Spicy Prawn and Chicken Skewers

The temperature has dropped over the last week and we're in the sweet spot of outdoor living - which means barbeque time. I get a bit tired of the usual steak, lamb chops and sausages, so this weekend I marinated some chicken and prawns, skewered them and fired up the barbie to give them a lovely smoky flavour. An added benefit to skewers, is that it's a fun way to children to try new food, neither of the little chefs had eaten prawns before this weekend, but were happy to try them on a stick.

Marinades are typically acid and fat based, so in this case I've used coconut cream as the fat component and citrus as the acid, and thrown in some serious flavour from herbs. When marinating prawns, go easy on the citrus and add more just before cooking - adding it too early may cook the prawns before they've even hit the grill (though would make for a nice prawn ceviche). I buy my prawns at Megamart as they're the only supermarket that will devein as well as peel the prawns.

Prawn Skewers

• 500 grams prawns, peeled and deveined
• 2 tablespoons green curry paste (Mae Ploy, Thai King, or even better home-made)
• 1 teaspoon fish sauce
• 1 clove of garlic, minced
• small handful of thai basil, shredded
• 200 mls coconut milk
• 1 teaspoon grated palm sugar (use brown if you don't have it)
• juice of a lime
• 1/2 teaspoon grated kaffir lime rind (or 4 kaffir lime leaves, stem removed and shredded finely)

Method

1. Put all but the lime juice and prawns into a food processor and blitz until well combined and basil is finely minced. Squeeze in half the lime juice
2. Marinate the prawns in the mixture for at least an hour and up to 3 hours, stirring occasionally. Add in the juice of the remaining half lime.
3. Thread onto soaked skewers and grill for 5 minutes on the barbeque turning frequently

Chicken Skewers

• 500 grams boneless chicken thigh fillets, cut into 2cm cubes
• 2 tablespoons Tandoor Paste
• 200mls coconut milk (or 200mls thick natural yoghurt)
• juice of half a lemon
• 1 clove of garlic, minced
• 1 chilli, deseeded and chopped
• 1/4 cup coriander leaves

Method

1. Pop all of the ingredients except the chicken into a food processor and blitz until well combined.
2. Marinate the chicken for at least an hour or overnight
3. Thread onto soaked skewers and grill for 10 minutes, turning frequently

Bacon and Egg Pie

I grew up in a house of 8, so spending lots of time in the kitchen preparing dinner wasn't a luxury mum had (apart from desserts, love love love her desserts, and preserving - amazing what you can preserve), so dinner fare was pretty basic. We never ever turned our nose up at this traditional New Zealand favourite - it's simple to make, filling and tastes divine. We used to pop a wedge of it on a plate, smother with 'Watties Tomato Sauce' (tomato ketchup for you american folk), and pile the plate high with salad. We also had it many times cold for picnics. Every time I make (and eat) a bacon and egg pie, it brings back so many wonderful, nostalgic memories of family times.

Hubby too, is a big fan of bacon and egg pies, and because he's adamantly against Valentines Day, I couldn't resist making him a pie in a heart shape cake tin just for today :)

The recipe below is my basic recipe (don't say I didn't warn you, it is seriously basic), but I often add extras like cheese, spring onions, potatoes and peas, so experiment with the flavours you like.

Basic NZ Bacon and Egg Pie

• 300 grams good quality bacon, cut into 1 inch pieces
• 8 large free range eggs
• 400 grams puff pastry
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 egg yolk beaten with 2 tablespoons water

Method

1. Grease a deep dish pie tin well with butter. Roll out two thirds of the pastry and line the pie tin
2. Spread half the bacon on top of the pastry,
3. Break the eggs into the pie on top of the bacon and break the yolks, gently swirling the yolk and white together. Season with salt and pepper and top with remaining bacon.
4. Roll out the remaining pastry and place on top of the pie, crimp the edges of the pastry together.
5. Brush the beaten egg mixture over the top, cut a couple of holes in the lid of the pastry and bake at 180 degrees celsius (350 degrees fahrenheit) for 40 to 50 minutes until cooked through and golden on top.
6. Serve with a decent dollop of tomato sauce and a green salad

Red Wine Beef with Coriander Dumplings

I'm tired of waiting for summer to end to cook some hearty winter comfort food. Temperatures are still in the 40's but this week I cooked my first winter stew - Red wine beef with coriander dumplings.

The stews I remember from my childhood were hearty affairs with loads of vegetables, served with a mound of mashed potatoes and peas. I still love the simple flavours in the stews my mother used to cook, but I also like to punch them a bit with wine and herbs. I change out the mash as well with parnsip, celeriac or sweet potato and in this recipe I make some chunky floury dumplings to top it all off. As with any recipe, change things around to suit your tastes, subsititute parsley if coriander isn't your thing, leave out the parmesan cheese if you're not a fan, and add in potatoes or red kidney beans to change the texture.

Is there anything more comforting on a cold winters day (and I chuckle as I write that on a bright sunny Doha day) then a big bowl of stew, some fresh crunchy white bread and a pile of mash.


Red Wine and Beef Stew with Coriander Dumplings
This stew also freezes well, so make two, one in a tinfoil container so it's easy to reheat straight from the freezer.

• 2 kgs beef chuck steak, cut into 2cm cubes
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 5 rashers of bacon, chopped
• 1 onion, chopped finely
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 large tomatoes diced (or 1/2 can diced tomatoes)
• 2 large parsnips, chopped into 1cm pieces (I used carrots as couldn't find parsnips)
• 5 cups good quality beef stock
• 1 cup red wine
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme (or 1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme)
• 1 teaspoon worcestshire sauce
• salt and pepper to season
• 2 tablespoons cornflour mixed with 50mls water

For the dumplings

• 1 1/2 cup plain flour
• 4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 large eggs
• 2/3 cup milk
• 5 tablespoons chopped coriander (or parsley)
• 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese

Method

1. Heat half of the oil in a big pot and brown the beef (you might need to do it in two batches), set aside
2. Heat the rest of the oil in the pot and fry the bacon (you lucky thing), onions and garlic for  few minutes
3. Add the beef back in with the parsnips, wine, beef stock, thyme, tomatoes and worcestshire sauce. Cook stove top on a low heat for 1 hour.
4. Thicken with the cornflour and water mixture. Cook for another 10 minutes, and season with salt and pepper - transfer the beef mixture to a casserole dish.
5. To make the dumplings - whisk together the milk and eggs, and add the herbs. Sift flour, baking powder and salt into a bowl, then add the egg mixture and parmesan and stir. The mixture will be quite sticky.
6. Put teaspoonfuls on top of the stew about 1cm apart and bake in the oven at 180 degrees celsius (350 degrees fahrenheit) for 15 minutes until dumplings are puffed up and golden on top. Serve quite simply in bowls with some crusty french bread to mop up the sauce.

Asam Masak Merah (Tomato Chicken Curry)

Ok, so I'm taking a lot of license in calling this dish Asam Masak Merah. The traditional dish is usually prepared for special occasions like EID as part of a feast, it's spicy, crunchy, creamy and smells divine. My version is a creamier version, still with all the lovely fragrance and spice of the original, prepared quickly and served with lashings of spicy creamy sauce to spoon over the rice or mop up with flaky roti bread.

I've tweaked the recipe a little to make it easier to prepare, and most importantly I don't deep-fry the chicken first, which is the traditional way of preparing the chicken, and by far the tastiest as well - but adds a bit of time to preparing the dish. Don't shoot the messenger if this isn't what you're used to in this dish, but do try it as it's one of my favourite Malay curries.

I love cooking curries using chicken on the bone - the chicken stays moist and the marrow in the bone infuses a wonderfully earthy chicken flavour into the dish. Lately, I've taken it one step further and use a whole chicken which I cut up myself - finding good quality chicken pieces in Doha is not easy, and chopping the chicken makes me feel quite 'chefy' and a brings out the inner Hunter Gatherer in me.

Asam Masak Merah
Curry Chicken in a Tomato Sauce

• 1 whole chicken cut into pieces
• 1 tablespoon turmeric
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 10 large dried red chillies, soaked in water
• 3 cloves of garlic, chopped
• 2 large shallots, peeled and halved
• 5cm piece of ginger, peeled and sliced
• 2cm piece of galangal, peeled and sliced (optional)
• 2 stalks of lemongrass, inner white bits only, chopped roughly
• 5cm cinnamon stick
• 2 cloves
• 2 star anise
• 4 cardamom pods, bruised
• 420 gram can chopped tomatoes
• 420 gram can coconut milk

Method

1. Rub the chicken pieces with the turmeric and salt and set aside for 30 minutes
2. Pop soaked chilies, shallots, garlic, ginger, galangal and lemongrass into food processor with a little oil and blitz until it becomes a paste (alternatively use a mortar and pestle)

3. Heat the vegetable oil in a pan over medium high heat. Cook the cinnamon, cloves, cardamom and star anise for a few minutes until fragrant, add curry paste and cook until paste changes colour and oil starts to separate from the mixture.
4. Add chicken pieces and brown in the spices on both sides to seal

5. Add tomatoes and coconut cream, turn to low, and simmer on low heat covered for 45 minutes until chicken is cooked, stirring occasionally

6. Serve with roti and rice

Balsamic Caramelised Onion and Goats Cheese Pizza

It's Ramadan and a time for muslims to fast and reflect. As a non muslim in Qatar during Ramadan, it's a lovely lazy hazy time, as there isn't much happening during the day, and to be honest, at 50 degrees it is getting too hot to do more than pop out to the supermarket once a day for supplies, or dive into the pool to cool off. That means a lot of time indoors.

The little chefs are busy doing craft, playing the Wii or turning cushions, blankets and chairs into houses and forts, which leaves me plenty of time to indulge myself in the kitchen cooking up a storm, including cooking some freezer meals for the Green Box to deliver. Today I used their lovely goats cheese - you can order it online at http://www.thegreenbox.me/, along with their fabulous hormone free chickens and quality fruit and vegetables.

I love goats cheese - on it's own with crackers, in a cheesecake, where it adds a sharp tangy loveliness, or mixed with cream cheese, parmesan, herbs and nutmeg, popped on top of portabello mushrooms and grilled to cheesy perfection.

My favourite way to use it is in a tart or on a pizza, paired with some caramelised onions, and that's what the Green Box customers are getting today. I'm using chapati flour, as it's a lot less refined than white flour and creates a nice chewy base that crisps up well.

Caramelised Onion and Goats Cheese Pizza

This makes two large thick crust pizzas - for thin crust, use less yeast. I like to prebake the base for 5 minutes before putting the topping on - the onions can be a bit moist and I hate soggy bases.

Pizza dough

• 4 cups of wholemeal or plain flour (or a combination of both)
• 400mls of slightly warm water
• 3 teaspoons dried yeast
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1 teaspoon salt

Caramelised Onions

• 3 large white or brown onions, sliced
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

Goats Cheese

• 300 grams Goats Cheese with Herbs or 300 grams plain goats cheese mixed with 1/2 teaspoon each of thyme and oregano
• Olive oil to drizzle
• freshly ground black pepper

Method

1. To caramelise the onions, heat the oil in a large pan over low heat, add the onions and cook slowly, stirring occasionally for about 20 minutes. When the onions are translucent, add the sugar and balsamic vinegar. Turn the heat up to medium and stir frequently for about 10 minutes until the mixture is rich and caramelised. Watch it while it's cooking as it can burn once the sugar is added.
2. To make the dough, mix the water, sugar and yeast together and let stand for a few minutes until starting to froth. Put the flour, salt and olive oil in a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook (or into a bowl, just get ready to exercise those arms).

3. Add the yeast mixture to the flour mixture and mix. The dough should be moist, not dry, but not too sticky. Knead using the mixer, or by hand until the dough is smooth and elastic (if you poke it with your finger, it'll spring back into shape quickly). Have I mentioned before how much I love my Kitchen Aid.

4. Pop this into an oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap and leave for an hour or two to rise. Check out just how much it will rise.


5. Heat the oven to 200 degrees celcius (400 degrees fahrenheit), put an upside down baking dish, or pizza stone in the oven and heat for 10 minutes.
6. Roll half the dough out to about 0.5cm thick. Bake in the oven for 5 minutes
7. Remove from oven and spread with half the caramelised onion mixture, crumble the goats cheese on top, season with freshly ground black pepper and drizzle on a little olive oil. Bake for 15 minutes till base is crisp and cheese is a delicious golden brown.

Good Morning Vietnam

I know I know, the title is a cliche, but so appropriate, it's 6am in the morning, and I've just popped two onions and some ginger on the barbeque. It's not your usual hour to fire up the grill, but I have a hankering for a bowl of pho. It was my staple breakfast throughout Vietnam, and roasting the onion and ginger is the start to creating the divine stock that forms the basis of the soup.

I loved Vietnam - the crowds, the temples, the beaches, the sounds, even the crazy motorbike drivers (well maybe not), but everything else was fabulous. It's a country that overwhelms the senses, constant noise, vibrant colours and interesting smells, and the food (especially street food) is so much a part of the ambience. The food is prepared quickly, noisily, the colours are so bright they look photo-shopped, the smells are intoxicatingly heavenly and the tastes are a beautiful balance of salty, sweet, sour and spicy.

Walking the streets of Vietnam, I was fascinated by the women carrying the “don ganh” (or yoke), In the baskets attached they carried a portable kitchen and restaurant - in one basket a charcoal grill, with a large pot of simmering stock. In the other stacked bowls of noodles, fresh herbs, sliced meat, spoons, bowls and cups, and plastic stools. They stopped on demand and set up shop, delivering a fabulous tasteful bowl of Pho (a rich noodle soup, laced with fragrant herbs, and finished with lime and chillies to taste).

My favourite place to eat was the market - try it if you're ever in Vietnam. Head to the local market, sit yourself down on a rickety plastic stool, and get ready to have a taste experience you‘ll love. You’ll be encouraged (vigorously so) to try everything, and as cheap as it is why not, from freshly made spring rolls in Ho Chi Minh City, to Ban Xeo (steamed dumplings) in the historic and beautiful town of Hoi An, and the famous Pho (noodle soup) found all over Vietnam and cooked to perfection in Hanoi, the food will simply astound you.

Chicken Pho

(If you don't fancy making the stock from scratch, use 2 litres of a good quality stock, add 3 tablespoons fish sauce, 1 tablespoon palm sugar, 2 tablespoons coriander seeds, 4 whole cloves and 1 bunch of chopped coriander)

If you have the time though, give it a go, the taste of the stock is phenomenal.

• 2 brown or white onions, unpeeled
• 10cm piece of ginger, unpeeled
• 2 kilos whole chicken
• 1.5 kilos chicken bones (backs or thighs)
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 3 tablespoons fish sauce
• 1 tablespoon palm sugar
• 2 tablespoons coriander seeds, toasted in a dry pan for 1 minute until fragrant
• 1 small bunch coriander
• 1 packet of rice noodles, soaked in warm water for 20 minutes
• 2 cups shredded chicken (from the chicken cooked in the stock)
• 4 spring onions, finely sliced
• 1/3 cup chopped coriander
• 3 cups beansprouts
• small bunch of mint
• small bunch of thai basil, leaves only
• 3 small chillies, deseeded and sliced thinly
• 3 limes, cut into wedges

Method 

Make the stock

• Place the onions and ginger on the barbeque, or under the grill, and cook until skin is charred, turning frequently, this takes about 15 minutes. Remove from heat and cool.

• Rinse the cooled onions under warm running water, rubbing off the charred skin, cut in half. Peel the skin from the ginger and chop ginger in half lengthways
• Rinse the chicken under cold water, using a big knife, make bone cuts every two inches on the chicken, this releases the bone marrow and adds flavour to the stock
• To make a clear stock, parboil the chicken first - cover the whole chicken and chicken pieces with water in a stockpot, bring to the boil and boil for 5 minutes. Dump into the sink and rinse the chicken pieces and chicken.
• Pop back into the pot and add 6 litres of water, and bring back to the boil, skim off any scum that floats to the top. Add the onions, ginger, salt, fish sauce, sugar, coriander seeds, cloves and coriander and cook uncovered for 30 minutes.  
• Remove chicken, cool slightly, remove the breasts and chop off the legs. Cover and refrigerate. Put the carcass back into the pot with the bones and simmer stock gently for about 1 1/2 hours
• Strain through a fine mesh sieve lined with muslin cloth and set aside

Putting the bowls together

1. Bring the stock to the boil
2. Place a portion of noodles on a mesh strainer and dunk the noodles in the stock for 20 seconds until they collapse. Pop into a bowl, top with the green onions, sprouts and coriander
3. Place shredded chicken on top, and ladle the stock on top of the noodles

4. Serve immediately and add the mint, thai basil, chillies and limes to taste

Hainanese Chicken Rice

We all have comfort foods, those foods that we turn too when we want to enjoy the flavours, but also bring back the sounds, smells and tastes of some fantastic memories. I spent a long time in South East Asia, and I love the crisp clean flavours, I close my eyes and I can see the vivid colours - red chillies, green limes, vibrant coriander and delicate crystals of palm sugar. I can smell the galangal, the sharpness of lemongrass, the hint of aniseed in thai basil, and the nose wrinkling pungency of fish sauce. And one of my most favourite dishes is Hainanese Chicken Rice, it's a delicate blend of ginger and green onion stuffed chicken, poached in water with a hint of sesame oil, and served with garlic & ginger rice, and hot chilli sauce, both made with the liquid the chicken is poached in. It's a simple, peaceful dish, it doesn't need powerful flavours and it doesn't pretend to be anything that it isn't. It just is!

for the chicken,

• 1 whole chicken, about 1.8 kgs
• coarse salt
• 2 large thumbs (8cm long) ginger, sliced
• 4 spring onions, chopped into 2cm pieces
• 1 teaspoon sesame oil

the rice

• 2 tbsp vegetable oil
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 cm piece of ginger, grated
• 2 cups basmati rice, washed and rinsed
• 2 cups of the chicken stock that the chicken was cooked in
• 1/2 teaspoon sesame oil

and finally the chilli sauce

• 1 tablespoon lime juice
• 3 tablespoons of the chicken stock the chicken was cooked in
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 4 tablespoons hot chile sauce
• 4 cloves garlic, grated
• 2cm piece of ginger, grated
• a generous pinch of salt, to taste

 Method

• Scrub the outside of the chicken with the coarse salt to remove any residue on the skin, rinse thoroughly.

• Stuff the chicken with the ginger slices and spring onions.

• Pop it into a large stockpot and cover with water, and add the sesame oil. Bring it to the boil and then turn down and simmer. Skim the froth of the top of the water. Cook for about 45 minutes until chicken is done. Remove chicken and reserve the stock. Keep the chicken warm wrapped in tinfoil

• For the rice, place the oil and garlic and ginger in a pan and heat on medium heat until garlic and ginger are sizzling, Add the rice and sesame oil and cook for 2 minutes. About now, I'm in heaven with the smells from the rice, yummmm!

• I now pop this mixture into the rice cooker with the chicken stock and cook. To make it in a pot, add the stock and bring to the boil, lower the heat and pop the lid on. Cook for 10 minutes, take the pot of the heat leaving the lid on and set aside for 10 minutes to absorb the rest of the liquid.
• For the chile sauce, put all of the ingredients into a blender and blitz.
• Heat the remaining stock for soup
• Slice the chicken ready to serve. Serve the chicken with the rice, the chile sauce and the rest of the stock.

And enjoy!

A mixed bag this week

It's been a busy couple of weeks, I morphed into a crazy cookie lady, baking and decorating a couple of hundred cookies for Valentines Day. I have to show off my favourites, see!

 

 

I also made a bunch of dips to showcase the organic vegetables that The Green Box (www.the-box.me) gets from a local farm here in Qatar, and we went out to see the farm last week - the kids had a great time riding around on bikes, and I loved walking around the farm picking and eating organic cucumbers and tomatoes straight from the vine. Here I am at a Health and Wellness Fair, don't the dips look fab!

 

 

 

Here's the recipe for the beetroot dip, so simple, but absolutely delicious, and great with Arabic bread or chopped veges. You can also make it with drained, canned beetroot as well.

 

Beetroot Dip 

• 5 beetroot, washed
• 1 1/2 cups yoghurt
• juice of a lemon
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1/2 teaspoon of ground cumin, ground coriander, paprika
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• salt and pepper to taste

 

Method

1. Boil the beetroot for 45 minutes until cooked, cool and peel (use plastic gloves, unless you like your hands a lovely blush shade of red)
2. Pop them into the food processor and blitz until smooth
3. Add the rest of the ingredients and blend well.

 

And finally...I struggle to find healthy tasty meals that the kids will enjoy, but struck a winner this week with a simple lightly spiced cajun chicken pasta. You can use sundried tomatoes, or in my case, I had some tomatoes in the fridge that I dried in the oven last week (I know...I'm a bit of a girlie-swot when it comes to the kitchen). They're really easy though, so do try them, and they're not slathered in oil like the supermarket kind - cut the top off 20 tomatoes, cut them in half, sprinkle with sea salt and pop them cut side up on a baking rack (with a tray beneath it) in the oven, put the oven on the lowest setting you can, and leave them there for between 6 and 12 hours, mine were quite large, so they took 12 hours. They keep for weeks in the fridge.

 

 

 

 

And here's the pasta recipe, I used a short pasta, but think it would be amazing over some thick long parpadelle.

 

Cajun chicken Parpadelle

  

2 medium chicken breasts, cut into thin strips 

2 cloves garlic minced

2 teaspoons cajun seasoning

2 tablespoons butter

1 teaspoon olive oil

2 spring onions, thinly sliced

1/2 cup cream

1/2 cup milk

2 tablespoons chopped sun dried tomatoes

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon fresh basil, chopped 

ground black pepper

grated parmesan cheese to top

  

Method

1. Heat the oil and butter in a pan over medium heat and stir fry chicken for 5 minutes until almost cooked, add cajun seasoning, spring onions and garlic and cook for 1 minute
2. Add cream, milk, sundried tomato and cook for a few minutes until sauce has started to thicken, add fresh basil and ground pepper and salt, and stir
3. Serve over cooked long pasta, like parpadelle or fettucine - add the pasta to the pan and toss till all of the pasta is coated in the sauce, serve topped with parmesan cheese

Pad Thai

One of my favourite weekday meals is Pad Thai  (actually its one of my favourite meals any day of the week) - google it and you'll find a plethora of recipes. A good pad thai can be cooked in 5 minutes, and is the just the right heavenly mix of salty (from the fish sauce), sweet (from the sugar), spicy (from the chillies) and sour (from the tamarind and lime). 

 

Before you start to cook the pad thai, have everything chopped and ready to go. I like to keep my pad thai simple and I only ever cook one or two servings at a time, so that the wok stays really hot. I made the pad thai sauce earlier this week and popped into a big jar in the fridge, and it will keep for a few months - though never that long in my house, as I use it up fairly quickly.  I like prawns in my pad thai, but I also find it great for using up leftovers, so will pop shredded cooked chicken, and random vegetables in there (particularly for the kids). One of my biggest gripes about stirfrying is that the pan has to be so hot, the garlic and shallots can burn and become bitter, so here's a quick tip, pop the garlic and shallots into cold oil and then put the pan on to heat - as the oil heats, the garlic and onion will infuse flavour into it without burning.

 

 

 

Pad Thai

Serves 2 

 

Pad thai sauce

• 1/2 cup tamarind concentrate (the runny stuff in a jar)
• 1/2 cup palm sugar
• 1/4 cup fish sauce

 

Pop tamarind sauce, palm sugar and fish sauce into a pot and heat over medium heat, stirring, until sugar has dissolved. Pop into the fridge.

  

• 5 tablespoons pad thai sauce (or to taste, if you like it more saucy, pop more in)
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 shallot, or 1/2 small red onion, finely chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon chile powder (or to taste)
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup chopped spring onions
• 1/2 cup beansprouts
• 200 grams prawns, peeled and deveined
• 200 grams rice noodles
• chopped peanuts
• 1 lime, halved
• coriander to garnish (not traditional, but yum)
• chopped chillies to garnish

 

Method

1. Soak the rice noodles in warm (not hot) water for 10 - 15 minutes. You're looking for the rice noodles to free up, but still be fairly firm. It's better to undersoak then oversoak, as you can add water to the wok to cook the noodles more if needed
2. Put oil, garlic and shallots into a cold wok, or pan, and heat to a high heat. When the garlic starts to sizzle, add the drained noodles, pad thai sauce, chile powder and prawns
3. Stir constantly over a high heat for a few minutes until noodles soften and prawns are cooked.
4. Push noodles to the side and break in the eggs, scramble with the stirrer and when almost cooked, pop the noodles on top of the egg to finish off the cooking (about 1 to 2 minutes)
5. Add beansprouts and spring onions and stir for another minute, serve with a squeeze of lime, and garnish with peanuts, coriander and chopped chillies.

New Years Resolution: write a blog!!!!

It's the New Year, the kids are back to school and I don't have any cooking lessons or catering this week, so it's time to create my first blog. I'm excited and nervous at the same time.  I won't go into details about who I am as you'll find that in the 'who am I section' (seriously!). Let's get straight to the food. I cooked up such a storm of rich traditional food over Xmas that I'm craving easy light dishes rich in healthy vegetables. Last night we had a fabulously simple fried rice packed full of crunchy celery, crisp capsicum, tasty spring onions, tender chicken (from www.the-box.me/), and my one true indulgence in Qatar - fresh free range eggs (expensive but worth it).  Lightly seasoned with garlic, soy sauce and white pepper, it was delicious and made with leftover rice in the fridge, and pre-cooked chicken, it was on the table in 15 minutes. My biggest coup however was that the kids actually ate it. Now that's my idea of an easy meal, so easy I didn't take a photo, I must remember to keep my camera handy. Keep coming back to visit my blog for more tantalising recipes in the coming days, weeks and months...

Easy Fried Rice

(serves 2 adults and 2 kids)

• 3 cups cooked rice, seperate the grains
• 1 double chicken breast (about 400 grams), pre-cooked and shredded
• 2 rashers of bacon, chopped
• 3 spring onions - sliced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 stalk of celery, finely chopped
• 1 red capsicum, chopped finely
• 3 tablespoons light soy sauce
• 2 free range eggs
• 2 teaspoons vegetable oil
• 1/2 teaspoon ground white pepper
• chopped chillies

 

Method

1. Beat the eggs lightly, heat 1 teaspoon oil in a non stick pan over medium heat, add eggs and swirl around until eggs cover the bottom of the pan, cook for a minute until bottom is set and flip eggs over, cook for about half a minute, remove and chop with a knife
2. Reheat pan and add remaining oil, add bacon and cook for 2 -3 minutes until bacon is cooked, add garlic and spring onions, celery and capsicum, cook for  two minutes
3. Add rice, soy sauce, and pepper and cook until rice is piping hot, add eggs and cook another minute
4. Serve topped with chopped chillies if you fancy it spicy