Chicken Pesto Zucchini Noodles

 I was looking at my previous posts and it hit me that I never wrote about Zucchini noodles. I swore I thought I did! It's one of those food that I go to whenever I feel like having noodles. It's rare that I feel like having pasta- as for some reason, it always makes me feel heavy and gluggy. To think I used to cook pasta up every week without fail!

I bought one of those vege twisters at 40% off at our local appliances store and boy was I hooked. I have since made long vege noodle strands out of carrot and zucchini. I have yet to try beetroot yet but I bet it will taste amazing. My only complain is that it takes ages (and my son isn't old enough to do it for me yet!), plus there could be some wastage if the zucchini is too huge to fit into the little equipment. I tend to just chop up the leftovers and throw it in anyway.  I might just invest in a bigger and more friendly to use spiraliser in time.

My hubby grew a mini herb garden for me. I promise I will take photos of it one day! But from it, we managed to harvest quite a healthy bunch of basil leaves. This form the basis of our pesto.

I added parmesan cheese in my home made pesto- yes, it's not strict paleo but I can tolerate a little dairy after I have eliminated it for some time from my diet. Also, I identify myself as more clean eating than paleo. That's a good thing because I can't imagine life without cheese! In life, I truly believe there is no one size fits all, and you have to find what works for you and your body.

For me, I find that my family flourishes when we reduce grains, wheat, gluten and stick to the natural meat, seafood, veges wholesome food that you find in markets. Asher started his first solids with avocado and I'm pleased to say that even though I let him try some cereal at 8 mths, he has never taken to it- instead, his young palate always seem to prefer chicken, beef, lamb, spinach, peas, leek, sweet potato, pumpkin and of course congee. We also gave him eggs and he loved it! Yay to food experimentation.

So back to the pesto- it really is a blitz it in a mini food processor kind of meal. The noodles? I sautéed it lightly and then topped it up with the chicken pesto.

Chicken Pesto Zuchinni Noodles (serves 4)
3 huge zucchini- made into noodles shreds
1 onion
1 tsp garlic
500 grams of chicken mince
1/2 cup of peas

Pesto
1 huge bunch of basil leaves. Probably around 2 cups
1/4 cup parmesan cheese
1/4 cup garlic olive oil
salt and pepper
2 tsp of pine nuts

Blitz pesto ingredients together.

Saute pan with some garlic and chopped onion. Brown chicken mince. Toss pesto and peas over it. Taste. Add a little water if mixture seems dry.

In a separate pan, sauté zuchinni noodles with a little oil till slightly soft. Dish them into bowls and top it with chicken pesto and some more cheese!

My Experience of Confinement and Hand Pulled Noodles/Mee Hoon Kuey

It's nearly week 4 of my confinement. I am very blessed. Having my parents and grandmother travel from Singapore to help out as we get used to having a baby. My very generous mother took time off work and as a family, we decided that they will be spending 2+ months with us. It's a big deal, as not only does little Asher has a chance to know his grandparents and great-grandmother, we have not stayed together under one roof since I was 16 for such a long period of time.

Confinement, as the name suggests, indicate that I am confined to at home during the first month of Asher's life or post delivery. While many would say confinement is like "jail at home", I begged to differ. For most of it, I agree with the concept. This month is used more for recovery and getting used to parenthood to a new infant with help from women who have been through it. Not to mention, I enjoy the confinement food;which is meant to restore energy and nourishment to the body.

I did break a few rules of course. Traditionally, I'm not allowed to wash my hair. Well, rest assured, I did wash my hair but probably every few days. Given that it is winter and I'm not in humid Singapore, that does not bother me. Grandma explained I have to keep my body warm to prevent any future illnesses. Well, I guess I did listen by showering and washing my hair in hot water and blow drying it immediately.

Then of course, there is this myth that one should not drink water as that causes water retention. As I am breastfeeding, I need to keep the hydration up so I drank a combination of water and the warm logan/red date/ginger drink. My poor mother has to keep reminding me to drink it to the point she would give me a mug of it while I breastfeed.

Usually the baby is looked after by the confinement lady (which in this case, my whole family) to provide maximum rest for the new mother. Asher is sleeping with us though, and most of his needs are taken care by us. While it is tiring, my mother understood that it is important for breastfeeding reasons. My family stepped in to look after Asher, so that I can take a nap or shower during the day.

Confinement means I am not allowed out. Well, I broke that twice. Once when I needed some documents signed so it was a quick 30 mins trip, whereas the other time, I could not resist and headed to a children and baby expo that was held once a year. My mother went with me and we had a great time being out. The expo was indoors though and we kept it fairly short.

My mum prepared most of the food, with many of it ginger based. Due to my surgery, Mum lessen the amount of ginger as it was said that to much "heat producing" food might cause infections. Nevertheless, I enjoyed all the meals for numerous reasons. While I love cooking, it's really lovely having mum looking after me (!) and it is one less thing I need to worry about while I get to know Asher better.

As the month ends, I will be glad to be able to go out for walks (I'm very eager to shed the baby weight), and run errands. I'm glad that while my family is pro-confinement, they also respect our wishes and allowed me to wash my hair, look after Asher and looked after all the other necessities! It's a luxury and one that I am basked in the love and sacrifice of my family.

 I'm still quite behind in blogging my adventures of cooking before I delivered. In actual fact, I have bookmarked quite a few things I want to do when I am not working. Hubby commented that he really enjoyed me being a "housewife/domestic engineer" during that period of time!

Hand Torn Noodles or Mee Hoon Kuey is one of it. In theory, it is a really simple hawker dish to make. However, it requires time to do it. I chose it because I recall the happy memories that went with it. It was a dish of choice when I hang out with my dearest of friends. Three girls, sharing two bowls. One would prefer the meat, the other likes the vegetables in it. I'm the one who benefited the most- I like everything in the bowl of mee hoon kuey with extra chill.

There are many recipes out there for Mee Hoon Kuey, but I quite like this one. I added soya beans to the dried anchovies broth which I believe imparts a sweeter flavour. The other thing I changed, was to microwave some anchovies to make it crispy- rather than frying it in oil. The negative about it is that I couldn't keep it crisp for a long time. I burnt two batches of it before getting the timing of the microwave right too.

The dough can't be kept so this dish is best eaten fresh.

Next post- Asher's full month celebration!

Hand Torn Noodles or Mee Hoon Kuey (Serves 2)
2 cups of flour
1 egg
1 tsp of oil
1/2 cup of water

Broth
1/2 cup of dried anchovies
1/4 cup of soya bean
2 litres of water

Toppings
handful of anchovies
mince pork marinated with soy, pepper and sesame oil
egg
a bunch of choy sum


To make the broth- boil everything for a hour or so

Start with the noodles- In a mixer with a dough hook, make a well in the flour. Add egg, salt and oil. Turn beater on and mix. Once it comes together, continue the beater till it becomes soft and springy. You can also do this by hand. Rest dough in a clean bowl for an hour.

Meanwhile, crisp the anchovies in the microwave by placing them on a plate. Microwave high for 30 seconds first. If they are crisp, great! If not, try for another 30 seconds.

Cook mince meat in a pan by heating some oil and frying it. Set it aside.

Once dough is ready, roll it out. Tear them into pieces.

Re boil the broth. Add dough in and cook till it floats up. Add choy sum and cook till done (That will take 30 seconds). Crack an egg in a small bowl and pour it in. Quickly dish the broth, hand pulled noodles, egg and veges into your serving bowl. The egg should be lightly poached. Top noodles with crisp anchovies, mince meat and chill.

Grilled Salmon with Ginger Soy Soba Noodles

I'm not sure if quick cooking this summer is a reflection of my impatience of wanting to spend less time in the kitchen or wanting to experiment making good food in the least amount of time.

I have to confess that it has been challenging managing time and cooking for the last two months. With increased responsibilities and a desire to achieve our goals suddenly meant that cooking has taken a back foot. It's a tad scary, as cooking as always been a staple in my life (or since I decided to cook seriously!). Now however, creating a fitter me seem to be the focus.

Have you ever let anything distract you from cooking?

I am very fond of this dish as it is incredibly quick to do but so delish. The noodles in particular tasted better the next day. I am pretty sure I adapted this from reading Donna Hay and possibly even Taste app. I have changed a few things of course like more chill, more soy and added toasted sesame seeds when grilling the salmon.

I have in my hurry, overcooked my salmon- usually it's light pink in the middle. Nevertheless, I think the noodles are the winner. I think it's something I will bring to a pot luck,gathering or serve in a bbq party setting.

Grilled Salmon with Ginger Soy Soba Noodles (Serves 4)
4 slices of fresh salmon
1 packet of Soba noodles
Shredded carrot- I used 1
1 red capsicum sliced finely
1 bunch of brocallini

Dressing
1/3 cup of soy sauce
2 chii padi
knob of fresh grated ginger
1 tsp of garlic
2 tablespoons of miring
1/2 tsp of sugar

Grilled Salmon with a little oil. Cook till pink in the middle. Set aside and sprinkle sesame seeds on top. Mean while cook noodles using packet directions. When the water is boiling, quickly add brocallini.

Shake dressing in a jar. Toss warm drained noodles/carrots/capsicum/brocallini with dressing. Serve with Salmon on top.

Thai Inspired Chicken Broth Noodle Soup

So there are times when I still crave for a good bowl of noodles- even if Perth is going through hot hot hot weather. I still enjoy light meals like this, quick to do and relatively healthy. It's what hubby and I enjoy, just sitting in front of the tele, on Saturday night..sometimes talking about our future, our goals.. or sometimes just watching episodes of shows.

Then, there is that comfortable quietness that we enjoy. You know, the type where we slurp the noodles, but he read his newspapers, and I serve the net for just a few minutes. Then the reconnection happen. They, hey check this out- look at this article on line, or would you believe this happened?


Or perhaps the satisfaction that he turned around and just thanked me. And say "I enjoyed this."

and I'm happy.

Thai Inspired Chicken Broth Noodle Soup (serves 2)
500 ml chicken stock
1 red chill padi chopped
2 tablespoon of fish sauce
slivers of ginger
1/4 cup of coconut milk
1 tsp brown sugar
1 chicken breast sliced thinly
100-200 grams of rice vermicelli (soaked in hot water and drained)
3-4 cups of any veges- I used sprouts, shredded carrot and bak choy

few sprigs of spring onions chopped

Boil stock with chill, ginger and fish sauce. Once it boils, add sugar. Taste. Then cook chicken first then veges in it. Add coconut milk in the last few minutes.

Separate noodles in bowls. Ladle soup and chicken. Sprinkle spring onions. Serve.

Cross Country Fried Rice Noodles

Have you ever gone to various restaurants, look at what they have in their menu and wondered if those items indeed exist in their own country? For example, I have seen "Malaysian Fried Noodles" and "Singapore Fried Noodles" in menus.. but none of the Singaporeans or Malaysians I spoke to say they exist in their respective countries.

Besides, I don't recall any other fried noodles named by their respective noodles.. How about a Taiwan Style? or Korean Fried Noodles? Or Japanese Fried Soba? mmm..strange.

Wait, I suppose we can call a roast English Roast? Or Spanish Paella.

Perhaps not that strange afterall.

I was curious though and recall asking a chinese takeaway place what's the difference between Malaysian and Singapore Fried noodles. His reply was that Malaysian Fried noodles has turmeric, and Singapore style fried noodles has curry powder it it.

Oh alright then. Since we are a household of BOTH Singaporean AND Malaysian, I shall use both spices in my fried noodles.

and call them Cross Country Noodles!

The truth is, I was trying to avoid using sauces and I have to be creative in using spices instead. I was actually quite surprised by the results. I prefer this version than using sauces I think. The turmeric and curry powder does lift the flavour of bland rice noodles. It also went very well with squid and a little pork mince.

Cross Country Fried Rice Noodles  
200 grams of rice noodles soaked in hot water and drained
100 grams pork mince
300 grams of squid sliced
1 onion sliced
3 chilli padi sliced
1 tablespoon of garlic
2 tablespoon of cumin
1 tablespoon of turmeric
1 tsp of hot curry powder
4-5 cups of sliced cabbage
1 carrot shredded
sesame oil

Fry onions, garlic and chilli till nice and fragrant. Add pork mince and fry till cooked. Add in squid. Toss through spices and all veges. Cook for 2-3 minutes. Toss through noodles. Add some water if needed. Season with salt and pepper. Drizzle some sesame oil. Serve hot.

Pine Nut Pork Mince and Zucchini Rice Noodles

I have been suffering for digestive issues for some time now, and last year, I decided to reduce my intake of milk products. Since then, I find a big improvement in reducing the bloat and gluggyness.

This year, I decided to take it one step further and reduce intake of sugar, wheat and vinegar for a month. Just for an experiment to see how I go. I must admit though, that I'm not really good at keeping to it as sugar is EVERYWHERE. I'm so glad I'm not allergic to it! Vinegar pops out in unexpected places as well, such as beef stock. I was also told to avoid soy sauce.

This is my first attempt in making a dish that has no sugar. I pan fried some pork mince with pine nuts which gave it flavour. However, I couldn't resist and put a teaspoon of oyster sauce in that. Oops. Well, it was only day 1! So I could ease myself into it right? I had some lotus root left in my freezer so pan fried that also with garlic and salt. Grated a zucchini and mixed it up with carrot and chilli.

All this together makes this a simplified version of dan dan noodles. It's so simple that I'm going to have to call it... Pine nut Pork mince and Zucchini Rice Noodles. I guess my trick here was to create lots of different texture to make this dish more interesting.

Ps- did you notice the purple little bag at the background? Thanks to Tigerfish for my win on her blog! It's an awesome lunch bag that I have been using daily.

Pine Nut Pork Mince and Zucchini Rice Noodles
200 grams pork mince
1 tsp garlic
1 tsp sesame oil
1/4 cup of pine nuts
1/2 tsp of oyster sauce

Grated zucchini and carrot- 1 each water squeezed from vegetables

Lotus root
garlic
water

200 grams of rice noodles

Boil water, cook rice noodles and drain. Set aside and dish out in bowls. Cook garlic in pan. Fry pork mince till nearly all done. Add sesame oil, salt, pine nuts and oyster sauce. Taste. Serve on noodles.

In a separate pan, hit garlic up and fry lotus root till done. Season with salt and pepper. Dish on bowls.

Then gently heat up zucchini and carrot using same pan. Again, dish on bowl, Mix it all up and serve.

Cheat's Version Vietnamese Beef Pho

I'm very appreciative of Vietnamese eateries- especially a small one near where we live. It offers convenient and reasonable priced healthy food. My favourites of course are the Pho and paper rolls.


While this is not the real deal, it provides a quick and tasty alternative. The real deal says that the stock has to be simmered for hours with the right blend of fish sauce, onions, ginger and cinnamon. I cheated by purchasing beef stock. Where I cheated, I saved time by simmering the stock with the above ingredients for 20 minutes or so.

The rest of it is really quick and easy, just blanching the beef with the stock and then it's ready to serve. I thought I was lucky enough to get my hands on some Vietnamese beef balls from our local oriental shop-but I found them a little too tough with small bits of sinew. Not a good match at all. I spotted another brand- frozen though, and might give that a go another time.

Hubby gave me credit for trying to match the "atmosphere" of Vietnamese eateries, seriving my soup with a dish of bean sprouts, basil leaves, lemon and chopped chili. Hey, that's the least I could do with my cheat's version!

Cheat's Version Vietnamese Beef Pho (Serves 2-3)
100 grams of lean beef fillet sliced really thinly
100 grams of Vietnamese beef balls
1 ltre of beef stock
1 cinnamon stick
1 small piece of ginger peeled
1 red onion sliced
2 tablespoon of fish sauce
1 tsp of sugar
1/4 lemon juice

1/4 pack of rice sticks- soaked in warm water for 5 minutes.

Serve with bean sprouts, basil leaves, lemon quarters and chopped fresh chili.

Fry onions till soft. Simmer stock, spices and sauces for 20 mins. Meanwhile cook noodles and set aside in bowls. Taste and season if needed. Cook beef balls in it till done. Then, quickly blanched sliced beef. Ladle the soup on the noodles straight away. Serve hot with all the condiments.

Jamie Oliver's "Asian Style Salmon Noodle Broth"

For my birthday gift last year, a few friends pool together and bought me Jamie Oliver's 30 minutes Meals Cookbook. They know, I am a fan of Jamie Oliver's no fuss, quick and easy cooking. I am also aware of previous reviews on the book states that these meals do not take 30 minutes but can take more than 1 hr to prepare.

I love cookbooks. I adore them. I"m addicted to them. I like flicking pages, visualizing how I can make a dish, brainstorming meal ideas- but I rarely use the recipes as it is. I dare say that the only recipes that I follow to the tee would be baking recipes. For most cooking recipes, unless it is something that I have absolute no idea what it looks or tastes like, there would be same changes. Usually, it's due to practical reasons- like it is more expensive to purchase limes than lemons in Perth. Sometimes, it's personal taste- I cannot justify putting 1/2 cup of sugar in a cooking dish or 3 tsp of salt in any dish for that matter (Unless it's a brine and I can rinse it off). Otherwise, I view recipes as a playground really. A guide for me to start cooking something AND to minimise kitchen disasters.

At first, this cookbook makes my head spin. You see, it's a book of meal planners. Hence it's not your typical one dish per page cookbook. Jamie (oooo..should i be on first name basis with this awesome chef now?) presents 3 recipes per menu and guides us through how to multitask in preparing all 3 dishes at once. Therefore, even if you just want to make one dish out of 3, you still have to read through the whole menu planner. Unless of course, you want to make all 3 dishes.

In our household, we rarely have 3 courses. It's one, and perhaps some fruits or ice-cream for dessert. Nothing fancy just quiet simple food. Other than the slight inconvenience of needing to read the whole planner, it's actually quite good.

I picked this noodle broth to try first. At first, I'm sceptical of its ginger/chili garlic paste. I did a taste test after blizing it in the food processor and to me, it was slightly weird. However, when paired with salmon and the soup, it matched really well!

How long did it take me to prepare one dish?

Funny you asked. In estimation, 30 minutes.

But it doesn't matter at the end of the day does it? It's good food that matters.  ;)

Asian Style Salmon Noodle Broth (serves 2-3)
2 cm piece of fresh ginger
1 clove of garlic
1 fresh red chili
1/2 small red onion
1 tablespoon of soy
1 huge lime

2 pieces of salmon fillets
180 grams of egg noodles
1 cup of snow peas
2 cups of bean sprouts
few sprigs of spring onion chopped
1 red chili sliced
chinese five spice
1 ltre of vegetable stock

Garnish
Spring onion sliced left overs
quarter of lime.



Blitz ginger, garlic, red onion and chili in food processor. Squeeze in lime. In an oven proof dish, place mixture at the bottom of dish. Place fish on top of mixture. Rub some five spice powder on it. Cook in oven preheated 180C for around 20 mins or so.

Meanwhile, boil vegetable stock. Add chili and soy sauce when it begin to boil. Taste test. Add all vegetables and finally noodles. Spoon noodle broth into bowls. Top it with salmon and spring onion. Squeeze lime juice over it. 

Peanut Beef Rice Noodles in Soup

As the weather starts to cool down, I'm starting to cook more soup noodles. There is something sooo comforting on a Saturday night, armed with hot soup and a good dvd. Nothing more, nothing less. It also means we are starting to really move out of our newly wed status and just become..dare I say it... a regular married couple LOL

I'm starting to browse through older cook books again, and this Chinese and Asian Periplus step by step cookbook caught my eye again. It's soooo old that I can't even find it on amazon. I suppose they have probably re packaged it into another cookbook name again. I recall a previous housemate made this amazing beef soup with rice noodles and I asked her how did she do it....she gave me this sheepish look and said... "actually, I took that recipe book from your room....." That was 9 years ago.

To think it took me 9 years to remember this amazing dish. 

I'm very proud of my collection of ever growing cookbooks with plenty of tabs to remind me on the dishes that have caught my eye. A friend even said to me that I really should identify at least 5 recipes that I would cook in a book before buying it. It's good advice I say! However, I'm not proud that sometimes, I neglect some of my older cookbooks- all of which consists of some lovely recipes that I had wanted to try but have forgotten one way or another.

So I challenge you- have u got an old cookbook that you have not flipped in ages? Take it out, it may surprise you!

Peanut Beef Rice Noodles in Soup (serves 4-5)
300 grams silver side beef sliced very thinly
2 tsp soya sauce
1/4 cup of coconut milk (I used around 100 ml)
1 tablespoon of crunchy peanut butter
1 tablespoon of brown sugar
2 tsp of sambal oelek or chilli chopped

2-3 sticks of rice vermicelli blanched with hot water
1/2 cumber sliced and quartered
3-4 cups of bean sprouts 
1 ltre of beef stock
250 ml of water
2 tablespoon of fish sauce
1 tablespoon of brown sugar
few stalks of coriander
1/2 cup of roasted chopped peanuts

First marinate beef with the ingredients. Set aside for around 25 minutes or so. 

Prepare rice noodles and stock. Simmer beef stock and water. Add fish sauce and sugar. Taste test and adjust accordingly. Add  bean sprouts.

Heat a grill or small pan till very hot. Sizzle beef. Cook for 3 minutes or so. Set aside.

Divide noodles in bowl. Add some cucumber in bowl. Ladle hot soup over it. Add the beef and sauce. Sprinkle with peanuts and coriander. Serve with some chopped chili.

I'm back on Presto Pasta! Organised by Ruth from Once Upon a Feast and hosted this week by Chez Cayenne! What great fun they are having!

Singapore Hokkien Mee (Prawn Noodles)

There are some Singapore dishes that are closed to my heart. Singapore Hokkien Mee or Prawn Mee is one of them. The lovely prawn broth gravy's essence soaked into the noodles. The whiff of "wok hei" (high heat cooking) in the air.. ahh...  spicy sambal and lime on the side. I'm back in Singapore again.

I recall being confused with the many versions of prawn mee. AR who is a Malaysian reminded me that it is called "Char Mee" in KL. However, they are actually different since Char mee uses lard and dark soya sauce whereas Singapore Hokkien Mee uses a prawn base broth.

I spied this recipe from Rasa Malyasia who led me to Kokken 69. This recipe is adapted from them with some changes to the stock base and ingredients. Mine was rather wet as well-the way I like it. However, in most places it's served rather dry.

Singapore Hokkien Noodles (Serves 4-6)
200g Yellow Noodle
100g rice vermicelli (Soaked in hot water)
600g prawns with shells on
300g Squid (Sotong)
300g Pork Belly
40g Green chives
500ml Chicken stock
2-3 whole peeled garlic
500 ml water
3 Eggs
mince garlic
2-3 cups of bean sprouts


Seasoning
1 tbsp Fish sauce
white pepper
dash of sesame oil


fried shallots
wedges of lemon/lime
chili sambal


First make stock:
Shell prawns. De vein prawns. Fry prawn shells in a deep pot till pink. Pour in chicken stock, water and peeled garlic. Simmer for around 1-1.5hours. At around the 30 minutes mark, add in pork belly. Cook pork belly for the last 30 minutes. Remove, cool and slice thinnly.

Blanch squid and pranwns in stock till cooled. Remove both. Slice squid.

Fry garlic in wok. Add in beaten eggs. Swirl. Scramble. Fry both noodles for around 2-3 mins. Ladle 2 scoops of stock into the noodles. Let it soak in. Ladle again when it is nearly dry. Repeat 2-3 more times. For the last time, cover to let the noodles bath in the goodness of the prawn stock! Then, add bean sprouts, prawns, sliced pork and squid. Season. Do a taste test and adjust accordingly. Serve with shallots, squeeze of lemon/lime and chili!

ps- remaining stock makes a very good soup base the next day!

Prawn Pad Thai

We attended a dinner bbq party recently and met a Thai style cooking chef there. He was kind enough to give me a verbal run down on how he cooks Pad Thai. It seems easy enough, and given that I have tried it before, I thought I should give it another go. I felt that this version did not have enough gravy. It seems that each time I made pad thai, I will run out of something. The last time, it was fish sauce, this time, I realized I did not have brown sugar on hand! What a waste.. grrr.. I really have to be a more organize cook.

The chef also gave me a tip on presentation. He said that by adding a little cornflour/water mixture into the beaten egg, it provides a better "spring" to the omelette, allowing it to stretch and accommodate the noodles without breaking. I lined a bowl with the omelette and place some noodles in it. I fold the egg, pop a place on top of the bowl, flip it over and ta dah, a nicely omelette wrapped noodle dish. I scored it and sprinkle some peanuts in it.

The alternative method, is to make the omelette, roll it up and sliced it. I find this way much simpler but it was always interesting to try something new! 

Prawn Pad Thai (Serves 6) 

200 grams prawn meat 

sauce
around 6-8 pieces of tamarind
500 ml of water 
1/4 cup of brown sugar

pad thai noodles soaked in normal tap water till soft

Seasoning- mix together in a jar
1/4 cup of fish sauce
1/2 lemon juice
1 tsp of sugar

1 tablespoon of garlic
1./2 red onion
few bunches of spring onion sliced.
2 cups of bean sprouts
roasted peanuts

Cook sauce first. Simmer ingredients till it becomes thicker. Do a taste test. Adjust accordingly.

Fry garlic, onion and prawns. Remove prawns from pan. Fry noodles and veges. Add simmer sauce ladle by ladle till absorb. Continue to do so for around 10 mins or so. Add the fish sauce/lemon juice/sugar mixture. Do a taste test and adjust. Add the prawns back. Toss and serve quickly.

Omelette (For one-repeat if needed)
2 eggs 
1/2 tsp of corn flour mix with a little water

beat eggs with corn flour mixture. Cook omelette on a oiled pan. Flip after around 3-4 mins.

Presenting this to the great people at Presto Pasta organized by Ruth from Once Upon A Feast. This week, it is hosted by Helen from Fuss Free Flavours. It's the 200 presto pasta bash this week!

Viet Style- Roasted Peanut Noodle Salad

We had friends over a couple of months ago and they taught us how to make Viet Paper rolls. We had a ball! Our friend taught me how to make the dipping sauce and I thought how good is it to make it as a dressing for a noodle salad?

I had some chicken patties on hand and chose to pan fry and toss it through the salad. The winner of this though, is the dressing and the crunchy nuts and vegetables. Good for a summer day or picnic.

Viet Style- Roasted Peanut Noodle Salad (Serves 3-4)
1/2 packet of rice vermicelli noodle, blanched, drained and set aside.
1 cup of peanuts roasted
1/2 lettuce shredded
around 1 cup of shredded basil leaves
1 bunch of chives chopped
1 carrot shredded
1 cup of bean sprouts washed and blanched quickly with hot water
1 fresh chili chopped
fried shallots

Optional- 2 chicken patties pan fried and sliced.I think mince or even some crumbed fish might add texture and interest to this salad.

Sauce
100 ml of coconut milk
1/2 cup of hoi sin sauce
2 tsp of fish sauce
1 tsp of sugar
1 tsp of garlic

To make the sauce- saute garlic. Add hoisin sauce and coconut milk. Stir to combine and simmer for 2-3 minutes. Add fish sauce and sugar. Taste and adjust accordingly.

Toss noodles with vegetables and meat. Toss sauce through noodles and vegetables. Sprinkle nuts on it and some shallots. Serve!

A quick addition to the round up to Presto Pasta founded by Ruth-Once Upon a Feast. This week's host is Heather from Girlichef.