Thai Chicken Noodle Salad

Here is a nice and easy recipe for busy people. I understand how tiring it could be to prepare dinner after a long day of work. As a solution, I always try to prepare dishes that require a small number of ingredients as possible.

I got this recipe a while ago from a cooking demo held in Westfield Eastgardens, 10 mins drive from our place. We tasted the dish and Thu said "Let's cook this tonight!!". Just a reminder that Thai sweet chilli sauce has so much sugar in it. If you're diabetic, please reduce the amount of the sweet chilli sauce.

Ingredients:

• half pack of Wai Wai noodle
• basil leaves (chopped thinly)
• 2 tbs olive oil
• a pinch of salt and pepper
  
• 2 chicken thigh fillets (cut into strips)
• 2 tbs Thai sweet chilli sauce
  
• 0.5 lemon
• 200 grams long green beans (cut into small pieces)

Salad dressing for noodle:

• 3 tbs soy sauce
• 1.5 tbs sesame oil

Preparations:

1. Boil noodle for 2-3 min, then drain. If noodle are too long, chop them with scissors before adding the salad dressing.
2. Toss the noodles in a bowl with sesame oil, soy sauce and chopped basil leaves.
   
3. Heat olive oil on the wok, add chicken thigh fillets, salt and pepper. Stir fry until they are fully cooked. Add Thai sweet chilli sauce, lemon juice and long green beans. Cook for maximum 3 mins. The green beans should be crunchy.
4. Serve the chicken with green beans on top of the noodles and garnish with basil leaves.
   

Kue Kaastengel (Indonesian cheese cookies)

Kaastengel is known as a savory cookie in Indonesia. I got the recipe from my mum and surprisingly it uses frozen Parmesan cheese as the trick to make kaastengels crunchy. I have been baking this many times. Only require a few ingredients and very easy to bake. Patience is needed to shape the cookie dough into nice long strips. But, the result is very rewarding.

Ingredients:

• 25 gram salt-reduced margarine
• 150 gram unsalted butter (softened at room temperature)
• 150 gram frozen parmesan shredded cheese
• 225 gram plain flour (sifted)
• 2 egg yolks

For finishing step:

• 1 egg yolk
• 50 gram frozen parmesan shredded cheese

Preparation:

1. Cream butter and margarine with egg yolks using a mixer until it is soft and fluffy.
2. Add sifted flour. Mix well with a spatula.
3. Add frozen parmesan cheese.
4. Shape the dough into long strips by rolling (see photos below).
5. Brush the strip with egg yolk and add more parmesan cheese on each strip (see photos below). 
6. Bake at 180 C degrees for 20 mins or until slightly golden.

 

 

 

Vietnamese Fresh Spring Rolls (Banh Trang)

During the first visit of my mother in law to our place in Sydney, I specifically asked her to show me how to prepare banh trang. It is not difficult and the sauce is the key ingredient in this dish. Thu and I slightly modified the recipe based on our preference of omelette, chicken rather than pork, and we add extra lemon and roasted peanuts to the sauce.

This is our signature dish when we invite friends to come over. As I am Indonesian and Thu is Vietnamese, I love to introduce this dish to my Indonesian friends. They always had fun make their own spring rolls on the dining table. If you have some guests over to your place during spring/summer and want to have a healthy dish. I suggest you to try this. I guarantee you'll be the star!!

Salad Ingredients:

• half chicken breast fillet 
• 15 green prawns
  
• 2 eggs
  
• a handful of bean sprouts
• a range of Vietnamese herbs (Vietnamese basil, Vietnamese garlic chives, mint leaves)
• Lettuce
• 1 pack of dongguan rice vermicelli
• 1 pack of banh trang rice paper (round shape)
  
• 1 big bowl of boiling water
  

Sauce Ingredients:

• 5 tbs Tung Chun brand hoisin sauce
• 2 tbs white sugar
• 2 freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 0.5 cup chicken broth from the boiled chicken breast
• 2 tbs roasted granulated peanuts (buy granulated peanuts from any supermarkets and place them in the oven for 3 mins or until slightly golden)

Preparation:

1. Boil the chicken breast fillet with water in a small pot. Add a pinch of salt and pepper. When the chicken is cooked, take it out to cool. Run the chicken broth through a filter and use 0.5 cup of the broth for the sauce. Cut chicken breast fillet into thin strips (about 3cm x 6cm).
   
2. Remove the prawn shells and cut sideways in half. Pan fry the prawns with a small amount of olive oil. Add a pinch of salt and freshly ground blackpepper.
3. Using 2 eggs to make a thin omelette. Cut into strips.
4. Wash all the vegetables. Cut lettuce in half so that they can fit nicely in the spring rolls. Separate herb leaves on the plate as some guests may not like certain type of herbs.
5. Boil vermicilli in hot water for 5-7 mins, wash with cold water for 30 sec, then drain for 20 mins.
6. Once the sauce is made, put 4 tbs of sauce into a number of small bowls based on how many people you are serving.
   
7. When the salad and sauce are ready, boil water using kettle. Transfer the hot water into a big bowl and locate it in the center of the dining table so that everyone can use it for their rice papers.
   
8. Dip the rice paper in hot water. Place it on your plate. Add a small amount of vermicelli, 2 strips of chicken/2 pieces of prawn, 1 or 2 pieces of omelette and different herbs. 
9. Roll the rice paper with all ingredients into a spring roll shape. Eat it with the sauce.
   

Tangy Mango Frozen Yoghurt

I remember that we specifically bought a small grocery trolley last summer so that we can use it to buy mangoes in Paddy's market. Going to Paddy's market is so much fun, we got to walk from our place to there about 40 mins. Then, enjoy the shopping and everyone got so annoyed with our trolley. Hahaha... Paddy's market is always packed. Soon, we will be going to Paddy's market every weekend. As one of Thu's favorite fruits, I always try to stock up mangoes in the fridge. So he can enjoy them anytime.


I had been asked many times to make mango frozen yoghurt and I finally did it. The result was very satisfying. I honestly hate yoghurt. In my opinion, its after-taste is quite funny in my mouth. But, this frozen yoghurt tastes nothing like what I expected. If you have an ice-cream maker, try this. It's healthy as I reduced the amount of sugar and very very tasty!! Serve with fresh mango slices, roasted almond flakes and mint leaves. It looks very entertaining.

This recipe makes about 1 litre.

Ingredients:

• 2 medium mangoes, peeled and sliced
• 1/4 cup of freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 3/4 cup of freshly squeezed orange juice
• 1/4 cup caster sugar
• 250 gram plain yoghurt
• 2 tbs rum essence
  

Preparation:

1. Put the sliced mangoes and sugar into a juicer. Blend them until smooth.
2. Add squeezed lemon and orange into the juicer. Blend them until well combined.
3. Pour everything out from the juicer into a big bowl, mix in the plain yoghurt and rum. This takes about 5 mins to stir until the colour is uniform enough.
4. Pour the content into the ice cream maker based on the manufacturer's directions.
5. Serve with sliced mangoes, roasted almond flakes and mint leaves.
   

Dark Chocolate Sorbet

I recently made this dark chocolate sorbet and the result was surprisingly good. It tastes like the chocolate sorbet from gelato shops. For all ice-cream lovers, I suggest you to have an ice-cream maker at home.

When I was about to buy this kitchen appliance, I thought what if I only use this ice-cream maker once or twice a year. Will it be a waste of space in the kitchen and money to spend?  I was also thinking if I would be overloaded with ice cream after having too excited with ice-cream recipes. Anyway, I bought Crazy Scoops from Breville Factory outlet in Redfern for $45 with 12 month-warranty. Trust me, you can make healthier desserts when you have your own ice-cream maker. You can make fresh fruits sorbets (no cream, no egg yolks) and frozen yoghurts with reduced amount of sugar (based on your preference). I also reduced the recipe to half the amount to avoid having chocolate-overdosed.

The recipe that I tried is from " Pareve Chocolate Sorbet" Recipezaar website. It has high-rating reviews and definitely worth to try if you are a dark chocolate lover.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup cocoa (Blooker Cocoa or any unsweetened Holland cocoa)
• 3/4 cup sugar (I used 1/2 cup sugar)
• 2 1/2 cups water
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Preparation:

1. In a saucepan, heat cocoa, sugar and water. Keep stirring until the mixture boils.
2. Turn the heat off and add vanilla.
3. Chill the mixture in the fridge for 2 hours.
4. Put into the ice cream maker for 30 minutes or until the texture is smooth.
5. Keep the sorbet in the freezer for 1 hour, then serve with fresh fruits and some dark chocolate flakes (I used vegetable peeler to make some choc flakes from Lindt dark chocolate bar).
   

Vietnamese Sour Fish Soup (Canh Chua Ca)

 I firstly had this Vietnamese dish in one of the restaurants in Footscray, Melbourne. I love the taste of pineapple and tamarind in the soup. I tried the recipe from "Wandering Chopsticks" cooking blog and it is very authentic. Just make sure that you have to go to Vietnamese grocery store to buy all the herbs before you cook this dish. I usually go to Marrickville and can easily find everything there.



I have had so many funny experiences when I tried to ask for some herbs in Vietnamese language and the shopkeepers looked blankly at my face. Thu just couldn't stop laughing at my 'go' for Vietnamese!

Ingredients:

• 1 medium-sized barramudi fish (cut into 4-5 pieces)

• 3 pieces of celery stems or bac ha (sliced on the diagonal)

• 3 stalks lemongrass (bruised and cut to several pieces)

• 2 tomatoes (cut into medium-sized pieces)

• 1 handful of bean sprouts

• 1 can of pineapple slices (drain)

• 10 okra pods (cut each into 3 pieces)

• 1 clove garlic (crushed)

• a small bunch of rau ram (Vietnamese spiky coriander) (cut thinly)
  

• a small bunch of ngo om (Vietnamese rice paddy herb) (cut thinly)
  

• 0.5 pack of tamarind soup base (Knorr)

• 2 tbs fish sauce

• 2 cups of water

• 2 tbs lemon juice
  

• salt (based on taste)
  

• pepper (based on taste)
  

Preparation:

1. Add a small amount of oil to your pot. Stir-fry the garlic and lemon grass until fragrant.
2. Add water to the pot. Then add the tamarind soup base powder, fish sauce, salt, pepper, celery, pineapple and tomatoes.
3. Wait until the soup is boiling, add the fish pieces to the soup.
4. When the soup is boiling for the second time, add okra pods, rau ram, ngo om, beansprout and lemon juice. 
5. Taste it before serving, see if the sourness is balanced in the soup. If not, add more salt/fish sauce.