Tom Ka Kai, Coconut Thai Soup

Nothing better than a trip to Thailand or at least a visit to your local Thai restaurant, but for the days you can't be bothered to leave the house you can easily prepare this.
Turn this vegetarian by increasing mushrooms in place of chicken and substituting vegetable stock.

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1 inch piece
  
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
  
• 200g fresh mushrooms, sliced (a good mix of shitake & oyster mushrooms will do the job)
• 3 spring onions sliced
• 1 stalk lemongrass beaten to death
• fresh galagal root or ginger root, grated
  
• 2 red chillies, crushed
  
• 6 cups good quality chicken stock
• 1 can good quality coconut milk
• 1 1/2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
• 2 tablespoons fish sauce (but feel free to skip this ingredient)
• 1/2 teaspoon brown sugar
• fresh coriander
  

HOW:

In the bottom of a large soup pot, heat the oil over high heat until very hot but not smoking. Salt the chicken and add to oil, tossing to brown all the pieces. Cook about 3 minutes or until outside is browned, but not necessarily cooked all the way through.

Add mushrooms and toss. Allow to cook until some of the moisture is cooked out and the mushrooms are soft. Turn down heat to medium-low.

To prepare the lemongrass, slice and mince the lower portion and reserve the stalk to flavor the soup. You can use a food processor for this, or just mince it by hand. The woody upper portion of the stalk will be removed later, so don't chop it up, simply score it by making a few superficial cuts in it to allow it to flavor the soup.

Add the whites of the onions, reserving the greens. Add the minced lower portion of the lemongrass, grated galangal, and chilies. Toss until just warmed through. Add the lemongrass stalk, lime leaves, chicken stock, coconut milk, lime juice, fish sauce, brown sugar and remaining onions, reserving just a few for garnish. Simmer over low heat for 15 minutes to allow flavors to blend well.

Ladle into soup bowls and garnish with remaining onion greens and coriander.

Serve over rice noodles for a main dish serving.

Warm mackerel & beetroot salad

More beetroot this week. Straight from Hackney Veggie Box Scheme.
Ingredients:
500g new potatoes, cut into bite-size pieces
3 smoked mackerel fillets, skinned
250g cooked beetroot
100g mixed salad leaves
100g chevre
50g walnut pieces
FOR THE DRESSING Whisk together 3 tbsp olive oil, 1 tbsp wine vinegar or lemon juice and 1 tsp Dijon or other mild mustard. Season to taste, then mix with the horseradish.

Boil the potatoes for 12-15 min until just tender. Meanwhile, flake the mackerel fillets into large pieces and cut the beetroot into bite-size chunks.
Drain the potatoes and cool slightly. Mix the salad dressing and horseradish sauce together in a salad bowl and season. Tip in the potatoes - they should still be warm.
Add the salad leaves, mackerel, beetroot, chevre and walnuts, and toss gently. Serve with crusty bread, quinoa or brown basmati rice.

Hot Hot Borscht

This is the vegetarian version of the well known and lovely ukranian (Холодник kholodnyk) soup.

1/2 large or 1 small yellow onion, sliced into half moons
2 cloves of garlic
500g beets, shredded
2 medium sweet potatoes, shredded
2 carrots, shredded
2 T olive oil
1/2 head cabbage (red or white), sliced into small pieces

1 small red apple cut in small pieces

4 cups vegetable stock
juice of half lemon
salt
coarsely ground black pepper
thick yogurt or sour creme

Sauté onions and garlic in olive oil with a pinch of salt in a large soup pot for 1-2 minutes. Add beets, carrots, and potato, and another pinch of salt, and stir.

In the meantime, bring the vegetable stock to a boil. When the vegetables are soft (about 5 minutes), add the cabbage and the hot stock. Bring to a boil and then simmer, covered, for 20-30 minutes.
Season to taste with salt and pepper, and then add the lemon juice. Serve hot with additional grated black pepper, a swirl of sour cream or yogurt and bread.

Can also be served cold in the summer.

Turmeric Tofu Quinoa Pilaf

This lovely recipe was recommended by my good friend Olga. It is taken from some celebs cookbook. Oh well, if Olga says it's good...
Ingredients:
200g quinoa
olive oil
3-4 spring onions
300g chopped cherry tomatoes
a handful of finely chopped parsley
a handful of finely chopped coriander
6 slices of firm tofu
a good sprinkle of ground turmeric
for the dressing:
4 tablespoons crème fraîche or yogurt
zest and juice of 1 lemon
black pepper


Cook the quinoa for 12-15 minutes, set aside to cool while adding a couple of tablespoons of olive oil.
Mix the herbs, tomatoes and spring onions and then put in a large bowl with the quinoa.
Heat some olive oil and saute the turmeric sprinkled tofu for a few minutes, both sides, till it gets a nice golden colour.
Make the dressing by mixing all ingredients, it should be very thick. You want that. Crack some black pepper over it mix well and add the tofu on top.
Here is a protein bomb for you.

± carrot and soya bean salad ±

It feels like there is a duel between the lemon zest and the chili here. Very special taste.


200g frozen soya beans

60ml olive oil, plus extra for drizzling
1 finely chopped onion

1 tsp cumin seeds

1 tsp dried coriander
1 tsp dried parsley

2 tbsp white wine vinegar

2 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed

½ tsp dried chili flakes

1 tsp salt

8 large carrots, peeled and cut into 1cm buttons
, or same amount shredded
1 tsp honey

Grated zest of 1 lemon

200g feta, broken into chunks
20g sesame seeds

Steam the carrots for 10-15 minutes and also steam the beans for 20-25 minutes, until they are cooked but still retain a bite.
Drain, shake well and transfer to a large bowl. About three minutes before the beans are done, heat two tablespoons of oil in a small frying pan and add the onion, garlic and the seeds.
Cook on medium heat, stirring often, until the onion is transparent and the seeds start to pop – about three minutes – then pour the honey and caramelize.
Remove from the heat and pour the mix over the beans, along with the vinegar, chili and salt.
Add the carrots to the bean bowl and stir gently. Transfer to a shallow serving bowl, sprinkle over lemon zest, dot with feta and drizzle with olive oil.
Then sprinkle over some sesame seeds and serve while still warm.
Also ideal to serve with quinoa.

Spellbound : Pumpkin, Spinach & Chickpea Casserole

200g chickpeas cooked or organic canned for lazy days
4 tablespoons olive oil
2 medium red onions, chopped
600 g pumpkin, chopped
1 garlic clove, crushed
a nice mix of paprika, black pepper, dried parsley, salt and turmeric
250ml vegetable stock
100 g baby spinach
50g grated cheddar cheese
50g grated Parmesan cheese
200g long grain rice
lemon wedges to serve

Preheat oven gas mark 5.
Heat oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add onion vegetable stock and pumpkin.
Cook, stirring, for 10minutes or until soft. Add the garlic, chickpeas and spice mix and cook for another 10 min then finally add the spinach and cook till it disappears. Remove from heat, add the cheddar cheese and stir well. At the same time cook the rice in a separate pot for as long as the package indicates.
Mix pumpkin and friends with the rice and place in a pyrex type roasting tray that has been coated with olive oil. Put grated Parmesan on top.
Place in oven. Roast for 30 minutes or so. Serve with lemon wedges.


This recipe was made while listening to :
Birthday Party - Release the Bats
The Shags - It's Halloween
The Cramps - Goo Goo Muck
Boris- Spoon
Charles Mingus - Pithecanthropus Erectus
Explosions In The Sky - Welcome, Ghosts
Gang Gang Dance - Nomad For Love (Cannibal)
Guards- Don't Wake The Dead
Male Bonding - Bones
Os Mutantes - Ave, Lucifer
Radio Birdman - Murder City Nights
Abe Vigoda - Dead City

Gluten Free Vanilla Cupcakes

for the cupcakes

• 150g room temperature unsalted butter
• 150g vanilla sugar (that is a homemade version and can be made with a vanilla pod planted in a jar of caster sugar)
• 3 eggs (take out of fridge ahead of time so it's room temperature)
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsb xanthan gum
• 150g gluten-free white flour
• dash of organic full fat milk

Preheat oven gas mark 5
Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy then beat in the eggs one at a time.
Add in the baking powder, xanthan gum, flour and milk.
Pour into cupcake liners in a cupcake tin and bake for about 20-30 minutes or until golden brown on top and a cake tester comes out clean.
Let cool and then frost.

For the cream cheese frosting

• 150g cream cheese
• 150g softened butter
• 110g icing sugar
• 3 tbsp good quality berry or fig marmalade. I used my friend's Serafim 's mother's excellent fig marmalade.

With a hand mixer, mix together cream cheese and butter until combined.
Add marmalade to the cream cheese-butter mixture.
Sift in the icing sugar and mix well with a spatula. Chill in fridge for at least an hour before use.
Spread on top of cupcakes with the spatula. Decorate with a couple of raspberries on top or other.