Kid Friendly: Pork or Chicken Fried Wontons

Last week I had the chance to teach the children how to make 'fried wontons' (with a simple pork and chicken filling) - from what ingredients to use, mixing and putting the mixture into wonton sheets and showing them the frying method.  This part an adult has to do - after all I was teaching children that are 3 years of age.  They enjoyed this experience and to me they have learned so much from recognizing and naming the ingredients, embracing my culture and having to taste their own food rather than picking these up from the Chinese restaurant or in frozen packets.

Now because I didn't want to overwhelm the children with too much ingredients I just used the minimal! Having the other ingredients does not really mean that the taste will be bland.  It was really good!

Kid Friendly: Pork or Chicken Fried Wontons
We made about 50 on these wontons with minimal meat inside.  If you make leftovers then freeze.  If you want to make just chicken then omit the pork and double chicken the amount and vice versa.

What will you need:

• Approx 150 grams of minced pork
• Approx 150 grams of minced chicken
• 1/2 tbs of minced garlic
• 1/2 tbs of minced ginger
• 1 - 1.5 tbs of soy sauce
• 1 tbs of rice wine vinegar
• pepper to taste
• wonton wrappers (i used the white you can also use the yellow egg wrappers)
• bit of cornflour and water to paste around the edges of the wontons to enclose the filling.
• vegetable oil for frying

Method:

• Have all the ingredients laid out and have the ginger, garlic in whole because this way the children and identify what is what and have them to smell and ask them what does this smell like.  Show them the cut up version which will be put into the mixture.

• Then divide portions up into their own mixing bowls and add all the ingredients together and have them to smell each first and get them to mix and describe how it feels and looks.  The mixture should be sticky and pasty looking.
• Next have the wonton wrappers already peeled for the children (do this beforehand) and show them how.  
• Lay the wonton wrappers on a flat surface and fill the middle of the sheet with a tiny filling of the mince mixture (just under half a teaspoon) and with water mixed with cornflour  brush the edges of the wrapper.  Enclose the filling by taking the bottom of the wrapper to the top of the wrapper and seal.

• I skipped pleating part cause it seems a bit too challenging for their little fingers.  The children showed me that they could dip the finger into the bowl and brush it around the edges and fold it up to enclose the filling.  You can really make any shape!

• With an adult, heat oil (about 1 inch in a wok) until hot.  Fry about 8 wontons at a time until brown and turn it a few times about for 2 to 3 minutes.  
• Drain on paper towel
• Serve with soy sauce and eat immediately!

I am sure you will love watching your children concentrate and focus on this easy cooking activity and that they learn that not everything comes out from frozen packets or take away from a Chinese restaurant.

Combination Laksa

Laksa is my favourite spicy noodle soup dish and nothing beats a good soup like this during winter to warm up the body :).  It's a lovely dish that is full of contrasting flavours and the soup is attractive itself!  I usually go to Malaysian restaurants to eat this when I am not in the mood to labour in the kitchen.

In this noodle soup I have used laksa paste bought from my local asian grocery store.   To me it works as well as the paste made from scratch.   And I love very spicy dishes so I added 2 more teaspoons of grinded chilli with seeds to top it off.    For the broth I used chicken stock,  added in cans of coconut milk and ginger slices!   I have also used store bought frozen fish balls, meat balls, quail eggs, tofu puffs to soak up the yummy flavour, sliced carrots, sliced capsicum and chicken drum sticks.  To garnish it off I used coriander leaves, Vietnamese mint, bean sprouts and last and not least fried onion!  It's so delicious!

To make about 8 large bowls of noodle soup you will need:

glug of vegetable oil
1 kg of chicken drumsticks (for the stock and meat)
slices of ginger
3 cans of coconut milk
2 jars of laksa paste (any will do - you can get this at the Asian grocers)
1 red capsicum sliced and halved length ways
2 carrots halved and sliced length ways
prawns
1 can of quail eggs
fish balls (cut into halves)
meat balls (cut into slices or halves)
tofu puffs (cut into halves)
juice of lemon or lime

other:
thick egg noodles
rice vermicelli noodles
the chicken from the broth
spring onions
deep fried onions
Vietnamese mint
bean sprouts
coriander leaves

Method:

In a large pot, heat oil and add in ginger slices and stir until fragrant.  Next add the chicken and fry until slightly brown.  Add about 2 to 3 litres of water and cover.  Put on medium high and cook til chicken is cooked.  Take the chicken out and set aside.   Add in coconut milk and the jars of laksa paste.   Add in chilli paste to give it a nice kick!  Optional of course.   Simmer for about 15 minutes on medium. 

Next add in the sliced capsicum, carrots, fish balls, meat balls, tofu puffs, lemon juice and lastly add in the prawns and quail eggs.

While the broth is simmering, blanch white and egg noodles in boiling water and transfer half each into large noodle soup bowls.  Then pour the broth over prepared noodle bowls and top with chicken drum sticks (2 or more if you want).  Garnish the bowls with bean sprouts, coriander, mint and deep fried onion.  Squeeze lemon or lime juice and serve immediately!

Maki Sushi (Rolled Sushi)

Last night my Japanese friend and I made maki sushi.  Well technically I did all the work and he just showed me how lol. Yeah, I will not go into it further >_<. This is my very first time making anything Japanese! I had a difficult time spreading the sushi rice onto the nori (roasted seaweed paper) and had a very difficult time rolling up the sushi with the mat. It was...pathetic! lol.

My Japanese friend calls it Maki Sushi...he doesn't say sushi but "maki sushi" which is just "rolled sushi" in English. Maki Sushi is so easy to make and you can pretty much put anything in the roll! It is similar to Vietnamese Rice rolls but instead of the rice paper and rice noodles, Japanese have the nori and sushi rice flavoured with sushi vinegar.

Essentials!

The ingredients I put in the roll were fried eggs, cucumber, cooked chicken, canned tuna and loads of mayonnaise. It tasted pretty alright for the first time even my Japanese friend agreed!

Here is a simple recipe of:

MAKI SUSHI (adapted from Pandaroo Brand)

• 500g cooked sushi rice
• 1 tbsp of sushi vinegar
• 5 sheets of seaweed
• wasabi
• choice of filling:  I used cucumber, canned tuna, chicken, fried eggs and mayo.  You can also use prawns, avocado, lettuce ...whatever suits your fancy

I was suppose to leave 5cms free of rice at the end.  But hey it did turn out okay at the end :)

Method:


1.  Pour sushi vinegar over cooked sushi rice and mix thoroughly
2.  On a sushi mat, place the shiny seaweed part down
3.  Spread the vinegar flavoured rice evenly over the seaweed.  Leave 5 cms of one end of free rice.
4. Place fillings in a line
5. Starting from the end with fillings lift the bamboo mat and begin to roll the sheet.  Wet the strip end.  Apply gentle pressure to join edges of seaweed.
6. Slice with wet knife and enjoy!

How to Make Soft Rice Paper Roll (with Prawn and Pork) & Dipping Sauce

Soft Rice Paper Rolls (with Prawn and Pork)

My all time favourite Vietnamese dish would have to be Soft Rice Paper Rolls!! Why? This is because it can be used to wrap up a wide range of fillings of your choice from meat, fish, chicken, noodles or veges. It's a fun way to entertain and get family and friends together. Each person can assemble their own unique spring roll according to their taste and preferences.

The main essential fillings for the rice paper rolls are vermicelli noodles and herbs and you can add whatever meat you desire. I like either beef or pork or even those crunchy deep fried spring rolls.

Today I am going to show you have to make Prawn and Pork Rice Paper Rolls and Dipping Sauce to go with it. You can also find these at Asian Grocers already made for you for about $4 a container with their special dipping sauce! YUmmmm...


Soft Rice Paper Roll (with Prawn and Pork)

To make about 20 rolls you will need:

• 1/2 kg of pork rashers or you can use pork neck. (i used half of the pack in the photo below)
  
• approx 20 prawns cooked and peeled and cut half side ways
• fresh herbs / lettuce
• vermicelli noodles
• 20 rice paper sheets
• warm water for dipping the sheets
• dipping sauce!
  

Some of the ingredients!

Instructions:

- Place rashes in a pot of boiling water on medium heat. Cook through well. Then take out of the water and set it aside to cool. Cut up in 1 cm pieces.

- I bought my prawns already cooked. If you bought it fresh then boil it until it changes colour and let it cool. Then peel prawns. And then slice it half side ways (like the pic below).

- In another pot, cook the noodles according to instructions. Drain well and set aside.

- Lay all the ingredients out as shown below. You can have it in any order you like but the prawns must come first just for presentation wise!

In order....doesn't have to be but the rice paper and then the prawn must be first

- Fill a large bowl with warm water. Now place a sheet of rice paper and dip it into the water and take it out. Immediately lay this on a big plate. (Don't go soaking your sheet......yuckkk it will go all soggy gross! lol and then you can't even roll it properly!)

- Then place the prawns (cut side up), then noodles, herbs and pork on the botton edge of the rice paper roll near towards your body. Leave enough paper to roll the sheet over to cover the ingredients.

- Fold over the rice sheet paper until all the ingredients are covered.

- Roll until the prawn side is facing downwards onto the plate. Then fold each side to seal the two ends of the paper.

- Repeat the process until all ingredients are used up

- Place on a nice serving dish and serve with dipping sauce.

This is a slide show on How to make rice paper roll. I thought it would be easier than explaining it :)

Now make the sauce!

Vietnamese Dipping Sauce
Please adjust the ingredients to your taste

1/2 cup fish sauce
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 squeezed lime or lemon
2 garlic cloves minced
2 chilli's minced
some water

Directions:
- Get a jar that is sealable (empty jam jar) and add water and sugar. Mix to dissolve the sugar. Then add the fish sauce and lime or lemon juice.

- Then add in the garlic and chillis. Taste. Add more fish sauce or water according to your preference.
- Serve immediately. It is recommended that you store in the fridge. Lasts for a couple of months.