Category: vietnam

#Vietnamese inspired Stuffed Squid with spicy sauce #stuffedsquid

Vietnamese inspired braised stuffed squid with pork, noodle and prawn filling

I had some large frozen squid tubes so was googling around to see how to use them imaginatively.

Found inspiration in a range of Vietnamese stuffed squid recipes like this one Braised Stuffed Squid and Vietnamese Stuffed Calamari.

Didn’t have any dried mushrooms but did have frozen prawns so chopped them finely to add some texture to the stuffing.

Turned very well and made for an easy dinner. This dish would work well look great as part of a buffet spread as well. This recipe serves 2-3 served with rice but can be easily multiplied for larger groups.

Preparation time: 20 minutes Cooking time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:

2 large squid tubes or 4 smaller tubes
100g pork mince
4 small prawns shelled, deveined, diced finely
4 spring onions, finely diced and white and green parts kept seperately
2 cloves of garlic minced
20g cellophane/vermicelli noodles soaked in hot water until soft
2-3 red chillies finely chopped (deseed for less heat)
1 teaspoon white pepper
2 tablespoons fish sauce
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
2 ripe tomatoes diced
2 teaspoons grated palm sugar or 1 teaspoon brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons or so of roughly chopped fresh mint and coriander
1/2 fresh lime

Method:

1. Defrost frozen squid tubes and frozen prawns until completely thawed.

2. Soak noodles in bowl of hot water for 20 minutes or until softened. Drain. Cut into small pieces/short lengths.

3. Make pork stuffing, place minced pork in a seperate mixing bowl with ½ tsp salt and knead until smooth. Then garb small handfuls of the pork and slap or throw them against the sides of the bowl until tender and almost looks like a paste. Then add prawns, garlic, half the chopped chillies, half the chopped green part of the spring onions,1 teaspoon palm sugar or 1/2 teaspoon brown sugar, 1/2 teaspoon white pepper, noodles and combine well.

4. Stuff the squid tubes leaving some room at each end to allow mixture to expand. Make one or two small slits across the top of the squid tubes to allow air to escape. Secure ends with toothpicks and skewers.place in steamer over a pan of simmering water and cook for 15-20 minutes or until filling is firm and cooked and squid tubes are tender. (I steamed the leftover stuffing alongside the squid to not waste it)

5. Heat vegetable oil in frying pan, Then add tomatoes, rest of sugar, 1/2 teaspoon white pepper, white part of spring onions, rest of the chillies, fish sauce and stir fry. Cook, stirring, for 3-4 minutes or until tomatoes have softened. Remove the sauce from the pan to a seperate bowl.

6 Add squid to same frying pan without cleaning pan after removing the sauce. Cook, turning carefully, for 5 minutes or until squid is light golden amd covered in pan juices.

7. Slice squid into thickish rounds, spoon over remaining sauce from the bowl, garnish with chopped coriander and mint and a squeeze of lime juice. Serve with steamed rice or present on a platter on a bed of lettuce or watercress as part of a buffet or shared main.

November 27, 2021

Shanthini2 Comments

Vietnamese Beef Stir Fry with watercress

Inspired by Karen Martini’s recent recipe in the Sydney Morning Herald, I used ingredients I had at home to do a version of this simple but delicious stir fry.

Bit of chopping, marinating and grinding involved but worth it for the very tasty outcome.

Prep time: 1 hour Cooking time: 15 minutes
Ingredients:
500g rump steak, fat removed and cut into 1cm strips
1 bunch watercress
6 cloves garlic
4 red or green chillies sliced lengthwise into thin “batons”
1 small red or green capsicum sliced into 3cm long batons
1/4 bunch dill, thick stalks removed, chopped into 3cm lengths
1/2 bunch spring onions white and some green parts sliced into 3cm long batons
1 onion finely diced
2 tablespoons jasmine rice
2 tablespoons fish sauce
1.5 tablespoons oyster sauce
1 tablespoon dark soy
1 tablespoon soy sauce
3 teaspoons palm sugar
1.5 teaspoons roughly ground black pepper
1/3 cup vegetable oil
Juice of 1 lime

Method

1. Slice beef, place in bowl.

2. Finely dice 4 cloves of garlic, crush 2 cloves into paste, add garlic to beef.

3. Add pepper and 1 tablespoon of fish sauce to beef and set aside to marinate for at least half an hour.

4. Heat a small pan and add rice to pan to toast. Keep shaking pan to brown rice but make sure it doesn’t burn. Remove from heat and allow to cool.

5. Prepare fresh ingredients. Trim and clean watercress, dice onions, cut capsicum, spring onions, dill, and chillies. Scatter watercress on a large serving platter and set aside.

6. grind rice to a rough powder in a mortar and pestle.

7. Mix palm sugar, 1 tablespoon fish sauce, oyster sauce, soy sauce, dark soy sauce and mix to combine and dissolve palm sugar in a amsl bowl and set aside.

8.Heat the oil in a wok on high for 4 minutes until smoking.

9. Carefully add beef to wok and spread so as much of beef surface on one side is in contact with wok. Reduce heat slightly but leave beef undisturbed for 2 minutes.

10. Stir beef to expose other side to wok, add capsicum, diced onion and chilli and cook for 3 minutes or so until onion softens.

11.Add spring onion, dill and the sauces mixture. Mix through and cook for a minute or so until sauce has heated up.

12. Tip beef over watercress. Pour lime juice over the beef, then sprinkle roasted rice powder over beef and serve with jasmine rice.

September 26, 2021September 26, 2021

ShanthiniLeave a comment

#Vietnamese #cabbage roll #soup with fish balls

I learnt how to make this soup at the fabulous cooking class in Hoi An Mrs Vy’s Cooking Class (my review).

This is my version which features a prawn and carrot filling, fish balls and puffed tofu.

It is a light but filling meal and very healthy.

Prep time: 25 minutes Cooking time: 15 minutes

Ingredients
10-12 green prawns shelled, I used frozen prawns
1 carrot (3/4 grated and the rest cut into thin discs)
3 cloves garlic
2 red chillies
1 stick lemongrass
1/4 bunch of coriander
2 tablespoons fish suace
1/2 savoy cabbage
1/2 bunch of spring onions
10 Pre-made small vietnamese fish balls – available in most Asian supermarkets.
fried tofu puffs
2 litres chicken stock (homemade if you have)

Method:

1. Cut the core of the cabbage out being careful not to break leaves.

2. Carefully “peel” the cabbage leaves off one by one keeping them as intact as possible. Trim the leaves, removing the tough stalk and so the leaves are of as equal size as you can. Save the trimmings for your broth.

3. Bring a pot of water to boil and then submerge the cabbage leaves in the water, bringing the water off the boil so the leaves gently simmer until soft but still intact. Remove the leaves with a slotted spoon and douse the leaves in iced water, then allow to drain.

4. Cut the spring onions just above the white part, and then put the left over green stalks intact into the cabbage boiling water until they soften. Drain and allow to cool.

5. Chop up the prawns finely.

6. Mash up the garlic, white part of the lemongrass (about 2 teaspoons worth), chillies and some of the coriander leaves in a mortar and pestle to a fine paste. I add a bit of salt to help this process. You can whizz in a small blender if you like.

7. Finely grate 3/4 of the carrot. Thinly slice the leftover white part of the spring onions.

8. in a bowl mix the prawns, garlic chilli paste and 1 tbspoons of fish sauce — mix vigorously – I use gloves – to mush together the prawns and the paste, then add sliced spring onions, grated carrot judging the quantity to have about 2/3 carrot to prawn in the mixture.

9. Add the leftover lemongrass, coriander stalks, leftover grated carrot, cabbage trimmings to the chicken stock and bring to the boil, then simmer for 10-15 minutes while you make the cabbage rolls. This adds sweetness and nutrients from your leftover vegees into the stock.

10. Dollop a teaspoon or two of prawn mixture on a cabbage leaf and , bring in the edges first, then roll to close into a secure neat parcel using the green spring onion stalks to tie them together.

11. Strain the chicken stock and put back into the pot, bring to a simmer again, add the other tablespoon of fish sauce, then add carrot discs and cabbage rolls, simmer for 5 minutes, then add fish balls, simmer for another 5-8 minutes and then finally add tofu puffs, additional coriander leaves to garnish, Taste the broth to see if additional salt is needed.

12. Serve in soup bowls and add fresh chopped chilli to spice it up if you like.

January 25, 2020June 20, 2022

ShanthiniLeave a comment

Luke Nguyen inspired Split King Prawns

A few years ago I was gifted Luke Nguyen’s France cookbook which has some great cross-cultural French and Vietnamese recipes in it.

My version of this recipe is easy and great for entertaining if you do the prep beforehand as it just requires quick shallow frying at the end,

Splitting and flattening the king prawns before marinating them allows the flavours of the marinade to be absorbed by the prawns.

The addition of fish sauce to the marinade brings out the “prawnness” in the prawns when they are cooked, and using butter as well as oil to fry them in makes them super tasty.

In my simpler version, I don’t have some of the “fancier” ingredients such as kaffir lime leaves and perilla leaves which are a bit harder to get hold of. I substitute parsley or coriander to garnish, and add lime juice at the end. I also don’t bother to make the suggested vietnamese dipping sauce which is made from more fish sauce and lime juice as the juices from the pan are great with the extra lime juice added at the end.

Hope you like it!

Prep time including marination: 50-60 minutes Cooking time: 5 minutes
Ingredients:

1 kg green/raw king prawns
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons butter
1 lemongrass white part only finely chopped
4 cloves of garlic finely chopped
2-3 red chillies chopped
3 tablespoons fish sauce
Juice of 1 lime
Parsley or coriander to garnish

Method:

1. Remove heads and veins from prawns but leave shells on. Split prawns down their backs using a sharp knife but make sure you don’t cut all the way through. You want to butterfly them so they can be flattened in their shells.

2. Put prawns flat with shell side up in a dish or tray and place baking paper over them and weigh them down to flatten. Leave in the fridge for 20-30 minutes.

3. Meanwhile make the marinade by crushing the lemongrass, garlic and chilli to a paste in a mortar and pestle or blender.

4. Combine paste with fish sauce and then coat both sides of the prawns in the mixture and leave to marinate for 20-30 minutes. (The prawns might close up a bit again when you do this.)

5. Heat oil and butter in a non-stick pan and add prawns cut side down first to cook over high heat, for 1-2 minutes pressing them down with a spoon or spatula to flatten them. Turn over and “scorch” the shells.

6. Squeeze over lime juice, transfer to serving dish with pan juices, sprinkle with garnish and serve with a salad and bread to mop up the delicious juices.

February 2, 2019

ShanthiniLeave a comment

Vying for the best: Ms Vy’s #Cooking Class, #Hoian

I’ve been meaning to write about our fabulous market tour and cooking class that we did on our visit to Hoi An late last year.

There are a wide number of cooking classes and tours offered in Hoi An and we chose Ms Vy’s for it’s reputation and ease of access…it was walking distance from our hotel, the Anantara Resort. We chose the half day Holiday Masterclass which includes a market tour as well as tastings and demonstrations in Ms Vy’s market restaurant before the class.

Ms Vy is also the founder of the well known Morning Glory restaurants in Hoi An and has written the highly successful Taste Vietnam cookbook, as well as opening the Home of Hoi An restaurant in Melbourne, Australia.

We met up with the group of about 20 tourists at the restaurant to then board a boat for a trip down the river to the Hoi An market. We were split into 2 smaller groups for the market tour.

Here we were shown and explained the different seafood, vegetables, herbs, meat, poultry and even cooking utensils on sale. Whilst we had actually walked through the market earlier on our way to the restaurant, having a knowledgeable guide to introduce us to stall holders and their produce was great. We even got to taste the different herbs on sale and visit the butchery section which is a far cry from what we are used to in Australia! (mind you, it was all super clean and super fresh)It was great for photos and videos took s we were with the guide at stalls that had been pre-arranged to visit rather than feeling self-conscious about taking photos without permission.

We then returned to the restaurant where we cooled down with an icy cold drink, before being given a tour around the market restaurant “stalls” which showcase how different noodles are made, unusual ingredients such as tripe, pigs brain, snails, silkworms and frogs are used in Vietnamese cooking. We had the chance to sample these delicacies if we wanted and also to get hands-on having a go at making noodles. This was a fun and different aspect of the cooking class not offered by others.

After this we were taken upstairs to a very well set up cooking school, where we were given our own cooking stoves, equipment and ingredients to learn how to make cabbage and shrimp roll soup, ban Xeo pancakes, green mango salad and green mango salad.

The large mirror over the main stove at the front of the class meant we could all follow the demonstration by the Chef teacher, and her clear instructions and her jokes made the class lots of fun.

Our favourite was learning how to make the delicious Ban Xeo pancakes, including the tip to just buy the packet mix at home from Asian grocery shops to meal it really easy to make at home.

The experienced chef teaching us was excellent and of course we got to enjoy our efforts by eating it all.

We were given the recipes and a special Vietnamese chopping utensil as a special gift.

The entire experience went for about 5 hours from 8.30-1.30pm and was very well run. Great way to learn a bit more about Vietnamese cuisine, as well as a great market tour.

Here’s a link to their website:

https://tastevietnam.asia/vietnamese-cooking-classes-hoi-an

January 14, 2019January 14, 2019

Shanthini1 Comment

Hoi An’s Miss Lien Thao tops street food stakes

We found numerous recommendations for Miss Lien Thao’s street food stall on Trip Advisor and online so headed out from Hoi An’s bustling old quarter, across the Japanese Covered Bridge to find out for ourselves.

The area across the bridge is known as An Hoi island and is where the night markets full more stalls selling cheap souvenirs, touristy bars and restaurants are located. We walked along the Hoai riverside which is all lit up with lanterns and light installations, away from the hustle and bustle to find a quieter row of street food stalls tucked at the end of the point.

Here locals and streetwise tourists were tucking in to delicious local food at local prices. Miss Lien Thao herself welcomed us warmly and we were immediately seated at the end of a long communal eating table, sharing with another Australian family who were already tucking in to delicious looking dishes.

The menu is enticing and we wanted to try local specialities…so ordered white rose dumplings, fried “open wontons”, beef noodles, stir fried chicken and sweet battered pork. Everything was absolutely delicious. Definitely a place to go back to.Our Australian neighbours said the whole fish was very good too.