Beef and Prawn Pouches

I have a lot of catching up to do on this blog! I actually did a bunch of cooking that I never wrote up, so I will be trying to write as much of it up as I can, but you may have to forgive me if my memory is a bit hazy about how things worked out.

This one I remember though, because they were AMAZING!

Basically, in a pan, you cook up 2 tablespoons of olive oil, some garlic (recipe says one clove, but I scoff at one clove! I probably put in four or five), and a small chopped onion. Cook stirring till translucent, then add 2 teaspoons of chopped fresh ginger, 80g minced beef. Cook till meat is browned. Then stir in 60g small prawns (the recipe says cooked, but honestly, prawns require such a tiny amount of cooking, I wouldn't worry about it), 1 small grated carrot and two green shallots. Cook for a minute more, then turn off the heat and throw in a handful of fresh basil. (Okay, the recipe says a tablespoon, but I just chucked some in.) The recipe also says a tablespoon of sugar, but I left that out, and was quite happy with the result. That said, I do tend to not like things sweet, so YMMV.

Let it cool.

Get a 250g packet of wonton pastry. Brush pastry shells with beaten egg, plonk about a teaspoon of the mince mixture on it, and then pinch the edges of the pastry together to make little pastry packages. I ran out of mince, and did a few with blocks of dark chocolate inside, which were... interesting.

Deep fry them in hot oil just before you want to serve.

The recipe comes with a sweet chilli sauce recipe, which I made. (1/2 cup water, 1/4 cup white vinegar, 1 teaspoon hoisin sauce, 1 small red fresh chilli and 1/2 cup brown sugar. Stir over heat until sugar dissolves, bring to boil, simmer uncovered for 5 mins or until thickened.) Honestly though? It's a bit of a pain, and not really as good as the standard sweet chilli sauce we get from our local Asian supermarket. So, I wouldn't bother.

The packages, though, are gorgeous. Really really delicious. Putting them together is a bit of a pain, but well worth it. NOM.