Chilli, lime + coconut chicken (or mushroom)

This one came about by accident ... on an evening when I'd been planning to make my quick beef rendang, but then realised I was missing several ingredients including, pretty crucially, the steak.

Also, I didn't have any lemongrass, but did have lime leave so decided to play up the lime flavour and see what I could make.

It's now a favourite, made for itself.

I think it would work well with mushrooms in place of the chicken for a vegetarian version.

Cook some rice while you prepare the ingredients, and it can then sit and steam while you cook the curry.

I made this just for me, so portions are for one, but it's easy to scale up and not an exact science anyway really, more about what you've got in, how hungry you are, and what tastes good!

But I used:

a small piece of ginger, peeled and grated

1/2 a teaspoon turmeric powder (when I first made this, I didn't have any, so just leave it out if you don't either)

a couple of lime leaves, torn from the stalks and chopped into very small pieces (if you don't have lime leaves try the zest of a lime)

1 clove garlic, peeled and minced

1-2 red birds eye chillies (depending on your taste - I like it spicy!), finely sliced

1 teaspoon ground coriander

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

2 whole cloves, or 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

1/2 onion, peeled and sliced

1 small chicken breast

2 teaspoons cooking oil or use a spray oil

1/2 tin coconut milk (or like me, find a cute mini-tin!)

1 stick of cinnamon, or 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 - 1 juicy lime (to your taste - I like lots of lime)

1 teaspoon sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

a few cherry tomatoes, halved

Thai sweet basil, if you have it, or if not perhaps a small handful of baby spinach leaves (or just leave this out)

Put the ginger, turmeric, lime leaves, garlic, chillies, coriander, cumin and cloves into a mortar, add a splash of water and use a pestle or rolling pin to pound into a beautiful paste.

Slice the onion and the chicken so they're ready to go.

Add the oil to a non-stick pan and when hot tip in the spice mixture so it sizzles.

Stir for maybe 30 seconds to a minute - until it releases that beautiful fragrance - and add another little splash of water if you think it needs it.

Then add the onions and chicken - and another splash of water - and cook, stirring often, until the chicken has sealed  - about three minutes.

Tip in the coconut milk then add the cinnamon, lime juice, sugar and salt.

Stir to mix and then simmer for ten minutes, stirring regularly, then add the tomatoes and cook for another five minutes.

Throw in the Thai basil or spinach, if using, remove from the heat and stir in to wilt.

Serve with rice and a couple of slices of a milder red chilli - I just do this because it looks nice and because I love chilli, so don't add it if you don't want to!

If I don't have the Thai basil or spinach, I might also top with some fresh chopped coriander leaves, but I know a lot of people don't like coriander, so this is only if you like it of course!

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Noodle soup with seafood

Yummy! This was perfect yesterday for weekend brunch on a freezing, icy but sunny day.

So many good things in this one, and it IS simple, although it might look like a long list of ingredients.

Read it through to get a sense of the simplicity.

Quantities are kind of up to you and what you feel like, but for two I used this.

I made a paste with the pestle and mortar, gently pounding (CAN you 'gently' pound? Well, I can when I'm trying not to get the food on my white sweater ha!):

a piece of fresh ginger, peeled and grated

a clove of garlic, peeled and minced

a chopped red chilli

a couple of kaffir line leaves (stalks removed)

a stick of lemongrass (only the middle part, outer woody layers removed, minced)

1 scant tablespoon each of runny honey, light soy sauce, fish sauce, toasted sesame oil

Then 3/4 of this paste went into a pan of boiling water along with a Knorr chicken stock cube, and the other 1/4 into a bowl to marinade squid and prawns and mushrooms.

You could mix it up of course - try chicken instead, add scallops, have just all sorts of different mushrooms.

Cook the seafood on a hot griddle pan or in a non-stick frying pan - you could of course just add to the soup if you want to keep it really simple but I love this charred griddled seafood.

I added another squeeze of runny honey over the seafood in the last minute or so.

Add lots of diced vegetables to the broth along with a nest of rice noodles (thin ones or wider ones, both work!) for a couple of minutes.

Finish with a squeeze of lime and a dash more soy or fish sauce as needed - to taste.

Share the noodles into two bowls, ladle over the soup and vegetables, top with seafood, griddled mushrooms or meat.

This is one that once you've made it you can just play with, adapting to whatever you feel like and whatever you have in the fridge and cupboard.

It was perfect for a frosty morning here in London, lots of warming flavours with the chilli, garlic and ginger, and then the rousing citrus lemongrass and lime juice, alongside comforting broth and noodles.

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Simplest Thai green chicken curry noodles

I had this today for a quick brunch ... needed something super-soothing (and spicy) after a very un-relaxing start to the weekend with eyebrow threading, followed by a bikini wax. Ouch!

Plus I had just over half a tin of coconut milk in the fridge from the night before when I'd made my new favourite Thai-inspired salmon and new potato tray bake.

(OK I KNOW you're not supposed to keep opened tins in the fridge, but it was just overnight, k?)

Anyway, on to brunch.

SO GOOD.

SO SIMPLE.

Not terribly authentic as I didn't have any Thai basil or pea aubergines, but hey ho, it's close enough and it tastes great!

Here's what you need for one big bowl of yummy green curry noodles:

1 layer of dried rice noodles, prepared according to packet instructions

cooking oil (I use a spray oil plus a splash of water)

a good Thai green curry paste - THIS is the one I use

1/2 - 1 chicken breast (depending on size and hunger), cut into bite-sized pieces

about 200ml (around half a tin) coconut milk

some vegetables - I had a few bits of broccoli, a few green beans, a couple of mange tout and some yellow pepper

1 teaspoon fish sauce

1 teaspoon sugar

Thai basil to serve would be best; coriander would be nice; I had a few slices of spring onion and a few slices of red chilli just to make it look nice really

First, get the noodles ready, according to the instructions on the packet, so they're ready to add, and prepare all the ingredients.

Put a saucepan, big frying pan or wok over a medium heat, add a slosh of cooking oil or around 20 sprays of your cooking oil and add a walnut sized amount (a couple of teaspoons) of green curry paste and the chicken to the pan.

Stir fry until the chicken is sealed and white, adding a splash of water if needed to prevent it sticking.

Then add the coconut milk, bring to the boil and boil on a low-ish boil for 5 minutes.

Throw in the vegetables and cook for another 2 minutes or so.

Add in the fish sauce and sugar, stir, then add the noodles and cook for another minute.

If you have Thai basil, add it now, remove from heat and stir to wilt in.

Otherwise, just tip it into a big bowl, add any garnishes you like and enjoy!

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Thai prawn + ginger noodles

This is a lovely recipe - it's a BBC Good Food recipe, shared with me by a friend and the original recipe is HERE if you'd like it.

I love the sauce made with red curry paste, orange juice and zest - so good, and such a great idea.

I did adapt it a little and because I hate precise measurements (and don't think they're needed with this way of cooking) I've made them a little bit easy-going :) 

What else did I just adapt a little?

First, the noodles - the recipe calls for sen lek -  lek means small so the original uses thin noodles.  I prefer the wider rice noodles so that's what I used - my message as always is to use what YOU choose.

Whichever you choose, soak or prepare the noodles according to your pack instructions, so they're ready to stir fry.  Always run your soaked noodles under a cold tap until they're completely cold to stop them going gloopy and sticky.

Oh and beansprouts - I don't really like them so left them out, but I'll add here in my recipe where to add them if you're using them.

The only other thing is basil - in my opinion this should say Thai sweet basil (horapha) as Mediterranean tastes totally different and won't work at all. So I'd say if you can get Thai sweet basil, then that would be amazing, but if you can't just leave it out, and don't use Mediterranean basil. 

And the coriander - I know a lot of people don't like it so if you don't, don't let that put you off this delicious, simple dish - just don't add coriander! It's still going to be very, very good.

OK, so I thought I'd try this one out just for me to see how I got on with it before I make it for anyone else, but now I can't wait for tomorrow dinner to cook it! 

For my one portion, so just double for two, I used:

Some lovely rice noodles, soak or prepare ready for stir-frying, according to pack instructions

Zest and juice of half an orange (zest first before halving - not being patronising, just making sure no-one else is sometimes as dizzy as me)

1/2 - 1 tablespoon red curry paste, depending on the strength of your brand of curry paste (you don't want it overwhelming but you do want to taste it)

1 tablespoon fish sauce

1 teaspoon Demerara sugar (I didn't have any so just used white granulated)

1 tablespoon water

2 teaspoons cooking oil, or cooking oil spray (I used 20 sprays)

A small piece of fresh ginger, about thumb-sized, peeled and grated (it makes about 1 teaspoon)

I large garlic clove, squashed and minced

1/2 red pepper, sliced

a handful of mange tout or sugar snap peas, halved lengthways

a handful of beansprouts - optional, if liked

a few prawns, however many you want to eat, I had 7

a handful of Thai sweet basil, chopped - if you can get it - if not, just leave out

a handful of coriander leaves, chopped - optional, if liked

Stir together the orange zest and juice, red curry paste, fish sauce, sugar and water to make a sauce and set aside.

And get the other ingredients ready to go.

As I'd used the grater for the zest, I used it again to grate the ginger - which I prefer to having larger pieces, but am usually too lazy to get the grater out! (and yes I realise that that really IS lazy) - anyway that's why my ginger and garlic has little flecks of orange in with it!

Put a pan or wok over a medium heat, add the oil and then 2/3 of the ginger/garlic and fry, stirring all the time for 30 seconds or, as all Thai recipes say, 'until it smells good'.

I added a tiny splash of water too as garlic burns so quickly and wanted to make sure that didn't happen.

At any time in your cooking if it needs loosening a little, just add a splash of water. It's good to cook when things are moving fluidly and happily.

Add the red pepper and cook for another two minutes, stirring all the time.

Then throw in the sugar snap peas or mange tout and after stirring to ensure everything's mixed add the curry sauce mix.

I turned up the heat a little and added a splash more water and when it started to simmer, turned the heat back down to medium and added the prawns (add the beansprouts now too if you're using them).

Cook until pink - about two - three minutes - then throw in the last of the ginger/garlic, stir and add the noodles.

Stir to combine and make sure the noodles are hot, then remove from heat and serve, topping with coriander if using.

I really, really like this!

Great flavours - and one I'll be making again (and again).

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'Weeping tiger' steak

The ONLY hard part about this lovely easy dish is finding fresh green peppercorns - I get them from my local Thai supermarket but I haven't seen them in the usual supermarkets.

This is a shame and a reason I haven't posted this recipe before because I really try to ensure you don't need any specialist ingredients to make my recipes.

This one, I'm afraid you do ... HOWEVER, they do seem to be pretty much readily available to buy online (at least here in the UK).

Although, to be honest, if you can't get them - then just make it without them! Yes it's going to have a bit of a different flavour, but I've made it a few times and it's still a good dish in its own right.

I made this just with one steak, for myself, for lunch.

I've made it before though using an incredible piece of beef fillet for a friend's party - with pro-rata'd up marinade of course.

Don't worry too much about the exact quantities of ingredients - to be honest it all tastes good!

But what I did today, for my lunch was to take (in addition to a steak - your choice of cut and size):

1 clove garlic, squashed with the flat of a knife

Some of the stalks chopped off near the bottom of a bunch of coriander, plus a few coriander leaves (plus another handful to garnish before serving)

A couple of sprigs - maybe 2 teaspoons-worth - of fresh green peppercorns

2 teaspoons fish sauce

2 teaspoons light soy sauce

1 teaspoon sugar

Oh, and I made a sauce to spoon over the cooked steak too and THAT was simply made with:

The juice of one lime

1 teaspoon sugar (or 1/2 teaspoon sugar + 1 teaspoon sweet chilli sauce)

1 teaspoon fish sauce

1/2 teaspoon dried chilli flakes

So first, put the garlic clove plus the chopped coriander stalks and a few leaves into a mortar and pound to a sort of paste/gloop with the pestle.

Stir in the peppercorns, fish sauce and soy sauce and then keep stirring in the sugar so it dissolves.

Rub the mixture over the steak and leave to marinade for half an hour or so.

Make the sauce by combining the lime juice, sugar, fish sauce and chilli flakes and stir to dissolve the sugar. If I'd had some sweet chilli sauce (must make some!) I'd have added a teaspoon of that too but only used 1/2 teaspoon of sugar.

If you're going to have it with rice, make the rice now so it's ready to go.

I wanted a lighter lunch so just prepped some vegetables which I quickly stir-fried after the steak and cooked and while it was resting.

When the steak's finished marinating cook it to your liking on a grill or griddle then rest it for a few minutes. I scooped up all the green peppercorns that had fallen down into the dips in the griddle and added to the steak (of course!).

Slice and serve with rice or vegetables and spoon over some of the sauce.

Sprinkle some coriander leaves over it all to garnish.

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Tom yum noodles

I couldn't decide.

I wanted tom yum goong, and I also wanted something with lovely slippery rice noodles.

And what I really didn't want to do was make a wrong decision - I hate making wrong food decisions! 

So I thought I'd make a tom yum noodles ... and it was exactly what I wanted.

A few things to note ...

1. the ingredients weren't hard to find so hopefully you won't find them so either. Galangal (although I used ginger here as that's what i had), lime leaves an lemongrass are all available at my local Sainsbury's although it is a really big one. M&S and Waitrose are a good bet otherwise, even smaller stores.

2. t's a bit of a faff picking the bits of ginger, lime leaf, lemongrass and chillies out of the pan, so I've just ordered some of those little muslin bags you use for spices or bouquet garni and when they arrive will be trying it using one to keep those ingredients separate and easy to remove.

3. you'll need some chilli paste in oil, nam prik pao - it's easy to make and keeps in the fridge for ages but you will need to make this in advance - here's the recipe.

So for a good big bowl of tom yum noodles, you'll need

rice noodles, soaked first or prepared as per pack instructions, ready to stir fry

1/2 cup water

a piece - around 1/3 - of a Knorr chicken stock cube

a piece of galangal or ginger, skin removed and cut into slices (make them quite large so they're easier to pick out later)

1 stalk lemongrass, tough outer removed, cut into two or three pieces and bashed with a rolling pin

a few kaffir lime leaves, leaves torn from the stalks and stalks discarded (this smells AMAZING by the way))

2 or 3 birds eye chillies (don't worry, you don't actually eat the chillies), stalks removed and given a bash with the rolling pin

one shallot or a small piece of white onion, sliced

a big heaped teaspoon of chilli paste in oil nam prik pao

a couple of mushrooms, or one large one, sliced

one tomato, cut into quarters or sliced - or a few cherry tomatoes, halved

some prawns - I had 7 or 8 raw ones

1 tablespoon fish sauce

1-2 limes depending on how juicy they are and your taste

small handful of coriander leaves, chopped (optional)

Add some water, probably half a cup or so (you can always add more) to a wok, deep frying pan or saucepan, turn on the heat and when it starts to simmer, crumble in approx 1/3 of a stock cube and stir.

Add the ginger, lemongrass, lime leaves and chillies and simmer for two minutes, stirring and add a splash more water if needed. 

Then add the vegetables and a good teaspoon of chilli paste in oil and simmer again for a couple of minutes.

Add the prawns and cook for a minute or so, stirring, until they have JUST turned pink - don't worry you'll cook them a bit more later and it's easy to over-cook them.

Remove pan from heat and pick out the bits of ginger, lemongrass, lime leaves and chillies.

Return pan to heat and add the fish sauce, lime juice (stir and taste to see if you need more) then add the noodles.

Cook, stirring, for another minute of so until everything is cooked and hot.

Throw in the coriander leaves, if using, stir again, removed from heat and serve,

I absolutely love this - I love the flavours of tom yum and I love the softness of rice noodles - and hope you do too.

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Chicken stir fry with yellow bean sauce

I love this recipe - actually I love all recipes that are super-simple to make but feel somehow really special.

This is definitely good enough to have when entertaining friends - and also easy and quick enough for an everyday midweek supper.

I usually try to avoid using specialist ingredients in the recipes I share, but I don't have a substitute for yellow bean paste I'm afraid. It'll be available in Asian supermarkets or I'm sure will be online too.

Do try to get hold of some - it's got a lovely savouriness that just makes the dish delightful.

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OK, so for dinner for two, you'll need:

2 teaspoons dry sherry (optional but good)

1 tablespoon light soy sauce

1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil

1/2 teaspoon sugar

a small chunk of fresh ginger, grated (about 1-2 teaspoons)

1/2 - 1 teaspoon dried chilli flakes (to your taste!)

1-2 skinless chicken breasts, depending on their size and your greed/hunger, cut into small pieces so it cooks quickly - or firm tofu. I tried tofu recently when my vegetarian niece came to stay and it was really good.

Cooking oil spray

2 peppers, sliced into strips - either red or yellow (not green which is too bitter) or a combination would be prettiest - I only had red when I made it this time.

2 tablespoons yellow bean sauce (decant the rest of the tin into an airtight tub and keep in the fridge for a day or two)

2 teaspoons light soy sauce

 1/3 of a Knorr chicken stock cube 

2 teaspoons cornflour mixed into 2 tablespoons cold water, stirred until smooth

about a tablespoon of flaked almonds or sesame seeds - toasted quickly in a hot dry pan - to serve

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Put all the marinade ingredients - italicised in the list about - into a bowl with the chicken. Mix and leave to marinate for 15-30 minutes.

Then put a frying pan on to a medium heat, spraying with the spray oil (I use about 20 sprays) and add the chicken - cook for 3-4 minutes stirring all the time so it doesn't stick, and add a little splash of water if needed.

Remove the chicken from the pan and set aside, and add the peppers to the pan and stir fry for a couple of minutes over a medium-high heat, again stirring all the time so they don't stick and add the tiniest splash of water if needed.

Add the chicken back to the pan, reduce heat to medium, and add the yellow bean sauce (I've used two varieties now and both good, but it's great having found the big bottle of paste as I can keep it in the fridge for longer) - cook for a minute or so, stirring every now and then.

Next add the soy sauce, crumble in the piece of stock cube, and add the cornflour and water mixture - stir in, simmer for another minute or so until the sauce has thickened a little.

Serve with rice and sprinkle with the toasted almonds or sesame seeds.

cHICKEN STIR FRY WITH YELLOW BEAN SAUCE AND TOASTED SESAME SEEDS

TOFU STIR FRY WITH YELLOW BEAN PASTE AND TOASTED ALMONDS + SESAME SEEDS

I really love this and hope you do too! 

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Prefer to watch how to make it? Here's the video ...

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Soy steamed sea bass (or other white fish!)

This dish is too good not to share right away, but next time I make it I'll take some better photos and come back and change them! 

It's because I used cod fillets and they broke up when cooking - it still tasted delicious though I do prefer it with sea bass.  

This dish is a favourite Tiniest Thai Diet recipe - there's no fat at all used in cooking it.  It's a great 'diet' dish too as no-one would guess that you were on a diet if you served them this. 

I made it at a recent supperclub and everyone loved it!

What makes it special is the dried porcini mushrooms that gives a lovely sort of earthiness to the flavour, and then the bacon just goes so well with the fish.

It's super-easy to make too - to serve two you'll need: 

a small handful dried porcini mushrooms

1 rasher smoked back bacon, trimmed of any excess fat

2 spring onions

2 tsp sugar

4 tablespoons dark soy sauce

2 fillets of sea bass, or other white fish

Put the dried mushrooms into a small bowl of warm (not hot) water and leave to soak for about 15-20 mins. I never measure the amount of water but it's probably half a mug or so.

While the mushrooms soak, dice the bacon and slice the spring onions. I don't know why I sliced them in rounds today as I prefer the look of them sliced in long thin strips - like here when I made this the last time!

When the mushrooms have soaked, drain and keep the liquid. Throw away any really tough mushroom stalks and slice the rest.

Add the sugar and soy sauce to the mushroom liquid and mix.

I use my beloved remoska (honestly, one of the best presents I've ever asked for - I must have had it over ten years and use it every week) for cooking the fish, but a pan with a well fitting lid (or foil) over a low heat would work well. You want to poach and steam the fish gently, just barely a simmer.

Put the fish in whatever pan you're using, pour over the liquid mixture and add the bacon, spring onions and mushroom pieces.

Cook gently for about 20 minutes, turning the fish carefully once (more carefully than I did as I broke up the fish) and add a splash more water if it's needed.

Serve with rice.

I made a quick vegetable stir fry today too if you're wondering what's in the bowl in the dark picture! 

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Sesame chicken

I was making a salad for my lunch and about to just put some chicken on the griddle and then decided to do something different with it. I had been thinking about toasting some sesame seeds to put in the salad but thought I'd cook the chicken in them instead.

This is really simple and made a nice change!

Start by making a very quick sugar syrup for the salad dressing.  

It's just 1 tablespoon of sugar (I used demerara sugar but white sugar is fine) brought slowly to the boil in a small pan with 3 tablespoons of water, then stirred to dissolve the sugar and remove from the heat. 

I sliced the salad vegetables that I had in the fridge, which was courgette, carrots, spring onions and cherry tomatoes. Use whatever you have and like!

To make the chicken, I used half a chicken breast and sliced it again into two thin strips (you need it thin so it cooks quickly, so do give it a bash with a rolling pin between cling-film or greaseproof paper if you need to).

Then I just tipped some sesame seeds (I think it was two tablespoons) onto the chicken and added a teaspoon of sweet chilli sauce and coated the meat.

I used my 1-calorie spray oil (20 sprays) into a pan and then fried the chicken until cooked. Cook the chicken quickly on each side to brown and crisp the sesame seeds and then cook for another 2-3 minutes each side until cooked (cut into it to check).

Because there's not really enough oil to fry it, I did have to add a splash of water too once the seeds had browned.

If you're not on a weight-loss diet, then use a tablespoon or two of cooking oil to fry the chicken and you won't need the water! 

Once cooked, leave to one side to finish the salad. 

Using a pestle and mortar crush into tiny bits (but not a mush) a birds eye chilli and a garlic clove.  Then tip in the cooled sugar syrup, 1 tablespoon fish sauce and the juice of a lime and combined with the salad before topping with the sesame chicken.

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Thai-inspired meatballs + rice noodles

Some dishes are prettier than others and this isn't a very pretty one.

But it tastes MUCH better than it looks and it's really simple (as always) too - so do give it a try.

I made it with beef mince as that's what I had in the fridge, but pork and chicken would both be good and change it up a bit.

Also, I used lovely fresh rice noodles as I'd been to the Thai supermarket and these are my favourites, but dried rice noodles are good, or you could have the meatballs with rice, or even with pasta. All going to be good! Prepare your noodles or rice first so it's all ready to go.

So, for meatballs for one, I used: 

approx 100g mince

half a carrot, shredded and diced

a little piece of ginger, diced

1 birds eye red chilli, also diced

(If I'd had parsley, I'd have added a small handful of that too, finely chopped)

one little lime leaf that was in the salad drawer - I just removed the stalk and chopped the leaf into very fine slices and diced. If you don't have lime leaves, then I'd grate some lime zest in

Put all the ingredients in a bowl and then scrunch it all up to combine and shape into little meatballs.

Then prepare the sauce ingredients.  

You'll need:

1/2 cup boiling water with about 1/3 of a knorr stock cube (I used chicken)

another little piece of ginger, diced

1 garlic clove, finely chopped

1 birds eye red chilli, finely chopped (use just half if you don't want it too spicy of course)

2 spring onions, sliced on the diagonal to look nice

2 teaspoons soy sauce

2 teaspoons fish sauce

1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil

And then you just put a frying pan over a heat and either add a tablespoon of cooking oil or, if you're losing weight like me, 20 sprays of that 1-cal-per-spray cooking oil and put the meatballs in.

Keep turning until they're browned all over and if using the spray oil, you'll probably need to add a splash of water too. It takes a few minutes.

When browned, add the chopped ginger, garlic and chilli and fry for a few seconds, then tip in the stock.

Bring to a simmer and cook for around 5 minutes, then add the soy sauce, fish sauce and toasted sesame oil.

Cook for another minute or so, tasting to check you're happy with the balance of flavours, and that's it. 

Ready to serve!

Some parsley or coriander, chopped and scattered over, might have looked nice, but I didn't have any ...

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