Shredded Pork & Burdock Root

We've recently been using burdock root, also called gobo, in various, mostly Asian, dishes, as burdock root is know for its antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, and antioxidant properties. Burdock root comes out crunchy with an earthy undertone, I've liked it in most dishes I've tried it in. I came across this recipe on the 'Net, and, liking pork, decided to try it. The first time I made it, I used some frozen Thai birds-eye chilis, it came out really tasty and good spicy as well - the gobo worked well with the pork; the second time I made it, I used Sichuan doubanjiang chili paste, it also came out tasty. The black vinegar works well with the pork as well.

Shredded Pork & Burdock Root 3 Tbsp rice bran oil 4 chilies (1 Tbsp doubanjiang) 1 medium-sized burdock root, finely julienned 1 large carrot, finely julienned 275 g pork, julienned or sliced thin 1-2 Tbsp low sodium soy sauce 1 cm ginger, minced 3 garlic cloves, minced 2 tsp Chinkiang black vinegar white pepper

Over high heat, add oil and chilis to a large wok.  Once the chilis start to blister, add the burdock root.  Stir and keep the wok moving.  Cook the burdock for about four minutes until burdock starts to darken and gets softer.

Add carrots and continue cooking another minute or two until carrots soften.  Remove veggies from wok and reserve.

Add pork to hot wok, season well with white pepper.  Once pork starts to sear add soy sauce. Once pork is cooked rare, remove any excess fat and add garlic and ginger.  Cook another minute.  Add reserve vegetables and vinegar.

Continue cooking until pork starts to caramelize and you can really hear the wok sizzling. Remove the chilis and use as garnish.  Serve hot with rice.

Keralan Fish Curry

I made this recipe for our Christmas celebration this year, it went over very well. Kerala is a state of India. This recipe is from Jamie Oliver, it's different than other Keralan Fish Stew recipes I've seen (which use onion rather than shallot, add lime juice at the end and don't use tomato). I used Madras curry powder, rather than the chili powder it originally called for - Madras curry is from India, and contains lots of chili powder, so I feel justified (though, again, I'm not sure that this is a traditional ingredient). For the fish, I chose haddock, it turned out well, but you could also use cod. Because some of my relatives can't take the heat, I didn't add the green chili (the Madras curry powder provides heat in itself); feel free to even add more, if you like it, I've seen a recipe that uses 4-6 chilies. Serve it on basmati rice or Thai jasmine rice. Enjoy!

Keralan Fish Curry
Rice Bran oil
1 tsp mustard seeds
20 curry leaves
6 shallots, finely sliced
4 garlic cloves, finely sliced
1 x 2.5 cm piece of ginger, finely sliced
1 green chili, finely sliced
1 Tbsp Madras curry powder
1 tsp turmeric
750 g firm white fish cut into chunks
1 x 400 ml tin coconut milk
1 x 400 g tin of chopped tomatoes
Chopped coriander

Heat a lug of groundnut oil in a large pan and fry the mustard seeds with the curry leaves till the seeds start to pop. Add the onion, garlic, ginger and chilli, and cook on a medium heat for 5 mins, till softened. Mix together the chili powder and turmeric with a splash of water, and then stir into the pan. Fry for a minute, then add the fish, coconut milk and tomatoes. Season.

Bring to the boil, then simmer for 20 mins, or until fish is cooked and sauce reduced. Serve sprinkled with chopped coriander.

Lentils with Pancetta and Collard Greens

I got this recipe originally from David Rocco’s TV Series, and have made it several times. I thought today, to add some collard greens, to give it more vegetables, and to give it a more festive look. Doesn’t it look Christmas-y! It tastes as good or even better than the version I have made before. I used the sprouted lentils from Sasha Co., they turned out quite well.

Lentils with Pancetta and Collard Greens
Adapted from a recipe by David Rocco
9 oz pancetta, cubed (250g)
1/2 cup rice bran oil
2 x white cooking onions, thinly sliced
dried rosemary, pinch
dried thyme, pinch
1 medium red bell pepper
1/2 roasted red pepper
1 bunch collard greens, cut into medium strips
2-3 cups cooked lentils
Pinch of salt

Sauté pancetta for a moment or two in the olive oil in a frying pan on medium heat, until they are browned on one side, then add the peppers and onions and continue cooking until the onions are browned and the bell pepper is softened. Add the collard greens, and cook until the leaves are soft.

Add lentils to pan. Cook for a few minutes so that the lentils absorb flavours of the other ingredients. Add a pinch of salt.

Chicken Stir-Fried with Lemongrass and Chile

This dish I first tried in my favourite Vietnamese restaurant, Pho Hung in Mississauga, and it quickly became my favourite Vietnamese dish. This recipe comes from Into the Vietnamese Kitchen: Treasured Foodways, Modern Flavors by Andrea Nguyen; I was excited to see how it compared to Pho Hung's dish. The key to this recipe is the curry; use the Madras curry if you can get it, I used something from Japan called Oriental curry, and, while it had similar ingredients, it wasn't spicy enough - at least, that is what I like about this dish. We also added too much coconut milk; you need to "dry it out" in order to get the right consistency. But, still, it tasted similar in a lot of ways, and I'm glad to have another dish I can prepare myself. The second time I tried making it, I used some Madras Curry, as I finally found some, at this Chinese supermarket, I also used a more reasonable amount of coconut milk, and it tasted very much better, more spicy but not hot. We also found out, in talking to one Vietnamese restaurant manager, that this recipe is Chinese-Vietnamese, you would not find it on a strictly Vietnamese menu.

Chicken Stir-Fried with Lemongrass and Chile
1-1/3 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs, well trimmed and cut into 1-inch chunks
1/2 teaspoon salt
1-1/2 teaspoons sugar
2-1/2 teaspoons Madras curry powder
2-1/2 teaspoons fish sauce
2 tablespoons canola or other neutral oil
1 large shallot, finely chopped (about 1/3 cup)
1 or 2 Thai chiles, finely chopped
1 stalk lemongrass, trimmed and finely chopped (about 3 tablespoons)
1/2 cup coconut milk, canned or freshly made
3 or 4 sprigs cilantro, coarsely chopped, as garnish
Thai Jasmine rice

In a bowl, combine the chicken, salt, sugar, curry power, and fish sauce and turn several times to coat the chicken evenly. Set aside to marinate at room temperature for at least 15 minutes or for up to 1 hour.

In a wok or large heavy-bottomed skillet, heat the oil over high heat until hot but not smoking. Add the shallots, chiles, and lemongrass and stir-fry for about 1 minute, or until fragrant. Add the chicken and the bell pepper; stir quickly to mix. Stir-fry the chicken for about 2 minutes, until they are nicely browned on all sides.

Add the coconut milk, lower the heat to a simmer, and cook for 6 to 8 minutes, stirring occasionally to ensure even cooking. Cook till the coconut milk is reduced and barely visible. Garnish with the cilantro and serve with Thai Jasmine rice.

Red Curry with Duck and Lychees

I’ve had duck before, prepared the Chinese way and the European way, and found it mostly to be very oily. Now, this dish is a whole different matter, the roasted duck that we used paired excellently with the lychees and tomatoes (which sort of explode in your mouth when you bite down on them, delicious). You can also make this with pineapple or young coconut instead of lychees. Serve this over steamed Jasmine rice and garnished with a few leaves of Thai basil.

Red Curry with Duck and Lychees
Adapted from a recipe from Fresh Thai by Oi Cheepchaiissara
1 lb boneless duck breast, or 1/2 roasted duck
1 tsp sesame oil
2 tsp light soy sauce
1/2“ fresh ginger, peeled and finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1/2 tsp ground allspice
1-1/2 Tbsp oil
1 Tbsp red curry paste
3/4 cup canned coconut milk, shaken well
3/4 cup vegetable stock
2 Tbsp fish sauce
1-1/2 Tbsp palm sugar
8 oz canned lychees, drained
4 oz cherry tomatoes
5 kaffir lime leaves, torn in half

Remove the skin and fat from the duck breasts; thinly slice the raw meat or shred the roasted duck meat. Mix the meat with the sesame oil, soy sauce, ginger, garlic and allspice and marinate for at least 30 minutes.

Heat the oil in a wok or heavy-bottomed frying pan and stir-fry the red curry paste over medium heat for 2 minutes, until fragrant.

Add the meat, coconut milk and stock and cook for 5-6 minutes or until the meat is cooked (half the time if using roasted duck meat). Add the fish sauce, sugar, lychees and tomatoes and cook for another 1-2 minutes (don’t let the tomatoes overcook). Add the kaffir lime leaves and let heat for another minute.

Gai Krapao (Basil Chicken)

This is another recipe from Wandee Young’s Simply Thai Cooking, a dish that is very Thai. The choice of basil here makes for a different dish; the pepperiness of Thai Basil; the sweetness of Italian Basil; or the fragrance of Holy Basil (what we chose, because of its fragrance and flavour and health benefits - you can get this in better Chinese supermarkets). We would normally substitute chicken thighs for chicken breast, but you could also use trimmed pork tenderloin, to make Moo Krapao (Basil Pork). This is a quick dish, and serve with steamed Jasmine rice, but we made it even quicker to make, by using roasted chicken.

Gai Krapao
Adapted from a recipe from Thai Simply Cooking, 2nd Edition
300 g skinless, boneless chicken thighs, thinly sliced
1/2 medium red pepper
5 Tbsp vegetable oil
1 tsp garlic, chopped
1 hot chili, roughly chopped (more to taste)
1 Tbsp fish sauce
1 tsp sugar
1 Tbsp soya sauce
1 Tbsp oyster sauce
2 Tbsp water
20 whole leaves fresh basil
1/2 tsp cornstarch
1 Tbsp water

Slice the chicken thighs thinly. Set aside.

Cut the red pepper into small squares. Set aside.

Heat oil on high heat in a wok or heavy-bottomed frying pan until just about to smoke. Add garlic and chilis and stir-fry for 30 seconds. Add chicken and stir-fry for 2 minutes. Add fish sauce, sugar and soya sauce and stir-fry for 1 minute. Add oyster sauce and water and cook for 30 seconds.

Add peppers and three-quarters of the basil leaves and stir-fry until the peppers begin to soften, about 2 minutes. Mix cornstarch with water and add to wok, stir-frying until the sauce is thickened somewhat, about 1 minute.

Pad Gai Mamuang Sood (Young Mango Chicken)

This is another dish we made at the same time as the Curry Chicken with Fresh Pineapple from Wandee Young's cookbook Simply Thai Cooking, though this is not a dish that you would really find in Thailand as the mangos there don’t hold up well to cooking like this - and are really better for the more delicious mango salad anyways. Again, we substituted chicken thighs for chicken breast. The mango we used you can find in most supermarkets, it comes from Mexico and has green/red skin, with an inside that is yellow; this is different than one from Asia, but what you are looking for, is a mango that will stand up to cooking, one that is not quite so ripe - you also want to cut up the mango into larger strips, thin ones will soften too much. I like mango, and the combination with chicken is great, very tasty. This is not so hot as the above Curry Chicken, but still has a heat to it. We didn't have nor could find any good coriander, otherwise the red and the orange and the green make for an appealing dish. To roast your cashews, place them on a baking sheet in a 350F oven for 10 minutes, or until they become fragrant (and better tasting than raw).

Pad Gai Manuang Sood
adapted from a recipe from Simply Thai Cooking, 2nd Edition
300 g skinless, boneless chicken thighs
1 large mango
4 Tbsp chopped garlic
4 Tbsp water
2 Tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp sugar
2 Tbsp chili paste
2 Tbsp lime juice
1/2 medium red pepper, cut into thin strips
2 oz roasted unsalted cashews
fresh coriander leaves, chopped, for garnish

Slice the chicken thighs into thin strips.

Peel mango and slice into thick, long strips.

Heat oil in a wok or large heavy-bottomed pan on high heat until the oil just begins to smoke. Add garlic and stir-fry for 30 seconds. Add chicken and water and stir-fry for 2 minutes, until the chicken is springy. Add soya sauce and sugar and continue stir-frying for 1 minute. Add chili paste and lime juice and stir-fry for an additional 1 minute. Add mango and red pepper and stir-fry for 1 minute. Add cashews and stir-fry for 1 more minute.

Garnish with chopped coriander leaves and serve with steamed Jasmine rice.

Kan Kuua Suparod Gai (Curry Chicken with Fresh Pineapple)

This is another recipe we made from Wandee Young's cookbook Simply Thai Cooking. The heat of the red curry paste coupled with the sweetness of the pineapple and the chicken make this a tasty dish. We used chicken thighs rather than chicken breast, and cut down the amount of red curry paste (if you like heat, feel free to double the amount of red curry paste).

Kan Kuua Suparod Gai
adapted from a recipe from Simply Thai Cooking, 2nd Edition
300 g skinless, boneless chicken thighs
2 cups coconut milk
1-1/2 Tbsp red curry paste
2 lime leaves, torn into thirds
2 Tbsp fish sauce
1 tsp sugar
1 pineapple, cut into 1/2" chunks (or 1 can pineapple slices or chunks)
strips of red pepper

Slice the chicken into thin strips (place in freezer for 15-20 minutes to harden).

Heat half of the coconut milk in a wok on high heat till it boils. Add red curry paste and stir-fry to dissolve (1-2 minutes). Add lime leaves and fish sauce and stir briefly. Immediately add chicken and sugar and stir-fry for 2 minutes, until chicken is springy. Add pineapple chunks and stir-fry for an additional 2 minutes. Add the remaining coconut milk and cook for 2-3 minutes while constantly stirring, until oil rises to the surface.

Garnish with red pepper slices and serve with steamed Jasmine rice.

Trinidad Pelau

I first saw this recipe on The Food Network's Diners, Drive-ins and Dives, there was this particular Trinidadian restaurant in Seattle, Washington, the proprietor made an interesting version of this traditional Trinidadian dish, which is essentially first cooking chicken with a caramelized brown sugar sauce, then further with rice and beans and vegetables and spices. They didn't provide her recipe, likely a secret, so I did an Internet search and found this "foolproof" recipe. I write "foolproof", because we did not follow the recipe exactly, and thus it didn't come out quite as expected; we neglected to soak the rice ahead of time (more a measure of time, but also because we forgot to) and we decided to make it in a rice cooker - this turned out well and tasty, but the rice was not quite cooked through, so a little chewy; the second time we made it, we soaked the rice and made it in our large stainless steel pot, it turned out far better. This is a great recipe, and one we'll make again, I'm sure, essentially a one-pot recipe that makes lots. Apparently, Pelau is preferred either wet, or dry and grainy; this will determine how dry you cook the rice. I think ours came out the latter, which was good.

Trinidad Pelau
4-5 lbs chicken, cut into pieces and washed with lime/lemon juice
1 Tbsp salt
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1 Tbsp ketchup
2 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced or crushed
1 tsp fresh ginger, crushed
2 tablespoon canola oil
1 medium onion, chopped
1 medium tomato, chopped
2-3 Tbsp cilantro
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/4 hot pepper (optional)
1 green onion or chive, chopped
2 sprigs of fresh thyme (1 tsp dried)
2 Tbsp brown sugar
3 cups water
1 large carrot, peeled and sliced into coins
1 can coconut milk
1 can pigeon peas, strained and washed
3 cups of long grain brown rice
1 tsp butter (optional)

Cut and wash the chicken pieces with the lime or lemon juice, then add the salt, Worcestershire sauce, ketchup, garlic, ginger, onion, tomato, cilantro, black pepper, hot pepper (if using), green onion and thyme, mixing to coat all the chicken pieces. Marinate for at least 1 hour.

In a large pot, heat the oil on medium to high heat. Then add the brown sugar and heat until the sugar goes to a dark frothy brown.

Add the pieces of chicken, stirring to coat with the caramel. Cover the pot and allow to cook on medium heat for about 10 minutes.

Put both the peas and carrot pieces into the same bowl you seasoned the chicken with and stir to coat. Add the peas and carrots to the pot. Cover with the lid and turn down the heat as you wash the rice.

Pour the rice into the pot, then the coconut milk and the three cups of water. Stir well and bring to a boil. Then cover the pot and allow to simmer for about 35 minutes or until all the liquid is gone and the grains of rice are tender and plump.

For extra flavour, add the teaspoon of butter as you turn off the heat to the stove. Stir the contents. Cover the pot for about 5 minutes.

Scallops with Black Bean Sauce

We got this recipe from a Chinese cookbook we have, with fairly good recipes; this one seemed interesting, as it has the salted, fermented black beans I've tried in other recipes. It turned out fairly salty, but still interesting enough. The next day, my beautiful Bride stir-fried it with some Chinese greens to make it taste better.

Scallops with Black Bean Sauce
1 kg large scallops
2 Tbsp salted, fermented black beans, rinsed and mashed
3 tsp finely chopped ginger
2 tsp sugar
2 tsp light soy sauce
2 Tbsp oyster sauce
2 Tbsp oil
2 spring onions, cut into 2 cm lengths

Slice the small, hard white muscle off the side of each scallop and pull off any membrane. Rinse the scallop and drain.

Place the black beans, garlic, ginger, sugar, light soy sauce and oyster sauce in a bowl; mix well.

Heat a wok over high heat, add the oil and heat until very hot. Stir-fry the scallops for 2 minutes, until the scallops are cooked through (they will be opaque). Add the spring onions just before the scallops are finished cooking. Place the cooked scallops in a colander to drain.

Lower the heat to medium, then stir-fry the black bean mixture for 1-2 minutes, or until it becomes aromatic. Return the scallops and spring onion to the wok and toss together to combine.

Spaghetti with Nam Prik Pao

This recipe is kind of a farang( like lao wai in Chinese - white devil) Pad Thai recipe, in that it has most of the usual ingredients of Pad Thai, but it uses the Thai nam prik pao, or roasted chili paste, instead of the tamarind sauce. It also uses spaghetti, a Westerner ingredient (Pad Thai normally uses rice noodles), and carrots and zucchini instead of chives and bean sprouts. We used the vegetarian version of nam prik pao, which doesn't have shallots or garlic (which are "hot" vegetables; in other words, stimulating - so, if you are making this dish for a Buddhist vegetarian, you wouldn't make it with the garlic, nor the shrimp) and no dried shrimp or shrimp paste, instead it uses soy sauce, soy protein, fermented bean and shiitake mushroom; either one is acceptable. This is a somewhat spicy dish, depending on how much of the nam prik pao you add. So saying, it tastes pretty good, a Thai influenced dish.

Spaghetti with Nam Prik Pao
1-1/2 cup cooked spaghetti
vegetable oil
1/4 cup diced extra-firm tofu
2" carrot, sliced
2" zucchini, sliced
1 clove garlic
6 prawns
2 Tbsp nam prik pao
1 Tbsp fish sauce
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp lime juice
1 egg
3 green onions, sliced into long strips

Cook spaghetti as per package directions.

Fry tofu in oil over medium heat until brown. Set aside.

Fry carrot and zucchini slices in a little of oil until almost soft, then add prawns and garlic. When the prawns are cooked, set aside with the fried tofu.

Fry the nam prik pao in 2 tablespoons of oil for about 30-60 seconds, then add noodles, sugar, lime juice, fish sauce; stir to mix.

Make a big hole in the middle (push the noodles to the edge of the wok) and add 2 tablespoons of oil, and then crack in the egg. Stir to break the egg yolk and leave it until the egg is almost cooked, but still a little liquidy.

Fold in the noodle over the cooked egg, and add the tofu mixture and stir to mix everything.

Slivered Lamb with Ginger

This recipe originally called for mutton (in other words, sheep meat), but I substituted sliced lamb shoulder (which you can find in most Chinese supermarkets; it is normally used for making hot pot). It also originally called for young ginger, a form of the ginger you would normally use, just picked earlier - it's milder in flavour. I found this to be a tasty dish, the lamb and the ginger paired well with the pepper; it was rather rich, though, and I think that I could only eat so much of it at a time. I like ginger, so this amount of ginger, which might seem like a lot, makes for good flavour. I also found it to be a little salty, so you might tone down the added salt; remember that soy sauce is also salty.

Slivered Lamb with Ginger
700 g lean boneless mutton
4 tsp rice wine
1 tsp salt
5 Tbsp vegetable oil
1 Tbsp sliced garlic
50-75 g ginger
1 tsp sweet fermented yellow bean sauce
2 medium green or red or yellow or orange pepper, halved and seeded
2 tsp dissolved cornstarch (corn flour) dissolved in 1 tsp water
2 tsp soy sauce

Cut the mutton into fine slivers and mix with the rice wine and salt. Cut the tender ginger and green pepper into slivers. Mix together the cornstarch-water and soy sauce. Set aside.

Heat the oil in a wok to very hot, or until the oil surface ripples. Add the green pepper and stir-fry until they start to wilt. Remove and drain. Add the lamb slivers and stir-fry a few moments. Add the ginger, green pepper, and garlic shoots, Stir-fry several times. Stir in the sweet bean sauce. Stir the cornstarch sauce and add, cooking, stirring until thickened. Remove and serve.

Jjajangmyun (Noodles with blackbean sauce)

This is a vegetarian version of the dish I've enjoyed several times at Korean restaurants; there they serve it mostly with a little bit of pork. You can also try pork belly or chicken or shrimp, just stir-fry the meat in the first step in place of the mushrooms. This makes a thick chunky sauce; the restaurant version is thinner and definitely less chunky. Still delicious, though.

Jjajangmyun (Noodles with blackbean sauce)
Noodles (myun or other)
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 cup fresh mushrooms (diced into 1/2 inch cubes)
7 Tbsp black bean paste
1 cup Asian radish (diced into 1/2 inch cubes)
1 cup sweet potato (diced into 1/2 inch cubes)
1 cup zucchini (diced into 1/2 inch cubes)
2 cups onion (diced into 1/2 inch cubes)
2-3 Tbsp potato or corn starch
1 Tbsp sugar
sesame oil, for drizzling
cucumber, diced small

Heat a small skillet over medium heat with 2 tbs of vegetable oil. Fry mushrooms for 2 minutes, until cooked. Then add black bean paste and stir fry for 1 minute; set aside.

Cook radish and sweet potato in a wok over medium high heat in olive oil and saute for 2 minutes. Then add zucchini and onion and saute for another 2 minutes. Add 3 cups of water, close the lid and boil it for 15-20 minutes.

Open the lid of the wok and skim off the foam from the surface. When the vegetables are cooked, add the fried mushroom and black bean paste from the small skillet and stir it up.

Mix potato starch powder (or corn starch) with 2 tablespoons water and add it into the boiling soup and stir it. then the soup ill turn into a sticky sauce. Add 1 tbs sugar to the sauce and stir.

Cook noodles faccording to the direction on the package.

Reheat the jjajang sauce and put it over the noodles.

Fennel-salted Pork Chops with Roasted Root Vegetables

This recipe comes from the new magazine from Jamie Oliver, Issue 1 of Jamie Magazine. I have only bought and read issue 2 of his new food magazine, found it good with some interesting recipes. Jamie says that the combination of the rutabaga and the carrots highlights their natural flavours - the rutabaga's bitterness against the sweetness of the carrots. You can find the full recipe here. I omitted the spicy cabbage; instead my beautiful Bride made a favourite of mine, morning glory. The fennel was not too strong, though, I found it a little salty. The roasted vegetables were great, and something I could enjoy with other dishes, but it goes well with pork, and really was the better part of this recipe.

Fennel-salted Pork Chops with Roasted Root Vegetables
1 rutabaga, peeled and cut into wedges
4 carrots, peeled, cut into 3cm chunks
Olive oil, for tossing and drizzling
1 bulb garlic, sliced in half
A few sprigs thyme
2 pork rib chops, about 350g each, cut about 2cm thick
1 tsp fennel seeds
1 tsp sea salt

Preheat the oven to 180C/gas 4. Toss the swede and carrots in a little olive oil, season with salt and black pepper, and place in a baking tray with the garlic halves and thyme. Cover with foil and put in the oven for about 45 minutes.

When the carrots and swede are cooked through, remove the foil and return to the oven to crisp for 10–15 minutes, turning them now and then to ensure they brown evenly.

Meanwhile, preheat a griddle to hot, and lay your chops on a board. With a pestle and mortar, grind the fennel seeds with 1 tsp salt until no whole seeds remain. Drizzle the chops with olive oil and sprinkle with the fennel salt and plenty of black pepper, rubbing over evenly.

Lay the meat in the pan, making sure it makes good contact with the griddle's ridges. Cook for 10 minutes, turning every two minutes, until cooked through. With a pair of tongs, pick the chops off the griddle and let rest for a couple of minutes.

Mo Tod Gatheam Prik Thai - Fried Garlic Pepper Pork

This is a simple recipe, with only a few ingredients. This also isn't strictly a Thai recipe, it is more a Chinese-influenced Thai recipe, as they don't normally use cooking wine in recipes, rather they would use oyster sauce and fish sauce. Regardless, this comes out very tasty, albeit I found it a little salty; you could use the more expensive less salt version of soya sauce instead. It is important to slice the pork thinly, it cooks fairly fast then. We used a butterflied pork chop for this, but you could use any cut of good pork for this. To find cilantro roots, you have to buy cilantro at an Asian store, where they don't cut them off already. This might also seem like a lot of garlic, but, one, I like garlic, and two, it doesn't make the pork taste only like garlic.

Mo Tod Gatheam Prik Thai
500 g pork, sliced very thinly
2 whole heads garlic
8 coriander roots
1-1/2 tsp ground white pepper
1/8 cup light soya sauce
1/8 cup Chinese cooking wine
Accompaniments:
cilantro, chopped
cucumber chunks

Remove the skin from the garlic cloves. Clean and scrape the cilantro roots. Slice the pork very thinly and place in a medium bowl.

Add one of the whole garlic heads with the cilantro roots and the pepper to a mortar and pestle. Pound the garlic and cilantro roots until they are a coarse paste.

Add the garlic-cilantro root-pepper paste to the pork. Pour the soya sauce and the cooking wine over the pork. Stir the pork slices to cover well with the marinade. Allow pork to marinate for at least one hour and up to three hours covered in the refrigerator.

Add the other whole garlic head to the mortar and pound the cloves until very coarse.

Fry pork slices in a frying pan heated to medium heat, until well cooked, about 7-8 minutes. Add the smashed garlic in the last minute of frying, stirring to coat with the oil and cook.

Serve with chopped cilantro, chunks of cucumber and brown rice.

Papaya Chicken

The best advice I can give in making this dish, is focus on the preparation before starting; there are a lot, I mean a lot, of spices to be scooping out while the onions are caramelizing, and eventually burning. This is the main meal to which the Chana Masala would go well with (we made this again, with Chana Masala spice mixture this time instead of Garam Masala). The asafoetida in this dish is a spice that I've seen only in Indian dishes (until more recently, as a tincture to be put on the stomach of babies to reduce gas - a benefit from Thailand), and is very pungent and somewhat unpleasant when raw (and will likely stink up your place for a short while), but is used to reduce gassiness when eating lentils or cruciferous vegetables. This dish tasted quite good, an interesting spicy chicken paired with papaya, though I think I should have taken my beautiful Bride's suggestion, to cook the papaya a little with the chicken (on the other hand, cooking too long will deactivate the beneficial enzymes that papaya contains).

Papaya Chicken
From Everyday Indian by Bal Arneson
2 Tbsp corn or grapeseed oil
1 tsp fenugreek seeds
1/2 tsp asafoetida
2 Tbsp grated garlic
1 Tbsp grated ginger
1 green chili, finely chopped
1 large onion, chopped
1 Tbsp cumin seeds
1 Tbsp cumin seeds
2 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground turmeric
1/2 tsp ground cardamom
1/2 tsp Spanish paprika
1 tsp salt
900 g boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut into bite-size pieces
1/4 cup low-fat plain yogurt
1 cup cubed ripe, juicy papaya

Mix together the cumin seeds, ground cumin, coriander, turmeric, cardamom, paprika and salt.

Place the oil, fenugreek seeds and asafoetida in a non-stick skillet over medium heat and cook for 10 seconds. Add the garlic, ginger and green chili, and cook for 2 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Add the onion and sauté for four minutes, until caramelized. Add the cumin spice mixture, and cook for 10 seconds.

Add the chicken and cook for 2 minutes, until it is almost done. Stir in the yogurt and cook for another 2 minutes, until the chicken is fully done. Add the papaya chunks, and cook for 30 seconds. Remove from the heat, stir in the papaya chunks, and serve with brown rice or whole wheat naan.

Rösti with Purple Fingerling Potatoes

We used those Organic Purple Fingerling Potatoes that we got the other day, you can see that they are at least a little purple on the inside, far more colourful than the regular potato we used as well. And the purple fingerling potatoes were far more flavourful, quite good tasting. This recipe is different from the last Rösti recipe that I posted, the potatoes are not boiled before frying, similar to German Potato Pancakes, and they are fried in oil instead of butter. Quite good.

Rösti with Purple Fingerling Potatoes
2-3 medium potatoes, peeled and coarsely grated
2-3 Tbsp olive oil
salt, to taste

Heat non-stick frying pan on medium heat, then add oil. Place grated potatoes onto frying pan and spread out till it fills pan. Season with salt to taste. Fry potatoes until bottom is golden brown, then flip over (I used two plates to flip; if you're more talented, then you can flip using just a spatula). Fry opposite side until it is golden brown as well. Serve hot as a side dish.

Taro Rice Pot

The idea of a one-pot meal is great, that we can make this in a rice cooker is convenient. We used a lup cheong, or Chinese sausage, that had pork and chicken, there are many kinds, found in most Chinese supermarkets. The taro tastes good as well, I can see that it is a versatile root vegetable (I've had it in both savoury and sweet dishes, similar to sweet potato).

Taro Rice Pot
2 lup cheong, sliced thickly
1-2 Tbsp vegetable oil
3 cloves garlic, crushed
3 cilantro roots, crushed
1/4 cup textured protein, soaked
3 shittiake mushrooms, soaked in hot water then sliced
1/4 cup small dried shrimp, soaked
1/2 medium Taro, cut into bite-sized chunks
2 cups brown rice, rinsed
1-1/2 Tbsp light soy sauce
ground white pepper
4 cups mushroom stock (or as per rice cooker instructions)

Put some vegetable oil in a heated pan and add sliced lup cheong; fry until cooked, 3-4 minutes. Add garlic, cilantro roots, and textured protein; fry until fragrant. Add dried shrimp and shiitake mushrooms. Mix together, then add taro and rice. Season with light soy sauce, ground white pepper and stir-fry together well - make sure it doesn't get too dry. Put mixture into rice cooker and add stock; cook as per rice cooker instructions.

Serve with Nam Jim King Ginger sauce if you wish.

Lime Prawn Pasta

This is one of those quick healthy recipes I found in a health magazine for women, that has Asian flavours, but is not Asian. Nevertheless, it tastes pretty good. We used prawns without heads, which, my beautiful Bride noticed today, has more cholesterol than with heads. I like the redness of the tomatoes, with the pink of the shrimp, matched against the green of the avocado and cilantro.

Lime Prawn Pasta
3 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
1 clove garlic, chopped
1/2 lb uncooked prawns, shelled and deveined
1/2 tsp grated lime zest
1/4 cup fresh lime juice
1 large tomato, chopped
2 cups cooked whole wheat spaghetti
1 avocado, cut into chunks
cilantro, chopped, for garnish

In large saucepan over medium heat, saute garlic and prawns in olive oil.

Once the prawns are pink, add lime zest, lime juice and tomato; bring to a boil.

Toss prawn mixture with hot pasta.

Add avocado chunks just prior to serving. Garnish with chopped cilantro.

Pork with Roots

I've made this recipe quite a few times since I found it on Anne's Food, a big thank you to Anne! It's an excellent recipe, if you like pork and winter vegetables (ie. root vegetables), which I do, the combination works so well together, though I think this should rather have been called Roots with a little Pork. Still good. The balsamic vinegar and honey combine together to give it a good flavour as well. I've also made this with Chinese daikon and kohlrabi; I can't see why you couldn't use parsnips either. Serve with brown rice or a good thick slice of whole-grain bread.

Pork with Roots
250-300 g lean pork, no bones
2 medium carrots
200 g rutabaga
100 g celeriac (celery root)
1 white turnip
1 yellow onion
1 bouillon cube
200 mL water
2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
dried thyme, oregano and tarragon, a good pinch of each
freshly ground pepper
2 tsp good runny honey
2 Tbsp olive oil

Cut the carrots into thick coins. Dice the rutabaga and turnip into large dice, and the celeriac into small dice. Cut the onion into wedges. Cut the pork into bite-sized pieces.

Heat up the olive oil in a large pot. Brown the meat on all sides. Add the carrot, rutabaga, turnip and onion, and give it a good stir. Add the bouillon cube, the water and the balsamic vinegar. Sprinkle each pinch of dried herbs over the vegetables.

Bring to a boil, cover with a lid and lower heat to low. Let it simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally, or until all the vegetables are soft. If the heat is too high, you may have to add more water.

Season to taste with runny honey and freshly ground pepper.