Tom cuon mua xuan ( Shrimp with aromatic herbs)

TOM CUON MUA XUAN

INGREDIENTS:

 Some fresh lettuce, ( iceberg, green leaf, Boston)

 1 shallot

 1 tea spoon of ground pepper

 2 table spoon of fish sauce

 3 fresh  chicken eggs

3 table spoon of healthy cooking oil

 12 tiger prawn( medium ) shrimp

 1 tea spoon of salt

 a few slices of fresh ginger

12 Fresh mint stems

 Fresh chili( optional)

Ginger dipping sauce

DIRECTIONS:

Rinse the lettuce well, dry with paper tower or with  salad spinner. Cut into 4x8 cm pieces. Need 12 pieces

Cut the shallot into smaller pieces. Use a Chinese cleaver to beat them, then finely chop to take the essence of the shallot out.

Chicken egg: 3

Beat the egg and mix well with chopped shallot. Add fish sauce, ground pepper

Make omelette in a square non- sticky pan or a round pan to gain the thickness of 1 cm omelette on medium high heat. Cut them into 12  4x8 cm rectangular pieces.

  Bring  half cup of water  to rolling boil, then add 1 teaspoon of salt and a few slices of  fresh ginger, then the shrimp to reduce the fishy smell of the shrimps. Cook them  on medium high heat for about 3 minutes. Rinse well with cold water. Remove and discard the shell.

 12 stem of scalion.

Rinse well. Poach in boiling water for 2 seconds and put immediately into very cold water to keep the green color

Fresh mints: 12 stems ( use the top with 4-5 leaves on 1 stem only)

Ca tim chien( Eggplant delight)

Ingredients:

Japanese Eggplant: 3, cut the stems at the end of the longest green cap and discard

Healthy cooking oil: 1/2 cup

Bell pepper: 1 small piece, chopped small to yield 1/4 cup

Scallion: 2 stems; chopped small to yield 1/3 cup

Garlic: 1 big cloves, finely chopped

 Fresh spicy hot chili. 1 small one, finely chopped ( optional)

Soya sauce: 1 and a half table spoon 

Directions:

Rinse well, wipe it with dish cloth or paper towel. Cut each ageeplant into 3 pieces. Continue to cut each  piece into 4 pieces lengthwise. 

Deep fry them in small sauce pan on hight heat for 2 -3 minutes. 

Place them onto thick paper towels then Transfer the eggplant on a non-sticky pan which will be used later for the last step of the dish.  Remove the greasy paper towel and use a new one when  the whole the paper is soaked with oil. Continue to deep-fry the eggplant  till you are done.

Heat the frying pan on medium high heat. Arrange the deepfried eggplant in a circle in the frying pan, and place the scalion,, bell peper and garlic in the middle. Fry them till the fragrance of the garlic come out. Stir the eggplant with the 3 ingredients for 1 to 2 minutes.

 Transfer the eggplant onto a plate and top it with soya sauce.

Serve hot or warm with steamed rice or by itself

 Tips:

You can add more or less soya sauce to your taste

For spicy taste, add fresh spicy chilli, finely chopped when you start to stirfry the garlic, scallion and bell pepper.