Brunch invention - ruam mit gratiem/kao pad

There was rice left over from cooking dinner last night and I'd been planning a kao pad gai - fried rice with chicken - for brunch this morning.  I don't know why I'm saying it like this was an accident - I had deliberately made more rice last night than was needed just so that I could have kao pad today!

But I was also thinking about the ruam mit gratiem I'd made and thinking I'd like to make it again as I'm not that familiar with it yet and it was so easy and so good.

The conversation I had with myself went like this:

'Oh good! Favourite fried rice today!'

'But I kind of fancy making that stir fry again - I could try it with chicken this time.'

'If you make a stir fry though you're going to have to make more rice and there's already cold rice sitting there.'

'But I don't know which to choose - I want both!'

'Well then have both! Mix them together into one!'

So that's what I did.  I love cooking just for myself - I can experiment away and also make things as spicy as I like.  And that's generally pretty spicy.

Note that you do need cold cooked rice for this as freshly cooked hot rice is just too wet to stir fry.

Here's how to make my hybrid brunch dish.

Chop a piece of chicken breast into small pieces and also chop a nice big clove of garlic.

Get a pan hot, add some cooking oil and when hot tip in the chicken and garlic.

Cook over a medium heat - hot enough to seal the meat quickly but not so hot the garlic burns - for four or five minutes until the chicken is cooked.

Remove the chicken and garlic to a bowl, tip out any excess oil and return the pan to a medium low heat.

Quickly add:

2 x teaspoons oyster sauce

1 x teaspoon fish sauce

1 x teaspoon thin / light soy sauce

1 x teaspoon sugar

1 - 2 x teaspoons dried chilli flakes (I'd suggest just one - I put in two and it was a bit too much)

Stir for a few seconds until mixed and thick and bubbling.

Then return the chicken and garlic to the pan and mix with the sauce.

Add the cold leftover rice and cook for a few minutes on a medium heat, stirring all the time, until the rice is hot right through.

Push the mixture to one side, add a little oil into the space and when hot crack in an egg.

Leave to cook for around 15 seconds until scrambling and combining with the rice and chicken mixture.

Stir fry until everything is mixed and the egg cooked.

Remove from heat and prepare any garnishes you like - I'm using a shake of white pepper, some coriander leaves and a few slices of red chilli.

Turn out the rice and chicken mixture onto a plate, or pack into a plastic bowl first to make it look nice, and add a few slices of cucumber too if you have it.

A very good brunch and I'm glad I made it, but I do still prefer a 'proper' kao pad I think.

What do you think? Let me know if you try this - or any other variation of it.

And I'm off now to make more coffee :)

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Tiniest-Thai-tradition: lemon vodka sours

Let's kick off the weekend with a cocktail!  These vodka sours aren't Thai at all but they do go exceptionally well with these lovely spicy cashews  - plus they're just delicious and very very simple.

You'll need a blender and you do need to make a sugar syrup first but do not be put off please!  

The sugar syrup is super easy to make and it'll keep in the fridge for a few weeks.

Make the sugar syrup in advance as it needs to be completely cooled down - just put one cup of sugar and one cup of water into a saucepan and bring to the boil on the lowest heat possible.  Then boil for three or four minutes, remove from the heat, cool then bottle or put into a jar and store in the fridge.

To make vodka sours for two you just tip into a blender:

A handful of ice cubes

Four shots of vodka

Two shots of freshly squeezed lemon juice

One shot of sugar syrup

One egg white

Then blend! Blend until the ice is totally crushed and everything is frothy and delicious. Then serve with a strip of lemon zest if liked - it just adds a bit of interest as otherwise the drink is very white looking.

Simple and absolutely my favourite drink (of the moment).

Let me know if you like them too!

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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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Lemon Prosecco Punch

I was going to save this a day and take some prettier pictures and stuff before I posted it but then decided to just ... share already!

It's so easy and such a great drink that you might want the recipe straight away for Saturday, not have to wait until Sunday for it.

And if you're looking for a snack to have with it, I can recommend these spicy cashews.

Anyway, onto the punch.

You'll need:

3 lemons

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup water

1 bottle of Prosecco

1/2 cup vodka

Peel the lemons in nice long thin strips.

It looks lovely if you can do a single lemon spiral thing but although I try every time I haven't managed this yet.  Just try and make the strips as long as possible and make sure you only have the peel and leave the bitter white pith behind on the lemon.  Put peel to one side.

Squeeze the lemon juice from all three lemons and set that aside too.

Put the sugar and water into a small pan and bring to the boil very slowly over a low heat.  Stir to make sure the sugar is fully dissolved and then add the lemon peel and simmer for two or three minutes.

Remove from the heat and let cool completely.

Pour the whole bottle of Prosecco into a jug or punch bowl, add the sugar syrup and lemon peel, and the lemon juice and then the vodka.

Stir and serve!

Next time I make it I won't actually put the lemon peel in the glass as, pretty though it is, it was annoying to drink.

I also served it in wine glasses rather than flutes as I heard Prosecco should be served like this - does anyone have any thoughts or knowledge on the best glass to use?

I hope you like the punch - do let me know if you try it.

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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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Turkish-style eggs

'Same same but not same same'.  That's the Thai bit done then!

These eggs (straight into 'rest of the world' category of course) are very delicious and a Middle Eastern take on the Italian eggs in purgatory.

This one isn't my recipe either (eggs in purgatory is a Nigella recipe) - it's my friend Amanda's and it was absolutely perfect for a weekend brunch after a wedding party the night before and even better for being able to be eaten outdoors.

These would be equally good of course for an easy supper or lunch.

Quantities are up to you but you'll need the following:

olive oil  (for frying so not extra virgin)

some onion, thinly sliced

red chilli, diced

roasted red peppers from a jar, sliced

tinned chopped tomatoes

salt and pepper to season

eggs, one-two per person

chopped coriander leaves and more sliced red chilli, to serve

minced garlic stirred into some plain yogurt, to serve

Heat the olive oil over a medium-low heat, add the onion and cook slowly until translucent (about ten minutes). Then add the red chilli and roasted red peppers and again cook slowly for about another five minutes, stirring occasionally.

Add the tinned tomatoes, season to taste, and cook until it's all good and hot and bubbling gently and then crack in the eggs and cover the pan.  Cook for a few minutes until the whites of the eggs are set and then bring to the table to serve or ladle straight onto plates.

Serve with chopped coriander and more chillies (if liked) and a spoonful of the garlic yogurt sauce.

Eat with bread, coffee, and ideally with sunshine.  And a gorgeous dog too if possible (also if liked) :)

Let me know if you make this; would love to hear if you liked it as much as I did!

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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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Pasta with lemon

Super-easy, super-quick lemon sauce for pasta and fittingly for today, a sunny day in June, it is sunshine on a plate. Best with long thin pasta like tagliatelle, spaghetti or linguine - but I make it with penne sometimes too.

A good lunch or easy supper, this goes well with a quick salad and it's also easy to add prawns or grilled chicken to make it more substantial. And lemon linguine alone makes an elegant first course.

My favourite sort-of-French-dressing uses:

3 tablespoons olive oil

4 tablespoons white vinegar

1 garlic clove, skinned and squashed (not chopped)

1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

Method (if you can call it that!) - put it all in a jar and shake, and add more of any dressing ingredient as needed to balance and until you're happy.

I put the jar into the fridge after using and every day just add more vinegar and/or oil as it gets more and more garlicky ...

The original recipe for the pasta with lemon is from Mireille Guiliano's 'French Women Don't Get Fat' and while her recipe serves four, this has been modified and serves two.

if adding prawns, I find it easiest to throw them in with the pasta for the last minute or two to heat or cook.

Make the sauce during the last few minutes of your pasta cooking, or when it's cooked, as it's very quick.

You'll need:

2 lemons

a good slosh of olive oil

around 100g-150g creme fraiche

approx 60g Parmesan

salt and pepper

Grate the zest of the lemons and halve one of them so you have it ready to squeeze into the sauce and grate the cheese.

In a saucepan, warm the olive oil and add the zest. Cook over a low heat for a couple of minutes.

Add the creme fraiche and bring to the boil, then squeeze in the juice of one lemon and bring to the boil again.

The easiest way to juice a lemon is to squeeze a half over your closed hand so your fingers catch the pips.

Cook for a couple of minutes, then add the grated Parmesan, season to taste and cook for another minute.

Combine with the cooked pasta and serve immediately.

Yep, sunshine on a plate and super-quick too :)

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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 ....

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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 :)

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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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