Thai Fried Noodles with Prawns

January 24th, 2012 § 0 comments § permalink

This stir-fried rice noodle dish is called “Pad Thai”. One of the national dishes of Thailand.

There are several regional variations, and this is my favourite version of Pad Thai recipe. It has a light, fresh and full of umami taste.

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— Thai Fried Noodles with Prawns (serves 2) —

180g Thai rice noodles (sen lek)

2 tablespoons lemon juice

2 tablespoons tamarind juice

1 & 1/2 fish sauce

1 tablespoon palm sugar or sugar

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 tablespoons finely chopped  shallot

8 raw king or tiger prawns, peeled and de-veined

1 egg

1 tablespoon pickled white radish, chopped into small pieces

1 tablespoon dried shrimps, ground or pounded

1/2 teaspoon chilli powder

2 spring onions, slices

40g fresh bean sprouts

3 tablespoons chopped roasted peanuts

Some chopped coriander for garnish

Lemon wedges for garnish

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Soak the noodles in lukewarm water for about 15 minutes. Drain and rinse under cold water, and drain well again. Set aside.

Mix the lemon juice, tamarind juice, fish sauce and palm sugar in a bowl.

Heat the vegetable oil in a wok or frying-pan, stir-fry the garlic and shallot over medium heat until golden brown. Add the prawns and cook until turn pink. Break in the egg and stir-fry quickly for a couple of seconds.

Add the drained noodles and stir-fry, pour over the sauce mixture, add the pickled white radish, dried shrimps and chilli powder and spring onions. Keep stirring until the noodles a cooked through for 3-4 minutes.

Transfer to serving plates, arrange the fresh bean sprouts over the noodles, sprinkle with chopped peanuts and garnish with chopped coriander and lemon wedges.

Pak Choi with Almond Garlic Chilli Oil

January 19th, 2012 § 0 comments § permalink

This hot and bold flavoured chilli oil goes great with stir-fried / steamed vegetables, plain rice or plain tofu. It spices up meals.

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— Pak Choi with Almond Garlic Chilli Oil (Serves 4) —

800g pak choi

Some vegetable oil for frying

*****

– for Almond Garlic Chilli Oil –

4 tablespoons sesame oil

2 cloves garlicm, minced

2 tablespoons onion, minced

1 teaspoon chilli flakes

1/2 teaspoon paprika powder

1&1/2 tablespoons light say sauce

1/2 teaspoon sugar

1/4 salt

20g toasted almond flakes

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Place the sesame oil, minced garlic, minced onion, chilli flakes and paprika powder in a small sauce pan. Heat over low heat, stirring occasionally for 10 minutes until the onion and garlic became golden.

Remove from the heat and let it cool slightly. Add the say sauce, sugar, salt and almond flakes and mix well. Set aside.

Cut the very ends off the pak choi and separate the leaves.

Heat some vegetable oil in a large frying-pan or wok, stir fry the pak choi for about 3 minutes until it’s lightly cooked.

Transfer the stir fried pak choi to serving plates and drizzle with the almond garlic chilli oil.

Spinach Risotto

January 15th, 2012 § 0 comments § permalink

I trust the power of spinach.

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— Spinach Risotto (serves 2) —

200g fresh spinach, washed

1/2 onion, finely chopped

1 garlic clove, finely chopped

2 tablespoons olive oil

180g arborio rice

100ml white wine

500ml chicken stock

A pinch of grated nutmeg

1/2 tablespoon butter

40g parmesan cheese, grated

Some grated parmesan cheese for garnish

Black pepper

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Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil, add washed spinach and cook about 1 minute. Drain in a colander and rinse under cold water. Gather up the spinach and squeeze out excess water. Chop the spinach into small pieces. Set aside.

Heat the chicken stock in a pan and keep it gently simmering.

Heat the olive oil in a large heavy saucepan, add the chopped onion and garlic, stir-fry for about 5 minutes over a medium heat until the onion has softened.

Add the arborio rice, stirring until all of the rice is coated in the oil. Add the white wine and boil for 1 minutes.

Add the simmering chicken stock a ladleful at a time, stirring occasionally, for about 15 minutes until all the stock is absorbed. When the rice is almost ready, stir in the spinach and butter.

Remove from the heat and stir in the grated parmesan cheese and nutmeg. Season with salt, if needed.

Sprinkle with parmesan cheese and black pepper.

Bacon Wrapped Asparagus

January 11th, 2012 § 0 comments § permalink

It’s time to wrap up cosy and warm. Asparagus wrapped in bacon. Pole wrapped in pink scarf. I wrapped in a blanket.

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— Bacon Wrapped Asparagus —

Smoked streaky bacon

Asparagus

Black pepper

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Trim the asparagus of the woody ends. Cut the asparagus into 1 inch pieces.

Cut the strip of bacon in 1/2, Wrap each piece of asparagus in the bacon and thread onto skewers.

Grill the skewers for 5-6 minutes, then flip and grill for another 5 minutes until the asparagus is tender and the bacon is crisp.

Sprinkle with freshly ground black pepper.

Lemon & Honey Upside-down Cake

January 6th, 2012 § 0 comments § permalink

I’ve been down with the cold for 2 weeks (well, I went out for drinking few times…),  and I’m very bored to stay at home now.

Lemon & Honey is the famous home remedy for cold. So, I made a Lemon & Honey cake today and eat it a lot with ginger tea.

Go, vitamin C. I really want to go out this weekend… please.

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— Lemon & Honey Upside-down Cake (7 inches round cake tin) —

– for sticky lemon & honey topping –

4 small lemons, thinly sliced

5 tablespoons honey

100g caster sugar

4  tablespoons water

*****

3 eggs

100g caster sugar

100g plain flour

100g ground almonds

1 teaspoon baking powder

120g butter, melted

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Preheat the oven to 170C/340F.

To make the sticky lemon & honey topping: place the sugar, honey and water in a frying-pan over medium heat. Stir until the sugar is dissolved. Add the sliced lemon and simmer for 15 minutes until the syrup became sticky and the lemon is translucent. Transfer the sticky topping into a cake tin (7 inches), arrange the lemon slices slightly overlapping to cover the bottom of the cake tin.

Place the egg and sugar in a bowl, whisk with electric mixer for about 8 minutes until the mixture is thick and tripled in volume.

Place the flour, grated almonds and baking powder in another bowl and mix well to combine.

Add the butter and flour mixture into the egg mixture, stir gently until just combined.

Pour the mixture over the lemon slices and bake for 40 minutes. Turn out onto a plate.

Snowball Cookies

December 27th, 2011 § 2 comments § permalink

I had a fever and had to stay in bed all day on Christmas.

Lightheaded, soft blankets, my fluffy kitten was next to me.

Fluffy, fluffy, fluffy. I felt like I was lying on the white snowfield.

Feeling nostalgic, it’s not bad. I miss snow.

Baked Avocado

December 17th, 2011 § 0 comments § permalink

Baked avocado has a delicious nutty flavour.

Drizzle with lovely honey mustard soy sauce .

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— Baked Avocado (serves 2) —

1 large avocado

1 tablespoon olive oil

1/2 tablespoon light soy sauce

1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

1 teaspoon whole grain mustard

1 teaspoon honey

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Cut the avocado in half, remove and discard pit.

Mix the olive oil, soy sauce, balsamic vinegar, mustard and honey in a small bowl.

Place the avocado on a baking try, cut side up. Drizzle the sauce over the top.

Preheat broiler, cook the avocado under the broiler about for 10 minutes until slightly golden.

Gougères – Cheese Puffs

December 12th, 2011 § 0 comments § permalink

Fluffy puffy cheesy pastries to huffy puffy.

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— Gougères – Cheese Puffs (makes 24 pastries) —

200g plain flour

1/4 teaspoon of nutmeg

1 pinch of salt

1/2 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper

220ml water

100g butter

4 eggs

100g grated gruyere cheese

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Preheat the oven to 200C/400F.

Combine the flour, nutmeg, salt and black pepper in a bowl.

Place the 220ml water and butter in a large saucepan and bring to the boil. When the butter melt, turn the heat to low and add the flour mixture all at once, stirring vigorously with a wooden spoon until it turns into a smooth paste.

Take the saucepan off the heat and let it cool slightly.

Beat in the eggs one at a time until a smooth and glossy dough forms. Then stir in about 2/3 of the grated cheese.

Using a piping bag or tow teaspoons, heap walnut-sized balls onto a baking sheet. Sprinkle with the rest of cheese on the top of the dough balls.

Bake in the preheated oven for 25-30 minutes until golden brown.

French Onion Soup

December 8th, 2011 § 0 comments § permalink

I just thought, “maybe there is some nice buildings or pretty trees if I turn right on the street” when I was going back home from the local super market today.

Then I got lost in own neighborhood for 2 hours. Ah, I remember, I have a terrible sense of direction…

I heard that onions are a popular folk medicine to help in boosting memory. So, I had a big bowl of onion soup today for never get lost around my house again.

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— French Onion Soup (serves 4) —

1 tablespoon butter

1 tablespoon olive oil

3 medium size white onions, thinly sliced

1 cloves garlic, minced

1 teaspoon sugar

100ml white wine

1.5 little vegetable stock or beef stock

4 slices French baguette

100g Gruyère cheese, grated

Some fresh thyme for garnish, finely chopped

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Melt the butter with the olive oil in a large saucepan over low heat.

Add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally for about 10 minuets. Stir in the minced garlic and sugar,   keep stirring for 30 minutes.

Add the white wine and stir in the stock and bring to boil. Simmer over low heat for about another 30 minutes. Season with salt and pepper if needed.

Toast the baguette slices.

Ladle the soup into 4 bowls, float a slice of toasted baguette in each bowl and sprinkle the grated cheese on the toast. Grill for 2-3 minutes.

Garnish with finely chopped thyme.

Spicy Lemongrass Tofu

December 4th, 2011 § 0 comments § permalink

I love this Vietnamese style tofu dish.

The crispy cubes of tofu are simply seasoned by lemongrass, a pinch of chilli and salt. Very simple dish but it has a beautiful flavor and aroma.

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— Spicy Lemongrass Tofu (serves 2) —

400g firm tofu, drained

3 tablespoons corn flour

Oil for deep frying

1 tablespoon vegetable oil for stir-frying

2 stalks fresh lemongrass, tender part only, very finely chopped

1 small chilli, very finely chopped

A pinch of salt

some coriander lives, finely chopped

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Cut the tofu into 1 inch cubes and pat dry with kitchen papers and lightly coat them with the corn flour.

Heat the oil to 340F/170C and deep fry the tofu until light golden, place them on kitchen paper to remove excess oil.

Heat the 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil in a large frying-pan, add the lemon grass and chilli, stir-fry for 2 minutes over medium heat.

Add the deep-fried tofu and season with the salt, stir-fry everything together for 2 minutes.

Turn off the heat, sprinkle with the chopped coriander leaves.

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