Annam Supermarket

I shouldn't say this about Footscray, but the parking situation really gives me the irrits.  It's so hard to just duck down for something when you spend half the time circling looking for a spot and then having duels over parking spaces.  A great alternative for Asian groceries is Annam on the West Footscray/Braybrook border.

I remember when Minh Phat opened in Richmond.  It was bright inside, had long aisles and it was so easy to find things.  Sometimes it's fun to rummage but other times you just want to grab and go without playing Where's Wally with the kecap manis.

Annam is spotlessly clean and very well organised.  There are a few gaps in the range (NO CRISPY PRAWN CHILLI) but it's got most of the bases covered...

....like giant packets of my favourite (MSG-coated) crackers.  I don't know if they still are, but they used to be called "Want Want" brand crackers.  You have one and then you just waaaant waaaant moarrrrr.

A small but respectable Japanese section.  Did you know Ebi are now doing a range of Japanese groceries including Japanese (ie, not the expensive Spiral Foods one I buy) dashi stock with no MSG?

These Mae Ploy pastes are quite decent, last for ages and here are $4.20 for a 1 kg tub!!!  The photo doesn't really give the scale.

Among many, many others, turmeric noodles for Mi Quang, a half soup/half noodle dish.  Footscray's Sen have an unreal version, the photo of which I cannot find, which is odd because I file all my photos so meticulously.*

*Lie.

Oh happy day - a small but neat and tidy noodle and tofu selection.  I am so over buying chow mein-style yellow noodles (good for Grandpa's special noodles) and having them go mouldy long before the use-by date, which happens far more often than it should.

Fresh herbs and leafy veg, covered this day with wet newspaper to keep them fresh.  See here hard-to-find rice paddy herb and sawtooth coriander!  See these in action at a Saigon pho shop, thanks to Bryan (@fatbooo).

All of this for under $16.  Don't bother with this rice wine - they didn't have any shao hsing wine and it isn't a substitute.  I will try using it for cooking sake in Japanese recipes.  I like this Yenson's ready-fried tofu for stir-fries, salads, rice paper rolls - anything really.  Wontons are for wontons and tamarind for tamarind paste for proper pad thai.

These are banana crack.  They are tiny Thai bananas, dried yet still so moist.  I am addicted!

There's a freezer section to cruise too and Annam also sell a small range of chicken cuts, so you really can get everything there.  Just...  Hands off the bananas.  They're all mine.

Annam Supermarket
1/75a Ashley Street, Braybrook
Phone:  9687 3330
Hours:  TBC



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International Incident Party - Dumplings

It's not a stretch to say that penny aka jeroxie is somewhat of a legend in the Melbourne food blogging community, and I was lucky enough to meet her recently. I am very excited to pack my little pink beauty case and jet off to her latest International Incident Party, where we will be being wanton with dumplings.

I do love how Penny encourages crazy variation on a theme. If you didn't know, I do have three dumplings of my own, and they are wont to split at the seams at the most inappropriate moments. This puts some constraints on my cooking flights of fancy, but at the same time, my three kids inspire me to weave interesting, healthy, multicultural things into our nightly meals. Wontons are a favourite of theirs, as they can help make them and they taste absolutely divine.

First, you will need to make the broth. Anh of A Food Lover's Journey recently told me that in Vietnam, the "first test" of a wife is whether she can make a good broth, followed by the quality of her nuoc mam cham (dipping sauce).

Chicken Broth (Canh)

Note this makes a huge quantity! It's so delicious, though, and great to freeze.

Chicken carcasses (12 frames or around 2.5 kg meaty bones)
Large knob of ginger, roughly chopped
About 5 cloves of garlic, bashed with a cleaver
Bunch of spring onions, white parts only
Salt
White sugar
Fish sauce
Light soy sauce

Place chicken, ginger, garlic and spring onions in a large pot and fill with water. Bring to the boil and then simmer on very low heat, uncovered, for at least 3 hours. Strain through a colander into a very large bowl and leave on the bench to cool overnight.

Before and after removing fat

Early next morning, place into the fridge. After about 8 hours, the fat will have congealed into a solid white "raft" that you can easily lift off and discard. Don't stress if you don't get it all.  Line a colander with a piece of muslin or an old teatowel and pour the broth through it into a clean pot.  Bring to the boil, and season very well. I use a ratio of probably 40:30:20:10 salt:sugar:fish sauce:light soy sauce. Mmm, chicken broth... so nourishing to body and soul.

Wontons


2 x 150g packets wonton wrappers (from the fridge of any Asian grocer)
300g pork mince
10 prawns
3 spring onions, chopped
2 Tb finely chopped ginger
1/2 tsp white pepper
1 Tb light soy sauce
1 Tb fish sauce
1 Tb Shao Hsing cooking wine
1 Tb oyster sauce
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp cornflour


Remove wonton wrappers from fridge. Place all ingredients (except wonton wrappers and cornflour) in a food processor and process to a semi-coarse paste.

Now, dissolve cornflour in about 1 Tb water in a small dish. Set up a tray dusted with cornflour and have a damp teatowel ready to cover the dumplings as you make them.

1. Place a teaspoonful of filling in the centre of the wrapper.
2. Using your finger, paint a small amount of cornflour mixture around the top edge and halfway down each side.
3. Fold the bottom part of the wrapper up over the filling and press to seal, making a rectangle.
4. Next, fold the top margin of the rectangle over, using both index fingers (one of mine had to hold the camera!)
5. Now, the tricky bit - sticking the bottom corners together. Here's a video of how it's done:

6. Make sure you use just a little dab of cornflour to stick the corners together, and fold them to one side so they sit flat. Place wontons on the cornflour-dusted tray and cover with a damp teatowel so they don't dry out.

Tricky? You will get better with time. Really, though, it does not matter what shape you do the wontons, as long as the filling is safely enclosed. The kids love to help me (although do be prepared for cornflour EVERYWHERE!)

Setting out wrappers for Mum to fill; "painting" cornflour around edges (with a clean paintbrush)

Next, cook whatever accompaniments you would like, in the simmering broth (such as green vegetables, noodles etc - make sure you cook the noodles really al dente as they will continue to cook when you add the broth at the end).  Remove each ingredient as it is done and place in individual bowls.  Cook the wontons last for about 5-6 minutes (you can always remove one and chop in half to check they are done).  Add to the bowls, ladle over hot broth, and garnish with chilli, chopped spring onion (green part), and fried shallots.

The translation of wonton is "swallowing clouds", and this soup really puts me on Cloud Nine.  Thank you Penny for hosting, and I look forward to seeing everyone else's heavenly creations!

Delicious Vietnam #1 - "Vietnam on a Plate"

Recently, I was lucky enough to meet Anh of A Food Lover's Journey.  Along with Hong and Kim of Ravenous Couple, she is presenting a new food blogging event - Delicious Vietnam - which aims "to promote and explore the diversity of Vietnamese cuisine." 

It's no stretch to say that I'm in love with Vietnamese food.  Our romance began years ago as a heartfelt yet somewhat clueless crush, with spring rolls and Mongolian beef on a sizzling plate.  Occasional dalliances with pho and bun noodle salads led to a full-blown love affair.  We are now happily wedded, Vietnamese food and I.  Yet despite the near-daily ritual of banh mi and com tam, we still find ways to surprise each other.

Today was a wonderful example of how an old lover can still take your breath away.  I attended a tour by Mei Ling Perry of "Vietnam on a Plate", through Maribyrnong City Council.  A little background - I am lucky enough to live in Footscray, an inner suburb of Melbourne, Australia, which is a hub for the Vietnamese community.  Mei Ling shepherded us through the maze of markets and shops that make up our wonderful suburb, demystifying and deciphering many wonderful Vietnamese ingredients, and stuffing our bellies along the way with complimentary taste after taste of Vietnamese delights.  To detail the entire 5-hour tour here would be impossible and a disservice to Mei Ling's passion and knowledge, but in the spirit of Delicious Vietnam, I want to share with you some of the fabulous Asian vegetables I discovered today.

From L-R: common mint, purple perilla or shiso, Vietnamese mint/laksa leaf; Thai basil, sawtooth coriander, rice paddy herb

At Footscray Market, we rifled through piles of greenery to discover the many varieties of herbs enjoyed in Vietnam.  I loved the mixed bunches of mint, which, along with "fish mint", are apparently the centrepiece of many a Vietnamese home-cooked meal.  In Melbourne pho restaurants, Thai basil is offered along with bean shoots as a garnish.  Mei Ling explained that traditionally sawtooth coriander should accompany them.  Finally, rice paddy herb, used in sour soups.

From L-R: Bitter gai choy (mustard greens); pak choy

From L-R: Choy sum ("sweet cabbage"); water spinach/rau muong

Asian vegetables can be bewildering, but it is worth getting to know what's what, lest you be restricted to buying the anemic bok choy from the supermarket.  Speaking of which, what we in Australia know as bok choy is actually more strictly Shanghai bok choy.  The initial word "bok" actually means "white", so the white-stemmed pak choy above is actually the more authentic vegetable.  The tiny inner leaves are sometimes seen in trendy Mesclun salad mix!  All of these can be used either in stir-frying or soups.  Note, the slightly bitter gai choy has a serrated leaf, while sweet choy sum does not.

From L-R: Bitter melon; bitter melon stuffed with pork

Bitter melon is a favourite Vietnamese vegetable.  I have heard of older Vietnamese people effectively controlling their diabetes by drinking its juice.  It can be served in many ways, including stuffed and in soups.  Its young shoots, tendrils, and leaves are also edible!  Likewise, we even saw chilli leaves for sale, complete with baby chillies, for use in soups.  So many things that would be thrown away in the West are put to delectable use in Vietnam, and Asia generally.

From L-R: Taro; taro stem

 

We saw taro in all shapes and sizes on our tour, from small, squat, hairy ones to these larger ones, which were sliced in two to reveal white flesh shot through with brown squiggles.  These roots are cooked and used to make many varieties of Vietnamese dessert, as well as yum cha items such as taro cake.  For sale separately are the amazingly long taro stems, shaped like elephant's tusks.  These are sliced and used in Vietnamese soups. 

From L-R: Purple sweet potato, purple sweet potato swiss roll

   

This variety of sweet potato have a white exterior but, when cooked, become a brilliant shade of purple.  They have a crumbly texture and very sweet flavour, perfect for making desserts.  I don't know a kid in the world who wouldn't fall over themselves to eat a purple vegetable!

From L-R: Pandan leaves; pandan cake

 

Pandan leaves are the vanilla bean of Asia.  They are tied in a knot and thrown in to various desserts and savoury dishes alike, to impart a fragrant, almost musty, yet exceedingly pleasant flavour.  Pandan also imparts a faint green tinge.  These little pandan cakes were like fat-bellied pancakes, their edges tucked under, concealing a juicy, wet interior.  Yum!

I aim to include more Asian vegetables in our diet.  I cook a lot of food with Vietnamese flavours, but tend to use Western vegetables such as broccoli or silverbeet, purely out of being in a rush at the market, or not knowing my pak choy from my gai choy.  I have gleaned most of what I know about Vietnamese food from food blogs.  I look forward to learning more through future editions of Delicious Vietnam.

Disclaimer: Footscray Food Blog was not paid to attend the Vietnam on a Plate tour, which is offered to all interested people free of charge, thanks to Maribyrnong City Council.  Mei Ling Perry, Vietnam on a Plate, and Maribyrnong City Council did not know that I was a blogger, although I did inform Mei Ling at the end of the tour and ask consent to post.

Shelf Gleaning - Chang's Noodles

Would you like to be let in on a culinary secret?  No, it's not how to get a booking at Zingara Cucina (they have a website now - pah!  Sell-outs!) or where you can get the best donuts in Melbourne (in Footscray, of course!!)  It's how to make Chang's Noodle Salad, and gain access to an elite club of "in-the-know" peeps!

Chang's Noodles are from the supermarket and reside in the same category of "Chinese" food as lemon chicken and sweet & sour pork.  I had a school friend whose mum would make "stir fry" by putting cooked vegetables on top of these noodles and liberally dousing in thick, black soy sauce.  I wish I could say it was so bad it was good, but it wasn't.  It was just bad.

The recipe is found on the back of the packet.  Now, before you think I have lost myself in some sort of Prozac-popping, suburban nightmare of cooking things on the back of packets, give it a shot!  The salad is divine - fresh, crunchy and zinging with flavour.  Basically it's a combo of shredded wong bok (Chinese cabbage), spring onions, toasted almonds and crunchy noodles, with a sweet vinegar, sesame and soy dressing.

If you take it to a BBQ, everyone will fall on it, demanding the recipe.  It's up to you what you tell them!  (Just don't dress it in advance, or it will go soggy.)  When I have gone to a party and seen it on the buffet table, the host and I will lock eyes, tap the side of our noses, nod sagely and intone to one another: "Chang's".

From your local independent or duopolist supermarket, near the jars of Kan Tong

Shelf Gleaning - Tamarind

 

Many great sauces and stews are built on the triumvirate of sweet, salty and sour flavours.  Think caponata, the Sicilian eggplant stew seasoned with sugar, salt and vinegar, or a Thai curry with palm sugar and fish sauce, anointed with a squeeze of lime at the end to round out the flavours.  Tamarind is another sour or acid ingredient, most commonly associated with Asian cuisine.  It is a truly global fruit, however, having originated in Africa, and since become popular everywhere from Mexico to Madagascar.  Its flavour is both sweet, tart and tangy, and it is used in savoury sauces and soups, as well as rolled in sugar and enjoyed as a sweet snack.  While living in the US, I became very partial to tamarindo candy - perhaps the precursor to the "sour lollies" that are so popular today!

You can buy ready-made tamarind paste in Asian grocers, but if you want the best flavour, you need to make your own.  It's really easy and once you taste it, you will never buy the ready-made stuff again!

Buy a block of "wet tamarind" (usually around 375g) and put it in a bowl. 

 

Pour over 600 ml boiling water and break up.  Leave to sit for a couple of hours.  (Note: I have read that if you are in a hurry, you can just leave the tamarind in the water for a few minutes before straining, but the longer you leave it to soak, the better the flavour.)

 

After a few hours, tip into a sieve atop a bowl.  Using the back of a spoon, mash the solids against the mesh, extracting as much pulp as possible.  When you have strained as much as you can, place the solids back in a bowl with another 200 ml boiling water, leave for 20 minutes then strain and mash again.

 

You will now have a sieve full of seeds and fibres, and a bowl of smooth, luscious tamarind paste!

 

Store in ice cube trays in the freezer.  Each cube equals roughly a tablespoon.

Stay tuned for some tamarind recipes!

Shelf gleaning - Fried shallots

These golden, crunchy beauties are fantastic for adding texture and deep-fried naughtiness to food.  Traditionally they are used to top various dishes in many Asian cuisines, for both visual appeal and a contrasting crunch.  I like to use them to top laksa and other noodle soups, but they are just as good tossed through salads or even added to the mince when making burgers, to give a subtle onion flavour.  They are great when you have something really simple, like pumpkin soup or steamed vegies, and you want to add a bit of pizazz.

Ideally, you would make these yourself, slicing the shallots and deep-frying.  I just buy them ready-fried, although some brands (or batches?) have a slightly bitter taste, as if the oil was old.  Try different brands and see which you like.  If you get a bad batch, you will be, like, less than $1.50 down, so be adventurous!

Here they are topping my fried rice.  The texture of fried rice (well, my recipe at least!) is similar throughout, with tender rice, egg and vegies, but the shallots add an interesting crunchy dimension.  That Jess Ho makes a great point about fried rice:

What I have never understood is how people have recipes for fried rice. It is just the Asian version of using up leftovers.
It’s like bubble and squeak,
a fritatta,
a toasted sandwich.

That said, if you want my very loose recipe, it's after the jump.