Smoked salmon and avocado rice paper rolls with wasabi mayo and nuoc nam cham
Rice paper rolls bring back so many memories of home. Goi cuon were Mum’s go-to dish for a family get-together; the traditional Vietnamese salad rolls that she filled generously with pork, prawns, vermicelli and Chinese chives, to be dipped into sweet, not-so traditional hoi sin sauce. Now, very un-traditional versions made with whatever I have on hand are my go-to for a quick, tasty (and relatively healthy) meal.
Easy to prepare and versatile, rice paper is a blank canvas for you to experiment with ways to produce maximum flavour with minimal effort. And best of all, making them at home means you won’t have to fork out the $5-10 per roll that most restaurants are charging these days for their fancier variations.
This smoked salmon and avocado combination is guaranteed to impress dinner guests, with two dipping sauces that work equally well and are laughably easy to prepare; creamy wasabi mayonnaise and classic Vietnamese nuoc mam cham.
Ingredients (makes 8 rolls; serves 2 as a light meal)
Rolls
- 8 sheets rice paper
- 1 cup finely shredded red or white cabbage
- 1/2 cup grated carrot
- 8 slices smoked salmon
- 1 small avocado, halved and each half cut into 4 slices
- 8 shiso leaves*
Wasabi mayonnaise
- 3tbs kewpie mayonnaise
- 3 tsp tubed wasabi (adjust to taste)
Nuoc mam cham
- 1/4 cup fish sauce
- 1/4 cup white vinegar
- 1/3 cup water
- 2 tbsp caster sugar
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 1 bird’s-eye chili, finely chopped (adjust to taste)
Method
- Set up your workspace : Fill a large shallow dish with hot water for softening the rice paper and grab 2 dinner plates, one for preparing the rolls and another for holding the finished rolls until you are ready to serve up. Have some paper towel handy as well.
- To make the rolls : Take a sheet of rice paper and submerge into the hot water for 2-3 seconds (the rice paper will continue to soften as you are working so you don’t want to leave it in the water for too long). Transfer to a plate and pat dry with paper towel. Layer the filling onto the centre of the rice paper – start with a shiso leaf, then top with a slice of salmon, avocado, followed by the cabbage and carrot. To roll it all up, the easiest way to start is by folding in the 2 sides of the rice paper that will form the ends of the roll so that the edges meet in the centre, then rolling from one of the ‘long’ edges. This helps to keep the roll tight and prevents the filling from moving around. Repeat for the remaining ingredients.
- For the wasabi mayonnaise : Stir the tubed wasabi paste through the mayonnaise until smooth and well combined. Taste and add more wasabi if needed.
- For the nuoc mam cham : Place all ingredients except for the chili into a small saucepan over low heat and stir until the sugar has dissolved. Add chili to taste.
* Shiso (sometimes called perilla, Japanese basil or beefsteak) is part of the mint family, a herb commonly used in Japanese cuisine that goes very well with sushi and sashimi. Red shiso has a lovely anise flavour, while the green variety is a bit more ‘spicy’. You can use mint in place of it.
Gluten-free banana, date and walnut loaf
I’ve recently been experimenting with coconut flour, a gluten-free flour made from the dried coconut meat left over from coconut milk production. Before putting on your cynic’s hat, hear me out. I’m not particularly crazy about gluten-free baking (I’ll enjoy those delicious, fluffy cakes and muffins – yes, made with that nasty white flour that has become the enemy of the healthy-eating movement – while I still can). However, I find that coconut flour gives baked goods a very interesting flavour and, while it does produce a very dense result, you can still achieve a pleasing texture by following a couple of simple rules. According to Nourished Kitchen:
- For 1 cup grain-based flour, you can substitute 1/3 cup coconut flour
- Coconut flour is dry and crumbly, so you will need more liquid and binders; for 1 cup coconut flour, add 6 beaten eggs and 1 cup liquid as a general rule of thumb
Of course, there are many health benefits from baking with coconut flour; high in fibre and protein, it will keep you fuller for longer, it’s rich in healthy fats for improving skin health, including lauric acid, which is thought to be an immune booster, and the natural sweetness of coconut also makes it a good option if you’re looking at reducing sugar.
This banana, date and walnut loaf is exceptionally easy to prepare and can be kept kept in the fridge/freezer before heating up to serve. A great option for a quick and easy breakfast, it contains no added sugar or butter and can also be made dairy-free. My favourite way of serving this is warm and thickly spread with natural, crunchy peanut butter.
Ingredients
- 3 large ripe bananas, mashed
- 10 pitted dates, chopped
- 1 cup coconut flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 3/4 cup whole natural yoghurt
- 1/4 cup whole milk
- 6 large eggs, beaten
- 2tsp vanilla extract
- large handful of walnuts, roughly chopped
(For a dairy-free loaf, replace the yoghurt and milk with 3/4 cup coconut oil)
Method
- Preheat the oven to 180degC fan-forced and line a rectangular loaf pan with baking paper.
- Place all the ingredients apart from the chopped walnuts into a large mixing bowl and combine well. The lumps can be broken up easily by stirring vigorously with a fork. Alternatively, throw everything into a food processor and blitz until smooth.
- Pour the mixture into the lined loaf pan, scatter over the chopped walnuts and bake for 35 mins or until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean. Turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely before slicing. For storing in the fridge/freezer, pre-slice and wrap tightly in cling film.
egg tarts and apple pie 