Cucumber dipping sauce

A really lovely sweet-spicy dipping sauce, perfect for serving with Thai fishcakes or these fried prawn balls, or anything else you like!

Easy too; all you need to make a bowl is:

one red chilli (a normal milder one not a bird eye chilli)

white granulated sugar

white or rice vinegar

salt

cucumber

coriander leaves (optional)

crushed peanuts to garnish (optional - I didn't have any today but they are good)

So ... chop the chilli finely.

Then put 3/4 cup of sugar into a saucepan ...

... along with 1/2 cup white or rice vinegar ... and the chopped chillies plus a tiny pinch of salt.

Bring very slowly to the boil - it'll take a good five minutes - and then boil on a medium boil for three - four minutes.

Take off the heat and cool.  You can now keep this in the fridge for a week or so until using if you're not eating it right away.

If you ARE using now then, while the sauce cools, peel a chunk of cucumber, remove the seeds with a teaspoon and dice the flesh.

And also prepare a small handful of coriander leaves to garnish.  If you have peanuts then do crush a few as they're great to add as well.

When you're ready to serve, pour the sauce into a bowl and top with the cucumber, peanuts (if using) and coriander leaves (if using).

It's so good a guest at a recent Tiniest Thai supperclub was eating it straight from a spoon!

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Pad Thai (no further description needed!)

I love Pad Thai - who doesn't?! Ultimate comfort food.  But I've had a mental block about making it. Actually, that's not quite right as I've been experimenting and experimenting and trying out different recipes but none I felt confident enough in sharing, until I came across a recipe for Pad Thai on Chez Pim's site.  I then started making it slightly more regularly (I still have weird Pad Thai nerves!) and adapting slightly until I now have a recipe I know by heart and that I feel I can happily pass on.

If you'd like the original, you can find it here.

And here's how I make it.  The absolute key thing is to make the sauce first.  Most recipes tell you to add the tamarind, fish sauce etc into your wok whilst cooking and I just find that impossible. As, I think, do most people.

To make this dish easily, you do need to get everything together first.  And, again as usual, just cook 1-2 portions at a time - it'll just become a gluey noodley mess if you try and do too much in one pan.

Here's what you'll need to make a portion for two ...

 For the sauce:

1/2 cup tamarind paste/pulp/puree - this is often available in supermarkets now although I did get mine from the Thai supermarket and it looks like this

1/2 cup fish sauce

very slightly less than 1/2 cup light brown sugar (or white if you don't have any)

1 tsp chilli powder

Other ingredients:

vegetable cooking oil

about a handful of fried or other hard tofu, sliced into bite-size pieces.  The tofu my local Thai supermarket recommended looked like this (but I'm sure any firm textured tofu would work).  The tofu's optional though so don't worry if you can't get it

one clove of garlic, minced

wide rice noodles, cooked or soaked according to instructions, ready to stir fry - enough for two people

one egg

dried shrimp - optional.  If you can get them they keep well in the freezer to use as needed.  If you're using them, you need about a tablespoon and use a pestle and mortar to fluff them up slightly (this will make sense when you do it!)

raw prawns, maybe 6-8 per person, deveined and defrosted if frozen

a small handful of peanuts, chopped or ground

as many beansprouts as you like! I use just a handful but I'm not a huge beansprout fan so you may like more

a handful of chopped garlic chives, or just normal chives if that's what you have

To serve:

wedges of lime

some more chopped peanuts

sugar

chilli flakes

OK ... start with making the sauce.  Put the tamarind, fish sauce and sugar in a pan and bring to the boil very, very, very slowly and when it starts to simmer add the chilli powder.  Taste and see if you need to adjust the flavours - it'll taste a little odd yes, but what you're after is salty first, then the sour tamarind, then a little sweetness and ending with just a touch of spicy.

When you're happy with it - and if you can't tell then just follow this the first time and adjust next time if need be when you're more confident as YES it's hard always to tell - turn the heat off and just leave the pan to one side.  This does make more than you'll need for a couple of portions but it'll keep in the fridge for a week or two.

Now you need your noodles and you want them nice and unstuck.  I tend to play with mine for a bit, gently puling them apart.  You really don't want a noodle glue and you definitely don't want to be accidentally chopping them in half.  If you can start coaxing them into lovely shiny individual noodles now it's all going to be better in the pan!

So - heat your pan and when hot add quite a bit (3-4 tablespoons) oil and then add the tofu, a tablespoon of the Pad Thai sauce and the garlic and cook for a minute or so over a medium high heat stirring all the time.

Then add the noodles and a nice ladleful of the Pad Thai sauce. Stir all the time, keeping everything moving and break up the noodles so they're not in a lump. I'd turn the heat down just a touch now. Add a little water if it becomes dry or a tiny bit more sauce - if the noodle is really sticking add a touch more oil. Cook for a few minutes until the noodle is warm and lovely and perfect (taste it).

Push the noodles to one side and crack the egg straight into the pan.  Count to about 10-15 until it's setting then toss everything together to combine.

Add the dried shrimps, raw prawns, peanuts and beansprouts and fry, stirring all the time.  Add a little more sauce if need be.  Keep it moving!

When the prawns are cooked - it'll only take a few minutes - take the pan off the heat and stir in the chives.

I love to serve this with the additional flavouring you add to taste just on the plate itself - so add some lime wedges and a small pile each of chopped peanuts, sugar and chilli flakes for people to add as they like.

Confession: I not only had a mental block about MAKING pad Thai, and then about WRITING the recipe but I've also had one about POSTING it and this has been sitting here waiting for me to press publish for ages!

Well, here goes.  And I hope you like it. Please let me know.

PS. due to the mental block, there's also very few pics on this post (I'll add some more of the steps soon).

UPDATE: I've now got a couple of beautiful pics, thanks to a photographer who came to a Tiniest Thai recently - thank you Viktoria! 

www.viktoriakuti.com

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'Green Goddess' salad

OK, a short post today but I just have to share as I am ADDICTED to this delicious salad!

It's based on this recipe from Mel Wells.

I've had it twice this week already, once with some cold sliced roast chicken and today with peppered smoked mackerel.  Both utterly delish.

To make it as I've done you'll need:

a cup of broccoli florets, chopped really small

a cup of peas (I used frozen)

one avocado

juice of one lime

a handful of mint leaves

a handful of basil leaves

a spoonful or two of Greek-style yogurt

a great big handful of spinach

a little olive oil

salt and pepper

cooked chicken or smoked mackeral to serve

And here's what you do.

Boil a pan of water and when boiling throw in the broccoli and peas.  Bring back to the boil then remove from heat, drain and cool the veg. (Note - I made this again last night and had to add just a splash of water to get the dressing liquid enough - no idea why, perhaps the avocado wasn't as soft as the other one. Anyway, just to say if it's not blending beautifully creamily, you might need to add a little water).

Halve the avocado and put one half into a blender or food processor with the lime juice, mint, basil and yogurt and whizz up to a lovely creamy dressing.

Put the cooled broccoli and peas into a bowl and pour over the dressing, and add the other avocado half chopped and the spinach leaves.

Stir it all together with a drizzle of olive oil and salt and pepper to taste and serve with the chicken or smoked mackerel.

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Easter curry

This is forever after going to be known to me as Easter curry.  I do like having specific dishes for events so this is another to add to my list ... for instance, at Chinese New Year I make this barbecue pork, and for Pancake Day it's now a tradition to have crispy duck pancakes.  We usually have lamb for Easter lunch in my family anyway so it's just a tiny move on to making that a lamb curry.

My brother-in-law makes exceptionally good curries - he's been making them for years from scratch so has many, many hours of spice toasting and grinding practice under his belt, as well as an inspiring curry cookbook library.  Cookbooks are probably my favourite reading material and every time I visit it seems there are yet more gorgeous curry books to gorge on.  And curry too of course.

Our Easter curry was cooked outside using a Kadai fire bowl, which I LOVE. Love cooking outdoors anyway but curry outdoors, over the firebowl? THE BEST.

We started with these delicious onion bhajis - I'll post the recipe when I make them ...

and then on to the main event, Easter Curry.

Or as it was previously known, Mr Singh's slow-cooked lamb curry with cloves and cardamom from Rick Stein's India book.

It was SO GOOD.

Oh, and then we had pavlova, made by my step-mum (also an excellent cook!).  YUM.

So ... on Easter Monday I decided to make Easter curry for myself, but didn't have lamb.  I made it with chicken and it was still good, but I have to admit not quite as good as with lamb, and the Kardai cooking method adds something special too I'm sure.

Here's the recipe from Rick Stein, with pictures and variations by me.

Serves 4-6 (mine served 2)

1/2 tsp cardamom seeds (from about 8 green pods - I used five)

4-6 cloves (I used three)

3 medium onions (I used one and a half)

200g tomatoes (I used two tomatoes)

10 cloves garlic (yes, I used five!)

4 cm ginger (I just cut a small piece)

75ml vegetable oil (I just poured some in)

100ml thick Greek-style yogurt (again, I just poured in what looked right)

700g boneless lamb shoulder, trimmed of excess fat, cut into 4cm pieces (or if you want to make my version a couple of chicken breasts)

1 tsp salt (yup, half a teaspoon)

1 tsp garam masala (half)

1 tsp Kashmiri chilli powder (half a teaspoon of ordinary chilli powder for me)

1 tablespoon single cream (I just poured in a bit)

Grind the cardamom and cloves into a powder (I used a pestle and mortar); set aside.

In stages, using a mini food processor (or a full sized one, or a blender would do I'm sure) and rinsing out in between, roughly chop the onions then blend to a puree with a little water; roughly chop then puree the tomatoes; roughly chop then blend the garlic and ginger with a tablespoon of water to a slack paste (I used the pestle and mortar again here).

Heat the oil in a heavy-based casserole pan over a medium heat and gently fry the onion paste for 10-15 minutes until golden (10 mins was enough for my smaller amounts), then add the ginger and garlic and fry for three minutes.

Stir in the yogurt, then add the meat and salt and cook over a low-medium heat for 20-30 mins until browned.

Stir in the garam masala and chilli powder, and after about 30 seconds pour over enough water to just cover the meat.  Simmer, covered, for 40 minutes (30 minutes was enough for me).

Stir the cream and pureed tomatoes into the lamb (chicken), followed by the cardamom and clove mix.

To seal the pan, first cover with foil, then a lid (I just used a lid).  Cook over the lowest heat for 30-40 mins (again I think my smaller chicken version only needed 20 mins) until the lamb is tender.

Serve with chapatis (or rice).

And DON'T wait until next Easter to make Easter curry - it's just too good!

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UPDATE - EASTER 2017!

This year I followed the recipe as above for the smaller portion - for two people - but used a couple of lamb leg steaks, trimming the fat and cutting into chunks.

I didn't have any single cream so just added another spoon of yogurt at that stage.

Loved it (will def be making again before NEXT Easter this time!).

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Sort of som tam - Thai green papaya salad

I am a self-confessed som tam FIEND.  I LOVE the stuff.  I love it all the time really, but I suppose I especially hanker after it when I've been eating too much rich food.  It's just got all my favourite spicy, sour, sharp, refreshing, gorgeous flavours going in in every single mouthful.

So today - after yesterday's all-afternoon lunch marathon involving oysters, mussels in cream and bacon, chips, bread, cheese ... you get the picture - I even woke up thinking 'yup, today's a definite som tam day'.

After a couple of cups of coffee and some fruit, the 'buts' started entering my head.  BUT I need green papaya to make som tam. BUT I need sour mango if I can't get green papaya. BUT I really can't be bothered to get on the bus and go to the Thai supermarket especially because BUT I don't want to leave the house today (except to walk the dog).

And then I remembered something important:

NO ONE IS GOING TO DIE IF YOU CHANGE IT UP A BIT.

NO ONE IS GOING TO REPORT YOU TO THE SOM TAM POLICE FOR NOT USING GREEN PAPAYA.

SO WHY DON'T YOU SEE WHAT YOU HAVE IN THE FRIDGE?

And, in the fridge - hurrah- were birds eye chillies, a courgette, carrots, half a green pepper and best of all, some fine green beans (which you really do need).  I basically have everything to make som tam except the green papaya.

Have it with any mix of finely sliced veg that you think will work.  Experiment.  Have it on its own, have it with sticky rice, have it with steamed rice, have it with grilled fish or chicken, but do please just have it.

Ok, so to make a nice big plateful from what I had, I used:

1 tablespoon (measure it, don't just use an enormous serving spoon) light brown sugar, or white if you don't have any.  I could only find golden caster sugar in the cupboard today so used that and it worked out fine - plus 3 tablespoons water

1-2 birds eye chillies - I like it very spicy so used two, and it was, so do just use one if you're not so keen on chillies

1 big or 2 smaller garlic cloves

approx 1 tablespoon dried shrimp (optional but really makes a difference! If you can get hold of a packet, they keep forever in the freezer and are so tiny they defrost in a couple of minutes.  And you can put them in your Pad Thai too)

around 2 tablespoons peanuts

In place of the green papaya, 1 carrot, 1 courgette and 1/2 a green pepper (you could also try red pepper or cucumber here too, but have a mix)

a handful of green beans

6-8 tiny tomatoes, or just slice or quarter some regular size ones

1.5 tablespoons fish sauce

0.5 - 1 limes (to taste)

Put the sugar and water in a small pan, bring to a simmer on the lowest possible heat, stirring to dissolve the sugar, then immediately remove from heat and cool.

Then prepare the other ingredients: peel the garlic; chop the peanuts; very finely slice or julienne the vegetables that are replacing the green papaya; and cut the green beans into approx 1 inch lengths.

Do peel the veg too and remove the seeds of cucumbers, and leave out the core of courgettes.

Put the sliced vegetables in cold water or add a few ice cubes to keep them fresh.

Crush the chillies and garlic in a pestle and mortar -  you want them in small pieces but not a complete mush.

Add the dried shrimp and give them a bash too, then add the peanuts and just crush them a little more and completely mix in.

Next drain the sliced vegetables if they've been sitting in water and squeeze out as much water as possible (use a clean tea cloth or kitchen paper), or remove the ice cubes, and add the vegetables to the mortar.

 Mine's too small so I'm going to have to (1) put it on my list to get a bigger one and (2) move the whole salad to a bigger mixing bowl and go very easy on the bashing!

You just want everything to combine nicely now and mix together so go gently on the bashing and maybe use a spoon too to keep everything turning and make sure you've combined it all together.

Add the green beans, tomatoes, fish sauce, lime juice and the sugar syrup that has cooled in the pan and give it a bash again, crushing the tomatoes and breaking up the beans a little.  Use the spoon again to keep everything turning in the bowl or mortar.

Taste and stir and add more lime if necessary. I normally do, I like it very spicy and quite sour.

Then turn out onto a plate or just into a serving bowl and top with some extra chopped peanuts.  Serve on its own or with chicken, or fish and/or rice.

Any leftovers will keep in the fridge for a day, but it will also get spicier the longer it sits in the dressing - just to be warned!

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No-fuss, no-churn, no-of-course-it's-not-good-for-you-exactly: lime ice cream

So simple it barely deserves a whole blog post, but so good that - yes it does.

It's this easy to make delicious ice-cream in many flavours - I've made coffee, lemon, vanilla and with added berries so far.  Today, it's this lovely lime ice cream, and this is how you make it.

Oh and regarding the 'not exactly healthy' claim ... well, you only need a spoonful each, and you're unlikely to eat it every day, so everything in moderation, right?

You'll need:

600ml double cream

397g tin condensed milk (and WHY is it sold in such a strange volume? why not 400g?)

zest of a lime

juice of half a lime (don't be tempted to add more as it is likely to curdle)

4 or 5 drops doTerra essential oil of lime (optional)

And then you just put all the ingredients into a big bowl ...

... and with an electric whisk, whisk for until it is gorgeous and airy and fluffy and thick - it can take up to ten minutes.

Scoop and pour into a plastic tub, cover and leave in the freezer to set.

Bring out of the freezer and into the fridge perhaps 20 minutes before serving.  

I like to serve it with a little squeeze of fresh lime and some flaked hazelnuts toasted in a hot dry frying pan.

Let me know what other flavours you try as I guarantee that once you've made it once you'll be hooked on this simple easy ice cream!

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Mango, chilli and lime lettuce cups

I was making larb recently for a Tiniest Thai lunch and really needed a vegetarian version, so found this recipe online, but didn't want to use the pastry cases suggested so - as with the larb - I prefer this served in lettuce 'cups'.  

Just mix together the following and spoon into little gem lettuce leaves to serve.  

1 mango, diced

1 red chilli, diced

½ red onion, diced

handful coriander leaves, chopped

the juice of 1 lime

2 tbsp sweet chilli sauce (if you want to make your own, try my recipe here)

This will make enough for about 15-20 cups. Only make it about an hour before you need it though as it will go soggy otherwise!

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Green smoothie to start the day

Definitely this is in the 'rest of the world' category rather than anything Thai!  The green smoothie trend shows no signs of slowing down and I love them.

You don't really need a recipe, just throw things in a blender, but I make mine like this.

Ingredients:

couple of ice cubes

1/2 a frozen banana (peel before freezing - I'm not sure anyone else would be as stupid as me but I froze them at first with the peel on.  It doesn't work!)

handful of spinach leaves

a big piece of melon, sliced

a kiwi fruit

a good squeeze of lime

almond milk (or soy milk, or coconut rice milk)

2 teaspoons bee pollen (sometimes I have this, sometimes I don't)

Method:

BLEND!

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Noodle salad

Noodle salad.  Well, that's a bland-sounding title for a very lovely dish!  I made it because I had bought a bag of bean sprouts to make a pad Thai but then didn't have the energy on a hot evening to give it the love and attention that pad Thai needs.

So I needed to make something else with bean sprouts and decided on a noodle salad.  It's a deliberately vague name as it's much more about the component parts than a specific recipe - whatever you have in the fridge there'll be a version of noodle salad you can make.

The noodle bit 

In my head I had glass noodles, but in the cupboard there were vermicelli rice noodles. Whatever noodles you have will be fine, so just cook them first according to the packet directions.  For these thin rice noodles I put them into a pan of boiling water, turned off the heat and let them sit for five minutes.  Then drained them, rinsed with cold water and left them.  As long as they have at least five minutes resting they're good to use.

The dressing bit

This makes enough for a two-person portion.  One tablespoon of fish sauce:

The juice of one and a half limes (or to taste, it needs to be more sour than salty).

And a teaspoon of sugar, then stir to dissolve.

The salad bit

Start putting salad things into a bowl. Anything really - cucumber, mushrooms, peppers, lettuce all good but I had some baby spinach, roughly torn, and a chopped tomato …

Some bean sprouts and carrots …

And chopped fresh herbs - I had mint and coriander.

The onion bit

Spring onions, shallots or red onion are all good …

The crunchy bit

I've used some crushed peanuts, but toasted and chopped cashews would be good or perhaps some toasted sesame seeds. Roasted rice powder would be good to add too, but I didn't have any.

The meat or seafood bit 

Put a pan on to heat, add oil and when hot add a couple of cloves of chopped garlic and one or two chopped birds eye chillies.

When fragrant, add any meat or seafood you like and stir fry until cooked.  I've got defrosted prawns and squid (I've always got packets of frozen seafood in the freezer!).

Once cooked allow to cool a little before … or you could just use cooked cold meat.

The assembly bit

Add the noodles to the bowl.

Then the meat or seafood … I needed to transfer it to a bigger bowl at this point!

Pour over the dressing and stir and toss (use your [clean] hands - it's easiest) until it's all mixed in.

The eating bit

Tip it onto a serving dish or plate, and … EAT!

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Island-style bacon and eggs

 'But bacon and eggs isn't Thai food!'

I hear you.

But, done like this, it is for me.  It's what I call 'island-style' bacon and eggs and reminds me of eating in the sunshine, sitting on the sand at a low table and the sea right in front. Eating from a patterned plastic plate and mismatched cutlery.  It's probably not served where I had it any more now the beach bungalows have given way to villas and hotels with swimming pools, but I bet there are still some places in the world that do a great, garlicky, fried breakfast on the beach.

Anyway, it doesn't really need a recipe but here's how I put it together.  You'll need:

cooking oil

some slices of white onion

a couple of cloves of garlic, flattened and chopped (if you have the little Thai garlic cloves, just leave the papery skins on too to crisp up when fried)

chopped bacon (I'm using up some lardons)

cooked and sliced boiled potatoes (great for using up leftovers)

salt and pepper

one egg

Put a frying pan onto a medium-high heat, add the oil and when hot add the onion, garlic and bacon.  I cook all of this at a higher temperature than I would if I was making just normal bacon and eggs to try and recreate that sense of a full English being cooked too quickly over a high heat in a wok. Sort of like a stir fry full English!

Keep stirring though so it doesn't burn.

When the bacon's cooked, add the sliced cooked potatoes, turn the heat down a bit and leave to cook for a couple of minutes.

Turn the heat up again, add salt and pepper to taste, and cook for another minute or two, stirring, until the potatoes are hot right through.

Then either push everything to one side, add more oil if needed and fry the egg in the same pan …

…. or tip the bacon, potatoes, onions etc into a bowl and put a plate or lid on top to keep warm.

Then add more oil to the same pan and fry the egg over a higher heat than you normally might.

Keep spooning the hot oil over it as it cooks to cook it more quickly, and as soon as it starts to set, pop a lid on top and cook for perhaps two minutes.  The hotter temperature cooks the egg with a few bubbles in it and with just-about-to-crisp edges but you still want a lovely runny yolk.

Serve the egg on top of the pile of bacon, onions and potatoes and if you like, on a plastic plate as I did, for added 'authenticity'.

And there you have it. Drumroll please!  Island-style bacon and eggs.

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Tom yum goong - hot sour soup with prawns

There are so many great tom yum pastes readily available that you don't really have to make your own ... except that it is so easy, so lovely and just smells so good!  Lime leaves and lemongrass are two of my very favourite scents  - I sometimes even use a dab of lemongrass essential oil in place of perfume.

The ingredients might sound exotic but I found them all at Sainsbury's - although I know I'm lucky to have a big store close by.   You also need some chilli paste in oil, some nam pao prik, which is easy to make.

So, now to make this lovely traditional clear, hot, sour soup with prawns. As ever quantities aren't exact, but for one big bowl of soup, or for two less greedy/hungry people, you'll need:

cooked rice, to serve, if using

1/2 - 1 chicken stock cube

boiling water to fill a big bowl

1 stalk of lemongrass

a small piece of galangal, or ginger if galangal's not available

a few kaffir lime leaves

four birds eye chillies (don't worry, you don't actually eat the chillies - unless you want to)

one shallot or a small piece of white onion

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

a couple of mushrooms

one tomato

some prawns - shell on, shell off, cooked or raw, up to you

fish sauce

one lime

small handful of coriander leaves

If serving with rice, cook the rice first - I made double the amount needed so I could have a kao pad for Sunday brunch the next day.

Boil the kettle and either make up with the stock cube in a measuring jug or, as I've done, just straight into the soup bowl. With hindsight this probably wasn't the best way to do it as it was really hot picking up the bowl to tip into the pan! 

Prepare the ingredients:

• remove the outer layer from the lemongrass, cut into two or three shorter pieces and bash with a rolling pin
• wash and slice the galangal or ginger
• tear the leaves from the stalk of the lime leaves and discard the stalks (this smells AMAZING by the way!)
• bash the chillies with the end of the knife or a rolling pin to squash and slightly open them, then remove the stalks

• slice the shallot or onion and the mushrooms
• slice the tomato lengthways into around eight pieces

 Put a saucepan on a medium heat, carefully pour in the stock and bring to the boil.  Add the lemongrass, galangal, lime leaves and chillies and boil for two minutes.

Then add the shallot, chilli paste, mushrooms and tomato and boil for another two minutes.

Next the prawns go in for a further two minutes. Halve the lime and chop the coriander.

Add a couple of dashes of fish sauce to taste and squeeze in the lime juice.  Taste and add more fish sauce or lime juice if needed.

Throw in the coriander leaves and immediately remove from the heat.

Ladle into a bowl and eat alone or serve with rice.

Another reason I love this soup is that it forces me to really enjoy it and eat slowly, picking out the lemongrass, galangal, lime leaves and chillies, and shelling the prawns.

Delicious!

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How to cook perfect rice every time

I was pretty horrified watching Masterchef a while ago to see how many of the contestants couldn't cook rice. (Even more horrified by the one who said she didn't like rice, but I'm trying to forget I even heard it).

But if people entering a cooking competition are struggling with it then there must be lots of others unsure too. I used to find rice trickybut that was mainly to do with how much conflicting advice there seemed to be on cooking it: to drain it, or to use an absorption method? To wash the starch out of the grains or not? To cover the pan or leave it uncovered?

The very easiest way of course really is to invest in a rice cooker. When I lived in Thailand one of the first jobs each morning was to get the big rice cooker on so there would be rice available all day.

Just as an aside, the Thai for 'eat' is to 'gin (with a hard 'g') kao' or literally 'eat rice'. I love this, it just shows the significance of rice.  How someone entering a cooking competition can dislike rice when it forms the mainstay of so many people's diet and given how incredibly versatile it is, is beyond me! (I really need to try harder to forget I heard she said that ...)

Anyway. I think most people, as I did, eventually find the way of cooking rice that works for them, but if you haven't found one that suits you yet, I thought I'd share mine here for you to try.

I don't know why, but I find the thought of washing rice unbearably boring, so I don't do it, I just use it the way it comes.

I have a measuring container for rice that I fill to the top for two servings. It says 160 which must be ml so you could use a measuring jug and measure by volume. Or it seems to be about half a cup.

To be honest I never think it looks enough and always end up adding more and cooking too much. That's fine though as when it's cool I just pop it in the fridge to make a fried rice (kao pad) the next day.

Bring a pan of water (and a pinch of salt) to the boil and, when boiling, throw in the rice.

When it returns to the boil start timing and boil for 12 minutes.

Turn off the heat.  Drain into a sieve leaving a bit of water behind in the pan and, very quickly - so the pan, water and rice are still very hot - put the sieve over the pan and add a tight-fitting lid or cover with foil.

Leave to steam for ten minutes and then just separate the grains and fluff with a fork.

It works for me every time. Let me know if it does for you too, or if you have a different foolproof method, please share it!

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Easy authentic gang keow wan gai - Thai green curry chicken

Ok, so first ... authentic? Yes, because I learnt to cook Thai curries exactly they way they were cooked and served and as customers enjoyed them and paid for them - in a Thai restaurant in Thailand cooked by Thai cooks!

So yes, they did use ready-made pastes. Granted, we bought the pastes from the market, a big scoop from a pile of paste into a bag, but a good paste is a good paste so just get the best you can.

Anyway, onto the curry … I'm using chicken (gai) but of course you can use any meat, or prawns, or fish balls or tofu - anything you like.

You'll still make a good dinner without it, but ideally you do need to find a little jar of  Thai sweet basil or horapha.  I think I got mine in Waitrose and other supermarkets probably sell it too.

So please join me in making a midweek easy-peasy delicious and authentic green curry for one.  One very hungry and greedy one though - so obviously do adjust the amounts so it's right for you.

You'll need:

cooked rice to serve, so make this first

cooking oil

half - one chicken breast depending on hunger, greediness and size of chicken breast, sliced into small pieces

a large walnut-sized blob of curry paste (around a heaped tablespoon)

half a tin of coconut milk (preferably full fat; go on, just fast tomorrow if you have to)

0.75 teaspoon jarred Thai sweet basil or a handful of Thai sweet basil leaves

some green veg, chopped. I used broccoli and green beans; to be totally authentic you need to track down some Thai aubergines and peas ...

1 - 1.5 teaspoon sugar

1 - 1.5 teaspoon fish sauce or to taste

another 0.25 - 0.5 teaspoon jarred Thai sweet basil

Heat your wok or pan and add cooking oil.

When hot add the sliced meat and the curry paste and cook, stirring until the meat is sealed.

Add the coconut milk and the first amount of Thai sweet basil (3/4 of the handful if using fresh basil) and bring to the boil.

Throw in the green veg, reduce the heat and boil on a low boil for five or six minutes.

Add the sugar and fish sauce and cook for another minute.

Add the final amount of Thai sweet basil, stir in then remove from heat.

Pack the rice into a small plastic bowl and turn onto a plate and add the curry around or serve in a separate bowl.

And that's it!

I'll post a 'from-scratch' curry paste another day but for now I hope you make and enjoy what is actually a restaurant recipe!

Let me know if you made this and if you liked it ...

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Spicy stir-fried squid

In my mind I'm at the fishing port of Ban Phe, whiling away the time before the ferry to Koh Samet by having a a very spicy squid dish and squinting in the sun.  An afternoon on beautiful Samet can't really be beaten - silver sand, perfect sea, a cold beer and a Thai massage on the beach under the trees before the speedboat back to the mainland.  Day dreams.

In reality, it's been a really hectic day and I haven't had time to go to the shops so need a store-cupboard dinner - and I want it fast too! Frozen squid rings are a store-cupboard staple for me as they defrost quickly in a bowl of water, changed a couple of times as the ice comes off them, and are then also so quick to cook.

This easy recipe uses the nam prik pao (chilli paste in oil) recipe as well as fresh chillies, just to layer up the heat.  You could make it without the chilli paste too, just add more chopped fresh chillies. You can of course make it with less, but I like this dish fiery hot.

Don't leave out the fresh mint and coriander - they make this simple dish something much more special.

Cook your rice first so that it's ready, as the squid cooks so fast. To save both time and washing up, I just threw some chopped green beans and broccoli in with the rice for the last few minutes' cooking time rather than cooking the veg separately.

Quantities for this dish are really up to you, but to serve two I used:

cooking oil

two cloves of garlic, chopped

one large milder red chilli and two birds eye red chillies, sliced

a 300g bag of frozen squid rings, defrosted

a tablespoon of  nam prik pao chilli paste

a teaspoon of sugar

half - one tablespoon fish sauce to taste

two spring onions, sliced

a handful each of coriander and mint leaves

Chop and slice the garlic, chillies and spring onions, and tear the leaves of the herbs into small pieces so that everything's ready to go.

Heat a wok or frying pan and add the cooking oil, swirling to cover and when hot add the garlic and chopped chillies and cook for about 30 seconds over a fairly high heat.

Add the squid rings and cook, stirring, for a minute then add the chilli paste and cook for a further minute.

Turn the heat down a little to medium and add the sugar, fish sauce and spring onions - and cook, still stirring, for another minute until the sugar dissolves.

Take off the heat and stir in the mint and coriander leaves, and serve immediately with rice and green vegetables.

Let me know if you make this and if you liked it!

Update:

I just made this again without chilli paste but with another couple of fresh birds eye chillies and it was much hotter with just fresh chillies! My eyes are watering and I'm a chilli freak. I also used a mix of prawns and squid and yes it was hot but it was also super tasty - the mint makes it really interesting. This is a very good dinner.

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2 great condiments to liven up vegetables ...

... and the best 'Zen lunch' guaranteed to do the same for me.

A lovely toasty sesame salt to sprinkle over plain rice, green vegetables, roast chicken and more. And a really good easy soy and sesame sauce that is great on plain steamed veg.

First, the sesame salt, which will keep for a week or two in an airtight container.

All you need is:

3 tablespoons sesame seeds

1/2 teaspoon salt

Heat a frying pan over a medium-low heat, add the sesame seeds and salt and toast until golden brown, stirring or shaking the pan constantly. It will take maybe five minutes.

If you've got more time, the flavour will be even better drawn out more slowly, toasted over a very low heat for perhaps 10-15 minutes.

Once toasted, crush in a mortar or grind in a spice mill and transfer to a jar.

The lovely soy and sesame sauce is even easier and you need just these few store cupboard ingredients:

2 tablespoons dark soy sauce (if you only have light soy then stir in a teaspoon of brown sugar to dissolve before using)

1 teaspoon fish sauce

1/2 teaspoon toasted sesame oil

4 teaspoons white or rice vinegar

Mix it all together in a bowl. Any left over will keep covered in the fridge for a few days.

And then - for me today - it all comes together in one restorative, soothing 'Zen lunch' of steamed rice and broccoli with the sauce spooned over and topped with some sesame salt.

All is well.

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Chinese-style char siu BBQ pork

One of the many things I love about Thailand and actually about South-East Asia as a whole is the sheer number of celebrations and festivals throughout the year. Festivals from different religions and different cultures can all be celebrated - the more the merrier! It's now a habit that whenever I hear of a fete or festival day I mark it in my diary. This week not only sees the start of  the Year of the Horse on 31 January but also the French Fete de la Chandeleur on 2 February, or crepe day, to mark Candlemas.

Since I don't write about French food - although I do love it and do cook it and will be having crepes next Sunday - I'll concentrate on something good to eat to celebrate Chinese New Year and having made this BBQ pork every Chinese New Year for about five or six years, it is now my traditional new year dinner.

I'm not sure why I never make it any other time of year as it is really easy and is not only good served just as it is hot from the oven with some steamed rice but also so good used in other dishes including stir fried noodles or fried rice or in sandwiches such as a Vietnamese banh mi. (Chinese) new year resolution: cook more BBQ pork.

This does need several hours or overnight to marinate so don't start making it thinking it will be quick.

Serves four, or fewer but with leftovers ...

8 tablespoons light soy sauce

1 heaped teaspoon Chinese five-spice

1 tablespoon tomato puree

1 tablespoon finely chopped garlic

4 tablespoons dark brown sugar

1lb pork tenderloin

First combine all the ingredients except the pork in a bowl and whisk or stir until the sugar is dissolved

Trim the pork of any big bits of fat and silverskin, place in a dish and pour over the marinade. Turn the pork so it's all covered.

Cover the dish and put in the fridge for a few hours or preferably overnight, turning the meat a couple of times during that time.

Preheat the oven to Gas 8 / 230C / 450F.

Line a roasting tray with foil and place the pork staight onto the foil or on a rack in the tray if you have one. Keep the marinade for basting.

Roast for 15-20 minutes then reduce the oven temperature to Gas 4 / 180C / 350F.

Turn the pork and cover with half the remaining marinade and cook for another ten minutes then turn and cover with the rest of the marinade.

Roast for another 10-15 minutes until cooked through but still a tiny bit pink.

Take out the pork and put it on a board to rest, covered, for a further ten minutes.

Serve straight away, in slices with rice and green vegetables, or cool and keep in the fridge to use in other recipes.

Happy new year!

Xin Nian Kuai Le， 新年快乐

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Kao pad gai - fried rice with chicken

Everyone loves a kao pad, a fried rice.  It's got to be one of my favourite everyday meals and it's obviously easy as easy can be to make, right?

Well, you'd have thought so. I definitely did as having watched my friend cook hundreds of the things in the restaurant in Thailand it looked simple enough, and when she showed me step-by-step how to make it, this is all I wrote down (if you can call this scrawl writing) as it seemed so obvious!

And then when I got back to the UK and went to make it, I just couldn't get it to work. It was ... fine ... but it wasn't right.

I've practiced a bit since then and it really is easy to make - but there are a few more things to be aware of to get it right than I had scribbled on my note.

I think the main things are firstly the importance of using cooled rice rather than freshly cooked as the steam and heat of the fresh rice is too wet to stir fry and, secondly, not being scared of cooking relatively quickly with quite a high heat. You just can't make this over a low heat, it won't work.

I'm making my kao pad today in the traditional way, keeping it quite plain with onion, spring onion and garlic the only veg. I'm also using chicken but you can use whatever you want - pork, seafood, even sausage pieces, or any vegetables of your choosing. I think mushroom fried rice works really well. Lots of versions of kao pad add a few pieces of chopped tomato too.

There are no exact measurements here, but do get everything you need prepared and to hand before you start cooking.

For one, you'll need

cooked rice - this is best when it's a day old and slightly dry and the grains are nice and separated. Cook and when cool keep in the fridge until you need it, or just cook the rice in the morning and leave out, covered, to use later

cooking oil

about a quarter of a white onion, or a few slices, chopped

one garlic clove, flattened and chopped

a smallish piece of chicken, perhaps a third of one breast, sliced and chopped into small pieces (it needs to cook quickly)

soy sauce

fish sauce

about a third of a chicken stock cube

a pinch of sugar

one egg

a couple of spring onions, sliced

coriander or chopped chives to garnish

cucumber slices and lime wedges to serve

fish sauce and red chilli for the nam pla prik

Heat your pan over a medium heat, add some oil and when hot sauté the onion and garlic for a minute until translucent.

Turn the heat up to medium high and add the chicken.  Keep turning it as it cooks so that it quickly all goes white. If juice is coming out of the chicken you may not have your pan or oil hot enough - it needs to seal quickly. Cook for a few minutes.

Then add the rice, again turning it quickly in the pan to separate the grains and get them all hot through. Add a few dashes of soy sauce and one of fish sauce, crumble in the piece of stock cube and sprinkle over the sugar. Keep turning the rice mixture the whole time and cook for a couple of minutes.

Push the rice mixture to one side and add a bit more oil. After a few seconds to allow it to heat up crack the egg into this space and let it cook a little (I count to 15), then mix in to combine the scrambling egg with the rice.

Keep turning, then add the sliced spring onions and cook for another 30 seconds.

Turn it out into a bowl, or pack the rice into a small plastic dish, put a plate over the top, and turn over to get the lovely traditional rice serving shape. Scatter with chopped chives or coriander leaves if using and serve with cucumber slices and lime wedges for squeezing over.

Best served also with some nam pla prik - just a little fish sauce in a bowl with sliced chillies.

Many people like to eat this with a fried egg on top - fry your egg in more and hotter oil than you would for an English breakfast egg so that the edges go crispy.

I had this a couple of days ago for lunch - a mushroom fried rice cooked without egg but with a teaspoon of nam prik pao (so no need of extra chillies that day) and a topped with a fried egg.

However you make it, it's bound to be delicious ... let me know what you put in yours.

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Chilli paste in oil - nam prik pao

So good and so versatile - if you like Thai cooking you've probably got a jar of nam prik pao somewhere already.  It's both a cooking ingredient and a condiment. It's used in soups including tom yum, and you can add a small spoonful into all sorts of soups, stir fries and curries or stir it into a fried rice or noodle dish. Once you start using it, you'll be adding this to everything ... shepherd's pie, cheese on toast, who knows?

I have just had a quick snack of some plain rice with a teaspoon of chilli paste stirred through it and that on its own tasted great. For a very quick lunch or supper it works even better with a fried egg on top.

Or instead of plain rice, a quick mushroom fried rice with chilli paste and an egg! Yum!

This isn't a true nam prik pao which is made from roasted chillies and takes hours and hours to make; its a much simpler chilli paste in oil.  It doesn't have the subtlety and depth of flavour of a true roasted version, but it's easy to make and certainly easy to use.

These quantities made half a small jar ... but a little goes a long way! In a covered jar it will keep  in the fridge for a few months.

3-4 tbsp vegetable cooking oil

3-4 cloves garlic depending on size, chopped

2 shallots or 1/4 white onion, finely chopped

2 tbsp crushed dried red chillies

1 tbsp cayenne pepper or chilli powder

3 tbsp fish sauce (or 2 of fish sauce and one teaspoon of shrimp paste)

3 tbsp light brown sugar

juice of one lime

2 tbsp water

Heat the oil in a frying pan over a medium heat and then fry the onions and garlic until light brown and on the edge of going crispy. Remove the onions and garlic from the pan into a separate dish and turn the heat off but leave the oil in the pan.

Mix all the other ingredients together in a pestle and mortar.

Then add the onions and garlic, pounding together (but gently) to break down the garlic and onion as much as possible. It won't combine perfectly and you will still have separate bits of onions, but it combines the flavours.

Put the frying pan back on a low heat and then add the chilli mixture. Simmer for 3-4 minutes and then taste - add more water if it is too thin, more oil if you want it more oily and taste it too for flavour.  I added another tablespoon of sugar and half a tablespoon of fish sauce at this stage. (My next jar, made since this post, I added just a splash of water and half a tablespoon of fish sauce - you really need to taste, taste and taste again!).

Simmer for a further 3-4 minutes until the paste is caramelised, dark and glossy-looking.

Cool enough to pour into a jar then cool completely before sealing and storing in the fridge.

Did you make this? And what did you then make with it? Let me know ...

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Burmese spicy cabbage

Healthy, detox-y, budget-y and delicious spicy Burmese cabbage.

Not Thai (obviously), and not really my recipe either - I found it online and have since adapted it but I think it's originally from one of the Leon cookbooks.  However, this is way too good not to share, and it's great to eat this time of year.  Clearly I'm not on a detox (should have moved that glass of red out of shot!) but I am on a budget and wanting to eat vegetables and clean, spicy flavours after all the festive gorging on rich foods.

This will serve four as a side dish -  I love it just with plain grilled or roasted chicken, but it would also be good as a main course in its own right served with rice.

approx 400g of any cabbage

1/2 - 1 red chilli (a normal one, not a birds eye one!)

a piece of ginger

2-3 cloves of garlic

a few spring onions

around 50g roasted peanuts (or add toasted flaked almonds right at the end)

1 teaspoon turmeric

1 tablespoon fish sauce

100 ml hot water

juice of half a lemon

2 tablespoons cooking oil

coriander leaves or, like me, the coriander stalks that I had leftover in the fridge

1. Slice the cabbage thinly and chop the red chilli

2. Chop the spring onions, garlic, ginger and peanuts and set aside in a bowl (they all go in at the same time).  I also added the chopped coriander stalks, but if you have leaves these will go in later

3. Pour 100ml hot water into a measuring jug and add the turmeric, stirring until smooth, then add the lemon juice and fish sauce

4. Heat the oil in a wok or large frying pan and add the cabbage and chilli

5. After 2-3 minutes when the cabbage has just started to wilt, add the spring onions, ginger, garlic and peanuts (and coriander stalks if using) and cook for a further 2-3 minutes

6. Pour in the liquid and cook for a couple of minutes more and if you are using coriander leaves, add these right at the end of the cooking time

7. Taste and add another squeeze of lemon at the end if it needs it

DELICIOUS!

If you try this recipe, do let me know what you think.

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Pla neung manao - steamed chilli lime fish

Now this is what I want (what I really, really want) for dinner - something like this:

A whole steamed fish with chillies and garlic in a lime sauce, brought steaming and simmering to the table in a fish shaped serving tray ... one of my very favourite dishes.

But ... I don't have a fish shaped dish, or even a whole fish- and I need to make dinner with what's available at my small local supermarket.

It's surprisingly easy to make a very delicious version using white fish fillets and steaming the fish in parcels of foil in the oven. And with all the warming chillies, this is as perfect for a midweek winter supper in London as eaten on the beach in Thailand!

To serve two, you'll need

2 fillets of white fish

2-4 garlic cloves

4-6 bird eye chillies (it IS a spicy dish, but obviously use chilli to your own taste)

2 tablespoons fish sauce

the juice of 1-2 limes

1 teaspoon sugar

1 tsp stock granules or 1/2 a stock cube

coriander to garnish

rice and steamed green vegetables to serve

1. Pre-heat the oven to Gas 7 / 220 C / 425 F

2. Tear off two large pieces of foil and place a fish fillet diagonally across each.

3. Chop the garlic and chillies finely and spread over the fish.

4. In a small bowl, mix together the fish sauce, lime juice, sugar and stock cube (don't worry if the stock cube/granules don't dissolve as they will do as it cooks).  Tuck the ends of the foil up to start creating the parcels and pour the sauce equally into each parcel around the fish.

5. Crimp the edges of the foil together, creating a parcel bigger than the fish so there's room for it to steam inside, and place on a baking tray in the pre-heated oven.

6. Cook for 15-20 minutes until cooked through.

7. Serve sprinkled with coriander and slices of lime, alongside rice and green vegetables.

Do try this! I want everyone to know how easy it is to make a simple version of pla neung manao at home.

Let me know what you think ...

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