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!

Baked salmon with black pudding

I know the idea of combining fish and black pudding sounds a bit bizarre but they actually compliment each other quite well.
A few weeks ago we went to a food festival in town where we was introduced to an interesting idea-black pudding with scallop. Initially I was wondering if the contrast in texture and taste between salty scallop and rich, fatty black pudding would be too much to take. So we decided to do a dish with fish and black pudding that weekend :D
Ingredients:
2 salmon steaks
breadcrumbs
soft cheese
black pudding
salt + pepper
asparagus: 1 bunch
babycorn: 100gr
lambs lettuce
olive oil + lemon + mixed herbs for dressing

Method:
Preheat oven 200C, season fish with salt and pepper
Fry skin side of salmon steaks for 1 minute then transfer onto a baking tray
Spread enough soft cheese (about half an inch thick) evenly on the two pieces of fish
Sprinkle with breadcrumbs
Bake until done (check after 25-30 mins depending on how thick the steaks are)
Meanwhile, saute asparagus and baby corn with a knob of butter and some herbs, season with salt and pepper
Also, fry 2 slices of black pudding until done

To serve, put a bit of lettuce in the middle of a plate, put the fish on top and then the black pudding slice on top of the fish. Veg can go on the side of the plate and last but not least, drizzle dressing to decorate.

If you're brave enough, try it out and let me know. Enjoy.

I think I'm turing Korean

Foods over the weekend.
1. Tried and tested GALBI from Wandering Chopsticks
Guaranteed to be soft, slightly sweet and juicy. Once you've tried it, I'm sure you'll get addicted to it :D Thanks Wandering Chopsticks for the recipe :D
2. HODDEOK from My Korean Kitchen

These Korean pancakes are lovely treats and the brown sugar, cinnamon and crushed walnuts go together beautifully. Surely will do it again in the near future.
Recipes will be posted tomorrow. Have a good day.

Easy-peasy pasta salad - Nicoise style

I got the inspiration for this dish from a recipe for Salade Nicoise, which basically includes flaked tuna and boil eggs in the ingredients. However, as there was no tuna nor egg in the kitchen, I decided to make my own salad in the same style with different ingredients.
It's super duper easy and since it came from the novice cook's kitchen,it is fool-proof.
Ingredients:
round lettuce
chopped crab/seafood sticks
black olives
chopped tomatoes
cubed hard cheese (I use Cheddar cheese)
cooked and drained pasta (75g for each person) -seasoned with salt and pepper
sliced cucumber
handful of fresh parsley
Vinegairette dressing, made from 2 part white wine vinegar + 1 part of olive oil + 1tbsp honey + pinch of mixed herbs
Coleslaw (you can't see it in the picture because I only remembered to add it after the picture was taken)

Methods:
Wash the lettuce leaves and line them at the bottom of a bowl.
Top with the rest of the ingredients, mix well with vinegairette dressing and coleslaw.
EAT. (Yep, it's that easy)

Enjoy.