Vietnamese Spring Roll (Gỏi cuốn)

In Vietnam there is a non-fried and refreshing spring roll known as "Gỏi cuốn" which include ingredients such as boiled or fried pork, shrimp, chicken, fresh herbs, lettuce, cucumber, rice vermicelli and etc. All the ingredients are all wrapped in moistened rice paper and eaten with a cold dipping sauce.

Here is my version of preparing this Vietnamese Spring Roll using cooked prawns, vegetables and fresh herbs.

Ingredients: (makes 6 rolls)

6 Sheets of Large Vietnamese Rice Paper
12 Medium Cooked Prawns, shell removed
1/2 Medium Carrot, peeled and julienned
1 Small Japanese Cucumber, peeled and julienned
24 Mint Leaves
Handful of Thai Basil Leaves
Some Lettuce Leaves, tear into small portion

Method:-

1. Fill a large dish or bowl with warm water, soak each sheet of rice paper for a second or two then transfer to a slightly damp cotton dish towel.

2. To assemble, arrange 2 cooked prawns, carrot, cucumber, lettuce, 2 mint leaves and some basil leaves at about 1/3 of the way from the edge nearest you.(refer to the photo above)

3. Roll from the edge nearest you and tuck in the sides as you go near to the other end. Carefully not to tear the wrapper with too much strength.

4. Serve whole or diagonally cut in half with dipping sauce.


There are a few ways to prepare this dipping sauce for the Vietnamese Spring Roll but here we love this version without minced garlic and instead I add in some chopped peanuts to enhance the flavour and texture.

Ingredients For Dipping Sauce:

2 Tablespoon Lime Juice
1 Tablespoon of Fish Sauce
60ml Hot Water
1 Teaspoon of Caster/Brown Sugar
1 Small Red Chili, seeds removed and slices
1 Small Green Chili, seeds removed and slices
1/2 Tablespoon of Chopped Peanut, optional

Method:-

1. Whisk together all ingredients until sugar is dissolved. Set aside.


Although this might seems a bit troublesome to prepare as it used many ingredients as an appetizer or salad but trying it can be worth for getting away with our usual food routine. For this you can use all kind of vegetables according to your preference and if you do not like the taste of raw herbs, you can omit them in this recipe too. Moreover eating this Vietnamese Spring Rolls can be lots of fun too as you can mix and match the ingredients, wrap it and enjoy a light and refreshing meal while chatting with group of friends around the table. 

Purple Wheat Noodles Salad

As we have late and heavy Lunch today, I decided to whip up something light, simple but vibrant in colour. So this is what we have for our Special weekend Dinner Menu. With my "new ingredient" that I managed to grab from one of the Supermarket, I can't wait to try out this "new products" from KOKA Noodles.

I was attracted to an advertisement on Friday, 23 Oct 2009 in the TODAY newspaper introducing on this new Purple Wheat Noodles from KOKA. I was immediately captured by the word "PURPLE WHEAT" and I am also curious about the actual colour and texture of the noodles. According to the advertisement, the promotion will last for a week which you can read more at this link HERE.

After grabbing a packet of this Purple Wheat Noodles which is 1 of the 3 packets left on the shelf. Rey and I starts to look around for other ingredients to prepare our Dinner. Since this noodle is purplish in colour, I decided to use it to make a Colourful Salad Noodles Dish. Rey suggests to grab a pack of cherry tomato and breakfast ham while I think some curl lettuce will do a great job to enhance the colour and add extra crunch.

Other than the salad ingredients, I also made some garlic oil to act as the salad dressing.

Ingredients For Garlic Oil:
50ml Of Olive Oil
4 - 5 Cloves Of Garlic

Method:
1. Preheat a small saucepan with drizzle of olive oil, then add in the garlic cloves and saute it till fragrant.
2. Pour in the remaining olive oil and saute the garlic till slight golden brown, dish up and set aside for later use.


Ingredient For Salad: (serves 2)
2 Individual Packet of Koka Purple Wheat Noodles
4 Slices of Breakfast Ham
2 Hard-boiled Egg, halves
8 Cherry Tomato, halves
50g Fresh/Frozen Corn Kernel, blanched
Some Salad Lettuce
2 Tablespoons Garlic Oil

Method:
1. Cook the eggs in a small saucepan under medium-low heat for about 4 - 6 minutes from the time the water boiled.
2. Removed from heat, rinse and peel off the shell then cut into halves and set aside.
3. Bring another pot of water to boil, cook the instant noodles according to the packet instruction, rinse with cool water and set aside. (rinse with cool water to stop the noodle from further cooking and also to make it taste spongy)
4. You can either blanched the Ham with boiling water or you can pan-fry it under low heat for about 30 second on each side with some Olive oil.
5. Next, drizzle 1 to 2 tablespoons of the garlic oil on the cooked noodles, toss it well with the blanched corn kernel and cut tomato.
6. To assemble the dish, place some lettuce on the plate, place the noodles mixture on it.
7. Top with ham, hard-boiled egg and you can drizzle some extra garlic oil and serve it warm.


So after seeing this Noodles Salad, do you have the urge to try making some for yourself? This is indeed a very healthy and nutritious dish, if you can't find any Purple Wheat Noodles, don't worry, you can always replaced it with whatever you have in your pantry.

Moroccan Chicken Skewer

This is a very refreshing and unique dish which use Moroccan Spices for seasoning the chicken cubes. As one of my friend has returned from Australia during Chinese New Year, she helps me to buy a few bottles of seasoning spices which we can't find it in Singapore. One of it, is this Moroccan Seasoning from Masterfood.

For this Moroccan Chicken Skewer, I made some light and fruity salad to go with it. From the picture you can see that I actually add in some chopped dried fruits to enhance the texture of the salad as well as the colour. I also add in some Japanese Cucumber cubes and mixed them all together with some low-fat mixed berries yoghurt. You can served this Fruity Salad with any other BBQ dishes or served it as a snack itself.

As you can see, I actually marinated the chicken tight strips with shallot, lime slices and some Moroccan spices. You can replace the lime slices with lemon if you prefer. But lime slices will release a much more fragrant scent compare to lemon.

Ingredients: (serves 2)
1 Boneless Chicken Tight, cut into long strips
1/2 Lime, cut into thin slices
4 - 6 Shallots, skin removed
1/2 Tablespoon of Moroccan Seasoning
1 Teaspoon of Olive Oil
4 Cherry Tomatoes
4 Wooden Skewers, soaked in water
4 Feta Cheese, optional

Method:
1. Place the chicken, lime slices, shallots, Moroccan seasoning and olive oil in a small zip lock bag and marinate it overnight in the fridge or at least 1 hour.
2. Thread one cherry tomato, chicken strip, lime slice, shallot and another chicken strip on each skewer. (You can thread with extra Feta Cheese if you prefer)
3. Get all done, the arrange it on a BBQ rack, grill or oven rack and cooked it till done.
4. If you prefer you can brush a little bit of butter or oil on the skewer for extra taste.
5. Removed when done and serve it with the prepared fruity salad.

Note:
a) The reason as to soak the wooden skewers is to prevent it from getting burnt when BBQ or grill.
b) You can prepared the fruity salad a day or half day earlier and keep it in an air-tight container in the fridge.

Related Post:
1. Moroccan Apricot Chicken

Baked Mango & Salmon Salad

Salmon Baked Rice for Saturday Lunch and now we have Bake Mango & Salmon Salad using the remaining Salmon cutlet that I have left over from making the Salmon Bake Rice. Hahaha! This is one of the bad-point when preparing meal if there are less people at home as we tends to have some extra ingredient left over from making the previous dish.


This is a very refreshing and colouring dish there consists more than 5 colours: 1) Pink for salmon, 2) Yellow for mango and lemon, 3) Brown for Shimeiji mushroom and cashew nuts, 4) Green for cucumber and seaweed flakes, 5) Red for tomato 6) White for mayonnaise sauce and cheese. This dish is very easy to prepare all you need is about 15 - 20 minutes of cutting and baking time.

Ingredients: (serves 2)
8 Pieces of 1" cube size Salmon
1/2 Bundle of Shimeiji Mushrooms
1/2 Japanese Cucumber, cut into half cubes
1/2 Medium Size Mango, cut into cubes
1/2 Tomato, cut into 1/4 wedges
3 -4 Thin Lemon Slices
Some roasted Cashew Nuts
Some Japanese Mayonnaise Sauce
Some Seaweeds Flakes, optional
1 Tablespoon Shredded Cheese, optional

Methods:
1. Pre-heat a small saucepan with 1/2 teaspoon of olive and and stir-fry the Shimeiji for 30 seconds and remove, set aside.
2. Next lightly pan-fry the salmon cube for about 30 seconds on each side until it's almost cooked through, remove and set aside.
3. Arrange in alternate way using the salmon cubes, cucumber, mango, tomato, shimeiji mushroom, lemon and some shredded cheese in a baking dish.(refer to the 2nd picture, 1st row picture 2 and 3)
4. On the top layer, drizzle some Japanese mayonnaise, shredded cheese and cashew nuts then pop it into the toaster oven for about 5 minutes until cheese melt.
5. Serve it as a starter or side dish and you can sprinkler some seaweeds flakes on it.

Notes:
a) You can purchase those small packed of snack roasted cashew nuts from supermarkets.
b) Rinse and cut the Shimeiji mushroom into single stalk.
c) You can omit using cheese if you don't not have them or you are not a fan of cheese.
d) You can replace the mango with avocado cubes instead.....

Rainbow Salad Dishes

Hello!!!! Merry Christmas to all my blog reader. Although I do not know who are you but I sincerely wish you all the best for the coming 2008. Even though I had not being updating my blog entries regularly but I am very grateful some of you still check it time to time for my updates. Thank you so much! Hope that those existing recipes can add some collection to your cooking adventure.


Just to share with you these two simple healthy Vegetables and Fruit Salad Recipe that I always made during gathering. This round, I made these for Christmas Party appetiser to go with Ham or Turkey slice. You can use all sorts of fruits or vegetables that you can hold of as there is no restriction on what you have to use. For my vegetables salad I used ingredients such as:

Ingredients:
1 Red & Green Coral Lettuce Each
150g Shredded Purple Cabbage
200g Thinly Shredded Carrot
200g Whole Kernel Corn
3 Hard Boiled Egg, cut into small cubes
1 Bottle of 237ml Kraft Coleslaw Dressing

Method:
1. Get ready all the vegetables in a big salad bowl, then top with the hard boiled eggs and drizzle as much dressing as you prefer. (for my quantity above i used the whole bottle of dressing)
2. Leave it in the fridge and you can serve it cold.
3. Before serving you can top with some toasted almond flakes or pine nuts to enhance the crunchiness and flavour.


Note:
a) You can used different flavour of dressing according to your preference like: Italian Dress, 1000 Island Dressing, Caesar Salad or etc.

For this Assorted Fruit Salad, I used a few kinds of tropical fruits and I dress it fruit yogurt instead of normal salad dressing. Almost all who tried this fruit salad find it very appetising and it's always the first dish to be wipe off on the table :)

Ingredients:
2 Red Apples, cut into small cubes
1 Mango, cut into small cubes
1 Promangrante, remove the seeds
200g of Strawberries, cut into small cubes
1 Dragon Fruit, cut into small cubes
3 Ripe Avocado, cut into small cubes
1 Lemon Rind
1 Teaspoon Lemon Juice
400ml of Mango & Peach Yogurt

Methods:
1. Combine all the fruits into a big salad bowl then add in lemon rind and juice then pour in the yogurt dressing and stir till combined.
2. Leave it in the fridge and you can serve it cold.

Notes:
a) You can use different combined of fruits and fruit yogurt which will give you different flavour. (so far i find adding real mango with the used of mango & peach yogurt as base it the best result.)
b) You can use blueberries or cherries if they are available too.

Caesar Salad With Breaded Chicken

Caesar Salad is a traditional salad often prepared tableside. It is sometimes termed the "King" of salads. I had being looking for the ready-made Caesar Dressing for quite sometime. Because in the local supermarket, what you can find is usually those common salad dressing. So happen, I managed to grab hold of this "Hellmann's-Caesar Dressing" from Carrefour.

To serve my Homemade Caesar Salad for lunch, I also add in some Breaded Chicken which will make it more filling. Overall this is a very great and healthy lunch, which consists of vegetables, meat and fruits.


Ingredients For Salad:
1 Baby Romania Lettuce
1 Avocado, cut into slices
1 Red Apple, cut into cubes
1 Green Apple, cut into cubes
1 Pear, cut into cubes
6-8 Cherry Tomatoes
4-6 Pieces Basil Leaves, shredded
1 Tablespoon Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Pinch of Salt
Some Black Pepper

Methods:
1. Trim, and wash the baby Romania lettuce, drained well and set aside.
2. Place the drained lettuce in a big mixing bowl together with the apples, pear, tomatoes, basil leaves then drizzle the olive oil, pepper and salt and mix well using your clean hand.
3. Wrap it with clingwrap then set aside in the fridge while preparing the breaded chicken.

Notes: Do not cut or add in the avocado, cut it only before serving so that the flesh won't turn black in colour.

Ingredients For Breaded Chicken
1 Chicken Breast Fillet, cut into thin slices
1/2 - 3/4 Cup Breadcrumbs
1 Egg, lightly beaten

Seasoning:
1 Tablespoon Light Soy Sauce
1 Teaspoon Black Pepper
1/2 Tablespoon Cooking Wine
1/2 Tablespoon Cornstarch

Methods:
1. Wash, trim the chicken then marinate it with seasoning for at least 30 minutes.
2. Dip the all the marinated chicken pieces in beaten egg then coat with breadcrumbs and set aside for 1 minute.
3. Deep-fry a few pieces at a time in hot oil until golden brown, drained and set aside. Repeat the process until all chicken pieces are cooked.

To Assemble:
1. Remove the salad from the fridge, then arrange some of it on the plate then top with some pieces of breaded chicken.(cut the chicken into smaller bite size pieces)
2. Next add another layer of the vegetables salad, some cut avocado slices and extra breaded chicken.
3. Finished it off with by drizzling about 1 - 2 tablespoons of Caesar dressing around it and serve warm.

Thai-style Basil Chicken Salad

The most common Basil Leaves that found and used in Singapore is the Thai Basil Leave which can be used in a wide range of Thai, Vietnamese and other ethnic cuisine. It's spicy, licorice flavored shoots and leaves are used in salads, soups and curries.


For this salad dish, we are using Fresh Thai Basil Leaves for one of the sauce ingredients. The taste of this dish is kind of local Thai-style where it is sort of sweet and spicy. You can add in any fruits or vegetables that you prefer to make the salad base to go with the crispy chicken strips.

Ingredients:
1/2 Chicken Breast Fillets (1/2 边鸡胸肉)
1 Teaspoon Light Soy Sauce (1 小匙酱油)
1/2 Tablespoon Cooking Wine (1/2 汤匙花雕酒)
1 Teaspoon Cornflour(1 小匙玉米粉)
Some Pepper(少许胡椒粉)
2 Tablespoon Sweet Potato Flour (2 汤匙地瓜粉)
1 Tablespoon Cornflour (1 汤匙玉米粉)

Methods:
1. Wash and cut chicken fillet into 2cm wide strips then marinate with Soy Sauce, Cooking Wine, Cornflour and Pepper for at least 30 minutes or more.
将鸡胸肉洗净, 切2cm 宽条状, 然后加入酱油, 花雕酒, 玉米粉和胡椒粉调味至少30 分钟以上.
2. Coat the marinated chicken with the flour mixture(sweet potato flour + cornflour) and set aside for 5 minutes before deep-frying.
将腌好的鸡肉条沾混合好的地瓜粉和玉米粉, 然后放在一边等5分钟后才炸.( 这能防止粉从鸡肉上滑落)
3. Heat up half pot of oil and deep-fry the chicken strips in two batches until golden brown, drain and set side.
热半锅油, 把鸡肉条分成俩次炸成金黄色后, 捞起放在吸油纸上吸干油分.

Chilli Sauce:
2 Cloves Garlic, grated (2 颗蒜, 切末)
2 Small chilli, finely chopped (2 颗小辣椒, 切末)
8 Thai Basil Leaves, finely chopped (8 叶九层塔, 切末)
1 Teaspoon Chopped Spring Onion(1 小匙葱花)
2 Tablespoons Thai Sweet Chilli Sauce (2 汤匙泰式甜辣椒酱)
1.5 Tablespoon Lemon Juice (1.5 汤匙柠檬汁)
1 Tablespoon Thai Fish Sauce (1 汤匙鱼露)
1/2 Teaspoon Sugar (1 /2 小匙糖)
1 Tablespoon Drinking Water (1 汤匙食水)

Methods:
1. Mix all the sauce ingredients together in a small bowl and set aside for later used. (If you don't prefer hot, then don't add any small chilli or you can reduce to only using 1)
把全部酱料的材料放在一个小碗里搅拌均匀, 待用.( 如果您不会吃太辣, 就不要放小辣椒或只放一颗)

Salad Base: (optional)
1 Red Apple, shredded (1 个萍果, 切丝)
1 Japanese Cucumber, shredded (1 条日本小黄瓜, 切丝)
1 Small Carrot, shredded (1条小胡萝卜, 切丝)
6 Cherry Tomato, halves (6颗小番茄, 切半)
6 Lychee, remove seeds (6颗荔枝, 拨壳, 去种子)

Methods:
1. Mix all the above ingredients in a mixing bowl then set aside in the fridge until serve.
把全部的沙拉材料放在一个碗里搅拌均匀, 放进冰箱待用.
2. You can used any other fruits or vegetables that you prefer or in season.
你也可以用其他的水果蔬菜来代替.

Assemble:
1. Place salad mixture on a serving plate, top with half of the fried chicken strips then drizzle some chilli sauce over the chicken and salad.
首先把拌均匀的冷沙拉扑在大盘上, 然后放一般的炸鸡肉条, 接着均匀的淋上些辣椒酱.
2. Continue topping the rest of the chicken and drizzle the rest of the sauce around it.
之后继续放上剩余的鸡肉条, 再淋上些辣椒酱.

Notes:
You might not need all the sauce, so add the amount that you prefer. Or you can serve it as dipping sauce for the chicken strips without the salad.
你可以随自己喜好放多或少的酱料, 又或者你也可以用来沾不要淋上去.

This sauce is enough for 1 chicken breast without the salad.
这个酱料成分足够用一个鸡胸肉.

Salad With Breaded Fish

Other than having rice, dishes and soup for dinner..... We decided to have a change for tonight's menu. We are having some vegetables and fruit salad together with breaded fish. Although it might look simple but it's a rather filling meal.

In order to make the salad more complete and filling, I added the breaded fish which I come across this idea from eating out.


Ingredients:
2 - 3 Small Butter Lettuces
8-10 Baby Potatoes
6-8 Fresh Chestnut
1 Tomato, or some cherry tomatoes
1 Avocado, cut into slices
1 Medium Japanese Cucumber, peel and cut into 1" thick
1 Apple, peel and cut into cubes
1 Lemon Juice & Rinds
1/2 Red Onion, thinly shredded
2 Tablespoon Extra Light Olive Oil
1 Tablespoon Mayonnaise Sauce
Some Freshly Ground Black Pepper

Methods:
1. Cut and wash the lettuces then drain and set aside.
2. Boil the baby potatoes and chestnut in a small pot of water until tender.(around 15 minutes)
3. Drained the water, rinse the potatoes and chestnut then peel off the skin and cut them into half each.
4. In a big mixing bowl, add in cucumber, apple, avocado, onion, lemon rinds, potatoes and chestnut. Then drizzle 1 Tablespoon of lemon juice, 1 1/2 Tablespoons Olive Oil, Mayonnaise Sauce and some black pepper into the bowl and mix well.
5. Place the salad and lettuce in the fridge while preparing the breaded fish.

Breaded Fish Fillet:
8-10 Pieces Of Fish Fillet Strips
2 Tablespoons Cornflour
1 Egg, lightly beaten
1/2 Cup Dried Breadcrumbs

Methods:
1. Marinate the fish fillet strips with some salt and pepper for about 10 minutes then dust with some cornflour.
2. Dip the fish strips in beaten egg then coat with dried breadcrumbs and set aside for a few minutes before deep-frying.
3. Preheat a pot of oil and deep-fry the fish strips until golden brown, drained and set aside.

Assemble The Salad:
1. Toss the lettuce into the vegetables salad and mix well then place it on a plate and top with breaded fish and serve.

Notes: You can used with hard boiled egg or breaded chicken instead of fish for the salad.

Rainbow Wasabe Prawn Salad

Saw a version of this similar Wasabe Prawn Salad at one of the TV program. The salad ingredients are rather simple and you can use whatever you have in your fridge. While the main ingredients are Prawns and Wasabe.

People are confused by the message that Prawns contain high levels of Cholesterol. Cholesterol is only found in foods of animal origin and liver, egg yolk and shellfish are the major sources of dietary cholesterol. Prawns have only 99kcal per 100g while other proteins such as Beef Mince contain 209kcal and 13.5g of fat and grilled sausages contain 294kcal and over 22g of fat. Prawns are even lower in calories and fat than chicken. As well as being high in protein, prawns contain magnesium, which plays a role in bone development and nerve and muscle function; Zinc, which is good for growing bodies, and selenium, an important antioxidant.


So for today's salad, we also added in alot of vibrant fruits and vegetables to enhance the appearance as well as to boost up the Appetite.

Ingredients:
300g Of Medium Size Prawns
6 Cherry Tomatoes, cut into halve
6 Seedless Grapes, cut into halve
1 Japanese Cucumber, peel & cut into cubes
1/2 Carrot, shredded
1 Mango, cut into cubes
1 - 1 1/2 Teaspoons Of Roasted Black Sesame Seeds

Methods:
1. Shell, butterfly and devein the prawn, rinse and wash it with some salt water then pat dry.
2. Marinate the prawns with some salt, sugar and cornflour and set aside in the fridge for at least 30 minutes or more.
3. Coat the prawn with some potato starch and deep-fry in hot oil for a few second to 1 minutes until golden brown, drained and set aside.
4. At the meantime, prepare the fruits and vegetables on a serving plate.
5. Coat the prawns, evenly with the wasabe sauce and place it in the middle of the serving plate with the fruits and vegetables surround it.
6. Drizzle the remaining sauce all over the salad, then sprinkle the black sesame seeds and serve.

Wasabe Sauce:
4 - 5 Tablespoons Of Japanese Mayonnaise
1.5 Teaspoons Of Wasabe

Methods:
1. Whisk the above together ingredients together until combined and set aside.

Mix Fruits & Vegetables Salad

Craving for Fruit Salad recently, so try to source for as many fruits as possible to make this Mix Fruits and Vegetables Salad. It's really a refreshing and colourful appetizing dish before meal......

In order to make it a more filling dish, I add in some Japanese Purple Potato and Potato together with some Mayo and Aloe Vera Yoghurt. You can add in whatever fruits or vegetables that you had in your kitchen pantry instead of what I am using.


Ingredients:
1 Orange, remove outer skin
1 Apple, remove outer skin, cut into cubes
1 Banana, remove skin, cut into cubes
2 Japanese Purple Sweet Potato
2 Potato
Some Strawberries, Grapes & Cherry Tomatoes
1 - 2 Cups Of Aloe Vera Yoghurt
3 Tablespoons Of Mayonnaise Sauce

Methods:
1. Wash and remove the skin of the potato and sweet potato then steam over medium heat until tender.
2. In the meantime, wash and cut the rest of the fruits into cubes then put in a big mixing bowl.
3. Cool the cooked sweet potato and potato then cut into cubes and add into the rest of the fruit.
4. Pour in the Aloe Vera Yoghurt and Mayonnaise Suace then mix well with the fruits until well combined and chilled in the fridge until serve.

Notes: You can used any type of favour yoghurt that you prefer.

Mango, Cucumber & Apple Salsa

My family loves mango so with mango season around I decide to make this refreshing mango salsa to serve as appetizer.  This fruity salsa goes well with BBQ meat or spicy food so as to tone down the heat and give a refreshing after taste. 

Omelette Donburi

Japanese Food is usually the most time consuming to prepare because they often have many steps and sides dishes such as rice to the salad and main course where a lot of preparations and ingredients are needed. Today since my best friend and mum are coming over for dinner, I would like to give them a surprised by making this most simple Japanese dish that I modify from a cookbook which I borrow from library.  Omettle Donburi and Mini Potatoes Salad.