Chào các cô và các bạn! Chúng em tên là Kim (Daphne), Xinh (Hui Xin), Thanh (Natalie) và Xuân (Christine).
3rd October was the day we had all been looking forward to since LAV1201 started! Finally, the day had arrived for our mini Vietnamese festival at nhà thầy Minh! Although it was a little far for three of us (kim, thanh and xuân) staying in the east, our excitement made waking up early so much easier!
As our group was making gỏi cuốn, we arrived right on time lúc chín giờ đúng sáng, all prepared to make yummy spring rolls! LAV1201’s very own master chef, cô Bích, taught us what to get started on. Vạn sự khởi nan!! First step: cutting the yam.
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Kim looks at yam with pure determination. 
MUST MAKE YUMMY SPRING ROLLS!
Thanh shredding the yam, she is very fast!
As the rest of the ingredients were washed, cut and chopped cám ơn mostly to Xuân, we just had to get ready to mix the meat, prawns, yam, fungus and vegetables together (see below for the yummy recipe!). At that moment, Cô Lê asked what exactly we were preparing because to her, it didn’t look like we were preparing gỏi cuốn. To our dismay, gỏi cuốn was supposed to be fresh spring rolls but we were preparing to make fried spring rolls which were called chả giò! Chán quá! (Dearest Cô Bích forgot that fried spring rolls were not included in this year’s cooking project when she vetted our recipe.) Still, the food had to be prepared as we could not miss out on this once in a lifetime Vietnamese food festival ở nhà Thầy Minh! So we continued mixing. After we were done with the filling, Cô Bích taught us how to wrap the filling in the rice paper. Đây là hay quá, but we had to be careful not to get the rice paper too wet while soaking it. At the same time, we had to be careful not to wrap the spring rolls too loosely, as otherwise the filling would spill out during the frying process. We made many spring rolls as we had a lot of filling!
The process of mixing the ingredients and rolling them into spring rolls, taught by our master chef Cô Bích!
Next, it was time to fry our spring rolls. Thanh was brave enough to test the temperature, ensuring that the oil was well heated first before we placed the spring rolls in to fry. Xuân, being experienced in cooking, was the chief fryer. Meanwhile, Thanh and Kim got ready to decorate the serving plate with the garnishes that Thanh prepared!
The process of frying the spring rolls and Thanh preparing a tomato flower for the garnishing on the plate. Isn’t she professional!
Look at our finished product below and you will see Thanh’s decorative works, rất tốt phải không? Đây là rất đẹpl! At the same time, Xinh was busy preparing the mixed fish sauce according to Cô Bích’s instructions.
After the spring rolls were cooked, we blotted the oil off before placing them on the plate. Also, the sauce passed Cô Bích’s taste test, so off we went to place it in the function room just before the festival began. Thanh brought more decorations, complete with a tablecloth, the lotus, which is the national flower of Vietnam, their speciality fruit, the dragon fruit, which was specially cut by Thanh, and mini Vietnamese flags for our dish’s presentation. This was our finished product, có đẹp không?
Four chefs with their labour of love and hard work! Các giáo viên và bạn lớp học ăn xong chả giò nhé (((:
It was a very fun and enriching experience because not only did we succeed in cooking the spring rolls, which turned out to be a big hit with các giáo viên và bạn, but we also got to learn about the different dishes unique to Vietnamese culture prepared by our friends. It was a sumptuous spread, but we could only eat after the tasting session done by cô Bích và cô Lê (cô Quỳnh đã đi làm, thế thì buồn quá!).
The judges scrutinising and tasting all the dishes very carefully.
In the meantime, we were rất đói and eagerly waiting to start tasting the food ourselves!
Kim is hungry! Give her food!
Finally, Cô Bích and Cô Lê gave us the go ahead to start eating. The food was fabulous and rất ngôn! Everyone had a good time enjoying not only the food, but also each other’s company. We ended off with group shots with our 2 prestigious judges!
[From left: Thanh, Kim, Cô Bích, Xuân, Xinh and Cô Lê! ]
sau này chúng tôi muốn đi nhiều lớp nấu!!! (:
Before we end off, we would just like to provide some tips for future Vietnamese chefs!
Tips:
- Prepare all the ingredients that can be cut and shredded the day before, this would make it easier to cook when you arrive. This goes for the garnishing too, if possible, prepare your decorations separately at home.
- When preparing the rice paper, be careful not to dip it in too much water. If it is too wet, blot the rice paper dry using a towel before adding the stuffing.
- The spring rolls should be rolled tightly to prevent the filling from coming apart during the frying process.
- Although lime is used for making the mixed fish sauce, it would better to use green lemons instead.
- Also, the use of vinegar in place of lemon for the sauce would allow it to be stored longer.
- Never use tomato sauce for Vietnamese dishes.
- Be careful in picking the correct type of mint leaves (if in doubt, Cô Bích is always there to help =) ).
- Never put a small pot over a large fire, the diameter of the pot base should be equal to or bigger than the fire on the stove.
- Remember to clean up after using each utensil and cutlery so as to be considerate to other groups. Also, Cô Bích will be angry if you do not wash up after using the utensils.
- Just have fun and enjoy each other’s company! =)
And here is our secret recipe for the chả giò! Although we would like to keep it a bí mật, but being tốt bụng, here it is, just for LAV students! Enjoy!
Net Spring Rolls Recipe (Chả Giò)
Ingredients : serves 8-12
¼ pot Cooking oil, for deep frying, add more if required
Wrap :
50 pieces of Vietnamese rice papers
Stuffing :
400g Minced pork
50g Carrot, julienned
400g Yam, peeled and julienned
400g Shrimps, peeled, deveined and minced
2 Spring onion, white portion only, finely chopped
2 teaspoons Garlic, chopped and fried
2 teaspoons Shallot, chopped and fried
2 teaspoons Ground white pepper
2 teaspoons Chicken seasoning powder
½ teaspoon Salt
2 Sugar
2 Eggs
6 Wood ear fungus, soaked to soften, thinly sliced
Sauce :
4 cups Warm water
1 cup Vietnamese fish sauce
1 cup Green lemon or vinegar
1 cup Sugar
Little Chillies, sliced
Garnishing :
Lotus flowers
Dragon fruit
Lettuce leaves
Carrots
Tomatoes
Chillies
Peanuts
Mint leaves
Green lemons
Step 1 : Combine the stuffing and set aside.
Step 2 : Dip the Vietnamese rice paper in water no more than 2 seconds.
Step 3 : Lay the rice paper on a plate and scoop a heaped spoonful of stuffing onto the centre.
Step 4 : Fold right and left sides of the wrap in towards the centre to enclose the stuffing and roll up tightly from the edge closest to you to form a neat roll. Make 50 rolls.
Step 5 : Heat oil over medium heat and fry the spring rolls in batches until golden brown. Remove and drain well.
Step 6 : Serve with the garnishing and mixed fish sauce on the side.
We hope that các cô và các bạn enjoyed the chả giò as much as we enjoyed preparing them for you! =)
With that, we would like to Chúc các cô và các bạn cuối tuần vui vẻ!
~ Kim (Daphne), Xinh (Hui Xin), Thanh (Natalie) và Xuân (Christine)~
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