Trialling Nem Viet's Vietnamese Pho Kit - what a little beauty!

Well, there was a total sea change for dinner this evening as we trialled Nem Viet's Vietnamese Pho kit.

Available from certain Waitrose and Sainsbury's stores, plus via Amazon.uk, they retail at a fairly reasonable £2-£3 each.  Even if you're making the beef version - which requires a quality piece of steak - it still works out not too terribly expensive as you require just a small amount of meat.  We shared a £4.00 rump steak, which although we could both have eaten more (it was so good!), was actually sufficient.

Inside the pack, there is a small bag of rice noodles (which I was sure weren't going to be enough, but to my surprise proved perfectly adequate), a sachet of seasoning mix and a sachet of sauce mix.

I was somewhat taken aback to note (rather belatedly) that there was no stock involved in the kit and you had to make (for "make", read "concoct") your own.  I suppose, in retrospect, it makes sense as if you're intending on making a seafood Pho, there's little point in having a beef stock mix in the kit.  However, I hadn't though that far at the time.

So, for my stock - and it's worth remembering this if you're ever in the same situation and in Britain - I used a Knorr Rich Beef Stock Pot, plus 1 tsp of beef Bovril in 500ml water, which did the job admirably.  I dare say it wasn't the quality stock that a good Pho demands, but considering the pinch I was in, I thought it did perfectly well.  In fact, with the added seasoning and sauce sachets from the kit, it made a surprisingly tasty broth that was rich with star anise, cloves, cinnamon and cardamom flavours.

Hubby sat this one out as brothy soups aren't his favourite thing.  Our son joined in the Pho party and we both gave it a very distinct thumbs up.  In fact, our exclamations of delight attracted the attention of hubby, who - after a cautious taster - was very happy to polish off the remainder of our son's bowl, so that's a distinct positive vote for the kit!

As mentioned above, I made my kit into a beef Pho, for which I used a beautiful rump steak - sliced as thinly as I could manage -  and beansprouts, julienne of carrot, quartered baby corn, diagonally sliced spring onion, Thai basil, sliced red chilli and lime quarters as our additional flavours and veggies.  However, you could go any way you like with the kit - seafood, chicken, pork - as you provide your own stock, it is subsequently very flexible.  I also liked that it wasn't blisteringly hot from chilli.  Just a natural, gentle warmth that you could either dress up with the addition of sliced raw red chilli, or omit the chillis and leave it mild and warming.

I cooked the beansprouts, carrot, baby corn and spring onion in the broth for just 3 minutes and poured the boiling stock onto the pre-soaked noodles and raw beef, which was enough to cook the meat to a perfect tenderness.  With home-made beef bone stock, I should imagine it would be utterly to die for.

As my very first Pho experience, it was perfect.  NOW I understand why everyone loves Pho.  It's unashamedly comfort food - but healthy, interesting and spicy comfort food!

I will definitely have the kit again.  We're already planning a seafood version, with a chicken version upcoming in the wings!

Crunchy Lamb Spring Rolls

Okay, so you remember the lamb shoulder that I slow cooked for the Minty Aromatic Pulled Lamb Pittas?  Well, I only used half of the joint of lamb in the pittas and put the other half into the freezer while I pondered on what to use it for.

Today's Crunchy Lamb Spring Rolls is the first instalment of "making the most of a socking great piece of rolled lamb shoulder - the leftovers".

Now I've never made Spring Rolls before, but I've eaten plenty of them!  As a result, I had a pretty good idea of how they are supposed to taste.  However, I've not had a lamb version of them before, so that was something new.  Plus of course, the lamb had been marinated in about a thousand different spices before being slow cooked, so I very definitely wasn't looking for something that needed a lot of spice, or a lot of cooking.  I wanted to be able to taste the spicing on the lamb and certainly didn't want to dry it out.  All those points ruled out a lot of options that you might classically use when dealing with roasted meat leftovers.

The quarter of leftover lamb, prior to being shredded. Such leanness!

I have to say that the idea of putting it into Spring Rolls wasn't mine, it was my hubby's.  However, I liked the idea immediately and could see how it fitted the short cooking style and capitalised on the spicing of the lamb.

I'd make a rubbish cigar roller!

Before we go any further, I just have to say a few things about the wrapping.  Yes, I used filo pastry and no, I didn't use spring roll wrappers.  Why?  Well because filo pastry is easily accessible from the supermarket and spring roll wrappers aren't.  Simple as that.  I know that, in the past, I've used some bizarre ingredients that aren't generally available but as with the original recipe for the lamb, I wanted everything to be easily accessible so that the majority could have the opportunity of enjoying these recipes.  If, however, you have a shop on your doorstep that sells spring roll wrappers then by all means use them!  I'm all about accessibility, even if not authenticity.

I had 640g of lamb left from the joint (it really was huge!) and a few Spring Rolls weren't going to use all that, so I cut it in half (again) and the remainder is in the fridge awaiting its fate - Lamb and Potato Pasties.  Yum.

As it turned out, the 320g of cold lamb was perfect for 9 of these rather oversized Spring Rolls.  I think in future, instead of cutting the pastry in half, I'll cut it into thirds so as to achieve rather shorter Spring Rolls.  However, the length didn't matter one jot from a cooking point of view - it's simply a visual thing and an ease of eating thing.  Being so long, it did make the dipping of them an interesting operation that was resolved with a paper napkin under the chin - but being shorter would solve that problem rather more elegantly.

The stir fried veggies with shredded lamb and five spice.

I was concerned that the veggies would be cooked sufficiently so as to retain a bite, but not be super crunchy.  After all, there was carrot in there and you know how hard carrot can be.  I didn't want hard pencils of semi raw carrot to detract from the soft gentleness of the lamb.  As such, don't feel tempted to skip the stir frying part of the recipe.  It really doesn't take long (far shorter than prepping the vegetables did!) and is very important in bringing the right kind of texture to your Spring Rolls.

I didn't include the meat in the stir frying, as having been cooked once it didn't need any extra and the heat from the baking would be sufficient to heat it through.

So - cook's tips.  The rolling up of the things didn't go quite according to plan initially, but I did get better as we went on and the last two were perfect.  It is well worth folding the edges in before the last two turns, so as to achieve a neat pocket that prevents the filling from escaping.

Also, don't feel compelled (if you are using filo pastry) to bathe the things in oil once they are rolled.  Just a smattering brushed over the top is sufficient to achieve a nice golden colour and crisp pastry.  Too much oil can result in a greasy Spring Roll and as we're oven baking them, that would be a shame.

Because the lamb I used was quite highly spiced in its original incarnation, I only used a teaspoonful of five spice in the filling mixture.  However, if your lamb, chicken or prawns (all of which would be fab) don't already carry spice, I would increase the five spice by a half a teaspoonful, or perhaps a little more.

If you have one, I can recommend using a mandolin for the carrot julienne.  Makes it so much quicker unless your knife skills are pretty darned hot.

They (spring rolls, not mandolins) really are the easiest of things to produce - and I'll be tempted to use the leftovers from our next roast chicken for the next batch.  I'm sure that would be just as scrummy. I served mine with vegetable & egg fried rice plus a Chinese style dipping sauce, but they would be just as good with a sweet chilli sauce.  Equally, they would be great with salad or as picnic food (when the weather improves!).

CRUNCHY LAMB SPRING ROLLS  (makes 9 large sized, 12 smaller)

Ingredients :

1 tbsp peanut oil
8 good sized spring onions, chopped diagonally and including as much of the green as is possible
Half a Hispi or Pointed sweet cabbage, shredded
1 carrot, peeled and julienned finely
2 big handfuls of beansprouts
1 tsp Chinese five spice
a pinch of freshly ground black pepper
300g cooked, roasted lamb, shredded
200g filo pastry sheets
2 tbsp olive oil.

Method :

1.  Prepare the vegetables prior to needing them and heat the peanut oil in a wok until really hot.

2.  Stir fry the vegetables, keep turning them to prevent from browning in any way, until the carrots are just tender.

3.  Tip the veggies into a heat proof bowl and set aside to cool a little.

4.  Chop and shred the lamb.

5.  Add the five spice, pepper and lamb to the veggies and stir to combine.

6.  Cut the pastry pieces to size.

7.  Brush a little oil onto the edges of the top half of the first sheet.

8.  Place a spoonful (or more if you are making larger rolls) of the filling onto the lower half of the pastry sheet.

9.  Gently start to roll the filling into the pastry, keeping the pastry as tight as possible without splitting it.  Roll up to the oiled section, then fold in the edges to seal the filling into the tube.

10.  Continue to roll until the pastry sheet is taken up.  The oil should help the last bit to stick.

11.  Gently place onto a baking sheet and continue with the next pastry sheet.

12.  Once all are rolled, place into a pre-heated oven at 180degC/340degF/Gas4 for 25-30 minutes or until the rolls are golden and crispy.

Printable version

Tom Yum Paste from Sainsbury's new "Speciality Ingredients" Range

Sainsbury's have introduced a range of "Speciality Ingredients" to their product line, including such interesting things as Porcini Mushroom Paste, Umami Paste, Tom Yum Paste, Mirrin and Tempura Batter Mix, amongst many others.

When I was asked whether I'd be interested in receiving a selection of these new products, it didn't take me long to say "yes please!".

So, I've been sent the following to try out :

-  Mirrin;
-  Porcini Mushroom Paste;
-  Harissa Paste;
-  Tom Yum Paste, and
-  Chipotle Chilli Paste.

These products all range from around £1.18 to £2.99 and aren't so desperately expensive as you might imagine.  In fact, I'd say they are well worth the money to be able to "play" with them and find out whether a) you like the flavours and b) whether you like what you can do with the ingredients.  All this goes towards whether you'd be prepared to go one step further and create the same thing from scratch at home, or whether you'd be happy to let Sainsbury's do that bit for you!

At the moment, we're still considering what to do with the Harissa, Porcini and Chipotle pastes - so watch this space.  Where the Mirrin is concerned, that has a certain future as we often use it and I was just running out in my current bottle - so fortuitous timing, Sainsbury's!

The one I was exceptionally keen to try, was the Tom Yum Soup Paste.

Now I'm continually looking for a low calorie lunch option.  I have discovered in later life that I do, contrary to popular belief, love soup (who knew?) and I am happy to drink broth type soups, or eat thick hearty soups - and anything in between.

I went through a phase of eating Ramen noodles - the pre-packaged, just-add-water-and-your-own-ingredients version.  However, I had to back off on those because the degree of salt was just too much for my blood pressure and the degree of chilli was too much for my ... well, you know, "digestion", let's call it.

So I could see a happy future for this Tom Yum Paste, so long as it wasn't too chilli hot and equally, wasn't flavoured with lemongrass and that's it.  Today, being shopping day, I laid in the requirements for an acceptable soup i.e. some fresh beansprouts, a few mushrooms and a cheapo bag of prawns.

The instructions on the label are simple to follow and gave me an opportunity to try out some of the Essential Cuisine Fish Stock that I had also been sent to try.  I have to apologise to Essential Cuisine, for it has taken me an unfeasibly long time to try any of their stocks (they sent me six - beef, veal, vegetable, fish, chicken and pork), but summer intervened and I stopped using stock!).

I was jolly impressed by how the plain old water changed as soon as I sprinkled in less than a teaspoonful of the Essential Cuisine stock powder and a wonderful aroma immediately rose from the pot.  There was no stirring and stirring, waiting for the powder to dissolve - it was gone as soon as it hit the water.  Excellent, when you're whipping up a quick lunch!  I had a quick taste before I added anything else and the flavour was really lovely.  Now bear in mind that this is fish stock - you would be forgiven for thinking "yeuk!" at the idea of supping a spoonful.  However, the flavour is really lovely - rounded and full flavoured, reminiscent of creamy shellfish and meaty cod.

Next to be added was supposed to be a tablespoonful of the paste, but as I was cautious of the chilli heat - it IS very red! - I used a little less.

Immediately, the kitchen filled with those lovely Thai aromas of lemongrass, coriander and chilli.  The paste seemed to separate a bit, in that the oil floated to the top of the stock and stayed there - but I could forgive it that if the flavour was good!

End result - first try-out!  Mmmn, nice!

I chose to add the prescribed prawns and mushrooms, but opted to include an additional handful of beansprouts.  I was glad I did, as they made for an interesting crunch which gave what was basically a broth-type soup, some welcome texture.

Plus, I was agreeably surprised at the flavour.  Immediately I realised that the chilli heat wasn't oppressive but in fact is well balanced against the other spices involved.  The paste isn't salty and in fact is absolutely perfect for my favoured low calorie lunch.

It is very possible to ring the changes with this soup, as it all depends what flavour stock you use - and the additional ingredients you include - as to how the final bowlful tastes.

As the first of Sainsbury's Speciality Ingredients, I'd say this one is a big hit!  I shall have to investigate what else is in the range, next time I'm in the shop.

.