Cabbage Wrap (Panh Mieng)

My mom was in town this past weekend and she brought me some healthy goodies, tons of fresh veggies straight from her garden that consisted of fresh Thai chili peppers, basil, eggplants, lemongrass, rice patty herbs, Vietnamese coriander and also brought me a refill of pa dak (homemade fish sauce).

Last week I had some health issues causing the doctor to prescribe me a regimen of steroids. The medication caused some weight gain, so this week, I'm back on my wrap diet since this is an ultra low carbohydrate diet with minimal protein. Normally, the diet consists of lettuce but since I haven't had the cabbage wrap in years, I thought I would change things up a little bit (still the same concept, however).  Eating like this helped me lose 25 pounds in a 4 week period; thankfully I'm only looking to drop 7 pounds this week.

By now, everyone should know how to wrap things. If not, it's pretty simple, it is just putting your favorite ingredients on a base - this case it's cabbage - wrapping it up without over filling and enjoy!

Ingredients:

1 head of cabbage (quartered)
2 scallions (sliced)
Several sprigs of cilantro (roughly chopped)
5 chili peppers (sliced)
3 inch piece ginger (julienne cut)
1 stalk lemongrass (thinly sliced on bias)
10 cherry tomatoes (halved)
1/2 lime (cut into tiny 1/4 squares, with peel on)
1 bag pork rinds
5 Thai eggplants (quartered)
1 shallot (sliced)
1 handful vermicelli (cooked)
1/4 homemade fish sauce
4 tilapia filets (or 1 whole fish)
4 garlic cloves (thinly sliced)

Cooking the fish:

First, you'll need to lightly batter the fish with rice flour (all purpose flour is too dense for this application) so that the fish doesn't fall apart in the deep fryer.  You will then deep fry the fish in canola oil that has been preheated to 350° for about 4-5 minutes. Once the fish has completed frying, place on a towel to drain and cool.

A different and healthier alternative to cooking the fish is simply putting the whole fish (skin on) in a preheated 375° oven for approximately for about 15 minutes or until fish is crispy on the outside.

Dipping sauce:

The dipping sauce is basically a homemade fish sauce (using the whole amount listed above), chili peppers (half the amount listed above), and garlic (half the amount listed above). You can also add tamarind paste  for extra tartness or sugar for added sweetness; of course add these according to your taste.  Beware: this sauce is super potent so use it sparingly. If you don't have homemade fish sauce you can also try using the bottled unfiltered fish sauce from the store or contact me if you need some homemade fish sauce.

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