Back to School: Leluu’s Vietnamese Cooking Class

Led Zeppelin ROCK. When it comes to the question of who the quintessential hard rock band of all time is – we have a clear winner. But sadly, many of my readers will be too young to know all about ‘the Zep’, as they are known. They will not know the joy of listening, at preferably high volume, the classic that is ‘Whole Lotta Love’. The fantastic guitar riff, the way the sound bounces from speaker to speaker (or headphone to headphone) and the crazy break in the middle. 

The outrageously confident opening begins: “You need coolin', baby, I'm not foolin', I'm gonna send you back to schoolin'!” The song brings to mind my wonderful very recent experience of Uyen Luu’s (aka Leluu) Vietnamese cooking class. It was fascinating to be a student again, given that I teach for a living. Given my lack of knowledge of Vietnamese food, I really was being sent back to school!

Uyen runs her classes from her lovely Hackney flat. Spacious with a big kitchen, we all sat around a giant kitchen table to learn from someone who has Vietnamese food in her blood. Uyen has taught Jamie Oliver how to cook Vietnamese and is currently working on a book of traditional recipes. She and her mum provided us with a real insight, and confidence to recreate this vibrant and exciting food at home.

Ambitiously, Uyen decided to teach us 9 different dishes. They were:

Pho Bo – Beef Pho (Noodle soup in beef stock with sliced beef and garnishes)

Sai Gon Summer Rolls – Pork, prawn, rice noodle and herb filled rice paper parcels with dipping sauce

Bo La Lot – Beef marinated in chili and lemongrass, rolled and baked in Betel leaves

Chicken, Carrot and Banana Blossom Salad – a fresh and zingy flavoured salad with shredded poached chicken and Vietnamese herbs

Braised Pork Belly in Coconut and Pear Cider – an earthy, flavoursome stew with quail’s eggs

Baked Sea Bass – oven baked with lemon, garlic and ginger

Pan Fried Tilapia with Mango and Fish Sauce – crispy skinned fish served with an invigorating dressing and mango juliennes

Watercress Soup with Ginger – warming, sustaining brothy soup with tofu

Stir Fried Morning Glory – known as Ung Choi, stir fried with oyster sauce and garlic

Banana Fritters – wonderful dessert requiring no introduction

Vietnamese Frozen Yoghurt – healthy and tasty alternative to ice cream

On arrival at Uyen’s flat, we were greeted by her wonderful mother, cute dogs and our engaging host. The day, we were advised would be full of fun, food and drink, and immediately we found tea and basil seed drink ready for us.

The basil seed drink was quite a curiosity. I’ve had bubble teas and Indonesian Chendol (or Tchendol/ Jendol), so I have previously experienced the slightly chewy, sweet contents of south east Asian drinks. This was a surprise, since the basil seeds were just ordinary seeds soaked in water for around 10-15 minutes, yet somehow they rapidly created a gelatinous ooze which may sound terrible, but was actually delicious!

We started with Summer Rolls. I have previously made this at home on occasion, and always found them to be a right old faff. Thanks to Uyen, I have learnt the secret: buy the right type of rice paper (square) and to dip them very briefly in COLD water. This seems to make the assembly and rolling of the rolls all the easier. The square papers also allow you to enclose all of the ingredients in an envelope shape, meaning you don’t have all the contents spill out as you try to dip the roll in the dipping sauce.

Have a look, my efforts look so much more edible now, don’t they?

The Chicken, Carrot and Banana Blossom Salad was unlike any salad I’ve ever eaten. Served on perhaps the tastiest prawn crackers I have ever eaten (they actually tasted of prawns, rather than vaguely smell of them and no more), this salad had a unique combination of crunchy, chewy, sweet, sour and umami. It is this happy balance between all 5 flavours and textures which is the aim of Vietnamese food.

Next up were the preparations for Pho Bo. I’ve had this at various restaurants, both here and abroad. But I’ve never attempted making it from scratch. Although the authentic Pho is time consuming, Uyen has given me the confidence and knowhow to make this at home. The secret, it would appear, is to griddle roast an onion, some root ginger and boil up in a stock pot with some daikon, oxtail and beef. The result was such a pure tasting beefy broth, I am wondering where my next Pho fix will come from. If I weren’t so terribly busy at work, I’d be boiling up my own stock tomorrow!

Whilst the Pho was cooking, Uyen shown us around a local Vietnamese supermarket. She shown us the best ingredients to buy to recreate the dishes she demonstrated, knowledge which will be invaluable. Among her picks are the Bamboo brand square rice papers and the 3 Crabs brand fish sauce, superior products which assist in achieving amazing results.

The Bo La Lot was always going to be a dish I was going to be excited about making. I’ve had it in restaurants both on the Pho Mile in Kingsland Road, in the West End and the ‘mini Pho Mile’ of Deptford High Street (and environs). I’m so obsessed that I nearly always order it. Uyen’s recipe differs from the typical in that it used rump steak rather than mince, but that is all to the good. It was succulent, flavourful and the texture of the sliced steak with the cooked Betel leaf was superb.

Here are the prepared rolls before cooking.

After 12 minutes, the delicious little rolls were ready for devouring.

Of all the dishes, the Braised Pork Belly was the one I was most sceptical about. I have disliked eggs all my life (stemming from a mild allergy to them). However, what I tasted was a hearty Asian style stew which, if I can convince Him Indoors to eat quail’s eggs could become a Winter Warmer staple in our household. Score!

The fish dishes were very different, but both had that classic balance of eastern flavours. The Tilapia is a dish which would be great to share with others with salads and rice. The Sea Bass is a great simple supper dish which could be served with rice in the Vietnamese style, but equally could be teamed with steamed veg for a fusion twist.

Fried Tilapia with mango

Sea Bass baked in the oven

The vegetable dishes, particularly the Morning Glory, were achievable, simple yet tasty. Being someone who really could do with eating more veg (I’m a 2.5-3 a day person more so than a 5 a day girl), these are great ideas for having great tasting veggies with supper.

Stir fried Morning Glory

Watercress soup

 Somehow, after a day’s gluttony, I managed to find space for pudding. I don’t know where I put it all, but there was no way I was going to miss out on Banana Fritters! One of my favourite desserts (along with its sister, Pineapple Fritters), these are hard to get right. They need to be have a light and fluffy batter and cannot taste oily or the fruit flavours are ruined. Serving them with Vietnamese frozen yoghurt gave a sweet and sour tang to the dish rather than cloying the palate with too much sugar.

I had a great day learning about the philosophy of Vietnamese food and its balance of Yin and Yang. You can read an article by Uyen on her website about this here: http://www.leluu.com/2011/04/hot-cold-ying-yang.html

I also thoroughly enjoyed learning about new cooking techniques and ingredients. I hope to use my new knowledge to recreate some of these dishes at home. So thanks very much, Uyen, for sharing your kitchen, knowledge and skills with us, and it was a privilege to meet your lovely mum and to learn from her, too!

If you are interested in attending one of Uyen’s classes, they cost £75 and future classes will be held on the following dates: Apr 1, 7, 28; May 13, 20; Jun 3. You can contact Uyen at uyen.luu@gmail.com

South Indian Inspired Chicken Curry

My family does not hail from the South of India, so I don't claim to be any kind of expert. The food of South India is usually exceptionally hot, with lots of chili. Apparently this is because the chili encourages sweating, which means you can keep cool in the fiercely hot climate of the south. South Indian food also reflects the produce of the area, with coconut, coconut milk and bananas appearing in dishes. Many South Indian curries are also cooked in coconut oil.

The marinade ingredients pre-prepared

Slash the thighs a couple of times to allow the marinade to permeate them

Some readers will be familiar with South Indian dishes such as the Masala Dosa, a scrumptious dish served on an enormous stainess steel thali consisting of a lightly crispy pancake made of fermented dahl, curried potato, rasam (thin dahl) and spicy chutney. That dish is beyond my skill; the making of the pancake itself is an art. So here is something altogether more basic and manageable.

This chicken curry attempts to deliver some of the flavour of South India without the heat. Even though it has 3 chilis in it, the fact that the sauce is cooked in coconut milk seems to neutralise the heat. The spice list may seem a bit daunting, but once you buy these spices, you will find that you'll use them again and again in many other Indian dishes. Because the majority of them are whole spices, they will keep well in an airtight container kept away from the light.

Serves 3-4

Ingredients

For the marinade paste:
2 small (or 1 large) white onion/s, peeled and roughly diced
7 cloves garlic, peeled and roughly diced
2-3” (5-8cm) piece of ginger,  peeled and roughly diced
3 green chilis, roughly chopped (please de-seed if you don't like too much heat)
1 tsp turmeric

8 chicken thighs, skinned and slashed

For the curry sauce:
4 dried curry leaves
1 tbsp black mustard seeds
3 tbsp mustard oil
2 sticks cinnamon
½  tsp ground black pepper
5 cloves
5 green cardamom pods
2 medium potatoes, peeled and cut into 1cm thick half moons
⅓  butternut squash, peeled and cut into 1cm slices
1 440ml (standard size) can coconut milk
2-3 tbsp fresh coriander
½  tsp ground sea salt

Serve with cooked basmati rice

Optional / variation: use chunks of sweet potato instead of ordinary potatoes.

Method:

Take all the marinade ingredients and put into a blender/food processor. 

Blender is loaded and ready to go!

 Blitz into a puree, although if it is too thick, feel free to add a tablespoon of water to loosen.

The marinade is ready!

Make sure the marinade coats all of the chicken

Rub the marinade paste over the chicken and place in a non-metallic bowl. It must be non-metallic or the acids in the marinade will react with the bowl, resulting in ICKY tasting curry!

Allow to marinate in the fridge. I did this first thing in the morning and left it whilst I went to work – around 8 hours. However, 1 hour at room temperature will do if you don't have that sort of time.

In a large saucepan, put your mustard oil and heat. Now fry the mustard seeds and curry leaves and allow to sizzle, about 2 minutes.

Now add the marinated chicken, any leftover marinade (which will make up the curry sauce) and all of the spices (including the salt). Brown the chicken all over.

Now add the tin of coconut milk and 100-150ml of water. Put the lid on and cook for 30 minutes.

Add the potatoes and squash. Cook for 5-10 mins with the lid on. Then another 10 minutes with the lid off.

Adding the veggies.....

Give them enough time to cook in the sauce....

Now cook your rice – which will take around 15-20 mins. Leave the curry cooking for 15-20 mins with the lid off.

Check the potatoes and squash are cooked. If so, then turn the heat off and stir through the chopped coriander, or serve topped with the coriander. (I served the coriander as a topping as it looks more attractive that way). Serve with the cooked rice.

The chicken is cooked as are the potatoes and squash

The finished dish, ready to enjoy!

Ringing the changes: new 'about' page

Hello everyone!


You may have noticed that I've not posted for a little while. Sadly, things at work have gotten a little bit busy. Much as I might dream of writing full time, it isn't going to happen, and I have to work full time in my day job as a university lecturer. I do love teaching, but the job isn't all about the classroom, and it is the endless admin and marking which has kept me from my blogging.

I have recently been reading about this blogging lark, because when I started I was really quite naive about it all, and just got on with posting stuff knowing very little about what I was doing. 

One thing I realised is that the old design I had been using (white/grey writing on a black background) might look good on screen, but is a terrible pain for people to actually read. Now, I actually WANT people to read the posts that I spend a fair amount of time writing, so I realised that had to change. Hence my recent redesign, which I hope works better than the old one.


What I have also discovered is that people who read blogs like to know a little bit about the blogger. So I've sat down and thought about what people might want to know. The result:   My brand new 'about' page!

I hope you all like it. If there is anything you think I should add, or anything else you want to know, do get in touch with me. 

I hope you are all cooking and eating well! 

love to you all
Snigdha 

A lesson in Laksa (Laksa Lemak, Indonesian spicy seafood noodle soup)

Poor Chris. He’s been my friend for 18 years. He could have committed an armed robbery, gone to jail and been let out by now. And in all probability, the imprisonment may well have been easier than being my friend for all these years. We met at university where we socialised together, drank together, watched telly together, occasionally studied together, and cooked and ate together. Once we threw a Shrove Tuesday party where we took over a 4 ring hob and cooking on 2 rings each, made dozens of pancakes. We got in each other’s way, nearly burned each other, but had a great laugh.
 

Somehow Chris has stuck around and I’m very glad he’s done so. From our early days of cooking student food back in the day, we’ve continued to collaborate in the kitchen. Making trays and trays of canapés for his Christmas soirees doesn’t sound like fun to most people, but we always have a good time, and the fruits of our labours always get scoffed.

Recently Chris went on an Indonesian cooking course at Lapan Cooking in East London. Their website, in case you are interested is www.lapancooking.com.  

Chris learnt how to make several interesting dishes at his class, and the curry puffs he made for his most recent Christmas party (learnt at the class), were absolutely exquisite; fluffy on the outside, moist and squishy on the inside with a spicy kick full of spice and effective heat. So when he told me he had also learnt to make Laksa Lemak, I was burning with curiosity. Having eaten a few lunchtime laksa soups at a variety of places and thoroughly enjoyed the experience, I wanted to be able to recreate it. 

To me, cooking is a life skill. And the best thing about it is that it can be passed from person to person. So the knowledge is shared as is the joy. Chris is to be thanked for his time and patience in teaching me how to make Laksa Lemak. The results were spectacular, spicy, fresh and warming. The list of ingredients is daunting, but well worth the time taken to track them down. 

Laksa Lemak

The somewhat daunting collection of ingredients

(For 3 people)

Ingredients:

Spice paste ingredients:

Fresh Galangal, fresh turmeric, Thai shallots, dried red chillies, sambal Belachan powder, lemongrass stalk, ground coriander, groundnut oil

For the soup:

Fresh noodles

2 tins mackerel in brine

3-4 Curry leaves

3 pieces dried tamarind skin

210-230 ml coconut milk

Salt

Pepper

Brown sugar

900ml water (or homemade fish stock)

9 tiger prawns (I’d recommend more)

1 fish stock cube

For the garnishes:

Beansprouts

Julienned Cucumber

Julienned fresh Pineapple

A big handful roughly chopped coriander leaf

A big handful roughly chopped mint

A packet of beansprouts, blanched in boiling water for 1 minute, then rinsed in cold water

Thin slices of white onion

1 lime, quartered

Method:

Prepare your spice paste ingredients by roughly chopping the shallots, turmeric, lemongrass and chillies.

Top tip: wear gloves when preparing the turmeric!

Shallots and galangal being prepared

Collecting up the paste ingredients in the blender

Grind down the spice paste ingredients. Not as easy as it sounds. We tried to do so in a blender, and it took ages! We had to keep rocking the blender from side to side to get the blades to do their stuff. If you have a mini chopper, that may be a better tool for the job.

Fry the spice paste until it is deeply fragrant, about 10 minutes. You will need to lower the heat as time goes by so that the paste does not burn.

We used frozen peeled uncooked tiger prawns. These need rapid blanching in boiling water. 2 minutes will be ample.  Remove the prawns and set aside. Don’t throw the water away, since the fishy flavours will make a stock base for the soup.

We used tinned mackerel in brine, so we didn’t need to cook it in advance. You can use fresh, which you poach in boiling water. You may as well use the same water as for the prawns since that will add fish flavours to the broth.

If using tinned mackerel, remove from tins, mash up and then quickly boil in the water.

Add your spice paste to water along with a crumbled fish stock cube, dried tamarind skin, curry leaves, and sugar. Add salt and pepper to taste, but be careful as the stock cube, if used, may be quite salty. Simmer for 15 minutes.

At the start of the simmer time

At the end of the simmer time

Put on another saucepan full of water to cook the noodles. Cook according to pack instructions. The lady who helped me with my shopping in See Woos in Chinatown was adamant that fresh noodles should be used for Laksa Lemak (and I was happy to rely on her), but you can use any medium egg noodles (sometimes called yellow noodles). Strain and set aside.

Add the coconut milk and simmer for another 3 minutes.

Get your soup bowls out. Put a portion of the cooked noodles at the bottom of each bowl.

Fish out equal portions of king prawn and add to the bowls.

Top with the Laksa soup.

Now serve up with a plate of the garnishes.

Leave everyone to top their dish with garnishes as required, with a squeeze of lime juice on the top.

The finished dish, with all the garnishes

Courgette and Mushroom Soup

Him Indoors and I recently visited a lovely little local French restaurant in Dulwich called Le Chardon. (Anyone interested in their website will find it here: http://www.lechardon.co.uk/)

Full of character, it is an informal French bistro converted from an old David Grieg grocery store with all the fin de siècle tile work and shopfront retained. Even though all the tiles have thistles on them (hence the name, as un chardon is a thistle in French), it has a homely and welcoming Gallic feel. I can’t explain it, but if you are ever in this neck of the woods, check it out and you’ll see what I mean.

The menu was full of variety, with fresh seafood, French country style dishes and bistro favourites. Sadly there was no cassoulet, but then given how long it takes to cook, you can’t blame them.

Anyway, after scouring the menu we turned our attention to the specials board. The rabbit stew wasn’t what I had wanted to eat for my main, and Him Indoors isn’t a rabbit kind of guy.  What we did notice was that the soup of the day was Courgette and Mushroom. It appealed to us, but firstly, we probably wanted to eat some of the other starters a lot more and secondly, soup with bread can be very filling and can spoil your appetite for the main. So we ordered other starters, but kept the idea in mind that perhaps we could have a go at making a French influenced Courgette and Mushroom soup all of our own.

I am sure those of you more well-versed in French cooking may find this isn’t the most authentic recipe. I don’t claim to have any expertise in French food. But hopefully some of you will give this soup a go and enjoy its herby mellow creaminess. We certainly did.

Serves 4

Ingredients

2 courgettes, very finely diced but unpeeled

60ml Double cream

3 cloves garlic, very finely diced

2 echalion (banana) shallots, peeled and finely diced

300g mixed  mushrooms (I used 2 portobello, with the remainder being chestnut mushrooms), very finely diced

1 tsp finely chopped fresh thyme

700 ml Vegetable (unless you prefer Chicken) stock

2 x 2 tbsp olive oil

2 x 15g unsalted butter

Salt and pepper to taste

Method

Put the first batches of butter and olive oil into a large saucepan and heat gently until the butter melts.  Add the diced courgette and fry on a gentle heat for 10 minutes. 

Remove the courgette from the pan. Put the pan back on the heat and put in the second batch of butter and olive oil, and again, heat gently until the butter melts.

Now add the chopped shallots and fry for 5 minutes.

Add the garlic, thyme and mushrooms and fry gently for a further 10 minutes. You want all the veg to ‘sweat’ rather than brown.

Now put the courgette back in the pan and heat through.

Put all the veg in a blender, topping up with the chicken stock. Blitz until you have a soupy consistency.

Return to the pan.  Add the cream slowly, stirring as you go. Depending on the remaining water content of the courgettes and mushrooms, you may need less cream or perhaps much more (I’d say up to 100ml). You want a creamy smooth texture with some richness of flavour.

When you are happy with your texture, taste and season if necessary.

Put on a gentle heat to warm through the soup, (only about 3 minutes).

Serve up in bowls with a small swirl of cream.

Cheating at cooking: Vietnamese Chicken Noodle Soup

About 5 or perhaps 6 years ago, a mysterious new restaurant opened in Catford, where I live. The glass front was all frosted, so you couldn’t see inside, and outside it declared itself to be a Vietnamese restaurant. Now, in the London Borough of Lewisham (particularly in the north of the borough) there is a large Vietnamese community. They run the majority of Chinese restaurants in the Deptford/New Cross area. I’d been to several of these establishments, but had not tried Vietnamese food. Curious, Him Indoors and I decided to investigate. We found a totally unique cuisine with fresh, clean tastes. The use of large amounts of fresh herbs to lend texture and subtle flavour was something we’d never come across. The kindly old man who ran the place was always keen to explain the dishes and generally chat.

Sadly, it was not a success. Local people were not either curious or adventurous enough to visit. The old man and his restaurant disappeared. We don’t know where to.  But his gift to us was the desire to know more and try more of this wonderful food.

Kingsland Road in East London is known as the ‘Pho Mile’ because of its high concentration of Vietnamese restaurants. It is a vibrant street, and having eaten at Cay Tre, it is possibly the best place to get Vietnamese food in this country. Deptford High Street is what I call the ‘Mini Pho Mile’; a clutch of small restaurants catering for the local Vietnamese community and a specialist Vietnamese grocers. Special mention goes to Le Gia, a former pub converted into a Vietnamese restaurant with a very varied menu and food prepared with love and care.

Of course, the next step from sampling Vietnamese food is trying to make it. Those of you who are regular readers may recall my experiments  this Summer at making the classic Summer Rolls with Nouc Cham dipping sauce. (Summer rolls recipe is here, and the sauce here). The trouble is that my ambition outstrips my ability. I just don’t have the knowledge or skill to know how to make many of the amazing dishes I’ve tried when eating out. And even though I avidly followed Luke Nguyen’s two series where he travels around Vietnam learning about the traditional dishes and recreating them, many were very fiddly and involved ingredients I can’t seem to find in London.

Then there’s the time factor. Much as I’d love to make homemade Pho, I don’t really fancy putting a stock pot on before going to bed and leaving it on all night. A dish which takes 14 hours to make? Sorry – I love you, dear wonderful Pho – but perhaps I am just destined to slurp your goodness when I am out and about. 

So here is an attempt to cut a few corners but create something which approximates real Vietnamese food. I found the soup base in a Vietnamese grocers in Greenwich, but it should be available in either See Woo or Longdan.  Here is what the jar looks like:

Vietnamese style Chicken Noodle Soup (for cheats)

Serves 2

Ingredients:

Soup:

1 sheet Chow Mein noodles or Yellow Noodles

3 spring onions sliced diagonally

1 birds eye chilli very finely sliced

2 handfuls cooked (I used leftover roast)  chicken (about 2 breasts worth)

2 heaped desert spoons of Vietnamese Chicken Soup base

3 mugs of boiling water

Garnishes:

1 lime, cut into quarters

1 handful beansproats, quickly rinsed in boiling water

Sweet white onion, finely diced

Small handful of mint leaves

Small handful of mint leaves         

Method

1. Prepare your garnishes in advance.

2. If using raw chicken, then either roast in the oven or poach in boiling water, but using leftover roast chicken is the easiest. Shred the chicken up into small pieces, and put to one side.

3, Cook the noodles according to the pack instructions. Mine needed boiling for 6 minutes. 

4. Drain, rinse with cold water to arrest the cooking process. If the noodles are likely to stick together (particularly so with supermarket egg noodles), dress lightly with groundnut oil. Put to one side.

5. Put the boiling water and the soup base in a saucepan. Maintain on a simmer for 2-3 minutes to let the flavour infuse.

6. Now chuck in the spring onions, chilli and allow another 2-3 minutes for the oils in both to seep out into the soup and impart their flavour. Add the noodles and allow to warm through, about 2 minutes.

7. Now add the chicken.  If shredded into small enough pieces, it will only need another 3 minutes to be heated through until hot and safe to eat. 

8. Dish up the soup (you will have to fish out the chicken or it will all stay towards the bottom of the pan). Share out the spring onions, noodles and chicken.

9. Top with the garnishes – except for the lime, which you squeeze over the soup. 

Enjoy!