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Thai chicken balls

12-Jul-09

thai-chicken-balls1

I have a special weakness for whichever dish bears the adjective “Thai”.  I would probably try a stew of frog’s tripes if you told me it was “Thai”…or maybe not, but you know where I’m heading to  :-)

These precious balls would be great as an appetizer, or as a party snack.

Ingredients:

- 350g – 12.35 ounces chicken minced meat

- 120g – 1/2 cup roasted peanuts (I roasted them in a non-stick frying pan without oil), chopped

- 1 tbsp fish sauce

- 50g -  1/4 cup breadcrumbs

- 1 tbsp red Thai curry paste

- 1 tbsp lime juice

- 3 kaffir lime leaves (I used the dried ones, and removed the central nerve of each of them), crushed

- 2 tbsp sweet chili sauce

- 2 tbsp coriander, chopped

- 3 tsp brown sugar

- vegetable oil, to fry

- more Thai sweet chili sauce, to dip

Cooking instructions:

Could not be easier: mix all ingredients but the vegetable oil. Form balls with this mix of the size of large marbles.

Fry the balls in hot oil, until golden. And that is it!!

I served them with Thai chili sauce and accompanied with a salad made of Chinese cabbage, red pepper, cucumber, seasoned with a mix of brown sugar, fish sauce, lime juice, water in more or less equal quantities.

Enjoy!!

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Quiche with broccoli, ham and cheese

05-Jul-09

quiche-broccoli-ham-and-cheese

This quiche is chock-full of tasty ingredients such as ham, cheese, cream…And because it includes broccoli as well I tell myself that it is surely healthy too (eheum)…

Ingredients:

1 roll of ready-made puff pastry

1 broccoli, cut in florets

3dl – 1 cup cooking cream

3 eggs

100g – 3.5 ounces grated Emmental cheese

50g – 1.75 ounces grated Parmesan cheese

100g – 3.5 ounces Serrano ham in tiny strips

Cooking instructions:

Pre-heat the oven at 180°C – 356°F.

Cook the broccoli in boiling salted water for 3 minutes. Drain well.

Spread the puff pastry over the baking tin and spread the broccoli on top of it.

Mix in a bowl the eggs, the cheese, the cream, and the ham. Add salt and black pepper to taste. Pour this mix onto the broccoli.

And that is it my friends! It really can’t be easier…

Put the quiche in the oven, let bake for 40 minutes and serve.

Enjoy!!

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Melt-off-the-bone spare ribs

20-Jun-09

spare-ribs

I’m not a very carnivorous person, but when it comes to spareribs I know when I start to eat but I do not know when I will stop :-)

This time I tried a recipe (with some small modifications) from Curiously Ravenous, who in turn, replicated a recipe from her Chinese grandfather.

I would encourage you to try it, it is literally and figuratively to lick your fingers!!

Ingredients:

- pork spare ribs (I used 2 regular racks, the ones you find in any supermarket)

- 1 inch/ 2.5 cm ginger, grated

- 1 cup / 235 ml water

- some freshly ground black pepper

- 2 whole star anise

- 1/2 Maggi cube (chicken stock cube)

- 2 tbsp black Chinese vinegar

- 3 tbsp soy sauce

- 1/4 cup Shaoxing cooking wine

- 1/4 cup sugar

- 3 garlic cloves, minced

Cooking instructions:

Cut the meat strips in individual ribs. Put them in a large pot, fill with water, boil for 1 hour.

Drain the ribs and dry them with some kitchen towels. The original recipe recommended to then fry the ribs in a wok with a couple of tablespoons of vegetable oil, but I found that this step can be skipped without any major sacrifice of the taste, while it is a little healthier.

Alternatively, if you are short of time or starving to death, you could omit the boiling and just fry the ribs, but they won’t be as tender…

Now mix the rest of the ingredients to make the sauce (feel free to double the quantities if you are making lots of ribs or if you like them with lots of sauce), pour it in a wok together with the ribs and mix. Leave for a couple of minutes until the ribs are well coated in hot sauce.

Serve with plenty of kitchen towels ;-)

Enjoy!!

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African recipe – Fried “plantain” (Aloco)

12-Jun-09

plantain-with-tomato-sauce

The “plantain” banana is a staple food in many tropical countries. This specific banana is not very sweet when consumed green, and it is very often fried, to serve it either as a side or as a snack.

Here in Europe I don’t think it is available in regular supermarkets, but you should be able to find it in shops selling African food products.

Today we are making “aloco”, or fried plantain as they named it in Ivory Coast. Aloco together with spicy tomato sauce (and grilled fish or meat) is a popular dish in West Africa.

Ingredients:

- green plantains

- vegetable oil

- coarse salt

- onion

- tomatoes

- optional: 1 chicken Maggi cube

- dried chili flakes, or sliced fresh chili

Cooking instructions:

To make the tomato sauce, first make a cross at the base of each tomato with the tip of a knife. Then submerge the tomatoes a couple of minutes in boiling water, peel them and chop them. Chop the onion as well.

Heat a couple of tablespoons of oil in a skillet (in Africa they would add much more oil), and fry the onion on medium heat until soft. Then add the tomatoes, the Maggi cube (or some salt instead) and the chili. Let cook until the sauce thickens up.

In the meantime, peel the plantains, then slice them either in rounds or in the length. Sprinkle some coarse salt on top. Fry them in abundant hot oil until they are brownish outside and tender inside.

Serve the plantains together with the tomato sauce. I sprinkled a little bit of parsil on top for the visual effect.
You will see, this combination is absolutely irresistible!

Enjoy!!

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Pizza time!

07-Jun-09

pizza

What can I say…who on Earth does not like pizza?!

This time I’ll share with you my mom’s recipe, which for me it is the most delicious in the world :-)

The result is a pizza with a thick, yet extremely tender dough, a thick layer of tomato sauce and whichever toppings you fancy.

Ingredients (gives 4 middle size pizza’s):

- 2 pound / 1kg flour

- 3.5 ounces / 100 g yeast

- 1 tsp sugar

- lukewarm water (the temperature of the water is really important, if it is too hot or too cold the yeast will not “react”)

- 4 tbsp olive oil

- 2 tsp salt

- tomato sauce (explained in my gnocchi recipe in this blog)

- mix of Italian herbs: oregano, basil…

- the toppings of your choice: I used Gouda because I find it tasty and I like how it melts, and some cooked ham in strips

Cooking instructions:

Pour the flour in a large bowl and make a pit in the center. In it put, without mixing, add the yeast, sugar, oil and about 150ml lukewarm water. Leave to rest for a while until the yeast comes to the surface of the liquid, forming a big”cloud” or “stain” all over the surface (when in doubt, wait some more minutes).

Then add the salt, and knead the whole with your hands. Add more lukewarm water if needed, until you get a soft, tender and smooth dough.

Leave it in the big bowl in a warm place, covered with cling film, until it doubles the volume.

Then cut the dough in 4 equally heavy pieces. Spread each one, top with the tomato sauce, herbs, cheese and ham.

Bake the pizza’s in a pre-heated oven at 356°F / 180°C for 20 minutes.

Once cool, the pizza’s can be frozen, and later on, thawed in the oven.

Now, didn’t I tell you it was gorgeous?

Enjoy!!

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