A scientist in the kitchen

I love to make spring rolls and trying on different kinds of filling. I got particularly excited to make spring rolls when I learned that a market nearby makes the spring roll wrappers themselves. As I’ve mentioned before, spring roll is called lumpia (here and here) in the Philippines. To go back to the freshly made lumpia wrapper, these are really way better than the ones I buy at home. They are still moist so it easy to roll them up. The ones I bought previously are so dried up it is difficult to roll.

Spring rolls are rather versatile as you can make any stuffing you want and still come up with a satisying dish. In this case, all I wanted was to make some green papaya springrolls. The papaya I can easily get from the backyard. The rest of the ingredients would be whatever is in the fridge.In the fridge were some carrots and cilantro and freshly grated coconut. So inspiration stuck and I’m using coconut in the spring roll. We normally don’t have freshly grated coconuts at home, except that time my mom was cooking some coconut-based dessert.

Papaya-Coconut spring rolls

2 cups grated papaya
1 cup grated coconut flesh
1 medium carrot, grated
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbsp oil
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup chopped cilantro

Heat oil in a pan. Add the papaya, coconut and carrots. Add salt and mix well till all ingredients are cooked, a few minutes only. Add the pepper and mix well. Taste for saltiness and pepper taste. When cooked, cool to room temperature then mix the chopped cilantro. Wrap in lumpia wrapper and deep fry until brown.

To make dipping sauce, mix 1/2 cup cane vinegar, 1/4 cup fish paste, 1 tbsp sugar and 2 tbsp chopped cilantro. Or you can also use my cucumber and peanut dipping sauce.

***

I am submitting this post to Abby of eat the right stuff to celebrate Vegetables, beautiful vegetables…

Popularity: 2% [?]

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

I’ve been using lemongrass for a long time. In fact, this herb was my first entry to Weekend Herb Blogging. We usually use it for cooking by tying it into a knot and added to soups. Exposure to people from other Southeast Asian countries however have expanded my repertoire in using lemongrass for cooking. For them, the stalks are used rather than the whole plant. I’ve have it as appetizer, stalks cut crosswise and thinly and served with peanuts and chili. For roasting chicken, I use several stalks to fill the chicken cavity to give flavor. Recently, I joined Taste and Create and chose to cook lemongrass pork barbecue. The recipe called for making a paste out of lemongrass and chilis. It was really delicious! It brought out the flavor lemongrass really well. Encouraged by this success, I decided to roast chicken using this method. I made a paste out of lemongrass, ginger and chilis and marinated the chicken before roasting. Delicious!

I had a long conversation about this success with my Indonesian friend who is also into cooking. Let’s call her Ms. Indonesia (:)). I think making a paste really made the difference in blending and bringing out the flavors of the herbs. Tagalog cooking does not use lemongrass nor that much chilis. In Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand it is quite common to make a paste out of chilis. No wonder they have such distintive mortar and pestle. While ours are more of the Western type mortar and pestle that is similar to the mortar and pestle we use in the lab for grinding rice leaves. Ms. Indonesia says that in every meal, they have chili pastes to dip their food into. Probably our equivalent of the soy sauce and vinegar dipping sauces. It did lead us to think that the manner of cooking dishes will also characterize the kitchen. Like them making pastes, and they have this distinct mortar and pestle. In anycase, whenever I make lemongrass meat barbecues, I’ll be sure to make a paste.

Now, this post seems to have so many “paste” words, don’t you think? Anyway, this is my contribution to Weekend Herb Blogging this week, which yours truly is hosting. I look forward to your posts.

Lemongrass Roast chicken

Paste:
2 stalks of lemongrass
1 inch knob of ginger
1 tsp of crushed black pepper
1 pc bird’s eye chili (add more if you want)
1 tsp salt
3 tbsp of vegetable oil
1 tbsp of fish sauce

1 whole chicken
1 cup salt

2 tbsp soy sauce
juice of two kalamansi or lemon

1. Brine the chicken first. I usually submerge it in enough water then add the salt. Leave for an hour then drain the chicken well.
2. To make the paste, pound the lemongrass, ginger, black pepper and chili in a mortar and pestle (or a food processor). Add the rest of the ingredients and leave for a few minutes. Rub onto the chicken, inside the cavity and underneath the skin. Marinate for at least 30 minutes. Just before roasting, rub chicken skin with soy sauce then with kalamansi or lemon juice.
3. Roast the chicken at 400oF. I used a turbo broiler to do this and the chicken was cooked after an hour.

***

Don’t forget, I am also hosting an event to celebrate farmers’ markets everywhere. I’ve postpone the deadline to May 31 so there is plenty of time for your spring/summer harvest.

Popularity: 12% [?]

I’m waiting… and waiting… for the bubbles to appear… Waiting for that hint of fermentation. Then it’ll be kimchi time for me (hopefully)!

Popularity: 13% [?]

The food blogging world was surely busy Sunday celebrating one of the most special days of the year - Mothers’ Day. SO what was on the menu?

Prosciutto Arugula Salad

Berry Good Ice Cream Cake Roll

Blueberry pancakes, scrambled eggs and fruit salad

Bahama Mama Banana Rum Cake

Omelet with sauteed spinach, feta cheese and avocado

Blueberry Buckwheat Pancakes

A Very Special Mother’s Day Breakfast

Gourmet’s Spicy Crab Spaghetti with Preserved Lemons…

Durian Cream Cake

Eggs Benedict
And here’s for my Mom:

Mango and Cucumber Salad

1 medium cucumber

2 ripe mangoes

1 bell pepper

1 sprig of chives

1 large tomato

3 small green tomatoes

freshly crushed black pepper

1/4 cup vinegar

1 tbsp honey or sugar

1 tbsp sesame oil

1 tsp salt
Slice all vegetables thinly. Combine in a bowl and top with freshly crush black pepper. Mix vinegar, honey or sugar, sesame oil and salt. Taste for your preference. Drizzle on top of salad and serve.

Popularity: 17% [?]

I am host this week for Weekend Herb Blogging. Check out the rules for joining this event at Kalyn’s Kitchen. Send your entries to this address: mgccarrillo AT gmail DOT com.

And for my event To market, to market… you still have time to submit your entries till May 31.

Popularity: 15% [?]