In this recipe, the traditional ingredients of boiled egg, prawn crackers and fish sauce are replaced by lightly fried chickpeas, rice noodles and soy sauce respectively.
The steamed ingredients
Ingredients
Cauliflower, chopped into small chunks
Potatoes, chopped into small chunks
Prepare a steamer.
Steam the cauliflower and potato for 20 minutes.
The fresh ingredients
Ingredients
4 small tomatoes, cut into small cubes
1 medium carrot, shredded
1 small head cabbage, shredded
½ medium red onion, thinly sliced
1 bunch spring onions, sliced
Prepare all of the fresh ingredients.
The fried ingredients
Ingredients
2 pieces dry tofu
½ cup chickpeas
½ cup oil
2 sticks rice noodles
Break up the rice noodles into 1 inch lengths.
Heat the oil in a large wok. You may want to angle the wok slightly to make the pool of oil deeper. If you place a chopstick into the oil and it bubbles, then you’re ready.
Throw a handful of broken noodles at a time into the oil and wait a few seconds for them to puff. Place the fried noodles onto your skillet to soak up any residual oil.
Remove the noodles from the skillet, put it over medium heat, and fry the tofu and chickpeas.
The sauce
Ingredients
½ medium onion, finely diced
2 cloves garlic, sliced
1 small chilli, sliced
¾ cup peanut butter
2 tablespoons soy sauce
½ cup coconut milk (or any plant-based milk)
1 teaspoon sugar
3 tablespoons lime juice (or lemon juice)
Place the onion, garlic and chilli (i.e. the aromatics) into a small pot with a few tablespoons of water.
Saute the aromatics until they are softened and fragrant.
Add the peanut butter to the pot and mash with a spoon.
Add the soy sauce, coconut milk and sugar and mix with a spoon until you have a rich sauce.
Continue to cook the sauce on low heat for a minute.
Turn off the heat and mix the lime juice into the sauce.
Mix everything together
Put the fresh and steamed ingredients together in a large serving bowl.
Top with the sauce.
Stir until thoroughly combined and everything is coated in the sauce.
Add the fried ingredients on top.
Serve.
Author
Jian Liu & Julian Merkenich
Camberwell