I’ve been craving Asian food lately, really, really badly. Maybe it has to do with the fact that it’s the ideal summer food, but I suspect it has more to do with my longing to go travelling somewhere far, far away. I’m currently crafting an intinerary in my head, taking me to places like Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Bali and Singapore. So far it’s only in my head, but hopefully in January, it will materialize and I will be able to blog from all these places.

But for now, I’m stuck in London. So for the past weeks I’ve been seeking out Asian food in London, from lovely Pad Thai at Busaba Eathai to heavenly sushi and tempura at Dotori, from Vietnamese noodle soup at Kim’s in Camden to some chewy  Chinese dumplings at Yum Cha.

Then the other day, the lovely Mowie of Mowielicious and Bruce of Cunningeye came round for dinner, and I just couldn’t make up my mind as to what to make. I mean, what do you cook for a food blogging superstar like Mowie?! Not that he’s fussy or a food diva – not at all – he’s the most lovely guest ever (and so is Bruce!). But still.. you want to serve them something super nice! So I decided not to decide and instead make a tapas-style Asian menu. It was super hot that day, so I wanted to make food that didn’t require ages in the oven or on the stove, just some simple and fresh asian-flavoured food.

Bamboo Shoot Salad

Crispy Coconut Wan Tans

Thai Chicken Skewers

Vietnamese Salad Rolls

The menu ended up being a refreshing Bamboo Shoot salad, some crispy coconut and sweetcorn wan-tans, Thai chicken skewers marinaded in a coconut sauce and lovely Vietnamese Salad Rolls with a peanut dip.

It did take some time to prepare it all, but if you are well organized and make most of the stuff ahead, it’s really a fuss-free dinner party – except for the frying of the wan-tans! The wok regularly spewed some boiling oil on my bare arms, resulting in my shouting out all kinds of multi-lingual swear-words and Mowie and Bruce covering their ears and bursting into giggles. All in all, a wonderful evening!

More photos after the jump.

Crispy Coconut Wan-Tans

Makes about 20

20 Wan-Tan sheets (look in the frozen section of your Asian store)
2 spring onions
1 carrot
1 small can of sweetcorn (150g)
75g coconut cream
3 tsp soy sauce
1 tsp yellow or green curry paste (or curry powder if you don’t have any curry paste at hand)
1 tbsp flour dissolved in 2 tbsp water
about 300ml vegetable oil for frying
Sweet Thai chili sauce

Let the Wan-Tan sheets thoroughly defrost.

Meanwhile, grate the carrot and chop the spring onions. Drain the sweetcorn and rinse with water.

In a bowl, mix the coconut cream with the curry paste and soy sauce until well combined. Add the sweetcorn, carrot and spring onions and mix so that everything is covered in the paste.

Fill each wan-tan sheet with a teaspoon of the sweetcorn mix. Dip a pastry brush into the flour/water mix and brush the wan-tan edges with it. Fold the edges together so that the wan-tan resembles a little parcel.

Heat the oil in a wok or a deep pan. You know it’s hot enough when you dip a wooden spoon in and bubbles form around the edges. Deep-fry the wan-tans in batches of 5, for about 4 minutes each or until golden brown. Serve with sweet Thai chili sauce.

Bamboo Shoot Salad

for 6 people as a side dish

300g canned bamboo shoots (cut into thin slices if you can find it)
300g green beans
2 shallots
1 garlic clove
10 tbsp of vegetable stock
4 tbsp lemon juice
4 tsp light soy sauce
1 teaspoon sugar
1 red chili
3 tsp sesame seeds
1 handful of mint leaves
2 spring onions
3 tbsp fried shallots (you get those in Asian stores)

Cook the green beans until they’re cooked through but still crunchy (al dente), set aside.

If your bamboo shoots don’t come pre-cut, cut them into spaghetti-like thin slices, set aside.

Dry-fry the sesame seeds in a pan until they turn golden. Set aside.

Chop the shallots, chili and garlic, fry in a tablespoon of vegetable oil until transluscent. Then crush them into a paste with a pestle and mortar or with a hand blender.

Heat the stock in a saucepan and add the shallot mix to it. Add lemon juice, soy sauce, sugar and stir well. Add the bamboo shoots and stir them in the juices. Set aside and let it cool down (it can still be lukewarm when serving).

Assemble the salad: place the bamboo shoots in the middle of a plate. Arrange the beans around. Sprinkle the whole salad with sesame seeds, mint, spring onions and shallots and serve.

Vietnamese Salad Rolls

Makes 6

6 round vietnamese rice paper sheets
18 cooked prawns
60g vermicelli
60g iceberg lettuce
60g soy sprouts
18 mint leaves
1 tbsp sesame oil

For the peanut dipping sauce

2 tbsp crunchy peanut butter
3 tsp soy sauce
1 tsp brown sugar
1/2 tsp chili flakes
1 tsp grated ginger (I used some from a jar)
1 tbsp lemon juice

Prepare the fillings:

Cook the vermicelli in boiling water for about 2 minutes or until they’re al dente. Make sure not to overcook them since they tend to turn into a mushy bunch very quickly. Drain and let them cool down.

Fry the soy sprouts in a frying pan with sesame oil until they’re transluscent but still crunchy. Leave to cool and set aside.

Finely chop the iceberg lettuce. Select 18 nice mint leaves, wash them and set aside.

Make the dipping sauce:

Mix all the ingredients in a bowl until evenly mixed. Set aside in the fridge.

Now assemble the salad rolls, one at a time:

Fill a big bowl with hot water (don’t use boiling water, since you’ll have to stick your hands in it). Take one rice paper sheet and submerge it in the water. Use your hand to stir it around so that it collapses. You’ll notice that the sheet very quickly changes from a hard plastic-like consistency to a loose supple one. Take the sheet out once it’s supple enough to fold and it’s translucent. Transfer it onto a clean surface, being careful not to tear it, and fold it all out, so it’s sort of round again.

Place three mint leave onto the middle, and top each leaf with a prawn.

Put some of the soy sprouts on top of the prawns, then some of the vermicelli, and top it off with some lettuce.

Tuck in the two sides of the rice paper on your right and left. Then roll it up into a parcel.

Put a wet piece of kitchen roll on the bottom of a container (or on a plate), and put the Vietnamese salad roll on it. Cover it with another piece of wet kitchen roll. This ensures that the salad roll stays fresh and damp until you have all of them finished and that it doesn’t stick to the plate.

Thai Chicken Skewers (Moo Ping)

makes about 12

450g deboned chicken thighs
2 garlic cloves, chopped
4 tbsp fish sauce
1 tbsp light soy sauce
110ml coconut cream
110ml vegetable oil
1/2 tsp dried chili flakes
1 handful mint leaves

For the dipping sauce:

1 tbsp fish sauce
2 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tsp fresh chopped chili
1 tbsp sugar

Cut the chicken thigh fillets lengthways into two.

Combine all the skewer ingredients (except for the chicken) in a bowl until they are well mixed. Add the chicken and cover it in the marinade. Cover with cling film and chill in the fridge for at least 4 hours.

Meanwhile prepare the dipping sauce. Mix all the ingredients, cover with cling film and chill until needed.

Once the chicken is ready, skewer each chicken piece onto a wooden skewer. Heat up the grill of your oven and place the skewers underneath. Cook the skewers for about 5 minutes on each side, until the chicken turns golden.

Japan, Japan, Japan.

If there’s one place and one cuisine I’m obsessed about then it’s definitely to be found over there! Like tonight I was out in central London at Abeno stuffing myself with Okonomiyaki, those round cabbage pancakes that are covered in Japanese Mayonnaise and Okonomiyaki sauce (a bit like a Japanese Worcester sauce) and Bonito flakes (smoky dried tuna flakes – to die for!).  The dinner was in fact my thank you for Lawrence, who kindly designed this page for me.

You see, last Autumn Lawrence, my sister and another friend went on a trip to Tokyo and Kyoto. And on one of our last night, Lawrence and I went to this tiny Okonomiyaki place. And I think that kind of changed Lawrence’s life (or at least for one night it did). His eyes got that twinkle and he just couldn’t help but be mesmerized by the sizzling disks of egg mix on the hotplate in front of us. Who cares if we smelled like fried bacon and eggs afterwards?! Who cares if it got so hot we had to kill the heat by drinking bottle after bottle of cold sake?! It was divine. Amazing. If there is a heaven on this earth then it is in that tiny little side alley in Asakusa, where for one night Lawrence and I binged on Okonomiyaki…

Anyway, what has that to do with Teriyaki?! Well, apart from it rhyming with Okonomiyaki, not much. But hey, nice story, right?

Now, over to Teriyaki. I like those chicken skewers very much. You see I was a vegetarian for about 8 years (!), and throughout all this time I craved smoked flavours (which lead to a lot of smoked cheese consumption). So, ever since I’ve turned back onto meat-eating (and yes, that’s another story, you’ll get to hear one day), I’ve been indulging in smoked meat, like smoked bacon, smoked chicken, smoked everything. And the beauty about chicken teriyaki is that it has that smoky taste without actually having been smoked! Instead, it’s just marinated in teriyaki sauce (a mix of strong soy sauce, sake and mirin), et voila, you get a Japanese smokiness!

Ok, I have to shamefully admit that I did not make my own teriyaki sauce, but then, who in Tokyo please makes it?! They don’t have any space in their tiny little Tokyo apartments, right? So, if they can’t make it in their little homes, then how the heck are we supposed to make it in our tiny London flats? Right? Right!

(Ok, no, it wouldn’t have been too much hassle actually, but hey, Kikkoman has this amazing teriyaki sauce, so make sure you get that or a proper Japanese equivalent if you want to make this – don’t go for some Sharwoods or other so-called Asian brand! Yes, here speaks the food-snob in me…).

Chicken Teriyaki Noodles

Serves 2

4 boneless chicken thighs, cut into chunks
4 tbsp teriyaki marinade (preferably Kikkoman)
200g fresh egg noodles
4 tbsp sesame oil
1 tsp fresh ginger (I use the one that comes in a jar, otherwise use fresh one that you chop into tiny pieces)
1 crushed garlic clove
1 tsp chili sauce
1 pack stir-fry veg (like mange tout, peppers, sweetcorn, soy beans, cabbage, red onion, etc)
3 tbsp dark soy sauce
sesame seeds

Marinate the chicken in teriyaki sauce for about 1 hour (the longer, the better).

If you use wooden skewers, soak them in water for 5 mins so they don’t burn under the grill. Skewer the chicken and put under a hot grill. If you use the oven grill, make sure to keep the oven door open, otherwise your smoke alarm might get some action. Grill from each side for about 10 mins, or until the chicken gets a nice dark brown colour..

Meanwhile, stir-fry the vegetables with the condiments for 2 mins, add the fresh noodles and stir-dry until everything gets piping hot but is still crunchy. Put into bowls and top with the chicken skewers. Sprinkle with sesame seeds. Voila.

Easy peasy, right?