Food For Four

Cháo Gà – Chicken Congee

Posted on | May 12, 2010 | Asian, Recipes, Vietnamese | 1 Comment

Chao Ga - Chicken Congee

In our family congee is always eaten whenever a family member is feeling unwell. This simple delicious dish is very easy on the stomach which makes it a great dish to have when nurturing yourself back to health.

A hot bowl of congee is also very comforting dish for a cold winter’s day. I especially love dipping fried dough sticks into my congee.

During summer we also eat congee and it’s always served with a cold refreshing chicken cabbage salad. These two dishes have contrasting elements of hot and cold but they are perfect together.

Cháo Gà – Chicken Congee Recipe

Ingredients

10 shitake mushrooms (optional)
4 litres of chicken stock (I use chicken bones and water)
4 chicken drumsticks
1.5 cups of rice
1 teaspoon oil
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
4 cm piece of ginger, julienne
1 whole onion, skin removed
4 tablespoons fish sauce
3 tablespoons sugar
ground white pepper
1 cup coriander, sliced
1/2 cup spring onion, sliced
8 fried dough sticks

Method

Make the chicken stock if haven’t done so.

Soak the shitake mushrooms in water for at least 30 minutes. Then slice the mushrooms in 1cm thick.

In a large pot, add oil and fry garlic until fragrant. Add the chicken drumsticks and ginger and cook for a couple for about 2 minutes. Add the onion, mushroom and chicken stock. Bring the pot to a boil and reduce the heat to a gentle simmer. Let the chicken cook for 25 minutes or until chicken is cook, skimming off the impurities. Once cooked remove the chicken from the stock and let it cook. Shred the chicken into pieces.

In a saucepan, fry the rice over the low heat until fragrant. Bring the stock pot to boil and add the rice. Bring the pot to a simmer and cook for about 30 minutes, stirring regularly. If the congee is too thick add more hot stock or hot water. The congee will thicken up when cool. Taste test and add more seasoning according to taste. Add the shredded chicken pieces to the congee pot if not using to make a salad. Remove congee from heat.

Serve congee hot in bowls, add pepper and garnish with cilantro and spring onions. Serve with fried dough sticks.

Chicken Congee - Chao Ga

1 Comment

Cookbook Challenge Week 23: Pandan Chicken

Posted on | May 9, 2010 | Asian, Cookbook Challenge, Recipes, Thai | 1 Comment

Pandan Chicken

Cookbook Theme: Leaf

I love pandan in desserts, especially the use of fresh pandan leaves and juices which gives the dish a sweet and fragrant aroma.

This pandan chicken is my first ever pandan savoury dish. The mouth-watering picture of chicken pieces wrapped in fresh pandan leaves is simply irresistible. The recipe I used is a Thai inspired dish which has a curry marinade. I didn’t have the required ingredients on hand and decide to do a very light soy marinade. I followed the recipe and deep fried the pandan leaves wrapped chicken. I got a shock when my pandan leaves turned all brown in the hot oil. Some how I was expecting the pandan to retain some of it’s green colour (as shown in the book and other websites). None of the pandan sweet fragrant was there just the smell of the fried oil. But the fried chicken tasted great.

I tried baking the pandan chicken hoping that the pandan flavour will infuse into the chicken. I also want to maintain some of the green colour of the leaves and covered it with foil. As the chicken was baking in the oven you could really smell the sweet fragrant of the pandan leaves filled the air.

The baked chicken was very juicy and tender and it was infused with pandan flavours. I feel that in savoury dishes, the pandan flavours is overpowered by the marinade, whereas in desserts it enhances the flavour and taste of the dessert. Considering one long pandan leave was used in each chicken pieces I expected more pandan flavours from the chicken.

This pandan chicken was adapted from Zesty Southern Asian Treats cookbook. Since I didn’t really follow the recipe and I’m not going to make this again that I’m not going to put the recipe up. I will stick to pandan sweet dishes next time.

Pandan leaves chicken

1 Comment

Nem Nướng – Vietnamese Grilled Pork Skewers

Posted on | May 9, 2010 | Delicious Vietnam, Recipes, Vietnamese | 9 Comments

Nem Nướng

Nem nướng is one of my favourite Vietnamese dish and it is a dish we always serve at all our family gatherings. Nem nướng are tasty grilled pork skewers made out of finely ground pork and is deliciously seasoned with Vietnamese flavours. The meat has a nice and firm texture. Roasted rice powder (thín) is also added to give the meat a beautiful aroma and taste.

Nem nướng is a must for all barbeques. What I love about nem nướng is that it’s so versatile. These skewers can be eaten on its own, or serve with vermicelli noodles, or use as fillings in a Vietnamese baguette or wrap with rice paper. No matter which way you eat it, it’s absolutely delicious!

Bun Nem Nướng

Bún nem nướng – Vermicelli noodles with grilled pork skewers. Nem nướng served with cold vermicelli noodles, lots of fresh herbs, lettuce, bean sprout, cucumber, pickled carrots and fish sauce dipping sauce.

Bánh Mì Nem Nướng 1

Bánh mì nem nướng – Vietnamese baguette with grilled pork skewers. Nem nướng served with Vietnamese baguette, fresh herbs, lettuce, bean sprout, cucumber, pickled carrots, coriander and fish sauce dipping sauce (or chilli sauce).

Nem Nướng Cuốn

Nem nướng cuốn – Rice paper rolls with grilled pork skewers. Nem nướng wrapped with rice paper, fresh herbs, lettuce, cucumber and serve fish sauce dipping sauce (or hoisin dipping sauce).

Nem Nướng – Vietnamese Grilled Pork Skewers
Make about 20

Ingredients

1 kg mince pork (use the minced twice pork if possible)
4 cloves garlic, minced into fine paste (use mortar and pestle)
1 teaspoon baking powder
3 tablespoons water
4 tablespoons fish sauce
3 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon white pepper
2 tablespoons roasted rice powder
1 tablespoon oil
20 wooden skewers (soaked in water for 20 minutes)

Method

In a small bowl, add fish sauce, sugar and white pepper. Stir the mixture until sugar almost dissolved. Set aside.

In a large bowl, add the ground pork (ask your butcher to mince it twice if you can), add fish sauce mixture. Add garlic. Using your hands, knead the meat mixture until all the ingredients are combined.

In a small bowl, add the water and baking powder. Stir the mixture, it will foam up. Pour baking powder mixture into the pork mixture. Knead the meat mixture until all the ingredients are combined.

Add roasted rice powder to the mixture and knead the mixture until all it is well combined.

Cover the meat mixture and let it rest in the refrigerator for at least 2 hour.

Rub a very small amount of oil into the palm of your hands so that the meat does not stick to it. Form the sausage shape and put through the skewers. You can roll into balls if you like.

Heat up a grill or barbeque and cook. Turning the skewers over when they are golden brown.

Nem Nuong

This post is a contribution to Delicious Vietnam, a blogging event celebrating Vietnamese cuisine hosted by A food lover’s journey and Ravenous Couple.

9 Comments

The Cookbook Challenge Week 22: Prawn Ravioli with Sauce Vierge

Posted on | April 27, 2010 | Cookbook Challenge, Western | 4 Comments

Prawn ravioli with sauce vierge

Cookbook Challenge Theme: Red

I am way behind with the Cookbook Challenge. Each week rolls around too quickly and I have been too busy to give much thought to the Cookbook Challenge. I have half-heartedly attempted to complete week 22 theme of “red” by using a recipe with red tomatoes. I have omitted a couple of ingredients from this recipe simply because I didn’t have them and wanted to work with what I had. The ravioli is made by using wonton wrappers which was why I picked this recipe because I was making wonton soup that day. I did a simple prawn filling and omitted the chives and cream because I didn’t have these ingredients on hand. Sauce vierge is so simple and refreshing and it’s something I love to make to dress my pan-fried fish. I would have love try the sauce vierge with anchovy as it would add that extra saltiness to the dish but I didn’t have any. I have not made ravioli from scratch before but using wonton wrappers is a great idea as it is quick and simple.

prawn ravioli sauce vierge
Prawn Ravioli with Sauce Vierge
Delicious Quick Smart Cook by Valli Little

Ingredients

12 large prawns, peeled, deveined
1 eggwhite
1 tablespoon thickened cream
1 tablespoon finely chopped chives
32 wonton wrappers

Sauce vierge

90ml extra virgin olive oil
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
2 anchovy fillets, drained, chopped (optional)
2 vine-riped tomatoes, seeds removed, finely chopped
Juice of 1/2 lemon, plus wedges to serve
2 tablespoon chopped basil leaves
1 tablespoon chopped flat-leaf parsley

Method

For the sauce vierge, place the oil, garlic and anchovy in a saucepan over low heat and cook, stirring, for 1 minute or until the anchovy has melted. Add the tomato and cook for a further minute until warmed through. Remove from the heat, stir in the lemon juice and season. Set aside while you make the ravioli.

Place 8 prawns in a food procssor with he eggwhite, cream and chives. Season with salt and pepper, then pulse until combined. Quarter the remaining prawns.

Lay 16 wonton wrappers on the workbench. Place heaped teaspoon of the prawn mixture on each and top with a piece of prawn. Brush the edges of the wonton wrapper with water, then top with a second wrapper, pressing the edges to seal and pushing out as much air as possible.

Cook the ravioli in a large pan of boiling salted water, in batches if necessary, for 2 – 3 minutes until they rise to the surface. Remove with a slotted spoon and divide amount serving plates.

Meanwhile, return the sauce to low heat, add the herbs and stir to warm through gently.

Spoon the sauce vierge over the ravioli and serve with lemon wedges to squeeze.

prawn ravioli

4 Comments

Anzac Biscuits

Posted on | April 23, 2010 | Australian, Baking, Western | No Comments

Anzac Biscuits

On Sunday is Anzac Day. To commemorate this important day in Australian history, we baked a batch of these iconic Anzac biscuits.

Anzac Biscuits
Makes about 20

Ingredients

1 cup rolled oats
1 cup plain flour
3/4 cup desiccated coconut
1/2 cup caster sugar
125g butter
2 tablespoons golden syrup
1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1 tablespoon boling water

Method

Preheat oven to 160°C.

In a large bowl, combine oats, flour, sugar and coconut together.

In a small saucepan, melt syrup and butter together over low heat.

Mix soda with 1 tablespoon boiling water in a small bowl and add to melted butter and syrup. Remove from heat.

Pour the melted butter mixture to the dry ingredients and mix thoroughly.

Firmly packed tablespoons of the mixture into balls and place about 5cm apart on the trays. Using fingers or back of a fork to flatten the dough.

Bake for about 15 – 20 minutes, or until biscuits are golden brown.

Cool biscuits on tray or wire racks.

Biscuits will harden when cool.

anzac biscuits 2

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Gỏi Ngó Sen Tôm Thịt – Vietnamese Lotus Stem Salad with Prawns and Pork

Posted on | April 10, 2010 | Asian, Recipes, Vietnamese | 12 Comments

Lotus Stem Salad

Vietnamese salad is healthy, refreshing and has an explosion of flavours. A Vietnamese salad always makes an appearance at every of my family parties.

This delicious lotus stem salad is another version of a Vietnamese salad with prawns and pork I made previously. Using the lotus stem gives this salad an amazing crunch. This refreshing, vibrant and healthy salad is very simple to make. It has great combination of textures and flavours. What I also love about this salad is the use of Vietnamese herbs. It really adds another dimension to the dish.

Lotus Stem

This is picked lotus stem. I bought this from a Vietnamese grocery and it is sold by the kilo and it’s self-serve from a huge container. I have not tried the ones sold from the jars.

Goi Ngon Sen - Lotus Stem Salad

Gỏi Ngó Sen Tôm Thịt – Vietnamese Lotus Stem Salad with Prawns and Pork

Ingredients

400g lotus stem
400g prawns
100g pork neck
1/2 red onion, sliced thinly
1 carrot, julienned
1 teaspoon sugar
3 tablespoon white vinegar
pinch salt
handful of Vietnamese mint leaves (rau răm), coarsely chopped
handful of mint, coarsely chopped
fried shallot
roughly chopped peanuts
prawn crackers
fish sauce dipping sauce

Method

Prepare the fish sauce dipping sauce.

Softening and pickling the carrot is optional (I prefer mine with less crunch). In a small bowl, add vinegar, sugar and a pinch. Add the julienned carrot and mix well. Set aside.

Cook the pork neck and then slice thinly.

Cook the prawns and de-shell and de-veined (leave tail on prawns for presentation is optional).

Rinse the lotus stem. If lotus stem is not already cut in about 7cm in length then cut them. I prefer the lotus stem in thin strips, so slice the lotus stem 1/2 (or even 1/4) lengthways. Once the lotus stem are sliced, squeeze out the water from the lotus by using a muslin cloth.

Drain the vinegar mixture from the carrot by using a muslin cloth and squeeze out all the water.

In a large bowl, combine lotus root, red onion, carrot, mint leaves, prawns and pork. Give all the ingredients a gentle toss.

Turn out to a serving platter. Garnish with crushed peanuts and fried shallots. Pour some fish sauce dipping sauce onto the salad and serve with prawn crackers.

Lotus Stem Salad with Prawns and Pork

12 Comments

The Cookbook Challenge Week 21: Curry Puffs

Posted on | April 9, 2010 | Asian, Cookbook Challenge | 8 Comments

Curry Puffs

Theme: Thai

I was very excited about “Thai” being this week’s theme for the Cookbook Challenge, because I absolutely love Thai food. I love the unique sour, sweet and spicy nature of Thai food. I have a couple of Thai cookbooks and flicking through the pages of these books got me very excited and my mouth-water. All the dishes looked so good and I just wanted to cook all the dishes. If I had time I would of cooked Thai all week.

In the end I picked a very basic recipe for curry puffs. I was tossing between a recipe using ready-rolled puff pastry or another recipe making my own pastry. Laziness got the better of me and I went for puff pastry. Deep frying puff pastry was very oily and it becomes soft quickly. Also frying gave the curry puffs a blistery texture which wasn’t so pretty. If I was to use puff pastry next time I may try baking it instead of deep frying. I also think making the pastry with rice flour would yield a better result, which I may try from another book the next time. I also added water chestnut to the filling to give it that extra crunch.

Overall the curry puffs tasted great. Puff pastry makes great finger food. It’s also very delicious with the sweet chilli sauce.

Curry Puffs 1

Curry Puffs
Adpated from AWW – Beginners Thai
Makes 18

Ingredients

2 teaspoons peanut oil
2 teaspoons finely chopped coriander root
2 spring onions, chopped finely
2 clove garlic, crushed
1/2 cup water chest nut, finely chopped
200g beef / pork
1 teaspoon ground turmeric
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 tablespoon fish sauce
1 teaspoon sugar
3/4 cup mashed potato
2 sheets ready-rolled frozen puff pastry
1 egg, beaten lightly
vegetable oil, for deep frying
sweet chilli sauce for dipping

Method

Heat oil in work; stir-fry coriander root, onion, garlic and beef/pork until meat is changed in colour. Add tumeric, cumin and ground coriander; stir-fry until fragrant. Add fish sauce, simmer, uncovered, until mixture thickens. Add water chestnut. Taste test and add more seasoning according to taste. Stir in potato and set aside to cool.

Using a 7.5cm cutter, cut 9 rounds from each pastry sheet. Place 1 level tablespoon of the filling in centre of each round; brush around the edge lightly with egg. Fold pastry over to enclose filling, pressing edges together to seal.

Just before serving, heat oil in large saucepan; deep-fry curry puffs, in batches, until crisp and browned lightly. Drain on absorbent paper. Serve with sweet chilli sauce.

Curry Puffs 2

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