Spicy Prawn and Chicken Skewers

The temperature has dropped over the last week and we're in the sweet spot of outdoor living - which means barbeque time. I get a bit tired of the usual steak, lamb chops and sausages, so this weekend I marinated some chicken and prawns, skewered them and fired up the barbie to give them a lovely smoky flavour. An added benefit to skewers, is that it's a fun way to children to try new food, neither of the little chefs had eaten prawns before this weekend, but were happy to try them on a stick.

Marinades are typically acid and fat based, so in this case I've used coconut cream as the fat component and citrus as the acid, and thrown in some serious flavour from herbs. When marinating prawns, go easy on the citrus and add more just before cooking - adding it too early may cook the prawns before they've even hit the grill (though would make for a nice prawn ceviche). I buy my prawns at Megamart as they're the only supermarket that will devein as well as peel the prawns.

Prawn Skewers

• 500 grams prawns, peeled and deveined
• 2 tablespoons green curry paste (Mae Ploy, Thai King, or even better home-made)
• 1 teaspoon fish sauce
• 1 clove of garlic, minced
• small handful of thai basil, shredded
• 200 mls coconut milk
• 1 teaspoon grated palm sugar (use brown if you don't have it)
• juice of a lime
• 1/2 teaspoon grated kaffir lime rind (or 4 kaffir lime leaves, stem removed and shredded finely)

Method

1. Put all but the lime juice and prawns into a food processor and blitz until well combined and basil is finely minced. Squeeze in half the lime juice
2. Marinate the prawns in the mixture for at least an hour and up to 3 hours, stirring occasionally. Add in the juice of the remaining half lime.
3. Thread onto soaked skewers and grill for 5 minutes on the barbeque turning frequently

Chicken Skewers

• 500 grams boneless chicken thigh fillets, cut into 2cm cubes
• 2 tablespoons Tandoor Paste
• 200mls coconut milk (or 200mls thick natural yoghurt)
• juice of half a lemon
• 1 clove of garlic, minced
• 1 chilli, deseeded and chopped
• 1/4 cup coriander leaves

Method

1. Pop all of the ingredients except the chicken into a food processor and blitz until well combined.
2. Marinate the chicken for at least an hour or overnight
3. Thread onto soaked skewers and grill for 10 minutes, turning frequently

Banh Xeo - Crispy Rice Pancakes

One of my favourite Vietnamese snacks is Banh Xeo - a crispy Rice flour and coconut milk pancake, filled with chewy pork and prawns, fragrant fresh herbs like Thai basil, Vietnamese mint and coriander, and crunchy beansprouts. It's served with Nuoc Cham, the classic Vietnamese sauce, wonderfully sweet and sour with a pungent hint of fish sauce and a wallop of chillies.

I learnt how to make Banh Xeo in Hoi An in Vietnam, at a wonderful Vietnamese restaurant/cooking school Morning Glory. I had a private lesson with Mrs Vy the chef and learnt so much about Vietnamese cuisine. 'Xeo' means sizzling, and that's the sound you'll hear as the pancake batter goes into the pan. Traditionally these are sliced, popped onto lettuce leaves, and smothered in herbs, before wrapping the lettuce parcel up and dipping it in the sauce.

In Washington, I went shopping in a great little suburb called Georgetown and stumbled across a fabulous Vietnamese restaurant - their Banh Xeo didn't disappoint, and reminded me of how long it had been since I made them. So here I am, replicating another dish from my trip.

My version is a little different to the traditional way of preparing Banh Xeo. I add cornflour to the rice flour to make it firmer and less likely to break up, though even if they do break they taste fabulous anyway. I also fill the pancakes with everything including the herbs and serve with the dipping sauce, rather than slice it up, pop it onto lettuce leaves and put the herbs on top.

Here's one that didn't quite turn out right, but was delicious anyway.

For those in Doha, rice powder is the same as rice flour, and Vietnamese mint is hard to come by, I occasionally find it at Megamart, but use normal mint if it's not around.

Banh Xeo with Prawns and Pork

• 2 cups rice flour
• 3 tablespoons cornflour
• 2 cups iced water
• 400 mls coconut milk
• 1 teaspoon turmeric
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon white pepper
• peanut oil to fry
• 2 tablespoons mung bean paste (steamed mung beans ground to a paste with a little bit of water) optional
• 1 cup beansprouts
• 1/2 cup Thai basil
• 1/2 cup Vietnamese mint leaves (normal mint is fine)
• 1/2 cup chopped coriander
• 300 grams pork, chopped fine and fried until crisp (I quite often use bacon)
• 300 grams prawns, cooked and chopped
• 1/2 cup chopped spring onions
• 2 cups washed butter lettuce leaves

Nuoc Cham

• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup hot water
• 3 tablespoon lime juice (juice of a large lime)
• 1/4 cup fish sauce
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1-2 bird’s eye chilies, cut into very fine rings
• spring onion (optional)

Method

To make the Nuoc Cham, mixed all of the ingredients together and stir until sugar is dissolved, set aside to cool. You can add spring onions and/or coriander once cooled.

Make the pancake batter by mixing the rice flour, cornflour, salt, pepper, tumeric, water and coconut milk with a whisk until lump free. Cover and refrigerate for at least an hour, or overnight.

To make the pancakes, have everything chopped and ready to go. Heat a teaspoon of peanut oil in a small non-stick frying pan over medium to high heat, drizzle in a small ladleful of batter and swirl to coat the base (like you would a crepe). Listen closely and you'll hear the Xeo, it should sizzle away quite merrily.

Add in the pork and prawns, and cook for a minute or two. Check the bottom of the pancake, it should be lovely and golden and the top should be almost set.

Add in the spring onions.

Closely followed by the herbs and beansprouts.

Fold over carefully, and slide onto a plate to serve.

Cut into pieces, wrap each piece in lettuce and dip in Nuoc Cham sauce.



Hainanese Chicken Rice

We all have comfort foods, those foods that we turn too when we want to enjoy the flavours, but also bring back the sounds, smells and tastes of some fantastic memories. I spent a long time in South East Asia, and I love the crisp clean flavours, I close my eyes and I can see the vivid colours - red chillies, green limes, vibrant coriander and delicate crystals of palm sugar. I can smell the galangal, the sharpness of lemongrass, the hint of aniseed in thai basil, and the nose wrinkling pungency of fish sauce. And one of my most favourite dishes is Hainanese Chicken Rice, it's a delicate blend of ginger and green onion stuffed chicken, poached in water with a hint of sesame oil, and served with garlic & ginger rice, and hot chilli sauce, both made with the liquid the chicken is poached in. It's a simple, peaceful dish, it doesn't need powerful flavours and it doesn't pretend to be anything that it isn't. It just is!

for the chicken,

• 1 whole chicken, about 1.8 kgs
• coarse salt
• 2 large thumbs (8cm long) ginger, sliced
• 4 spring onions, chopped into 2cm pieces
• 1 teaspoon sesame oil

the rice

• 2 tbsp vegetable oil
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 cm piece of ginger, grated
• 2 cups basmati rice, washed and rinsed
• 2 cups of the chicken stock that the chicken was cooked in
• 1/2 teaspoon sesame oil

and finally the chilli sauce

• 1 tablespoon lime juice
• 3 tablespoons of the chicken stock the chicken was cooked in
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 4 tablespoons hot chile sauce
• 4 cloves garlic, grated
• 2cm piece of ginger, grated
• a generous pinch of salt, to taste

 Method

• Scrub the outside of the chicken with the coarse salt to remove any residue on the skin, rinse thoroughly.

• Stuff the chicken with the ginger slices and spring onions.

• Pop it into a large stockpot and cover with water, and add the sesame oil. Bring it to the boil and then turn down and simmer. Skim the froth of the top of the water. Cook for about 45 minutes until chicken is done. Remove chicken and reserve the stock. Keep the chicken warm wrapped in tinfoil

• For the rice, place the oil and garlic and ginger in a pan and heat on medium heat until garlic and ginger are sizzling, Add the rice and sesame oil and cook for 2 minutes. About now, I'm in heaven with the smells from the rice, yummmm!

• I now pop this mixture into the rice cooker with the chicken stock and cook. To make it in a pot, add the stock and bring to the boil, lower the heat and pop the lid on. Cook for 10 minutes, take the pot of the heat leaving the lid on and set aside for 10 minutes to absorb the rest of the liquid.
• For the chile sauce, put all of the ingredients into a blender and blitz.
• Heat the remaining stock for soup
• Slice the chicken ready to serve. Serve the chicken with the rice, the chile sauce and the rest of the stock.

And enjoy!