Category: spicy

Red thai broth with king prawns and noodles

October 28, 2015
When you are under the weather, or you don’t have much energy to make anything, this is the perfect meal for you. However you do need to be able to take on a little spiciness with this one.
With this recipe, you’ll be able to have something homemade and with those classic thai flavours in there it will fight against a cold.  Im no Doctor, obviously, but when I’m ill a broth always fixes me. It’s so nice to have, its like a warm hug.

 I’ve made this recipe even easier with a little cheats way of using a ready made paste just to be less time consuming. You can even shred cooked chicken through instead of using prawns.

  This spicy bowl of goodness is even great just on a cold evening to warm up your cockles. So get slurping those noodles with chopsticks so you have the lovely broth to look forward to at the bottom.

  
Red thai broth with king prawns and noodles:






Ingredients:
(Serves 2)
  • 4 spring onions ( white ends chopped, green ends sliced diagonally )
  • A thumbnail size piece of fresh ginger finely diced
  • 1 garlic clove finely diced
  • 1 tbsp rapeseed oil
  • 1 level tbsp thai red curry paste ( I bought mine from Wang Fung Hong in Leicester )
  • 800ml of homemade Chicken stock or 1 chicken gel stock pot in 800ml water
  • approximately 14 Frozen raw King prawns, defrosted
  • 75g Rice noodles ( cooked to packet instructions )(From Wang Fung Hong )
  • 1 tsp of coconut cream
  • a few leaves of pak choi sliced lengthways 
  • a good handful of bean sprouts ( Wang Fung Hong )
  • A handful of fresh coriander chopped

Method:
  • Fry off the white end tips of the spring onions for a minute, add the garlic and ginger, stir and cook for a further minute. 
  • Add your paste and then add a little water to allow not to stick and stir. Add the stock and bring to the boil and cook for 10 minutes.
  •   Turn down your heat a little and add in your prawns. Cook for 4 minutes. 
  •   Then turn your heat back up a little and add in your pak choi and noodles and cook for a further 2 minutes. 
  •   Add in your bean sprouts and green ends of your spring onions and cook for a further minute. 
–  Serve into bowls and sprinkle with chopped coriander.




  

  

Chinese pork lettuce cups

July 17, 2015



I thought I’d share with you another recipe from my column that I did a couple of months back. This dish has been in my life for a long time and I always make these for many different occasions.  I even make them for just a snack, they are that moorish!

  So, I think the earliest memory of me having a version of this dish, must have been when I was only about 4 years old. But back then, they would wrap it all up in a large lettuce leaf. It is quite a retro dish for these days but I have come up with a version that I feel never dates or fails.

  The sauce is something I have been having for years with these, noodle soups and Chinese dumplings so I thought I’d share that with you too. When you drizzle that sauce on top, it will give it a real kick.
  I love serving these little cups when entertaining, they always look great served up on trays for people and they always seem to get an “ooh” when they come round. You can also use this recipe for a starter one night, a light Lunch or even on a Chinese banquet as my “Chinese nights” always seem to end up as! 
  They are very quick to prepare and they don’t break the bank to buy the ingredients either. 
  Lately I’ve being seeing a lot of Pork mince reduced so if you aren’t sure what to do with it, buy it and fear no longer.



Chinese pork lettuce cups:







Ingredients:
–   1 tbsp of Rapeseed oil or you can use, sunflower or groundnut oil
  • Pork mince 35og will make about 12 cups
  • Half a green chilli chopped finely
  • 4 Spring onions, half of pork mix, half for garnishing
  • 1 tsp Chinese five spice blend ( I use Spice Kitchen )
  • 1 tbsp of Light soy sauce ( Mine is from Wang Fung Hong in Leicester )
  • 2 cloves of garlic finely chopped
  • small grating of fresh Ginger (about a small thumbnail amount)
  • 2 Little Gem lettuces
  • For the garnish: Thinly sliced cucumber 
                                      Thinly sliced Spring onion
                                      Thinly sliced carrot (julienned)
                                     Handful of fresh chopped coriander
                                      Red chilli chopped finely

                                                                           

Hot Sauce:
  • 2 tbsp of Sriracha sauce ( Mine is from Wang Fung Hong)
  • 1 tbsp of malt vinegar
  • 1 tbsp Tomato ketchup
  •  1 tbsp light soy sauce 
  • sprinkle of chilli flakes ( put more if you want it hotter )
  • sprinkle of caster sugar
N.B If you find the sauce is too tangy, sometimes I add 1/2 tbsp Oyster sauce to this also.




Method:
  • In a wok or a frying pan start to fry off the spring onion, garlic, chilli and ginger for only a minute.
  • Add your pork mince and stir for a couple of minutes breaking up all clumps of the meat.
  • As your pork mince is starting to turn brown, add in your Chinese five spice and again, stir for a couple of minutes
  • Add in your soy sauce, stir and when your Pork is cooked, turn your heat down just to keep warm.
*  Assemble your Pork mince into the lettuce cups, garnish and serve with your sauce.