Today I went to the market to buy food and spotted some wild betel leaves (piper lolot or lá lốt in vietnamese) and I was like: Let’s make some chả cuốn lá lốt (fried minced meat wrapped in wild betal leaves). Then I bought some to make some delicious meat rolls that I haven’t made for a long time.
I am not sure if you have that kind of leaf in your country, but here in Viet Nam we use it a lot for cooking or traditional medicine. It has a lot of benefits such as: relieves joint and muscle pain, supports digestion, anti-inflammatory and antibacterial properties,...
It ‘s not only good for health, it tastes amazing. We use it for cooking a variety of food, vegan or meat. Today, I'll show you one of my favorite dishes made from wild betel leaf and meat with a very simple recipe, which takes less time or effort to make it. Are you ready to join me in the kitchen?
Ingredients:
- Fresh wild betel leaves
- Minced pork(or minced beef if you prefer but minced pork has some fat so make the meat rolls juicier, tenderer. A perfect choice is to mix half minced pork and half minced beef.)
- Salt, fish sauce, black pepper, msg(optional)
- Spring onion, shallot, garlic
How to make it:
- Step 1: Clean the leaves well and let it dry. Then finely chop the spring onion, shallot, garlic and some betel leaves.
- Step 2: In a large bowl, put the meat in, ( as I want to make a lot of them so I have 800gr of meat, you can adjust the amount that suitable for you) add chopped things and season with salt, fish sauce , black pepper and msg
Mix the mixture well and then add one egg in to make it more connecting mixture.
Mix it again and we’ll have a ready mixture like this
- Step 3: Time to roll. Use the cutting board or something that is flat and large to wrap the meat in the leaves. There is a tip here: place the meat on the back side of the leaf, with the greener side facing out, so when we fry it, it will have a nicer color.
Roll until there is no more meat 😂
- Step 4: Use a non-stick pan, add some oil, and fry it until the leaves change to a darker color and look cooked. Shouldn’t fry them too long, to keep the moisture and juiciness inside.
And look, the meat rolls are done, I can’t wait to taste them.
Please enjoy the food with me. These meat rolls are juicy and tender, and the wild betel leaves give them a unique, delicious flavor.
That’s it for today my friends. Hope you like it and give it a try, or if you don’t have this leaf, maybe it’s a good reason to come visit Viet Nam hehe
Sending you love and good vibes from Da Nang.
All the photos were taken by me in my lovely kitchen.