Posts Tagged ‘Thai’

Thai dry red chicken curry

Monday, February 15th, 2010

Dry red Thai chicken curry

The thing about cooking curries, tagines and other big pot dishes, particularly if there are only one or two people eating, is that there is a minimum amount that you can realistically make. So I often – with varying degrees of success – have to find other uses for those bits and bobs. This is particularly true of Thai curry pastes. They act as a kind of counterbalance to the law of diminishing returns, in that past a certain point, the less you make, the more effort you have to put in to get good results. (more…)

Beef Panaeng, prawn cakes and garlicy greens

Monday, February 8th, 2010

Beef Panaeng

I woke up on Sunday with a hankering for something fragrant, spicy and defiantly Thai. Not Chinese, not Japanese, Italian or Turkish. Not even Vietnamese. It had to be Thai. There’s something so comforting and yet explosive about the delicately balanced flavours and textures you get in a Thai meal. The heat, the sweetness and wonderful, dark, deep pungency. I love it. (more…)

Prawn cakes, fresh spring rolls and a noodle salad

Sunday, January 24th, 2010

SE Asian platters

Having dined on Thai for lunch I had a hankering for more fresh and spicy SE Asian flavours. Also, as part of an ongoing January clear out, I wanted to use up some of the bits and pieces sitting unnoticed at the back of the cupboard. You know, those things that looked like a great idea in the shop, but then somehow just never got used.

Delving into the fridge netted me a pack of raw prawns, some poached chicken and a couple of slightly tired stalks of lemongrass (left over from Wednesday’s cleansing chicken soup), basil, mint, half a cabbage and a lime. The store cupboard meanwhile served up a pack of dried rice spring-roll wrappers. Add to that some Indonesian chilli and ginger sauce I got for Xmas, peanut paste, sweet chilli and crusty old bottle of fish sauce and I had the beginnings of a mini-feast.  (more…)