Photo for Midnight Brunch by Donny Tsang

I’m looking forward to welcoming an intimate group of cocktail lovers and industry folks today for my Behind the Bar event at Whitehall featuring Brooklyn Gin, Fidencio Mezcal and Bittermens Spirits. (If you didn’t get your ticket, tickets are available at the door for $60 and the event runs from 4-6pm. )

Midnight Brunch is proud to be a sponsor of this Manhattan Cocktail Classis event. We support small spirit brands, and I’ve been lucky to work with each of these great product lines at past events.

We’ll be hearing from Joe Santos and Emil Jattne, Craft Distillers at Brooklyn Gin; Arik Torren, Partner at Fidencio Mezcal and Mayur Subbarao of Bittermen’s Spirits and CEO – Craft Spirits Division, Union Beer Distributors.

For more information on these spirit companies, and where to buy them, please see the links at th end of this post. Buy local and support small, independent and boutique brands!

Here are the specs for the cocktails we’ll be enjoying today.

“No. 4 with a Brooklyn Twist”
Created by John McCarthy, Whitehall Bar and Kitchen for Brooklyn Gin

1 dash House Blend Orange Bitters

1.5 oz Brooklyn Gin
.25 oz simple
.5 oz Yellow Chartreuse
.75 oz Fresh lemon juice
Fresh muddled ginger
Mint Sprig garnish

“An Ernest Intent”
Created by Mayur Subbarao, Bittermens Spirits and Arik Torren, Fidencio Mezcal

.75 Fidencio Sin Humo
.75 Fidencio Clásico
.75 lime
.75 Bittermens Citron Sauvage
10 drops orange citrate
10 drops Boston Bittahs
.5 oz simple

For more information about these high-end boutique spirits, please visit:

• Brooklyn Gin: http://www.brooklyngin.com/
• Fidencio Mezcal: http://www.fidenciomezcal.com/
• Bittermens Spirits: http://bittermens.com/

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I love sharing details about upcoming tasty trips and adventures, so you won’t want to miss a bite. As always, please feel free to chat with me on Twitter, join our group on Facebook and keep up with new posts here by subscribing. Request an invite to future Midnight Brunch events here.

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Midnight Brunch: Mexico Edition got everyone on the dance floor on Cinco de Mayo Eve. This event was produced in partnership with Tafari Travel and Mexico Tourism, and ticketing was handled by the fine folks at UrbanDaddy.

Mad you missed it? Request an invitation by filling out this form. We welcomed 50 guests for a celebration of the cuisine of Mexico’s Puebla region. Mr. Hal Wolin shook up hundreds of cocktails with help from guest bartender Pamela Wiznitzer. In the kitchen, we drew our inspiration from guest chef Roberto Santibanez of NYC’s Fonda restaurants. Santibanez not only helped me create the menu, he also provided delicious guacamole, salsa, fresh tortillas and, MOST IMPORTANTLY, he provided us with the traditional mole negra sauce for our  main course.

Our sponsor, Tafari Travel, went above and beyond to make this event authentic and so special for our guests. They even somehow got us access to mole from Puebla in Mexico – every guest took home a sachet of mole! Tafari was also responsible for the bangin’ venue and are even giving away a trip to Mexico in the fall (similar to this trip, which you can customize and book yourself)!

Here’s Leah Smith, President of Tafari Travel, sharing about the rich culinary history of Mexico with our guests.

The event took place in one of the coolest lofts we’ve ever seen. Deep, comfy couches, a full bar and a pool table were just some of the features in this slick private space in NoHo. As the bartenders served up drinks with Fidencio Mezcal,  Milagro Tequila and Kahlua, servers passed around plates laden with spinach and mushroom quesadillas with a poblano dipping sauce.

We got the party started with a cool, creamy starter of cucumber-avocado soup garnished with plain yogurt, pico de gallo and parsley. It was a love/hate dish that drew raves from people who “never like soup” and “mehs” from others. Not to worry: Everyone was wowed by the main course of local Mangalitsa pork (a heritage breed that is as juicy and fat-marbled as beef) from Mosefund Farm, accompanied by red rice and black beans, and garnished with the mole sauce from Chef Santibanez. We had a number of vegetarians with us that evening, and they were treated to a spicy take on chiles relleno, stuffed with spinach and mushrooms.

For dessert, we visited the Tres Leches cake from Midnight Brunch: NYC Neighborhoods edition (#2) but this time, we added a twist suggested by Chef Santibanez: We garnished our cake with tequila-spiked whipped cream and topped it off with a little citrus zest.

Near the end of the night, our sponsors arranged a special surprise. A Mariachi band showed up at 2 a.m., as guests were finishing their desserts!

Check out the full menu from the meal, including the cocktail list here. Enjoy a few highlights from the evening below. All photos by Donny Tsang.

Check out the rest of the photos from Midnight Brunch: Mexico Edition here.

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I love sharing details about upcoming tasty trips and adventures, so you won’t want to miss a bite. As always, please feel free to chat with me on Twitter, join our group on Facebook and keep up with new posts here by subscribing. Request an invite to future Midnight Brunch events here.

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Cinco de Mayo is this weekend! Not only that, but it’s the 150th Anniversary of this “holiday” that we Americans love to make a big deal out of.

As you know, I’m celebrating by throwing a big party on Cinco de Mayo Eve. I’m celebrating the actual day at a friend’s birthday party in Queens, complete with some of the Best Mexican Food in NYC from Tortilleria Nixtamal.

If you don’t know what your plans are yet, why not throw a party for a few friends? It’s not too late, nor does it have to cost a fortune. I put together some ideas for you using recipes and cocktail inspiration from this coming Friday night’s Midnight Brunch. I even threw in some inexpensive decor recommendations.

Click the image to see the Midnight Brunch: Cinco de Mayo inspiration board on Pinterest. Olé!

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I love sharing details about upcoming tasty trips and adventures, so you won’t want to miss a bite. As always, please feel free to chat with me on Twitter, join our group on Facebook and keep up with new posts here by subscribing. Request an invite to future Midnight Brunch events here.

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For those of you who aren’t on the Midnight Brunch mailing list, below is a little announcement that went out to our mailing list today. For anyone who can’t make it to the event who would like to enter the chance to win a spot on the Mexico trip in June, no purchase is necessary. Please fill out this form by 11:59 pm on May 3, 2012: http://bit.ly/IPOE7E

Click through to see today’s announcement.

BREAKING NEWS: One lucky guest on May 4 will win a spot on a June trip to Mexico curated by our sponsor, Tafari Travel (Value: $2K). Buy your Midnight Brunch tickets today for a chance to win! Get Midnight Brunch: Mexico Edition Tickets Now! *Please note: You must visit the UrbanDaddy link above from a computer to purchase tickets. You cannot purchase your tickets via a mobile device. (Sad panda.) Midnight Brunch: Mexico Edition Event Date: May 4, 2012 Location: NoHo, Manhattan, NYC Celebrating Cinco de Mayo Eve with Tafari Travel and Mexico Tourism Board  We’re pleased to announce our cocktail and beer offerings. Please see below for the full, updated menu. Tell Your Friends! Tweet this event: Get your tix for @MidnightBrunch NYC May 4. (Psst: One guest will win a trip to Mexico.) Details > http://bit.ly/mbcinco Share on Facebook: NYC: Get your tix for @MidnightBrunch: Mexico Edition on @urbandaddy. One guest will win a spot on a trip to Mexico. Tix: http://bit.ly/mbcinco   *** Midnight Brunch cocktail hour & supper club is bringing the HOTNESS on Friday, May 4 at 11 p.m. This event will take place in a super sexy undisclosed location in NoHo, Manhattan (NYC). TICKETS ARE AVAILABLE EXCLUSIVELY THROUGH URBANDADDY FOR MAY’S EVENT. *** Midnight Brunch Menu Cocktails Served All Evening Tafari Tippler Milagro Reposado Tequila Cointreau Benedictine The Bitter Truth Creole Bitters Lemon Twist *** Earth and Fire Fidencio Classico Mezcal Carpano Antica Sweet Vermouth Cardamaro Amaro Bittermens Hellfire Bitters Orange Twist *** Sol Nocturno (Nighttime Sun) Kahlua Solerno Blood Orange Liqueur Punt E Mes Aphrodite Bitters Orange Twist Beer Served All Evening Dos Equis Lager Dos Equis Ambar Cocktail Hour Appetizers – 11pm-12am Fresh Guacamole served in Molcajetes Traditional Salsas Fresh Corn Tortilla Chips Mushroom and Cheese Quesadillas with Epazote, Serrano and Jalapeño and Chili Dipping Sauce Midnight Brunch – 12am – 2am First Course Cucumber-Avocado Soup garnished with Jalapeño and Pico de Gallo  Main Course Pan-seared Mosefund Mangalitsa Pork Tenderloins with Mole Negra OR Vegetarian/Gluten-Free Main Course: Mushroom- and Spinach-Stuffed Chili Relleno Sides Dishes Red Rice Black Beans Fresh, Warm Tortillas Dessert Tres Leches Cake garnished with Fresh Citrus Zest and Milagro Tequila Whipped Cream *** This event will begin at 11:00 PM and conclude at approximately 2:00 AM. Guests must be 21+. BUY TICKETS HERE (visit from a computer, cannot purchase via mobile device): http://perks.urbandaddy.com/national/midnight-brunch.html IMPORTANT: After purchasing your ticket, please email perks_support@urbandaddy.com with any dietary restrictions or allergies. Cocktails Created for Midnight Brunch: Wild Card Edition by Hal Wolin Menu Created for Midnight Brunch in collaboration with Guest Chef Roberto Santibañez of Fonda Restaurants    SPONSORS Tafari offers you a DIY travel planning alternative that is professionally managed by a destination or special interest specialist. We allow you to control the planning process but we eliminate the “hit or miss” factor and the occasional reservation hiccup. All your travel-planning resources are located on one centralized location for your convenience and DIY travel planning needs. This is where you can browse and build one of the most unique and personalized trips of your life. Everything you see has been hand-picked by our founders, who have a combined total of 50+ years experience in professional travel planning. We filter your travel options based on your “IPA number,” our way of match making travelers with the most compatible travel experiences. Our goal is to guide you in determining how immersive of an experience you are comfortable with, how independent you want your travels to be, and how dirty you want to get.  **** BUY TICKETS HERE: http://perks.urbandaddy.com/national/midnight-brunch.html For More Info About Midnight Brunch, please visit MidnightBrunch.com.     OTHER MIDNIGHT BRUNCH PROJECTS Midnight Brunch’s founder Emily Cavalier also consults with niche brands on their event and digital strategy. She consults  on everything from content strategy and marketing to event production. Upcoming projects include: Jack From Brooklyn Product Launch at Manhattan Cocktail Classic Emily’s client Jack From Brooklyn will be launching their first artisanal spirit, Sorel, at MCC. On May 14, they’re welcoming members of the trade to join them for “Brooklyn Day” at the Industry Invitational at the Andaz Hotel. The event will feature five Sorel craft cocktails at the bar as well as food some of Brooklyn’s finest specialty food creators. dd:Impact Update: This event is almost SOLD OUT! Emily and her client, Digital DUMBO are proud to announce digital-meets-lifestyle conference: dd:IMPACT. The conference, taking place in Brooklyn on May 31, will be a half-day exploration of how digital has disrupted, evolved, progressed, and impacted key areas of lifestyle – music, food, fashion, and design. Join us to hear from leaders like foursquare, Refinery29, Eater, Warby Parker, Foodspotting, Etsy, HypeMachine, Svpply, and more. Learn about it here.  Want your own private Midnight Brunch or need expert help with a consumer-facing event like our clients above? We do that, too. Just respond to this e-mail, and we’ll start the conversation. Emily Cavalier emily@mouthoftheborder.com 646.657.8276 @MidnightBrunch @ECava Facebook     Catching Up: April 2012 Midnight Brunch in the Press NBC New York First Look: For the Adventurous Bruncher: Alternative Midday Meals – 4.12.12 Eater NY: “A Guide to the Private Clubs and Restaurants of NYC” – 2.10.12 The Daily Meal: Midnight Brunch is one “of the chicest and most coveted underground dinners around the world” – 1.9.12          follow on Twitter | friend on Facebook | forward to a friend Subscribe to our newsletter

It’s with great pleasure that I announce the May 4 Midnight Brunch event! We’ll be celebrating the eve of the 150th Anniversary of Cinco de Mayo in a super sexy private NoHo space while taking you on a tasty trip down Mexico’s mole route. Of course, the night wouldn’t be complete without some tequila and mezcal cocktails as well as a sweet tipple featuring Kahlua.

I’ve long been obsessed with Mexico and its culinary culture. While most people think of Coronas, salsa, tacos and mariachi bands … there is so much more to this beautiful country and its cuisine. I’m talking moles (the earthy, spice-laden and often chocolate-based savory sauces made differently in every region), indigenous chilis, mushrooms and huitalacoche. Pork (in every iteration) and gorgeous fresh seafood along its coastal regions. The birthplace of tequila and mezcal, Mexico is a heaven for cocktail and food lovers alike. Check out my personal pictures from my last trip to the Quintana Roo region (Mexican Caribbean).

I’m even more excited to be presenting this edition of Midnight Brunch in partnership with Tafari Travel — THE people work with when it comes to custom culinary travel — and the Mexico Tourism Board. The ticketing is being handled by our friends at UrbanDaddy. We put the menu together in collaboration with Fonda Restaurants (their second location just opened in the LES in February).

And now, the juicy details ….

Midnight Brunch cocktail hour & supper club is bringing the HOTNESS on Friday, May 4 at 11 p.m.. We’re cooking up a Mexican feast in collaboration with Tafari Travel and Mexico Tourism Board, and it’s sure to be a night you’ll never forget.

PRODUCT SPONSORS

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We always share the most popular recipes from Midnight Brunch so that our guests can recreate at least part of the experience for their friends. We also hope that folks who weren’t able to make it out to the event can get a little taste of what it was life. If you missed it, here’s the photo recap.

We surveyed the clean plates and the happy faces to determine the winning bites of the night and here’s what won: Mini Cheese Breads (Pao de Queijo) and our one-two hit of desserts (Coconut Flan AKA Quindin with Passionfruit Mousse and Fresh Whipped Cream). You can check out the full menu here.

Here are the recipes …

We went with the Pao de Queijos for an appetizer because they’re a ubiquitous street food during Brazilian Carnaval and we wanted something on the carby side to offset all those Caipirinhas our guests were washing down during cocktail hour. Due to the tapioca flour, they are gluten-free (yay!) and taste/feel like a chewy cheese puff.

Pao de Queijo (Cheese Breads)

Caption: Guests digging into a platter of pao de queijo and hot sauce at Midnight Brunch

Click here for the closest recipe to what we used. We used a mix of cheddar and mozzarella for this event, but we’d definitely try a creamier cheese like farmer’s cheese or even queso fresco.

Desserts! Quindin (Coconut Flan) with Passionfruit Mousse

Ooops! Flickr is not giving us our photo to embed. Check it out here.

Caption: Plating sunny yellow coconut flan with staff

The second favorite dishes were the dessert duo of coconut flan and passionfruit mousse. The flan are a labor of love due to the fact that you need to chill the finished flans for a few hours before serving. Here’s a really easy recipe for how I made the flans.

The mousse can be made a few different ways and, of course, I chose the hard way. This may not be a realistic dish for serving at home on a whim, but with some planning it’s definitely a dessert that’s worth it! Here’s the easy version of the mousse. If you can’t find frozen passionfruit puree, you can do what I did and buy passionfruit juice (order online here) and reduce it until you have about a cup (for 8-10 servings of mousse) of passionfruit juice reduction.

All in all, we had a festive fiesta and can’t wait to do it again. Don’t forget to pass along the link to join our mailing list to your most discerning friends … we love welcoming new guests into the fold.

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I love sharing details about upcoming tasty trips and adventures, so you won’t want to miss a bite. As always, please feel free to chat with me on Twitter, join our group on Facebook and keep up with new posts here by subscribing. Request an invite to future Midnight Brunch events here.

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Midnight Brunch: Brazilian Carnaval Edition made a splash in Manhattan last weekend. We’re getting a little ambitious in 2012, doing two Midnight Brunches in the space of a month but  this isn’t even the craziest thing on the agenda this year! This event was produced in partnership with Google Places NYC as a reward for their most loyal users.

Mad you missed it? Request an invitation by filling out this form. We welcomed over 30 guests for a South American-inspired feast. Mr. Hal Wolin shook up hundreds of Caipirinhas (Brazil’s national cocktail), made with Leblon Cachaca. In the kitchen, we had help prepping and plating from our fantastic volunteer staff (including three former MB guests).

The event took place in a spacious, low-lit loft right next to the Empire State Building in midtown Manhattan. As the fog rolled in that night, we rolled out the welcome mat and dishes us a menu tied together with with garlic, onions, greens and TONS of delicious pork and indulgent amounts of carbs.

We enjoyed small bites during cocktail hour, with chicken salad hand pies and Pao de Queijo (Mini Cheese Breads). The chicken salad hand pies were an accidental victory: the chicken salad was originally destined for the inside of some Coxinha (Chicken Croquettes) but in the end, the mixture of the day’s humidity and the croquette dough didn’t work out.

We flipped the script on the rainy weather outside with a heart and tummy-warming seated meal: Brazilian rice (slow-simmered in olive oil with onions and tomatoes), collard greens sauteed with garlic and hearts of palm salad. The crowning glory to the whole plate was Feijoada, a seriously smoky slow-cooked black bean stew made with local Mangalitsa pork (a heritage breed that is as juicy and fat-marbled as beef) from Mosefund Farm.

Learning experience: We heard from our crew that the stew was too smoky or too fatty for some, but we were happy that we saw mostly clean plates coming back to the kitchen (we’ll chill out on the beef jerky and smoked bacon next time around!).

We did two small bites for dessert, but they wound up being the biggest crowd pleasers: We served up mini coconut flans (called Quindin) and topped it off with an intensely flavorful passionfruit mousse and homemade whipped cream.

Check out the full menu from the meal, including the cocktail list here. Enjoy a few highlights from the evening below. All photos by Clay Williams.

Impossible to get a shot of a full plate of these … the Pao de Queijo were flying into folks mouths (slowed only by the addition of our infernally spicy hot sauce)

Accidental Chicken Hand Pies

Menu for the evening

Hal shakes and pours boozy Caipirinhas

We’re always happy to see our guests dressing for the occassion!

Brazilian Rice with Feijoada and Collard Greens, getting topped off with some cilantro

Esther Brown of Google Places welcomes guests to the event

Hearts of Palm Salad with Chickpeas and Olives

Midnight Brunch Founder Emily Cavalier (that’s me!) Chatting with Guests about the Menu

Hal chatting with a guest about cachaca and Caipirinhas

Plating coconut flans for dessert

Whether it’s the food or the cocktails, guests always have something to smile about by the end of the night!

Our amazing view from the loft

Check out the rest of the photos from Midnight Brunch: Brazilian Carnaval Edition here. Want more? Get the most popular recipes from this edition of Midnight Brunch here.

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I love sharing details about upcoming tasty trips and adventures, so you won’t want to miss a bite. As always, please feel free to chat with me on Twitter, join our group on Facebook and keep up with new posts here by subscribing. Request an invite to future Midnight Brunch events here.

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Sometimes you eat something and then you can’t get it out of your head. The flavors crash onto your tongue like a monsoon, washing away your resolve to be reasonable. The perfect bite reduces you to a weakling, a mess. Words don’t make sentences, you close your eyes in an attempt to taste harder. You may as well be falling in love.

This is how I feel about the cold rice noodles at Yun Nan Flavour Snack.

I found love in a hopeless place finally discovered Yun Nan when I went on a day-long eating spree last October in Brooklyn’s Sunset Park neighborhood with my friend Clay Hebert and new friends Tera and Wes, who were filming us as we visited close to 10 restaurants (more on our field trip and a list of places we visited here). Sunset Park is a true jewel for ethnic food lovers with all of its Chinese and Mexican homestyle restaurants, but Yun Nan definitely delivered my favorite bite of the day.

To really understand the glory that is Yun Nan Flavour Snack, I need to put you in my mouth. Watch the video below. (If it’s not showing up for you, watch here: http://youtu.be/umtp_Dl5QJE)

I’ll share more stories from this eating spree as well as more video thanks to Tera and Wes. By the way, they were total champs that day. I had them eating weird food all day and then dragged them into a bowling alley bar for a cocktail after they had already put up with me for five hours. Can we just talk about how wonderful they are in their artistry? I edited the above video, but they shot it and it was such a joy to spend the day with them.

That there is Wes, enjoying his first goat taco in life.

And here is the gorgeous Tera, trying the cold rice noodles (once she pried them out of my greedy hands).

Hope y’all had a great holiday weekend. Mine involved a gumbo party (happy Mardi Gras!) and a four-hour lunch with many platters of meats at Kebab Cafe in Astoria, Queens. Don’t worry, you’ll be hearing about that fo’ sho.

P.S. Don’t forget to enter to win a seat at Midnight Brunch – Carnaval Edition! March 2nd. Details here.

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I love sharing details about upcoming tasty trips and adventures, so you won’t want to miss a bite. As always, please feel free to chat with me on Twitter, join our group on Facebook and keep up with new posts here by subscribing.

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Review to Win a Seat at Midnight Brunch’s Brazilian Carnaval!

Photo by Prefeitura de Olinda on Flickr

You’ve heard the buzz about Midnight Brunch. You may have tried (and failed) to snatch up a seat before this exclusive event has sold out. Well, we aim to delight, so we’re teaming up with Google New York to give you a reward just for sharing your opinions on Google Places, Google’s personalized local recommendation engine.

We’d like to give you the opportunity to win a ticket to our next extra-saucy, Brazilian-themed Midnight Brunch, where we’ll be bringing Carnaval to New York City.

UPDATE: Check out the photo update from this event, along with the most popular recipes here.

We’ll sip Caipirinhas and enjoy bites like Chicken Croquettes and Pao de Queijo (Mini Cheese Breads). For the main meal, we’ll sit down to Brazilian-style Rice, Feijoada (slow-cooked black bean stew with a “Carnaval” of smoked meats), a Hearts of Palm salad and collard greens, Brazilian-style. For dessert, we’ll savor passionfruit mousse with fresh whipped cream and Quindin (Brazilian-style coconut flan).

The Prize: Up to 30 winners will get a ticket to our Midnight Brunch: Carnaval Edition, which will begin at 11 p.m. on Friday, March 2nd and end at  2 a.m. on Saturday, March 3rd.

How It Works:

1. Register here by February 27th.
2. Review!Go to google.com/places to begin reviewing the New York City places you’ve visited. Each new review will be judged as a new entry in the contest, so the more quality reviews you write, the better your odds of winning a ticket to Midnight Brunch. We’re looking for well-written reviews that express originality, honesty and unique view points.
3. Whet your appetite.

Starting on February 28th, we’ll pick our winners based on who wrote the best-quality reviews.

Note:  You must be 21 years of age and a resident of New York City to be eligible. To read the full official rules and for more details about what we’re looking for in a quality review, click here.

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To find out where the Google Places crew will be next, follow them @GoogleNYC on Twitter and on Facebook. Follow Midnight Brunch on Twitter at @MidnightBrunch.

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You may have missed Mouth of the Border’s most recent Midnight Brunch on 1/21/12. We had a gluten-free Thai Feast with a poker night/wild card theme. Here’s the photo recap.

We know not everyone can keep their peepers open ’til midnight to join us so, as usual, we want to share the crowd favorites from the menu so you can play along at home. The crowd voted with their mouths and their picks were definitely the fried, pork-stuffed shrimp and the desserts; our bananas poached in coconut milk and vanilla beans, served over coconut milk custard. You can check out the full menu here.

These dishes would be delicious any time of year but would be the most fun to make when you’re serving them to a crowd!

The first recipe here is from The Original Thai Cookbook by Jennifer Brennan, which I used to plan the entire menu. I found out about the cookbook from Chrissy Teigen’s food blog. Yes, she’s a model and yes, her site is great. Most importantly for my purposes, though, she is half Thai and says her mom always cooked from this book when she was growing up.

These were so good, and we made SO many that I got to eat some during the event (I usually don’t get time to nibble at my own events, so this was a treat).

Fried Stuffed Prawns (Gung Tiparot):

Pork-stuffed Giant Shrimp, Dusted with Rice Flour and Delicately Fried

Ingredients
8 peppercorns, dry roasted and pounded or ground to powder
1 large clove garlic, chopped
1 tsp cilantro stems, chopped
1/4 cup ground pork
1 tbsp fish sauce (Nam Pla)
1 tsp granulated sugar
8 green prawns (15 count per pound),* cleaned, shelled and split down the back to remove the alimentary canal and allow for stuffing (can substitute shrimp)
4 tbsp canola or vegetable oil
3 tbsp rice flour
2 eggs, beaten
Sriracha, for serving

Yield: Four Servings

Instructions

1. In a mortar or using a food processor, pound or grind the peppercorns, garlic, cilantro stems, pork, fish sauce and sugar to an even paste.
2. Holding the prawn (or shrimp, whatever you’re using) open, taking care not to separate into half, spread the split with pork paste using the blade of a table knife (approximately 1 teaspoon per prawn).
3. Heat the oil in a wok to 375°F. for frying.
4. Dust the stuffed prawns with the rice flour.
5. Holding them by their tail, dip them in the eggs and quickly drop them into the hot lard.
6. Fry the prawns, turning as necessary, until crisp, about 5 minutes each.
7. Serve with Sriracha sauce for dipping.

Runner up for the crowd favorite were the “Nun Bananas” served with squares of coconut milk custard. I was excited about making the nun bananas because the book described it as a real down-home, family type dessert … the type of thing you’d make for your family and not as a display dish to impress others.

What I hadn’t counted on was that this dish would look so unimpressive. Most versions of the custard are topped with fried shallots (which sounds amazing for no reason other than its weirdness), but that shallot topping would serve a good purpose in covering up the weird color underneath.

My version didn’t call for shallots but I wouldn’t have used them anyway since I was already topping the dish with the poached bananes. Happily, the combination of the poached bananas, fresh vanilla beans and the custard was so creamy and flavorful won over our guests to the point where appearances didn’t matter. Make this one for people you love.

I’m going to link out to this version of Bananas in Coconut Milk (Kluay Buat Chee). It’s not the recipe I used, but it has some great pointers for people making it for the first time. The ingredients are in the lower right-hand corner. If you can’t find pandanus leaves, you can skip them or use jasmine essence.

If you want to make the custard, I’d suggest checking out the kind with the shallots … from my research it seems this is one of the country’s favorite parts of a beloved dessert.

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I love sharing details about upcoming tasty trips and adventures, so you won’t want to miss a bite. As always, please feel free to chat with me on Twitter, join our group on Facebook and keep up with new posts here by subscribing. Request an invite to future Midnight Brunch events here.

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