Vietnamese Rice Paper Wraps

This is one of my absolute favourite, easy and creative recipes that I love doing.  Even the fiancee was proud to take them to work for lunch.  Only trick is getting your hands on rice paper wraps!  After months of searching through the UK's grocery stores I finally found a small Vietnamese Intro Pack that contained the elusive rice paper wraps.

This recipe is dedicated to my beloved aunt Helen, who showed me the art of delicate rice paper wrapping and I think of her every time I make these.  Thank you!

The beauty with this recipe is you can be as creative as you want with the ingredients.  I usually use chicken, but salmon works great as well.  The more you make these the better you get and more adventurous you become.  Even more reason to give them a try!

Ingredients:

For the wraps in this recipe.

• Rice paper wraps
• Vermicelli noodles
• 2 x Chicken breast fillets
• Cucumber
• Carrots
• Cream Cheese
• Salad leaves (I would have used mint but didn't have any)

Instructions:

Pop the chicken breasts into a pot of water and bring to the boil.  Cook the chicken until cooked, strain and leave aside to cool.

Cut up the cucumber and carrot into long, thin strands. About 10-15cm in length.

Once the chicken has cooled down enough to handle, shred the meat into long strands about the same length as the cucumber and carrot.

Now prepare the Vermicelli noodles.  Place them in a bowl and cover with boiling water.  Leave to soften for 5-10 minutes.  Once softened, drain and put back into the bowl.

Get a larger bowl or dish that will fit a rice paper wrap.  Fill with warm water enough to cover a rice paper wrap.  When you are ready to start making the wraps drop one into the water.  They only take 20 seconds to soften, they should go see through.

Carefully pull the wrap out the water bath, be careful not to fold it over.  Allow the excess water to drip off and place on a flat surface.  Now the fun part (and remember you can be as creative as you like).  

Start layering your wrap.  I did salad leaves, followed by cream cheese, shredded chicken, Vermicelli noodles and finally cucumber and carrot.  Fold in the shorter sides of the wrap to cap the ends, then roll the longer edge of the wrap over to fold the wrap closed.  Voila :)

Best served with a sweet chilli dipping sauce.

Being Healthy - Bircher Muslie

Breakfast... I'm obsessed!  I think about it before going to sleep, planning and imagining what's in store, even though I'm pot-bellied after dinner.  I'll eat all kinds of breakfast's from traditional English breakfast, to pancakes, to cereal, and porridge; and at anytime of the day.  Breakfast for dinner - satisfying.

So, what better way to obsess over breakfast than to be healthy while doing it.

I'm not 100% sure when Bircher Muslie passed my radar, but I know it was something my Mom originally discovered.  Thanks Mom!  Some dislike it because its rather mushy and sloppy like porridge, but I truly love it.  So I will share it :)

Ingredients: (Serves 4)

• 1 1/2 Cups Oats
• 1 1/3 Cups Milk
• 60ml Apple Juice
• 1 1/2 Cups Greek Yoghurt
• 1 Apple
• tbsp Honey
• tsp Cinnamon
• Handful of Raisins
• Fruit/Nuts to garnish

Instructions:

Mix the oats, milk, apple juice, and yoghurt together.  Grate the apple and add to the mixture, along with the honey, cinnamon and raisins.

Store in fridge overnight.

Serve in the morning and garnish with your favourite fruit and nuts.

This is so filling you won't need anything to nibble on till lunch.  So good!

Back to Basics - Millie Bread

I knew it had been some time since I last blogged but didn't realise it was this long! One and a half years... Where have I been?

I've been living life locally in Dundee and just simply got carried away with time.  Something everyone can relate to.  The time has come to emerge from the blog void, take the intentions of blogging and turn them into reality, and use the artistic Instagram filters to actually put weight behind the food I share.

My last post was the start of my Bread Beginnings, so what better way to come back than to come back with a bread recipe.

Millie Bread

Ingredients: (makes 1 loaf)

• 1 Cup Flour
• 1 Cup Corn Flour / Millie Meal
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 2 eggs
• 125ml milk
• 1 tin creamed corn

Instructions:

So easy! Mix everything together until a frothy mix is formed.  Pour into a bread loaf tin or dish and bake at 180C for 20 mins.  Before taking out poke the bread with a knife to make sure no mixture sticks to the knife.  If the knife comes out smoothly you're good to go :)

Bread Beginnings - Soda Bread

I have gifted myself with a fabulous cook book, well baking book to be correct.  I've watched a couple of episodes of 'The Great British Bake Off' and saw a Paul Hollywood book 'How To Bake' on the Tesco shelf and thought, well why not!  If you are going to learn something from the British, I suppose baking would be one.  I gingerly picked the book off the self and started leafing through it.  After reading a few pages (and seeing a few pictures) I was totally hooked.  It was the amazing bread recipes in particular that got me.

Bread = weakness

I made sure I packed my new baking book for my long weekend down to Sevenoaks and started familiarizing myself with kneading, rising, proving, and baking while on the plane.  I have also identified a few baking utensils that need to be added to my kitchen collection!! :)  soon... hehe.  Something called a Scotch Scraper will be my first essential bread baking tool, then working upwards eventually to a fabulous mixing machine (the ones in bright metallic colours!!)

Without much objection my new baking book was greatly accepted in the Sowden/Wood household. 

Let the bread making begin :) 

Soda Bread

Ingredients: (Serves 4)

• 500g plain white flour
• 1 tsp bicarbonate soda
• 1 tsp salt
• 400ml buttermilk

Instructions:

Heat your oven to 220C and line a baking tray with baking paper.

Combine all dry ingredients in a large bowl, then stir in the buttermilk. to form a sticky dough.  Tip the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and mould into a ball.  Flatten the dough sightly with your hand and cross-cut the dough.  Lightly dust the top with flour.

Bake for 30 mins or until the loaf if golden brown.  Leave to cool on a wire rack.  Tear it up to serve :)

Lemon & Thyme Salmon

This recipe is inspired by bits and bobs lying around the kitchen. I had no idea what to cook for dinner so resorted to scratching around the kitchen. The end result was actually so good I had to share it :)

There was tons of left over Lemon Thyme in the kitchen from the Cider Roast Pork Belly recipe we did over the weekend.  I couldn't let it go to waste so I decided to zshoosh up my Salmon with the Thyme and a lemon I had in the cupboard.  I then used almost re growing spuds to make some smashing mash potatoe as my Salmon's fluffy pillow.  Some household additions of butter, milk, salt & pepper completed my dish.

Try this its so easy and really yummy!

Ingredients

• Salmon fillets
• A couple sprigs of fresh thyme
• Lemon zest
• Olive oil
• Potatoes
• Milk
• Butter
• Salt & Pepper

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 120ºc.
• Boil some potatoes for mashing later.
• Finely chop some thyme into a small mixing bowl and add lemon zest from a small lemon.  Add some olive oil, enough to make a seasoning paste.
• Brush salmon skin with oil and place on a foil covered baking tray.  Brush the top of the salmon with the thyme mix and let stand for a couple of minutes for the mix to penetrate the fish.
• Pop into the oven for 10 mind (may be more or less depending on the size of your fillets and how well you like it cooked).
• While the salmon is in the oven, smash up your boiled potatoes.  Add some butter and milk to get that creamy smooth texture to the mash. Season well with salt & pepper.
• Spoon some mash onto a plate and gently place the cooked salmon in top. Drizzle the left over thyme mix and the juices from the baking tray over your salmon.
• Add a quick squeeze of lemon and you're ready to go!