Lemon-cured Tuna with Herb Salad One of my favourite Vietnamese dishes is bo tai chanh, a salad of beef cured in lemon juice, and the same method works just as well with tuna. Whatever protein you use, it’s a very quick dish to prepare once you have all the ingredients on hand, and it’s great […]
Char-grilled Five Spice Prawns Char-grilled five spice prawns are a great filling for Vietnamese rice flour crepes, bánh xèo, or served simply with a platter of fresh herbs and leaves – such as perilla, Vietnamese mint, Thai basil, bean sprouts and lettuce – and steamed rice. They can be threaded onto skewers for a barbecue […]
Prawn Laksa Lemak There are as many different versions of laksa as there are cooks, every Singaporean and Malaysian adds their own spin and there are distinct regional variations. Not all laksas contain coconut milk, but laksa lemak always does. Laksa lemak originated around the Straits of Malacca and lemak, meaning ‘creamy’ in Malay, indicates […]
Mini Bánh Mí Banh mi are a take-away mainstay. They’re a healthy quick lunch to grab on the run and fun to serve as finger food or a starter if you turn them into little open sandwiches on slices of baguette. Inspired by leftover bits and pieces from a few weeks recipe testing, I whipped […]
Red Rice & Herb Cake Every rice-centred cuisine has a version of fried rice to use up leftover cooked rice. I created this red rice & herb cake inspired by the Vietnamese tomato rice, cơm đỏ, which Mark Jensen introduced me to. It’s a great way to not only use up excess steamed rice but […]
Vietnamese Chicken Rice Soup Every culture seems to have a chicken soup that’s the universal panacea, and in Vietnam it’s cháo gà. Similar to Chinese congee, it’s sometimes called chicken rice porridge and is generally a breakfast dish, often served with omelette. It can be quite bland, if that’s what you want, and it’s traditionally […]
Bánh Mí I love the way food travels around the world, weaving aspects of one culture into another. The French brought their crisp, fluffy baguettes to Vietnam in the mid-1800s and just over a century later, the Vietnamese brought them to Australia. Now banh mi are one of our take-away mainstays. While they’re a healthy […]
Asian Warm Beef Salad I love Asian flavours, but don’t have a lot of patience for cooking elaborate Asian dishes. So I love this Asian warm beef salad. It’s easy to toss together, looks impressive and is full of flavour. It can be adapted to use whatever’s on hand (leftover roast beef or steak for […]
