How to Make Delicious Vegetarian Fermented Pork Roll with Pomelo Peel at Home

How to prepare Vegetarian Fermented Pork

• 1

  Prepare the ingredients

  Take 1 clove of garlic, chop it or squeeze to get the juice. You will also need 3 cloves of garlic and 3 chili peppers, sliced. Beetroot should be juiced.

  Slice the starfruit and put it in a blender to extract the starfruit juice.

  Peel off the bitter green skin and separate the white inner rind. Remove the fibers from the grapefruit peel at the top.

  Divide the grapefruit peel into 2 parts, one part sliced to your preference, the other part shredded finely.

  How to extract beetroot juice:

  • Wash about 2 beetroots thoroughly, then peel and cut them into small pieces.
  • Put all the chopped beetroot into a blender, add 20ml of water, and blend until smooth.
  • Strain the blended beetroot mixture through a sieve or a clean cloth to extract the beetroot juice.
  • Make sure to remove all fibers and the outer covering of the grapefruit flesh, leaving only the soft white rind so that the grapefruit rolls won’t be bitter!

  

  

  
• 2

  Soak grapefruit peel

  You mix about 2 – 3 teaspoons of salt and about 1 teaspoon of alum into a basin of water, stir well, and then add the grapefruit peel to soak (the water should cover the peel) for 20 minutes.

  After soaking, rinse the grapefruit peel under cold water 6 – 8 times to remove the bitterness and sourness. Then squeeze out as much water as possible from the grapefruit peel.

  Tip for rinsing grapefruit peel: Use a mesh bag to rinse the grapefruit peel. Place the grapefruit peel in the mesh bag, then dip it into a basin of clean water and knead it through several times until the rinsing water is less cloudy.

  

  
• 3

  Blanch grapefruit peel

  Prepare a basin of cold water and a pot of boiling water, bring the pot of water to a boil, then add a little salt and a bit of alum. Next, add the small strips of grapefruit peel and blanch for about 8 minutes until the peel becomes slightly transparent, then remove and continue to knead with cold water and squeeze dry.

  Continue to blanch the thick strips of grapefruit peel and do the same as for the small strips.

  
• 4

  Mixing and drying grapefruit peel

  Prepare mixing water: add 1 tablespoon of salt + 1/2 tablespoon of seasoning powder + 1/3 tablespoon of monosodium glutamate + 1/3 tablespoon of pepper + minced garlic into a bowl of starfruit juice. Pour over the grapefruit peel and mix well.

  You place it on the stove and stir-fry for about 5 – 7 minutes until the grapefruit peel is well absorbed with the seasoning and all the water is evaporated.

  The remaining shredded grapefruit peel should be dried; add a bit of oil to the pan, then add the grapefruit peel and fry for about 7 minutes until the peel is dry.

  Note: To make the spring rolls delicious and chewy, the grapefruit peel must be really dry; if the grapefruit peel is wet, the spring rolls will become mushy and lack the desired chewiness.

  

  
• 5

  Pounding and mixing the spring rolls

  The thicker grapefruit peel is pounded finely, then the shredded grapefruit peel is added and mixed well.

  Next, add beetroot juice and knead evenly for about 20 minutes to create the color of the spring rolls. The longer you knead, the more elastic and smooth the spring rolls will become.

  Tip: You can add rice flour to mix with the spring rolls if you like.

  
• 6

  Wrap the nem

  Shape into square nem pieces for wrapping. Place 1 slice of garlic and 1 slice of chili on one side of the nem piece.

  Wrap the back side of the dong leaf. Next, use a piece of plastic wrap to keep the nem piece clean and airtight for the nem to ferment sour. Roll an additional layer of paper on the outside to retain warmth and keep the nem dry. Finally, wrap the nem in banana leaves and tie it securely with string.

  After wrapping the nem, leave it outside at room temperature for about 3 days for fermentation, then store it in the refrigerator for 1 day before it can be used.

  
• 7

  Final product

  The final product is naturally pink nem pieces that are visually appealing. Biting into one will immediately reveal the crunchiness, stickiness, and a slightly sweet and sour taste with a hint of spiciness from the nem. It has the characteristic flavor, no less than that of salty nem. It’s not too complicated to have a delicious vegetarian nem dish made from grapefruit peel like this.