Tod Mun Pla & Nam Prik Waan (Fried Fishcakes & A Sweet Chilli Sauce)

A good long while back I wrote a post about how to make Tod Mun Pla, whilst I was always happy with the flavour, I was never really happy with the texture; although good and crispy they didn't have that rubberiness or bounciness that is expected in a Thai fish cake. This has led over the last few years to a bit of experimentation with both the recipe and the method and I'm pleased to say that now I think I've finally conquered how to create the perfect bouncy fish cake. The recipe will stay pretty much the same as before except there is an addition of some baking powder and an egg is no longer needed but otherwise it remains the same recipe. The key difference is in the cooking and preparation method- chilled, boiled (yes- boiled!) then fried.

You'll just need a few additional tools to help create the fish cakes. I've also served them alongside a sweet and hot chilli sauce which is different from the cucumber pickle that was used last time, though you could use either or both as they both make a really nice accompaniment to the fish cakes.

For around 15 so fishcakes you'll need:

• 2 fillets of skinless, boneless, firm white fish such as basa

• About six green beans sliced very finely

• A heaped tablespoon of red curry paste, I use Mae Ploy brand

• A good splash of fish sauce

• 4 or 5 kaffir lime leaves, rolled up into a cigar and shredded extremely finely

• A large pinch of sugar

• A heaped teaspoon of baking powder

And for the sauce you will need:

• Two large red chillies, chopped (deseeded if you don't want it too spicy)

• 4 cloves of garlic, chopped

• A chunk of ginger peeled and chopped

• Half a cup of tamarind puree

• A golf ball sized piece of palm sugar

• A pinch of salt

• A small splash of the juice from a jar of pickled garlic

• A level teaspoon of cornflour mixed into a thin paste with a little water

Begin by making the sauce by pureeing together the chillies, ginger and garlic cloves.

In a small pan over a low heat, melt the palm sugar with the half cup of tamarind puree, adding the splash of pickled garlic juice and mix well. When everything is dissolved, add in the chilli garlic and ginger puree along with the pinch of salt and let the mixture cook down for a few minutes and then finally stir in the corn flour blend just to thicken everything up. 

Once this is done put to one side until later. 

Now we move onto the fish cakes. Begin by blending all the fish in a food processor or blender until it's minced into a paste. Put in the sugar, red curry paste and fish sauce and blend again until it's as fine as you can make it. Using a spatula, mix in by hand the green beans and kaffir lime leaves and spread the mixture out thinly onto a plate, covering with cling film. Place the the plate into a freezer and allow it to cool down for 10 to 15 minutes; this will make sure that the mixture firms up and is it easier to work with. 

While the mixture is in the freezer, get a few items ready; bring a large pan of water up to a simmer and make sure you have a vinyl or latex glove handy (make sure it's a non-powdered glove). You'll also need a flat utensil such as a fish slice or a wok turner and a jug of cold water to hand. 

After taking your mixture out of the freezer; begin by popping on your glove and use a spoon to portion out a golf ball sized piece into your gloved hand. Dip your fish slice or wok turner into the jug of water and use it to flatten out and shape the ball of fish paste into a thin 1cm patty. As each patty is formed, again use the slice or turner to gently ease it off your hand and slide it into the pan of simmering water. Continue doing the same until all the mixture is used up and all the patties are simmering. You will notice as they cook they rise to the surface of the water. Make sure that they are fully cooked which won't take long, about four minutes or so and once they are done, scoop them out and let them dry on some kitchen paper for a moment or two. 

You can now heat up a frying pan with oil to the depth of about two centimetres and when hot, fry them for about 2 minutes on either side until dark golden and crisp. Boiling first has the added benefit of stopping the fishcakes from becoming greasy too.

Set along side the sauce you made earlier and you have the perfect bouncy Thai fish cake just like the restaurants

Bami Haeng Bhet (Duck with Noodles)

Hello! It's been a long time since I've last posted anything on my blog. I guess I'd simply comes the point where I'd run out of of recipes to post, and was struggling for ideas. There has also been a distinct lack of travelling with life getting in the way and incredibly, a new baby shortly arriving in our household! So while I can still have the opportunity, I'm going to be doing a bit of posting for the time being. Interestingly for me, pregnancy hasn't diminished my love for Thai food (or any food!!) as I've had a great appetite, very little morning sickness and no odd cravings. I'm hoping that my baby girl will also eventually love these flavours as much as I do as she takes in and tastes tiny amounts of whatever I eat. Time will tell!

 To ease back into blogging, I've been bringing together collections of my old recipes on Tumblr and now have a few new ones to add as well.

This new recipe is called 'bami haeng bhet' which can simply be translated to duck with dry noodles. It's quite a simple dish, featuring a pan roasted duck breast, sliced over fresh egg noodles with a side of Asian green vegetables, or in this case, chard, with a rich sticky sauce drizzled over and crunchy bits of garlic and spring onion to top it off.

I really enjoy using fresh egg noodles, as they've a much better texture than the dried ones and are much less likely to clump together. By the way, don't be put off that the recipe suggests the noodles are dry, it just refers to the fact that they're not in a soup.

This recipe serves two

You'll Need:

• Two duck breasts, with skin, trimmed of excess flabby bits
• A pack of fresh egg noodles (ba- mi), loosened
• A large handful of your chosen Asian leafy green vegetables, roughly chopped- choi sum, pak choi etc. or in my case, rainbow chard as we grew it in our allotment
• 4 cloves of garlic, chopped
• two spring onions, chopped
• vegetable oil for frying

For the sauce:

• A big splash of light soy sauce
• a small splash of oyster sauce
• a small splash of water
• a level dessertspoon of palm sugar (or light brown sugar)

Begin by getting a pan of water on to boil and set a steamer over it. 

Let's start off by making some crispy garlic, this gets sprinkled over the finished dish. Heat a generous splash of vegetable oil in a frying pan until reaching a medium heat but definitely not smoking or the garlic will burn. Pop in the garlic, moving it from time to time, letting it slowly sizzle and gently crisp and turn golden brown over a few minutes. Drain out with a slotted spoon onto absorbent kitchen paper.

Retaining the garlic flavoured oil and a medium heat, place the duck breasts skin side down in the pan. Press firmly down to keep the meat flat and help the fat to render out and cook for around ten minutes until the skin is browned and crisp. Flip over and cook on the meaty side for a further two- three minutes, then set to one side and rest. If there is an excessive amount of oil in the pan, drain some off but leave any brown and crispy bits for now.

Hopefully your pan of water is now boiling. Set your green veggies off to steam- giving them a few minutes. Your fresh egg noodles can go in the water but will only take around one minute to cook. Drain both and set them ready in serving bowls.

Finally, to make the sauce that will go over the duck and noodles, heat up the frying pan with the garlic/duck flavoured oil and when hot, add in the soy and oyster sauces, sugar and if needed, a splash of water to bring everything together; scrape and mix in any crispy pan residue and stir, heating for a minute or two; however- don't over- reduce as you'll want some sauce to get down to the noodles below.

Slice the rested duck, place on top of the noodles and pour over the sauce, sprinkling with the crispy garlic, fresh spring onions and in Thai style, any other seasonings you fancy, such as chilli flakes, vinegar, peanuts or a little more sugar.

Holidays in New England

Hey Folks,

It's been a long time, over a month since I was last on here, I'm now getting caught up with work, jobs to do, got over the holiday jet lag etc. What a great trip- New England really is such as beautiful and diverse part of the USA, almost everyday there was a change of scenery- historic Boston, stunning wild Cape Cod with it's beautiful houses and gardens, sweeping river valleys, lush green mountains in the Adirondacks, laid back Portland and a rather quirky Salem. The sea and seafood in general was a major player in our diets- we had some amazing lobster at a place called Thurston's Lobster Pound on Mt Desert Island, Maine. As ever, I would kill to be able to get such fresh, tasty and affordable seafood here in the UK. I could almost imagine all the Thai recipes I could have used it in.

Not to worry, the one thing I always miss when travelling in either Europe or the US is the lack of spice. Last time we were travelling in the USA, we were in the far south east, being so near to Cuba and also lots of Mexican influences meant we weren't short of flavours and spices so on this trip we did make one or two excursions in order to get our taste buds going.

Thai however was not on the menu (per se) as at no point did we come across any Thai restaurants I would say that felt authentic and not the usual identical westernised versions.

We did however spend several hours in Chinatown in Boston; right as the day was getting going and just as Saturday evening was ramping up (and the city's Gay Pride event was winding down- what a fantastic atmosphere there was).

We ended up, at the recommendation of a Time Out article giving 'The Dumpling Cafe' (www.dumplingcafe.com) a whirl where their 'juicy pork dumplings' are particularly recommended.

We chased our juicy dumplings; which are bitten, slurped then topped with ginger with some pan fried dumplings (very much like Japanese gyoza) and some very garlicky stir fried morning glory.
Service was cool, brisk and the food was a little on the greasy side but the flavours were strong, punchy and the food was fresh and tasty.

A few days later we had travelled to Cape Cod where we spent our first full day in the beautiful Provincetown in the 'toe' of the peninsula. Of all the places on our trip that we visited, this was my favourite spot.

We did a bit of research and heard very good things about a place called 'The Canteen' (www.thecanteenptown.com) a busy, slightly hipster-ish place which served an eclectic mix of food and local craft beers. My eye was immediately draw to the Vietnamese cod banh mi sandwich and greedy thing that I am, to their intriguing house speciality; deep fried Brussels sprouts in fish sauce.

The cod banh mi was excellent and just what I was looking for but let me tell you something, those ugly looking crisped up sprouts were A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!! wow, so simple but I couldn't stop eating them- I wanted more! As far as I can tell, the crispy fried sprouts are simply tossed in a nam jim seafood sauce (fish sauce, lime juice, chilli, coriander and perhaps a pinch of sugar). with the local beer, the food went down a treat; do try them if you're visiting Cape Cod.

And so, normal life resumes once again, and as usual, I'm already thinking of where my next travels will take me....

Pad Woon Sen (Stir Fried Vermicelli Noodles)

Pad woon sen, a speedy stir-fry dish for when you don't know what else to cook!! Joking aside this is possibly one of the most versatile dishes you will find in the Thai repertoire. There is very little that can't be substituted or skipped. As long as you're frying a combo of meats and/or vegetables with fine mungbean glass (vermicelli) noodles, you can't go far wrong. There does seem to be a common theme of cabbage, beansprouts, tomatoes and Chinese celery but, whatever you have can go in. It's another cross over dish- very definitely exported from Chinese cuisine along the way.

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I also want to give you a heads up that I'm going to be away on holiday for a few weeks- sadly, no not Thailand (although it is exactly one year already since I was in Malaysia- I do miss it and would love to go back to Kuala Lumpur again one day). This time we're going to be in the USA. We've been quite a few times already and tend to do big road trips; two years ago it was the Deep South, this time it's New England.

For the next three weeks, I'll be travelling and eating my way around Boston, Cape Cod, the Hudson Valley, the Adirondacks, Vermont/ New Hampshire, Mt Desert Island, Portland and Salem. Hopefully  eating a LOT of fresh seafood, buffalo wings, popovers, pies etc. I am particularly looking forward to experiencing Boston's Chinatown; I hope to post from there.

If you've any recommendations- it doesn't need to be Thai/Asian food, I love all food- then I would be thrilled to hear from you. And now back to my version of Pad Woon Sen....

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Okay so this recipe will make plenty for 2 and still enough for 3

You'll need:

• 2 sheets/nests of dried mungbean/glass vermicelli noodles (they're transparent)
• A small bag (200-250g) of raw king prawns/shrimp
• 2 small pork chops or steaks, fat trimmed off and cut into strips
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1 carrot, peeled and cut into coins
• About a 1/4 of a white cabbages, cut into large squares (cut a thin slice off one side, then chop)
• 3 or 4 stalks of Chinese celery, chopped into large pieces. Regular celery leaves are great too
• 3 or 4 spring onions, trimmed and cut into large pieces
• 4 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
• A big splash of oyster sauce
• A big splash of light soy sauce
• A small splash of dark soy sauce
• A big pinch of sugar
• A big punch of black pepper
• Vegetable oil for frying

Soak your vermicelli noodles by submerging them in cold water for 10-15 minutes, breaking them up as they soften. Drain and keep handy.

Heat a wok up until very hot, almost smoking and add in the oil, swirling to coat the base. Throw in the pork and stir fry for 1 minute, until mostly cooked through. Add in the raw prawns and stir fry for a further minute until they've mostly turned pink. If by any chance you're using pre-cooked prawns, add them in later (at the point that the celery and spring onions go in).

Next in goes the garlic, just toss it very lightly for a few seconds before adding in the carrot and cabbage, stir frying for around 1 minute. Now shove all these ingredients to one side of the wok, leaving them for a moment and pour the beaten egg into the empty side. Let the egg start to cook before lightly scrambling it before letting it set again. Repeat the setting scrambling until it's 90% cooked before mixing all the ingredients back together again, making sure the egg's well distributed.

Now throw the celery and spring onions into the pan, stir fry them for minute before adding in the noodles, 3 sauces, pepper and sugar. Stir well,the sauces will soften and darken the noodles and mix all the ingredients today. Try and let the noodles stick to the base of the wok a bit; it'll give you some nice crunchy bits. Cook for a final minute or two and serve.

Kai Jeow Moo Saab (Fluffy Omelette with Pork Mince)

After cooking some fairly elaborate dishes over the last few weeks I thought a change to something really easy would be nice and made a simple fluffy Thai omelette.

I'm also still getting used to using my new carbon steel wok. It was a very welcome Christmas present but due to the amount of time needed and smoke created in order to season a new wok I've waited until it was a bit warmer and I could have the doors and windows right open! About a month in with my new wok and I love it, I can use my metal food turner with it and it already it's pretty much non-stick.

Back to omelettes...

Thai omelettes are a lot fluffier, a bit crispier and a little more unhealthy but other than that, they're still very straightforward and ready in less than 5 minutes.

For 1 omelette you need:

• 2 large or 3 medium eggs
• a very small splash of fish sauce
• a very small splash of light soy sauce
• a big pinch of black pepper
• 75g of pork mince
• half a cup of vegetable oil

Beat your eggs in a bowl with the sauces and pepper. Add in the pork and mix well to break up.

Heat a wok on a high heat and when smoking, add in the vegetable oil, let it heat up almost until smoking again.

Tip your egg mixture into the hot oil from about 1ft above but please, be careful! This action will cause the omelette to instantly start puffing up around the edges. Use a spatula to allow oil to move all around the edges and let it cook, undisturbed for a couple minutes (the centre may still be raw- that's fine).

Use a wide spatula (or get a friend with a second spatula) to carefully flip over the omelette; any raw mixture is now underneath and will cook in the oil. Let the other side cook for a couple of minutes and get golden brown. 

When cooked, carefully lift out. Serve with Sriracha chilli sauce, white rice and something like pad pak bung fai daeng (Stir fried morning glory), one of my favourite vegetable dishes.

Khanom Krok (Coconut Rice Cakes)

Khanom krok are a Thai breakfast/snack/dessert dish that use a rice flour and coconut batter, traditionally cooked in small circular hollows in a round cast iron tray called a 'krok'. They have a texture a bit like Japanese mochi; slightly bouncy, chewy with a pleasing crispy outer layer. They're usually topped with colourful ingredients like pumpkin, spring onion or as used here, sweetcorn.

This recipe is for an oven baked version of khanom krok; although it is possible to get the cast iron krok pans here in the UK (I've seen them on our visits to Raan Thai in Birkenhead) they're also relatively expensive and need a gas burner underneath. Unfortunately our ceramic hob wouldn't work for such a cooking method so I've come up with both an alternative cooking method and utensil in which to cook them.

Those in the UK and possibly also the US, may be familiar with the famous Yorkshire pudding (a crispy egg/flour batter based baked item often served with roasted meats, vegetables and gravy). I've used the same cooking method and shallow 4-holed baking tray to make the khanom kroks. You can also use a muffin/cupcake tin but make sure that whatever tray type you use, just don't fill the batter to more than 3cm/1 inch deep or they won't fully cook through.

For 8 khanom kroks, you'll need:

• 1 400ml can coconut milk- divide it into two parts- the thicker cream and the thinner milk.
• 1/2 cup water
• 50g sugar
• 3/4 cup of rice flour
• 1/4 cup of tapioca flour
• a pinch of salt
• a tablespoon or so of corn kernels (frozen/tinned is fine)
• a small drizzle of vegetable oil

Get the oven heating up before beginning to make the batter- turn it to it's hottest temperature and put your Yorkshire pudding/ cupcake/muffin tray in to get really hot.

For the outside batter, mix the rice flour, salt, thinner coconut milk and water together, mixing until there are no lumps left- it should have the consistency of thin/single cream.

Also make the inner batter; mix the tapioca flour, sugar and thicker coconut cream together, again, whisking/beating until the mixture reaches a smooth, lump-free, cake- icing like consistency.

Get the tin out of the oven (obviously using an oven mitt or something!) and pour a drop of oil into each hole. Use a piece of kitchen roll to make sure all the inside surface is well oiled.

Pop the tray back in the oven for a few more minutes to heat up again.

Working quickly now, get the the tray out and pour about a tablespoon of the thinner outer batter into each hole; you should hear it sizzle. Gently holding the tray (still in a gloved hand!!) roll it a little, so some of the batter touches the sides of each hole.

Pop the tray back in the oven to allow the skin of the outer batter to form- and leave to cook for 3-4 minutes.

Now get the tray out again and this time, use the thick inner batter, spoon out a generous tablespoon into the middle of each hole, on top of the almost cooked outer batter.

Drop a few corn kernels on to the top of each lot of the mixtures.

Place back into the oven for 10 minutes until fully cooked. Use a table knife to carefully lift the khanom kroks aways from the surface of the baking tray and lift out with a spoon.

As I only had the one Yorkshire pudding tray, I then repeated to give me 8 in total.

Karipap Gai (Chicken Curry Puff)

Today's post is a substantial hike in the difficulty levels! Normally I try and make dishes that are easy to follow and make but Karipaps (Curry Puffs) are particularly difficult, or the pastry is at least. As you might be able to see it's a multi-layer puff pastry that is folded in such a way that ends up with an open spiral-like finish. This is the first time I've ever tackled anything like this so it really was a challenge but with a bit of practise, hopefully you can manage it too.

The filling is a fairly simple chicken and potato curry-at least that part is easy to do!

The pastry involves making two lots of dough, both slightly different mixes.

For 8 curry puffs, you'll need:

For the Inner Dough:

• 120g plain flour
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil

For the Outer Dough:

• 300g plain flour
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 1/3 cup water (you may not need all of it)
• big pinch salt
• big pinch sugar

For the Curry Filling:

• 4 small/2 medium potatoes, peeled, cut into 2 cm squared cubes and pre-boiled for 3-4 minutes
• 2-3 chicken thighs, cut into 2 cm squared pieces
• 1 small onions, finely chopped
• 1 tablespoon mild curry powder
• 1 teaspoon of chilli powder
• 1 teaspoon turmeric powder
• a big pinch salt
• vegetable oil for frying

Start by making the filling, as it'll need to be cool by the time you make the doughs.

Heat a small splash of vegetable oil in a pan until hot, then fry the onions until softened. 

Add in the chicken pieces, frying until cooked; about 2-3 minutes. Pop in the spices and salt and mix well. 

Gently add in the cooked potato, stir everything well and cook for a couple minutes more. Leave to cool while you make the pastry...

Make the inner dough

Pour the oil into the flour, it'll quickly and easily make breadcrumbs and then with a little further squeezing and kneading will become a smooth, oily dough. Divide into 8 equal balls (each will be about golf ball size).

Make the outer dough

Put the sugar and salt into the flour, add the oil as before, using your fingertips to make 'breadcrumbs'- this will be a dry mix at this stage. Slowly add in the water bit by bit, kneading gently to bring the dough together. You do not want a dry crumbly dough, it needs to hold together so add enough water to make sure you've got a smooth, pliable dough that will hold itself together.

Divide the outer dough into 8 equal sized balls and use a rolling pin to roll them into a flat circle.

No need to leave the dough to rest, lets move straight on to the rolling....

Making the pastry...

Work on an oiled work surface or board to make life a lot easier for yourself.

Place a ball of the inner dough into the middle of a flat circle of outer dough and fold and squeeze the outer dough around the inner dough ball so it's fully encased. Repeat for the rest of the dough. You now have 8 enclosed dough balls.

Take one of the enclosed dough balls and roll it flat rolling only forwards and backwards- you want a long, narrow 0 shape to the dough, as thin as you can get it.

Loosening the dough from the work surface, roll it up like a cigar, rolling away from yourself (open rolled ends are to your left and right)

Pick up the rolled dough and turn it 90 degrees (an open rolled end is facing you). Use the rolling pin to roll out the dough, like we did at the beginning, into a long narrow 0 shape. Again, use your hands to roll it up like a cigar (or sausage roll!) pushing it away from you before turning it 90 degrees.

Rinse and repeat... 

Altogether I did 3 cycles of rolling out, cigar rolling and turning. As long as you do the same actions each time and turn the dough in the same direction you'll be fine.

On the final cigar roll, smooth the roll off, smoothing the ends into the dough as much as possible and gently manipulate into a more even roll. Cut this roll into 8 equal slices, leaving you with something resembling the picture above.

Give yourself a well deserved pat on the back!!

Filling & Cooking

Heat a deep fat fryer or heavy pan of vegetable oil while you start to fill the dough. Yes more oil, these are not healthy snacks!!

Take one of the dough slices, placed flat on the work surface and roll flat with the rolling pin straight down on top of the layers, again, aiming for an elongated '0' shape. As you roll, you'll see the layers start to stretch and open up. Aim to get the dough quite thin, about 5mm is ideal.

Lift up the rolled dough and place a tablespoon of the cooled curry filling into the inside, fold both halves of the dough together and pinch and twist the edges to seal it tightly.

Repeat with the remaining pastry and filling.

Cooking in batches, deep fry for 6-8 minutes until crispy and light brown.

Serve with pickled cucumber/chilli/shallot (known as ajaad- click for the recipe) to help cut through the rich pastry.

Fall into a heap!!

Haw Mok (Fish Custard)

I have vague memories of first making these when I was just discovering Thai food aged about 15 or 16. I don't even remember where I managed to get hold of the banana leaves or if they even turned out okay. Two decades later, it's high time I paid a return visit to Haw Mok.

Fish custard isn't the most appealing sounding name, perhaps a better way to describe haw mok is to say red curry flavoured savoury mousse. You end up with a bouncy textured dense mousse, that is rich with coconut milk and the banana leaf cups adds a hint of smoky fragrance.

I strongly suggest that you spend a bit of time fiddling around with the banana leaves first, learning how to form them into cups. The classic way to hold them together is with cocktail sticks but this wasn't working for me so I've used a trusty stapler to hold them together- if you do this; please be aware of them when serving to others as there is a risk of loose staples getting into the mousse mixture. The banana leaf cups are just to cook and serve in, they aren't edible.

Aim to make about 6-8 cups. To form them, I cut out 4 identical circles of banana leaf about 10cm in diameter each (trim off the the tough edges of the leaf first) before overlapping the centre of all four circles and folding and stapling them until I had a flat bottomed cup. It takes some practice sorry!

However, once you've mastered making the cups, the rest is incredibly easy to do.

This recipe makes 6-8 haw mok, using:

• 3-4 banana leaves (prepared as above)- you can often get them frozen in Asian or Carribean shops
• 2 fillets of white fish, skinned and cut into large chunks
• 1 heaped dessert spoon of red curry paste (I use Mae Ploy brand)
• 2 eggs
• a few leaves of chinese cabbage or other green cabbage, rolled and very finely shredded
• 1 can of coconut milk (a 400ml one), shake before opening to mix
• a small splash of fish sauce
• a big pinch of sugar
• 3-4 kaffir lime leaves, rolled up and finely shredded
• 1 large red chilli, sliced
• a teaspoon of rice flour or just plain flour

Set a steamer/colander with a lid over a large pan of water and bring to the boil.

Place a small amount of shredded cabbage in the bottom of each banana leaf cup.

In a food processor, whizz up the fish, curry paste, fish sauce, eggs, sugar, and 250ml of the coconut milk until well blended. You should now have a very thick mixture, resembling cake batter in texture.

Place the banana leaf cups into the steamer and carefully divide this mixture amongst the cups- don't overfill them.

Place over the boiling water, pop a lid on and steam for 15-20 minutes until completely set. If you're not sure, poke with a skewer; it should come out clean. 

In a small bowl, mix the remaining coconut milk and the flour. Drizzle a small bit of this over the cooking haw mok and replace the lid, steaming for a final few minutes.

To serve, sprinkle over some shredded kaffir lime leaf and a few sliced chillies. The haw mok should easily pull away from the banana leaf. Serve with rice for a full meal.

Nam Nuang (Grilled Pork Fresh Spring Rolls)

 

So following on from last Sunday's post about fresh spring rolls, here's part two- the Vietnamese style 'nam nuang'. I was initially quite confused by the name; 'nam' meaning liquid/water/sauce in Thai. After a bit of nosing around I discovered that they are known as 'nem nuong in Vietnamese (nuong simply means grilled in Vietnamese and across a few borders, they have become Nam Nuang in Thailand. These spring rolls are a simplified version of the original but are no less tasty for it...

This recipes makes about 8 rolls; use:

• 8 dried rice paper circles

• A shallow dish of cold water

For the sausages:

• 250g of pork mince

• a heaped teaspoon of black pepper, ground finely

• a small splash of soy sauce

• a small splash of oyster sauce

For the sauce:

• a very big splash of tamarind concentrate

• a big splash of water

• a small splash of fish sauce

• a big pinch of sugar

• a small handful of chopped peanuts

• a small pinch of chilli flakes

And for filling the rolls a selection of:

• shredded lettuce and/or whole baby leaves

• mint leaves

• fresh coriander

• shredded cucumber

• sliced red chillies

First make the sauce by heating the first four ingredients in a small pan, reducing down until the sauce takes on a thin caramel consistency. There should be a good balance of sweet, sour and savoury. Sprinkle over the chopped peanuts and chilli flakes. 

Next prepare all the herbs and vegetables and set out on a plate with the sauce.

Now comes the sausages- dead easy to make, just mix all four ingredients in a bowl by hand. Take a handful and shape into a chunky sausage shape (it should be at least a couple inches smaller than the width of your rice paper circles. Place the sausages on a foil lined tray and grill on a low-medium heat until fully cooked and browned (about 6-10 minutes).

With everything ready to serve, the rice paper comes last. Take a dried disc of rice paper and dunk it into the dish of water for about ten seconds before lifting out, turning over and dunking for ten seconds more. It should now feel fairly flexible. If not, and you still feel it will snap if you tried to fold it, dunk for a further ten seconds then shake off the excess water.

Place the damp rice paper sheet on a board (it will continue to soften and become gelatinous) and fill with your choice of veggies/herbs placed horizontally across the middle of the sheet. Place a sausage on top, drizzle over some of the sauce and roll up by folding the sides into the middles then roll up from bottom to top, using your fingers to hold all the ingredients inside the wrapper.

If you're feeling sociable, serve everything on a big platter and let your guests make and wrap their own nam nuangs!

Po Pia Sot (Fresh Spring Rolls)

Since it's supposedly spring, it seemed like a good opportunity to do some fresh spring rolls using rice paper. Full of herbs and vegetables; they're very light, fresh and extremely healthy; we'll just ignore the fact that it's still only about 10 degrees and pouring down outside!

Since I was already doing one variety of spring roll, and I had a whole pack of dried rice paper sheets, I thought I'd do a second type of roll and also made Nam Nuang- a Vietnamese type of spring roll that uses pork 'sausages'. I will follow up this post very soon with the nam nuang.

* Just a note- the plate of herbs/veggies was used for both the po pia sot and the nam nuang and the darker sauce on the plate is the sauce for the nam nuang, not the po pia

If you're looking for the deep fried variety of spring roll, or Po Pia (to use the Chinese name) you can find the recipe here- Po Pia Tod. Spring rolls pop up with various fillings and wrappers in just about every east and south east Asian country (we even ate them in Malaysia last year) and there's lots of debates over who made them first, whose variation is the most authentic etc. I don't make any such claims with my version though this version has distinct Vietnamese influences.

Enjoy as a snack, a starter or as part of a larger meal.

For 8 rolls use:

• 2 poached chicken thighs (simmer in plain water for 20 mins), cooled and shredded finely
• 8 dried rice paper circles
• a shallow dish of cold water
• peanut sauce (I went for the easy option and pre bought- Lee Kum Kee brand) but you can use the sauce recipe from when I made satay- click here
• 1 sliced large red chilli
• fresh mint leaves
• fresh coriander leaves
• a small piece of cucumber, seeds removed and cut into very thin slivers
• some shredded lettuce
• a few extra peanuts for crunch (mixed into the sauce)

Have all your ingredients  prepped and ready in front of you. Take a dried disc of rice paper and dunk it into the dish of water for about ten seconds before lifting out, turning over and dunking for ten seconds more. It should now feel fairly flexible. If not, and you still feel it will snap if you tried to fold it, dunk for a further ten seconds then shake off the excess water.

Place the damp rice paper sheet on a board (it will continue to soften and become gelatinous) and fill with your choice of ingredients place horizontally across the middle of the sheet. It's worth placing some of the pretty ingredients like mint leaves and sliced chilli on the bottom, so when you roll them up they are visible through the wrapper.

Fold the sides into the middles then roll up from bottom to top, using your fingers to hold all the ingredients inside the wrapper.

Place them on a ceramic or metal plate as they will stick fast to wood or other porous materials as well as each other.

Drizzle over some of the peanut sauce and place a bowl alongside to dip into.