Cooking with sugarcane

Think sugarcane is only meant for juice? Well, think again. These recipes turn the humble cane into everything from a Vietnamese appetiser to fruity chicken skewers.

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VIETNAMESE CHAO TOM

Ingredients

250g peeled and deveined shrimp

2 tsp fish sauce

1½ tsp soy sauce

1 tbsp oyster sauce

1 tsp garlic granules

1 tsp ginger powder

1 tsp black pepper powder

1 stick sugarcane

1 tsp brown sugar

2 tbsp corn flour

Oil for frying

Method

Turn the shrimp into a paste and combine with fish sauce, soy sauce, oyster sauce, garlic granules, ginger powder, black pepper powder, and brown sugar. Mix everything well until it is a homogeneous and sticky mixture. Add in corn flour and mix again until it can be formed into shapes.

Peel and cut the sugarcane lengthwise and slice it into slender sticks about the size of your hand. Wrap the shrimp mixture around half of the stick leaving the other half bare. Fry this in deep oil until golden brown in colour and fully cooked through.

Serve with sweet chilli sauce.

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CLASSIC SUGARCANE JUICE

Ingredients

1 stick sugarcane

1 litre water

½ inch ginger

3 mint sprigs

½ a lime

Salt to taste

Method

Peel the sugarcane and chop it into small pieces. Then blend them with ginger and a little water. Drain the sugarcane and ginger extract to retrieve all the juices. Squeeze in the lime juice, sprinkle a little bit of salt, and stir. Lightly bruise the mint leaves to extract their natural juices and add them in.

Mix everything and serve chilled for best taste.

SUGARCANE MOCKTAIL

Ingredients

1 stick sugarcane

3 oranges

1 pineapple

2 tbsp sugar

Fresh mint leaves

Method

Peel and cut the sugarcane into small pieces and blend them with some water. Strain the juices leaving behind the scraps and extracting all the fresh juices. Repeat the same procedure with pineapple. Squeeze the three oranges and combine all three juices of sugarcane, pineapple, and oranges together in a pitcher.

Add sugar and fresh sprigs of mint and serve chilled.

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HAWAIIAN CHICKEN SKEWERS

Ingredients

4 pieces of chicken fillet

1 medium pineapple

1 stick sugarcane

1 tbsp BBQ sauce

1 tbsp chilli sauce

2 tsp soy sauce

1 tsp garlic granules

1 tsp cayenne pepper

1 tsp paprika powder

1 tsp chicken stock powder

Oil for grilling

Method

Prepare the chicken fillets by cutting them into cubes; core and dice the pineapples. Peel the sugarcane and slice it into rings. Marinate the chicken pieces with BBQ sauce, chilli sauce, soy sauce, garlic granules, cayenne pepper, paprika powder, and chicken stock powder. Let it sit with the marinade for at least an hour.

If you are using wooden skewers, do not forget to soak them in water for 10 minutes. Drizzle a little bit of oil on a hot grill pan and place the skewers. Build the skewers by alternating the fruits between pieces of chicken. Grill and flip until the chicken is fully cooked. Baste with the remaining marinade in between.