THAI COOKING LESSON

CHICKEN SATAY - Makes 12

Ingredients for the Chicken

3 Chicken Breasts (approx 140g each), 100g Smooth Peanut Butter, 4 Cloves of finely grated Garlic, 1 Tablespoon of finely grated Ginger, 2 Tablespoons of runny Honey, Juice of 1 Lime, 4 Tablespoons of Dark Soya Sauce, 12 Wooded Skewers

Ingredients for the Dipping Sauce

100g Crunchy Peanut Butter, 50ml Coconut Milk, 50ml Water, 1 Teaspoon of Runny Honey, 1 Teaspoon of Dark Soya Sauce

In a large mixing bowl combine together the peanut butter, garlic, ginger, honey, lime and soya sauce
Divide each chicken breast into four thin fillets
Place the chicken in the mixing bowl and stir so that all of the chicken is covered in the marinade
Cover with cling film and place in the fridge for a minimum of 20 minutes ... over night is brilliant
30 minutes before you are ready to cook the chicken soak the same number of wooden skewers as mini fillets, in water. The skewers need 30 minutes so absorb the water so that they don’t burn when grilled
Turn your grill onto heat up and line a baking tray with non stick baking paper
Now for the messy bit ... thread a piece of chicken on to a wooden skewer and place on the lined baking tray
Repeat with the rest of the chicken and pop under the grill for 8-10 minutes, turning half way through the cooking time, until the chicken has started browning and is cooked through
While the chicken is cooking you can make the dipping sauce. Throughly mix all of the ingredients together in a mixing bowl
Remove the chicken from the oven, allow to cool slightly and serve with your dipping sauce

Cooking notes

You need to ensure that all the chicken fillets are the same size so that they will all cook in the same amount of time.

Chicken breasts naturally have a small fillet on them. I normally remove this small fillet and use it as one of my chicken strips. I then cut the remaining breast into 3 strips, similar in size to the fillet you have removed. If the chicken breast is rather large you may need to cut the larger part of the breast into 4 strips to make them the same size, this is fine just add them to the marinade and soak another stick so you have the same number of fillets to wooden sticks.

If you don’t have baking paper then use tin foil to line your baking tray. I use baking paper as I feel the chicken tends to stick slightly to tin foil.

Adapting

If you want your satay spicy then add quarter of a teaspoon of Thai curry paste to the chicken marinade

SPICY BEEF LETTUCE WRAPS - Makes 12

Ingredients

300g Fillet Steak, 50mil Dark Soya Sauce, 2 Cloves of Finely Grated Garlic, 1 Teaspoon of Finely Grated Ginger, 1 Tablespoon of Runny Honey, 2 Little Gem Lettuces, 1/2 Cucumber, 2 Red Chilies (2 inches long), 2 Spring Onions, 3 Tablespoons off Chopped Coriander, 1 Lime, Olive Oil, Salt and Pepper

Place the fillet Steak between two pieces of cling film and flatten with a rolling pin till the steak is half it’s original thickness
In a mixing bowl combine together the garlic, ginger, honey and soya sauce to create a marinade for your steak
Cover the steak in the marinade and leave for a minimum of 10 minutes while you prepare the rest of the dish
Cut the bottom of each lettuce remove the outer leaves and place 12 equal sized leaves on a plate, you should get 6 equal sized leaves from each lettuce
Remove the seeds and thinly slice a third of the cucumber
Very finely slice the chillies and spring onion and place in the bowl with the cucumber
Dress the cucumber with two of the three tablespoons of chopped Coriander, the juice from half the lime, 2 tablespoons of olive oil and season with salt and pepper.
Place a Frying pan with a knob of butter or a little oil on a medium heat until hot, once hot fry the fillet steak for 1-2 minutes on each side, remove from the heat, pour over any juices and allow the meat to rest for 5 minutes
While the meat is resting, divide the cucumber mixture between the salad leaves
Slice the steak into thin slices and place 2/3 slices on to each lettuce leaf, pour over any cooking juices and sprinkle with the remaining coriander .... serve

Cooking notes

I like my steak rare so cook it for a minute on each side, for medium rare cook for 1.5 minutes and for medium 2 minutes. These timings work with a very hot frying pan. If your frying pan is not hot you may need to cook the meat for slightly longer.

Adapting

If you don’t eat beef then you could do this with chicken or king prawns, you would just need to adjust the cooking times accordingly.

RED THAI CHICKEN CURRY - Serves 6

Ingredients

4 Chicken Breasts (approx 560g Chicken), 1 Large Onion, 2 Tablespoons of Thai Curry Paste, 1/2 x 400mil Tin of Coconut Milk, 400mil of Boiling water mixed with 1.5 teaspoons of Bouillon Stock Powder, 50g Creamed Coconut, 1 Teaspoon of Sugar, 4 Curry Leaves, 350g of Baby Corn, 2 Thinly sliced Peppers, 25g of Coriander, 1 Mango, Olive Oil

Start by thinly slicing the chicken, vegetables, mango and chopping the coriander
Add the sliced onion to a large saucepan and cook with a little oil till soft
Once the onions have softened add the curry paste into them and cook for a minute stirring continuously
Pour in one and a half tins of coconut milk, stock, creamed coconut and sugar into the onion mixture and bring to the boil
As soon as the curry start to boil reduce the heat to a very slow simmer and add the curry leaves
Allow the flavours to infuse for 5 minutes while you wash and start cooking the rice
Once the rice is cooking taste the curry, this the point where you can add more paste if it is not quite hot enough or add more coconut milk if it is to hot or you would prefer a thinner curry
Once you have got the correct spiciness, add the chicken and peppers to the curry, allow to simmer for 8-10 minutes till the chicken has just cooked through and the vegetables are soft, stir every couple of minutes
When the chicken has just cooked through, add the baby corn and half the coriander and simmer for 2 more minutes
Pop the curry in a serving bowl and garnish with the remaining coriander leaves
Lay the mango on top of the coriander and serve with the rice

Cooking notes

I start with two tablespoons of Red Blue Elephant Curry Paste then add more if I need it. You want the curry slightly spicier than you would imagine as the rice will reduce the flavor slightly.

Adapting

This is a great dish to adapt, you can replace the chicken with beef or prawns and the veg with anything you have in the cupboard. You will just need to adjust cooking times accordingly.

If you want a quick meal with less chopping then pull the meat of a cooked chicken (rotisserie chickens work brilliantly) add it to the curry and allow to simmer for ten minutes, then replace the vegetables with a bag of spinach, add the spinach to the curry with the coriander allow it to wilt and serve.

BASMATI RICE - Serves 2

Ingredients

200g Basmati rice, 425ml Boiling water

Put the kettle on to boil
Measure out 200g of rice (100g per person) and place in sieve. Rinse the rice under cold water for a few minutes till the water runs clear.

At this point you have a choice of cooking methods:

Using a hob:
Place the washed rice in to a saucepan and add the boiling water. Place the saucepan on the hob and let it boil for 2 minutes, stir the rice. Place the lid on the saucepan and turn of the heat, leaving the saucepan on gas ring. The rice will slowly steam for 15 minutes, run a fork through the rice and it is ready to serve.
Using a 4 door AGA:
Place the washed rice in to a saucepan and add the boiling water. Place the saucepan on the hot hob and let it boil for 2 minutes. Place the lid on the saucepan and put it in the warming oven for 15 minutes, run a fork through the rice, it is ready to serve.
Using a microwave:
Place the washed rice in to a heatproof bowl and add the boiling water. Cover the bowl with cling film and place in the microwave on high for 12 minutes. Remove the Clingfilm (being careful of the steam) and run a fork through the rice, it is ready to serve.

Cooking notes

I serve 100g of rice per person. I found a small ceramic cup that holds exactly 100g of basmati rice. I use this now rather than weighing and measuring out the rice and water. I work on a ratio of 2:3. Therefore, to make rice for two people I use the ceramic cup to measure 2 cups of rice (200g) and 3 cups of boiling water (425ml).

Make sure you throughly wash the rice. If you don't it can be very sticky when cooked. If this happens, place the rice in a colander and run under warm water for a minute or so ... it should help. To get rid of excess water in the rice place a side plate on top of the rice in the colander and press down.

Adapting

If you want to flavour the rice then you can using the hob method ... here are two of my favorite recipes for flavoured rice:

Garlic Rice

Put the kettle on to boil
Measure out 200g of rice (100g per person) and place in sieve. Rinse the rice under cold water for a few minutes till the water runs clear.
Add 15ml of olive oil and 1 large grated clove of garlic to the saucepan and allow to cook slowly for about a minute so that the garlic can infuse the oil
Place the washed rice into the saucepan and and stir so all the rice is coated in the oil
Add the boiling water, let the water boil for 2 minutes while you stir the rice. Place the lid on the saucepan and turn of the heat, leaving the saucepan on gas ring. The rice will slowly steam for 15 minutes, run a fork through the rice and it is ready to serve.

Rice with mustard seeds

Put the kettle on to boil
Measure out 200g of rice (100g per person) and place in sieve. Rinse the rice under cold water for a few minutes till the water runs clear.
Add a tablespoon of Gee. Once melted add in a teaspoon of mustard seeds. Toast for a minute till they are very hot and start to pop
Place the washed rice into the saucepan and stir so all the rice is coated in the gee
Add the boiling water, let the water boil for 2 minutes while you stir the rice. Place the lid on the saucepan and turn of the heat, leaving the saucepan on gas ring. The rice will slowly steam for 15 minutes, run a fork through the rice and it is ready to serve.

PASSION FRUIT MERINGUE ROULADE - Serves 8-10

Ingredients

5 Egg whites, 10oz Caster sugar, 300ml Double cream, 2/3 Passion fruits, 2 Additional tablespoons caster sugar, Icing sugar for dusting

Turn you oven to 160
Get out a baking tray that is about 36cm x 24cm. Place a piece of baking paper on to this. I tend to use reusable baking paper as it peels easily of the meringue. If you are not using reusable paper then turn the normal baking paper upside down to stop it rolling
Separate the eggs, place the whites in a mixing bowl. You do not use the yokes so if you want you can pop them in a freezer bag and place in the freezer for when you need them
Whisk the egg whites until you have soft peaks ... to check pull the whisk out of the egg and if a little peak forms and stay then you have a soft peak and can move onto the next stage.
You now need to slowly add the caster sugar. I tend to do this in four batches. Roughly pour a quarter of the sugar into the egg whites, whisk until the sugar is mixed in, then repeat until all sugar is mixed in and the mixture looks nice and glossy
Spoon the mixture on the the baking paper and spread out forming a rectangle, the mixture will slightly spread when cooking so leave about a cm round the edge
Place in the oven for about 20 minutes, when done the top will be crisp and will have turned a light gold
Remove from the oven and allow to cool
While the meringue it cooling, place the cream in a mixing bowl and whisk it until it is thick. You are looking for the same thickness of clotted cream you spread on scones (a scoop full should stay on a teaspoon if turned upside down for a few seconds)
Once the cream is thick scoop out the inside of the passion fruit and add to the cream with two tablespoons of sugar.
Layout a piece of tin foil that is bigger than the meringue, on top of this lay a piece of normal baking paper. You are now going to put the meringue onto of this paper. Lift the cold meringue, it should still on its baking paper, and carefully place it face down on the new piece of baking paper (so the crispy brown side is on the new piece of baking paper)
Carefully remove the baking paper from the back of the meringue
Now spread out your cream mixture on to the meringue, cover it completely and equally, the cream should be about half a cm thick all over the meringue
Now is the tricky bit, have your serving dish next to the meringue as you are going to roll it and you will need to place it on the plate as soon as it is rolled.
Using the tinfoil and baking paper to help you, slowly roll the meringue up into a roulade and place on serving dish
Gently cover with tin foil and place in fridge till you are ready to use
When you are to serve dust with icing sugar and bring to the table

Cooking notes

I use a hand held whisk for this recipe. You can do it by hand but be prepared for quite a bit of whisking.

I am aware that this sounds ... and looks really complicated but is not. The most fiddly bit is getting the meringue off the baking paper. I tend to use reusable baking paper as then there is no sticking so it is less nerve wracking.

Adapting

If you don’t like passion fruit you can use any fruit you like ... my favorite is adding in 200g of raspberries ...