Preparation method

1. Place chicken in a deep frying pan. Cover with water (see tip) and bring to a gentle simmer on medium. Reduce heat to low and poach chicken for 5-8 minutes. Cool in liquid. Thinly slice or shred chicken and place in a large bowl.
2. DRESSING: In a small jug, whisk all ingredients together until sugar dissolves. Set aside.
3. Add cabbage, carrot, sprouts, onion and mint to chicken with half the dressing. Toss to combine. Drizzle with remaining dressing to serve.

TOP TIP

• You can add herbs, lemon slices or peppercorns to the poaching liquid.
• For a lunchbox version, add cooked rice vermicelli to the salad and use as a filling for rice-paper rolls.

Preparation method

Serves 4

For the ginger and garlic sauce, place ginger, garlic and sugar in a mortar and pound to a paste with pestle. Add fish sauce, lime juice and a splash of water. Season with salt and ground black pepper and transfer to a bowl.

Heat oil in a frying pan over medium heat, add squid and cook, stirring, for 5 minutes or until tender. Transfer to a bowl, add fish sauce, lime juice and season with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Garnish with coriander leaves.

Spoon squid into butter lettuce leaves and drizzle with ginger and garlic sauce.

Preparation method

Serves 4

Preheat barbecue to medium heat. Place oil, eggplants, shallots, garlic and chillies on grill and cook until tender. Remove from heat and allow to cool.

Peel shallots and garlic, coarsely chop and transfer to a large mortar. Deseed chillies, chop and add to mortar. Halve the eggplants and scrape flesh out with a spoon and add to mortar. Pound mixture with pestle and season with salt and freshly ground pepper. Add fish sauce, lime juice, mint and coriander and combine well. Transfer to a serving bowl and sprinkle with sesame seeds. Serve with grilled or toasted baguette slices.

Preparation method

Serves 6

Combine marinade ingredients in a bowl. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Add chicken, combine well, cover cling film, and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Heat oil in a large frying pan or wok over high heat, add garlic, shallots and lemon grass and cook for 3-5 minutes until shallots and garlic soften. Reduce heat to medium, season with salt and freshly ground black pepper then add chilli, capsicum and carrot and cook for further 3-5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Remove chicken from refrigerator, then add chicken and marinade ingredients to frying pan and cook, stirring for 5 minutes. Add fish sauce, stock and sugar and cook, stirring, for further 3-5 minutes or until chicken is cooked and sauce has thickened.

Serve with jasmine rice and garnish with coriander leaves.

Preparation method

Serves 6

Place beef in a bowl with garlic, fish sauce, sugar, salt and 1 tbsp oil. Combine well, cover with cling film and refrigerate for 1 hour.
For salad, combine ingredients in a bowl and transfer to a serving plate.

Heat remaining oil in a large frying pan or wok over high heat. Remove beef from refrigerator, add to the pan with marinade ingredients and cook, stirring, for 3-5 minutes, turning the beef once for medium rare. Add to salad, toss well and serve immediately.

Preparation method

Serves 6

Prep time 90 mins, cook 20 mins (plus freezing)

“A nostalgic dish, this is a more grown-up version of the ice-cream I ate in suburban Chinese restaurants as a boy.” You’ll need a 12 x 6cm-diameter hemisphere silicone mould sheet for this recipe, and you’ll need to begin a day ahead.

For black sesame paste, dry-roast sesame seeds until aromatic (1-2 minutes). Cool, pound in a mortar and pestle until finely ground. Bring sugar and 60ml water to the simmer in a small saucepan, remove from heat, stir in black sesame seeds, chocolate, ginger and a pinch of salt, stir until chocolate has melted. Transfer to a bowl and refrigerate, stirring occasionally, until cool.

Whisk egg yolks, sugar and vanilla seeds on high speed in an electric mixer until pale (3 minutes). Meanwhile, bring cream and 750ml milk to the simmer. Pour milk mixture over yolk mixture, whisking on low speed, then return to pan and stir continuously over low-medium heat until mixture begins to thicken (7-10 minutes). Stir occasionally until cool, then churn in an ice-cream machine. Spoon ice-cream into 12 x 6cm-diameter hemisphere moulds (see note), then freeze until firm but not hard (1-2 hours).

Scoop 1 tsp ice-cream from the middle of each hemisphere with a melon baller. Fill cavity with 1 tsp black sesame paste, freeze until firm (3-4 hours), then unmould ice-cream and join hemispheres in pairs to make balls, rubbing to close gaps. Freeze until required.

Whisk remaining milk and egg in a bowl to combine. Take one ice-cream ball at a time from the freezer, roll in flour, dip in eggwash, roll in crumbs, then return to freezer. Repeat until all ice-cream balls are coated, then repeat process so each ball has two layers of crumbs. Freeze until very firm (overnight).

Meanwhile, for ginger syrup, combine ingredients and 100ml water in a small saucepan, bring to a rapid simmer over medium-high heat, cook for 30 seconds, cool, then strain into a small jug.

Heat oil in a deep saucepan or deep-fryer to 200C. Deep-fry 1 ball at a time (be careful as hot oil will spit), gently turning until golden (30 seconds-1 minute). Remove from heat, drain on absorbent paper, serve immediately with ginger syrup. Repeat with remaining balls, skimming oil to remove excess crumbs.

Preparation method

Serves 8

This recipe is from the February/March 2011 issue of Gourmet Traveller WINE.

In a large pot, submerge the oxtail in cold water and set aside to soak for 1 hour.

To make the spice pouch, dry-roast each ingredient separately in a frying pan over medium heat until fragrant. Remove from heat and allow to cool. Using a pestle and mortar, coarsely grind ingredients. Wrap the ground spices in a piece of muslin and tie up tightly in a knot.

Heat a large frying over medium heat and cook the unpeeled garlic, onion, shallot and ginger for 15-20 minutes, turning them, until all sides are blackened. Remove from heat.When cool enough to handle, peel and disc-ard the skins, then roughly chop.

Place the oxtail, brisket and 5 litres of cold water in a stockpot and bring to the boil. While stock is boiling, skim impurities off the surface for 15 minutes. Reduce the heat to a low simmer. Add the fish sauce, salt, sugar, and spice pouch. Cover and simmer for 3 hours, or until the stock has reduced. Strain the stock through a piece of muslin. Remove brisket, set aside to cool, then thinly slice.

Blanch the rice noodles in boiling water for 20 seconds. Drain, then divide between soup bowls. Place 3-4 pieces of brisket on top of the noodles, followed by 3-4 pieces of raw sirloin. Pour over the hot stock to cover the noodles and beef. Garnish with spring onion, mint, coriander, chilli and a lime wedge.

Preparation method

Serves 6

Prep time 30 mins, cook 10 mins (plus resting)

Light and deliciously savoury, these Vietnamese crêpes are perfect for a fast and fresh lunch, writes Lisa Featherby.

Popular as both a street snack and an entrée in Vietnam, banh xeo are thin, crisp crêpes made with rice flour and stuffed with savoury ingredients. It’s the sound of the batter hitting the hot oil that gives this dish (pronounced “bun sayo”) its name: literally “sizzling cake”. Though it’s difficult to pinpoint its origins, one theory suggests it developed from the crêpe, introduced to Vietnam during the French colonisation in the 19th century.

The ingredients used in the batter, as well as the fillings, vary throughout Vietnam; the recipe we’ve used here is inspired by the banh xeo found in Ho Chi Minh City and the south. The batter calls for rice flour, coconut milk and turmeric; it’s the turmeric which gives the distinctive hue. Traditionally, freshly extracted coconut milk would be used, and rice would be soaked and ground by hand to make the flour, but we’ve opted to keep things simple by using prepared ingredients here.

The thin, runny batter is ladled into a large flat crêpe pan or shallow wok greased with pork fat or vegetable oil and swirled quickly across the pan until it’s very thin, crisp and golden, then the various fillings are added.

Chefs Mark Jensen and Pauline Nguyen from Sydney’s Red Lantern believe banh xeo “typifies the Vietnamese obsession with fresh herbs, produce and texture” and there’s no doubt freshness is key here. Banh xeo is best eaten as soon as it slides out of the pan, preferably broken into bite-sized bundles and eaten folded between butter lettuce with mustard greens, fresh leaves of coriander and Vietnamese mint. Keep things traditional by dipping it in nuoc cham – freshly prepared, of course.

Step-by-step instructions

For batter, combine rice flour and turmeric in a bowl, then whisk in coconut milk and 280ml water. Set aside to rest (1 hour).

Meanwhile, for nuoc cham, combine ingredients in a small bowl with 40ml water, whisk to combine and season to taste (it should taste sweet, salty, sour and hot).

Heat 40ml oil in a wok over high heat, add onion and stir-fry until tender (1-2 minutes), add pork and garlic and stir-fry until golden (3-4 minutes), add hoisin and fish sauce and sugar, season to taste, toss to combine and set aside.

Heat 20ml oil in a 22cm-diameter frying pan over high heat, add a ladleful of batter, swirl to cover pan thinly and cook until golden (3-4 minutes). Scatter one-sixth of pork mixture, prawns, spring onions and bean sprouts over half the banh xeo, fold over other half to cover filling, then slide onto serving plate and keep warm. Repeat with remaining oil, batter and filling, wiping pan with absorbent paper between batches, and serve with lettuce, herbs and nuoc cham.

Preparation method

1. Heat oil in a saucepan on high. Cook beef in 2-3 batches, 5-6 minutes each, until browned all over. Remove from pan and set aside.
2. Reduce heat to medium. Saute onion 3-4 minutes, until lightly golden. Stir in garlic, chilli, ginger, curry powder, sugar and turmeric. Cook 1-2 minutes, until fragrant.
3. Return beef to pan with carrot, stirring, 1 minute, to coat in spices.
4. Add coconut milk, tomato, water and fish sauce. Bring to boil. Reduce heat to low. Simmer covered, 40-45 minutes, until beef is tender.
5. Serve topped with coriander leaves, a torn baguette for dipping and lime wedges.

TOP TIP

• If preferred, make a quick Indian curry using beef or chicken and Patak’s Paste or Simmer Sauce.

Preparation method

Serves 12

Prep time 1 hr, cook 4 hrs 40 mins (plus pickling, cooling, draining)

You’ll need to begin this recipe a week ahead.

For pickled carrot and daikon, combine vinegar, sugar, 2 tsp sea salt flakes and 250ml water in a jug, whisk to combine. Place carrot and daikon in a sealable plastic container, cover with pickling liquid. Cover and refrigerate to pickle (5 days). Pickles will keep refrigerated for 4 weeks.

For master stock, process shallot, garlic and ginger in a food processor to a coarse paste. Heat oil in a large stockpot over medium heat, add shallot mixture, stir occasionally until golden (3-5 minutes). Add Shaoxing wine, bring to the simmer and reduce by half (2-4 minutes), then add soy sauces, sugar, a large pinch of salt and 4.5 litres water. Tie spices in a piece of muslin to form a parcel, add to stock with spring onion, reduce heat
to low and simmer to infuse (30 minutes).

Add pork belly to master stock, weight with a plate to fully submerge and simmer until very tender (3-4 hours). Carefully remove pork and transfer to a tray lined with baking paper. Place another piece of baking paper on top, then another tray, evenly weight with food cans, refrigerate overnight. Strain master stock and reserve for another use (see note).

Rub 2 tsp sea salt flakes into cucumber in a colander and set aside to drain excess liquid (30 minutes). Rinse well under cold running water, dry on absorbent paper, set aside.

Preheat oil in a deep saucepan or deep-fryer to 175C. Slice pork belly into 1.5cm-thick pieces and cut length to fit rolls (about 4cm). Deep-fry in small batches until golden and crisp (3-4 minutes). Be very careful as hot oil will spit; we recommend using a spatter guard. Drain on absorbent paper.

Meanwhile, for Sriracha mayonnaise, whisk ingredients in a bowl to combine then refrigerate until required.

Spread roll bases with pâté, top with cha lua, pork belly, cucumber, pickles and coriander, finish with Sriracha mayonnaise, sandwich with tops and serve.