Cabbage Roll - Featured in Group Recipes

This recipe is largely adapted from Chef Sam Leong?s recipe. Chef Leong was a Winner of the World Gourmet Summit Awards of Excellence in 2001, 2002 & 2004. In his recipe, he uses pickled snow vegetables (xue cai) but I could not find them in all the supermarkets near my home. So, I replaced it with pickled curry gerkins and use my own ingredients for the roll.  According to my food critic, it has passed the litmus test! However, if I can find xue cai someday, I will definitely do this again. This is a pretty and interesting appetizer.  I like the nutty flavor of the peanuts, with a tinge of sourness from the gerkins and a punch of spicy taste from the thai chilly sauce. I must say it is a great combination of flavors to whet your appetite before the main meal.  Try it!

Servings 4 (1 piece per person)

Ingredients:

4 leaves of Chinese cabbage

4 tbsp ground peanuts

2 tsp mayonnaise

2 pickled curry gerkins, cut into 8 strips 

4 stalks of 4 ins spring onion, white part only

4 slices of carrot

1 tsp Thai chilly sauce

8 thinly sliced red capsicum

4 thin strips of Japanese cucumber

Method:

Blanch cabbage leaves then plunge into cold water to stop the cooking process. Drain well.  Lay cabbage leaves flat and spread mayonnaise and ground peanuts.  Lay 2 pieces of pickled gerkins lengthwise and a stalk of spring onion over and rollup.  Slice off both the ends and cut roll into 2 ins pieces. Brush each piece with Thai chilly sauce. Decorate the plate with Japanese cucumber and sliced red capsicum.  Serve cold.

Note: If you cannot find curry gerkins, you can replace it with any kind of gerkins.