Friday, May 29, 2015

The Cooks Pantry - Vietnamese Beef Salad #Cooking #thecookspantry #Grange #cookingclasses #Vietnamese

Vietnamese Beef Salad

The Cooks Pantry, a fairway wood from the beach.

Last night (along with my daughter Hannah) I attended a Vietnamese Cooking class at The Cooks Pantry, Grange.  We had a great night, ate delicious food and have been inspired to cook more Vietnamese food.  Central Market, here we come!



Gentle James
 James Brodroghy has been a chef for 15 years and before The Cooks Pantry, owned and ran (with wife Jo) Henley on Sea and French bistro Sixty Six on King William Road.



The Cooks Pantry has a relaxed decor.


James is big on organic

The Cooks Pantry philosophy

The table all set, ready for our creations




I won't post all the recipes for the many dishes we helped make and consume last night, in one hit.  Today you will have to be satisfied with the Vietnamese Beef Salad (we were) and I will post other recipes over the coming weeks.


Ingredients for 4:

200 gm sirloin steak
100 gm rice noodles
1/4 cup dried mushrooms (shiitake are good)
1/2 cup coriander leaves
1/2 cup mint leaves
1 small red onion, sliced
2 red chilies julienned
1 Lebanese cucumber, finely sliced
1/2 cup roast peanuts (tastes better to do these fresh rather than buying roasted)
1/2 cup fried shallots (buy these ready made)



Beef marinade ingredients crushed and combined in mortar:
1 clove of garlic
1 tbspn fish sauce
2 tbspn sugar
1 tbspn sesame oil


Method

Marinate beef and refrigerate for an hour or more

Cook noodles in boiling salted water for 2 minutes then drain. Cut into 6cm lengths. (NB. noodles need to be cool for the salad, so run under cold water if still too hot by the time you are putting the salad together)

Soak mushrooms in hot water until soft and then julienne (do an hour before hand)


Blend all of the salad dressing ingredients until smooth in a food processor:
1 clove of garlic
1 tbspn of palm sugar
4 tbspn lime juice
2 tbspn fish sauce
2 tbspn soy sauce
2 tbspn sliced lemon grass (use the ends and take outer husk off first)
1/2 cup coriander leaves
1/3 cup vegetable oil

Grill steak, rest and slice thinly



Combine all the ingredients, except peanuts and shallots


Plate it up and then sprinkle over peanuts and fried shallots. Add a wedge of lime.

Still to come in future posts:
Amok Fish in banana leaf cups
Vietnamese grilled quail
Vietnamese chicken
and a recipe for home made 5 spice


If you are interested in joining James for future cooking classes, he has a few coming up:
Simply Spanish
Moroccan Spice
Fabulously Frenh
Traditional Javanese

Check out his website: here




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