Category: Snacks

Ham & gherkin puff with mustard and blue cheese recipe.

I’ve been refraining from making anything that involves puff pastry because frozen puff pastry are quite expensive in Malaysia, mainly cause they’re imported. I know, I should attempt to make my own puff pastry but I’m really bad with pastry :P

# – Ham & gherkin puff with mustard and blue cheese.

Recently I discovered these locally made puff pasty for about 1/4 of the price of imported frozen puff pastry so of course, I got some to try out.

# – RM5.50 for 10 pieces of puff pastry squares. CHEAP!

I didn’t have very high expectations cause they’re so cheap, but hey….never try, never know. Anyway, I was going to make some sandwiches for lunch but realised I had run out of bread so I decided to make savoury puffs instead!

The ingredients:

  • 6 slices of puff pasty squares
  • 3 slices of ham, cut in half
  • 3 medium size gherkins, sliced
  • A handful of peas, boiled and drained
  • 2 tablespoons of blue cheese (can substitute with cream cheese or other soft cheese)
  • 2 tablespoon of yellow mustard

# – First, roll the pastry out gently to thin it out a bit as well as to get the right size.

# – Lay a slice of ham and then some sliced gherkins over half of the pastry.

# – Then some peas.

# – And a dollop of blue cheese. Hrmmm…

# – Finish off with a squeeze of mustard.

# – Fold the pastry over to the other side and press down the edges with a fork to form a triangle. If the pastry got too soft to handle, just stick it in the fridge to firm up for a couple of minutes, it will make handling puff pastry so much easier.

# – With a fork, poke all over the surface of the triangles.

# – Chill in the fridge for about 5 minutes.

# – Then, stick in the oven at 210 degrees celcius for 13 minutes.

# – Ham & gherkin puff with mustard and blue cheese, DONE!

# – Crispy, buttery with porky, mustardy and cheesy stinking goodness.

This was surprisingly easy to make and fast. It’s a good change from the average ham and gherkin sandwiches as well. A bit naughty but of so delicious!

These frozen puff pastry, they’re so useful as well! I can think of a dozen other things to do with them, both sweet and savoury.

That said, I’m going to attempt to make puff pastries FROM SCRATCH, I promise.

Vietnamese spring roll recipe by Chef Tran Cong Tien.

Le Meridien Kuala Lumpur has specially brought in 3 guest chefs from Sheraton Saigon to create authentic Vietnamese cuisine in conjunction with their Experience Vietnam campaign.

# – Le Meridien’s Executive Chef, Chef Antoine Rodriguez introducing Chef Tran Cong Tien, Chef Nguyen Thi Duy and Chef Bui Van Tien Dong.

# – Experience Vietnam by Le Meridien Kuala Lumpur.

I was lucky to be one of the bloggers (thanks KY for the invitation!) to have a sneak peek of the Experience Vietnam menus, which will be offered at Le Meridien Kuala Lumpur from 16 May – 22 May, 2011.

From delicious cold appetiser such as lotus stem & prawn salad to mouth-watering entree like Vietnamese braised beef with cinnamon, the menus are impressively extensive! If you want to experience a slice of Vietnam, you know where to go.

# – Grilled Beef Wrapped with Fragrant Leaves.

# – Sticky Rice Dumpling with Green Bean Filling and Ginger Syrup.

Led by Chef Tran Cong Tien, Chef Nguyen Thi Duy and Chef Bui Van Tien Dong demonstrated the making of several Vietnamese dishes. I of course, took the opportunity to absorb as much Vietnamese cooking knowledge as I could ;)

Good things are meant to be shared so I’ll be sharing Chef Tran Cong Tien’s Vietnamese Spring Roll & Soya Bean Sauce recipe here…

For the spring rolls:

  • 20 pieces of rice papers
  • 80 grams of butter lettuce
  • 25 grams of your favourite Vietnamese herbs (they were using Vietnamese basil and chives, I believe you can substitute with mints, coriander etc)
  • 70 grams of carrot, julienne
  • 200 grams of fresh rice vermicelli
  • 20 pieces of blanched prawns, peeled & halved

For the soya bean dipping sauce:

  • 50 grams of tamarind pulp
  • 50 ml of hot water
  • 40 grams of dried mung bean
  • 60 ml of tepid water
  • 200 grams of preserved soya bean
  • 50 ml of corn oil (I believe you can use ordinary flavourless cooking oil)
  • 10 grams of chopped garlic
  • 60 grams of sugar

It’s better to eat the Vietnamese spring rolls with the soya bean dipping sauce for an authentic experience. At the demonstration, the sauce was already prepared so I don’t have any step by step picture, however I was generously given a clear recipe on how to make it:

    1. Stir in tamarind pulp in 50 ml of hot water, then strain through a fine sieve and set aside.
    2. Steam the mung beans with 60 ml of water for about 20 minutes then blend together with the steaming water to form smooth paste. Set aside.
    3. Blend the soya bean into a smooth paste. Set aside.
    4. Next, heat up the oil in a pan, sautee the garlics till golden and throw in tamarind pulp paste, mung beans paste and soya bean paste. Stir till combined.
    5. Simmer for 10 minutes till mixture thickens.
    6. Remove from heat and allow to cool down before storing in fridge. This dipping sauce can be kept for up to a week.

Now that the soya bean dipping sauce is chilling nicely in the fridge, it’s time to make the Vietnamese spring rolls!

# – First of all, damp the rice paper with water and lay it on a flat surface. Don’t soak the rice paper otherwise it will be too difficult to handle. Imagine it’s a clockface and put a couple of butter lettuce leaves on the 6 o’clock area but leaving clear areas of about 1 inch on the sides and bottom.

# – Next, lay a couple of Vietnamese basil leaves over the lettuce.

# – Followed by a couple of strands of the rice vermicelli.

# – Then, place the julienne carrots over the vermicelli.

# – Fold, the bottom of the rice paper over the filling, then fold one side over.

# – Now fold the other side over.

# – Now place the 2 prawn halves on the rice papers with the orange sides down, as well as a couple of chives.

# – Carefully, fold the part with the filling over the prawns and continue rolling till you get….

# – Vietnamese Spring Roll! Serve with the soya bean sauce dipping prepared earlier.

I got to have a go at making the rolls too and I must say, it would take some practice before I could roll them up half as fast the Chefs did. It was nevertheless a very good experience for me to have learnt a new skill from Chef Tran Cong Tien.

# – Me having a go at making Vietnamese Spring Rolls.

Now that packet of rice papers I bought at the spur of the moment will see the light of day!

“Experience Vietnam” (16 May – 22 May, 2011)
Latest Recipe @ Le Meridien
2, Jalan Stesen Sentral, Kuala Lumpur Sentral,
50470 Kuala Lumpur
03-2263 7434

Experience Vietnam will still have the choice of the familiar and well known Latest Recipe International cuisine including Chinese, Western, Indian, Malay and Japanese dishes with prices remaining the same as the usual buffet; RM118++ per adult & RM59++ per child.

Savoury salted roasted peanuts and onion cookies, a successful experimental recipe.

I was craving for something savoury but all I’ve got in the pantry were sweet, chocolatey stuff. Don’t get me wrong, I love my sweet, chocolatey snacks but today in particular I wanted to nibble on something crunchy, fragrant and a little salty.

So I threw together some ingredients and made…salted roasted peanuts & onion cookies. Okay, I seriously have to work on naming my recipes better….can’t get more literal than that :P

# – Salted roasted peanuts and onion cookies.

Anyway, these cookies are so delicious! I can’t believe I managed to pull it off! With a gorgeous fragrance from the onions and sesame oil, they are crunchy and addictive!

Without further ado, lets check out how these simple but delicious cookies are made.

For the cookies:

  • 2 red onions, finely chopped
  • 2 tablespoons of brown sugar
  • 160 grams of flour, sifted
  • 2 teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda, sifted
  • 100 grams of butter, roughly chopped
  • 60 grams of salted roasted peanuts
  • 3 tablespoon of sesame oil


For garnish:

  • 1 tablespoon of coarse sugar
  • 1 tablespoon of coarse salt or sea salt

# – First of all, dump all the finely chopped onion in a pan on medium heat. No need to grease the pan.

# – Then, throw in 2 tablespoons of brown sugar and stir.

# – On medium heat, cook till the onions are caramelised and wilted. Set aside to cool.

# – Now pound the salted roasted peanuts till they’ve broken into tinier pieces. I would have used a food processor if I’ve got one ;)

# – Kind of like this. Set aside.

# – Now, sift the flour and bicarbonate of soda into a mixing bowl and throw in the butter.

# – Rub the flour and butter together till resemble bread crumbs.

# – Dump the peanuts into the flour & butter mixture.

# – Followed by the caramelised onions prepared earlier.

# – Pour 3 tablespoons of sesame oil into the mixture.

# – With your hands, just mix and knead everything together till combined into a dough, like this.

# – Form 24 flattened balls and place them on a greased baking tray. I used a silicon mat so it’s much more convenient ;)

# – Now this is optional, but it would definitely give your cookies a kick of flavours. Just mix a tablespoon of coarse sugar and coarse salt together.

# – Then sprinkle the salt and sugar mixture over the top of the cookies.

# – Bake in a pre-heated oven at 180 degrees celcius for 18 minutes.

# – Salted roasted peanuts and onion cookies, DONE!

# – I think they would be great with a bowl of piping hot creamy soup too but they are pretty perfect eaten on its own ;)

As I’m blogging this, 6 of the cookies have already vanished. Hopefully the BF will arrive home from work before they dissappear completely!