SERVES 6
Active: 35 min. • Total: 1 hr.
While Sandy Nguyen, an
activist and community
organizer in New Orleans, refers
to this dish as “sushi,” it’s closer
to a ceviche, but wrapped in
local herbs such as mint, sorel,
or purple shiso from community
gardens along the Gulf. Seek
out herbs with large leaves for
this purpose. Roasted rice pow-
der lends a subtle, nutty fl avor
to the lightly cooked shrimp,
and is available in Vietnamese
markets.Ice
3 lb. large shrimp, peeled
and deveined
¼ cup fresh lime juice
3 cups fresh, large herb
leaves such as mint,
shiso, or basil (or a
combination), divided
1 medium red onion
(12 oz.), halved and
thinly sliced
3 Tbsp. Vietnamese
roasted rice powder
(Thinh Viet Nam)
Soy sauce, for serving
Prepared wasabi paste, for
serving
1 Fill a large bowl with ice water,
and place it by the sink. Place a
large colander in the sink.2 Bring a large stockpot of
water to a full, rolling boil,
then turn off the heat and
immediately add the shrimp,
stirring with a slotted spoon.
Cook just until the shrimp
are curled but still semi-raw,
about 30 seconds. Strain, dis-
carding the cooking liquid.
Then transfer the shrimp to
the ice bath. Strain and refrig-
erate until well-chilled and
fi rmed, about 20 minutes.3 S tra in the shrimp a g a in,
removing any ice chips.
Return them to the large
bowl. Add the lime juice, and
toss well to coat, then set
aside to let the shrimp
pickle lightly in the juice,
2–3 minutes.4 Meanwhile, fi nely chop
1 cup of the mint or shiso
leaves, leaving the largest
leaves whole.5 Working in handfuls and
changing paper with each
batch, squeeze the shrimp
fi rmly in heav y- du t y pa per
towels to extract as much
liquid as possible.6 Tra nsfer the shrimp to a
clean serving bowl. Add
the onion, roasted rice
powder, and chopped mint
or shiso, and toss to com-
bine. Serve immediately, with
whole herb leaves on the
side for wrapping, and soy
sauce and wasabi for dip ping
as desired.VIETNAM to LOUISIANA
porates Buddhist ritua ls, as well as Cajun-inf lected
Vietnamese foods: sticky rice, whole roasted pigs,
and an abundance of shrimp and crayfish.
Chan makes her way to one of the skimmers, taking
a moment to light heavy red candles and say a silent
blessing. Sugar lights a fire in a teetering steel drum,
burning pieces of Buddhist joss paper, mea nt to bring
luck. They walk out on the dock together to give their
offerings over to the waters of the Gulf—Chan tosses
the eggs in as Sugar empties each bottle of Bud Light.
“The blessing is to bring luck for everyone,” Sugar tells
me, “for all the boats,” gesturing at guests arriving for
the feast. A pair of dockhands set a f leet of paper boats
out onto the water, which bob softly away.
the urgency of the blessing of the fleet is
punctuated by the shrimpers’ uniquely preca rious
situation: Plaquemines Parish is home to some of
Earth’s fastest-eroding land. The oft-cited statis-
tic is that Louisiana loses a football field’s worth of
land every 90 minutes—more than 20 acres a day.
It’s a situation partially driven by centuries of ero-
sion due to human interference, which is now being
exacerbated by climate change.
A delta should look like a bird’s foot, with swampy
frays that stretch for miles, and marshlands that
blur the line between land and sea. It exists in an ef-
fortless balance: A s land erodes into brackish water,
sediment-rich tributaries leave deposits that help to
form new land. But people need reliable, solid ground
to build on, and almost since their arrival in the 18th
century, settlers in New Orleans have tried to contain
the river, building levees to control f looding and pre-
vent new tributaries from forming. Paradoxically,
93VIETNAMESE
HERB-
WRA PPED
SHRIMP