Lemongrass Beef Plate with Rice Papers (Vietnamese)

I love plates that are full of different items.  I also love lettuce wraps and rice sheet wraps!  This bowl has lemongrass beef, rice vermicelli, herbs, pickles, cucumbers, fried dried tofu, nuts...  Everything you need for a perfect spring roll.  The beef recipe I took from this book.  It was meant to be served in a baguette, but I like my bowl better!  For the ingredients for the bowl, feel free to compose with what you like and have at home... But I wouldn't skip the herbs!

So here's the simplified recipe for Lemongrass Beef Skewers from the book Vietnamese Street Food by Tracey Lister and Andreas Pohl, followed by my own tips to make the perfect bowl!

(makes 10 mini skewers - serves 2-3)

Marinade for 300g nice lean beef, thinly sliced:

-2 shallots, chopped

-3 garlic cloves, chopped

-3 white parts of lemongrass, chopped

-1 long red chilli, seeded and chopped

-1tbsp roasted sesame seeds

-2tsp fish sauce

Grind together, in a mortar and pestle or in a food processor, the shallots, garlic, lemongrass and chilli.  When I use a mortar I always chop everything as small as I can to save time and energy.  When the mixture resembles some kind of rough paste, add slightly grounded sesame or grind in the mortar.  Add fish sauce, mix, and thoroughly massage the beef slices.  Let marinate for an hour to overnight in the fridge.

If using a grill, soak 10 short skewers in cold water for about 30 minutes.  When using a pan, you can skip this step.  Fold the beef slices repeatedly on the sticks to make 10 mini skewers, just enough each for one fresh spring roll.  Grill!

To serve, for EACH plate, I put enough ingredients for 5 rolls (5 lettuce pieces, 10 cucumbers...).  I ate only 3 rolls and kept two for lunch, it's a little big!:

-5 beef skewers

-some Dua Gop carrots and daikon pickles (recipe here: http://sunnysdelights.blogspot.ca/2014/05/banh-mi-with-pork-patties-and-dua-gop.html)

-5 pieces of lettuce

-1 portion rice vermicelli (I had fresh ones!)

-10 half slices of cucumber

-plenty of fresh herbs (just pruned my plants!)

-some chopped almonds or peanuts 

-pieces of dried tofu sheets (cut, deep-fry at at least 350F and drain on paper towels)

-nuoc cham for dipping (I use Helen's recipe, here: http://danangcuisine.com/recipes/recipe-2-vietnamese-dipping-sauce-cach-pha-nuoc-cham/)

Dip a rice sheet in warm water briefly, lay down on a flat plate, put a little of everything and a skewer (without the skewer haha) and roll tightly.  Dip in nuoc-cham, it's sooo good!