Dinner Party: A Taste of Vietnam

Sorry to bore you with two successive dinner party posts, but I've been a busy girl! As you can see, this time I went with a Vietnamese theme (don't you love my little menus?) and was extremely pleased with the results!

Here's what we had:

Crispy fried wontons with pork, water chestnut & coriander
Rice paper rolls
Wok tossed beef with betel leaf
Twice cooked crispy skin chicken with lemongrass & chilli dressing
Asian greens sauteed with ginger & sesame seeds
Steamed rice

All finished off with a bowl of mango sorbet and vanilla bean ice-cream, but i can't take credit for that - courtesy of my local supermarket :)

These rice paper rolls were super easy to make and were really refreshing, making them (in my opinion) a great partner for the fried wontons.

Rice Paper Rolls

8 round rice paper sheets
1/2 packet rice vermicelli noodles
1 red capsicum, finely sliced
10 (or so) snow peas, finely sliced
2 tbsp fresh mint, finely sliced
2 tbsp fresh coriander, finely sliced

Start by cooking the vermicelli noodles in boiling water, then drain and rinse under cold water.

Soak the rice paper sheets individually in a bowl of cool water until they soften, then lay flat on a board. Position some of the vermicelli noodles in the centre, top with capsicum, snow peas and herbs, then roll up. Easy! Don't worry too much if they don't look perfect, they will still taste delicious.

The pork wontons were also massive hit, so much so that I ended up cooking two batches! However, if you're not a fan of pork you can always substitute with chicken or beef.

Crispy Pork Wontons

1 packet wonton skins
350g lean pork mince
50g water chestnuts, drained and finely chopped
2 spring onions, finely chopped
2 tbsp fresh coriander, finely chopped
1 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tbsp soy sauce
Ground black pepper

Place all the ingredients in a mixing bowl, and squish it all together with your hands until sticky and combined. Then you can assemble your wontons.

I've shown you how to make wontons before here but this time I went with a different shape. Very very easy, just wet the edges of the wonton skin and gather it up into a little money bag shape.

Asian greens are a must with any banquet, and I went with chinese broccoli. Simply rinse, and saute in a hot frypan with a 4cm piece of finely chopped ginger, a tablespoon of oyster sauce and some peanut oil.

Now, onto the star of the show - the twice cooked crispy skin chicken. This dish was totally the highlight for me, the chicken was so juicy and flavoursome underneath the delicious crunchy skin.

Twice Cooked Crispy Skin Chicken

1.6kg free range chicken
3L water
300ml soy sauce
250ml xiao sing wine
1/2 cup palm sugar, coarsely grated
2 star anise
4 whole cloves garlic, bruised
4cm piece ginger, sliced
Vegetable oil, to deep fry

Place the water, soy sauce, xiao sing wine, palm sugar, star anise, ginger and garlic into a large saucepan and bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 20 minutes.

Add the whole chicken, breast side down and return to the boil then reduce the heat and simmer for a further 20 minutes. Turn the chicken over, turn off the heat and leave to sit in the poaching liquid for 2 hours to develop the flavours.

Use tongs to transfer the chicken to a plate, cover with plastic wrap and place in the fridge to cool for half and hour or so. Discard the poaching liquid.

Once the chicken has cooled in the fridge, use poultry shears or kitchen scissors to portion the chicken into 10 pieces. Check out this video on how to portion correctly - I was lucky and had Kate to help me out :)

Add enough oil to a large frypan to reach a depth of 5cm. Heat over a high heat to approximately 190 degrees and carefully add the chicken, skin side down a couple of pieces at a time and fry for 5 minutes or until the skin is golden and crisp. Drain on paper towel.

To make the dressing, combine 1/2 cup of soy sauce, 1 finely chopped long red chilli, 1 stalk finely chopped lemongrass, 2 tablespoons of rice wine vinegar and 2 teaspoons of caster sugar in a bowl and mix well until the sugar is dissolved. Serve on the side.

Finally, whip up the wok tossed beef....

Wok Tossed Beef with Betel Leaf

500g lean beef sirloin, thinly sliced
15 betel leaves, roughly sliced
1 lemon grass stalk (white part only), finely diced
2 cloves garlic, finely diced
2 long red chillies, finely diced
1 long red chilli, finely sliced for garnish
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 tbsp fish sauce
1 tbsp soy sauce
2 tsp caster sugar
2 sprigs coriander for garnish

In a smoking hot fry pan or wok, add vegetable oil and lemon grass and cook until fragrant, then add garlic and chilli.

Next add the beef and stir fry for 2 minutes, then season with fish sauce, soy sauce and sugar. Add betel leaf and stir fry for a further minute.

Transfer to a plate and garnish with sliced chilli and coriander. Enjoy!

I hope I've given you some ideas for your next dinner party! I think I might take a break :)