Cooked something new for today's meals. I made a Vietnamese dish called Bò Lá Lốt. Its meat wrapped in betel leaf which we call 'daun kadok' here in Malaysia.
You can find these leaves almost anywhere here and it's quite interesting that other South East Asian countries use these leaves in their cooking as well.
Here's how I made the dish:
I marinated 500g of minced pork with 1 finely diced red onion, 4 cloves of garlic finely minced, 2 sticks of lemongrass thinly sliced, 1 tablespoon of fish sauce and some MSG. You don't need any salt in the mix as the fish sauce is salty enough. Mix this all together and you're ready to wrap. It's usually made with mince beef but I had pork in my fridge so I used that instead.
I then wrapped and skewered the parcel which looked like a mini cigar. Each stick having 5-6 cigars. This is to hold them together when you cook them and it'll be easier to turn.
I then put them in a flat pan and cook them for about 3-4 minutes on each side. These skewers are typically cooked on a barbecue or grill but since I'm doing it at home, I used a pan instead. You could use the oven as well.
Make sure the parcels are nice and char. The more char the better. You want the leaves to be the texture similar to dried seaweed where its crispy and flaky.
For my first attempt, it was a great success. Super delicious and flavorful.