Mexican Dips > Salsa 26 May 2008
Posted by cath in Recipes, easy, herbs, ingredients, mildly spicy, shopping notes, variations, very spicy.add a comment
Simple, spicy, tasty – try this salsa to go with all kinds of foods – not just mexican! I use leftovers in cheese sandwiches, with cold meats and salads, and of course as a relish for home-made burgers…
Ingredients
Tomatoes – 8-10 fresh tomatoes, roughly chopped*
2 Spring onions – finely chopped
Garlic – 2-3 cloves (to taste) crushed and chopped fine
Coriander leaf and stalk – small bunch, chop stalks finely, leaves roughly
Red/green chillies – 2-5 (to taste) chopped finely
1 tsp dried oregano
salt/pepper
tequila – 1 tbsp
lime juice – 1-2 tbsp (to taste).
Preparation
Combine everything in a bowl. Keeps in the fridge until needed.
If you’re pressed for time you can even chop everything roughly and blitz it in a hand blender or similar. I prefer it more rustic, but you can also blend it until it’s smooth if you prefer.
* Out of season, you can use tinned tomatoes, although I recommend draining them well first or the salsa will be very runny (use the juice in the chilli con carne, or reserve for pasta sauce, stews etc. – it keeps well in the fridge).
For something a little different try a tin of green tomatoes – again drain before use and substitute for the red tomatoes. You can buy green tomatoes in tins from Lupe Pintos in Edinburgh.
Basic Recipes > Chilli with Beans 4 April 2008
Posted by cath in Recipes, mildly spicy, variations, vegetables, very spicy.add a comment
My recipe for chilli is slightly inspired by Thai cuisine as I used to eat these very hot chilli con carnes out in Thailand. The recipe is quite spicy, with lots of fresh chillies, coriander and lime. Its nickname is “Tom Yum” Chilli because my Thai friend thought that it tasted like the hot and spicy Thai soup. Of course you should adjust the amount of chilli to your tastes.
This recipe below is actually a fantastic vegetarian chilli san carne, or you could try a variation with meat if you prefer.
Add guacamole and salsa, some tortilla wraps or chips to accompany the dish. You can use the basic stew recipe to make a variety of different Mexican inspired dishes…like this toasted chilli wrap.
Toasted Tortilla with Chilli, Sour cream, Salsa and Guacamole
Ingredients
1 tin Aduki beans, rinsed and drained then slightly crushed
1 tin Black-eyed beans, rinsed and drained then slightly crushed
1 tin Kidney beans, rinsed and drained
1 small handful of each red split lentils and puy lentils – rinsed (uncooked)
1 large onion – chopped
1 leek – sliced finely
2-3 sticks celery – finely chopped or grated
1/2 golden beetroot – grated (If you want to use purple beetroot, use sparingly as they will bleed purple into everything!)
1 small carrot – grated
6-8 cloves garlic – crushed and finely chopped
1 large handful of coriander (leaf, stalk & roots, if available)
4 large red or green chillies – finely chopped (or to taste, remove the seeds for less heat)
1 large red chilli sliced for garnish
1 Bay leaf
1-2 heaped tsp cumin powder (to taste)
1 tsp sweet paprika
1 pinch smoked paprika
1-2 tsp chilli powder (cayenne pepper)
2 tbsp dried oregano (use fresh instead or as well if you can get it)
salt and pepper
1 large glass red wine (or a small glass of port)
2 tins tomatoes (or use fresh chopped tomatoes)
A selection of vegetables like mushrooms, peppers, spinach – diced/chopped as appropriate
Juice of 1 lime
Method
- Heat a large pan, add a few tablespoons of oil (like Oleifera), you may need more as you cook all the vegetables.
- Fry the onion on low-medium heat, stirring occasionally. Just start to soften the onion, not brown it (about 5 minutes).
- Add the celery, leek and again fry off gently until they begin to soften (about 3 minutes), stirring gently.
- Then add the grated carrot and beetroot, fry, stirring gently – add a spoon more oil as required but don’t make it too greasy.
- Add the garlic, and taking the stalks and root from the coriander (save the leaf for later), chop finely and add to the pan. Stir again.
- [If you are using mince pork or beef, add it here and brown gently, stirring.]
- Now add the spices to the pan, the bay leaf and the dried oregano, a sprinkle of salt and pepper. Mix well and let fry gently for a minute.
- Get the crushed aduki and black eye beans, and the lentils and stir them into the pan with the spiced ingredients. Mix everything well.
- Add the wine, stir and let the alcohol evaporate.
- Add the tomatoes, break up the tinned tomatoes with the spoon. Stir well to combine. Add a large glass of water, and keep some at the side to add as required to loosen the mixture.
- Bring to a gentle simmer.
- Add the chopped mushrooms and fresh oregano if you have it.
- Simmer the dish with the lid partially on for 45-50 minutes, stirring occasionally, adding extra cold water if required (particularly if you are cooking lentils).
- With 10-15 minutes to go before you serve, add the peppers, check the seasoning and add more fresh chilli if required to taste.
- Add the drained kidney beans to heat through.
- With 5 minutes to go, stir in the spinach to wilt.
- Then remove from the heat, finish off with chopped coriander leaf and lime juice.
Serve with rice and sour cream.
Tips and Variations
Chilli is lovely with just mixed beans and vegetables as in the ingredients shown here, but you could also make it with pork or beef mince. Just substitute the meat for some or all of the beans and lentils. Add meat at the frying stage.
You can make chilli in advance as well. Remember that any beans in the dish will have continued absorbing liquid and flavour, which means you will need loosen the sauce with some extra cold water as you reheat it.
You can use any type of bean, or a mixture of different beans and lentils as I’ve used here. To save time, I usually use tins of pre-cooked beans, which will disintegrate more into the dish, but I also add some uncooked lentils to balance the different textures. Simmering the tinned beans gently in the sauce allows them to soak up the flavours. If you have time you could use dried beans and make everything from scratch – that way they will absorb even more flavour.
You can add any root vegetables you like – just grate and sweat them off in the base – they stew and melt into the sauce adding lots of flavour.
Chunks of mushrooms and peppers make a good addition to the dish, although you could use other vegetables – just put them in the sauce at the appropriate time to cook them through.
If you have any, you can also add some chopped fresh tomatoes at for a minute or two at the end of cooking for a fresher flavour (in season). Or try a tin of Mexican green tomatillos.
Seasonal Specials > Broad Beans 18 July 2007
Posted by cath in easy, specials, summer, variations, vegetables.add a comment
Broad beans are in season at the moment and taste fantastic fresh from the pod. The pods are larger than peas, but basically the same idea – unless they are very young (baby broad beans), you don’t eat the pod (but it does make a lovely stock for vegetarian food).
Broad beans go fantastically well with pancetta (plus this might help you get broad beans on the menu for those more fussy about their veg!).
Broad beans steam really well, taking about 5-6 minutes, but less if they are very small and young. Just remove them from the pods, rinse and steam. Serve with a knob of butter.
Here are two methods of cooking broad beans:
If you’ve got a few large handfuls of broad bean pods you can make a very quick and easy, vegetarian broad bean pod stock. Just cover the beans in water in a large pan, bring to the boil and simmer for 15 minutes. Strain out the pods and reduce the remaining stock. You can reduce it right down to a syrupy liquid and freeze in cubes (or small batches), or just reduce to taste. Stock with a good flavour and consistency will give you a base for making soup or risotto.
Broad bean pod stock (front) and
Pea pod stock (back) – reduced and frozen
You can mix pea and broad bean pods together, or do pea-pod stock in the same way. Don’t simmer for longer than 20 minutes – vegetables like these pods release their flavours quickly and can get bitter if overcooked.
Vegetables > Broad Beans with Pancetta 18 July 2007
Posted by cath in easy, summer, variations, vegetables.add a comment
For this recipe, take a large handful or two of broad beans, remove them from the pods.
Take about 2 inches of pancetta and cut it into slices (which look like Frazzles, those bacon crisps!) and then each slice into short sticks.
Find a frying pan which is the right size to fit a lid onto it. Heat the pan up, dry (or use with just a very small splash of oil, rubbed over the pan with some paper towel so that there is the barest coating. This can help the pancetta start to cook and not burn).
Now, fry the pancetta on a low heat, melting the fat and gradually crisping up the pancetta pieces. Be careful to agitate them and not to let them burn.
Once they are crisp, you may decide you have too much oil in the pan, if so remove some until you have enough to just cover the base of the frying pan. (You can use this oil to fry other things like mushrooms or onions, so keep it covered in the fridge.)
Now with the heat turned slightly higher, throw in the broad beans and mix them with the oil. When they start to sizzle, throw in a splash of water (it may spit a bit so be careful!) and quickly cover with the pan lid, after a minute or two, turn the heat down again. Shake the pan a few times during cooking, they will take about 5-10 minutes, depending on their size. Test one to check it is done. It should be soft (but not mushy!).
Remove from the heat and drain on a paper towel.
This makes a great simple side dish for a meal, or throw the cooked beans with some hot tomato sauce and stir it all into some cooked pasta – yum!
Broad beans, pancetta, tomato and pasta
Vegetables > Spiced Red Cabbage 17 January 2007
Posted by cath in Recipes, easy, mildly spicy, variations, vegetables.add a comment
Spiced Red Cabbage with Roast Pork, Parsnip, Mash, Apple Sauce
Cabbage is easy to get hold of this time of year. This is a nice way to cook red cabbage. The cooking method can be used with various herbs, spices and flavours in the cooking liquid. It can also be adapted for other cabbages, with different amounts of liquid and length of cooking time.
This recipe is for red cabbage with ginger, apple and nutmeg in a port and wine vinegar sweet and sour glaze. It’s all in one pot, and takes up to an hour to cook slowly followed by a quick simmer to reduce any excess liquid to a syrupy sauce.
This makes a large quantity (using up a whole cabbage) – but it keeps well in the fridge for 5 days. Reheat batches in the microwave for about 5 minutes or in a small pan on a low-medium heat for 5-10 minutes.
Ingredients:
1 red cabbage – shredded (less than 1cm thick strips)
1 red onion – thinly sliced
1 bramley apple or 2 tart smaller cooking apples – cored and sliced finely (no need to peel)
2 inches grated fresh ginger
1/4 of a grated nutmeg (don’t use the pre-grated stuff, it doesn’t provide enough flavour – buy whole nutmegs)
Salt and pepper
Butter and olive oil.
For the cooking liquor:
2 tbsp port
2 tbsp wine vinegar
1 cube frozen home-made chicken stock (or equivalent)
2 tbsp dark brown or muscovado sugar
4-8 tbsp water (as required)
Method:
Heat some butter and oil (roughly equal proportions) in a very large pan (large enough to fit all the shredded cabbage and other ingredients!) – use just enough so that it covers the bottom of the pan well.
Cook the onions on a low-medium heat until they are translucent but not browned, then add the apple and cook for a few minutes, stirring around.
Add the ginger, nutmeg. Stir through and cook for a minute more.
Rinse the red cabbage in a colander so that it is damp, add half of it straight to the hot pan and stir well. Then add the rest of the cabbage.
Add the cooking liquids.
Don’t worry that the liquid doesn’t cover the cabbage, it only has to provide steam for the cooking process. Any extra liquid you add will have to be reduced at the end of the cooking time, so keep it to a minimum. When you stir the dish occasionally during the cooking time you can add a splash or two of water if the pan is drying up.
Season well with pepper and a touch of salt.
Cover and simmer on a medium heat for 10 minutes until the cabbage had wilted. Then stir well to combine.
Turn down the heat and simmer gently for 30-50 minutes (depending how well done you want the cabbage and how thick you cut it), stirring occasionally.
Finally, when the cabbage is cooked remove the lid and turn the heat up to reduce any left over cooking liquor, stirring to coat the cooked cabbage in the thickened glaze.
Spiced Red Cabbage
Enjoy cookalicious cabbage! Great with sausages, roast pork, spicy chicken drumsticks…all kinds of things.
Variations:
Try using cinnamon, cloves, even dried chillies to make a fiery, extra spicy cabbage dish. You can use garlic, leeks or more onions instead of ginger too.
You can use almost any liquid. If you don’t want a sweet and sour effect using vinegar and sugar, just use more stock, water or wine instead.
For a savoy cabbage dish which is great with sausage and mash, try this which uses the basic method above with reduced cooking time and different flavours:
1 savoy cabbage – shredded (as above)
1 onion – finely sliced
1 stalk of celery – finely sliced
3-5 cloves garlic – finely chopped
1 glass white wine
Oil, butter, salt and pepper
Cook the onion slowly in oil and butter, then add celery and finally the garlic – do not brown, cook until soft. Add the cabbage, season with salt and pepper and pour in the wine. Cover and cook on medium heat for 5-10 minutes until wilting nicely. Then reduce the heat and cook for up to 20 minutes until the cabbage is soft but not mushy. You may have to remove the lid to reduce any excess liquid in the pan for the last 5-10 minutes.
Garlic Braised Savoy Cabbage
Basic Recipes > Sourdough Bread 11 January 2007
Posted by cath in Info and Cooks Notes, Recipes, bread, freeze-friendly, specials, variations.1 comment so far
Here’s a new bread recipe for the new year.
Sourdough Toast
Sourdough Experiment 1 – Prooving slowly in the fridge for 3 days.
This is something I’ve been meaning to try for a while – sourdough.
I’ve read that this is best made by using a small piece of dough kept wrapped in the fridge from the last batch of dough and kneading it into the next. Now, I haven’t got that far yet, although a small ball is currently fermenting in the fridge for the next sourdough experiment!
Meanwhile I tried a long, slow proove of half of my weekly dough batch to see if I could get a slightly sourdough effect. I was very pleased with the results.
Here’s what to do:
Day 1: Make a large batch of your favorite dough. I made two loaves with this amount of dough – 1 for immediate use, 1 for sourdough, so each loaf was 300g baked in a small bread tin (otherwise I would freeze the extra dough for use another time).
Try this mixture for 2 small loaves (cook one and keep one to try sourdough):
300g strong wholemeal and 300g strong white flour, 1.25 tsp dried yeast, 1.5 tbsp sugar, 2 tbsp milk powder, 1.5 tsp salt, 420 ml water and 3 tbsp walnut/olive oil mix (instead of butter) with 4 tbsp pumpkin, 2 tbsp sunflower and 1 tbsp linseeds). See my bread recipe for other options and more details. For full instructions in making dough see this post.
Now for the new stuff… Prooving dough overnight in the fridge makes the loaf a slightly different texture, so I wanted to experiment with that effect.
Dough does rise in the fridge (albeit slowly), so put the dough in a medium bowl (at least twice the size of the dough ball), covered with oiled clingfilm (oil-side down) and leave it in the fridge overnight.
Day 2: In the morning, the dough should had risen, so push it back down into the bowl – effectively knocking it back and removing the air. Then place back into the fridge. Repeated that in the evening and again in the morning of Day 3.
Day 3: Turn out the dough onto a floured surface (use bread flour again) and knead it for a minute by hand to remove the air bubbles. Then push the dough ball into a flat, roughly rectangular shape the length of your bread tin. Roll it up like a Swiss roll and place in the oiled tin. This should gives a perfect size and shape to fit the bread tin.
Replace the oiled clingfilm loosely and put it back in the fridge for 4 or 5 hours (minimum) where it will slowly take shape. Remove the bread from the fridge to warm up to room temperature and finish prooving before banking, this will take an hour or two - don’t let it puff up too far. Once it has shaped, put it in a pre-heated oven (at least 210 deg C) for about 20 minutes (longer for larger loaves) until it is browned and sounds hollow when tapped. Turn out onto a wire rack to cool.
The bread should be dense and heavier than a typical loaf. It should also keep a little better. It will also freeze well (try cutting slices to freeze so you can toast straight from the freezer). It makes lovely, crispy toast too. Hope you enjoy – and lookout for experiment 2 with my fermenting ball of dough…
Baking Tip:
For a crispier crust on the base and sides, try removing the bread from the tin for the last 5 minutes of the cooking time – excellent if you’re checking the bread for hollowness and it’s not quite done.
Prooving Help!
Accidentally left your dough to rise and puff up too much in the tin? Don’t panic! Just push it back in, removing all the pesky air bubbles and then wait for it to reshape again…just try to check on it more regularly to avoid it going too far. Your aim is always to double the size of the shaped dough that you put in the tin. The great thing about dough is that it doesn’t mind the odd hiccup, it will just need time to rise again.
Stir Fry > Spicy Sweet and Sour Pork with Vegetables 29 November 2006
Posted by cath in Recipes, mildly spicy, stir-fry, variations, vegetables.2 comments
Spicy Sweet and Sour Pork with Vegetables
This isn’t the battered pork balls that you may think of when you think of sweet and sour pork – instead, this is a Thai/Chinese fusion of healthy, local, in season vegetables, with lean pork, stir fried in a spicy sweet and sour sauce.
I like to try and encourage home cooking, and all in one dishes are a popular choice. The stir fry, although Asian in influence is made with mostly local produce – carrots, courgette, Savoy cabbage, sprouting broccoli, onions, garlic, mixed mushrooms, tomatoes and fresh coriander. The only imported ingredients are my chillies and ginger – not bad.
Any lean pork will do, here I’ve used tenderloin – that’s like the fillet of beef in pork. The meat has a mini-marinade before cooking. This is often the case with Chinese recipes and can be done for as little as 5-10 minutes, or you could leave it longer but not overnight. I usually prepare the meat first then leave it to marinade for a bit whilst I chop the vegetables.
Preparation
The sauce is easy – I’ve used it before.
- 2 tbsp pineapple juice (from the tinned pineapple)
- Juice of a lime
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tbsp fish sauce
- 1 tbsp oyster sauce
- 3 tbsp ketchup
- 1 tsp sugar
- a dash of tomato puree for colour.
Just mix it together in a bowl and set aside.
The ingredients
(Clockwise from Top-left: Sweet and Sour Sauce, Pineapple pieces, coriander, chili and tomatoes, chopped courgette and cabbage, carrot and broccoli, sliced onions, garlic and ginger. Bowl of mixed mushrooms in the centre.)
- Thinly slice the pork and combine it in a bowl with 1 tbsp dark or light soy sauce, 1 tbsp Shaoxing rice wine (or you can use white wine or dry sherry if you have it) and 1 tbsp sesame oil with 1 tbsp of cornflour.
- Chop the vegetables – carrots, courgette into thin sticks, cabbage thinly sliced, small sprouts of broccoli trimmed, slices of mushroom. You can chop more than you need for one night and keep half aside for an even quicker meal the next day. (If you have this dish with noodles rather than rice that also makes it quicker).
- Chop the base ingredients – thin slices of onion (red or white as you like), garlic and ginger.
- Chop a couple of tomatoes if you still have some from the “summer”, some chillies (2 large red chillies is a good heat) and some coriander stalk and leaf.
- Drain a tin of pineapple (natural juice or fresh if you can get it) and chop into bite-size pieces.
Cooking Instructions
When you’re ready to cook, start with the rice. The stir-fry will take only 5-10 minutes to complete, so when you’re ready to begin cooking, heat up the wok with a little oil (groundnut is good) in the base. Heat it up well, then add the sliced onion, followed by garlic and ginger. Stir fry for a few minutes but do not brown (particularly the garlic). You can add some chillies here if you want it hot and spicy.
Then add the marinaded pork and stir fry on a medium high heat for 2-3 minutes until nearly cooked. You can choose to remove the pork, onions etc. now if you like – to stop the meat drying out and to give you more room for the vegetables – remove and leave on a warm plate.
Now add the carrots, mushrooms, then broccoli, cabbage and finally the courgette (add them in the order of size and crunchiness – carrot usually takes the longest unless it’s been grated.) Use the remaining pineapple juice and water to loosen the stir fry rather than adding more oil.
Stir fry until all the vegetables are cooked. Then put the pork back in the wok with the sauce and stir through, heating the sauce. Finally, add the pineapple, tomatoes and decorative chili slices. Sprinkle fresh coriander on the top and serve with the rice.
Yum!
Spicy Tomato Pasta with Homegrown Chillies 22 July 2006
Posted by cath in Recipes, easy, freeze-friendly, mildly spicy, summer, variations, very spicy.add a comment
I’ve been growing chillies in the hottest, sunniest window of the house. Yesterday was finally time to try the first fruits.
I’ve got a mixture of red, purpley and still green chillies on the plant, so we tasted a bright red and a green one.
homegrown chillies
An easy dinner, variation on the basic tomato sauce: Spicy Tomato sauce, this one has chorizo, chillies, basil and a ewes milk Parmesan style cheese:
spaghetti with spicy tomato and chorizo sauce
First make your basic tomato sauce with 5 or 6 tomatoes per person.
Once the tomato sauce has cooked for an hour, put on the spaghetti in a large pot with plenty of boiling water.
Use about 2 chillies per person, or to taste. Two of my fresh homegrown chillies were sampled – very hot and fiery with a lovely fresh taste and amazing smell, 4 of these in 2 portions gave a pretty spicy dish). The red chili was hot but mellow and slightly sweet, the green chili was slightly hotter and fresher, more zingy in flavour.
You’ll also need a handful of basil, some grated Parmesan-style cheese, pepper and extra virgin olive oil. I’ve also used some chorizo, but this is optional.
- Finely chop the chillies – seeds and all if you want it properly spicy, add it to the sauce on the heat and continue to cook until the pasta is cooked
- Roughly chop the chorizo, if using
- One the pasta is cooked, drain it and return to the pan with some olive oil, swirl together
- Turn off the heat from the sauce, add chorizo, basil and stir through
- Serve the pasta, top with sauce and a sprinkling of cheese and a grind of pepper
The finished dish
Tomato and Basil Sauce for Pasta 5 July 2006
Posted by cath in Recipes, easy, freeze-friendly, variations, vegetables.add a comment
Tomato Sauce, perhaps the most wonderful thing you can do in the kitchen! Tomatoes are in season right now, so go and buy some and try this!
Tomato and Sausage sauce with Pasta
garnished with Basil leaves and grated cheese
How to make a basic tomato sauce:
Step 1, buy some good quality tomatoes – preferably from a local source, not the supermarket – honestly they will taste much better. I recommend J & M Craig, Carluke, available from the Castle Terrace Farmers Market in Edinburgh.
Step 2, roughly chop the most ripe tomatoes, skin, seeds and all. For 2-3 people you’ll need about 500g – scale the recipe up or down as required, it keeps well in the fridge or freezer.
Step 3, roughly chop 1 large or 2 small onions and a few cloves of garlic.
Cooking:
- Heat some olive oil in a pan.
- Add the onions and sweat down on a medium heat until translucent.
- Then add the garlic and cook for about a minute.
- Now add the tomatoes, stir and cook for a minute or two until they start to soften.
- Once the tomatoes are hot, turn down the heat and half-cover the pan.
- With the heat on very low, stirring occasionally, cook for about an hour (minimum) until the sauce has thickened and sweetened. Turn off the heat.
- Now add salt and pepper to taste.
- Finally, throw in some chopped fresh herbs, basil or parsley are excellent.
- Serve with pasta and top with some grated cheese (Parmesan style)
Final adjustments:
If the sauce is too runny, try boiling it down without a lid until you get the desired consistency.
If the sauce is quite thick, add a few spoons of the water you use to cook the pasta in, again, keep going until you get the consistency you want.
Drizzle some extra virgin olive oil into the sauce at the end for a slightly richer flavour.
If you’re fussy about tomato skin and pips, you can use a sieve or press the finished sauce to remove them, but I think the chunky texture works well and saves loads of time!
Variations:
As well as the classic tomato and basil, you can combine many different things into this sauce. It also works as a base for bolognese, chilli con carne or anything that needs a bit of tomato sauce.
Add a bit of fried pancetta, cooked sausages, sliced chorizo or salami or anything meaty for a quick meaty pasta sauce (see picture above).
Add mushrooms (fried or cooked in the sauce), spinach, other vegetables, more herbs – rosemary, thyme, oregano, marjoram for veggie pasta sauces.
Add chillies – I hope soon to be adding my homegrown chillies to the sauce for a bit of a kick…, olives, capers, anchovies…the list is endless.
Try your favourite ingredients…use something different every time. Dinner never got so easy!
Tip!
Get some really good quality dry pasta – macaroni, penne, spaghetti, spaghettini, linguine, whatever you like. The best pasta is rough on the outside, rather than smooth (which is a quality of mass production).
Following recipes and other controversial topics! 5 July 2006
Posted by cath in Info and Cooks Notes, Recipes, Thai food, general info, help, ingredients, thai curry, thai salad, thai soups, variations.4 comments
One thing you all should know about cooking is that it’s all about personal taste. As the cook, you get to decide what ingredients to use and what your meal should taste like. For me, recipes are just guides, offering ideas and techniques, which are then adapted to what I have, what I like, who is coming round for the meal etc.
Variety is important. Everyone can have their own special way of making things, and there is nothing wrong with that. But if you’re new to cooking, you may find it hard to deviate from recipes, so here are some tips on what to think about when reading a recipe.
There has been some controversy about my Laab recipe so lets start with some thoughts about Thai salads and other Thai food…
A recent post included another recipe for Laab. The two recipes are very similar – a couple of different ingredients, including sugar in the alternate recipe, and slightly different cooking techniques.
Cooking can be a controversial topic, and you’ll find many different ingredient lists and techniques for basically the same dish – Thai food is no different. Depending what ingredients you can find, you may have to adapt and look for substitutions. Also consider where you are, what your personal tastes are, and what about your guests? My Thai cookery teacher always asked what a dish needed when we tasted it…his response was always “more chilli!” so my recipes are pretty spicy reflecting this. Having tried both spicy and less spicy (when entertaining guests) I think it’s always worth adding a little more chilli than you think, the heat really works with Thai food.
Here are some other things to think about:
I don’t like adding extra sugar when it’s not required, so I would generally only add sugar to sweet and sour and possibly shop-bought panang paste. Its all about personal taste, but here in the UK we rarely need extra salt or sugar – this is not a tropical climate! So think about who’s going to be eating your meal, and where, before chucking in any sugar…
When you’re learning to cook it’s good if you taste your food before and after adding extra ingredients. Thai food has four main layers of flavour: salt, sugar, sour and spicy. If you taste before adding fish sauce or lime juice to a dish you can see what a difference these ingredients make. In my laab recipe, mint provides sweetness, with fish sauce, chillies and lime providing their usual salt, spice and sourness. If you like extra sour, add more lime juice at the end, as discussed elsewhere, cooking lime juice reduces it’s sourness. Taste and adjust until it’s what you like, or what you think your guests will enjoy.
Kaffir lime leaves are a common enough ingredient in salad, but I am not a big fan – I prefer fresh herbs such as mint and coriander as they are more widely available locally (in the UK). Lime leaves keep well in the freezer and are a good ingredient to have on hand frozen to add to soups and curries for an extra lemony flavour. But frozen leaves don’t work quite so well chopped up in salads. If you want to try lime leaves in salads look out for fresh lime leaves and use them promptly.
Now for the most controversial topic – do we marinate the meat (albeit for just a few minutes) before cooking, or after! My recipe recommends adding flavour including lime juice to the mince before cooking, then cooking it all up. This is the recipe I was taught, but more interestingly, it is a technique I watched many times on stalls and in restaurants. Some Thai (and other regional) dishes are actually not cooked: prawns and other meats are sometimes ‘cooked’ by just marinating in lime juice – the acid in the juice ‘cooks’ the meat or fish so it’s technically no longer raw. In the case of Laab, this was always the first step, you will see the meat take on a less raw appearance as its sits in the lime juice while you prepare the rest of the dish. Cooking in this case just heats up the salad, properly cooking it where appropriate, Thai meat salads are usually served warm. Adding the hot meat to the herbs in the serving dish really brings out their aroma. Remember if you cook the meat for long, the lime juice sourness will dissipate so add some more at the end.
So: cook, taste, add the next flavour, taste again…this is the best way to learn and adapt to your palette and to understand the effect of making substitutions.
