Weight gain was inevitable...

I tell myself this because I've gotten lazy... I still eat out quite a bit. Yet I haven't posted up anything for a long time - Facebook is detrimental to my food blog. I post it on FB and then I forget about updating Blogger, let alone keep up with my Urbanspoon account. My silly little iPhone is filled with photos of food, even the once I've cooked/tried out. (e.g. Cumulus Inc. does Brussel Sprouts soooo delicious... so I tried it for myself - my variation is obviously not up to that sort of standard but friends have given positive reviews). Speaking of which I have Brussel sprouts at home, that might be tonight's re-hash dish and I'll post it.

I've had 2 more short holidays since going away to Melbourne in the last two months - Dunsborough & Margaret River so there's food reviews coming for those areas too. Gods, that's quite a backlog. Not to mention Matsumo Japanese Omakaze!

Ok enough tantalising prospects of food, more "healthy eating". I have gained at least 4 kg - no I did not weight myself, I can tell when my favourite skirts get a bit tighter around the waist line. *sigh* So instead of "eating", I'm going to focus on "making". See my Thermomix blog for cooking stuff - which I will keep posting.

Oh and my friend introduced me to iPad app games... I have such an addictive personality - was soooo late for work this morning. Ok I overslept too but that was because I was working on a baking project (which will be posted here after the weekend). It's a surprise... *GRINS*

Chinese Spring Rolls (Vg, Cheat)

I need to provide images for brand / image. Basically, VHT in Perth stocks mini-spring rolls. Approx. $12 a packet - enough to feed a small army definitely over 80 in a packet. This is much cheaper than your supermarkets faux Asian spring rolls.

How to cook:
Shall fry in vegetable or olive oil.
Dry out on papertowel or baking rack to remove excess oil.
Serve on platters with sweet chilli sauce or whatever condiments you like. I wouldn't suggest soy sauce - it would be too salty.

Takes less than 2 mins to fry up a batch.

Taste test: 5 out of 5 Stars. (It's the deep fried goodness, convenience and passes the Asian taste test - my traditional Chinese parents even liked it without criticising so that says something.)

I used star anise/peppercorn infused olive oil for shallow frying in a wok. Just pop a star anise and some Szechuan Peppercorns into oil as you're heating it. You can also add cloves for added spice flavouring.

Picture: unavailable (I made it and then forgot to take photos. Will do another batch and take photos.)

Vietnamese Rice Paper Rolls (GF, Vg)

For New Year's eve, I made Vietnamese Rice Paper Rolls (GF, Vg). I've never made this before - it looks easy... requires delicate touch and timing (which I sadly lack the skills for).

Like my mother, I never make anything with 'set measurements' and over-cater dramatically. So the following are the ingredients I prepared to use:

• 5 medium sized Carrots (almost julienne, my knife skills are not that great)
• 3 Capsicums (almost julienne, ok they were really chunky strips)
• 1/2 large red / Spanish Onion (almost julienne.)
• Dried Chinese mushrooms (they look like mini-shitakes, rehydrate with water overnight is best. And julienne if you have the skills.)
• 6-8 large Prawns (steamed / boiled & peeled)
• Roast Chicken - breast meat (I torn the strips - you may like to chop/slice them if you wanted to use a knife, it's more cathartic to tear it apart.)
• Vermicelli (I used green bean vermicelli. It has a more chewy texture and doesn't fall apart if left soaking in water when prepared in advance.)
• 1 kg Bean sprouts (I didn't use all of this, I barely used 250g on hindsight - but the rest can always be used in soups, noodles, stir-fries or salads.)
• Snowpea sprouts (I like these for the taste and colour.)
• 1 pkt Tofu puffs (ok this is not really the brand I used, just a picture to show you what they look like. I googled Tofu puffs and this fellow blogger's photo came up. I'm sure they have a proper name, but what would you call something that's like fried tofu but puffy!)
• a bunch of Coriander (use leaves and thin stems, large ones cut off and set aside for other uses.)
• 3 pkts 22cm Vietnames rice paper roll sheets (approx 15 sheets per packet, I used 2 packets - there are cracks/breakages if you're a first timer, so extra is recommended.)
• miso paste (I used this to add salt flavour to the rolls. Generally, this is additive free. Please check packaging as some may contain gluten or if you use a miso soup base - it may contain bonito - which is made from dried fish!)

I did stir-fry the carrots, mushroom together with a little bit of salt - do in batches if your wok/pan is not big enough. A short 2-3 mins will do, ensure carrots are still "crunchy" and not soft. Do the same with the capsicum and onions and salt. Do not cook this until vegetables are wilted. Take out and spread out to cool - if it's all layered in one bowl the vegetables on the bottom will wilt and more juices will / steam will be condensed to liquid - this will make your rice paper rolls too mushy and reduce the variety in texture. I personally, used a mini hand fan and chopsticks to keep turning and mixing the vegetabls until cool. This is similar to how traditionally you would cool down sushi rice.

Oh, minor side note, I use extra virgin olive oil which is already infused with cloves & Chinese peppercorns, so it provides a little bit more extra flavouring to stir-fry.

How to wrap them up: Google this - it's relatively simple and there are Youtube videos, you can't get it wrong. really I mean it, you can't get it wrong. Only break a few in the practice attempts. And it takes a few trials until you find the ideal colour combination placement (Hint: don't lump it all in the middle). I spread a little bit of the miso paste on to the rice paper sheets to add flavour.

For the dressing:
Since I'm trying for something Gluten Free and Vegan, most pre-made Asian sauces are out of the picture. And most recipes contain Fish Sauce or Oyster Sauce or Hoisin Sauce (which is Seafood sauce, shrimp base used in some of these pre-bottled ones). Most recommended replacement for fish sauce is soy sauce (which is not GF).

However, I found a pre-made Thai Salad Dressing that tastes very similar to the Vietnamese Dipping Sauce (Nuoc Mam Cham). Base ingredients, rice vineagre, water, sugar, chilli, lemon juice and some coriander.

For those who want a quick and easy sauce, and don't need to be concerned about GF. Use Seafood Soy Sauce - it doesn't actually contain seafood or shrimp, it's a special premium soy sauce which is a little bit sweeter than premium light soy and colour is a bit lighter too. Infuse with some chopped chilli, a little rice vineager and you're good to go.

If you are not catering for Vegans, you can use the above link or just add fish sauce to normal soy for flavouring. You can also cheat with - mixture of Hoisin Sauce with some crunchy peanut butter for a non-spicy sauce.

The following links are interesting guides to food additives - especially in pre-bottled sauces.
Wikipedia - Food Additive basic definition and some grounding knowledge.
Food Additives Guide this guide is mostly emulsifiers, stabilisers etc. This is a non-government website, please use and cross-reference responsibly. They also have other guides for acids and other additives in foods.
Latest news on Emulsifiers, Stabilisers, Hydrocolloids Food Navigator provides collation of articles which relate to the food industry and scientific / consumer market impacts on this area's development.

Serves: 28 - 32 large rolls (trial and error means you might have less presentable ones and get to eat a few failed / broken attemps.) Cut in half, can cater for at least a party of 16 people as h'ors d'oeuvres.

Taste test: 4 out of 5 Stars (why? because I'm a critic - the presentation didn't work out as well as I had hoped. The sizes weren't very uniform and cutting was a problem after being left for a while.) 

Pictures: unavailable (I forgot to take but I'll make a new batch another time and update this entry.)

New Year's Resolve

Thinking back on the last year I realise I eat out a lot and I don't really cook as much at home any more. Not only do I like eating the various cuisines out there and figuring out what's in them at the time and then criticising the uses... For some, I think I should be able to create a better version of the dish. This is probably an result of a Chinese up-bringing where you end up going out with your parents for dinner and every single dish is reviewed with eagle eyes for the quality of the ingredients, the measured or un-measured use of spices and herbs and even the presentation and service delivery. It's not hard to see how food has become an obsession for me.

I'd like to share my "love" / "obsession" (zetsuai) for food with people. This means going out to restaurants pre- and post- reviews, cooking at home, cooking lessons, experimental failures... and just general ponderings.

I'm no Poh or Kylie Kwang or Luke Nguyen and I don't want to in-fusionize Asian cuisine. Some works and some don't. I'm not a fusion food fan. The exploration of new spices and sauces are great but some cuisines have worked it out already but mixing with a five spice sauce with a steak burger would be a bad idea.

I don't make New Year Resolutions, only because they end up being broken. Instead I'm going to resolve to do something for myself and my family this year. My resolve for the new year? To cook more. Instead of stress baking, I shall cook. This is not a Julie/Julia project, it's not even about showing the recipes I attempt. It's just a way to keep track of this resolve. This will be more honest than just critiquing existing foods and restaurants. I will still post reviews once in a while, but there is less pressure to be witty and note take during meals. The photography before eating is already a time critical delay to the eating.

If anyone reading this would like to join me on any food adventures or have any suggestions to what to make / go out and eat please leave a comment :)