parcels of joy

On Wednesday I was lucky enough to be taken for dinner at Madam Fang. Yum. I would definitely recommend this if you have someone else who's paying (mains $20 - $25). From the folks behind Isthmus of Kra and Shakahari, this was a restaurant in the old style (they had carpet! not noisy concrete) but with good modern food.

We had a great taster entree - gyoza, croquettes, tempura (eggplant wrapped around avocado) and some yummy little parcels that got me thinking. I'm fairly sure the wrapping was bean curd skin. The filling was very finely shredded but I think it had beans, ginger and jicama. We had a conversation with the waitress about jicama - not something you see much of in Australia. I've had it in the US in Mexican, and I like it's crunch. She said she grew up on the stuff in S-E Asia. Anyway, the parcels were great - crunchy on the outside where the skin was grilled and nicely packed full.

Mains were also good - the standout being a dish of many different types of mushroom in a soy based sauce that was served over something strangely described as "polenta rice". I think it was mashed up rice... it had the texture of polenta I guess.

Anyway, feeling all inspired I decided to try my hand at the parcels. I headed to Victoria St and had a great time shopping at a big Vietnamese grocery. (Don't think I left without buying 3 types of fake meat!) And at Sammy's on Friday night we gave it our best shot. I soaked the bean curd skins and some dried chinese mushrooms. We used zucchini, spring onions, coriander and the mushrooms for our filling. Although the skin tore a little we managed to wrap them up and pan fried them while basting with a mixture of soy, chilli and rice wine. They went all nice and crunchy and were pretty damn good, even if they didn't quite hit Madam Fang's mark. Next time I think I will use bean sprouts or something with more bulk for the filling so the parcels are easier to roll up. And something with a bit more crunch too - the zucchini didn't quite hit the mark.

In other big shopping news - I found Kimchi dumplings in the frozen section of my local supermarket (the IGA under College Square for locals). Yee haa.. two of my favourite things combined in one small parcel. $5 for 50!