Thai Green Curry with Prawns

I love Thai food, but I’ve never been particularly successful at recreating it at home. Unless you’re lucky enough to have a good Asian supermarket close by, I find it’s quite difficult to get hold of the ingredients for the paste. As you can see from this recipe on the Guardian’s excellent ‘How to make the perfect…’ blog, the majority of the ingredients aren’t the kind of thing you can pick up from the local supermarket. As I have to make do with ingredients from Sainsbury’s and I’m quite lazy when it comes to midweek meals, I decided to make do with a ready-made curry paste. The paste has the basic flavours needed for the curry, by adding extra lime, fish sauce, lemongrass etc. it gave the sauce the extra zing the paste alone was missing. The end result was pretty good, and considerably cheaper than buying all the ingredients for the paste, the remainder of which would inevitably have ended up rotting in my fridge.

Serves 4:

4 tbsp green Thai curry paste

1 lemongrass stalk

1 tbsp fish sauce

1 tsp light muscovado sugar

Juice 1 lime

Tin coconut milk

1 green chilli

3 cloves garlic, grated

2cm piece ginger, grated

1 onion, finely chopped

1 red pepper, chopped

1 courgette, chopped

1 small butternut squash

100g mange tout

Handful basil leaves

Method:

1. Cut the squash into 1cm chunks, toss in olive oil and roast for 45 minutes until soft.
2. Fry the onion, garlic & ginger for 5 minutes until soft. Add the chilli, pepper and courgette and fry gently for a further 5 minutes.
3. Add the curry paste, fish sauce, sugar, lime juice, lemongrass and coconut milk. Bring the sauce to a light simmer, add the mange tout and roasted butternut squash and keep on a low heat for 20 minutes. If the sauce gets too thick add a little vegetable stock to loosen it.
4. To serve, remove the lemongrass and top with basil leaves and spring onion. If you’d like to add some protein, either add some raw king parwns for the final 5 minutes or add chicken breast chunks for the final 15 minutes and allow them to poach in the sauce.

Curry cooking:

Ready to eat!

Why cheese, peas and chocolate pudding?

When I was little my madre used to read a story to my sister and I called ‘cheese, peas and chocolate pudding’. It was about a little boy who was very picky about the food he ate, I suppose the moral of the story was to encourage little ones to try everything once. I was never a particularly picky child when it came to food, my mum always cooked homemade meals with lots of vegetables so I was used to eating healthily.

As an adult, the only food I truly cannot stand are bananas, eugh. As my friend Caroline pointed out they are the most convenient fruit and it does annoy me that I can’t eat them, but they really are disgusting. I’m not entirely sure where the source of my hatred comes from? It may be genetic (!) as my madre is also a hater of the evil yellow fruit. However, I like to think it stems back to a trip I went on as a child…

Long journey’s in the car have always been a somewhat fraught experience in my family. My mother’s lack of map reading skills (in Ludlow last year she proclaimed that it’s not that she can’t read a map, she just doesn’t bother looking at it), my sister’s car sickness & my dad’s excessive use of the word ‘cretin’ tends to lead to an argument followed by stony silence. On this particular trip I must have been about 7 years old; my sister and I were in the back of the car and were doing our best to irritate one another. This is a game which has included my sister tying me to the tree in our garden for hours on end and me telling my sister to close her eyes and I’d put a sweet in her mouth (it was in fact a bird poo, evil I know!). My sister had eaten a banana earlier in the journey and took to slapping me around the face with the skin. I was covered it specs of banana gook and inevitably lots of screaming and crying ensued. My dad took no time to tell me to be quiet and stop my whingeing. As a result, I’ve not eaten a banana since, and I don’t intend to.

Navajo Joe - Covent Garden

Last week we went for dinner at Navajo Joe in Covent Garden. It’s a rather strange mix of Mexican and Asian cuisine, if I’m honest, it’s a combination which doesn’t work particularly well. The evening didn’t get off to a great start as our table wasn’t ready when we arrived, so we were asked to wait at the bar for 35 minutes. Chris was convinced this was a ploy to increase our spend during the evening; I’m not sure I’m cynical enough to agree with this but the delay did result in us missing the film we’d planned to watch afterwards. 

I booked through Top Table, so we had 50% off the food provided we ate 2 courses. To start, we ordered tempura prawns and mushroom & goats cheese quesadilla. The prawns were amazing, the batter was light and crisp and the prawns themselves were huge! The quesadilla was nice enough, but as far as I could tell didn’t actually contain any goats cheese which was a bit of a disappointment. They were served with an undressed side salad, and seemed to be missing the bold flavours promised by the website.  

For the main course we ordered a fajita platter to share. All in all it didn’t really live up to expectations. We were served eight wraps, which were nice enough, 2 skillets of mixed vegetables and meat and 4 pots containing guacamole, sour cream, salsa and cheese. So far so good. The steak and the prawns were well cooked, however the chicken was burnt to the extent it was rock hard on the bottom. The vegetables tasted as though they had been left stewing for hours, rather than being freshly cooked, and were luke warm. My main issue was the TINY pots of sauce, which were to be shared between two. I know it’s fairly common for restaurants to skimp on the accompaniments, but for me, cramming as much into a fajita is half the fun. The guacamole tasted as though it came ready-made, which seems inexcusably lazy for a restaurant which claims to ‘set the gold standard’ for food. Considering the fajita’s cost £30, I was expecting a fantastic meal. You could tell the ingredients were of a reasonable quality, but they hadn’t been cooked with any effort or skill. 

The staff were friendly, but seemed over-stretched and the loud electronic music was a little much for a restaurant. It felt as though the food was served as an afterthought, which could explain the poor quality. Next time I’m in Covent Garden, I’ll be heading to the far superior and cheaper, Wahaca, which sells fantastic Mexican street food. 

Delicious prawnys:

Not so delicious quesadilla:

Fajitas:

Vegetable Tagine

With a fridge full of random ingredients from various different meals, I decided to create my own version of a vegetable tagine. I hate letting anything go to waste (mainly because I’m poor!), so creating my own recipes with left over ingredients is a great way to save money and hopefully end up with something tasty for dinner.

It’s a very simple and cheap recipe as it doesn’t contain any meat, and helps you on your way to 5 a day! I’ve never been to Morocco (it’s on my very long list of places I’d like to visit), but I doubt this recipe is particularly authentic, but it does taste goooood!

Serves 4 hungry people:

Half a butternut squash

2 red onions

1 red pepper

1 carrot

2 parsnips

8 dried apricots

4 cloves garlic

2cm piece of ginger

1 tsp light muscovado sugar

1 tbsp harissa paste

1 tbsp tomato paste

3 tsp paprika

3 tsp cumin

1 tsp cinnamon

2 tins chopped tomato

Chopped mint to serve

Method:

1.       Put the chopped vegetables into a roasting tray and sprinkle on 1 tsp of paprika. Drizzle with oil and put into a pre-heated oven for 45 minutes. Check on them every 15 minutes to make sure they’re not sticking to the tin.
2.       Fry the ginger and garlic for 1 minute, then add the spices and fry for a further minute. Add the chopped tomatoes, sugar, harissa and tomato paste and bring to a light simmer. Leave on the hob on a low heat to allow the sauce to thicken. If it gets too thick add a little vegetable stock to loosen it up.
3.       Add the apricots to the sauce for the final 5 minutes, then add the cooked vegetables and coat thoroughly with the sauce. Serve with couscous and top with the chopped mint.

Veggies roasting:

Tagine & couscous:

YumYum - Stoke Newington

Last night we went for dinner at one of my favourite local restaurants, YumYum. I actually live in the ignominious Clapton, famed for its fried chicken and gun crime, but luckily Stokey is only a 20 minute walk away. YumYum’s is a great, if not slightly over-priced, Thai restaurant on the high street. Despite being more expensive than its local counterparts, the food really is fantastic. We started with chicken & prawn on toast and duck spring rolls, which were delicious. Both tasted as though they had been freshly cooked and had very distinctive flavours. I often find fried food ends up with the same, slightly prawny, taste – regardless of the ingredients. 

For the main we shared kang peneng, a mild beef and peanut curry with coconut milk and green curry with prawns. The thinly sliced beef was in a rich sauce, other than lacking any vegetables, I really couldn’t fault it. The green curry included the traditional aubergines, bamboo and basil leaves which I love, but there were only 5 prawns which seemed a little mean when you’re paying £9.50 for the curry alone. Whilst I don't mind paying over the odds for good quality ingredients, I did gawp at the £5 we paid for a bowl of plain steamed rice. To my mind, that’s an inexcusably extortionate price for something we all know costs a few pennies when cooked at home.

The service was friendly and attentive, although we didn’t arrive until almost 10, when most other customers had finished their meals. The building itself is a Georgian listed property, which has been beautifully restored with an autentic feel to it, complete with traditional Thai seating. Even though we arrived late on a Wednesday night the atmosphere was lively, with a particularly raucous crowd in one of the private areas.

Having spent only 6 days in Thailand (the result of alcohol mixed with scooters) I can’t comment on the authenticity of the food, but if you enjoy a slightly anglicised version of Thai cuisine then it’s definitely worth a try.  

Duck spring rolls:

Moroccan Meatballs

This is a recipe adapted from a few that I’ve read online, I love Moroccan food and the more spice you put in the better! These are great as meatballs, or you can serve them as burgers with pitta, hummus and salad.

Serves 4:

500g lamb mince

2 red onions, finely chopped

4 cloves of garlic, grated

2cm piece of ginger, grated

4 tsp ground cumin

4 tsp ground coriander seeds

2 tsp paprika

2 tbsp harissa

Chopped fresh mint

2 tins chopped tomatoes

Tabasco

Method:

1. Fry the onion, garlic and ginger for 5 minutes until soft. Then add the spices and fry for 1 minute.
2. Add the onion & spice mix to the lamb, half the harissa and the chopped mint. Mix with your hands and shape into 24 balls.
3. Fry the meatballs in batches until browned on all sides. Add the tomatoes, the rest of the harissa and some tabasco to taste.  You may also want to add a sprinkling of sugar if the sauce is too acidic.
4. Simmer for 30 minutes and serve with couscous or pasta.

According to Chris, this looks ‘disgusting’, but I promise it was nice!

Hummus & falafel wraps

After working on or around Charlotte St for 2 years, I have exhausted all possible budget lunchtime eats. There is a certain lazy pleasure in having your lunch made for you each day, although the £4 price tag has left my bank balance weeping. Having eaten my fill of Pret sandwiches and Eat soups’ I’ve decided to start making my lunch again and have been surprised at how much more enjoyable it is. This week I’ve been eating hummus & falafel wraps, with cherry tomatoes, red onion, gherkins and rocket. Not only are they delicious, but at £1.50 a day they’re a bargain too (although as my lovely manager Matt pointed out, I will have onion breath all afternoon!). I’ve been using Cauldron’s falafels, which are a little dry in comparison to the great freshly made ones from Hoxton Beach Falafel on Goodge Place (highly recommended for a Friday treat – at £4.50 not something to eat every day), but that’s to be expected if they come from a packet.  

British Pie Week

Well hello to you, and welcome to my food blog. In honour of British Pie Week, I decided to make dinner for my lovely friend Fran (who is turning 24 this week – happy birthday!). 

I’ve always loved traditional English cooking. My mother is a fantastic cook and every Sunday I would help her make our evening meal. Sunday was the one day where the whole family got together and ate dinner, even when my sister and I got older. I learnt to cook during these Sunday afternoon cooking sessions, to start with my madre allowed me to do the easy jobs – chopping onions, frying the meat in batches, etc. As I got older and more proficient I was allowed the honour of making the gravy, which to me is the highlight of any good roast.

I’ve tried to continue this tradition in 2011, so every Sunday this year my boyfriend and I have cooked a ‘proper’ Sunday meal. His fish pie and my Chinese braised lamb being a highlight. 

This Sunday I made steak & roasted shallot pie. It’s a recipe from Good Food, which is my favourite website for cooking inspiration. You can find the recipe here. I served the pie with buttered leeks & peas, braised red cabbage and parsnip & horseradish puree. Overall it was a success, although the meat was a little tough. I often find when the recipe instructs you to cook the filling on the hob, you can’t get the temperature low enough and the meat doesn’t soften. If I make this again, I’ll put it in the oven instead, on a very low heat.

Pie, yum yum!

Zero points for presentation, but it tasted gooood: