Tag: Thai

Pad thai chicken

~ Sophie ~ Leave a comment

So quick, so noodlycrunchyfreshtangysweetsavoury, so so tasty! Feeds 2

  • 250g wide rice noodles
  • 50ml tamarind paste
  • 2 tbsp water
  • 3 tbsp fish sauce
  • 3 tbsp sugar
  • 2 tbsp lime juice
  • 2 tbsp veg oil
  • 2 eggs, beaten
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 3 spring onions, sliced lengthways and cut into 2 inch pieces
  • 1 chicken breast, sliced into very thin pieces
  • 1 carrot, cut into 2 inch lengths and julienned
  • 100g crispy tofu pieces
  • Handful of beansprouts
  • Large handful roasted unsalted peanuts, crushed into coarse meal/small pieces
  • Fresh coriander, chopped
  • Couple of lime wedges

Word to the wise – do ALL your prep beforehand because this one moves fast once you start!

  1. Cook the noodles for 2 mins less than the packet says and then drain, rinse in cold water and leave them submerged in cold water until you need them (or soak them in cold water for an hour – I am never this organised)
  2. Combine the tamarind, water, fish sauce, sugar and lime juice
  3. Heat 1 tbsp veg oil in a wok, swirl it round and add the egg. Cook without breaking up for a couple of mins, then flip it for a moment and tip it out of the wok. Cut it into small pieces
  4. Re-heat the wok scorching hot, add the other 1 tbsp oil. Add the garlic and spring onions, stir together briefly
  5. Add the chicken and stir cook for 1 min. Then add the tofu pieces and julienned carrot, stir cooking for 2 mins more
  6. Turn the heat down to medium, add the drained noodles and stir in, then pour in the tamarind sauce
  7. Continue to cook and stir until the noodles are soft and the sauce has mostly been absorbed
  8. Stir through the bean sprouts and half the crushed peanuts
  9. Serve immediately in 2 big bowls, topped with fresh coriander, the rest of the crushed peanuts and a lime wedge on the side. Tuck. In.

Thai green curry paste

~ Sophie ~ 1 Comment

Fresh, spicy, the basis of a delicious green curry. It’ll poke you in the tongue and leave you wanting more. Makes enough for 4 or 5 curries, keep it in the fridge

  • 1 tbsp coriander seeds
  • 2 tsp cumin seeds
  • 1 tsp black peppercorns
  • 6 cloves garlic, peeled and roughly chopped
  • 5 stalks lemongrass, trimmed and roughly chopped
  • 1 inch ginger, peeled and roughly chopped
  • 2 inches galangal, peeled and roughly chopped
  • 1 shallot, roughly chopped
  • 20g fresh coriander
  • Zest of 2 limes
  • Juice of ½ lime
  • 7 green birdseye chillis
  • 3 green medium chillis
  • 1 tbsp fish sauce
  1. Toast the coriander and cumin seeds in a dry pan until fragrant
  2. Use a spice grinder to finely grind the coriander, cumin and black peppercorns
  3. Then use a mini food processor to finely grind and combine all the other ingredients, stirring in the powdered spices at the end

Thai green curry chicken

~ Sophie ~ Leave a comment

Fragrant, punchy and succulent. Soft poached chicken and crunchy veg, cloaked in copious sauce that does the miraculous task of being both spikily spicy and coconuttily creamy.

  • 2 heaped tbsp green curry paste
  • 1 tin coconut milk
  • 3 lime leaves
  • Juice of ½ lime
  • 300g chicken breast, cut into fine slices
  • 100g fine green beans, cut into short lengths
  • 1 tbsp fish sauce
  • ½ tsp salt
  • 1 tbsp sugar
  • 15g basil leaves
  1. Heat half the coconut milk in a wok over a high heat until it bubbles
  2. Add the green curry paste and stir together until it dissolves into the coconut
  3. Add the rest of the coconut milk and stir together. Bubble the mixture for 5 mins
  4. Add the chicken, green beans and lime leaves, stir in
  5. Turn the heat to medium and cook for a couple of mins, then add the fish sauce and sugar
  6. Continue to bubble and stir until the chicken is just cooked through, just a couple more mins should do it
  7. Turn off the heat and tear in the basil leaves

Serve over jasmine or basmati rice. Don’t eat the lime leaves. Do eat the delicous curry with a spoon. Maybe with a refreshing cucumber salad on the side.

Lemongrass beef stir fry

~ Sophie ~ Leave a comment

Fragrant, spicy stir fry. Serve with jasmine rice cooked with the lemongrass trimmings for an extra layer of flavour.

  • 2 tbsp oil
  • 2 lemongrass stalks, trimmed and grated with a microplane
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 2 red chillis, de-seeded and sliced
  • 300g rump steak, trimmed and thinly sliced
  • 100g baby corn, sliced in half lengthways
  • 1 carrot, sliced into skinny-thin batons
  • 1 tbsp tamarind paste
  • 2 tbsp brown sugar
  • 2 tbsp fish sauce
  • Juice of ½ lime
  • Handful coriander leaves
  1. Heat the oil in a wok until toasty hot
  2. Add lemongrass, garlic and chilli and stir, then add the beef and stir fry for 2 mins
  3. Turn heat to medium and add tamarind, sugar and fish sauce
  4. Stir in and add carrot and baby corns
  5. Cook, stirring, for 2 mins
  6. Add lime juice and fresh coriander and stir again before serving straight away

Thai red curry paste

~ Sophie ~ Leave a comment

Incredibly fragrant, punchy, deeply spicy and complex, this is the base for a brilliant red curry. The recipe makes enough for several curries, just store the leftovers in the fridge.

  • 1½ tbsp coriander seeds
  • 1 tsp cumin seeds
  • ¼ tsp black peppercorns
  • 4 red birdseye chillis (vary depending on how spicy you like it)
  • 2 big red chillis, de-seeded
  • 2 stalks lemongrass, trimmed
  • 1 tbsp coriander stalks
  • 2 inch piece galangal, peeled
  • 3 cloves garlic
  • 1 shallot
  • Zest of 1 lime
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1½ tsp shrimp paste
  1. Heat small frying pan
  2. Add coriander seeds and toast for 1 min
  3. Add the cumin and peppercorns and toast for a further min until they’re all fragrant
  4. Grind the whole spices in a spice grinder
  5. Roughly chop the chillis, lemongrass, coriander stalks, garlic and shallot
  6. Then puree everything together in a blender with the ground spices, lime zest, salt, shrimp paste and a little water to a paste

Seal in an airtight jar (which you may never be able to use for anything else ever again due to the lingering smell – but it’s totally worth it) and store in the fridge.

Thai sweetcorn cakes

~ Sophie ~ Leave a comment

Delicious, spicy little splotches of sunshine to make your mouth sing.

  • 6 spring onions, trimmed and roughly chopped
  • 1 red birdseye chilli, roughly chopped
  • 2 stalks lemongrass, trimmed and roughly chopped
  • 2 cloves garlic, peeled and sliced
  • Bunch of coriander stalks
  • 3 tbsp coconut cream
  • Juice of ½ lime
  • 3 heaped tbsp plain flour
  • 1 heaped tbsp cornflour
  • 2 heaped tbsp rice flour
  • ½ tsp baking powder
  • 1 egg, beaten
  • 1 large tin sweetcorn (325g), drained (keep liquid)
  • ½ tsp salt
  • Veg oil
  1. In the bowl of a mini food processor, whizz up the chilli, lemongrass, garlic, coriander, spring onions to a coarse paste
  2. In a big bowl, mix together the 3 flours, baking powder, egg and salt, creating a thick batter by using some of the liquid drained from the sweetcorn
  3. Add the spice paste and sweetcorn and mix thoroughly
  4. In a large pan on a medium heat, heat up the veg oil and fry tablespoons of batter until golden brown on both sides and just cooked through

Eat immediately, ideally with friends, ideally standing in the kitchen with a beer, snaffling them straight out of the pan. Dunk them in this dipping sauce on the way to your mouth. It’ll knock your socks off!

  • Mix together 4 tbsp lime juice (roughly 2 limes-worth) with 2 tbsp caster sugar, 1 tbsp fish sauce, 1 tsp rice vinegar, 1 tsp finely chopped coriander, 2 finely minced garlic cloves, 1 finely chopped birdseye chilli. Ideally make about 20 mins before you eat

Thai red curry beef

~ Sophie ~ 1 Comment

Intensely tasty curry with tender beef, crunchy veg and creamy, spicy, flavourful sauce.

  • 300g beef rump steak
  • 1 tin coconut milk
  • 2 tbsp red curry paste
  • 1 tbsp thai fish sauce
  • 3 lime leaves
  • 2 tbsp lime juice
  • 1 tin of bamboo shoots
  • ½ medium red pepper, cut into fine strips
  • Handful of frozen peas
  • 1 tsp sugar
  • 3 tbsp water
  • 1 tbsp ground roasted unsalted peanuts, crushed (not finely ground)
  • 20 fresh basil leaves
  1. Slice the beef into 5mm strips, trimming off any sinew or fat. This might be easier if the meat is frozen slightly so you could pop it in the freezer for 20 mins before you start cooking if you remember (I never do)
  2. In a wok over a medium-high heat, add the red curry paste and half of the coconut milk
  3. Stir to dissolve the paste into the coconut and cook on high heat, stirring constantly for about 5 mins
  4. Add the fish sauce, the other half of the coconut milk and turn heat down to medium
  5. Add the beef, lime leaves, lime juice, red pepper, sugar and ground peanuts
  6. Stir cook for a minute until it comes to a bubble then add the bamboo shoots and peas
  7. Cook for a couple more minutes until the beef is cooked as you’d like, then turn off the heat
  8. Taste and add more lime/salt/sugar as needed
  9. Roughly tear up the basil leaves and stir in
  10. Serve straight away over jasmine rice with a sprinkle of sliced fresh red chilli if you’d like

Tom kha kai soup

~ Sophie ~ Leave a comment

Thai chicken and coconut soup. Surely as good for fixing coughs and sneezes as traditional Jewish chicken soup. Pale and soothing in appearance, extremely comforting, but also aromatic and exciting to eat – the perfect balance of salt, sweet, sour and spicy.

  • 125g chicken breast, sliced into strips around 5mm thick
  • 100g cherry tomatoes, halved (optional)
  • 50g little button mushrooms, halved (optional)
  • 1 stalk of lemongrass, bashed with the back of a knife then cut into 3
  • 3 cm piece of fresh ginger, cut into 6 pieces
  • 4 lime leaves, torn in half (can substitute 1 tbsp lime juice
  • 1 red birdseye chilli, cut in half
  • 1 tin coconut milk
  • 250ml water
  • 2 tbsp lemon juice
  • 1 tbsp fish sauce
  • ¼ tsp sugar
  • Fresh coriander
  1. Put the coconut milk and water in a large saucepan on a medium heat for a couple of minutes but don’t let it boil. If it shows signs of boiling, just turn it down
  2. Add the lemongrass, ginger, lime leaves, chilli, mushrooms and tomatoes, stir in and cook for another 2 mins
  3. Add the chicken strips and cook on medium heat for 5 mins until they’re cooked through. Again, turn it down if it looks as though it might boil.
  4. Add the lemon juice, fish sauce and sugar and cook for another minute. Taste for seasoning.
  5. Totally optionally, this is the stage when you would pick out the lemongrass, lime leaves, ginger and chilli
  6. Serve straight away with fresh coriander leaves sprinkled over the top

Green mango salad

~ Sophie ~ 1 Comment

A brilliant summer salad to serve with something barbecued and spicy. Cool, refreshing, crunchy, sweet, sour, nutty, herby. It’s like a small and very delicious party in your mouth. A favourite with everyone who tries it. Feeds 4-6 as a side dish. Don’t worry about exact quantities – it’s very forgiving!

  • 1 large unripe mango – it needs to be unripe or it’ll turn to mush when you slice it
  • ½ red pepper
  • ½ small red onion
  • 4 tbsp fresh mint, chopped
  • 6 tbsp fresh coriander, chopped
  • 4 tbsp roasted unsalted peanuts, coarsely ground (not too fine, into small pieces rather than meal)
  • 6 tbsp roasted unsalted cashew nuts
  • 1 tbsp Thai fish sauce
  • ½ clove garlic, minced as finely as poss (a microplane grater is ideal for this)
  • 3 tbsp caster sugar
  • 1 tbsp lime juice
  • 1 tbsp peanut oil (or any unflavoured oil)
  1. Peel the mango using a vegetable peeler.
  2. The description of how to cut them is a bit complicated. If it makes no sense, just bear in mind that, at the end of the process, you should end up with a large pile of long and very thin strips of mango. Here goes… Lie the peeled mango on one of its broad sides and, holding it firmly and still, use a large (very sharp!) knife to cut into it lengthways from top to bottom in very narrow stripes down to the stone about 3-5mm apart. Cut a small slice off the base of the mango so it can stand on its end without falling over then stand it up and cut very thin layers off the sliced front of the mango. Turn the mango round and repeat the process on the other side. With the edge pieces where there is no stone, just chop them off and slice them separately
  3. Cut the red pepper into long, thin strips to match the mango
  4. Cut the red onion into wafer-thin half moons.
  5. Put the mango, red pepper, red onion, herbs and peanuts in a bowl
  6. To make the dressing, mix together the garlic, sugar, fish sauce, lime juice and oil. Stir until the sugar is dissolved. It smells quite pungent, but it tastes really good, so don’t worry!
  7. Pour the dressing over the salad and mix it all together so that everything is coated. Taste and adjust the seasoning if needed – it should be piquant with garlic, sour with lime, sweet with sugar, savoury with the fish sauce, and you should be able to taste all the different elements being delicious in perfect harmony.
  8. Serve immediately (or within the hour)