Vietnamese Fresh Spring Rolls with Shrimps

Fresh spring rolls are a delicious and healthy appetizer. They are a nice change from the fried rolls (eggrolls) which are served warm. For this recipe, I added shrimps in the rolls for a more complete dish but you can replace them with fried tofu if you like. Enjoy!

Serves 2 (2 rolls per person)
Preparation time: 30 minutes
Cooking time: 10 minutes
Difficulty: **

Ingredients:
- 2 1/2 oz (75g) dried rice vermicelli
- 4 jumbo shrimps, cooked, peeled and sliced half lengthwise
- 1 romaine heart (or other lettuce you like), leaves separated, rinsed, and dried
- 1 teaspoon sesame oil
- 1 tablespoon peanut oil
- 4 rice-paper wrapper
- 1 small Persian cucumber, cut into matchsticks
- 1 carrot, cut into matchsticks
- 1 bunch fresh mint
- 1/3 cup roasted salted peanuts, roughly chopped

- 2 teaspoons fish sauce
- 2 tablespoons water
- 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
- 1/2 clove garlic, minced
- 1 tablespoon white sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon garlic chili sauce

Place the rice vermicelli in a bowl and cover with boiling water. Leave for 10 minutes. Drain well.
Fill a bowl with warm water. Dip one wrapper at a time into the water for about 15 seconds or until soft.
Place the wrapper on a flat surface. Top the central part of the wrapper with vermicelli, cucumber, carrot, peanuts, mint, lettuce and two shrimp halves.

Fold the lower part of the wrapper on the ingredients and roll tightly, folding in the sides. Put on a plate, cover with a damp cloth and repeat.

For the dipping sauce: In a small bowl, mix the fish sauce, water, lime juice, garlic, sugar and chili sauce.
Serve with the spring rolls.

Skewers: Thai Satay Prawns

If you like Asian-inspired recipes, this one is for you. Satay is a dish of marinated, skewered and grilled meat or seafood, served with a sauce. Peanut is quite popular in Asian cuisine and it gives this recipe its special taste.
It's very easy to prepare but you need already prepared (peeled and deveined) shrimps and some time for marinating. Enjoy!

For 6 skewers
Preparation time: 30 minutes + 2 hours marinating
Cooking time: 20 minutes
Difficulty: **

Ingredients:
- 12 king prawns, peeled and deveined, with tails intact
- 1 clove garlic, crushed
- 1/2 cup (80g peanut butter)
- 1 onion, grated
- 1 tablespoon fish sauce
- 1/2 teaspoon chili flakes
- 1 teaspoon turmeric powder
- 1 teaspoon ground coriander
- 2/3 coconut milk

You can serve with a Satay sauce:
- 2 teaspoons oil
- 1 teaspoon Thai red curry paste
- 1 stalk lemongrass (white part only, finely chopped)
- 1 cup (250 ml) coconut milk
- 3 tablespoons smooth peanut butter
- 2 teaspoons sugar
- 2 teaspoons roasted unsalted peanuts, finely chopped

Soak six wooden skewers in water for a couple of hours to prevent them from burning.
Prepare the shrimp if they are.

Using a blender, prepare the marinade by mixing the garlic, peanut butter, onion, fish sauce, chili flakes, turmeric powder, ground coriander and 2 tablespoons of coconut milk, until smooth.
Stir in the rest of the coconut milk.

Plunge the prawns in the marinade, keeping the tails out if possible. Cover and place in refrigerator for 2 hours minimum.

Thread 2 prawns onto each skewer. Keep the marinade for the sauce and to brush the prawns during cooking.

Prepare the satay sauce: heat oil in a pan. Add the curry paste and lemongrass. Cook for 1 minute on high heat. Add the coconut milk, peanut butter and sugar. Bring to the boil and reduce the heat to let simmer, uncovered, for 2 minutes.
Stir in the rest of the marinade and boil until thickened (2 minutes).

Barbecue the prawns until cooked through, brushing with the marinade and turning once.

Serve with the satay sauce sprinkled with chopped peanuts.

On the side, you can prepare saffron rice (basmati and wild rice): start with the wild rice which cooks twice longer than the regular rice. At half-time, add the regular rice to the sauce and some saffron strands. Drain the rice and serve.

Chicken and Peanut Stir-fry

Stir-frying basically means sautéeing and it is used a lot in Chinese cuisine. I like preparing stir-fries : it's quick and easy, and I can use any vegetable I like in this dish. Today, I'll share the recipe of the Chicken and Peanut stir-fry. If you like, you can replace the peanuts with cashews.

Serves 4
Preparation time: 30 minutes
Cooking time: 20 minutes
Difficulty: **

Ingredients:
- peanut oil or vegetable oil for cooking
- 1 1/2 (750g) chicken thigh fillets, cut into strips
- 2 egg whites, lightly beaten
- 1/2 cup cornflour or all-purpose flour
- 2 onions, thinly sliced
- 1 red bell pepper, thinly sliced (optional)
- 2 carrots, very thinly sliced
- 1 head of brocoli, cut into small florets
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons rice wine
- 1 tablespoon oyster sauce or fish sauce
- salt and pepper
- 1/3 cup roasted peanuts

Heat a wok or a large fying pan until very hot, add 1 tablespoon of oil and swirl it around to coat the pan.
Dip a small handfull of the chicken strips into the egg whites and then into the flour. Add to the pan and stir-fry for 3 to 5 minutes, unti the chicken is golden brown. Drain on a paper towel and repeat with the rest of the chicken strips, reheating the pan and adding a little oil when needed.

Reheat the pan with 1 tablespoon of oil and stir-fry the onion, carrots, pepper and brocoli over medium heat for about 5 minutes, until the vegetable have softened slightly. Increase the heat to high and add the sauces: soy sauce, rice wine, oyster/fish sauce. Toss well and bring to a boil.

Return the chicken to the pan and toss over high heat for 2 minutes. Make sure the chicken is cooked through. Season with salt and pepper. Add the peanuts, toss and serve immediately.

Don't forget your chopsticks!