Upate-cooking demonstration at Williams-Sonoma by Ennis Le

Cooking demonstrations at Williams-Sonoma, Chadstone shopping centre.

Ennis Le from Hanoi Mee.

The recent cooking demonstration by talented Vietnamese chef Ennis Le from Hanoi Mee in Port Melbourne was a great success.

Participants watched Ennis create tantalising modern Vietnamese delights and were thrilled to sample his dishes.

If you missed the demonstration, here are his recipes to try at home.

Keep your eye out for more cooking demonstrations at Williams-Sonoma, Chadstone shopping centre, soon!

Recipe from Ennis Le of Hanoi Mee Kitchen and Bar

140 Rouse St, Port Melbourne

Phone 0452 452 583

Green rice fried prawns

Ingredients

10 tiger prawns, peeled, deveined, remove heads, but leave tails on

1 pkt green rice flakes, from Asian grocers

1 head butter lettuce

handful each of Vietnamese mint, garden mint, coriander, spearmint

2 tbsp fish sauce

1 cup rice flour

1/2 cup glutinous rice flour

200ml soda water

oil for deep frying

Pickle ingredients

handful julienned carrots

handful julienned green papaya

200ml water

100g sugar

150ml vinegar

Dipping sauce

500ml water

250g sugar

460ml fish sauce

150ml lemon juice

1 fresh chilli, sliced

Mix all dipping sauce ingredients together and set aside.

Method

Stretch the prawns to straighten.

Combine rice flour and glutinous rice flour and slowly add enough soda water until a thick slurry is formed.

Keep chilled in the fridge or on ice for 20 minutes.

Pickle the carrots and papaya. Whisk sugar with water until sugar is dissolved, add vinegar, keep whisking, then add carrot and papaya. Chill in fridge for one hour.

Dip prawns in fish sauce, coat with rice flour, dip in batter and then coat in green rice flakes.

Heat oil, deep fry prawns at 180 degrees C until crispy.

After about 1 and 1/2 minutes, remove prawns and drain on paper towels.

Serve the prawns with butter lettuce, herbs, pickle and dipping sauce.

Soft shell crab rice paper rolls

Serves 4

This is a tasty dish which makes a good appetiser.

Ingredients

4 sheets rice paper

4 soft shell crabs, available at fishmongers

1 carrot, peeled and julienned

1 avocado, sliced lengthways

100g rice vermicelli, soaked in hot water for 6 minutes, then drained

8 sprigs rice paddy herbs, available at Asian grocers

sweet chilli sauce

200g iceberg lettuce, shredded

Batter

150g tempura flour

50g rice flour

approx 1 cup soda water

extra rice flour for dusting

Method

Mix tempura flour and rice flour. Add water and whisk until it is the correct consistency. Batter should lightly coat your finger when dipped in.

Heat oil for deep frying.

Dust crab in rice flour, coat in batter and deep fry until golden.

Drain and cut crab into pieces.

Dip one sheet of rice paper in warm water, remove immediately and lay flat on bench top.

Place shredded lettuce neatly on the bottom 1/3 of the rice paper, add carrot, avocado, vermicelli, a little sweet chilli sauce and crab pieces.

Stretch the rice paper over the filling and roll up tightly.

Cut each roll into four and garnish with rice paddy herbs.

Repeat with remaining three rolls.

Dip into hoisin sauce before eating.

All photos by Jonathan.