Recipes - Beef Noodle Salad

Want a delicious flavoursome salad that's a bit different?  Look no further.  I love Asian flavours but am not overly experienced with Asian cooking so I loved the simplicity of this dish.  The dressing is a perfect example of the four key asian flavours; sweet, sour, salty and spicy. 

Ingredients

400g beef rump steak

1 tbs soy sauce

1 tsp sesame oil

1 tbs ginger, finely grated

1 clove garlic, crushed

250g bean thread vermicelli noodles (glass noodles)

1 bunch baby bok choy, halved or quartered

1/2 cup coriander

1/4 cup Vietnamese mint

1/4 cup mint

1 long red chilli, thinly sliced (seeds and pith may be removed to reduce spiciness)

2 limes, juiced

1/4 cup fish sauce

1 tbs palm sugar, finely shaved 

1 tbs sesame seeds

Step 1 - Combine soy sauce, sesame oil, ginger and garlic in a ceramic or glass bowl and whisk to combine.  Place beef in bowl and turn a few times to coat.  Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes, turning once.

Step 2 -  Drizzle a grill pan with a little olive oil and heat over high.  Grill beef for 2-5 minutes each side, depending on thickness of cut and how you like your beef cooked.  Remove from heat and set aside for five minutes to rest.

Step 3 - Bring a full kettle of water to the boil. Place boky choy and noodles in a large bowl and pour boiling water over.  Cover and sit for two minutes, then drain and return noodles and bok choy to the bowl. 

Step 4 - Lightly toast sesame seeds in a dry pan or under an overhead grill. Set aside.

Step 5 - Place chilli, lime juice, fish sauce and palm sugar in a small bowl and whisk until combined.  Pour over noodles.

Step 6 - To serve, slice beef into thin strips and add to noodles along with herbs.  Toss until combined and transfer to serving dishes.  Sprinkle with toasted sesame seeds.

Asian Cuisine

I'm the first to admit that Asian Cuisine is not something I am overly familiar with.  For this reason, I have decided to learn as much as I can about Asian Cuisine this summer.  Everything from Chinese, Japanese, Malaysian, Korean, Thai, Vietnamese, Indonesian and Indian.  


While it is not going to be my sole focus, I want to inject more of an Asian flavour to my blog over the warmer months and lose my fear of creating beautiful, balanced Asian dishes.  I'll post all my fails and wins.  Wish me luck!

Recipes - Thai Beef Salad

I love Thai beef salad!  I could eat it every day and never get sick of it.  It's so fresh and vibrant and spicy and bursting with flavour.  Thai food, like most Asian cuisine, is all about balance; the key elements being salty, sweet, sour and spicy.   While the amount of chilli used can be altered to suit your taste, when making the dressing ensure you adjust the other flavours by the merest drop in between tasting.  

Ingredients

2 limes, juiced

1 1/2 tbs shaved palm sugar

2 tbs fish sauce

2 tsp sesame oil

1 tsp soy sauce

1 clove garlic, crushed

1/2 tbs ginger, finely grated

1 long red chillies (optional)

600g beef rump steak, trimmed of fat and sinew 

1 bunch mint, leaves removed

1 bunch coriander, leaves removed

1/2 bunch Thai basil, leaves removed

1 punnet cherry tomatoes, halved

1 cucumber, halved and sliced thinly

Step 1 - To make the dressing, place lime juice, palm sugar, fish sauce, sesame oil, soy sauce, garlic and ginger in a bowl and whisk til combined.

Step 2 - Place the beef in a container or a new bowl, pour half the dressing over, cover and refrigerate for 1-2 hours.  Set the remaining dressing aside.

Step 3 - Heat a grill pan or BBQ hot plate on high until it is very hot.  Reduce heat to medium and cook beef for 2-5 minutes each side, depending on thickness of beef and how you prefer your beef cooked.  Once cooked, set aside to rest for 5 minutes.

Step 4 - While beef is resting, combine herbs, tomatoes and cucumber in a bowl.  Take the long red chilli and slice thinly on a diagonal. Place in bowl with salad and toss lightly with your fingers. Distribute between two serving dishes.  Slice beef thinly and lay on top of salad.  Drizzle with dressing and serve immediately. 

Notes:


To ensure this dish remains gluten free check that your soy sauce and fish sauce are gluten free.  Even for those who do not need to remove gluten from their diet, gluten free fish and soy sauces are as good if not better than the same products that contain gluten.  

Sapa Modern Vietnamese - Wamberal, NSW

I've always wanted to visit Sapa Modern Vietnamese and have driven past the restaurant many many times.  So I was really excited when a friend of mine suggested we go there for dinner.  I spoke to a few people who have been there and they all gave it rave reviews so my expectations were high and my anticipation was higher (so much so I was ready to go 45 minutes before I had to leave).

When I walked in, I was instantly greeted by three super friendly and efficient staff members who greeted me, showed me to my table, gave me a menu, filled me glass with water and asked me how my day was.  As my friend was waiting for me, we spend half an hour catching up before we even looked at the menu.

We decided to order four dishes and share...because there are no calories in Vietnamese food, or there's no calories when you're sharing, or something like that.  As my friend is pescetarian (a vegetarian who eats seafood) we ordered the Prawn Salad, Vietnamese Crispy Pancake, Prawn Pad Thai and Tamarind Soft Shell Crab.  The meals were served as separate courses as opposed to banquet style so we were there for about three hours, which was fine as we had lots of catching up to do!

The Prawn Salad was a beautiful combination of mint, coriander, tomato, cucumber, spanish onion, and sliced red chilli sprinkled with dried shrimp.  The salad dressing was beautifully balanced being sweet, sour, salty and slightly spicy.  The prawns were HUGE and there were a lot of them.

All in all, this salad was delicious, fresh and flavoursome.  The perfect way to start the dining experience.

The second dish to arrive on our table was the Vietnamese Crispy Pancake.  The pancake itself is a crispy coconut and turmeric flavoured rice pancake and was very light, both in flavour and texture.  We asked for the filling to be sans chicken, so it came with prawns, bean shoots and shallots.  Served with a sweet chilli dressing, this is not something I would typically order, and more fool me because it's really good. 

Next was our Prawn Pad Thai. This was different to the Pad Thai you see in Thai restaurants as the rice noodles were coated in a darker, sweeter soy sauce.  Packed full of big prawns and bean shoots and serve with a smattering of crushed peanuts and dried shrimp.  The wedge of lemon on the side was perfect and added another layer of complexity to the flavours when drizzled over the top.  I'm going out on a limb here, but I think this is better than Thai Pad Thai.

Lastly was the Tamarind Soft Shell Crab. OH MY!  This was one of the most delicious meals I have ever eaten. Ever.  Soft tender crab, with a crispy fried coating, flavoured with tart tamarind.  Served on a small salad (which was left forgotten) this dish was the highlight of the evening.  Sorry I didn't get a photo, the lighting was insufficient when it was served.  

Located on Ocean View Drive at Wamberal, if you haven't been to Sapa Modern Vietnamese WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?  I would recommend booking a table as it was packed when we were there and from what I've heard that is the norm.  For more information, call them on (02) 4385 8808 or visit their website.

Recipes - Baked Spring Rolls

Lots of research went into this recipe as I spend hours trawling over spring roll recipes to see how people do it.  I'd always wanted to make spring rolls, but never really put much thought into it until my daughter insist she serve them at her 5th birthday party.  As I was making them with kids in mind, I opted for a healthier baked vegetable spring roll packed full of flavour.  But they're not just for the kids, they'll be loved by all.

Ingredients

1 x 20 pkt spring roll wrappers 

1/2 wombok, roughly chopped

100g vermicelli noodles

2 carrot, pelled and julienned

1 celery stalks, finely chopped

2 clove garlic, crushed

1 x 5cm knob ginger, peeled & finely grated

6 shallots, end trimmed and finely sliced

2 cups been shoots

2 tbs oystery sauce

1 tsp soy sauce

1 tsp sesame oil

sweet chilli sauce to serve

Step 1 - Preheat oven to 220°C.  Grease and line two baking trays.

Step 2 - Place noodles in a large bowl and cover with boiling water.  Stand for 5 minutes, drain and return to bowl.

Step 3 - While noodles are standing, heat 1tbs olive oil in a large frying pan over high heat.  Add garlic, carrot, celery, shallots and wombok.  Cook for 3-4 minutes, tossing occasionally.

Step 4 - Add ginger and been shoots, toss and cook for a further 1 minute.  Remove from heat and add to bowl with drained noodles.

Step 5 - Add oyster sauce, soy sauce and sesame oil.  Combine well and leave to cool.  Remove spring roll wrappers from freezer and allow to thaw.

Step 6 - When wrappers are thaw, place between a damp tea towel to avoid drying.  Carefully peel a wrapper from the stack and place on a clean dry work surface.  Place about 1-2 tbs of mixture across the middle on a diagonal.  fold sides in and roll tightly.  Place in baking tray and repeat with remaining wrappers and mixture.

Step 7 - Spray with a  little olive oil and bake for 20-25 minutes, until golden and crisp. Serve with sweet chilli sauce.

Notes:

Spring roll wrappers are very delicate and require a lot of care and patience as they tear very easily.  When peeling a wrapper from the stack, keep your hand close to the stack and keep the wrapper taunt, peeling slowly and firmly.  Funnily enough, do not worry if you 'scrunch' the wrapper, as they unfold to be perfectly flat.

I tried a few ways of rolling these; fat and short, long and skinny, 1 tbs filling, 2 tbs filling, etc. I found the best way is the make them like a cigar, that is, spread the filling in a thin line almost to the edge of the wrapper and roll a tight, long, skinny roll, as pictured above and in the diagram to the right.

While I have labelled this as a vegetarian dish, some oystery sauces are not vegetarian friendly, so please check ingredients before use.

Spring Rolls can be made to the end of Step 6 and frozen in an air tight container between layers of baking paper for up to one month.  Remove spring rolls from freezer and continue from step 7, no need to thaw! 

Chinta Ria - Cockle Bay, NSW

Day two of my Sydney visit and lunch was at Chinta Ria, the temple of love and yes, I am in love with Chinta Ria!  Located on the roof terrace in Cockle Bay on Sussex St, between the imax and the aquarium, Chinta Ria offers fresh and interesing Malaysian cuisine.  A funky round building with both indoor and outdoor dining, friendly, young and energetic staff and brightly coloured, retro serving ware.  

A giant gold Buddha greets you on your entry and holds prime position in the centre of the large dining room.  The Chinta Ria philosophy is joy, peace and love, which really does permeate through the entire restaurant.  The kitchen is in full view and very clean (always a good thing) and the bathrooms are funky and very clean (also a good thing).  

The five menus were a little overwhelming so I pushed them all towards my dining companion and asked them to order for both of us!  That was a smart decision... 

We started with parker's gems and something else that was delicious.  The parker's gems are minced chicken with coriander, potato, noodles and spices, lightly battered and deep fried - an absolute powerhouse of flavours with a lovely texture.  The something else that was delicious were little squishy parcels, made from fish and packed full of flavour.  Sorry for not knowing what these are called.  I will have to go back and order them again so I definitely remember what they are! 

Our first main was a beef dish and again, many apologies, but I missed the name of this one too.  It was delicious and the beef was very tender with crisp fried vegetables in a beautiful sweet soy sauce.  This was served with rice and steamed veggies.

The other main, and my personal favourite of the day, was Toby's Pepper Bird.  Pan fried chicken fillet pieces flavoured with lemongrass, chili and garlic.  It was incredibly flavoursome without being 'burn your mouth spicy'. This was also served with rice and steamed veggies. 

Overall, this dining experience was amazing and somewhere I will be dining again.  For more information, visit their website.