Rice paper rolls

It only takes the slightest warm change in the weather for me to start craving rice paper rolls again.

When I make these bad boys, they’re not those dainty little wraps you see in Vietnamese restaurants. I make some absolute whoppers, like, a fatter Chiko roll.  There’s no reasoning behind this, I just get carried away with trying to add as much salad and deliciousness as I can, and then the battle to wrap it successfully begins.

In short though, they’re amazing. When I know they’re on the dinner menu, I get excited all afternoon.

I have popped on two different meat marinades: I interchange them for the meat – pork, chicken or beef. But a simple boiled prawn would also be amazing, as would a simple grilling of the meat with no marinade at all.

Ingredients:

Marinade # 1 – Stickier BBQ flavour

2 garlic cloves, crushed,

1 teaspoon crushed ginger

½ teaspoon crushed chilli (optional)

2 tablespoons soy sauce

1 teaspoon brown sugar

1 tablespoon BBQ sauce

Marinade # 2 – herbier, lighter

10 basil leaves

3 mint leaves

2 garlic cloves, crushed

½ teaspoon crushed chilli (optional)

2 tablespoons soy sauce

Ingredients for the rolls

1 carrot, sliced julienne

1 red capsicum, sliced thinly

Quarter head of lettuce, sliced

Half cucumber, sliced julienne

Large bunch fresh mint leaves

50 grams rice vermicelli noodles, cooked, drained and cooled

Pack of fresh rice paper rolls, ready to be soaked in water

 Hoisin sauce, to serve

Unfortunately (for you guys) I have no method that is easy to describe. I visualise it like a cigar – picture a rectangle in one-third of the circular wrapper that you place all the ingredients onto. And then it’s a matter of folding the short end over it long-ways, then folding the sides over, and then rolling it all the way over.

There is a number of online tutorials, I quite like this one.

This is what my table looks like just before we chow down - salads, mint, chicken, noodles, rice paper wrappers and a tray with warm water to soften the wrappers. 

Stir fried delights

Stir fries are, quite simply, awesome. You can use just about any vegetables or protein and eat it with any kind of carb or no carb at all. My favourite kind of dinner is one that’s quick, fresh, filling and tasty. I also like to know I can have it for lunch the next day, which makes this one even better cos you just cook a bit of rice or noodle to go with it, and it’s all good to go.

This is a basic recipe for a stir fry dinner, keeping in mind that you can use just about vegetable that you want, these are just the ones I prefer.

2 eggs, scrambled with a bit of milk

2 garlic cloves, crushed

1 teaspoon minced ginger

1 teaspoon chilli

1 tablespoon hoisin sauce

1 tablespoon oyster sauce

1 teaspoon fish sauce

4 tablespoons soy sauce

Protein – 1 chicken breast, 150 grams lean red eat, kangaroo, prawns

1 onion, sliced

2 carrots, sliced

1 cup mushrooms, sliced or quartered

½ cup sliced red capsicum

1 cup broccoli

5 asparagus pieces

1 bunch bok choy (or other similar Chinese vegetable)

Choose your carb – rice, quinoa, noodles and get them prepared before you start cooking everything else. If you want this to be a fried rice, it’s best to cook the rice earlier and then cool it in the fridge before adding to the wok.

First, make the omelette which will be put on top of the end meal. Spray the wok with oil, get it nice and hot and make one big omelette, or two smaller ones, and leave to cool on a plate.

Then cook the protein. Slice it thinly and give it a quick fry in the wok, then set aside.

Now for the veges. Spray a wok with a bit of spray oil. Add the chilli, garlic and ginger and fry for a minute before adding the onion and carrot.

Keep stirring for two minutes, then add the broccoli, capsicum and mushrooms and the three sauces, as well as a couple of tablespoons of water if it gets a bit dry. Add your protein back into the wok, as well as any juices.

Cook for a couple of minutes before adding the bok choy and asparagus.

Cook for another minute or two.

Add in the pre-cooked noodles or rice and stir well to heat through.

        - Note: If you’re trying to avoid carbs, this is more than hearty on its own without rice or noodles.

Roll up the omelette/s and slice them. Decorate the finished stir fry with the egg.