Tropical Tart Nouveau

One of the best things about being an expat in Bangkok is the amazing circle of friends you make from all over the world. One of the worst things is that just as you feel like you are becoming really great friends, they take up a new posting thousands of miles away. I have had my heart broken several times in this way since moving here and console myself with the knowledge that I will be warmly welcomed if I am ever in Istanbul, New York, Nairobi or Dhaka.  The latest heartbreaker is my friend Marcus, who is about trade in his charmed life in this city for a gritty humanitarian experience in Afghanistan where he will be helping get food to people who need it. By way of send-off, I hosted a Sunday lunch called ‘Come Swine With Me’ – three pork-based courses before he moves to a land where pork is strictly off the menu.

I wanted to end the meal with a flourish and serve a dessert that would reflect Thailand’s bright colours and sweetness. And then I remembered that I suck at baking and I have a shameful history of tarts with soggy bottoms. But nothing says “I will miss you loads and wish you a safe passage to Kabul” like a home-made, from scratch tropical fruit tart. So I avoided the temptation to buy a ready-made dessert, did my research, cherry picked the most doable bits from some of my favourite chefs’ tart recipes (many thanks Delia, Pascal and Michel), added my own tropical twist and this is the result. It really worked. There were moments in the process when I thought it wouldn’t – my crème patissiere went lumpy in the fridge but I whisked it out, my pastry fell apart as I transferred it to the dish but I patched it up. It came good in the end and the whole thing vanished as soon as it was served. I will definitely be making this again – not least to welcome back absent friends who come to visit.

Ingredients

For the pastry:

120g unsalted butter

60g icing sugar

140g plain flour

70g ground almonds

2g baking powder

1 egg yolk

1 pinch salt

For the crème patissiere:

200ml full fat milk

40g caster sugar

2 egg yolks

14g cornflour

1 tsp vanilla extract

For the fruit:

8 large strawberries

2 kiwis

1mango

30ml sweet white or rose wine

1.5 tbsp clear honey

Method

1.       First make the pastry. Take the butter out of the fridge and cut into small cubes. Place in a metal mixing bowl and leave to soften. Add the icing sugar and whisk together until pale and smooth. Sift in the flour and then add the almonds, baking powder and salt. Mix together with your finger tips. It should be a sandy texture. If it feels too buttery, add a little more flour. Then add the egg yolk and combine until you have a dough (it will still feel a bit buttery). Don’t over-work the pastry – once it is done, wrap it in cling film and put it in the fridge for 2 hours.

2.       Meanwhile make your crème patissiere. Bring the milk to the boil. In a separate bowl, whisk together the sugar and egg yolks until you have a silky, thick paste. Add the cornflour and continue whisking vigorously.

3.       Pour half of the boiled milk into the bowl and whisk until combined. Then pour the mixture from the bowl into the saucepan with the remaining milk and whisk. Bring it back to the boil and then reduce to a low temperature. Keep whisking the mixture over the low heat for 3-4 minutes and add the vanilla extract. Don’t take your eye of the mixture and keep stirring otherwise you will over-cook it and ruin the texture.

4.       After 4 minutes of cooking you should have a thick, silky cream. Transfer it to a shallow dish, cover with cling film and put in the fridge. After half an hour or so, when it has cooled down, take it out and whisk it up again. Don’t worry if it’s a bit lumpy, keep whisking and the lumps will go away. Cover once again with cling film and leave in the fridge until you’re ready to serve.

5.       Next prepare your fruit. Cut it into slices however you like – either lots of thin slivers or big thick chunks.  I went somewhere in between. Then combine the wine and honey and pour over the fruit. Cover and leave to marinate until you are ready to serve.

6.       When two hours have gone by, take your pastry from the fridge and pre-heat the oven to 160°C. Dust with flour and roll out to about half a centimeter in thickness. You then need to transfer it to a tart dish. I did not manage to do this in one clean movement – my pastry was too delicate so I ended up transferring it in pieces and reconstructing it in the tart dish. I’m sure this isn’t how the professionals do it but it worked for me. Pat the pastry snugly and evenly into the dish, making sure you build a generous crust around the edge of the dish.

7.       Bake in the oven for 16 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from the oven and leave to cool in the tin. I wasn’t brave enough to remove the tart from the glass dish, but if you have a springform dish you can do this once the pastry has completely cooled.

8.       When you are ready to serve, remove the crème patissiere from the fridge and whisk up again. Pour it into the pastry and spread evenly. Place the fruit on top of the crème patissiere once piece at a time, arranging it however you like. Serve and enjoy!

Surf n Turf with Funk-Busting Star Fruit Salsa

Sometimes we get ourselves into a funk. We’re not sure where it came from or how long it’s going to stay and we just have to ride it out orr hope that something comes along to move it on. Even here in Thailand, despite the sunshine and the beaches and the delicious food on every corner, the funk can find its way in. In my case, it came along and gave me chronic bloggers’ block.

Until last Friday when I received my first ever home delivery ‘munching box’ of organic locally produced fruit and vegetables from Raitong Organic Farm.  Purple long beans, green eggplants, spinach, mangosteens, green mangoes, spring onions and other tropical leafy delights covered my kitchen counter and lifted the cloud instantly. The star of the show was undoubtedly the bright yellow star fruit. How can anyone be in a funk when they have organic star fruit beaming up at them?

Funk busted, my tummy started rumbling and creative juices flowing. This was the first time I ever cooked with star fruit. They have a sweet yet earthy flavour and a delicious crunch, which makes for the most delicate salsa. With a fat juicy steak and whopping great Thai prawns, it was a match made in heaven.

Time: 15 mins prep time, 5 mins cooking time + marinating time

Rating: Super easy

Serves: 2

Ingredients

2 medium-sized steaks (I used sirloin)

4 tiger prawns

2cm fresh ginger

2 cloves garlic

Generous slug of olive oil

For the salsa:

1 star fruit

1 red bell pepper

1/3 of a cucumber (or two baby cucumbers)

1 spring onion

1 large red chilli (mild)

1 small bunch fresh coriander

Juice of 1 large lime

1 tsp brown sugar

1 tsp soy sauce

1 tsp sesame oil

Method

1. Start by marinating the steak and prawns. Crush or grate the garlic and ginger and place in a shallow dish with the olive oil. Peel and devein the prawns and place in the dish with the steak, making sure they are all covered in the marinade on both sides. Cover and leave in the fridge for a couple of hours.
2. Next make your salsa. Finely chop the star fruit, leaving one slice intact to use as a garnish. Chop the red pepper, spring onion, cucumber and coriander and combine in a bowl.
3. Make the dressing for your salsa. Finely chop the chilli and combine with the lime juice, soy sauce, sugar, and sesame oil. If you are making this ahead, don’t add the dressing until the last minute as it will make the salsa soggy.
4. Shortly before you are ready to cook the prawns and steak, remove them from the fridge to let them return to room temperature.
5. Heat some olive oil in a griddle pan until smoking. For medium-rare steaks, cook for about 2.5 mins on each side. Don’t turn them over until you get a good sear mark on the first side. Once they are cooked, remove and leave them to rest in a dish. This will let the juices run out before you serve. While they are resting, cook the prawns in the same way for about 30 seconds to 1 minute on each side (depending on their size). They should have turned from grey to pink and be cooked through but not rubbery.
6. Dress the salsa and toss.
7. Serve the steak, prawns and salsa together, using your star fruit slice as a garnish.

Halloween Supper Club

Calling all ghosts, ghouls, witches and vamps in Bangkok! Mango Ginger is delighted to reveal the menu for this Saturday's Halloween Supper Club (27th October). Brace yourselves for an  evening of devilishly good food and fun, where the where the blood runs cold and the curries hot. This is our largest event so far with 16 guests.

The event is now fully booked. Those of you with a seat at the table will be sent an email with directions to the secret location in the next couple of days. After dinner, those who would like can join the creatures of the night out on the town. If this is your first supper club, please read up on the event here before you come. There are no strict rules but it's good to understand how and why we do things.

Dress: Spooky, surreal and comedy fancy dress is strongly encouraged – fangs, blood, cloaks…whatever turns you on!

Price: 500 THB. BYO drinks. There is no corkage fee. Please bring plenty to drink. You'll stay for longer than you expect and probably drink more than you thought you would. You are welcome to take it home if you don't finish it. Please don't rely on us or other guests to make sure there is enough.

The Feast

To Welcome

 A potent potion

To Start:

Steak through the heart

Cubes of delicately Indian spiced beef steak in a tangy tomato chutney

(aubergine version for veggie guests)

Thai’d up Bloody Mary prawn cocktail

Red prawn salad with a spicy Thai bloody mary sauce

(mushroom version for vegetarians)

Dragons’ claws

Sugar snap pea tempura with a soy and spring onion dipping sauce

Main Event

 Devilled Malaysian seafood wands

Minced prawn, flounder and salmon kebabs with Malaysian curry spices, coconut and lime and a crunchy peanut dipping sauce

Fiendishly good butter chicken

Rich, spicy Moghul Indian curry

(tofu version for vegetarians)

Jack’o lantern curry

Pumpkin Thai red curry

Jeweled chucumber salad

Cooling cucumber, lime and coriander salad with pomegranate

Cauldrons of cardamom rice

Bitter Sweet Ending

Death by chocolate

Small cauldrons of spiced chocolate mousse served with a potent chocolate martini shot

All of our curry pastes, marinades and sauces are made from scratch. Don’t recognize some of the dishes? Because many are originals, designed just for you.

Supper Club 4 - September 2012

August's supper club will be taking place on Thursday 13th September at 7:30pm. Eight lucky diners will be treated to an exciting Asian Fusion feast - dishes you won't find anywhere else in Bangkok. A Supper club is a social even that combines eating great food with making new friends in Bangkok and the rare treat of home cooking. Here's where you can learn more about supper clubs  - everything you need to know to be the perfect supper club guest.

Following the success of August's Supper Club, I will be teaming up with fellow Bangkok-based food blogger (and former Supper Club guest), Ramya aka the Mistress of Spices. She is a lot of fun, her food is amazing and I'm addicted to her blog. Between us we combine South and South East Asian flavours.

After dinner drinks (and more drinks) at August's supper club

As ever, it's a fixed price (500 THB) for a cocktail and three courses and it's BYO drinks. There are just eight seats around the table so get in there fast if you'd like one! Please contact me or Ramya to book your seat and we'll send you all the details. And here's the feast we have in store for you:

To Welcome & Unwind:

Tamarind Martini

To Start - Glamorous Asian Fusion Trio:

Duck summer rolls with hoisin and cashew dipping sauce (mushroom for veggies)

Chana masala bisque shots

Japanese salmon, sesame and wasabi spoons

Main Event - Curries & More

Better than restaurant palak paneer

Seafood and pineapple Thai curry

Singaporean chicken satay and cucumber relish (tofu for veggies)

Sweet Ending from India

Mango lassi ice-cream

Slow Cooked Massaman Chicken Curry

I am trying to embrace a slower pace of life. I put it down to my German upbringing that I am always set to ‘high efficiency’ mode. Even when I am having a Thai massage, I find myself going through a mental checklist of all the things I’ll do when I’m done. When I cook, I am simmering, chopping, searing, seasoning several different dishes or components at once. But I know that life as a high-speed muliti-tasker will eventually take its toll on my body and soul. So I am trying to learn from the saffron-robed monks that I often see near my office, serenely going about their day with a gentle pace and smile.

I still have a way to go before I find myself spending hours in the lotus position, or address my unhealthy relationship with my outlook calendar. But I’m making small changes, including experimenting with slow cooking. Slow cooking is a great metaphor and advert for the slower life. The depth of flavour and the gentleness of texture that you get from cooking something over a low heat for a long time cannot be achieved through a fiery flash in the pan. And Massaman (an under-celebrated hero of Thai cuisine in my opinion), with its unusual combination of herbs and spices, lends itself to the method perfectly.  I don’t own a slow cooker because I like to keep my kitchen appliances to a bare minimum. Instead I use a good heavy casserole dish and a conventional oven on a low heat.

I served this at my last supper club and ever scrap was eaten. It’s a great dinner party dish. All the work is done hours before your guests arrive, leaving you to enjoy the company and relax.

Ingredients:

4 chicken legs and 4 thighs

3 tbsp massaman curry paste (you can buy this from good supermarkets, or make your own using the recipe here)

2 large cinnamon sticks

6 cardamom pods

400ml coconut milk

200ml good quality chicken stock

4 small potatoes

1 onion

2 inch knob ginger

2 tbsp fish sauce

2 tbsp brown sugar (or palm sugar if you have it)

2 tbsp tamarind paste (if you can’t find this, mix together lime juice and a little tomato ketchup)

1 tsp salt

100g salted peanuts

Method:

1. Preheat your oven to 120°C.
2. Finely shred the ginger. Chop the onion into small chunks. Set both aside.
3. In a pan, dry roast the cinnamon and cardamom a until you can start to smell them toasting. Remove from the heat and set aside.
4. In the same pan dry roast the peanuts also for about 2 minutes until they are slightly browned and smell roasted. Remove from the heat, allow to cool and then coarsely chop or grind.
5. In a casserole dish, heat a little vegetable oil and add the chicken. Gently brown for about 2-3 minutes on each side and then remove from the heat. In the same pan, add the curry paste and fry for about 2 mins in the oil left in the pan, stirring constantly.
6. Add the stock, coconut milk, dry spices, tamarind, fish sauce, salt, sugar, onion and ¾ of the peanuts. Stir well and continue cooking over a medium heat for about 3-4 mins, stirring often.
7. Remove from the heat, and return the chicken to the pot. Add the potatoes and make sure everything is submerged in the sauce. Put the lid on and put in the oven.
8. Cook for about 4-5 hours, or until the potatoes are soft and the chicken is cooked all the way through.
9. Serve with cardamom rice and garnish with the remaining peanuts.

Supper Club 3 - August 2012

August's supper club will be taking place on Thursday 16th August at 7:30pm. Eight lucky diners will be treated to the best home-cooked Asian Fusion food that Mango Ginger has to offer. A Supper club is a social even that combines eating great food with making new friends in Bangkok. Here's where you can learn more about supper clubs.

And things just got even more exciting. This month I will be teaming up with fellow Bangkok-based food blogger (and former Supper Club guest), Ramya aka the Mistress of Spices. She is a lot of fun, her food is amazing and I'm addicted to her blog. I couldn't pick a better partner in crime.

Here's the menu for the evening:

To welcome:

Thai Sangria

To start:
Green mango, mint and seafood salad
Chilli paneer spring rolls
Spiced roasted eggplant dip and pita chips

Main event:

Slow-cooked Massaman chicken curry
Mirchi Ka Salan (bell peppers in a peanut-sesame-tamarind sauce)

Pomegranate jewelled chucumber salad
Cardamom rice

Sweet ending:

Mango ginger and coriander cheese cake

Bring your own alcoholic or soft drinks to enjoy with dinner. No corkage charge.
All for a bargain 400 THB per person.

If you would like to join us please email Ramya or I via our blogs or facebook pages. There are only eight seats at the table so book your place quickly! We look forward to supper clubbing with you :-)

Salmon Tom Yum Soup

Holidays, good food and friends are, in my humble opinion, the key to happiness. The second I am on a beach with a belly full of seafood, I instantly relax and all my troubles drift of to sea.

Last week I got back from another long trip to Bangladesh and needed urgently to recharge the batteries. For me, when I feel this way, I autopilot down to Railay – the most wonderful of Thailand’s beaches in Krabi province. It’s my happy place. I lived there, I learned to rock climb there, I got married there and have many good friends there. At the risk of turning this blog into a Railay tourism promotion piece, I strongly advise anyone holidaying on the Andaman coast to visit.

And it just got a little bit better because my favourite restaurant which closed last year has returned with a vengeance. A lady called Sao serves up some of the best Thai food I have eaten in Thailand from her shack marked simply, ‘Local Thai Food’. There is no fancy décor – just wooden tables and plastic crockery. The key to her success is simple. It’s all about quality ingredients (the biggest prawns, freshest vegetables, wholesome brown rice), big portions and low prices. Even in low season, there is often a queue.

Behind the scenes in the kitchen

Her tom yum soup is the most flavoursome I’ve tasted so I just had to get the recipe. This is a classic Thai dish, a hot and sour soup packed with tasty herbs. Sao makes hers with prawns, which is the classic way the dish is served.

Tom Yum cooking in the wok

I was very privileged to be allowed behind the scenes and learn some of Sao’s secrets – she cooked, I watched, learned and took notes.

Learning from the master!

When I got back to Bangkok I recreated the dish using salmon which was so tasty. This is easily my favourite soup ever.

  

Time: 30 mins

Rating: super easy

Serves: 2 as a main course or 4 as a starter

Ingredients:

2 salmon fillets

2 lemongrass sticks

2 inch knob of galangal or ginger

8 kaffir lime leaves

Handful of mushrooms (I used black fungus - any variety will do)

1 onion

4 cloves garlic

8 spring onions

2 tomatoes

Bunch coriander

2 tbsp chilli paste

1 tbsp sugar

1 tsp salt

8 tbsp lime juice (about 4 limes)

8 tbsp coconut milk

2 small red chillies (optional)

800ml water

Method

1. Remove the skin from the salmon and cut into large chunks.
2. Then prepare the herbs. Slice the lemongrass diagonally about half a centimetre in thickness. Slice the galangal or ginger into thick slices – no need to peel it. Thickly slice the garlic.
3. Cut the onion into chunks about 1cm in size. Trim the spring onions and cut into pieces about 3-4cm in length. Cut the mushrooms into quarters. Cut the tomatoes into quarters and coarsely chop the coriander.
4. Bring the water to the boil. Add the chilli paste, sugar and salt and stir well. Add the lemongrass, galangal/ginger, kaffir lime leaves, mushrooms, onion and garlic and cook for about 2-3 minutes.
5. Add the lime juice and stir well. Then add the spring onion, tomato, coriander and coconut milk and stir well. Cook for another 2-3 minutes. If you would like the dish spicy, bruise the small red chillies and add these to the pot now. Taste the liquid – the flavours are yours to adjust. Add more salt, sugar, lime or chilli according to your tastes. Then add the salmon and cook for a further 2-3 minutes, stirring gently until the salmon is cooked.
6. Remove from the heat and serve in large bowls either on its own or with steamed rice. The lemongrass, galangal and lime leaves are only for flavour – don’t eat these as they’re very tough!

Luxury Thai Veggie Stir fry

Here is the standard conversation I have when I tell people I have a food blog and/or that I host supper clubs:

Me: “I have an Asian fusion food blog called Mango Ginger. And I host supper clubs where I cook the recipes”

Random person: “Really? How interesting. Why?”

Me: “Why what?”

RP: “Why do you do it? Do you make money from it?”

Me: “No, not really.”

RP: “Do you want to open a restaurant?”

Me: “No. I already have a job. I just like food. And I like other people who like food.”

RP: “Oh. How interesting [or other such baffled or dismissive remark].”

Me: Sighhhh [with the air of a misunderstood artist]

But it makes perfect sense to me. And it makes perfect sense to my new friend Ramya. I met her online (as all the kids are doing these days), sharing recipes on a food bloggers’ forum call Food Buzz – she has an awesome blog called Mistress of Spices, check it out. It turns out that in addition to our shared food obsession and similar day jobs, we both live in Bangkok. So we have also met up in real life and Ramya was a guest and reviewer at my last supper club. And that, my friends, is why I blog – because it’s a passport into a world of passionate an interesting foodies.

Anyway, Ramya is a veggie and I realised when I was making her tofu dish for the supper club that I have neglected my inner vegetarian of late. It’s a common misconception that Thai food is veggie friendly – most dishes contain meat or at least fish sauce or dried shimps. But the good news is that it’s not hard to make a few tweaks and substitutions to come up with a meat-free delight. As a former veggie, being served this would have made me leap up and hug the person who had cooked it.

Time: 30 mins

Rating: Easy. Luxury doesn’t have to be hard work.

Serves: 2

Ingredients:

100g shitake mushrooms

100g oyster mushrooms

1 carrot

100g sugar snap peas

150g tofu (either firm or deep fried)

40g macademia nuts

1 clove garlic

1 small red chilli

½ red onion

1 tbsp tamarind paste (if you can't find it, mix lime juice with a little ketchup)

1 tbsp soy sauce

1 tsp brown sugar

Method

1. Finely slice the red onion and garlic. Finely chop the chilli.
2. Then prepare the vegetables: cut both kinds of mushroom into large chunks. Trim the sugar snap peas. Cut the carrot into thin slices.
3. Cut the tofu into large chunks.
4. Heat a little oil in a wok over a high flame. Add the onion, garlic and chilli. Fry for about 30 seconds stirring constantly. Add the tamarind paste, soy sauce and sugar and stir well. Next add the tofu and stir till coated. Continue frying for about a minute.
5. Add the remaining vegetables. Continue to cook stirring constantly for about 5-7 minutes until the vegetables have softened a little but not soggy. Add the nuts and cook for another minute.
6. Remove from the wok and serve with steamed rice.

Lemongrass Chicken Wings

Chicken wings have had some bad press. They have been hijacked by the greasy late-night fried chicken joints, where they have been served dripping in oil, claiming to contain secret herbs and spices (often so secret that you can’t taste them behind all the salt), and served with soggy fries and budget coleslaw.

This recipe transforms them into an exciting starter. There is something inherently inelegant about them – you must abandon cutlery, pick them up and nibble away. But this also makes them fun and informal. And they’re packed with flavour, they don’t dry out like chicken breasts can, and they’re a super cheap cut.

Lemongrass is one of my favourite ingredients in South East Asian cooking. Not only is it distinctly and powerfully fragrant, but it also has therapeutic properties as a diuretic, antiflu and antimicrobial agent – an all-round anti oxidant and heeling herb. So you can actually feel smug about tucking into these chicken wings! This is an awesome starter and I’ll definitely be serving it at one of my supper clubs.

Time: 1 hour plus marinating time

Rating: Super easy

Serves: Makes 16 pieces – serves 4 people as a starter

Ingredients

8 chicken wings

1 small hot red chilli

2 garlic cloves

4 stalks lemon grass

1 inch knob ginger

5 tbsp coconut milk

Juice and zest of lime

1 tbsp fish sauce

2 tbsp olive oil

1 tsp brown sugar

Generous pinch salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method

1. First prepare the marinade. Finely chop the chilli including the seeds. Finely chop the ginger, garlic and lemongrass, discarding the tough outer stalks. Turn the ingredients into a thick paste, either using a mortar and pestle or in a food processor. Take time to do this properly so you have a smooth paste.
2. Add the lime juice, zest, fish sauce, coconut milk, salt & pepper, sugar and oil. Stir well until all the ingredients are well-combined.
3. Prepare the chicken wings. Using a sharp knife, remove the small outer part of the wing (the small pointy section) and discard. Cut the remaining part of the wing in two along the joint.
4. Put the wings in a large bowl and cover with the marinade. Toss so that they’re evenly coated. Put in the fridge and leave to marinate for at least half an hour, several hours if possible.
5. Preheat the oven to 180°C. Place the wings in a roasting dish, leaving a little space between each one. Bake in the oven for about 40 mins until they are nicely browned and sticky.

Crispy Bacon Thai Flavour Bombs

Whenever I am asked what I miss about London, my answer jumps out without a moment’s hesitation: my friends. No matter how wonderful the people I meet along my travels, there is a big part of my heart which is reserved for the friends with whom I have over a decade of shared history. We have seen one another at our best (celebrating graduating, weddings, new jobs) and our worst (monster hangovers, heartbreaks, wardrobe malfunctions). I spent the last night of my recent trip to London with one such gang. And what better way to show them how much I love them than with a Thai-inspired feast?

Miang Kham is a Thai snack which is usually served on a betel leaf. The components (which include some but not all of those I have used here and usually dried shrimp) are assembled onto the leaf, wrapped up eaten in one go. The first time I tasted one, my heart skipped a beat. The flavours are so intense, exciting and unexpected. The more you chew, the more the different layers of flavour make themselves known – sweetness, sourness, salt, and spice. This is one of my favourite ever canapés and was a huge hit with the girls. Nothing says I love you like a Thai-inspired flavour bomb!

The lovely Nat, Anna and Ailsa, about to tuck in

Ingredients:

12-16 baby gem lettuce leaves

1 stick lemongrass

2 small shallots or ¼ red onion

Small handful coriander leaves

Small handful mint leaves

1 inch knob ginger

1 lime

2 small red chillies

3 tbsp grated or (unsweetened) dessicated coconut

3 tbsp peanuts

6 rashers bacon

For the sauce:

2 tbsp fish sauce

1 tbsp tamarind paste

1 tbsp brown sugar

Juice 1 lime

Method:

Time: 30 mins

Rating: So easy

Serves: Makes 12-16 canapés

1. Firstly prepare the sauce by mixing together all the sauce ingredients
2. Then prepare the coconut. In a pan, dry roast the coconut until it is light brown. It can burn easily so stir constantly and don’t take your eyes off it. It will keep cooking once you take it off the heat, so take it off when it’s a little lighter than you want.
3. Then dry roast the peanuts in the same way till a little darkened all over. Allow to cool and then finely grind in a food processor or a mortar and pestle.
4. Dice the ginger and shallots into small chunks (but not minced).
5. Finely slice the lime and then chop into small chunks – including the skin (really!). This needs to be chopped as finely as possible because big chunks of lime rind will taste bitter.
6. Roughly chop the mint and coriander.
7. Very thinly slice the lemongrass.
8. Finely chop the chillies. Keep the seeds in if you want it spicy, remove them if not.
9. Cut the bacon into thin slices width-ways (about half a centimetre). In a pan, cook the bacon over a high heat until crispy.
10. Put all the ingredients in a bowl and combine. Pour the sauce over and mix again.
11. Spoon a little of the mixture into each of the lettuce leaves – don’t overload them, they should be small enough so they can be easily picked up as a canapé.

Mango Ginger Supper Club 2

Last Thursday I hosted the second Mango Ginger Supper Club. The eight places filled up almost as soon as I posted the event, which I think reflects three good reasons why the Supper Club model works in Bangkok:

Firstly, Thai people (and people who live in Thailand) are obsessed with food. It’s such a big part of culture and life here that foodie events will always be a big hit. Secondly, it is far cheaper to eat out than cook, so it is a rare treat to be invited over to somebody’s place to eat home-cooked food and bring your own wine. And finally, Bangkok is a cosmopolitan city, home to people from all over the world, from all walks of life, doing every imaginable job. It is near impossible not to have fun and interesting people at the table.

Thursday night was no exception. My eight wonderful guests (and  my lovely helper – a guest from the last event) ate, drank, talked and laughed until well into the night. One of my guests, Ramya, a fellow food blogger and all-round awesome chick wrote up a lovely account of the evening on her blog – check out what she made of it and while you’re there, some of her delicious vegetarian recipes right here.

Watch this space for the next Supper Club dates in August!

Here’s what I served in July:

 To Welcome

Thaijito Cocktail

To Start

Asian fusion mezze of:

Miang Kam – little gem lettuce flavour bombs with crispy bacon (or veggie)

Bangladeshi-style butternut and red lentil hummus

Mina’s Thai Island fish cakes 

Main Event

Spiced crispy duck breasts with ginger and orange sauce

served with sesame noodles and Chinese greens

For vegetarians: spiced blackened tofu served as above

Sweet Ending

Creamy mango and cardamom mousse

with soft pistachio cookies

Fragrant Bombay Fish Curry

When I first got into the humanitarian line of work, one of my first work trips was tp India. I was visiting projects in the States of Uttar Pradesh and Chhattisgarh for a small NGO and squeezed in a couple of days in Delhi and Mumbai (or Bombay as it was still ok to call it back then). Wide-eyed would be an understatement. I was so madly excited by everything – by India, by my job, by all the people I met. And of course, by the food. That trip sparked my life-long love affair with Indian food. There is one dish that stands out from that first trip and it’s a fish curry that I ate on my last night in Mumbai. I can’t remember where I ate it or what it was called but I remember being bowled over by it.

Over ten years on, I had to find a way to recreate it. Given how much time has elapsed since, I had to summon some amazing Proustian powers of sensory recollection to recall the flavours and figure out the ingredients…and then revert to the more modern day technique of googling. It turns out that there is such a thing as Bombay fish curry. I made it according to the recipes I found but it wasn’t quite right. It needed tweaking to get to the taste combination that has stayed on my lips all these years – more tamarind, less chilli (just a little heat), a touch of sugar, and fresh ginger. This version is it. When I  tasted it, I was suddenly ten years younger and back in Bombay.

There is something magical about this dish. It’s light but so fragrant – the cinnamon and cloves are powerful  and make it taste of lands far far away. The tamarind gives a bit of a punch and the coconut mellows everything out. I would be proud to serve this at any dinner party.

Fish curry cooking in my wok

Time: 30 mins + 30 mins marinating time

Rating: A little effort for the paste, the rest is super easy

Serves: 4

Ingredients

800g white fish fillets (I used flounder but cod, haddock, or barracuda would do)

300ml Coconut milk

1 small onion

1 tbsp brown sugar
1/2 tsp salt

For the paste:

½ tsp turmeric

½ tsp cloves

½ tsp cinnamon

½ tsp paprika

2 garlic cloves

1 inch knob ginger

3 small green chillies

1.5 tbsp tamarind paste

3 tbsp oil

Small bunch fresh coriander to garnish

Basmati rice to serve

Method

1. Start by making the paste. In a pan dry roast the dry spices (the first 5 paste ingredients) for about 2-3 minutes, stirring constantly until they smell fragrant. Grind all the spices in a grinder or mortar and pestle.
2. Cut the fish into large chunks about 2 inches long, remove any bones and place in a dish. Coat the fish with about half of the paste and rub it in evenly using your fingers. Cover and leave to marinate in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.
3. If you are serving with rice, put the rice on as you are taking the fish out of the fridge so it will be ready at the same time as the fish.
4. Once the fish has marinated, heat a little oil in a pan and fry the pieces in batches so gently browned – about 30 seconds on each side.
5. Remove the fish pieces from the pan once browned, and set aside on a plate.
6. Finely chop the onion and fry in the same pan used for the fish, adding a drop more oil if needed for about 2 minutes until lightly browned. Add the remaining paste and then the coconut milk, salt and the sugar and cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
7. Gently add the fish, making sure all the pieces are covered with the sauce. Cook on a medium heat for about 5 minutes until the fish is flaky but not tough.
8. Sprinkle with freshly chopped coriander to garnish and serve with basmati rice.