Vietnamese Rice Paper rolls

Over the Christmas/New Year break I went to Vietnam to visit my brother who is living in Hanoi and teaching English. I had a terrific time. I was pretty short on time so only had time in Sapa, in the mountains. Sapa is known as a picturesque trekking town. It is quite cold there (hovered between 0 degrees and 5 degrees) and there was a heavy mist most of the time I was there, which was disappointing because we only had occasional glimpses of the pretty views.

I adore Vietnam. Most of all, I adore the food. The flavours are so fresh and fragrant. There are some great Vietnamese restaurants in Brisbane. I love AJs for a quick and cheap lunch time noodle soup (70 Charlotte Street, Brisbane city). I also love the Vietnamese in Wickham Street for a delicious vegetarian rice paper roll (170 Wickham Street, Fortitude Valley).

I like to make Vietnamese rice paper rolls for dinner - they are pretty easy to throw together after work, healthy (to help me shift my post holiday weight!), cheap and very tasty.

This isn't really a recipe, but more a meal idea.

Rice Paper Rolls with roasted soy chicken

To make the roasted soy chicken (from Bill Granger's Bills Open Kitchen)

150gm fresh ginger, finely sliced

2 tbs caster sugar

125 ml oyster sauce

125 ml Shaoxing rice wine

1 tsp sesame oil

4 chicken breasts

Combine the ginger, sugar, oyster sauce, Shaoxing rice wine and sesame oil in a bowl and stir to combine. Add the chicken, cover with plastic wrap and marinate for at least three hours.

(At this stage, I often freeze a chicken breast or two in a ziplock bag with some of the marinade until I need it. If you are cooking the chicken for the rice paper rolls you will only need 1 chicken breast per two people.)

Preheat the oven to 220degrees Celsius. Sear the chicken with a little oil in a frying pan. Remove the chicken when golden and place on the baking tray. Brush lightly with the marinade and cook for 10 - 12 minutes.

Remove from the oven and cool. When cool, shred the chicken.

To serve the rice paper rolls

Vermicelli noodles, cooked according to the packet (perhaps half a packet per 2 or 3 people)

Carrot, julienned (perhaps 1 carrot per 2 or 3 people)

Cucumber, julienned (perhaps 1 cucumber per 2 or 3 people)

Shredded Vietnamese mint and coriander (half a bunch of each should be enough for 3 people)

Rice paper wrappers (I think each person will eat about 4 wrappers)

Dipping sauce (recipe below)

To serve, place the chicken, noodles, carrot, cucumber and mint and coriander in bowls on the table. Place the rice paper wrappers and a bowl of boiling/hot water on the table.

To serve, soften the rice paper wrappers in the hot water. Place the wet wrapper on the plate and top with a little vermicelli, chicken, cucumber, carrot, mint and coriander, drizzle with dipping sauce. Roll the wrapper up, tucking in the sides.

Enjoy! Messy but yummy.

Dipping sauce

60ml fish sauce

60ml lime juice

2 tbs rice vinegar

1 tbs palm or caster sugar

1 garlic clove, finely chopped

1 large red chilli, seeded and finely chopped

Combine all ingredients in a bowl and stir until the sugar is dissolved

Strawberry Cloud Cake

This cake has turned into my new 'go to' easy dessert. It's very simple to whip up and super yummy. It tastes like a light ice cream. Gorgeous!

I think this recipe is from a TV show called the Free Range Cook.

As far as desserts go, I don't think it's that bad for you. The cake is basically a frozen strawberry meringue made from sugar, egg whites and a punnet of strawberries. I reckon a 23cm springform tin easily yields 12 generous slices and I think each slice has about 215 calories. Not too bad.

I love this cake. I love it so much that when I first discovered the recipe I made a whole cake just for my greedy self and then ate it over a couple of weeks (the cake stores quite well in an air tight container in the freezer).

Strawberry Cloud Cake

For the base

150 gm plain biscuits, crushed to a fine powder (I have used Marie, Granita and Rich Tea and each have worked fine)

1/2 cup coconut (dessicated or flaked is fine)

1.5 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp caster sugar

100 gm butter, melted

For the filling

2 egg whites

1 cup caster sugar

250 gm punnet of strawberries

1tbs lemon juice

1 tsp vanilla essence

Combine all the ingredients for the base in a bowl. The mixture should resemble wet sand. Press the mixture into the bottom of a 23cm lined springform pan. Pop the pan in the fridge while you make the filling.

To make the filling, place all ingredients for the filling in the bowl of a mixmaster. Beat on high for about 5 - 10 minutes. The mixture will become lovely and thick and glossy (like a meringue).

Pour the filling over the biscuit base and cover with gladwrap (I like to pop a rubber band around the gladwrap to make it air tight). Pop the tin in the freezer overnight.

That's it! To serve, remove the tin, place the cake on a plate and prepare to swoon. Yum!

(I usually serve this on its own but I have served this with fresh strawberries adorning the top. I have also made an easy strawberry coulis with fresh strawberries and icing sugar and drizzled that over the top of the cake.)

Food Goals for 2011

Each year I like to come up with some goals for the year. I try to make the goals fun and achievable.

This year, I have also come up with a list of basic foods I want to make which I have never made before. On the list this year:

• Custard;
• Poached eggs; (yep, you read that correctly, I have never poached an egg)
• Hollandaise sauce;
• Cheesecake
• Fresh pasta;
• Ice cream; (I have made this before, but not for a long time)
• Shortbread; (I have made this a couple of times but am yet to emulate my maternal grandmother's FANTASTIC short and dense and crumbly shortbread)
• Panna cotta;
• Creme Brulee;
• Doughnuts; (I made these in 2010 and had a ball, but they definitely need some work)
• Macarons

I am also soon to be the proud owner of a Fowler's Vacola fruit preserver, so preserving fruit is another foodie goal for 2011.

My dodgy looking, but delicious tasting doughnuts from 2010

Christmas Cooking & Happy New Year

Happy New Year little blog!

Forgive me for my long absence.

I had an excellent Christmas. I scored a Cuisinart ice cream maker and a fantastic cook book called the Sono Bakery Cookbook.

Eats wise, we were very spoilt. My mother has a tendency to over cater. This year (meaning Christmas 2010) we had duck, turkey, ham and prawns plus salads, roast vegies and desserts. It was a feast!

I had planned on doing some Christmas baking posts, but alas, was short of time. For now, pictures and a few words will have to suffice.

Cheers to a great year!

Christmas Cake

Christmas Cake with almond icing

Every year my family receive a Kirkston Family Christmas Cake from one of my paternal aunts. It is a family recipe. Before my paternal grandmother passed away, she dutifully made each of her 5 children a Kirkston Family Christmas Cake and Kirkston Family Christmas Pudding. The duty has now fallen to my aunt who does a fantastic job. I have been flagged as the next maker of the Kirkston Family Christmas Cake. In preparation for the auspicious role, I made my first Christmas cakes this year. I used a recipe from Rachel Allen (tweaking it only slightly).

I made the cakes in November and left them to develop until I iced them in an almond paste icing the week before Christmas. I made the cake in a large square tin, and then cut the cake into 4 mini cakes to use as gifts.

Inside the Christmas Cake

Mince Tarts

Pear and Ginger fruit mince for mince tarts.

I made this mince in early November and when I opened the jar on the weekend before Christmas, the flavours had developed nicely. I still have a large jar of this leftover and half an opened jar in the fridge (which I like to dip a teaspoon into occasionally). I think I might make some fruit mince scrolls.

Almond Christmas stars to decorate fruit mince tarts

Other Goodies

Vanilla and lavender butter cake for morning teas with friends

(a good emergency freezer cake)

Christmas Spice biscuits - buttery, thin deliciousness

Salted caramels - I love the contrast between the salty and sweet flavours

Packages of biscuits for colleagues and friends

Croissants for a Christmas breakfast get together (yummy, but need more practice!)