Fresh. Chunky. Homely. Unusual.

***

Food painting artwork

30 x 30cm oil on canvas. Inspired both by a wandering through the artwork (not the cartoons) of Australia's much loved Michael Leunig, and the repeated suggestion from a friend to give other-handed drawing a go.

***

The meatless meals recipe - Beetroot and Bean Salad

I won't lie, this dish can take a while to prepare with cooking beetroot and brown rice, double shelling broadbeans and toasting sesame seeds. I don't make it very often, unless I have a glut of homegrown broadbeans straight from the garden and I want to really savour and enjoy their seasonal freshness.

Serves 2

250g double shelled broadbeans or edamame (start with about 300g single shelled broadbeans or 900-1000g unshelled/full broadbeans to end up with this amount)
250g beetroot
brown rice for 2 (about 2/3 cup uncooked) Properly cooked brown rice takes a good 40 minutes, despite what is often written on it's packaging. It should NOT be crunchy. At all.
2 tablespoons sesame seeds, toasted
1 tablespoon olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
zest of half a lemon
1 teaspoon white wine vinegar
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh chives
about 180g goats cheese


Cook the brown rice.
Boil beetroot until tender all the way through.
Run under cold water to cool.
Chop into medium sized cubes.
Mix all the ingredients together and serve atop the rice.

***

Food painting artwork

30 x 30cm oil on canvas. Inspired by the flatness of poster art and the childlike fun of the artwork of Australia's much loved Michael Leunig. I like the idea of the eating paddock to plate, or in this case, garden to pie. Look how fresh this Spring pie is. The plants are still growing!!

***

The meatless meals recipe - Spring Pot Pie

It's not as much work as it seems! Don't be put off by the long recipe. This is really a straightforward pot pie where the actual vegetable filling can be flexible. Most of the flavour is in the stock which then makes a thick filling sauce and a pea sauce for topping. This is one of those recipes good for using up all sorts of odds and ends from the garden or left over in the fridge.

For 4 individual pot pies when served with mash

Stock

6 peppercorns
4 bay leaves
8-10 large fresh sage leaves, finely chopped (about 2 teaspoons) Dried sage is far stronger than fresh so use far far less if substituting
2" fresh rosemary
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 teaspoon salt
Liquid volume should total 1L:
1 tablespoon / 20ml olive oil
1 tablespoon / 20ml lemon juice
1 tablespoon / 20ml white wine vinegar
1 cup dry white wine
690ml water

Pie Filling

1 small-medium parsnip
2 cups finely shredded silverbeet or cabbage
1 leek or medium-large onion, chopped or sliced
240g cooked beans
1 small turnip or swede, chopped
1 1/2 medium carrots, sliced or diced

Thick Stock Sauce

1 cup stock liquid (after cooking)
1 tablespoon cornflour

Pea Sauce

2 cups peas
2 tablespoons fresh mint
2 tablespoons fresh parsley
2/3 cup / 180ml stock liquid (after cooking)


500g shortcrust or puff pastry for pie lining and lid


Put stock ingredients in a pot with a lid on.
Simmer gently for 15 minutes.
Add pie filling ingredients to the pot.
Simmer gently for another 15 minutes. Keep the lid on.
Test that veg are done and keep simmering if necessary.
Grease pie dishes with olive oil.
Line with pastry.
Strain pie filling ingredients. KEEP THE STOCK LIQUID. Remove bay leaves and rosemary stalk.
Fill pies.
Using 1 cup of stock liquid, make a thick stock sauce by whisking in 1 tablespoon of cornflour to thicken.
Pour equal amounts of the thick stock sauce into each pie.
Put pastry lids on the pies.
Bake in the oven for 30 minutes at 180c to cook the pastry.
Make the pea sauce by putting cooked peas, mint, parsley and stock into a blender and whizzing until smooth.

Serve pot pies with pea sauce and mashed potato.

Cheesy. Easy. Homely. Quick.

***

Food painting artwork

30 x 30cm oil on canvas. A nod to the fairy tale of Goldilocks and the three bears and the bowl of 'just right'.

***

The meatless meals recipe - Super Easy Goldilocks Mac and Cheese

Once upon a time I used to make a roux to thicken the cheese sauce of my mac and cheese. Now, I am not fond of unnecessary steps or waiting about for my food and so at some point I tried 'cheating' using a judicious amount of cornflour to thicken the sauce. It's much quicker and no, I could not tell the difference.

After trialling many many variations, this is my version of 'just right' mac and cheese. The thickness of the sauce is 'just right'. The cheesiness is 'just right'. The amount of sauce for the quantity of pasta is 'just right'. And it's quick, which is just right for me.


200g uncooked pasta (macaroni!)
1 1/2 teaspoons butter
1 cup milk
1 1/4 cups grated tasty cheese (88g) For extra cheesyness, use 1 1/2 cups cheese (105g) but I think this is a bit strong
1 tablespoon cornflour
salt and pepper to taste


Cook pasta, drain and set aside.
Melt butter in a pan on low-medium heat.
Add most of the milk to the butter. Reserve some for mixing with the cornflour later.
Add cheese to the pot as well. Mix.
In a cup or small bowl, blend or whisk the cornflour and reserved milk.
When most of the cheese has melted, add the cornflour mix to the pot and whisk until thickened.
Take off the heat, add drained pasta into the cheese sauce and mix well.

Serve. Salt and pepper to taste.

The sauce takes 5 minutes to make. Mac and Cheese takes 5 minutes to eat.

 

 

For 2 

Fresh. Easy. Quick. Aromatic.

***

Food painting artwork

30 x 30cm oil on canvas. An early spring garden of fresh new plants, entangled with spaghetti.

***

The meatless meals recipe - Pasta Primavera - Pasta with Spring Vegetables in Herb Sauce

The taste of early spring in a bowl in the time it takes to cook your favourite pasta shape.

 

pasta (papadelle is my favourite for this) for 2, about 200g
parmesan to taste
salt to taste
3 cups mixed spring veg, chopped into bite size pieces - recommended are:
peas, broadbeans, asparagus, broccoli, snap peas, snowpeas

Herb sauce:

1 cup chopped fresh parsley (about 10g)
about 7g finely chopped fresh chives
1/2 cup whole mint leaves (about 4g)
at least 1/4 cup olive oil

Cook pasta.
Pre cook mixed veg. Blanch, boil or steam as suits you. I find steaming the veg on top of the pasta or pouring the drained pasta water over the veg to blanch them both work well to save on washing up, water, energy and general effort!
Put the ingredients for the herb sauce in a blender and blend smooth.
To serve, pile pasta into bowls, then top with sauce then veges and parmesan and salt to taste. Be aware that mixing the pasta and sauce before transferring to the serving bowls leaves most of the sauce and flavour behind sticking to the pot or bowl in which they were mixed.

Unusual. Easy. Light. Leisurely.

Food painting artwork

30 x 30cm oil on linen.  The spaghetti squash is, to me, a cartoon of a vegetable. It always makes me giggle. It's an amusing absurdity, a cheeky poke at serious food. In Japan it's name translates as golden thread melon, which is a supurb description. Here the golden thread melon has cheekily unspurled itself in squiggles all over this painting.

Original artwork can be purchased in the Official Art Store. This particular piece is currently drying and will be available shortly for $AU150. You are welcome to arrange to come and look at paintings, just contact me.

***

The meatless meals recipe

A small example of a spaghetti squash or vegetable spaghetti. They are usually around 20cm or 8" long.

Vegetable spaghetti was big in the 1970's. If you've never cooked it before, the flesh falls apart into spaghetti strands as it comes out of the shell with no coaxing needed at all. It can just be boiled and served as a gluten free or paleo diet spaghetti, but.... well, it doesn't have a strong flavour and boiling it doesn't do it any real favours. Like tofu, it soaks up the taste (and juices) of whatever it's cooked with, so I prefer tomato juice and spices over water. Stuffing the spaghetti squash makes use of this tendency. Serving it with plenty of sauce would work too. This particular stuffing is Lebanese inspired, mild and fresh, with a satisfying 'every mouthful is different' blend of rough chopped ingredients.

By the way, if you can grow pumpkins, you can grow vegetable spaghetti. Same family, same vigorous and prolific tendencies. Just save the seed from one before you cook it.

one spaghetti squash approximately 20cm long and 12cm in diameter

dash of oil

To make the filling:
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/4 large onion, minced or sliced fine
200g tomato, finely diced
1 3/4 cups cooked lentils
2 tablespoons crushed nuts
1/2 teaspoon treacle or honey
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon powder
1/2 teaspoon allspice powder
salt and pepper to taste
2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh dill
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
2 tablespoons chopped fresh mint
optional squeeze of lemon juice

Cut the ends off the spaghetti squash, then cut it in half, down the middle of it's longest side.

Scoop out the seeds.

Place both halves face down on an oiled oven tray and bake at 190C / 375F for 40 minutes.

To make the filling, soften the onion in a frypan with a little oil.

Then also soften the tomato in with the onion.

When these are done, put the lentils, nuts, honey, cinnamon, allspice, salt and pepper in a large mixing bowl with the softened onion and tomato. 

After 40 minutes of baking, remove the spaghetti squash from the oven, scrape all the flesh out into a large mixing bowl, making sure to keep the shell intact.

Mix the vegetable spaghetti and the stuffing together.

Put this mix back into the shells of the spaghetti squash.

Continue baking at the same temperature for another 20 minutes.

Top with dill, parsley and mint before serving (and a squeeze of lemon juice if you please).

This will make a meal for 4 with the addition of a salad or roast potatoes or similar side dish. It looks like a lot of food but it's quite light and not quite enough to be filling on it's own.

Moreish. Satisfying. Easy. Unusual.

***

Food painting artwork

30 x 30cm oil on linen. A dancing pattern of eggs, capsicum, tomato and peas, with plenty of painterly texture which you should be able to see in the close up photos below.








Did you know you can download images of the paintings for your own personal (not commercial) use? Computer wallpaper, Facebook profile picture, yes you can. Find your favourite painting on Flickr, go to actions, view all sizes, download the size you want to your device, set it as your wallpaper or profile. And tell your friends where it came from :)

Original artwork can be purchased in the Official Art Store. This particular piece is currently drying and will be available shortly for $150. To find out exactly when that is, get on the mailing list, yellow box top left.

***

The meatless meals recipe

This meal is of Spanish origin, I believe. It's simple. It's tasty. And it celebrates eggs. I've been making this on and off for about 10 years, and every time I wonder why I left it so long since the last time. It's a subtle good one.

For 4.

Fresh. Versatile. Satisfying. Unusual.

***

Food painting artwork

30 x 30cm oil on panel. All the leaves and petals of summer together on a hazy warm and sunny day.









Did you know you can download images of the paintings for your own personal (not commercial) use? Computer wallpaper, Facebook profile picture, yes you can. Find your favourite painting on Flickr, go to actions, view all sizes, download the size you want to your device, set it as your wallpaper or profile. And tell your friends where it came from :)

Original artwork can be purchased in the Official Art Store. This particular piece is currently drying and will be available shortly for $150. To find out exactly when that is, get on the mailing list, yellow box top left.

***

The meatless meals recipe

This recipe was one of those wild experiments that I embarked upon one evening when we had guests. It has been raved about ever since, and it has taken quite some time to recreate to the same rave worthy high standard. The secret is the sheer amount of herbs. This dish is really only economic to make if you grow your own herbs or can buy in bulk. Those tinsey wincey little packets the supermarkets sell won't go very far at all here. The downside of making this is all the chopping and measuring. Enlist help with the chopping! Besides, it's fun to chatter over food preparation before eating together. The upside is that it's quite a flexible recipe. Really, you can top it with whatever summery veges you have to clean out the fridge or help empty the garden.

Chunky. Unusual. Creamy. Moreish.

***

Food painting artwork

30 x 30cm oil on linen. The idea of using corn cobs as stamps, similar to how I'd used apples as stamps in Apple and Barley Soup, did not go according to plan as the corn stamps were so indistinct. No matter, this didn't stop me creating the bright, bold and dreamy ode to corn in a once-was-seafood dish, that I'd had in mind.


 





Original paintings for you.

Like the artwork? Tell a friend! And if you already have, THANK YOU.

Original artwork can be purchased in the Official Art Store. This particular piece is currently drying and will be available shortly for $AU150. To find out exactly when that is, get on the mailing list, yellow box top left, or email me (fi at wherefishsing dot com) to express your interest.

***

The meatless meals recipe

Chowder is a very American dish (from the New England area), surprisingly uncommon here in Australia. Luckily, there is was a terrific cafe not far from me, run by an American chef, called the Chowder House. Guess what they serve? So it was there that I was introduced to this versatile and satisfying meal in a bowl. After being so impressed with chowder, I voraciously read up on ingredients and variations and methods and got all experimental in the kitchen. Most chowders are seafood based, even the corn ones. Not this one, the synthesis of all that cerebral and experimental research. 

2 tablespoons butter
1/2 large onion, chopped
2 tablespoons flour
2 3/4 cups HOT stock
kernals from 2 corn cobs (200-240g corn kernals)
around 120g sweet potato or pumpkin cut into bite size chunks
2 small capsicums, in small pieces or chunks
1/2 large carrot, in small pieces or chunks
around 300g potato, cut into bite size chunks
3/4 teaspoon dried thyme
2 pinches turmeric
3 pinches white pepper
1 cup milk
1 1/2 teaspoons fresh finely chopped dill
chilli, to taste

Melt butter in a big pot.
Cook the onion on low heat in the butter until softened and clear.
Add flour and cook until the flour is brown, stirring frequently. This takes about 10 minutes.
Gradually add the HOT stock, stirring to prevent lumps (using hot stock makes it MUCH easier to avoid lumps than using cold).
Add in everything else except chilli.
Put the lid on the pot to keep the liquid from evaporating. Cook at a simmer for at least 30 minutes until the potato is done. If this boils it will boil over - lid or no lid. Be careful.
Add the chilli, take the lid off and cook for another 5 minutes.

Makes a meal for 2.

Zesty. Fresh. Hearty. Moreish.

***

Food painting artwork

30 x 30cm oil on linen. Celebrating the squiggliness of linguini and the zing and pop of fresh summer ingredients. An oodley botannical inspired ode.

Interior photo by rogue-designs

Original art for you. Yes, YOU!

Did you know you can download images of the paintings for your own personal (not commercial) use? Computer wallpaper, Facebook profile picture, yes you can. Find your favourite painting on Flickr, go to actions, view all sizes, download the size you want to your device, set it as your wallpaper or profile. And tell your friends where it came from :)


Original artwork can be purchased in the Official Art Store. This particular piece is currently drying and will be available shortly for $AU150. To find out exactly when that is, get on the mailing list, yellow box top left. Or email me (fi at wherefishsing.com) to let me know you're interested.

***

The meatless meals recipe

If you grow zucchinis you know that the biggest 'problem' with them is finding enough homes for the sheer quantity of zucchinis that appear. They are nothing if not prolific. And so summer can become a quest for ways to make use of all these zucchinis. I'm not going to add to the cornicopia of recipes out there for soups and baked goodies that manage to inventively squirral away filler zucchini. No, this one celebrates them and makes them a centrepiece, and uses them up promptly at the same time.

Per serve:

100g pasta (linguini!)
300g zucchini (about 1 large or 1 1/2 medium) cut into thin flexible fingers or matchsticks
2 or more tablespoons olive oil
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 or more tablespoons water
juice and zest of 1/4 of a large lemon
1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon finely chopped chives
1 tablespoon finely chopped mint
cracked black pepper to taste

Fry zucchini fingers in 1 tablespoon of olive oil and all the salt.
When appealingly browned (and probably beginning to stick) add water to ensure they are steamed all the way through. Keep cooking until all the water is gone to ensure the zucchini are lusciously soft. Add more water and keep cooking if necessary.
Meanwhile, cook pasta and drain.
Toss the pasta with the other tablespoon of olive oil to coat it well.
Combine the pasta, cooked zucchini, chives and mint. Add the lemon juice, zest and balsamic and mix everything together well.
Add pepper to taste.

Remember, this amount is per person.

Chunky. Versatile. Homely. Easy.

***

Food painting artwork

is 30 x 30cm acrylic with oil transfer drawing on Saunders Waterford 100% cotton archival paper. Exploring the decorative, flourish filled style of Alfonse Mucha, the much loved and celebrated artist of the Art Nouveau era. Many of his pictures make a show of long swirling hair, and repeated circular patterns. I could 'see' that the wispy tendrils of the sweetcorn husk and the circular corn kernals would fit right in to a wistful Mucha-like design.


Did you know you can download images of the paintings for your own personal (not commercial) use? Computer wallpaper, Facebook profile picture, yes you can. Find your favourite painting on Flickr, go to actions, view all sizes, download the size you want to your device, set it as your wallpaper or profile. And tell your friends where it came from :)


Original artwork can be purchased in the Official Art Store. This particular piece is currently drying and will be available shortly. To find out exactly when that is, get on the mailing list, yellow box top left.

***

The meatless meals recipe

I have a bit more than tinkered with the family recipe I had for corn patties. Now there is much more corn flavour and the tinge of glue has been banished. These are light and fluffy and simple to make. I find they are awesome as a satisfying and light summer meal with roast tomatoes, lettuce and onion jam (recipe coming soon) or salsa (recipe coming soon), or as part of a veggie breakfast fryup. They can be used as a vege burger too. Yes, they are versatile.


1/2 cup plain flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons bicarb soda (this makes the patties rise. Leave it out if you want corn doorstops. Add extra in if you like the taste of bleurgh.)
2 eggs, beaten
2 1/2 cups corn kernals (about 3 large cobs of corn)
2 spring onions, chopped
optional 1/2 medium red capsicum diced into pieces 1cm or smaller so they cook through
butter for frying

Mix flour, salt and bicarb.
Add the eggs and mix until smooth.
Add the corn, spring onion (and capsicum).
Mix thoroughly. It will be quite thick and there will seem to be very little to hold it all together. That's ok.
Fry in butter like pancakes on a medium to high heat. I find 2 dessertspoons makes a good sized pattie. This amount of mix makes 8-10 patties of this size. Try to only turn these once. Like pancakes, watch for the bubbles appearing on the surface before attempting to flip them as this turn can be a bit delicate. Be patient.

Gobble down on 8-10 patties. I find 2 or 3 patties per person (depending on their starvation level) works well when served with salad and condiments as suggested above. So that means this serves 3-4 people.

Easy. Fresh. Satisfying. Chunky.

***

Food painting artwork

30 x 30cm oil on linen. Making use of the square brush technique I talked about in my previous post, a summery rendition of this jewel studded dish all plated up and ready to gormandise. The real meal is pretty much as colourful as the painting is.

Did you know that all the food painting artwork is available to own in the Official Art Store?  If you want to get your mitts on the original, it is drying and awaiting it's professional photoshoot before being allowed in the shop.

To be kept updated on available paintings, get on the mailing list, yellow box top left.

***

The meatless meals recipe

I enjoy the freshness of salads but often find them not filling enough. And so I have a tendency to tinker with them until they become full main meals. This is one of those tinkerings. One hot London evening (an oxymoron most of the time), I felt inspired to feast on the well known Italian tricolore or caprese salad of fresh tomato slices, fresh basil leaves and fresh mozzarella slices. Lacking those ingredients, and being hungry enough for a full meal, this is basically what I came up with. It's been refined over the years into a jewel studded crown of a summer meal.

Big thanks to Mari and Catriona in helping me give this recipe an appropriate name!

200-250g haloumi or paneer cheese, in slices about 1/2cm thick (both of these cheeses can be fried without melting out of shape)
around 310g zucchini, in slices about 1/2cm thick (using a long diagonal works well)
around 240g eggplant, in slices about 1/2cm thick
1 clove garlic
around 260g fresh tomato in slices about 1/2cm thick (about 3 medium tomatoes)
plenty of butter for frying

125g / 3/4 cup couscous
zest of 1/2 lemon
chopped parsley, about 25g
1 cup / 250ml boiling water
slosh of olive oil
optional 'clean out the fridge' veg, diced really fine - 1/2 cup

juice of 1/2 lemon

If you are using haloumi for this dish do not salt anything as it is frying. I repeat -DO NOT ADD SALT- Haloumi is very salty itself and any extra salt will make your tongue weep. Paneer, on the other hand, is usually not salty at all, so taste it first and go for your life.

Fry the zucchini slices in butter.
Fry the eggplant slices in butter. Mince the garlic and add to the frying eggplant. Once you have a bit of browning on the eggplant add some water to the pan. This speeds up the cooking time significantly and ensures the cooked eggplant is lovely and soft.
Fry the haloumi slices. It doesn't need much, just enough to be golden brown on the outside and heated through.
Meanwhile, put the couscous, lemon zest, parsley, olive oil, optional minced veg and boiling water in a container with a lid, cover and leave for 10 minutes. Your couscous is now cooked!
To serve, I like to make a ring (the crown!) around the outside of the plate with the zucchini, eggplant, haloumi and fresh tomato slices all alternating. Then I fill the middle with the couscous mix.
A squeeze of lemon juice all over finishes this off.


This makes a meal for two. Unless you are using a BBQ to fry the ingredients it's not really practical from a cooking space point of view to make this for more than two people.

Sometimes you want to create a vegetarian version of a familiar

meat based meal. And non-vegetarians who have to cook a meatless or vegetarian meal are often stumped about how to get past the mentality of ‘meat and three veg minus the meat’.



The bad news is that sometimes it’s just not possible. Trying to make a vegetarian version of a baked fish, for example, is just setting yourself up for failure.

Leisurely. Versatile. Unusual. Hearty. 

***

Food painting artwork

30 x 30cm acrylic on paper. The paper is no ordinary paper, it is textured Hahnemuhle 300 gsm 100% alpha cellulose which is acid-free fibre of vegetable origin. A high quality paper, made to last for generations.

The symbol in this artwork is based on an ancient Chinese lotus charm. The buddah and the lotus are closely connected and I like that the hidden meaning of the charm, continuous harmony, is a suitable sentiment for the celebration of the end of winter and the beginning of a new year that this dish is traditionally served at.

From the charm website, "In Buddhism, the lotus represents purity and detachment from worldly cares because of the dignified manner in which it emerges from the muck of a pond.

Because the Buddha is often depicted as seated on a lotus, the lotus is considered a sacred Buddhist symbol (one of Eight Auspicious Symbols) representing purity and detachment from worldly cares.

The Chinese word for lotus is lianhua or hehua. Lian is also the pronunciation of the word for continuous and he is also the pronunciation for the word harmony so the lotus has the hidden meaning of "continuous harmony"."

Did you know that all the food painting artwork is available to own in the Official Art Store?  If you want to get your mitts on the original, it is drying and awaiting it's professional photoshoot before being allowed in the shop.

To be kept updated on available paintings and other happenings of interest, put yourself on the mailing list, yellow box top left.

***

The meatless meals recipe

On the first day of Chinese New Year (a variable date in January or Febuary) it is traditional to cook this vegetarian dish. Chinese New Year is meant to mark the end of winter, so as it's officially the first day of spring here in southern hemisphere Australia, this recipe is quite appropriate. 

Buddah's Delight goes by quite a few names and a vast array of ingredients. I'll get to that bit.  You may have heard of it as Monks Vegetables. Or maybe as Lo Han Zai or Zai Choi.

As I mentioned, the ingredients are widely varied. I find this dish is as much about sampling different textures together as it is about taste. All the textures are bound together by the flavoured sauce. The sauce varies a lot too. Many recipes use a fermented tofu product as the base of the sauce which some people find nauseating, myself included. It's also a bit tricky to find. Many recipes use a heavily soy sauce based sauce, which I found to be just plain salty and one dimensional. This version uses a modified soy sauce base with heaps more flavour added in and easy on the salt. You should be able to get all the ingredients at your supermarket too.

And the last note is that this dish tastes best if at least half of the ingredients are fresh. In other words, minimise the tofu, starch, lotus, noodles, lilybuds and waterchestnut and maximise the vegetables.

Sauce base:

4 cloves garlic, sliced

sesame oil

2 1/2 teaspoons sugar

1 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons hoisin sauce

1 tablespoon soy sauce

1/2 cup dry or medium dry sherry

1 1/2 - 2 cups stock (water from rehydrating the shitake mushrooms is good here)

Recommended ingredients:

bamboo shoots

shitake mushroom (fresh or rehydrated)

1 carrot, sliced

lotus root slices

chinese cabbage, shredded fine (2 handfuls or more)

snowpeas, whole

water chestnut

wood ear / black fungus mushroom (fresh or rehydrated, remove the hard bits, half a handful is enough, this expands a lot)

Additional ingredients:

bean sprouts

dried sticks of bean curd

glass noodles (half a handful is enough)

dried lilybuds

gingko nuts or peanuts or cashews

small cubes of fried tofu puffs

other mushroom

Get a big pot out for this. No, bigger.

Make the sauce base:

Fry the garlic on medium heat until golden in sesame oil.

Remove from heat and add sugar, salt, hoisin, soy sauce and sherry. 

Put back on the heat and simmer until the sugar dissolves.

Time to add your ingredients:

Choose your ingredient selection according to your tastes and what you have available to you. It's more about varied textures than a blend of flavoured ingredients.

Use one handful of each ingredient unless noted. 

Add ingredients one at a time, starting with the one that will take the longest to cook.

Braise each for a few minutes before adding the next until all of them are done.

Add stock as required.

Feeds 4-8 depending on the number of ingredients used. It's a bit of a banquet. Serve on a little rice.

Fresh. Versatile. Thrifty. Fun.

***

Food painting artwork

30 x 30cm acrylic on board. Can you sense the translucency of the rice paper? The freshness of the fillings? The simplicity of this dish?

All artwork is available to own in the Official Art Store. This particular painting is drying and will be made available soon for $150. To find out the instant it's ready, get on the collectors list, yellow box top left.

***

Rice paper rolls, in case you haven't had the delight of trying them, are like a tasty little salad meal in an edible wrapper. Eaten cold, they are perfect for hot days. I love making these at home because I get to fill them any way I like, which incidentally is with a little cucumber, loads of lettuce, enormous quantities of mint and a touch of tofu fried in soy sauce and sherry.

This recipe is more like a collection of ingredient suggestions and some pointers on how to construct the rolls than a set of instructions. Fill them however you like!

You will need:
rice paper roll wrappers, they are usually sold in packets of at least 20 for just a few dollars and are about 20cm in diametre.
lettuce - a soft variety or finely shredded leaves to prevent tough pieces poking through the wrapper

Your choice of other fillings, here are some ideas:
cucumber, sliced in lengths
fresh coriander or vietnamese mint
fresh mint
chopped peanuts
spring onion, chopped fine
glass/vermicelli rice noodles, these often only need to be soaked in cold water to be ready to use, but follow the directions on the packet
bean sprouts
carrot, in thin sticks
egg, beaten with a little soy sauce and sherry, fried into an omelette shape and cut into strips
tempeh (as is) or tofu (preferably marinated/pre-fried - I suggest a soy sauce and sherry mix)

Suggested dipping sauces:
Peanut (mix peanut butter, a little oil, a little water and a dash each of soy sauce, chilli, sugar and sherry to taste)
Soy sauce (a dash of rice wine vinegar added in can be quite enjoyable)
Sweet chilli (fresh minced chilli or sambal oelek with a little rice wine vinegar or white wine vinegar and sugar, to taste)



Construction tips:
The rice paper wrappers only need to be dipped into warm water for about 30 seconds to be ready to use. I fill my largest flat bottomed frypan with very warm water and dip the wrappers in as needed. They are ready when they have become soft and pliable, which is almost straight away. Also, they stick to themselves once ready so I never prepare a stack of them, just one by one.

I've tried adding the dipping sauce into the unwrapped roll. It doesn't work. The roll becomes very slippery and difficult to roll, sauce squirts all over the place and then the roll won't stick closed. My recommendation is to save the sauce for dipping.

To make a roll, put the soaked wrapper on a plate and fill the middle with your fillings of choice. Leave room around the edges for wrapping.
Fold over opposite 'ends' up over the filling.
Fold over one of the remaining ends also.
Now the bit that takes a little practice. It is easier to do than to explain. Roll the lot towards the final open end. Fold over and compress the fillings as necessary to make them fit.
The wrapper sticks to itself so just press the roll to itself at the end.
Here, let me show you:











3-6 rice paper rolls will make a meal for one, depending on how hungry you are, the type of fillings you use and the amount you manage to stuff into your rolls!