Chicken in gochujang sauce with rice paper or What I did with Wandering Chopsticks' rice paper

A few months ago I won a prize in a draw and accordingly received two packets of banh trang (rice paper) from Wandering Chopsticks.
The first packet (tapioca rice paper) were gone within a week so I didn't have a chance to take any photos...
OK I admit that's a lie. Truth is, I haven't rolled rice paper for a wee while so my expertise has gone downhill. My practice rolls were either so fat that the fillings burst out half way or too thin that there is virtually no fillings at all. Besides, the hubby kept laughing at my attempt of making a decent roll to be photographed so I thought I'd rather wait until I make a photograph-able decent-ish roll.

This lunch time, whilst browsing for recipes, an idea came to my mind. I love Korean food and obviously Vietnamese food, why not combine the two and make a fusion.

So this is what I came up with.

Recipe for dakgalbi (chicken in gochujang sauce) was inspired by Sue from My Korean Kitchen's dakgalbi


Sue's recipe includes sesame leaves and rice cake, which can only be found in Korean shop so I came up with my own adapted version of dakgalbi

Sauce:
Gochujang - 2tbsp
Water - 2tbsp
Sugar - 1/2 tbsp
Chopped Garlic - 1 clove
Honey - 1tbsp
Soy sauce - 1tsp

Mix all ingredients together and leave aside

Ingredients (for 1)
Chicken breast - 1, sliced into thin strips
Chinese cooking wine - 1tbsp
Assorted veg - anything you fancy really, I use 1 courgette, 1 stick of celery, 1 carrot, all chopped into thin strips
Lettuce and mixed herbs (I use mint and coriander from the garden)

Method:
Marinate chicken in cooking wine, a pinch of salt and pepper and set aside for 15 minutes
Mix sauce with chicken.
Turn heat on medium high, pour 1tbsp olive oil into a pan, pour chicken and sauce in the pan, stir and put lid back on for 5 mins
Stir again after 5 minutes to make sure chicken pieces are not stuck to the bottom of the pan and put lid back on for another 5 mins.
Mix veg in the pan with a splash of water and stir fry until done (should take a couple more minutes max.)

Serve with hot rice or you can make it into cigar-shaped rolls like I do (a layer of lettuce and mixed herbs then chicken on top, roll it and dip in the sauce from the pan)

Maybe it's a case of 'grass is greener on the other side', I don't know, I still think W.C's banh trang taste much better than the ones I bought.
So thank you for your generosity ($11 postage doesn't go to waste I did promise you). Now that I can make a decent roll I shall attempt at some other rice paper dishes in the near future.
For now...good night and enjoy!

Fried Rice with Hot Dog, Carrot and Kimchee

This is a cross between Fried rice with hot dogs and Fried rice with kimchee and spam
Both recipes are fromWandering Chopsticks

The hubby was very reluctant to eat hot dog with rice (It's just not right - he said). I, on the other hand, am not as fussy.

This dish is handy for Friday night when your fridge is likely to be empty (or when you're skint at the end of the month and you have to make do with what you have in the cupboard)

Ingredients:

Cooked rice (enough for 2 - sorry I hardly ever measure rice)
1 carrot - diced
1 onion - chopped
kimchee (as much as you like really)
8 4 hot dogs (or 8 mini dogs)- chopped into bite-size pieces (Am I being greedy here???)
1 egg

Method:
Heat 1tbsp oil, throw diced carrot and onion and hot dog pieces into the wok. Fry for a few minutes.
Season with a bit of salt and pepper.
Put the cooked rice in the wok and mix thoroughly for a few minutes, take care not to let it stick onto the bottom.
Make a well in the middle of the wok and crack an egg into it, then mix together with the rest of the ingredients in there for a few minutes.
Lastly, put kimchee in, mix together and serve hot.

Enjoy!

"Basic Vietnamese Marinade for Chicken or Pork"

Inspired by Wandering Chopsticks' own recipe

My ingredients: (pretty much the same except for ginger and five spice)

Fish sauce

Soy sauce

White wine vinegar

Sugar

Salt and pepper

five spice

chopped ginger (about 1-2tsp)

My method:

Unlike W.C, I didn’t really wash the chicken pieces. Instead I rinsed them quickly with a bit of cooking wine before cooking.

I initially dumped into the pot 1tbsp fish sauce, 1tbsp soy sauce, 1tbsp white wine vinegar, 1tsp sugar, 1tsp chilli power, a pinch of salt and pepper, ½ inch chopped ginger and 1tsp five-spice powder.

Then I stirred all the ingredients together with the chicken and put the lid on for 10mins.

I also added 1tbsp of water to make it easier to stir. Then I put the lid back for another 10mins.

When the liquid started thickening, I test-tasted it and added another tbsp white wine vinegar, 1tsp of sugar (I like the sweet taste), ½ tbsp of soy sauce and around ¼ cup of water, mixed it all together and take the lid off.

Then I turned the heat down 1 notch and just wait until the meat is cooked and the sauce’s consistency is that of thick gravy.

I wasn’t so sure at first if the ginger would be too overpowering for this dish but it seemed to blend it splendidly with the rest of the ingredients.

The thick and well-flavoured sauce is indeed lovely to be spooned onto steamed rice. I particularly like this dish because it is so tasty and more importantly, so straight forward it is almost definitely fool-proof (which is ideal for the novice cook).

As you can see mine doesn't look as glossy as W.C's (see below) but it still tastes pretty good.

So there you go. Once again my thank-you goes to Wandering Chopsticks .

Enjoy :D

Suon nuong xa - Pork chops grilled with lemongrass

Please ignore the colourful rice and the steamed mange tout. I was feeling a bit too adventurous at the time and only found out when I tasted it that sometimes things just don't go together. Admittedly this dish is much better served with white rice and lightly stir-fried veg e.g. pak choi saute with garlic.
The pork (1 chop) was marinated with:
1 stick of lemongrass -chopped
1 tbsp fish sauce
1 tbsp sugar
salt + pepper
1 tsp chilli paste
1 spring onion - chopped

Method:
-Crush lemongrass and chopped spring onion into a rough paste using a pestle and mortar. Add fish sauce, sugar, chilli paste, salt and pepper and marinate the chop in the fridge for at least 1 hour.
-Either grill or shallow fry until done.
Here is a close up picture:


I don't know why but the pork turned out to be very tender and full of flavour. The fragrant smell of lemon grass is simply irresistible. I'm thinking of doing another batch for our BBQ this saturday.
A very similar recipe can be found at Playing with my food
To my surprise, I found out that lemongrass is actually a herb, which can be used not only in cooking but also in drinking. The oil extracted from lemon grass can also be used in treating athlete's foot and back pain. More wonderful information about lemon grass can be found here
This is also my entry for this week's Weekend herb Blogging , which is sponsored by Kalyn from Kalyn's kitchen and hosted this week by Ulrike from Kuchelatein .

Blanketed Rice

This bizarre dish is a cross between teczcape 's Tom Yum Rice ...

...and My Korean Kitchen's omelette rice


The delightful result looked like this:
a> WITHOUT THE OMELETTE

b> WITH THE OMELETTE

The only exceptions with the Tom Yum rice were that beans were replaced by cauliflowers, prawns were chopped instead and chopped shitake mushrooms and tomatoes were also included.
This dish is filling enough to make a substantial meal on its own. Thanks to teczcape and My Korean Kitchen for giving us such nice ideas.

Herbed chicken in cider

Not only yummy but also nutritious.
The chicken pieces are fried lightly in butter till golden, then mushrooms are thrown into the pot and it is then seasoned with salt, pepper, mixed herbs and simmered in chicken stock and cider for a good hour. Meanwhile, the rice grains are coated with vegetable oil and cooked with chicken stock in the normal method. Side veg i.e. seasonal asparagus spears are saute' in butter/olive oil and season with salt and pepper.
I love slow cooking method as all flavours and spices can incorporate into the food and it is more rewarding to eat something after waiting impatiently for a little while.
As usual, recipe will only be posted if a) I feel like it or b) somebody asks for it.
Also, due to a mini economic recession, the novice cook will have to plan her weekly meals ahead and there will limited trips to China Town supermarkets :sigh: Therefore in the next few weeks or so the food will be pretty basic (erhmm, actually the novice cook's foods have always been basic).Hopefully the novice cook will still find something interesting enough to write about:D

First-time donburi

Apparently donburi is a bowl of rice served with one or various toppings. Inspired by Cooking Cute, I decided to make my own donburi today. I didn't expect much but it came out quite nicely. The only thing is that I had a heap of dishes to wash afterwards.
The picture is from Cooking Cute website as my camera was playing up and I couldn't take a picture (:D honest, It's not because my dish is c**p). As I didn't have ground beef (or more precisely, I have to save the ground beef for the hubby's tea tonight) ;I replaced it with dried tofu sheet, which is similar in the way that it's another source of protein. The crispy texture of mange tout goes perfectly well with the soft scrambled egg and saute'd tofu. I also added sliced shitake mushrooms sauted in oyster sauce and soy sauce as I absolutely adore shitake mushrooms. After all, I topped it with a bit of gochujang (another confession, I am also addicted to gochujang) and mix everything together (steamed mange tout, shitake mushroom, scrambled egg and sauted tofu and of course, steaming hot rice.).
Hang on a minute, it tastes too similar to bibimbap. Now I'm confused, what is the difference between bibimbap and donburi then? Maybe I altered the recipe too much it has turned from Japanese food to Korean food with a Chinese twist. Or maybe I'm a novice cook after all and I can't tell the difference between Korean and Japanese food. Oh well, whatever, as long as it tastes nice, it's worth my effort.