Vietnamese Flavours Cooking Class

On Saturday I, again, had the opportunity to take a class with Samia Ahad at Coriander Leaf. It was a great experience to try new foods and learn about new kitchen appliances. She has a food processor, from India, that can combine shallots, ginger and garlic into a paste! Utterly fantastic – I have some video below. (Yes, I’m a geek!) But, the company that sold the machine went out of business so she is having a hard time finding a replacement. She is part of a focus group with Philips, so hopefully they will start selling them stateside!

Okay, back to the class! I helped convince one of Paul’s work associates to go with me! I think she had a great time and I was able to introduce her to a cooking school in S’pore. We started the class by tasting some Ginger Wine – it was really good (& really strong). We suggested to Samia that having wine at all of the classes might be a good idea (smile)!

The Menu was as follows:

Grilled Shrimp on Sugar Cane or Lemongrass

Sweet & Sour Shrimp Soup with Fresh Herbs

Grilled Beef/Chicken with Vegetable Platter (Lettuce Wraps)

Ginger Chicken with Caramel Sauce

Steamed Sea Bass with Soy, Ginger & Scallions

Spicy Lemongrass Tofu

Nouc Cham/Coriander-Lime Dipping Sauce/Caramel Sauce

Starfruit & Lychees in Ginger Wine

The Grilled Shrimp was different because the recipe called for the shrimp and other ingredients to be processed together. Samia used rice powder to act as a binder – that’s what she is crushing in the mortar and pestle. I would love one of those!

Additionally, the preparation just to put the shrimp mixture on the sugar cane took a lot of work – here are two videos showing how Nic had to use a lot of force & a very sharp knife to complete the task. Right now, I’m thinking using Lemongrass instead might work better for me!

The Sweet & Sour Soup was absolutely wonderful; I was a little iffy because there were tomatoes, shrimp and pineapple all mixed together – I didn’t know if I would like that. But, you’ve got to have faith! The dish came together beautifully and was a wonder to my taste buds. Can’t wait to make it at home! Did you know that most bases for Asian soups are Chicken Broth? I thought it might be Fish, but no, Samia said you always use Chicken Broth (must be simmered at least 6 hours & never use “those little cubes; they are filled with MSG!”).

The tofu dish was not as spicy as I expected – I fix something similar to this at home; I got the recipe from All Recipes – Tofu Bites. They are really easy, so I was glad to find another way to prepare tofu!

The Sea Bass – there are no words – was utterly perfect. It was steamed in an in-wall appliance that looked like a microwave oven; never have seen anything like it. I learned that when the eyes bulge you know the fish is done and if you're cooking something like Salmon and the foamy part starts to bubble, then the fish overdone! I just love learning all of these recipes and general cooking techniques.

The Vegetable Platter was filled with Butter Lettuce, Herbs, Bean Sprouts and Vermicelli. And, in combination with the Grilled Beef and Chicken, it became the Lettuce Wrap dish that is so popular in the States.

I completely forgot to take a picture of the Lychees and Starfruit Dessert; needless to say it was wonderful and would be a great addition to any summer BBQ.