Help & Support 02 9161 8036
Welcome Guest

Articles for the Month of December 2020

Vietnamese Meatballs in Tomato Sauce

Posted on 23 Dec, 2020
Vietnamese Meatballs in Tomato Sauce

Tag Line: This is a popular Vietnamese dish. It is made with pork and water chestnut. The juicy meatballs are then braised in tomato sauce. The dish is commonly served with bread roll (banh mi).

Prep time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Total Time: 40 minutes

Serves: 4

1. Finely dice water chestnut and tomato .

2. Finely chop eschalot, brown onion and garlic. Thinly cut shallot for garnish and set aside for later.

3. In a medium bowl, add the pork mince, water chestnut, brown onion, garlic, fish sauce, salt, pepper, sugar and corn starch. Mix together by hand to combine all of the ingredients well. Let this marinate for 30 minutes. 

4. Using your hands, roll the meat into a golf ball size (or you can use ice-cream scoop to keep size consistent). 

5. Place the meatballs into steamer and steam for 10 minutes.                

6. In a medium pot on medium high heat add oil, garlic, eschalot and fry until frangant. Add tomato paste and cook this down. Add the diced tomatoes and mix together. Add water, fish sauce, salt, sugar and chicken powder for seasoning. Bring sauce to boil then reduce the heat to medium low and cook for 5 minutes.

7. Gently add meatballs into the sauce and simmer for 10-15 minutes.

8. To make the sauce thicker, mix 2 teaspoons of corn starch and 1 tbsp water until smooth. Add the mixture to the sauce, combine gently. 

9. Place meatballs into a bowl and sprinkle the top with shallots and some pepper. 

10. Serve with bread roll.
 

Pork Stuffed Tofu In Tomato Sauce

Posted on 23 Dec, 2020
Pork Stuffed Tofu In Tomato Sauce

Tag Line: This dish is easy-to-made side and ideal for family meals. It is made by stuffing pork, mushroom in tofu and then braising in tomato sauce which goes perfectly with steamed rice.

Prep time: 25 minutes

Cook Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 55 minutes

Serves: 4

1. Put the black fungus in warm water for 10 minuntes to hydrate. Chop into small pieces.

2. Chop onion and mince garlic and eschalot finely . Dice tomato.

3. Marinate pork mixture : add pork mince, eschalot, 1/2 garlic, salt, pepper, black fungus together and mix until combined. Marinate for 30 minutes.

4. Slice tofu in half to make a small pocket and slowly stuff the marinated pork in the tofu.

5. Place tofu into steamer and steam for 5-7 minutes.

6. In a pan or wok, add oil bring to medium heat.  Add garlic and onion and cook fry until frangant. Add tomato paste and cook it down, add the diced tomatoes until combined.

7.  Add water, fish sauce, salt, sugar, chicken powder to sauce. Bring sauce to boil, add tofu and reduce the heat to simmer until pork stuffing mixture is  cooked and sauce is reduced.

8. Serve with steamed rice.

Stuffed Bitter Melon Soup

Posted on 01 Dec, 2020
Stuffed Bitter Melon Soup

Prep time: 25 minutes

Cook Time: 1 hour

Total Time: 1 hour and 25 minutes

Serves: 4

1. Soak dried fungus in hot water and mung bean thread in warm water for 10 minutes. Rinse and drain them.  Cut dried black fungus and mung bean thread into small pieces.

2. Finely chop garlic and the white part of the shallots. Slice green part of shallots and coriander for garnish set aside.

3. Cut off the two ends of bitter melon and discard. Cut bittermelon into 5-6cm thick slices and use a small spoon to remove seeds.

4. Chop the pork bones into small pieces. Bring a pot to boil. Add a large pinch of salt. Add the pork soft bone and cook for about 5 minutes to remove all the impurities (this will keep the stock clear). Rinse the bones under cold running water until water runs clear and then drain it.            

5. Marinate the bones with 1/2 tbsp fish sauce, pepper and 1/2 tsp white part of shallots and 1/2 tsp garlic for at least 30 minutes.

6. (Meat Filling) In a large bowl, add pork mince, fish paste, eschalots, 1/2 the garlic and white part of shallots, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/4 pepper, 1/2 tbsp fish sauce, 1/2 tbsp sugar, black fungus  and vermicilli together. Mix well with your hand (this will make the mixture become chewy and have greaat texture). Marinate for 30 minutes.

7. Use a small spoon to stuff the filling into each bitter melon ring. Any left over filling can be rounded into small meat balls.

8. In a medium pot on high heat, add oil and remaining garlic and white part of shallots and fry until fragrant. Add the marinated pork soft bone and stir evenly. Cook for about 1-2 minutes then add water into the pot. Bring to boil and place the stuffed bitter melon and meat balls in. Add remaining raw sugar, fish sauce, salt, pork seasoning powder then cover pot with a lid, simmer on medium low for about 45 minutes or until the stuffed bitter melon are tender.

9. Place soup into a bowl and sprinkle the top with shallots, coriander and some pepper.

10. Serve with rice and main dish.

Vietnamese Beef Noodle with Spring Roll

Posted on 01 Dec, 2020
Vietnamese Beef Noodle with Spring Roll

Prep time: 40 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour

Serves: 4

1. (Pickled carrots) Use the julienne peeler to shred the carrot. In a medium bowl, add sugar, salt, rice vinegar and water. Mix well until the sugar is dissolved and add carrot into the dressing bowl. Let it sit for at least one hour before serving. 

2.(Fish sauce) In a medium bowl, add sugar, boiled water and fish sauce. Mix well until the sugar is dissovled, let it cool down before adding the lemon juice in (otherwise it will taste bitter). Then add chilli and minced garlic. Set aside.

3. Peel the dried leaves and layers of lemongrass and  cut off the root and discard them. Then chop the stalk finely and put in food processor to be grated. Finely chop one eschalot and one clove garlic. Thinly slice shallots and place it into a small bowl with a pinch of salt and pepper. Set aside.                        
4. Thinly slice the beef. Marinate beef with soy sauce, oyster sauce, cooking wine, sesame oil, pepper, chicken powder, 1 teaspoon of sugar and 1/2 teaspoon garlic, lemongrass for at least 1 hour.                        

5. Prepare all the herbs: Washing all the veggies and slice the cucumber into 4cm long and thin pieces. Set aside for later.  

6. Bring a large pot of water to boil. Once water is boiled, add noodles into the pot and cover with lid. Turn the heat off and let the noodles cook for about 8 minutes. Drain and cool under cold water (this will help the noodle not stick together). Set aside.

7. (Fried eschalot) In a small pan on medium low heat, add oil and when it is hot, add eschalot and fry until fragrant and golden brown, then remove the fried eschalot into a small bowl. Set aside.

8. (Shallot oil) Add the already hot eschalot oil into the small shallot bowl (prepared before) and mix well.

9. In medium pan on medium high heat. Add garlic and fry until fragrant, then add beef (dividing the beef in small batches for a more even stirfry) and stir fry beef for about 1 minute. Add brown onion and continue to stir fry for 30 seconds or until just cooked through.

10. Divide the noodles into 4 bowls. Add bean sprouts, salad, pickled carrot and beef and top with fried shallot, shallot oil and roasted peanuts. (add fried spring rolls)

11. Serve with fish sauce.

Stir Fried Squid With Vegetables

Posted on 01 Dec, 2020
Stir Fried Squid With Vegetables

Prep time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 15 minutes

Total Time: 35 minutes

Serves: 4

1. Prepare the squid: Remove the head to detach from the body, pull out the quill and remove the outer skin. Be careful not to break the ink pocket and the eyes.  Clean the squid by placing them in a medium size bowl and massaging salt on them throughly. Rinse and drain. This will get rid of any fishy smells. Cut the squid into rings.

2. Cut pineapple, tomato, brown onion, cucumber into bite-size pieces and chinese celery into 4cm long pieces. Finely chop garlic.

3. In a small pot, add some water in and bring to a boil. Add the squid and pinch of salt, cook for 2 minutes. Rinse the squid under cold water and then drain it.                  

4. In large wok over medium high heat, add oil. Once oil is hot, add garlic and fry until fragrant. Add tomato and cucumber and stir well for 1-2 minutes until they are cooked but still crunchy. Then add squid and pineapple, chinese celery and brown onion. Season with fish sauce, salt and chicken powder.

5. Tranfer to a serving plate and sprinkle the top with some pepper. Serve with rice.                     

Chicken Sticky Rice

Posted on 01 Dec, 2020
Chicken Sticky Rice

Prep time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 40 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour

Serves: 4

1. Wash glutinous rice and soak at least 2 hours before cooking.                                     

2. Finely chop garlic and 1 clove of eschalot. Thinly slice the rest of eschalot and shallot and set aside.                                    

3. In a medium bowl, add chicken, 1 teaspoon of garlic, 1 teaspoon of sliced eschalot, cooking wine, five spice powder, fish sauce and 1 tbsp oyster sauce, sesame oil and 1/2 tbsp sugar. Mix well to combine and let it marinade for 1 hour.

4. Take glutinous rice out and drain well. Add glutinous rice to steamer on medium high heat, add salt and stir evenly. Steam for about 10 minutes. When it turns soft and sticky, add coconut cream into sticky rice and stir evenly to combine and cook for another 5 minutes. Make sure glutinous rice is not too mushy or too dry.

5. (Fried Eschalot) In a saucepan on medium heat, add 1/2 tbsp of oil. Once the oil is heated, add sliced eschalot and fry it. When eschalot turns golden brown, turn off the heat and set aside.                                                                            

6. (Shallot Oil) In a saucepan on medium heat, add the remaning oil. Once the oil is heated, add shallot in and quickly stir for 15 seconds and then add a pinch of salt and pepper. Turn off the heat and set aside.

7. (Sauce) In a small pan on medium heat, add oil, the remaning garlic, chopped eschalot and fry until fragrant. Add soysauce, chilli sauce, oyster sauce, sugar, chicken powder and mix well to combine. Turn off the heat and aside.           

8. Turn oven on 180 degree, grill the chicken for 30 minutes.                                    

9. Remove chicken from the oven and rest it. Then cut chicken into small pieces.

10. Place sticky rice on a plate. Place pate, shallot oil, sauce, fried eschalot and chicken on the top.                                     
 

Vietnamese Sweet and Sour Soup

Posted on 01 Dec, 2020
Vietnamese Sweet and Sour Soup

Prep time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Total Time: 35 minutes

Serves: 4

1. Finely chop garlic and shallots. Peel taro stem. Cut pineapple, okra, taro stem in diagonally intosimilar sized batons. Slice tomato into quartered pieces. Roughly cut herbs for garnish.

2. In a medium pan, add 2 tbsp oil, bring to heat, add 1 tsp of garlic, eschalot until fragrant. Add the fish and cook each side for 2 minutes. Then leave aside.

3. In a medium pot, add 2 tbsp oil. Once hot, add garlic and stir fry in a pot until it turns golden brown. Scoop out the garlic and set aside in a small bowl for garnish. Add 1/2 the amount of tomato in the pot, and stir fry until very tender. Slowly add in chicken stock or water and bring it to a boil.

4. Reduce heat to medium. Add in the remaining 1/2 of tomatoes, pineapple, okra, and cook for 3 minutes until almost soft.

5. Add in basa fillets. Season to taste with tamarind, sugar, fish sauce. Simmer until Basa is cooked through for 3 minutes. 

6. Add in bean sprout, taro stem and cook for another minute then remove from heat. 

7. Serving method: Put veggies first and then place the fish, herb, chilli and fried garlic.

8. Serve with steamed rice.