Luke Nguyen’s Cabramatta Tour

Drums! Dragons! A long table under a red canopy in the streets of Cabramatta and a Vietnamese feast with Luke Nguyen of Red Lantern!

When we arrived this morning in Cabramatta, Luke Nguyen and his family guided the group with energy and enthusiasm around their corner of Sydney. The range of produce and cuisines available right at our doorstep is one of the joys of living in a city of diverse cultural background. Cabramatta is about an hour from Central Sydney.

We looked, learned, shopped then cooked before we ate: some familiar flavours and some new. Here’s the recipe for my favourite fish of the day: light refreshing enticing at the front, with sharpness saltiness and slight heat in the aftertaste.

GOI KHO CA COM XOAI SONG : Green mango and dried anchovy salad

Ingredients:

2 green mangoes, peeled and julienne

100g small dried anchovies, washed and drained

1 long red chilli, seeds taken out and julienne

5 perilla leaves, sliced

5 mint leaves sliced

5 Vietnamese mint sliced

5 Asian basil leaves, sliced

Vegetable oil for deep frying

1 tablespoon fried red Asian shallots

1 teaspoon fried garlic chips

½ cup Aunty Nine’s salad dressing

Method:

In a deep fry pan or wok, heat the oil to 180 degrees Celsius. Deep fry the dried anchovies in two separate batches for 3 minutes or until brown and crisp. Remove the anchovies and place on absorbent kitchen paper.

In a mixing bowl combine green mango, herbs, chilli, fried shallots, fried garlic, crisp anchovies and 3 tablespoons of Aunty Nine’s salad dressing. Toss well then transfer to a plate or shallow bowl and garnish with crushed peanuts.

Aunty Nine’s Salad Dressing

4 tablespoons lemon juice

2 tablespoons caster (superfine) sugar

1 tablespoon fish sauce

2 garlic cloves, crushed

1 bird’s eye chilli, finely chopped

Combine all the ingredients and ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper in a bowl and mix well. (Keep in a jar in the fridge for up to 2 days.)

We also enjoyed soft rice paper rolls with prawns and pork, wok tossed water spinach with fermented bean curd sauce, stir fried bitter melon with shitake mushrooms, caramilised pork belly, tamarind broth with silver perch and elephant ear stems.

Luke Nguyen’s Cabramatta Tour was supported by Fairfield Council as part of the Sydney International Food Festival.

Red Lantern
545 Crown St
Surry Hills NSW 2010, Australia
+61 2 9698 4355