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!

---

---

LIKE THIS? YOU MIGHT WANT TO TRY THESE ...

Stir fried chicken or beef with cashews

So, my beautiful Big Niece has come to stay for a night - just overnight to break the journey to Cornwall. I wanted to get a picture of us together cooking dinner but there's just us here so it had to be a selfie.

And despite trying approx 6,742 times to get a shot we were actually both in, we only managed ones with one of us cut out or that were just too terrible to post. Here's the best of a very bad bunch of us looking blurry and 'super-excited' to be cooking this lovely stir fry (or maybe not!).

Anyway, photography distraction over. We're making a chicken stir fry with cashews that I always think of as quite a special dish - a rich sauce, crunchy nuts, soft chicken and a bit of heat from the fried whole dried chillies.

I wanted the bigger dried red chillies ideally but only had the small ones and to be honest I used too many - next time I make this I'll use fewer (the right quantity is listed in the ingredients but the pic shows too many).  I think the big ones might be a little milder and I would have chopped them into smaller pieces after frying. The chilli issue is up to you though - use as few or as many as you like of course.

The quantity we made serves 2-4 people depending on, well, everything - hunger, greed, what else you're eating with it, etc so just adjust quantities as you wish and do taste and taste before and during adding the seasonings.

If you're serving with rice make that first and keep warm until ready.

Enough for us two as well as a portion leftover we used ...

1/2 a white onion

2 spring onions

2 cloves of garlic

2 chicken breasts

1 fresh red chilli to garnish, if using

vegetable oil, for frying

about half a cup of plain cashew nuts (not roasted or salted)

4-5 whole dried chillies (or to your taste)

1 tablespoon fish sauce

1 tablespoon dark soy sauce

1 teaspoon sugar

a good glug of oyster sauce

1 teaspoon sesame oil

a shake of white pepper

boiled or steamed rice, to serve

Prepare the ingredients: chop the onion into smallish chunks rather than dicing finely; slice the spring onions using as much of the green stalks as you can; mince the garlic; cut the chicken into slices; and slice the fresh red chilli if using.

Put quite a bit of oil, about 4 tablespoons, into a frying pan or wok and when hot add the cashew nuts.  Fry, stirring, over a medium heat until golden brown - this will take a few minutes. When brown remove from the oil, drain on kitchen paper and set aside.

Return the pan to the heat and add the dried chillies to the hot oil and cook for around 30-60 seconds until they turn dark and crispy. Again, remove from the pan, drain on kitchen paper and set aside. If using big whole chillies, cut them into smaller pieces or crumble them with your fingers when cool.

Drain off some of the oil if necessary so around 2 tablespoons remain, let cool very slightly and then return to the heat and add the garlic, stirring straight away so it doesn't burn.

After perhaps half a minute - but sooner if the garlic is turning colour - add the chicken and keep stirring, first to seal quickly and then to cook through. This will probably take 4-5 minutes.

Add the onions, cashews and chillies and stir fry for a couple of minutes until the onions are translucent but still with a bite to them.

Add the fish sauce, soy sauce, sugar, oyster sauce and spring onions and cook, stirring, for another minute or two.

Add the sesame oil and a shake of white pepper, stir in and remove from the heat.

Serve topped with slices of fresh red chilli if liked and with plain rice.

This is very good with beef too as the sauce is lovely and rich - but it needs cooking slightly differently as the beef doesn't take long to cook. Slice the steak into thin slices and dredge with approx half a tablespoon of plain/all purpose flour.

Then after cooking the cashew and the dried chillies fry the beef in the same hot oil and again drain on kitchen paper.

Cook the garlic, then the onions (I used red as didn't have white) and I added some red pepper too.  Then add the beef along with the cooked dried chillies, cashews, seasoning sauces and spring onion.

I think I actually prefer the beef to the chicken version but both are very good.

This is a really nice easy special dinner.  Let me know what you think ....

---

YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE ...

Pad krapow gai - spicy stir fried chicken with Thai basil

This is my favourite food of all time, my I-could-eat-this-every-day, my oh-I-did-eat-it-everyday-for-about-a-year food - and I still eat it around once a week. It's a perfect breakfast, especially in bright hot sunshine with an iced coffee, it's great with a kai dow (fried egg) on top of the rice. It's good with prawns, pork or squid but I like it best with chicken. There isn't an occasion it doesn't suit, and it cures headaches, hangovers and heartbreak too. Honestly!

It might not be my last-supper dish but I'm not sure ... contenders on that list wouldn't pass the could-I-eat-it-every-day criteria for favourite food.  What's your favourite food? What's your last supper food? My last supper could be a seafood platter or perhaps rack of lamb, dauphinoise potatoes and a green salad with mustardy dressing. Or a pad krapow.  Anyway ...

There's just one admission to make .... and that's that I'm not actually cooking a pad krapow at all.

There are two types of basil used in Thailand, both different to our Mediterranean basil. Thai sweet basil, horapha, is a bit aniseed-y and is used in Thai curries and - I learnt today from the ladies at Tawana supermarket  - can be used in a pad keemao (drunken noodles) where I  thought you could only use krapow.

Ah, krapow. Krapow is the other Thai basil, holy basil, and it gives this dish it's name - literally 'stir fried with holy basil'. It's really peppery and unique. It's also really hard to grow in our climate and it's even hard for the Thai supermarkets to get hold of.

I really wanted my favourite food today so I went to one of my favourite places, Tawana supermarket on Chepstow Road, W2. It's a total treasure trove of delights plus I get to practice my Thai as well. And it soothes the soul.  Here's just a selection of the treats in store ...

And here's the goodies I brought home ... including packets of holy basil seasoning I'll use for another, lazy, day.

But the sad news is they had no krapow. Again. So I bought horapha and therefore what I'm actually cooking is pad horapha gai. It is still so good.  If you can get krapow then do! If you can't but you can get horapha, great! And it you can get neither, just make it without. Without is how I have it most weeks (pad krapow sans krapow) and still I love it.

It's a really spicy dish but you bash the chillies into pieces big enough to flavour the dish but not to eat unless you want to.  When I was taught to make this it was with the chicken alone - I've added the chopped pepper and mushrooms so do add veg or not as you wish.

Here's how I'm making my favourite dish ever tonight. Cook your rice first and then assemble the ingredients - as always, it cooks quickly.

Vegetable oil

Half to one chicken breast

Approx 6-10 small chillies (depending on size and how spicy you like it)

Approx four garlic cloves (or eight if you have small Thai garlic cloves)

Sliced red pepper and mushroom, or other sliced veg, if using

1/2 knorr chicken stock cube

Thick soy bean sauce or rich soy sauce

Oyster sauce

A good pinch of sugar

A handful of holy basil or sweet basil leaves, if using

Tear the basil leaves from the stalks, if using, and discard the stalks, and chop the vegetables into small pieces, if using.  Mince the chicken breast by chopping very very finely, as small as you can. I know some restaurants serve this dish with the meat in bite-sized pieces but I much prefer it minced as I was shown.

Peel the garlic - the quickest way is to squash the garlic with the flat side of a knife - and remove the stalks from the chillies and then place in a plastic sandwich / freezer bag.

Bash with a rolling pin until the chillies and garlic are all in small-ish pieces. If the bag splits don't worry just fold it and keep bashing!

Now put a frying pan or wok over a medium heat and when hot add a good glug of cooking oil. When hot add the chicken, and stir. When starting to seal tip in the garlic and chillies and cook until the chicken is completely sealed.

Add the vegetables if using and stir fry for another couple of minutes.

Add a splash of water, crumble in half a stock cube, a good dash of bean/soy sauce and a couple of dashes of oyster sauce plus a good pinch of sugar and stir it all in.  Here's a pic because I forgot to include the oyster sauce at the start.

Cook for another couple of minutes then throw in the basil and remove from the heat immediately.

Stir in the basil until it wilts and serve with the rice. Best dinner ever. Do you agree?

PS. Yes, I did make a huge portion. I love it!

PPS.  If you like pad krapow, you'll also like pad keemao  … give it a try :)

---

---

YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE ... 

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!

---

---

YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE ...

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 ...

---

---

YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE ...

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.

---

---

YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE ... 

Pork and prawn balls in noodle soup

This is a really lovely soup and very quick to make too (well, after the meatballs have chilled for half an hour in the fridge!).  Very clean tasting broth with lime and ginger, and great textures with the soup, meatballs and noodles - and then fresh spring onions and chillies layer the flavour even more.

Especially quick if you are using up left over pork and prawn mixture after making sesame toasts. And also if, like me, you're using a ready mixed pack of stir fry veg and 'straight to wok' type noodles.

I'm not really sure about quantities here as I used up leftovers, but you'll need to make the full amount anyway as it uses a whole egg. The mixture freezes really well though so if you don't use it all at once, it will freeze for another day, or you could make some pork and prawn sesame toasts.  

Here's how to make the paste:

400g total weight of pork tenderloin and prawns (I used half and half but it doesn't have to be precise)

2 cloves garlic, chopped

1/2 teaspoon each salt and white pepper

small handful of coriander leaves, chopped

2 teaspoons soy sauce

one egg, beaten

Whizz the pork first in a food processor to mince, then add the prawns and just pulse as it will come together very quickly. Add the garlic, salt and pepper and coriander leaves and pulse again.

Add the soy sauce and beaten egg and mix by hand to combine.

This is the mixture for the sesame toasts so if you have that already you now need to add a few other things. I had probably a quarter of this quantity left and added the following:

1 red chilli, chopped

1 spring onion, chopped

a good pinch of sugar

a tiny splash of fish sauce

Mix all the ingredients together, then make little balls and put on a plate in the fridge to chill for around 30 minutes. The mixture is quite wet so I didn't make balls as such, just sort of little blobs.

For the soup itself - and again these aren't precise quantities so just add to taste and adjust as necessary  - I used the following for two portions

a bit less than half a litre water

about half a Knorr chicken stock cube

a piece of ginger, perhaps 2 cm or so, sliced

juice of half a lime (it was a really juicy one so you might need more)

a good splash of fish sauce, perhaps half a tablespoon

about half a teaspoon of sugar, perhaps a little more

a big handful of veg from a packet of stir fry veg (or use a mixture of cabbage, book choy, bean sprouts or whatever you like)

rice noodles

to serve: coriander and mint if you have them, sliced red chilli and spring onions

Bring the water to the boil in the pan and add the stock cube then the ginger, lime juice, fish sauce and sugar and simmer for three or four minutes.

Drop in the meatballs / blobs and simmer for another five minutes.

Add the vegetables and rice noodles and simmer for a further two to three minutes.

Ladle into bowls and top with the fresh herbs, if using, and the sliced chillies and spring onions. Add another squeeze of lime if needed.

This is so delicious I really hope you try it. Let me know what you think!

---

---

YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE ...

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.

---

---

YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE ...

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

---

---

YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE ...

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.

---

---

YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE ...

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 ...

---

---

YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE ...

(sort of) Thai iced coffee / coffee ice cream

I can almost guarantee that this is the Best Hangover Cure Ever.  Sweet, cold, and caffeinated. However, it is also pretty clear that I made this (badly) and took photographs (badly) whilst being slightly hungover myself so, dear reader, you're going to need a bit of imagination here.

This coffee has brought me back to life many mornings in Thailand - there's something extra special about buying it from the street sellers who serve it in a plastic bag with a straw and drinking it whilst meandering along in the heat. I did briefly consider putting mine into plastic bags but given that I was having trouble making it at all, I thought I'd keep it as simple as possible.

All you need to make two servings (with enough to make ice cream as well) is to make half a pot of very strong (double or triple strength) coffee.  Or use instant, I'm sure it would work fine. I don't think this is authentic for Thai iced coffee but I once read somewhere that Vietnamese iced coffee is made using cardamom pods too, so I like to crush a couple of pods and add to the pot to brew with the coffee.  I'm not sure you can taste the cardamom but I like the ritual of adding it.  Once made, leave the coffee to cool to room temperature.

Put half a cup of the cooled coffee into each glass and add approx two tablespoons of condensed milk per person, and mix  well.  Add lots of ice and a slosh of cold milk.  Taste and add more coffee, condensed milk, ice and milk as needed. It needs to be very strong and very sweet and very cold.

Here's how not to do it - pouring the coffee over ice and not mixing the condensed milk properly.  I poured it all back out into another glass and mixed it properly before pouring back.

Anyway, on this occasion it didn't really matter what it looked like - it WORKS! And it's delicious of course in the summer too.

Or how about making coffee ice cream?

Put 600ml double cream and a tin of condensed milk (397g) into a big bowl with another quarter of a cup (or a couple of tablespoons) of the cooled strong coffee, and whisk with an electric whisk until fluffy soft peaks are created.  Pour into a tub and put in the freezer overnight.

And that's it.  Really good and really easy.

If I get the iced coffee looking a bit better next time I make it, I'll add another picture.  

And given that today is New Year's Eve, that time could well be tomorrow ... in the meantime, happy new year everyone!

---

---

YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE ...

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 ...

---

---

LIKE THIS?  YOU MIGHT WANT TO TRY THESE ...

Sweet hot Thai chilli sauce

I'm off to see a friend's new flat this afternoon and want to take a little housewarming present.

This quick and easy sweet chilli sauce will be perfect - I think almost everyone likes it and it's good to have a jar in the fridge to liven up grilled fish or chicken, or to serve with spring rolls, or have with poached eggs - or just about anything, to be honest!

There's plenty of time to make a quick batch which can then cool down while I get ready to go out ...

A note about measurements.  Where I've used a tablespoon, it is a measured 15ml tablespoon.  It can be easy to put in too much cornflour mixture so err on the side of caution and add a little more water if it looks very cloudy when you tip it into the pan and doesn't disperse when stirred in.  The cup I used holds 300ml water, but I judged the fractionals by eye so the liquid volumes weren't precisely measured.

To make a couple of jars or, like me, one bottle as a gift and a bowl for your own fridge, you'll need:

1 teaspoon salt, ideally coarse

2-3 garlic cloves, minced

1/2-1 tablespoon dried crushed chillies (a full tablespoon is quite spicy)

3/4 cup distilled white vinegar (or rice vinegar)

1 and 1/4 cups white sugar

a splash of water (probably 1-2 tablespoons)

1 scant tablespoon cornflour dissolved in 2 tablespoons water

First, crush together the salt, garlic and chilli flakes, then add to a medium sized pan with the vinegar, sugar and water.

Bring to a boil and boil steadily for about 10 minutes, stirring frequently.

Reduce the heat and stir in the cornflour mixture, then cook for a further three-four minutes.

Remove from the heat and pour into a heat proof bowl.

You can just cover this tightly when it's cool and keep in the fridge or, after a few minutes when it's cooled slightly, transfer to your chosen bottles, jars or dishes.

It will keep for about two weeks stored in an airtight container in the fridge.

Hope you like this recipe - let me know what you think.

NOTE: last time I made this it went really thick, and I've no idea why! However, I put the bottle to stand in some hot water for a few minutes and it then became thinner and pourable again. 

---

---

YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE ...

Kao tom - rice soup

An everyday breakfast or light meal, kao tom is a lovely nourishing rice soup - ideal plain for those a little under the weather or with added flavours for a really delicious but simple dish.

I'm currently staying for a few days to help my papa while he recovers from a bad fall.  It's a beautiful crisp autumn day and I made him a kao tom with chicken this morningto get the day off to a  good and nurturing start.

Of course I had a bowl myself too - and included an egg in mine.  The egg is optional and as it is put in the bowl right at the end before pouring over the broth it is just very lightly cooked.  So it's up to you of course how you feel about eating your eggs 'rare'!

You need cooked rice for this, so do make that first - it'll be really annoying to start cooking and then realise you don't have it to hand ...

Serves two

Stock cube (I used about 3/4 of a chicken knorr cube)

One peeled garlic clove, just flattened slightly

A little chicken (or pork or seafood or whatever you fancy) - I used about half a chicken breast chopped into small pieces

Cooked rice for two people

2-4 spring onions, chopped

Coriander (I couldn't get any fresh coriander here, so used 1/2 teaspoon of coriander from a jar, but just omit if you don't have any)

An egg per person (optional)

As usual, the dish comes together quickly, so get the ingredients out first.

Boil the kettle and then add enough water to a saucepan (the easiest way to measure is to pour into the bowls you'll be using then tip into the pan - and then add a bit more).

Add most of a stock cube and the garlic clove and bring to a simmer, then add the meat and/or fish and cook for around 3-4 minutes (timings will depend on what meat or fish you're cooking and how big the cubes of meat are).

As I wasn't using fresh coriander, I also added the jarred coriander to the pan while the chicken was cooking.

Add the cooked rice towards the end of the meat's cooking time and simmer a little longer.  When I was shown how to make this soup, I was told to cook until the 'rice gets big', as it will swell a little more as it cooks in the broth.

After maybe a minute, add the spring onions and take off the heat, and add some coriander if using.

Crack an egg into each bowl for those that are having egg.

Spoon the chicken and rice into each bowl first and top with the hot broth.

Delicious served with garlic fried in its skin, or simple condiments of sugar and dried chillies to taste.  Or just plain as it comes if you're ill or have an upset tummy!

The egg is lightly poached in the broth and adds beautiful golden swirls of yolk to the soup when broken.

I hope you like this recipe!  Do let me know if you tried it ...

---

---

YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE ...

Larb moo - spicy pork salad

This spicy salad is perfect for a light lunch or supper, or served with rice to make a more substantial meal.  It's really easy to make - being more about assembly than cooking.  I like very spicy food, so do use less chilli if you're less of a fan.

Serves 2-4 depending on greediness and what else you eat with it ...

1/8 cup risotto rice (to make roasted rice)

300g tenderloin pork, minced

2-3 limes

1/2 knorr stock cube, or a teaspoon of stock granules

1 spring onion, chopped

1/2 red onion (or shallots), chopped

handful each of mint leaves and parsley, chopped

1 tbspn crushed dry chillies

2 tbspn fish sauce

red chilli, sliced for garnish

little gem lettuce leaves, to serve

Let's make the roasted rice first.  The salad will still be yummy without it, but it adds a really authentic texture to the dish.  I think this is usually made with sticky rice but, as I don't have any, I use ristotto rice (my reasoning being that risotto rice is also quite starchy) and it works fine. I'm pretty sure normal rice would work too - worth a try before buying anything specially anyway!

1. Heat a pan, and pour in the rice.  Keep turning and stirring it on a low heat until it turns light brown (in about ten minutes).

2. When it's cool (burning grains are so not fun), crush until fine - a pestle and mortar is good, a hammer or rolling pin would do. I use a coffee bean/spice grinder which makes it really easy!

Get the other ingredients together ....

... and chop and slice the onions, herbs and chilli.

I use tenderloin of pork as it's what I was originally taught to make the dish with, and for the same reason, I like to mince it by chopping it.  You could just throw it in the food processor - I tried this today for the first time and it worked perfectly.  Or, of course, you could just buy mince in the first place.

3. Heat a pan (I just used the same one as the rice had been in) and when hot tip in the minced pork and squeeze over the juice of one lime.

4. Keep stirring until the pork is thoroughly cooked which will take 5-10 minutes - but don't overcook it.  Add the stock cube or granules in the last couple of minutes.

5. Tip the pork into a bowl and stir in the spring onion, red onion, mint and parsley, and mix together.

6. Add the roasted rice powder, dried chillies, lime juice from the remaining 1-2 limes (to taste) and fish sauce and mix again.

Served in little gem lettuce 'cups' and garnished with red chilli - this is easy to eat and really fresh tasting.

I would love to know if you liked this recipe, or if you tried it with different meat, or amended it at all ... do let me know.

---

---

YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE ...

Kai jeow - Thai omelette

A rainy Sunday calls for possibly the most comforting of all comfort foods, a savoury Thai omelette served with rice and a chilli dipping sauce.

Quick and easy to make, I like it best made with a little ground pork and spring onion, but occasionally have it plain, when its simplicity is somehow also luxurious. For a more substantial veggie option, fry some sliced peppers and mushrooms in place of the meat.

I’d put the rice on to cook first so it’s ready to serve as soon as the omelette is cooked.

With that underway, make the nam prik sauce, which will keep in an airtight jar in the fridge for up to two weeks and goes with almost everything – plain rice, grilled meats, baked fish, noodle dishes and many, many more.

There are probably a million different variants of this sauce, so do adjust the lime juice, fish sauce or sugar to your own taste.

4 tablespoons fish sauce

juice of 1-2 limes

4-6 sliced birds eye chillies (today I used two green and then two normal red chillies as I didn’t have birds eye)

1-2 teaspoons sugar

2 cloves of garlic, very finely chopped

Put all the ingredients in a bowl and mix thoroughly to dissolve the sugar.

Note: to be honest, you can make an extremely good sauce with literally just fish sauce and some chopped chillies - and this is what I usually make as it really couldn't be any easier.

And now for the kai jeow.  This makes one.

cooking oil

a little ground/minced  pork (maybe 1-2 tbspn)

two eggs

fish sauce

soy sauce

one spring onion, chopped

white pepper

coriander

Heat a wok or frying pan and add quite a bit of oil, enough to cover the bottom of the pan.

When the oil is very hot add the pork if using and cook for two or three minutes.

While the meat cooks,  break two eggs into a bowl and add a couple of dashes each of fish sauce and soy sauce, the chopped spring onion and a shake of white pepper.

Beat the egg mixture until frothy – you want as much air in it as possible – and then pour it into the very hot oil, where it will start to go fluffy.

Cook until brown and slightly crispy on one side, then turn and cook until the other side is browned too but the inside still soft.  Just fold in half if you don’t want to try to flip it all at once.  I tried and broke this one, but hey ho.

Make the rice look nice by packing it into a little plastic bowl (china doesn’t work for me, only the plastic one), putting the plate on top and turning it out.

Add the omelette on top, sprinkle with chopped coriander, and serve with the nam prikdipping sauce.

So is this the most comforting of all comfort foods?

Let me know what you think …

---

---

YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE ...

'Mince and noodles'

This is a very good dish to have up your sleeve – easy, tasty, and a great addition to the list of Things To Make With Mince.  I  first had this at my sister’s house in Norfolk, and copied down the recipe – which I have since lost, but it’s so easy I just make it the way I remember it.  If I can find where it came from I will both credit the cookbook of course and check to see if the way I make it is in fact the same as the original recipe. Oh, and perhaps give it a name too!  But for now, ‘that lovely mince and noodle thing’ it is.

The mince and noodles are quite rich and dense, so this dish does need some freshness by serving it with a quick salad. I normally just slice or speed-peel anything salad-y that’s around so today used carrot, mangetout and spring onions, although I did wish I’d had some cucumber too.  Some slices of red chilli and a good squeeze of lemon juice completes it.  Served with prawn crackers and home made sweet chilli sauce (see earlier recipe), this makes a very satisfying dinner.

To serve two

250g beef mince

2 tablespoons soy sauce

1 teaspoon garam masala (or curry powder)

1/2 teaspoon each salt and pepper

2 tablespoons plain flour

1 tablespoon cooking oil

2 sticks celery

2 cloves garlic

approx 300-400 ml stock (I used a whole Knorr cube)

noodles (pre-cooked or cooked as per instructions)

2 tablespoons red wine vinegar

1-2 teaspoons dried chilli flakes

chopped coriander

Salad, prawn crackers and sweet chilli sauce to serve

Put the mince, soy sauce, garam masala, salt, pepper and flour into a bowl and mix together.  My flour looks a little pink in this picture as I keep a tub of plain flour seasoned with salt, pepper and smoked paprika to use in recipes or to coat lovely things like haloumi before frying.  Just scrunch it all together and then leave for a few minutes.

Dice the celery sticks and chop the garlic, ready to use, and in a small dish mix together the vinegar and chilli flakes.

Heat the oil in a frying pan and add the mince, stirring whilst cooking until browned.

Add the celery, garlic and stock and simmer for 15-20 minutes

Add the noodles for the last few minutes of cooking time to heat right through. I used the pre-cooked ‘straight to wok’ type but some wide rice noodles would work really well and be a little lighter.

Remove from the heat and stir in the vinegar/chillies mixture.

Turn out onto a platter or serving dish and scatter with chopped coriander, and serve with the salad, prawn crackers and sweet chilli sauce.

Have you tried this? Let me know what you think or any suggestions in the comments box.

---

---

YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE ...

Yam moo grop - crispy pork belly salad

Moo grop is the delicious pork belly that can then be used in so many dishes (if you can manage not to just eat it hot and freshly cooked, that is) … and I’m going to have to work on cooking that properly as today I used strips of pork belly and really over-cooked them.

They still tasted good though in this spicy salad that we had with rice. I know that for a fact as we dived in and started eating and completely forgot to take any pics!

So you’ll have to trust me on this one, that these pork belly strips, when over-cooked were still good … (no I’m not posting a pic of them when cooked!). I rubbed salt into the scored rind, and massaged in a little soy sauce, Chinese five-spice and a tiny drop of olive oil.

And that those bits of rice and carrots looked totally different and much prettier at the start of dinner than they do at the end.

Anyway, if you can cook some pork belly with lovely soft meat, and crispy skin, and then cut it into cubes (and not just eat them there and then) … do try putting them into this salad.

---

I've made it again! 

This time I cooked the pork belly much better ... 

into the remoska - but you could put them in the oven covered with foil

oh my goodness, delicious

Yes, I did remove most of the fat ...

---

If you’re serving with rice,  then cook the rice first so it’s all ready to go when you’ve assembled the salad.

For two people, I used:

approx 400g crispy pork (2 slices pork belly each)

1 pretty huge carrot, or of course use two normal sized

Half a white onion

2 tomatoes

2 sticks of celery

3 spring onions

And for the dressing:

4 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice

2 tablespoons fish sauce

1.5 teaspoons sugar (I only had granulated but caster would be better if you have it)

2-3 birds eye chillies depending on how spicy you want it!

---

Shred the carrot, finely slice the onion, and slice the tomatoes, celery and spring onion …

---

Here's the salad the second time I made this ... and the dressing ...

---

In a bowl mix the lime juice, fish sauce and sugar until the sugar dissolves and then add the chillies.

Add most (or as much as you like) of the dressing to the salad and with clean hands toss it all together to properly combine.

Serve in a big pile on a plate with perhaps some coriander if you have any and if liked to garnish, and with rice, and with the remaining dressing in a bowl in case people want more.

Next time I make this, I’ll make sure to get a picture.

---

I did! And here it is ...

---

---

YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE ...

Thai-style roast chicken - sort of gai yang

There’s so many reasons for choosing to cook what we do every night for dinner – often it’s planned, or something needs using up, or it’s just what you fancy.

But tonight … tonight I chose to cook this purely and simply because I wanted to chop it up.

Yup. I just really wanted to chop a whole chicken bones and all with my cleaver and see if I could do it ‘Chinese style’ rather than neatly carving it.  And that is the reason we are having roast chicken tonight.

Oh … and because I have some cucumber dipping sauce left over from the weekend I think will go well with it.

So, easy delicious roast chicken.  Just put into a bowl – or straight into a remoska if you also have one (I love mine – plus my oven’s on the blink):

1 tsp salt

2 tsp sugar

1 tsp white pepper

1 tsp ground coriander

6 drops doTerra lemongrass essential oil OR

1 stalk of lemongrass (outer tough part removed, cut into a few pieces + bashed with a rolling pin)

Zest of a lime

4 tbspn fish sauce

2 tbspn oil

Mix it all together and rub over and into the chicken (if using lemongrass stalk just throw it in the roasting pan).

Then cook until done! It takes about 90 minutes.

And then the exciting bit! I looked at a few videos and read some instructions and attempted to chop it all up.

Definitely the fun bit!

Serve with rice and sweet chilli sauce and cucumber sauce if – like me – you have some to use up.

Any day is better for being a roast chicken day …

---

---

YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE ...