Cinnamon twirls

Great British Bake Off

What an exciting episode of the Great British Bake off this week.

Got inspired to enjoy life a little with these tasty bakes.

Banitsa and a Bulgarian Fairy Tale

Banitsa is a traditional Bulgarian food prepared by layering a mixture of whisked eggs and pieces of cheese between filo pastry and then baking it in an oven. I will show you how to make it step by step.

Ingredients

 

Pastry sheets
1/2 kg spinach
1/2 cup yogurt
1 coffee cup oil (or melted butter)
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup feta cheese
3 eggs

Squeeze gently water from washed spinich. Stew in oil (or melted butter). Leave to cool. Afterwards stir in cheese, eggs and yogurt. 

Take 12 pastry sheets. Grease bottom of a pan with butter or oil. Brush 3 sheets with butter. Place sheets one atop the other. Spread 1/3 of filling. Top with 2 more sheets, each brushed with butter or oil. Spread second third of filling. Repeat one more time.

 Top last layer of filling with 3 oiled sheets, and add a bit of egg yolk on top to give it a nice brown colour.

Bake in a moderate oven until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. 

As we enjoy the Banitsa, I wonder what Bulgarian fairy tale would go well with this dish? 

Any suggestions?

Add Some Seeds and Magic Dust

I have made my own seeds and nuts mix, which can be added to recipes in order to increase their nutritional value.

You can make your own, but I would recommend some flax seeds, sesame seeds, chia seeds, pumpkin seeds, pine nuts and almonds.  

This mixture adds great nutrients to you food as well as a great taste!

Moroccan Lamb Burger Fairy Tale Recipe

I love Moroccan food, so thought I might take my inspiration in a Moroccan fairy tale to make some tasty lamb burgers.

 

The Moroccan fairy tale that I found is similar to Snow White. This Moroccan version has a beautiful mother who talks to the moon. The moon tells her that the child in her womb is more beautiful and of course the mother gets jealous. The mother has the trusted midwife bury the baby as soon as it is born and to replace it with a puppy dog. The mother paid the midwife a great deal of gold to do this. The midwife produced a puppy, but she took the girl away and secluded her inside her own house and took care of her. 

The husband of the beautiful woman was ashamed when he saw God had given them a puppy dog and threw the dog away. The midwife raised the baby as her own and named her Lalla Khallalt El Khoudra. She grew to be very beautiful and people would compare any woman's beauty to that of Lalla. Her birth mother heard of her and asked the midwife to send her over to help her untangle her ball of yarn.

When the birth mother saw the girl she was overcome with jealousy. She gave the girl the ball of yarn and told her to walk until it was untangled. The girl ended up in the land of ghouls. Her mother cut the yarn when she guessed Lalla had walked that far. Lalla could not find her way home and night had fallen. When she saw all the strange creatures in the land she guessed she had entered the land the midwife had told her about and she was afraid she would be eaten alive. She hid herself in a thatch roof. The house that she chose to hide in was one of seven ghoul brothers. They had a slave to cook for them. Every morning the ghouls went out to hunt and the slave remained to prepare their food. The slave heard something on the roof and saw the beautiful woman. Lalla begged her for food and drink. She gave her some but advised her to stay hidden from the owners. Lalla repeated this every day. She would join the slave and help her prepare the food and then hide herself again. The brothers noticed a difference in the food. They wanted to figure out what was happening, so they had the youngest brother stay behind hidden to see what the slave was up to.

The youngest brother stayed hidden, but saw the slave and Lalla cooking together. Then he jumped out. Lalla was scared, but the brother was kind and gentle and when he looked in his eyes he fell in love with her. The next day the brothers held a wedding ceremony for them. With the presence of Lalla all the brothers were happy. Lalla took over the care of the brothers. The slave became neglected, but she made Lalla promise her that they would always share everything equally.

One day Lalla tried to wake the slave to share a bean with her. Since the slave pretended to be asleep, Lalla put the half bean away, but it was lost when she tried to find it for the slave later. The slave was very angry and took revenge later by putting the fire out. Lalla had to go to a neighbor to ask for fire. She went to the ghoul next door, but he insisted on cutting her for the fire. She allowed him to do it and she dripped blood home. The next day he followed the blood to her and forced her to allow him to suck her blood from her finger or he would eat her. He did this every day.

The brothers began to notice the changes in their food and in Lalla. They did not understand why she did not seem happy when they showered her with gold, silver and jewels. The youngest brother stayed home to find out what was happening. He saw the neighbor come and drink her blood. He waited for his brothers and they decided they would all stay home the next day. They captured the neighbor, and set to kill him and then turned on Lalla for allowing him to visit. She wept and told them the whole story and they threw the slave into the pit with the neighbor and set them on fire.

Awhile later a salesman who is referred to in the story as a Jew came selling his wares. Lalla came out and chose some and then gave him a large bag of silver and gold. She asked if he every knew a certain tribe and he said he did and she sent a message to her mother through him.

A few months later, he was with that tribe and her birth mother was purchasing things from him. She paid with a few balls of wool. He made a comment about how she did not pay like Lalla and the mother asked for more details since she was her mother. He told her how she was like a queen to the ghouls. The mother ran to  find a gift to send to Lalla and she wrapped a ring in a cloth and asked the salesman to give it to her next time he saw her.

In two months the salesman returned to the land of ghouls and saw Lalla. She bought some of his wares and he gave her the gift her mother sent telling her she suggested she put the ring under her tongue. She said she would and after the salesman left, she did. She became in a deathlike state and the ghouls came home that evening and found her frozen in the spot. They were so sad. They built her an attoush (a sofa like thing) and put it on a camel. The camel was told to go everywhere and stop for no one unless she heard her code name which was Naala or a shoe. The camel rode everywhere and eventually wandered into a kingdom of a rich and famous sultan. His guards told him about the camel with gold and silver on it and he wanted to catch it. The camel outsmarted the guards, but an old woman promised to get it and then lost her shoe and the camel stopped when she heard the woman yell about her shoe.

When the sultan saw Lalla, he fell in love with her. He had his physicians examine her. When they found the ring under her tongue, they removed it and she slowly came back to life. The sultan married her. She however never forgot her seven ghoul brothers. When the camel had healed after all the walking, Lalla made plans to return. She waited until her husband would be gone for the day and she left, but the guards saw her and the sultan told them to follow her. The camel however once again outsmarted them. Lalla returned to her griefstruck brothers and they were all happy again.

And now we come to the lamb burgers.

Ingredients

• 1kg/2¼lb minced lamb (it's best not to use extra-lean mince as the fat will help bind the burgers and keeps them juicy when cooked)
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1 medium onion, finely chopped
• 1-2 tbsp mango chutney
• 3cm/1¼in piece of fresh ginger, peeled and grated
• 1 red chilli, de-seeded and finely chopped
• ¼ tsp ground turmeric
• 1 tsp coriander seeds, crushed
• 1 tsp cumin seeds, crushed
• flaked sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• oil, for brushing

Place the minced lamb in a large mixing bowl and add the garlic, onion, mango chutney, ginger, chopped chilli, turmeric, crushed coriander and cumin. Season well with salt and pepper and mix by hand until combined. The burgers can be briefly mixed in a food processor until just starting to hold together, but be careful not to over-work the mixture. 

Divide and shape the mixture into 8-10 burgers. If you want to check the flavour, fry a small burger in a drop of oil before shaping the rest and, if necessary, add extra flavourings or seasoning.

To prevent the burgers from sticking, brush with a little oil before barbecuing over medium-hot coals for about 5-6 minutes each side.

African Fairy Tale Recipes

We have been very lucky to have travelled to Africa.

We absolutely love the food and the wild animals!

Fairy tale cup cakes

There is nothing better than making fairy tale cup cakes and then eating them with grandmother afterwards.

I am at the moment researching some good fairy tales and recipes for a story about chocolate fairy tale cup cakes.

If you have any good ideas that you want to have included in my new book, please email them to me at annabel.noon@gmail.com

I look forward to reading your suggestions!

Egg plant

Tấm's Pancake

Rice Batter
1 cup of dried rice flour1.5 cups of fresh water
Pinch of salt
1/2 teaspoon or turmeric powder

Mix all together, leave in room temperature for one hour.An alternative is to use the batter mix from the fresh rice paper rolls.

Ingredients

300 grams or finely cut shrimps, shelled and deveined(or any other seafood)Vegetable oil for frying
2 thinly sliced spring onions
250 grams of beansprouts
Starfruittopping mix - 
mint 
coriander
basil, carrots and banana flowerpacket of rice paper

Add the shrimps to the rice batter and heat a little oil in a small non-stick frying pan.

Stir the batter and pour just enough into the pan to create a thin layer - top with a few beansprouts and spring onion. Fry over medium to high heat until the bottom of the pancake is crisp.

To serve, each person tables a pieces of pancake, adds fresh star fruit, and wraps it in a rice paper

Fold the pancake.

And begin to roll the pancake in the rice paper.

And now lets find a good fairy tale to go with our tasty pancake....One that is well known, is the fairy tale about Tấm.


Once upon a time a man married again after his first wife died. His new wife bore a child as dark as rice bran, so the baby girl was named Cám. the man had by his first marriage a very beautiful baby daughter named Tấm, which means broken rice. When Tấm's father's affection for his first daughter diminished with the birth of his new girl, the stepmother began to abuse Tấm and forced her to do all the housework, while Cám lived luxuriously. Her hatred of Tấm was intensified by the fact that Tam was much more beautiful than her own daughter Cám, even though Tấm was forced to do all the laboring under the sun.

One day, stepmother sent Tấm and Cám to fish, promising to reward the girl who caught the most fish with a new yem (shawl). Cám knew her mother would never punish her and so bathed herself carelessly in the river while Tấm worked hard fishing. When Cám noticed all the fish Tấm had caught, Cám advised Tấm to wash the mud out of her hair or else she would be scolded by mother. As Tấm washed her hair, Cám poured all the fish Tấm had caught into her own basket and ran home.

Upon discovering she had been tricked, Tấm sobbed until a male fairy appeared to her and comforted her. She told Tấm to look into her basket to discover the one remaining little carp. She told Tấm to take the carp home and put it into the well at the back of the house, reciting a special poem/greeting whenever she came to feed it, which meant:

"Oh my dear little carp!
Come and eat the golden rice, silver rice of mine
Not to eat the stale rice, old porridge of the other's."

Everyday, Tấm would come out to the well a few times to feed the carp, always reciting the greeting beforehand so that the carp would come up from the water. The carp grew fatter everyday that Tấm fed it, and stepmother began to suspect Tấm's behavior. One day, stepmother sneaked out close to where Tấm was feeding the fish. She waited until Tấm was gone, and went over to the well, finding nothing. Stepmother repeated the greeting she had heard Tấm reciting and to her delight, saw the carp come up from the water. Stepmother caught and killed it to put in her rice porridge.
When Tấm discovered this, she broke into sobs. The Goddess of Mercy again appeared to Tấm and consoled her, and instructed her to salvage the bones of the carp and bury them in four separate jars underneath each corner of her bed.

A short while later, the king proclaimed a festival. The stepmother and Cam must go, but Tam was left to sort a huge basket of green and black beans. The fairy guardian appears again and transform a handful of dust into sparrows, then instructs Tấm to dig her four jars. From the first jar, Tam got a beautiful blue and silver gown, from the second, a pair of golden slippers, from the third, a saddle-furniture, and from the fourth, a horse. Tấm dressed herself and hastened to the feast, arousing the curiosity and admiration of everyone present, but the envy and jealousy of her own sister and stepmother. She left at once, but while crossing a stream she dropped one slipper.

The slipper flowed along the river until it came into the king's garden, and was picked up by one of the king's attendants. The king proclaimed that any maiden whose foot fit the slipper would be made into his Queen. Every eligible lady who went at the celebration tried the slipper, including Cám, but all to no avail. Suddenly, a very beautiful stranger appeared whose foot fit perfectly into the slipper (not to mention on her other foot was adorned the corresponding slipper of the same make). Stepmother and Cám were shocked to discover the mysterious lady was no other than Tấm! Tấm was immediately brought on the royal palanquin into the imperial palace for a grand wedding celebration, right in front of her seething stepmother and stepsister.

When Tấm's father threw an anniversary, Tấm proved her filial duty and made a short visit home to honor the anniversary with her family, despite the abuse she had suffered at the hands of stepmother. Stepmother asked Tấm to climb an areca tree and gather its betel nuts for her drunk father's altar. Tấm obeyed and as she climbed to the top of the tree, stepmother took an axe and chopped the tree down, so that Tấm fell to her death. By tradition, Cám was married into the palace in place of her late sister. Tấm had reincarnated into a nightingale and followed her sister into the palace.

The king remained despondent and dearly missed his late wife, while Cám tried hard to please him. One day, a palace maid hung out the king's dragon robe to the sun, when the nightingale appeared to sing a song to remind the maid to be careful with her husband's gown. The bird's song captivated everyone who listened to it, and even drew the attention of the king. The king called out to the nightingale to land in the wide sleeves of his robe if it really was the spirit of his late wife. The nightingale did exactly as the king asked, so it was put into a golden cage where the king spent most of his days as it sang songs to him. Cám became increasingly incensed and asked her mother what she should do. Her mother instructed her to catch the bird and feed it to a cat. Cám did as she was told and after skinning it, she threw the feathers over the gate of the palace.

From the feathers rose a beautiful white cedar tree. Its shade was so soothing that the King ordered a hammock to be made under it, and to his immense liking, he always dreamed about his late wife Tấm when he rested under that tree. Cám was jealous again when she learned about it so she told her mother, who instructed Cám to chop down the tree and make a loom out of its wood. But later on when Cám sat on the loom and tried to weave some cloth, the decorative crow on the loom spoke with Tấm's voice, accusing Cám of stealing her husband.

Following her mother's advice, Cám burned the loom and buried its ashes far outside the palace. From where the ashes were buried, a persimmon tree rose, bearing only a single but magnificent fruit. A poor old woman who worked as a water vendor walked by one day and saw it, begging it to fall to her, and promising that she would not to eat it, only admire it. Indeed it fell to her, and she did not eat it. The next day, the old woman found that when she came home from her errands, the housework was done while she was gone and there was a hot meal waiting for her. This miracle happened continuously for a month, so one day, the old lady pretended to leave but stayed back to spy, when she saw Tấm emerge from the fruit and begin to do the household chores. The old woman emerged and tore up the peel so Tấm could no longer turn back.

One day, the king, lost while hunting, stopped by the hut. The old woman offered him betel, and when the king saw how the betel had been prepared, in the peculiar special way his late queen had always prepared it: the betel leaves looked just like the wings of a phoenix; he inquired as to who had prepared the betel. The old woman told him her daughter had done it, and the king made her produce the daughter, and saw it was Tấm. He was overjoyed and Tấm was brought back into the palace as the king's first wife.

Later when Tấm has returned to the palace. Cám asked Tấm about her beauty secret, Tấm told Cám that to be beautiful, just taking a bath in boiling water. Cám did exactly what Tấm said and was boiled alive.

Cám's body was then cut apart and made into a jar of food. Tấm sent that jar to her stepmother. The stepmother believed what was inside the jar was just food and started to eat it. One day, a crow flew by the stepmother's house and rested on her roof. It cried out:

"Delicious! The mother is eating her own daughter's flesh! Is there any left? Give me some."

The stepmother was enraged, but when she finally reached the bottom of the jar, she discovered Cám's skull inside and immediately died of shock.

Tấm

Once upon a time a man married again after his first wife died. His new wife bore a child as dark as rice bran, so the baby girl was named Cám. the man had by his first marriage a very beautiful baby daughter named Tấm, which means broken rice. When Tấm's father's affection for his first daughter diminished with the birth of his new girl, the stepmother began to abuse Tấm and forced her to do all the housework, while Cám  lived luxuriously. Her hatred of Tấm was intensified by the fact that Tam was much more beautiful than her own daughter Cám, even though Tấm was forced to do all the laboring under the sun.

One day, stepmother sent Tấm and Cám to fish, promising to reward the girl who caught the most fish with a new yem (shawl). Cám knew her mother would never punish her and so bathed herself carelessly in the river while Tấm worked hard fishing. When Cám noticed all the fish Tấm had caught, Cám advised Tấm to wash the mud out of her hair or else she would be scolded by mother. As Tấm washed her hair, Cám poured all the fish Tấm had caught into her own basket and ran home.

Upon discovering she had been tricked, Tấm sobbed until a male fairy appeared to her and comforted her. She told Tấm to look into her basket to discover the one remaining little carp. She told Tấm to take the carp home and put it into the well at the back of the house, reciting a special poem/greeting whenever she came to feed it, which meant:

"Oh my dear little carp!
Come and eat the golden rice, silver rice of mine
Not to eat the stale rice, old porridge of the other's."

Everyday, Tấm would come out to the well a few times to feed the carp, always reciting the greeting beforehand so that the carp would come up from the water. The carp grew fatter everyday that Tấm fed it, and stepmother began to suspect Tấm's behavior. One day, stepmother sneaked out close to where Tấm was feeding the fish. She waited until Tấm was gone, and went over to the well, finding nothing. Stepmother repeated the greeting she had heard Tấm reciting and to her delight, saw the carp come up from the water. Stepmother caught and killed it to put in her rice porridge.
When Tấm discovered this, she broke into sobs. The Goddess of Mercy again appeared to Tấm and consoled her, and instructed her to salvage the bones of the carp and bury them in four separate jars underneath each corner of her bed.

A short while later, the king proclaimed a festival. The stepmother and Cam must go, but Tam was left to sort a huge basket of green and black beans. The fairy guardian appears again and transform a handful of dust into sparrows, then instructs Tấm to dig her four jars. From the first jar, Tam got a beautiful blue and silver gown, from the second, a pair of golden slippers, from the third, a saddle-furniture, and from the fourth, a horse. Tấm dressed herself and hastened to the feast, arousing the curiosity and admiration of everyone present, but the envy and jealousy of her own sister and stepmother. She left at once, but while crossing a stream she dropped one slipper.

The slipper flowed along the river until it came into the king's garden, and was picked up by one of the king's attendants. The king proclaimed that any maiden whose foot fit the slipper would be made into his Queen. Every eligible lady who went at the celebration tried the slipper, including Cám, but all to no avail. Suddenly, a very beautiful stranger appeared whose foot fit perfectly into the slipper (not to mention on her other foot was adorned the corresponding slipper of the same make). Stepmother and Cám were shocked to discover the mysterious lady was no other than Tấm! Tấm was immediately brought on the royal palanquin into the imperial palace for a grand wedding celebration, right in front of her seething stepmother and stepsister.

When Tấm's father threw an anniversary, Tấm proved her filial duty and made a short visit home to honor the anniversary with her family, despite the abuse she had suffered at the hands of stepmother. Stepmother asked Tấm to climb an areca tree and gather its betel nuts for her drunk father's altar. Tấm obeyed and as she climbed to the top of the tree, stepmother took an axe and chopped the tree down, so that Tấm fell to her death. By tradition, Cám was married into the palace in place of her late sister. Tấm had reincarnated into a nightingale and followed her sister into the palace.
The king remained despondent and dearly missed his late wife, while Cám tried hard to please him. One day, a palace maid hung out the king's dragon robe to the sun, when the nightingale appeared to sing a song to remind the maid to be careful with her husband's gown. The bird's song captivated everyone who listened to it, and even drew the attention of the king. The king called out to the nightingale to land in the wide sleeves of his robe if it really was the spirit of his late wife. The nightingale did exactly as the king asked, so it was put into a golden cage where the king spent most of his days as it sang songs to him. Cám became increasingly incensed and asked her mother what she should do. Her mother instructed her to catch the bird and feed it to a cat. Cám did as she was told and after skinning it, she threw the feathers over the gate of the palace.

From the feathers rose a beautiful white cedar tree. Its shade was so soothing that the King ordered a hammock to be made under it, and to his immense liking, he always dreamed about his late wife Tấm when he rested under that tree. Cám was jealous again when she learned about it so she told her mother, who instructed Cám to chop down the tree and make a loom out of its wood. But later on when Cám sat on the loom and tried to weave some cloth, the decorative crow on the loom spoke with Tấm's voice, accusing Cám of stealing her husband.

Following her mother's advice, Cám burned the loom and buried its ashes far outside the palace. From where the ashes were buried, a persimmon tree rose, bearing only a single but magnificent fruit. A poor old woman who worked as a water vendor walked by one day and saw it, begging it to fall to her, and promising that she would not to eat it, only admire it. Indeed it fell to her, and she did not eat it. The next day, the old woman found that when she came home from her errands, the housework was done while she was gone and there was a hot meal waiting for her. This miracle happened continuously for a month, so one day, the old lady pretended to leave but stayed back to spy, when she saw Tấm emerge from the fruit and begin to do the household chores. The old woman emerged and tore up the peel so Tấm could no longer turn back.

One day, the king, lost while hunting, stopped by the hut. The old woman offered him betel, and when the king saw how the betel had been prepared, in the peculiar special way his late queen had always prepared it: the betel leaves looked just like the wings of a phoenix; he inquired as to who had prepared the betel. The old woman told him her daughter had done it, and the king made her produce the daughter, and saw it was Tấm. He was overjoyed and Tấm was brought back into the palace as the king's first wife.

Later when Tấm has returned to the palace. Cám asked Tấm about her beauty secret, Tấm told Cám that to be beautiful, just taking a bath in boiling water. Cám did exactly what Tấm said and was boiled alive.
Cám's body was then cut apart and made into a jar of food. Tấm sent that jar to her stepmother. The stepmother believed what was inside the jar was just food and started to eat it. One day, a crow flew by the stepmother's house and rested on her roof. It cried out:

"Delicious! The mother is eating her own daughter's flesh! Is there any left? Give me some."

The stepmother was enraged, but when she finally reached the bottom of the jar, she discovered Cám's skull inside and immediately died of shock.

The Hundred-knot Bamboo and Cambage Soup

This is a Vietnamese fairy tale about a laborer who is exploited by a wealthy landowner. In order to keep and motivate the laborer, the landowner promises to reward him with marriage to his daughter after three years of labor. When the time for marriage arrives, the landowner breaks his promise by offering his daughter to another man. When the laborer complains, the landowner tries to trick him again by sending him in search of a bamboo stalk with one hundred segments, again promising him his daughter if the laborer can find the bamboo stalk. After divine intervention, the laborer triumphs in the end.

This fairy tale goes well with this Bamboo and Cabbage Soup.

1 litre Vegetable stock:

- 1 litre water 

- ¼ tsp salt 

- 1 ½ tsp fish sauce 

- ¼ tsp rock sugar 

- 300g chopped cabbage and bamboo sprouts

Shrimp mousse:

 - 200 g prawns, peeled 

 - 1/4 tsp sea salt 

 - ¼ tsp coarse black pepper

 - ½ tsp fish sauce

 - ½ tsp sugar 

 - 1/3 cup white spring onions and shallots, 

 - chopped finely 1 egg white 

The rest:

6 cabbage leaves 

12 spring onions 

8 carrot flowers, finely sliced 

Sesame oil 

½ cup spring onion curls 

½ cup coriander leaves 

½ tsp coarse black pepper

Method:

Blend all of the ingredients for the shrimp mousse together in a blender.

Bring a small pot of salted water to the boil.

Cook leaves for two minutes then set aside.

First make the vegetable stock: - Bring water to the boil, add salt, rock sugar, fish sauce, cabbage. Cook for 25 minutes on a low hear.

Cut the bottom white part off the 12 spring onions then blanch the green part for 30 seconds in the same hot water. Set aside.

To make your dumplings, take 2 teaspoons and dip in oil to avoid the mixture sticking to spoons. Take a small amount of the shrimp mousse mixture and mould into an oval shape using both of the spoons as a guide. Make 12 in total – any leftover mousse can be made into small balls and dropped into the broth at the last moment.

Poach the dumplings in the vegetable broth for one minute, then remove with a slotted spoon.

Cut the cabbage leaves into small squares, 10c m x 15 cm, reserving any left over cabbage. Place the first cabbage leaf on a flat surface and place the dumpling in the middle, allowing 2cm space on each side.

Fold over the sides of the cabbage leaf and tie up with a spring onion in a small bow.

Once you’ve done all 12 parcels, place them in the broth with the carrot slices, left over torn cabbage leaves and prawn mousse balls. 

Simmer for 8-10 minutes.

Serve in a bowl topped with spring onion curls, bamboo sprouts, coriander leaves, a pinch of black pepper and a few drops of sesame seed oil.

Vietnamese Snake Fairy Tales and Recipes

I have been inspired by travels in Vietnam to explore Vietnamese fairy tales and recipes.

Apparently, some of the Vietnamese fairy tales are a lot like Brothers Grimm fairy tales. 

As an example the fairy tale about the Cham Master Snake....

Giang Dung was young woman very different from any of the other girls in her village near by My Son. Giang Dung got married all was well for just a little while, her husband had passed away. However, she was left pregnant with a frog. Giang Dung and all the townspeople were horrified at the fact that her baby was a snake.

Giang Dung came to the conclusion that no matter what shape this baby was, she would have it. And she would raise it no different than if it was a human baby.

The baby snake was born and grew up to become a boy snake. One day the mother asked her son who he would like to marry. He responded by saying, I want to marry the King of Cham's youngest daughter, Kien Tien.

Years later, Kien Tien did in fact agree to marry him. And as the story turns out, once the frog and Princess Kien Tien kissed, Master Snake’s skin was shed and he become a handsome young man.

When Kien Tien awoke she found her husband skin. She screamed hysterically of course, but then walked in Master Snake as handsome young man. 

And they lived happily ever after.

Now on to a suitable recipe. We will obviously not choose a snake recipe, as that would be a bit cruel. Instead, we will choose a recipe which is from the area around My Son,

The Hoi An Spring Roll 

recipe.

1 (8 ounce) package rice vermicelli

8 ounces cooked, peeled shrimp, cut in half lengthwise

8 rice wrappers (6.5 inch diameter)

1 carrot, julienned

1 cup shredded lettuce

1/4 cup fresh brazil

water as needed

Bring a medium saucepan of water to boil. Remove from heat. Place rice vermicelli in boiling water, remove from heat, and let soak 3 to 5 minutes, until soft. Drain, and rinse with cold water.

Fill a large bowl with hot water. Dip one rice wrapper in the hot water for 1 second to soften. Lay wrapper flat, and place desired amounts of noodles, shrimp, carrot, lettuce and basil in the center. 

Roll the edges of the wrapper slightly inward. Beginning at the bottom edge of wrapper, tightly wrap the ingredients. Repeat with remaining ingredients.

Jack and His Bean Salad - A little taster from My Fairy Tale Recipes cookbook