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Preparation
1 hour 20 minutes
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Cooking
30 minutes
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Difficulty
Easy
Eel is a food that contains a lot of calcium necessary for children, and dishes made from eel are very diverse, such as stir-fried eel and eel porridge. Today, TasteVN will join you to cook a fried dish from the combination of eel and wild betel leaves!
Ingredients for Eel Wrapped in Wild Betel Leaves For 2 people
Eel 500 gr Wild betel leaves 100 gr Pork belly 300 gr Chopped green onions 2 tablespoons Minced chili 1 teaspoon Common spices a little (seasoning/ sugar/ pepper/ salt/ monosodium glutamate) Cooking oil 300 ml
How to Choose Fresh Ingredients
How to choose fresh eel
- When buying eel, observe and choose eels that are of moderate size and have two distinct color parts, the belly part is yellow and the back part is black. This is because these eels are caught from the wild, with sweeter, softer, fragrant, and firmer meat than farmed eels.
- Do not choose eels that are too small or too large, or dead eels; with very small eels, you will not enjoy eating them, or with very large eels, their meat when processed will easily become mushy and not fragrant.
How to choose good pork belly
- When choosing pork belly, observe and select pieces that have a dry outer layer, light red or bright pink color. When cut with a knife, the meat should have a pinkish-white color, a slight sheen, and the interspersed fat should be bright white, firm.
- You should choose pieces with a balanced ratio of fat and lean meat, as they will taste better and won’t be greasy.
- You should select pieces where the meat and fat are tightly adhered to each other. When you press down with your hand and release, the meat should not leave a dent.
- Avoid choosing pieces of meat that have a rancid, foul smell or any other strange odor. Do not select pieces that are too dark, bruised, or have blood clots.
See details: How to choose fresh pork belly
How to choose good betel leaves
- When buying betel leaves, observe and select leaves that are fresh green, of moderate size, and have a characteristic aroma.
- Avoid choosing leaves that are too big or too small, bruised, or have a strange smell.
How to prepare Eel wrapped in Betel Leaves
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Preparing the eel
After purchasing the eel, clean off the slime, cut off the head, gut it, and remove the internal organs, blood vessels, and spine of the eel.
Rinse the eel with diluted salt water, then rinse several times with clean water.
Tips for cleaning eel, no fishy smell:- After buying the eel, place it in a plastic bag, add coarse salt, tightly seal the bag, shake it vigorously, and then rub salt on the body of the eel to help remove the slime.
- You can use hot water in a basin or tub and then add the eel. The eel will wriggle and squirm to release all the slime. After that, take the eel out, gut it, remove the internal organs, and rinse again with salt water.
- Alternatively, you can use a basin of wood ash, put the eel in, cover it completely with ash, rub from head to tail to remove all the ash, and then wash it clean with water.
See details: How to properly prepare fresh eel without slime and smell
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Marinating the meat
After purchasing, remove any remaining hair from the pork belly, wash it with diluted saltwater, then rinse thoroughly with clean water a few times, let the meat drain, and then chop finely.
Put the chopped meat in a bowl, add 1 teaspoon of seasoning, 1/2 teaspoon of fish sauce, 1/2 teaspoon of minced chili or more depending on your family’s spice tolerance (you can skip the chili if children will be eating) and 1/2 teaspoon of pepper, mix well and marinate for about 1 hour.
Tip: You can wrap the meat in plastic wrap and store it in the refrigerator, which will help keep the meat fresher!
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Marinating the eel
Use a paper towel to dry the water on the meat and the eel’s back, cut the eel into pieces about 5 finger lengths long.
Put the cut eel into a bowl, add 1.5 teaspoons of seasoning, mix well to ensure the eel absorbs the spice, and marinate for 30 minutes.
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Wrap the eel
You place a piece of eel on the cutting board, with the flesh side up, take a sufficient amount of minced meat, about 1 teaspoon, put it on the eel’s flesh, and then roll it up.
You place the rolled eel on the betel leaf to roll it again, wrapping it in 2 layers of betel leaves.
After wrapping, you can use a toothpick to secure the eel roll, or use the end of the betel leaf stem to fix it.
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Fry the dish
Heat a pan on the stove, add 300ml of cooking oil and heat it up; when the oil is hot, carefully add each eel roll to fry over medium heat for 30 minutes. While frying, frequently turn the eel rolls to ensure they are cooked evenly and do not burn.
Tip: When frying, place the side with the edge of the roll facing down on the pan to prevent it from opening!
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Product
Fried grilled eel wrapped in betel leaves, a nutritious and quite unique dish, fragrant betel leaves, tender and sweet eel meat, minced meat inside is fatty and very tasty, a dish that is perfect for little ones to supplement their nutrients!
With the recipe for grilled eel wrapped in guava leaves that TasteVN provides, we hope to diversify your children’s meal options. Wishing you success!
*Refer to the recipe and images from the YouTube channel Anthuc ASMR
