Friday night Seafood Laksa.

After a stressful and hectic work week, I was craving something tasty, but with a little bit of a difference, to make for our tea. Jason had gone home early from the high school he teaches at with the flu and had a sore throat. What a coincidence it was to discover the latest edition of Dish magazine in my email box with the perfect recipe for Laksa in it! Like Jewish Chicken soup but Thai and made with seafood! I’ve never made a laksa from scratch but the recipe was easy to follow and quick to make. 

First assemble your ingredients for the laksa paste.



Laksa paste ingredients.

1 small red chilli, de seeded

1 stalk of lemongrass, centre only

6 coriander stalks 

4 cloves garlic , chopped

2.5cm piece ginger, peeled and chopped

1 1/2 tablespoons shrimp paste

1/2 teaspoon turmeric 

2 tablespoons rice bran or peanut oil

To make the paste, put all ingredients bar the oil in a small food processor, blend whilst adding oil. You could also pound the ingredients in a mortar and pestle if you feel like working out that stress 😉. I just put everything, including the oil in my little processor and whizzed away. It turned out just fine. 



Now you can assemble all your other ingredients for the soup.



4-6 button mushrooms, thinly sliced

1 tablespoon peanut or rice bran oil

1 1/2 cups of  fish stock

2 kaffir lime leaves , thinly sliced

400ml coconut milk

2 teaspoons fish sauce

2 tablespoons lime juice

1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger

Pepper and salt

115gm rice noodles

12 large raw prawns, peeled

100gm firm fleshed fish, cut into bite sized pieces

1/2 cup bean sprouts

Fresh coriander sprigs to garnish

In a medium saucepan over a low heat, gently cook the sliced mushrooms in the oil for one minute. Add the fresh laksa paste and cook for another minute or until it smells fragrant.





Add stock, kaffir lime leaves, coconut milk, fish sauce, lime juice and ginger. Gently simmer for 7-10 minutes , then taste and season if needed with sea salt and black pepper.



While the soup is cooking, soak the rice noodles in hot water as per packet instructions. I soaked the vermicelli rice noodles I used for no more than five minutes. Drain thoroughly.

Add prawns and fish pieces to soup and cook till the fish is opaque. Drop in the sprouts and remove from heat.



Divide the noodles between serving bowls. Ladle the soup over noodles and garnish with coriander.



This was such a satisfying dish to make and eat. I’m sure you will all enjoy it as much as we did. 

Bon appetit! 

Butter chicken with red lentil dhal and rice.

Hello friends 🙂

Yesterday I made a rather delicious meal for our tea.  I actually found it in the state newspaper (The West Australian) in the recipes pages. This recipe was compiled by one of the duos that appeared on the MKR (My Kitchen Rules) TV show and I have to say it turned out very well for a first time try.

This amount will serve 4.

First assemble your ingredients.

For the Marinade,

400gm can of crushed tomatoes

190gm yoghurt (I used Goats milk yoghurt)

4 garlic cloves

90gm ground almonds

2cm piece of ginger, grated

6 cardamom pods, bruised

2 tablespoons brown sugar

2 teaspoons garam masala

1 cinnamon quill

1/2 teaspoon  ground cloves

1/2 teaspoon chilli powder

2 tablespoons tomato paste

1 pinch saffron threads

salt and pepper to season

1 kg boneless, skinless chicken thighs, halved

125gm Ghee

1 onion, diced

For the Red Lentil Dhal,

2 teaspoons vegetable oil ( I used Ghee again as I am in love with it!)

1 onion, diced

1 long green chilli, chopped

1 + 1/2 teaspoons cumin seeds

1 + 1/2 teaspoons black mustard seeds

1 + 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin

1 + 1/2 teaspoons ground coriander

1 teaspoon ground turmeric

3 curry leaves

1 tomato, diced ( I forgot to use it so I make this optional :D)

200 gm red lentils, rinsed, drained

400ml can coconut milk

250ml water

To make the marinade, combine all of the ingredients down to and including the salt and pepper in a six cup capacity baking dish.

Add the chicken and rub marinade all over it.

(Trust me, there is chicken in there!)

Cover and refrigerate for one hour to marinate.

Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius.

Melt ghee in a small frying pan over medium heat, add onion and cook, stirring for about 3 minutes or until softened.

Add to chicken mixture, cover dish tightly with foil and bake for 40 minutes. Remove foil and bake for a further 15 minutes or until chicken is very tender. I like cooking till those yummy caramelized bits form on top of the chicken 🙂

Meanwhile, to make the dhal, heat oil/ghee in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add onion and chilli and cook, stirring for about 3 minutes or until softened.

Stir in seeds and spices. Cook for a further 1 minutes or until fragrant.

Stir in remaining ingredients and the water.

Bring to a simmer, then simmer, partially covered and stirring occasionally, for 25 minutes or until lentils are cooked and have absorbed all the liquid. Season with salt.

Divide rice between serving plates and top with chicken. Spoon dhal to the side and tuck in!

That is my appreciative husband Jason 😀

This recipe is completely gluten free, including that Naan bread you see in the picture. So happy to have found that the local supermarket (Coles) stocks the Livewell brand for Coeliac sufferers.

Bon appetit!

Gozleme of Lamb,mint, fetta and spinach.

Here is the yummiest snack/meal I’ve made in recent times. As my partner is gluten intolerant, I’ve just substituted the normal Self Raising flour for Orgran brand gluten free SR Flour. Give it a try!
This recipe serves 4 depending on your hunger 😉

Ingredients 200gm plain yoghurt (natural, unsweetened)
250gm Self Raising flour (substitute for gluten free here)
1 tablespoon olive oil
150gm minced lamb
1 garlic clove, peeled and crushed
a pinch of ground cumin
a pinch of chilli flakes
a pinch of dried mint
4 tablespoons of tomato juice (I used Passata)
50gm baby English spinach
100gm Fetta, crumbled
8 fresh mint leaves, torn
olive oil for frying
50gm butter, melted (optional)

Beat the youghurt and a pinch of salt in a large bowl until smooth. Gradually add flour until it is a stiff dough, then knead on a lightly floured bench till it is soft and only slightly sticky. Transfer to an oiled bowl and leave, covered for 30 minutes.
Heat the oil in a frying pan and cook the lamb with a pinch of salt and pepper until browned. Turn the heat down to medium-low and add the garlic, cumin, chilli flakes and tomato juice. Cook for another minute or until dry. Turn off the heat and leave to cool, then drain if needed.
On a floured surface, split the dough into four equal sized balls. Roll each ball into a 30cm circle. Place a quarter of the spinach over half of each circle, then sprinkle with a quarter of the fetta, then add the lamb and mint leaves and season. Fold the dough over and seal the edges with a fork.
Preheat a barbecue hotplate or large frying pan. Brush one side of each Gozleme with olive oil and cook until the base is golden. Brush the top with olive oil, turn and cook until golden.
Brush with melted butter, cut into four pieces (or two 🙂 ) and serve with a pinch of sea salt and lemon wedges if liked. Would also be good with an ice cold beer if your that way inclined.

These are so yummy and for a little bit of effort, you get a huge amount of flavour and enjoyment.
Enjoy!

My Black Pepper Chilli Crab

I was given this recipe by a lovely Asian lady whilst I was standing in line at the local fishermans market here in Albany, Western Australia one day. She was the cook at the local Thai restaurant (Joop Thai) and was also a qualified lawyer. Go figure! She must enjoy making people happy with food rather than legalese 😀
Recipe is very simple.
For two people I used 3 Blue Manna (swimmer) crabs.
1-2 big red chillis (not usually too hot!)
2-3 cloves of garlic(or to taste)
Lots of cracked black pepper
Chives or coriander/cilantro to taste (optional)
I just cleaned and halved the crabs raw(they’d been euthanized humanely already), cracking the claws. I then heated some Rice bran oil in a wok, chucked in the garlic and chilli and loads of ground black pepper and cooked for roughly 15-30 seconds and then added the crab in one go (make sure your wok is big enough!) and stir fried till crab was red and cooked. Sprinkle with chives and/or coriander/cilantro and eat! Best I’ve ever had and so quick to make. Don’t forget the finger bowls or serviettes!
Enjoy 😀

Pumpkin soup for sick people.

I made my partner a big pot of Pumpkin soup today. He is feeling poorly after having 2 flu shots, one in each upper arm. Bit of a nasty reaction to the pneumonia one poor baby. Anyway, he craves Pumpkin soup when he’s feeling low, not chicken soup. He doesn’t eat pumpkin at all in it’s fleshy, gorgeous orangey yellow state, but loves it in a velvety soup.

Recipe,

Take one whole Butternut Pumpkin (or squash as it is also called), quarter it lengths ways, leaving skin on. Place in baking dish flesh side up and cover with baking paper. Cook at 175 degrees Celsius for an hour or so till the flesh can be easily scooped out with a spoon. Scoop out the flesh into a pot on top of the stove and add a couple of cups of either chicken stock (homemade is better if you can, don’t sweat it if you can’t :)) or vegetable stock. Bring back up to boiling and mash it all together or using a stick blender as I have, blend it till it turns into an unctuous, velvety soup. I like to add a 250ml tin of coconut milk once it has been blended and some coriander and a sprinkle of chilli to make a kind of Thai inspired soup which is great for colds and flus. You can also add some crumbled fetta or a blob of yoghurt or any other soft cheese instead of the chilli and coriander and just adjust seasoning to taste on serving.

My partner swears by it. I bake the pumpkin in the oven rather than on top of the stove initially because it gives the soup a deeper, caramelised flavour. This recipe only needs a minimum of 2 ingredients so is also cost saving.

Happy eating 🙂