One of the things I love about The Scoop on Nutrition is giving young nutritionists and dietitians a chance to show their stuff. So when this months Recipe ReDux honey or maple syrup theme was announced, and this guest post with honey, hit our newsdesk, I knew the culinary planets had aligned. While honey is not a major ingredient, I think it clearly shines in the sophisticated way Asian dishes (like this) balance sweet, salty, sour and savoury flavours. Bon Appetit, over to Sarah and I’ll catch up with you in the comments below!
About our expert:
Dietitian Sarah Leung is the founder of Healthy Energy in Melbourne and has a mission to assist people to achieve their health goals through food. Sarah is interested in weight management and sports nutrition. She also loves sharing her cooking tips with her clients to help solve barriers to making positive changes.
In my short two years of dietitian life, I have been constantly exploring what I love to do everyday within this career as I believe you can never go wrong doing what you are passionate about and in the last year, I think I have found my love – cooking!
Thinking back to childhood, for safety reasons, I remember my parents didn’t let me go into the kitchen before I was 12 years old. I wasn’t a big fan of reading, computer games nor watching television but I was always interested in ‘making things’. My first bread baking experience was when I was 8 years old, sneaking into the kitchen while my parents were at work (we were supervised). I mixed together any ingredients I think it would work for baking bread e.g. flour, sugar, salt, water, milk, butter making it into a dough and put it in the oven… I didn’t have a recipe nor did I know what proofing a dough means, the result was obviously disastrous! My dad came home from work looking at my half burnt rock hard bread, took a bite and said ‘ummm, not bad!’. The rest of the bread made his snack for the week and no one else (not even myself) touched it! Ever since that incident I tried very hard to make my food products edible so that my family (especially my poor dad) doesn’t have lie to me if it was a disaster!
Cooking has really became a very important part of my life in the last few years. Many people may think that cooking is stressful, messy and difficult but for me it is a form of relaxation. When I cook, I am looking forward to the end product and putting a smile (or not sometimes) into people’s faces after trying my food. I am grateful of being a dietitian because I know I can use the knowledge of nutrition and combine that with my love for cooking to help people. I love taking cooking classes and learning new skills like my recent Soba Noodle class in Japan. I will continue cooking to bring joy, happiness and health to the people I serve!
Recipe ReDux Vietnamese Honey & Lemongrass Pork with Vermicelli Salad
This is such a beautiful and refreshing dish but just be mindful that the fish and soy sauce quantities are fairly generous (and that’s after I already modified the quantity) and therefore quite high in sodium. Make sure you go easy with the sauce!
Ingredients (serve 5-6)
pork shoulder 500g, thinly sliced
coriander, 1 tablespoon
lemongrass, 1 stalk, sliced
garlic, 2 cloves
shallot 1 small
honey 1 tablespoon
fish sauce 1 tablespoon
soy sauce 1 tablespoon
pepper 1 teaspoon
vermicelli noodle 5-6 serves
crushed peanuts, 2 tablespoons
Pickled carrot and cucumber
carrot, 1 medium, cut into batons
cucumber, 1 medium, cut into batons
white rice wine
brown sugar
Dipping sauce
fish sauce 1/4 cup
brown sugar 1/4 cup
warm water 1/4 cup
fresh lime juice 1/4 cup
chopped chili, chopped
Method
Use a food processor, mix and mince coriander, lemongrass, garlic and shallot. Combine the minced herbs with honey, fish sauce, soy sauce and pepper into a medium mixing bowl. Mix sliced pork into the marinade, cover in clear wrap and refrigerate for 30-45minutes minimum.
Place carrot and cucumber into a mixing bowl, pour white rice vinegar until vegetables are covered. Stir in about 3 tablespoons of brown sugar or adjust sweetness to your liking
Cook vermicelli noodles in boiling water until soft and cooked.
Grill pork slices on a grill pan under high-medium heat for 2 minutes on each side.
Arrange serving bowls with vermicelli noodle, pickled vegetables and grilled pork slices. Sprinkle crushed peanut and coriander for garnish, serve with dipping sauce.
