Braised Asian Lamb Shanks with Shitake Mushrooms and Sweet Potato & Coriander Mash

A few strange things happened to me this New Year. Firstly, I went out. Not just to the pub across the road or a friend’s house but properly out. We joined the crowds of young, trendy and beautiful people of Bangkok to head up to the 39^th floor of a hotel for a rooftop party. The following day something else strange happened to me. I woke up feeling really nostalgic for London. Somehow I actually missed being cold. I love living in the tropics so found this quite unsettling. Nonetheless, I decided to indulge my cravings and cranked the air conditioning up to Arctic, put on a jumper and set about cooking some proper hearty, warming comfort food. But with a twist of course.

I learned to cook lamb shanks about this time last year, in my flat in South London. Back then, I made them with a red wine sauce and a creamy parsnip mash. Now in Thailand, I am using Asian ingredients which lend themselves amazingly to this dish. The sauce is delicately flavoured - I didn’t want it to be too overpowering that would mask the distinctive flavour of the lamb, which comes out so tender from the slow cooking. The mushrooms after all that time in the sauce are like little flavour grenades. And the mash is so tasty - it had my boyfriend scraping out the pot for the last dregs (though he refused to let me take a photo for the blog). I’m still using the local variety of sweet potato, hence why they look a little green not orange but I’ve got used to that now.

The dish did the trick. I went to bed full and happy and the next day reset the air-con to normal and embraced the sunshine.

Time: 2hr 15 mins – but don’t let this put you off, most of this is cooking time, the prep is minimal.

Rating: Easy. The flavours and the oven do all the work on this dish and the accompaniments are very straightforward.  

Serves 2

Ingredients:

For the lamb shanks

1 tbsp vegetable oil

2 lamb shanks

2 shallots

50g shitake mushrooms

1 inch knob of ginger, peeled

4 garlic cloves

2 small red chillies (medium spicy)

1 tbsp balsamic vinegar

1 tbsp soft brown sugar

1 lemongrass stalk

500ml stock (beef is fine)

2 tbsp soy sauce

1 tsp Chinese five spice powder

1 tbsp fish sauce

Juice 1 lime

For the sweet potato mash

350g sweet potatoes

20g butter

1 small red chilli

Small bunch fresh coriander

2 tbsp milk

Salt and pepper

A couple of handfuls of pak choi

Method:

1. Heat oven to 170C.
2. First, prepare the condiment vegetables: remove the outer stalks of the lemongrass. No need to chop but bruise using a rolling pin or something else heavy. Peel and halve the shallots. Cut the chilli in half lengthways and deseed. Cut the ginger in half. Trim the stalks of the mushrooms and leave them whole.
3. Then you need to seal the meat. Firstly, season the lamb with salt and pepper. Then heat the vegetable oil in a casserole dish and fry the lamb shanks for 2-3 minutes, turning regularly until browned all over.
4. Remove the lamb and add the onions, garlic, chilli and mushrooms. Fry them for about 1min. Then add the five spice powder and stir again for about 30 seconds. Then add the soy, fish sauce, lime juice, balsamic vinegar and sugar. Heat gently, stirring constantly for another minute or so. Finally add the stock, ginger and lemongrass.
5. Put the lamb back in, cover the casserole with a lid and cook in the oven for 2 hours, until the lamb is really tender, almost falling off the bone. All ovens are different so it’s hard to be exact on the timing. Check on your lamb a couple of times and judge the timing for yourself.
6. While you’re waiting for the lamb to finish cooking, start on the mash. Peel then cut the potatoes into large, fairly even-sized chunks. Bring a large saucepan of salted water to the boil, tip in the potatoes and cook for 15 minutes, until tender but not slushy.
7. While the potatoes are boiling, deseed and very finely chop the chilli and the coriander leaves.
8. When the potatoes are done, drain well and return to the saucepan.
9. Push the potatoes to one side of the pan and put the butter into the space. Return the saucepan to a very low heat and let the butter melt. Start mashing the potatoes with a masher.
10. Now add the milk and mash the potatoes vigorously, until smooth. Then stir in the chili, coriander, salt and pepper. Take off the heat, put the lid on and keep warm until you’re ready to serve.
11. Five minutes before you are ready to serve, bbriefly steam or stir fry the pak choi. Don’t overcook these – you want the leaves to have just turned from crunchy to soft, but not mushy.
12. Plate up: start with the sweet potato mash. Either spoon this out carefully or for a neater presentation use a pastry cutter to get a perfect circle of mash. Next place one lamb shank and a few greens on each plate. Fish out the mushrooms from the pot and place a few on each plate. Finish by gently spooning some of the sauce over the top. Try not to serve up the chilli, lemongrass, ginger or garlic as their work in this dish is done.

Thai Burgers with Spicy Sweet Potato Chips and Asian Slaw

A few weeks ago I had to go back to London for work. No sooner had I made it from the airport to the office, did I get the urge for proper British pub grub. So I dragged a couple of my colleagues off to Smiths of Smithfields in Farringdon, which is a restaurant run by John Torode, serving cracking pub grub at reasonable prices.

When my mum was pregnant with me, apparently she developed an insatiable craving for hamburgers and scoffed them at all hours of the day for most of the nine months. So I am convinced my love for a good burger started in the womb.

Imagine my dismay therefore, when I tucked into my burger and found it to be, well, a bit blah. I’m not blaming this on the burger or the chef. Honestly John, it’s not you, it’s me. I’ve changed since I’ve been in Thailand and I guess I just want other things. I want chillies. I want fresh herbs.  My palette has become accustomed to Thai cooking and I was missing a bit of fire in my belly.

Determined to rekindle my love for the burger, I set about figuring out how to spice things up a bit and Thai-up an old classic. I love this recipe, it’s straightforward to prepare but still lets you play around with new flavours and jazz up a classic dish. I've added a lime and garlic mayo too and also served some sweet chilli sauce.

By the way, if you are looking at the photo and wondering whether the chips are actually green and the burger bun purple, they are. Let me explain. I couldn’t find the orange-fleshed sweet potatoes here in Bangkok which I’m used to from the UK but a variety originating from Vietnam. They’re delicious, just a little on the green side. And I struggled to find burger buns but in the end I found ‘whole grain purple berry buns’ in a bakery chain called S&P. I’m not sure exactly what the purple berries were or why there were there but the buns tasted good. You’ve got to work with what you’ve got!

This is a delicious meal…but don’t take my word for it. I served it up to three of Bangkok’s most strapping and chiselled ex-pats and they gave it a big thumbs up.

Time: 1hr 10 mins

Rating: Moderate. Nothing is very difficult but there are a few components so you need to be organised

Serves 4

Ingredients

Burgers:

500g Good quality minced beef

1 large red chilli (medium spice)

3 cloves garlic

2 inches fresh root ginger, peeled

2 lemongrass stalks – only paler part at the bottom (about inch and a half)

Handful fresh coriander (leaves and stalks)

3 small shallots

1 egg

1 tablespoon honey

1 tablespoon fish sauce

½ tsp salt

1 tsp black pepper

25g Handful breadcrumbs (use a few slices of stale bread, brown ideally)

Soft wholemeal or granary rolls

2 tomatoes

1/3 cucumber

Slices of onion

Rocket leaves

Chips:

3 medium sweet potatoes

1 teaspoon dried chillies

1 tsp Rock Salt

1 tsp freshly ground black pepper

Generous slug of olive oil

Asian Slaw:

200g white cabbage cut into thin strips

1 large carrot, either cut into thin strips or coarsely grated

1 large red chilli de-seeded

Small handful coriander

Small handful mint

Juice of 1 lime

1 teaspoon brown sugar

1 tablespoon fish sauce

Generous slug of olive oil

Small handful peanuts

Lime and garlic mayo:

4 tablespoons mayonnaise

Zest and juice of ½ lime

1 small clove garlic, crushed

Method:

1. Preheat the over to 200C
2. Start with the burgers so that they can rest a bit before you cook them and the flavours have the chance to infuse into the meat. Finely dice the shallots and place in a large mixing bowl. Then deseed and finely chop the chilli. Finley chop the ginger and coriander (including stems). Mince the lemongrass. Either finely chop and then mince in a mortar and pestle, or continue chopping until minced. This last bit is important – lemongrass has a fantastic flavour and aroma that to me screams Thailand. But it’s very coarse and properly minced it could feel chewy and unpleasant.
3. Next prepared your breadcrumbs. Either whiz the bread up in a blender, or chop with a good knife on a chopping board. It’s fine if the breadcrumbs are coarse.
4. Put all these ingredients into a mixing bowl. Add the mince, honey and crack the egg over the top.  Then combine all of the ingredients with your hands. If you’ve not done this before it may seem a bit gross but it really is the best way to mix all the ingredients.
5. Divide the meat into four equal portions and with your hands and shape into burgers. You’ll see flecks of colour from the shallots, chilli and coriander. Place the burgers on a plate, cover with cling film and refrigerate until you’re ready to cook them. You can do this several hours in advance, or even several days and freeze the burgers.
6. Next prepare the sweet potatoes. Chop off the ends of the potatoes and cut away a little from the edge of each potato length-ways so that you have flat surfaces. Don’t bother to peel them, it adds texture and colour and looks nice and rustic.  Then cut the potatoes into chips, about 6cm long and 1cm thick. Take time with the chopping; the chips should all be about the same size so they cook evenly and look neat. Place in a mixing bowl and pour the olive oil over them, mixing so that all the chips are coated. Then sprinkle over the salt, pepper and chilli flakes. Mix again to evenly season the chips.
7. Place on a baking sheet, making sure they are well spaced out. If they are all piled on top of each other they won’t crisp up so if you need to, divide them between two sheets. Put in the oven to cook. They will take about 40 minutes.  Take the tray out every ten minutes to turn the chips over. Remove after 45 mins or when the chips are soft all the way through and and nicely browned and crispy on the outside.
8. As soon as the chips are in the oven, start making your side dishes. Firstly, the slaw. First toast the nuts. Put them in a pan over a high heat, tossing regularly. Don’t take your eyes off them as they can burn quickly. Toast for about 3 or 4 minutes until they are nicely browned. Take off the heat and allow to cool. Then coarsely chop them or gently crush in a mortar and pestle. Set aside – add these right at the end so they keep their crunch
9. Slice the cabbage finely and grate the carrot. Place in a mixing bowl. Coarsely chop the mint and coriander and add to the bowl.
10. Mix up the dressing for the slaw: combine the lime juice, fish sauce, sugar and olive oil in a jar. Finely chop the chilli and add to the mixture. Put the lid on and shake vigorously. Combine all the slaw ingredients and pour over the dressing. Don’t forget you need to be turning your chips!
11. Next, make the mayo. This is really quick and easy. Crush the garlic very finely and add to the mayo, stirring with a teaspoon. Stir in the lime zest and juice. Spoon into a small tub to serve and refrigerate until ready.
12. You also need to prep the garnishing for the burger. Slice the tomatoes. And deseed the cucumber and chop into small batons. Finely slice some raw red onion and set aside a few rocket leaves.
13. So now all of your sides are done and the chips will have been in the oven for a good half hour.  It’s time to cook the burgers. Pour a little olive oil into a frying pan or griddle pan. Place the burgers in the pan once the oil is hot.  Cook over a medium heat for about 4-5mins on each side if you like them a little pink inside. Add another minute or two per side if you want them well done all the way through.
14. Plating up this dish is fun, you can really go to town on the presentation, using different pots for the various sides. Stack the burgers in the buns with the tomatoes, onions, cucumber and rocket leaves. You can pile up the chips next to the burger or serve them in a small bowl. Spoon the slaw into a small bowl and sprinkle with the roasted peanuts. Serve the lime mayo and chilli sauce in little tubs or shot glasses.

Spiced Banana Griddle Pan Brunch Waffles

I like brunch. Its a fancy way of saying you drank too much last night, slept through breakfast, woke up in need of a big feed and cannot possibly wait until lunchtime. For me this is the perfect brunch recipe. The waffles are filling and are balanced by the refreshing fruit, honey and cool yoghurt. The idea for cooking the waffles in a griddle pan is borrowed from Jamie Oliver. I think it’s brilliant. It’s quick, easy and anything that does away with another piece of kitchen equipment is my kind of cooking.

Inspiration for this dish came to me during a recent work trip to Punjab, Pakistan. I spent most of the time in markets talking to market traders to understand what foods are available and at what price. The first thing that struck me when I walked into the small village stores was the amazing smell of spices. Huge sacks of cinnamon, cloves and other spices take up most of the floor space and make the shops smell so warm and welcoming.

The other thing I noticed was the bananas. Every fruit and veg stand had them hanging down in huge bunches. They only sold one variety but they’re sweet and packed with flavour.

I have taken the classic waffle recipe and added sugar and spice and other things nice. Adding banana into the waffle batter makes them moist and a bit denser. They also bring a bit of sweetness, which I’ve topped up with just a little sugar.

The spices are the real hero of this dish. Ginger, cinnamon and nutmeg are found in a lot of South Asian dishes. They are used in savoury and sweet dishes and every good south Asian kitchen will be equipped with its own spice rack and be used just about every meal time. In this dish, the spices give the waffles an almost Christmassy flavour. The bananas blend with the spices perfectly and will fill your kitchen with that same divine smell when the waffles are cooking.

Combining this with tropical fruit makes a lovely contrast. We are so lucky in Thailand to have fruit vendors on every street corner. They push small trolleys of fresh fruit on ice and for 10 baht (about 20p) you can get a little bag of pineapples, guavas, melon, and other fruits you didn’t even know existed.

Time: 35 mins

Rating: Easy like Sunday morning

Serves 2 (hungry people – these are generous portions)

Ingredients

1 egg

150ml milk

115g self-raising flower

1 ¼ tp baking powder

50g unsalted butter plus a little more for cooking

Pinch salt

1 tbsp caster sugar

1 banana mashed -100g when peeled

1 tsp ground ginger

1 tsp ground cinnamon

¼ tsp nutmeg (preferably grated, if not ground)

1 medium banana (about 100g when peeled)

Selection of fresh tropical fruit: mango, papaya, pineapple, bananas

Coconut yoghurt to serve

1. First, put the butter in a small saucepan and melt over a low heat. Once it has completely melted, set it aside to cool.
2. Next, chop up the fruit that you are going to serve on top of your waffles into nice large chunks. If you’re using bananas, leave these til the last minute so they don’t go brown.
3. Peel and mash the banana using a fork. Don’t worry if there are a few lumps left – it doesn’t need to be a fine puree.
4. In a separate mixing bowl whisk the egg and milk. Then sift in the flour and baking powder. Add the salt, sugar, and dry spices. Whisk again to combine the ingredients.
5. Next add the mashed bananas and whisk again until they are evenly mixed into the mixture.
6. Then stir in the butter (using a spoon rather than whisk) very gently. This is important, if you over-stir the butter it will lose its silkiness and your waffles will come out a bit stiff.
7. Heat a knob of butter in your griddle pan over a high heat. The butter needs to be hot and bubbling when the mixture first hits it to make sure the waffles are brown and crisp on the outside.  Using a ladle or a large spoon, spoon the batter into the pan. You should be able to get two large waffles out of one pan. Don’t worry about making them perfectly round, they’ll look charming and rustic with uneven edges.
8. Turn the heat down to a medium level and allow the waffles to cook for about five or six minutes. You should start to smell the spices, butter and banana combining and smell amazing! Check that they’re not burning by lifting up an edge with a spatula and checking the colour. After five minutes or if they look like they’re brown enough, gently flip them over with a spatula. Cook for another 5-6 minutes on the other side. Turn over once more and cook on the other side for one more minute.
9. Plate up: place on a plate and drizzle generously with honey. I’m not sure what kind of honey I used. It’s a local variety that comes in a big bottle but it’s in Thai so I can’t read it! But any clear runny kind will do. Next carefully place your fruit and serve with a small pot of coconut yoghurt. Spooning the yoghurt into a glass looks nice and lets people add as much as they like.

Alternatives:

If you want to switch the tropical fruit for something more local or seasonal, consider using apples, pears, cranberries in Winter, or berries and stone fruit in Summer.

Coconut yoghurt goes well with the tropical fruits and spices. But you could use any you like, or even switch to Greek yoghurt which would go nicely with the honey.

Chinese Mushroom Risotto Balls with Cucumber Relish

I’m a little in love with these balls. This is one of those dishes which makes you look down in satisfaction and think, ‘wow, I cooked that!’  It was designed to win over vegetarians and carnivores alike. The balls are hearty and tasty enough to stop meat eaters asking where the protein is, and delicate enough to show vegetarians that you’ve put time and love into their meal.

While many parts of India are a vegetarian’s paradise, South East Asian food can be tricky for veggies. I’ve noticed that certainly in Thailand people are staunch carnivores and even dishes which seem to be vegetarian can hide shrimp paste, fish sauce or even minced pork.  Making vegetarian food with love is important to me. Veggies often get a raw deal…which is doubly unfair given that many of them are foodies. As a former veggie, my plea is this. If you have vegetarian guests over for dinner, please take the trouble to make them feel as welcome and well-catered for as your meat-eating guests. And if you serve them this dish, I guarantee they will feel exactly that.

Risotto balls are obviously traditionally an Italian dish, usually filled with some sort of cheese and meat combination. But the leap to Asian flavours didn’t seem too great because the rice reminds me a little of the sticky rice you find in Thailand or Japanese sushi rice. The filing is a simplified version of Ken Hom’s spicy stir-fried mushroom recipe. The acidity of the cucumber relish contrasts with the heaviness of the rice. You can either serve this as a starter or as a main with a simple side salad.

Time: 1hr 20 mins (excluding chilling time)

Rating: A little effort. This is quite a delicate dish and requires a bit of concentration and effort to get the presentation right. You can save time by making the rice and filling in advance (even the night before).

Serves: 3-4 people as a starter or 2-3 people as a main

Ingredients

For the risotto balls:

500 ml vegetable stock

1 shallot

1 tbsp sesame oil

125g g risotto rice

2 eggs

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

100g breadcrumbs

50g sesame seeds (optional – a nice touch but don’t worry if you can’t find them)

Vegetable oil for frying

For the filling:

150g mushrooms (mixed, preferably including shitake as these have a great flavour)

1 clove garlic

2cm knob of fresh ginger

2 spring onions

1 tbs vegetable oil

1 tbsp oyster sauce

1 tsp sugar

1 tbsp white vinegar (prefably rice vinegar)

1 tbsp soy sauce

1 tsp dried chilli flakes

1 tsp sesame oil

For the relish:

Half a cucumber

1 medium red chilli, halved, deseeded and finely chopped

1 shallot, very finely sliced

4 tbsp rice vinegar, or Mirin

3 tbsp water

3.5 tsp caster sugar

good pinch salt

Method

1.      The first step is to make a basic risotto. You’re not going to put many ingredients or flavours into the risotto itself because that will come in the filling so this isn’t very complicated at all.  Bring the stock to the boil and set aside. It’s always nicer to use fresh stock but a stock cube will be fine otherwise. Next finely chop the shallot. Then heat the sesame oil in a medium-sized pan, add the rice and shallots  and cook gently for about 2 minutes until the rice begins to look translucent. Add a ladle or large spoonful of the stock to the rice and simmer over a medium heat, stirring constantly until all the stock is absorbed. Add another ladleful of stock and continue this process until the rice is tender and creamy but still a little al dente. This should take about 20-25 minutes. Take the pan off the heat.

2.      Next separate the egg. Keep the white to one side in the fridge (you’ll use it later) and stir the yolk into the risotto. Season with salt and pepper. Then transfer the risotto to a large plate or flat dish, making sure it is evenly spread out , but don’t press down too hard on the rice; you want it to keep its shape. Cover with foil or cling film and leave to cool for a couple of hours at room temperature, or chill in the fridge for 30mins if you’re pressed for time.

3.      While the rice is cooling, make the filling. Finely chop the garlic, ginger and spring onions and set aside. Next chop the mushrooms into chunks about 5mm in size. Then prepare the sauce. Put all the liquid ingredients except for the sesame oil in a cup and add the sugar. Put it to one side, you’ll need it in just a moment.  Heat the vegetable oil in a pan or wok until hot, then add the garlic, ginger, spring onions and chilli flakes. Cook for about 30 seconds and then add the mushrooms. Cook for another 30 seconds, stirring constantly. Then pour over the ingredients in the cup and continue to stir-fry for about 4 minutes, until the mushrooms are soft. Turn off the heat and add the sesame oil, stirring through. Put the mushroom mixture in a dish and leave to cool as well.

4.      While everything else is cooling, you can make the relish. It’s good to make this in advance because this will soften the cucumber and take some of the bite out of the chillies and shallots. Firstly put the vinegar, water, sugar and salt in a small saucepan and gently heat until the sugar and salt has fully dissolved. Take off the heat and allow to cool. Meanwhile, peel the cucumber and cut in half and then quarters lengthways. Remove the seeds and chop into small pieces about 5mm wide and place in a bowl. Then finely chop the chilli and shallot and add to the cucumber. Pour over the cooled liquid and leave the relish to settle.

5.      Next get everything ready to assemble the balls. Start by making your breadcrumbs by whizzing up sliced bread (brown but not wholegrain) in a food processor or chopping very finely with a good knife. Place on a plate or in a large bowl Next crack another egg into the egg white from earlier and beat.  Lastly spread the sesame seeds (if using) out on a small plate.

6.      Now for the fun part – assembling the balls. With damp hands, take about 30 or 40g of the chilled rice into the palm of your hand and mould into a cup shape. Gently spoon 2 teaspoons of the mushroom mixture into the middle of the rice and close the rice around the filling, adding additional rice if necessary to cover any gaps. Gently roll the ball with your hands to neaten them. Place the ball on a plate or tray and repeat, using the remainder of the rice and filling. This should make 6-8 balls depending on how big you make them. If you want to be sure to have evenly sized balls, divide the rice up before you start making the balls. Make sure after each ball that you dampen your hand again as this will stop the rice from sticking to you and make for a neater ball.

7.      At this point, start heating the oil ready to shallow fry the balls. Pour vegetable oil into a medium-sized pan about 1cm deep and turn on the hob to a medium heat. While the oil is heating, finish off the balls. Dip a ball firstly in the egg, then gently roll in the breadcrumbs and then in the sesame seeds. Repeat for all the balls, making sure they are evenly covered.

8.      By this point the oil should be hot enough, but you can test it by dropping in a couple of breadcrumbs – they should sizzle if the oil is ready. Gently place the balls into the oil – it’s probably best to cook them in batches so you have plenty of room to turn then. After about a minute, turn the balls over to brown the other side. Repeat this a few times to make sure the balls are cooked evenly all over. They should take about 6-7 minutes. Once the balls are nicely browned all over remove from the pan and place on some kitchen roll to remove some of the excess oil.

9.      Serve immediately with the cucumber relish. As a starter 2 balls are ample. For a main course, serve 3 balls with a side salad.

Laid Back Marinated Chicken

For a quick and easy but lip-smacking meal these chicken breasts are just the trick. The marinade takes seconds and the cooking just minutes. It’s quick, healthy and gorgeous – winner winner chicken dinner.

I think this is best accompanied by my Third Date Mango Salad so the instructions below show you how to time it with the preparation of that dish. Obviously if you’re not making the salad on the side, skip these parts of the recipe.

This dish is so laid back, I can’t even be bothered to write any more about it.

Time: 30 mins (5 mins prep, 15 mins marinating, 10 mins cooking)

Rating: So simple, a monkey could cook this

Serves 2

Ingredients:

2 Chicken breasts

2tbsp soy sauce

1tbsp clear honey

1 tsp balsamic

Method:

1. If you are serving chicken alongside the salad, you need to get your chicken marinating before you start on your salad. Start by scoring the underside of the chicken breasts with a sharp knife with criss-cross slits about 5mm deep. This will allow it to better absorb the flavour when it’s cooking. Keep the upper side intact though for presentation later. Place in a dish. Mix together the marinade ingredients and pour over the chicken and return to the fridge to marinate while you are chopping the salad ingredients.
2. Once you have chopped all the vegetables but before you dress the salad, start cooking the chicken. I like to cook the breasts in a griddle pan because of the visual effect it gives but you could equally oven bake, pan-fry or even barbeque them. If using a griddle pan, heat some olive oil in the pan and cook over a medium heat. Once the oil is hot, place them top side down first and cook for about 4 minutes.
3. Turn the breasts over and cook the other side for the same amount of time. Turn them over once more to give the first side another minute or so. I used quite large chicken breasts (about 85g each), which took about 10 mins to cook. The meat should be white all the way through but not dried out. The sweetness in the marinate will go nice and sticky and give the chicken a lovely colour and slightly sticky coating.
4. When the meat is done, take it off the heat and let it rest for a moment. This lets the juices run out and means that when you cut it and plate up, juices won’t spill out onto your plate.
5. While the meat is resting, this is the time to complete the last step of the salad – dressing it and adding the mango. Plate up the salad and sprinkle with the nuts. Slice the chicken breasts into equal slices width-wise, about 1-2cm each. Place around the edge of the salad, serve and enjoy. Then go and do something constructive with all that time you’ve saved.

Alternatives

For fish or vegetarian alternatives, replace the chicken breasts with a salmon fillet or slices of tofu, using the same marinade. Both will take slightly less time to cook than chicken and will also look great on a griddle pan.

Third Date Mango Salad

Choosing the first recipe to blog was easy for me. I really want to share with you my interpretation of my favourite dish in Thailand: som tam, a green papaya salad originating from north-east (the Isaan region). The original recipe is based on raw shredded green papaya with a wonderfully zingy dressing including raw garlic, chilli and lime.  It’s a plate of sweet, spicy, salty sour heaven with a fresh crunchy texture. And the best part is that there are street stands all over the country selling it for just a few baht. It is mixed together in a special pot, which looks like a large wooden mortar and pestle. But be sure to keep count on the number of chillies dropped into the pot. Even one of those little firecrackers is enough to clear the sinuses!

I wanted to share this particular version of the salad with you because it has a special significance for me.  I served it to my fiancé as a starter the very first time I cooked for him – I had to test out whether he could fall in love with Thai food to know whether we had any kind of future together! Choosing food to cook on dates is a delicate business. It has to taste amazing but can’t be too messy to eat or leave you too bloated and I think this hits the spot.

So this version salad keeps the flavours of the som tam in the dressing but ups the crunch and colour by throwing in more raw ingredients.  Green papaya, which is usually tricky to find outside of tropical climates has been replaced by a selection of easy to find, colourful and tasty raw fruit and vegetables. The main twist is the addition of slivers of juicy mango. This gives the dish a sweetness which adds a flash of warm colour and balances out some of the fire of the raw chilli and garlic. I have significantly toned down the quantity of chilli and also opted for a more mellow variety. The only substitution which vegetarians will need to make is the fish sauce, which is easily replaced with light soy.

Time: 30 mins

Rating: Easy – nothing in here is complicated and no cooking involved, you just need a little patience to chop the veg neatly.

Serves: 4 - This dish  makes a lovely light lunch or starter, but for fuller bellies, serve it as an accompaniment to griddled chicken breast (see laid back marinated chicken).

Ingredients

Salad:

250g carrots (2 fairly large)

1 red bell pepper

Cabbage, 4 large leaves – savoy is ideal but I can’t find that in Bangkok so I’ve used a soft leafy white cabbage.

120g cucumber – about 1/3

100g sugar snap peas

2 spring onions

8 cherry tomatoes

1 ripe but not too soft mango

Dressing:

2 cloves garlic

3 large mild red chillies

3 tbsp lime juice – about the juice of one big lime

1 tbsp olive oil

3 tbsp fish sauce (or light soy sauce for a vegetarian alternative)

1 tsp brown sugar

Garnish:

30g peanuts.

Method:

1. Start with the dressing so all of those flavours have a chance to rest and combine. Crush or finely chop the garlic. Deseed then finely chop the chillies. Add the other dressing ingredients and mix well. I like to use an empty jar, put on the lid tightly and shake.
2. Next lightly toast the nuts in a pan. Even if they are already roasted, toasting them gives them an extra bit of flavour. Keep an eye on them so they don’t burn. They should just brown a little and smell delicious. Once they have fully cooled, coarsely chop or gently crush in a mortar and pestle.
3. Next, get started on the vegetables. Take time to chop the vegetables neatly. It obviously won’t change the taste but will wonders for the presentation. Start by chopping the carrots. Cut them into thirds lengthways, then into slices lengthways of about 4 or 5mm in thickness, and then lengthways again so they fall into evenly sized matchsticks.
4. Next, the pepper. Cut it in half lengthways, deseed then cut into strips the same thickness as the carrots. Then comes the cabbage. Discard any outer leaves that have wilted. Cut out the hard core part from the bottom of the leaf, leaving a triangle-shaped hole. Roll the leaf up from the bottom upwards into a long sausage shape. Then cut width-ways across the roll into strips, about 5mm thick.
5. Cut the cucumber into quarters and deseed. Then cut into strips the same size as the carrots. Then trim the sugar snap peas and cut in half lengthways at a diagonal. This exposes the peas or beans inside and will help trap some of the dressing. Trim off the green part of the spring onions. Cut the remaining white part into thin strips lengthways. Cut the cherry tomatoes in half. If you have plum cherry tomatoes or another oval shaped variety, cut lengthways.
6. Lastly comes the mango. Cut a little off the top and bottom so you ca n stand it upright on the chopping board. Using a sharp knife cut away the skin from the top down, being careful not to waste the flesh. Once fully peeled, turn onto its side and cut the flesh away from the stone, keeping the two halves as intact as possible. Then cut slithers about 5mm thick widthways across each half. Set aside – the mango is very delicate and it will turn to mush if tossed too vigorously with the other ingredients.
7. Put all of the salad ingredients into a bowl except for the mango and nuts. Dress the salad and toss it. Once the dressing is evenly coated add the mango and gently toss once more. Sprinkle the nuts on top and serve!

Alternatives:

You really can use any vegetables you like. Just make sure they’re crunchy and colourful and that you take time with the chopping. Some alternatives to those listed above are:

·        Baby corn

·        Fennel

·        Green beans

·        Mangetout

·        Radishes

·        Red cabbage

·        Celery