing hide and seek, climbing trees, playing video games with my cousins, BUT in the background I could see that the kitchen and backyard was also active with my relatives cooking.  In particular, the grill was definitely being utilized and the smell of grilled meat and charcoal sticks to my mind whenever I think of Grandma’s house.  We aren’t unaccustomed to non-Asian foods or food snobs, but we just didn’t make your usual fare of burgers and hotdogs at our gatherings.  We all love to eat good food, and in particular, good Thai food.  


Being that we all lived and grew up in southern California, BBQ was definitely something we did a lot in the backyard during the cool summer evenings.  So this marinade for Grilled Thai Coriander Chicken that I rediscovered from my parents brings back many memories.  Not only is it very easy to prepare at short notice, but very versatile for grilling different kinds of meats.  I have never tried it with tofu, but maybe that would work as well.

For the chicken, the coriander-cilantro marinade is a very simple recipe and requires few ingredients, but the secret to making this marinade is in the preparation of some of the ingredients.  Coriander is just the seed of cilantro, so in this recipe you get double cilantro (which is, coincidentally, part of The Cilantropist’s namesake).  The seeds are dried and you can get it at any Mexican or Asian market, even many larger supermarkets such as Whole foods should have it.  The first thing you want to do is dry toast the seeds in a heavy pan for 5 minutes until you can smell the fragrant coriander, but NOT burned.  You need to shake the pan every once in awhile so that the coriander seeds are evenly toasted on all sides. 

Avocado and Red Grapefruit Salad

With 20 pounds of grapefruits to consume from our trip out to Anza Borrego, I went in search of recipes online.  I hit up all my favorite food blogs, but for most of them, an entry of "grapefruit" in the search box came up with a short list of zero recipes.  Even searching on common cooking sites returned only a handful recipes, and many of them were not to my liking.  I quickly realized that the grapefruit seems to be the black sheep of the citrus family. 

I wonder why this fruit has such a stigma?  Though the outside of a grapefruit is often misshapen, the waxy rind always greets you with a cheerful blush and hides a jewel-like treasure of fruit within.  Even the delicate pink juice is a special treat.