Sorry folk, I’ve been awol. Big things are happening in da house and all over the place. My kitchen is almost ready, another 2 weeks and we will be back in our home, and I will have wi-fi!
I promise to post a photo or two of our new kitchen once we are back in da house.
But regardless of being very busy, I have finally started my cooking workshops! My first workshop here in Australia went so well; it was truly inspiring and was so lovely meeting all the beautiful and enthusiastic ladies. I will have to do a post on that one too and share a few photographs of course.
In the meantime, while we await for the renovation to complete and to have full-time wi-fi back, I will try to share a recipe or two, or even three if I’m lucky enough to find a spare minute to go visiting places with wi-fi.
These little parcels are a cute version of spring rolls, a real keeper for upcoming Christmas festivities.
I loved the delicate flakiness of the filo pastry, and the fact that putting the parcels together seemed a little less fiddly than rolling the spring rolls, and that there was no need for deep frying.
The filling in the parcels is very simple, consisting mainly of minced pork, cabbage and carrot. But isn’t the absence of complication a key to all things fabulous?! I believe it is.
Ingredients
1 tbsp peanut oil
1 shallot onion, finely diced
2 spring onions, thinly sliced
1 tbsp minced ginger
2 garlic cloves, minced or crushed
500g pork mince
500g savoy cabbage, thinly sliced
1 large carrot, grated
1-2 tbsp chopped fresh coriander
1 tbsp plum sauce or sweet chilli sauce
1 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tsp sesame seed oil
1/2 tsp white pepper
16 Filo sheets
4-5 tbsp light olive oil for brushing
Thai sweet chilli sauce to serve
Method
- Heat oil in a frying pan or a wok. Add shallot, spring onion, minced ginger and garlic, saute over a medium heat until fragrant. Add minced pork and cook frying over medium-high heat until lightly browned. Add cabbage and grated carrot, cook over medium-low heat occasionally stirring until cabbage is soft 10-15 minutes. Add coriander, plum and fish sauce, sesame seed oil and white pepper. Cook stirring for another 5 minutes. Set aside and let to cool completely.
- Preheat oven to 175C fan forced and prepare a lined tray.
- Lay a filo sheet on a bench top and brush it with olive oil, then lay a second filo sheet on top and brush it with olive oil. Continue until there are four filo sheets. Lightly brush the top sheet with oil.
- Cut the layered filo sheets into squares; there will be 6 squares ( see notes ).
- Place a tablespoon of the cabbage mixture into the centre of each square, then bring all sides together and pinch them closed. Lightly brush all sides with olive oil.
- Repeat with the remaining filo sheets and mixture.
- Arrange filo parcels on a prepared baking tray and bake in preheated oven for 15-20 minutes or until golden.
Remove from oven and serve once cool enough to eat. Serve with sweet chilli sauce.
Notes
Few hours prior cooking, defrost frozen filo in a refrigerator. To avoid overdrying while working, use a damp kitchen towel to cover the filo sheets.
To cut the stacked filo sheets; cut into two parallel strips lengthwise, then cut each of the strips into three equal size squares.
In the time I spent in Malaysia ( 3 years ) I’ve learned a few tricks on cooking Indian Cuisine. Having Indian friends who gave regular cooking classes and taught us ( expat folk ) their authentic ways of cooking has helped me a lot, in getting the flavours of my curries closer to the authentic Indian taste.
Knead dough into a bowl and place into a lightly oiled bowl, cover a leave in a warm place to rise till doubled in size, approximately 1 hour
