Tarun Kapoor is executive chef at Doha’s Horizon Manor Hotel. Send your feedback to:
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Spring Rolls
The spring rolls as we all love to savour is a traditional Chinese dish prepared to celebrate the Chinese New Year, which is also known as the spring festival.
Spring rolls are also named as spring pancakes. To make them, mix white flour with water and salt, knead into dough and cook thin wrappers. Then prepare a filling and roll in the prepared wrapper, deep fry them until golden and crispy and serve them hot with dip.
Generally the Chinese spring rolls are small in size however you can increase the size of the wrapper and increase the filling to get bigger spring rolls.
The variety of filling also varies from chicken, meat, prawns, to vegetables. With the advancement of cooking techniques and modernisation of the equipment in food industry, readymade spring roll wrappers are easily available in grocery stores and one only need to prepare the choice of filling to fill the wrappers and fry them later on.
Today’s recipes feature Firecracker Shrimp Roll which resembles its Chinese spring roll counterpart and is easy to make at home and you can also call it the prawn spring roll.
Firecracker Shrimp Roll
Ingredients
Shrimp (11-15) tail on 12 no
Spring roll wrapper 6 no
Oil for frying
Marinade
Garlic, minced 1 tsp
Ginger, grated ½ tsp
Sesame oil ½ tsp
Soy sauce ½ tsp
Sweet chilli sauce 1 tsp
Corn starch 1 tsp
Salt to taste
White pepper to taste
Cornstarch paste
Cornstarch 1 tbsp
Water ¼ cup
Sweet chilli sauce 120 ml
Method
Wash and clean the shrimps and pat them dry with kitchen towel.
With a sharp kitchen knife nick the shrimp at 4-5 places inside the curve to straighten them.
Combine all the ingredients required for the marinade and mix well.
Marinate the shrimps for 30 minutes in the refrigerator.
Cut the spring roll wrapper into half diagonally to get two triangles, keep the wrapper covered with damp kitchen towel.
Place the wrapper triangle on flat surface with the triangle pointing on left side.
Place one shrimp in the middle of the triangle, leaving the shrimp tail outside.
Start rolling the wrapper to cover the shrimp, when half of the wrapper is rolled fold the left side triangle inside and roll completely.
Seal the edge of wrapper with the corn starch dissolved in water.
Repeat the same for the remaining shrimps.
Deep fry over medium heat until crispy and golden brown.
Serve hot with sweet chilli sauce.
Mango
The undoubted king of fruits, season of the mango has arrived and now is the time to churn out some delectable recipes using it.
Mango is known for its unique taste, aroma and fragrance. It is a seasonal fruit grown in the tropics. The tree is believed to have originated in the sub Himalayan plains of the Indian subcontinent. The mango tree is now cultivated in many regions of India and now is farmed across many continents.
The fruits grow at the end of a long string-like stem with sometimes more than one fruit to a stem. Each fruit measures 5 to 15cm in length and 4 to 10cm in width and has its own typical mango shape, sometimes round, sometimes oval.
The weight of a mango ranges from 150gm to 750gm. The outer skin is green in unripe mangoes but turns into golden yellow, or orange-red when ripen.
The mango season lasts from April to August. Its flavour is pleasant and rich and tastes sweet with mild tartness. Mango is rich in prebiotic fibre, vitamins and anti-oxidants. One very popular variety of mango, also considered the best, is the Alphonso mango.
Mango is also the national fruit of India, Pakistan and Philippines.
Mango Raspberry Mousse
Ingredients
Mango pulp 500 ml
Raspberry pulp ¾ cup
Egg yolks 6 no
Whipping cream 500 ml
Sugar 4 tbsp
For garnish
Raspberry 5-7 nos
Mango chopped 4 tbsp
Method
Separate egg yolks and whites. Whisk egg yolks and sugar in a bowl on double boiler.
Whisk until the sugar dissolves and the mixture turns light and thick.
Whip the cream separately until it forms a stiff peak and fold into the yolk mixture.
Fold in the raspberry pulp and pour into desired mousse mould to set.
Freeze for 3 hours or until completely set.
Remove from freezer and remove from the mould on plate. Serve chilled, garnished with raspberry and chopped mango on top.
