Dinner Last Night: Bo La Lot

I've been trying to expand our dinner rotation to incorporate more meals that utilize the barbecue or stove rather than the oven with our warm temperatures.  While I've had the book, Nom Nom Paleo for a while now, I haven't made too many things from it.  However, these bo la lot (beef + bacon wrapped in leaves) were delish!  I attempted to get betel leaves to make this the traditional way.  The cookbook suggested most Asian grocery stores will carry them, but I had no luck at my local Uwajimaya.  I substituted with swiss chard leaves which did not roll as neatly as this picture above, but still tasted delicious.

And while I thought my kids would be skeptical consuming these rolls, they were all about it once I mentioned, "Oh yeah, there's bacon in there!"  Bacon for the win!

Bo La Lot adapted from Ready or Not! Nom Nom Paleo

Ingredients:

Rolls

1 lb ground beef

3 slices bacon, finely chopped

2 tsp. minced garlic

1 tbsp shallots, finely chopped

2 tsp. curry powder

2 tsp. fish sauce

1 tsp. freshly ground black pepper

1/2 tsp. kosher salt

1/2 tsp. arrowroot powder

10-15 fresh swiss chard leaves (betel leaves preferred if you can find them)

1 tbsp. avocado oil

Garnish

1/4 cup avocado oil

juice from 1 lime

Instructions:

1. In large bowl, combine beef, bacon, garlic, shallots, curry powder, fish sauce, pepper, salt, and arrowroot powder.

2. Mix well with hands.

3. Cut stems off of swiss chard leaves and pat dry.

4. Form a heaping tablespoon of meat mixture into a cylindrical shape.  Roll the top of the leaf over the meat filling, and continue rolling until you get to stem end.

5. Poke a hole in the roll with a toothpick and insert stem into hole to fasten. (Doesn't work as well with swiss chard leaves, but putting roll on skewer helped solve this problem).

6. Repeat steps 3-5 for each roll.  Skewer rolls on a metal skewer, leaving some space in between.

7. Brush 1 tablespoon of avocado oil over tops of rolls.

8. Cook on barbecue over medium heat for 10+ minutes.  Check rolls are done and serve.

image/loveurbelly