Harajuku Gyoza – Brisbane

Phew, it’s Thursday already? How did they happen? With my rammed up exercise regime (summer is coming) and decorating and moving rooms around at home plus a busy week at work my blogging has suffered.

Poor blog, it’s always the first thing to go.

But anyway back to Australia! And Brisbane was our first stop a city I loved, and so many great places to eat.

This restaurant is a great idea, and we so need this in Bristol. I would go there a lot that’s for sure.

It is all about the dumplings.

 They do serve a few other things as well…

But really all you need is this… grilled…

 

Or poached. We got several plates of different gyoza, from duck to prawn and vegetable they even had a special Christmas flavour (we were there in December).
 

We sat at the counter and you can see all the chefs cooking up the tasty little treats.

 
So where is the best place to get gyoza in Bristol? And who wants to open a restaurant like this? So easy, so tasty, so cheap and can be very healthy.

Near my office would be good. Thanks.

Harajuku Gyoza

 

Lanta Thai Cookery School – Thai Green Curry

After enjoying my day at the Phuket Cookery School so much when we arrived on Koh Lanta and had a couple of rainy days I suggested that my Husband and I do one together.

This is another great set up and a lovely small class, we went to Lanta Thai Cookery School.

They grow their own vegetables and herbs here in their garden…

And the school is tucked away within an orchard (?) of rubber trees.

It’s a big beautiful open room with much smaller stations than I had seen before, a little more basic and you all prepped together on one big table at the same time as the teachers, which again was different that before but I liked this way of doing things equally.

We also prepped each dish before cooking anything.

I am a tidy prepper.

One of the great things about a small group was that we got to pick what dishes we wanted to make.

One thing everyone wants to learn on a Thai cookery course is how to make curry paste. I was given a recipe and a small lesson before but we didn’t actually make the paste.

This time we all worked together to make a big lot of paste which then got split between us to make our curries.

You need;
1 stalk lemongrass minced 
1-3 green birdseye chilies sliced
1 shallot sliced or 4 tbsp minced red onion
4-5 cloves garlic
1 thumb-size piece of galangal or ginger, thinly sliced
1/2 cup chopped fresh coriander/cilantro leaves & stems
1/2 cup fresh Thai basil
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp ground white pepper
1/2 tsp ground coriander
3 tbsp fish sauce
1 tsp shrimp paste
2 tbsp lime juice
1 tsp brown sugar
3-4 tbsp coconut milk (enough to blend ingredients together)

To make the paste pound all dry herbs & spices together first in a pestle and mortar to form a paste, then gradually add the wet ingredients, stirring until smooth.

Your paste should look something like this, and is now ready to go. This is a great thing to prepare in advance to make quick weeknight dinners.

For two you need;
2-3 tbsp curry paste
2 kaffir lime leaves
1 tin coconut milk
4 chicken thighs (or two large chicken breasts if you prefer) cut into small bit size pieces
a handful of green beans or asparagus – or whatever vegetables you have to hand.
bunch of coriander or Thai basil

1. Heat a wok or large saucepan over medium to high heat.
Add 2-3 tbsp oil and swirl around and then add 2-3 tbsp of the green curry paste or to your own taste if you prefer it stronger. 
Stir-fry until fragrant, about 1 minute.

Do a taste check here and add more fish sauce for salt or more chilli if not quite hot enough etc.

2. Then add 1 tin of coconut milk, I use light at the moment and it’s (almost) as good, if a little thinner. Simmer this for a couple of minutes, add two kaffir lime leaves then start to add your curry ingredients, if you are adding meat do that sooner and then vegetables towards the end and cook through.

Garnish with Thai basil or coriander and chilli, serve with steamed Jasmine rice.

We also made the famous spicy seafood salad to start, very similar to the one I made before but without noodles, good recipe here

We also made a Pad Thai.

My Husband loves Pad Thai and will eat it anytime he has the option. We had eaten many by this point some great and some not so, the not so ones always tended to be a little too red/orange and here we found out why.

It looks this way when instead of making the ‘sauce’ from scratch a cheat version is used. So although the school didn’t teach us the proper method, we found out why sometimes it looked this way.

I also asked for tips while I was at Phuket Cookery School and will make this and share with you at some point soon.

 
Once again I got full very quickly and took my curry home to eat later. I was so glad I did as it was raining the BIG FAT Thailand storm rain that day.

See, check out those clouds, you couldn’t even see the top of the hills.

We went to Lanta Thai Cookery School and highly recommend it, the teachers are all chefs from various restaurants and can recommend spots on the island as well.

Phuket Cookery School – Panaeng Curry

This became on of my favourites in Thailand and I cannot wait to make this at home for friends.

You need, for 4-6 people;
First you make the paste…
5 black peppercorns
2 tsp coriander seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds
(if using fresh of the above roast first, if using dried that’ll be fine too)
6 big fried red chillies, de-seeded and soaked for 15 minutes
1tsp galangal finely chopped
1 tsp coriander root, finely chopped
1 tsp kaffir lime peel, chopped
1 tbsp garlic cloves, chopped
1 tbsp shallots
1 tsp shrimp paste

To make the paste just pound all of these ingredients together using a pestle and mortar… preferably a big one. Add the spices first then everything else one by one until a smooth paste is formed.

To make the curry you need;
2 tbsp + 150g coconut cream
2 tbsp of your curry paste
150g of pork or beef or chicken (I love beef) in small bite size pieces
1 tbsp palm sugar
1 tbsp fish sauce
pinch salt to taste
6 kaffir lime leaves, 4 torn
1 big red chilli, chopped for garnish
2 tsp roasted ground peanuts or peanut butter

1. Heat the 2 tbsp of coconut cream in a wok and when hot add the curry paste, fry until fragrant. Then add the rest of the coconut cream and bring to the boil.

2. Add the meat and continue to cook until tender, about 1-2 minutes. Do not let the meat get tough.

3. Season with the sugar, fish sauce, peanut butter and kaffir lime leaves for 30 seconds and remove from the heat.

4. Serve garnished with kaffir lime leaves, chillies and coconut cream

By this point the sun has fully broken through the clouds and it was hot. These children found a great way to cool off.

Kale, Bacon and Butternut Squash One Pot Wonder

Monday again… how did that happen?

A quick post today as I am in for a busy day, this is something I made last week for a quick healthy dinner with the aim to use up a big bag a kale we had.

You need:
1 small-medium butternut squash or large sweet potato, cut into bite size chunks
1 bag of kale (200g ish)
1 pack of thick cute smoked bacon, chopped
a few sprigs of rosemary (leave in tact) and thyme (leaves stripped) and a couple of sage leaves
3 large shallots, peeled and cut into quarters
250ml vegetable stock
some tasty bread to serve

1. First heat up some olive oil in a large saucepan, then add the bacon and fry until cooked through. Then add the squash and shallots and your herbs and fry until the edges are nicely brown.

2. Add the stock and cover, leaving to simmer for 15 minutes or until the squash is cooked through.

3. Finally remove the rosemary and then add the kale and stir through, cover again and leave for 2 minutes.

Serve with some bread and butter.

Having eaten this between three people I think it can be seen as more of a side dish but it is a great healthy and tasty meal, if not massively filling.

Original recipe here

Cauliflower Cheese

I have been craving this for weeks, and last weekend I worked a lot, so on Sunday with the wind blowing a gale outside and drizzle coming down so thick it was like fog, I finally got round to making it.

It is more than comfort to me, it’s a dish my Mum used to make a lot for me as a child and so I will always love it.

I found it hard to write my recipe though as I make my roux by eye and don’t measure anything!

How cute is my Emma Bridgewater dish? A present from my Mama!

You need;
1 large white cauliflower
50g flour; use whatever you have, I used a little buckwheat and a little plain but normally I would use wholemeal
50g butter
1-2 pints of milk – depending on how thick you want your sauce
150-200g cheddar - I use the strongest as I can get, you can totally use whatever you like here as well, a little bit of Stilton takes it to a whole other level.
2 tbsp double cream (not important)
1 tbsp Dijon mustard
1-2 pinch’s of freshly grated nutmeg – to taste
sea salt and black pepper

1. Preheat the oven to 200°C
Cook the cauliflower in boiling salted water until just tender – 5-6 minutes. Don’t underdo it either – crunchy, al dente cauliflower is not right for this dish.) Drain thoroughly and put into your baking/serving dish.

2. To make the sauce, melt the butter in a medium-sized pan. Spoon in the flour and stir, do not let it burn. Cook for 4-5 minutes to cook the flour off.
Remove from the heat and gradually beat in the milk, a few spoonfuls at a time at first, then increasing the flow as the sauce thins. Make sure you taste the sauce to check the flour has cooked.
Return to the heat and heat gently for about 10 minutes, or until the sauce is thickened and creamy.
Keep stirring!

Then add in the cheese, cream, mustard, nutmeg, salt and pepper and adjust to your taste.

3. Pour the sauce over the cauliflower, sprinkle over some more grated cheese (and breadcrumbs if you have them) and bake for 20-30 minutes until bubbling!

I also grill mine for a further 3 minutes to get those delicious burnt edges.

I even had enough leftover for my lunch the next day.