Coconut & Peanut Chicken with Avocado Salad

Though I have a million excuses why I haven't been blogging lately, I won't bore you with any of them. In general, I don't like excuses anyway. They're as bad a habit as starting out everything with an apology. Therefore, I won't make either.

What I will make, however, is some fully roasted chicken, with a thai inspired sauce that combines some of my favorite things: spicy chili, coconut and PEANUT BUTTER! And then of course pair it with another one of my favorite things: AVOCADO. Yes, these fat-laden foods are some of my favorite things (next time I'll try to incorporate some of the bacon fat I've been rendering and storing in my fridge.) This chicken could also be served with a few other Thai inspired side dishes, like Stir Fried Garlic Bean Sprouts and Shrimp or Wilted Bok Choy with Cashews.

I bought a whole 'old chicken' from the Asian store down the street. What does it mean, 'old chicken'? Your guess is as good as mine. It did have some remaining hairs on its skin and I even had to pluck off a few of the feathers once it had defrosted. Kinda gross, I know, but people have been doing this forever and ever, and I figured it couldn't be worse for you than eating any other part of the bird, so let's not split hairs here. I prepared the bird as recommended, about 15 minutes at 220C and then another 50 or so at 190C, breast side down, uncovered.

Thai sauces always have a lot of ingredients, but they're repeated in so many of the dishes that they're worth it to have around if you make enough Thai food. The pastes typically last months in the fridge.
Here's the list:

Chili, Coconut & Peanut Sauce

1/4 cup of vegetable oil
1/4 cup of sweet chili sauce (I substituted papaya jam)
1 tbs saracha (chili paste) or to your liking
1/2 cup shredded coconut
1/2 cup peanut butter
1 tbs soy sauce
1 tbs shrimp paste
1 tbs fish sauce



Toast the coconut - I put mine in a small teflon coated pan and cooked on high heat without any oils added until it browned a bit and smelled great. Add the rest of the ingredients, tasting and modifying as you go along.

Avocado Salad: 
2 avocados, chopped
2 limes, juiced
1 spring onion, greens parts only, diced
2 tbs tamarind past (or 1/4 cup tamarind water)
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp fish sauce
1 tsp vegetable oil
crushed cilantro
dash of saracha if you like it

Toss all the liquid ingredients and the sugar and cilantro together. Fold in the chopped avocado delicately, so as not to mash them too much.

I also threw together a little mango salad for something sweet:

Mango Salad: 
1 mango, diced
1 small red onion, diced
1 tsp fresh ginger, grated
cilantro
sugar
saracha
fish sauce

Toss these together in a bowl, adding the last 4 ingredients incrementally to taste. That simple.

Serve the chicken and the salads with a little steamed rice and enjoy.

Now, for my own reference for the future, and perhaps little helpful hints for you:

1. Chicken is not blow fish, it's not as dangerous as all the bird-flu hype has it out to be, and doesn't need to be charred inside and out for it to be safe to eat. I cooked mine 15 min at 220C and then flipped it to give it a nice bronze on both sides before I turned the heat down, resulting in a slightly dry bird. I will TRUST the chicken roasting instructions AND the meat thermometer next time.

2. Fresh cilantro beats the hell out of the jarred preserved kind (that I used, because I didn't have time to go to the store on Sunday). For guests, I will get my butt into the store for the fresh herbs. (my potted cilantro died while I was in Kenya.)

Thai Marinated Beef with Mixed Greens and Mango Salad

Ever since I got the cookbook 'Travels with Thai Food' by the authors of 'Spirit House,' I've been wanting to try new combinations and recipes (Thanks Ms. P!) I rarely cook by the book, but when entering unchartered territory, such as this, it's really handy to have such a comprehensive guide (and such lovely pictures).  After pouring over the book with A one night, we settled on this recipe for dinner and I went on the hunt for the grocery list.

The beef can be a fillet or any other decent quality beef. But it should be marinated a day in advance if possible. The marinade calls for: lemongrass (bruised and chopped), a large chilli, coriander, kaffir lime leaves, lime juice from one lime, galangal, ginger, sesame oil, sugar, and fish sauce. I cheat a little because I have a pre-made Thai paste that has most of the aforementioned ingredients. I would love to have lemongrass and galangal fresh, but I just wouldn't use it fast enough- and I hate to waste anything. (Lemongrass freezes just fine- though I don't have a freezer). I just added some lime juice, the oil and fish sauce and covered the beef and set it in the refrigerator.

The salad called for a variety of things that can only be found at the asian markets. Luckily, there are several in Hakaniemi and they are very close together. As it calls for a green and a ripe mango, coriander, mint and basil, watercress, garlic and lime, quite a few fresh ingredients were needed. I used Thai mint basil, rather than buy mint and basil separately (those cross breeds come in handy!) 

Watercress is a perky little green bunched into uneven sprigs, highly aromatic (though I can't quite put a finger on the scent, but it just reminds me of an Asian restaurant). I roughly pulled the leaves from the bulkier stems and put them in a strainer for a rinsing. I wasn't too meticulous however about some stems left on, as I felt this gave the base of the salad some nice crunchy bulk.

Green and ripe mango

Thai mint basil

I was a little shocked to find such a large pit in the mangoes. For some reason, I remembered more flesh. The green mango was especially hard, but it made it easier to peel and julienne. After all the greens had been torn and washed and tossed, I added the mango strips. 

 A made the tamarind dressing by chopping a few cloves of garlic, a large red chili, and a teaspoon of sugar and crushing them in a pestle and mortar, adding a tablespoond of fish sauce, 2 tablespoons of lime juice, a tablespoon of tamarind and a splash of water. Since this is rather spicy at the end, a little goes a long way, but it's definitely worth the effort.

I loved this meal, it was light and had such a variety of tastes mixed together. It might take some accustoming to the uninitiated, but basil/mint/coriander/lemongrass/spicy.....yummmm.

Thai 'Son-in-Law' Eggs

I have been oggling this recipe for a while in my 'Travels with Thai Food'. The boiled eggs are fried in vegetable oil, halved, and topped with a garlic-y tamarind sauce that contains minced mock chicken. Fish sauce brings the flavors together.

This dish takes the name 'son-in-law eggs' because it is considered one of the few things an unskilled cook or husband could make on the spot if the in-laws visited unexpectedly.

Sauce
2 tbs vegetable oil
1/4 cup minced chicken (mock chicken in my case)
1 tbs tamarind concentrate plus 3/4 cup water
2 tbs sugar
2 tbs fish sauce
1 small yellow onion
6 cloves garlic, sliced
1 small red chilli
1/2 tbs ground coriander

Eggs
8 hardboiled eggs
vegetable oil for frying

1. Sautee onion, garlic, chilli, and coriander on high heat until golden.
2. Add the sugar and tamarind and turn the heat down to medium low to lightly caramelize, approximately 3 minutes.
3. Add the water, fish sauce and chicken (mock chicken does not need to be pre cooked, real chicken does)
4. Heat vegetable oil in a deep wok or pan to high. Drop in the hard boiled, peeled eggs, careful not to splash the oil. Allow to fry until deep golden on the outside. Remove with a slotted spoon. Cool on a paper towel.
5. Cut hardboiled eggs in half, spoon heated sauce mixture over top. Garnish with extra diced chilli if desired.

Sweet and Sour Pickled Vegetable Salad

I've long wanted to figure out the whole pickling deal. I don't know why it really took me so long. I guess it just sounded complicated. It sounded like a lot of mason jar sterilizing, large bubbling vats, and endless storage space (or friends to give this stuff away to). Friends I have, storage space and patience for mason jar sterlizing....? maybe not. BUT browsing through my terrific Thai cookbook I realized that many recipes call for pickled vegetables, and it's not hard to do in the slightest!

Different recipes also call for different types of pickling. The pickling I've done here requires a large amount of sugar, which is why the salad is called 'sweet and sour'. The sour comes from the rice wine vinegar. The flavor combination really works here. And it's another fun way to incorporate the ever healthy bean sprouts into a recipe.

This recipes makes about 2 large lunch meal salads, or 4 small side salads.

The prep time of this recipe is 2.5 hours, because of the time you will allow the vegetables to pickle in the brine. Besides that, the work involved will take you no more than 10 minutes.

Pickled vegetables:

1 carrot, julienne

1/2 cucumber, julienne

1/2 cup rice vinegar

1/2 cup water

1 cup sugar

1 tsp salt

Salad:

1 cup Chinese cabbage, chopped

1 cup bean sprouts, washed

2 scallions, diced

1/2 large red chilli, sliced on the diagonal

2 tbs soy sauce

juice of 1 lime

2 tbs crushed peanuts or cashews

1.) Start by making the brine for the pickled vegetables. This requires that you boil the water, vinegar and sugar until the sugar has dissolved and cool the mixture.

2.) Pour the brine over the jullienne vegetables in a large jar or bowl and let marinate (or pickle) for at least 2 hours. I left mine in the fridge so they would be nice and cold with my salad.

3.) Meanwhile, prepare the rest of the salad ingredients.

4.) Drain the pickled vegetables, reserving the liquid. Add the vegetables to the salad.

5.) To make the dressing, add the soy sauce, lime juice and 1/4 cup (125ml/4 fl oz) of the pickling brine.

6.) Sprinkle with the nuts and serve.

Stir Fried Garlic Bean Sprouts and Shrimp

I'm glad to have a few new ways to eat bean sprouts, other than in a salad and on a delicious hummus and sunflower seed bagel. This made a super easy side dish, but could also be paired with rice or egg noodles to make a main dish. If using pre-cooked shrimp, this is a fast and easy recipe that everyone will eat right up.

2 tbs vegetable oil
4 cloves of garlic, diced
1 1/2 cups of cooked, peeled and deveined shrimp, if using large shrimp, you may want to coarsley chop them
1 1/2 cups of bean sprouts, washed and drained
2 tbs fish sauce
2 tsp sugar
2 large scallions, diced
1 tsp white pepper

1.) Heat the oil in a large wok or skillet. Add the garlic and fry briefly until golden.
2.) Add the shrimp and heat through or cook if the shrimp are still raw.
3.) Add the fish sauce, sugar, and scallions and cook for a few more minutes until the scallions are softened.
4.) Add the bean sprouts and white pepper, toss, remove from heat and serve immediately.

Kua Curry with Shrimp Dumplings and Pineapple

For a special lunch, this light spicy, sweet seafood dish is a treat. :)

The dumplings look harder than they are. And the sauce combines the red curry paste you've stashed in your fridge from last time, or bought premade so no sweat (until after the spices set in)

Dumplings

1/4 tsp white pepper

1 tbs coriander

1 clove garlic

2 tsp ginger

200 grams white fish filets (I used siika, frozen)

1 cup cooked shrimp, peeled, and deveined (again, I used frozen mini shrimp)

1/4 coconut cream

1 egg

1 tbs fish sauce

Curry

3 tbs Red Curry Paste

1 cup coconut milk

2 tbs palm sugar (or regular sugar is fine)

2 tbs fish sauce

2 cups pineapple chunks

basil

4 Kaffir lime leaves

1.) For the dumplings, create a paste with all of the herbs and spices in a pestle and mortar.

2.) If using frozen fish, like me, lightly steam the fish for about 8 minutes until soften and then grind this also in the pestle and mortar. Remove any obvious bones first if possible.

3.) Do the same with the shrimp. First steam them if necessary, when cooked and peeled and ready, grind also in a pestle and mortar or chop finely.

4.) In a mixing bowl, mix fish, shrimp, spices, a small amount of coconut cream at a time, egg, and fish sauce. If this mixture does not hold together in a ball after held in your fist, add a little bit of flour to the mixture.

5.) Combined the curry ingredients  and simmer for 5 minutes until fragrant, saving the pineapple chunks and basil til the end.

6.) Add the dumplings gently adn cook thoroughly in the boiling curry sauce for about 10 minutes to ensure the fish is cooked through. Add the basil and pineapple.

7.) Serve with jasmine rise.

Penang 'Duck' Curry

Another from 'Travels with Thai Food', I was so excited browsing this book looking for ways to use all these fresh green beans when I found this recipe and thought to myself, I have a can of mock duck in my pantry that I've been waiting for the perfect opportunity to use. This is it.

I used again a paste of Penang Red Curry Paste (the small tub I bought from the Asian market lasts a long time). This was so quick and easy but looked elegant and tasted divine. This serves 2 but it could have easily been increased by using more green beans and grapes (1 can of 'duck' is a lot for just 2 servings in the end- then again I'm not much of a 'meat' eater)

1 cup coconut milk

3 tbs red curry paste

2 tbs fish sauce

2 tbs sugar (or palm sugar if you have it)

1 can mock duck (or a whole Chinese roast duck, knock yourself out)

1 large fresh red chilli

1/4 cup crushed cashews

6 Kaffir lime leaves

250 grams green beans, trimmed and washed

basil

1/2 cup seedless red grapes, halved with stems removed

1.) Mix the coconut milk and curry paste in a wok or frying pan and heat on high.

2.) Add the fish sauce, lime leaves and sugar, cook for another few minutes.

3.) Add the duck, chilli and green beans and heat through.

4.) Add the grapes and basil just moments before serving. They are best not overcooked.

5.) Sprinkle the cashews over the duck and serve with jasmine rice.

Dry Red Curry of Tofu, Green Beens and Baby Corn

If you've got the pre-made curry sauce, this recipe is a no brainer. If not, see the recipe on Penang Duck for the list of ingredients.

2 tbs vegetable oil

4 cloves garlic, diced

1 tbs ginger, diced

1 block of tofu, drained and cubed

large bunch of green beans, washed and trimmed

1 punnet of baby corn, quartered

2 tbs sugar

2 tbs fish sauce

handful of fresh basil leaves, torn

1.) Heat the vegetable oil in a skillet or wok on medium low temperature. Add the garlic and slowly fry until golden.
2.) Add the curry paste and stir until well combined. Add a few tbs of water if needed, as moisture will evaporate as it is cooked.
3.) Turn up the heat and add the tofu, and allow to cook for several minutes.
4.) Add the green beans, baby corn, fish sauce, and sugar, and stir fry for a few minutes longer.
5.) Add the basil right before serving.

Sweet Potato and Tofu Curry

I was excited about my new cookbook 'Travels with Thai Food' (Brierty & Fear, 2007) that it didn't matter that it was 11pm. I was hungry, I had ingredients in my fridge and inspiration. I was bored? No no, inspired, yes.  Anyway, cooking at night's always a problem for my photo taking, but too bad, because there wasn't going to be any leftovers to foto the next day. This was going straight in mah belleh! Mmmmmmm..... Spic-ay!

The recipes in 'Travels with Thai Food' include customized curries for each curry recipe, though I've found very little variation in many of the pastes that are used for the base of the curries. The basic ingredients for many of these pastes are (in varying proportions): chillies, galangal (have yet to find out what this really is), ginger, lemongrass, lime zest, coriander, onion, garlic, white pepper, cumin, and depending on the other ingredients, something like nutmet, basil, tamarind, keffir lime and so on.

So since using a pestle and mortar to grind up a paste, of which you end up using only a few table spoons for each curry, I bought a pre-made red Panang Thai curry from the Asian market and tweek it with a few of my own spices later if necessary. This saves me a lot of time. I know with the right technique, using a pestle and mortar isn't so laborious, but to me, it often feels like it.

Here I'll list the Red Curry Paste ingredients for anyone interested, but I do admit I took a rather big, and recommendable shortcut:
10 dried chillies, deseeded and soaked in water until soft
salt
1 tbs chopped galangal
2 tbs chopped lemongrass
1 tsp lime zest
2 coriander roots scraped
2 tbs chopped onion
4 tbs chopped garlic
1/2 tsp coriander
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp nutmeg

Curry
1 sweet potato, peeled and cubed
2 tbs vegetable oil
salt and pepper
1 cup coconut milk
1 tbs sugar (palm sugar if you have it)
1 tbs soy sauce
2 tbs finely diced ginger
half block of tofu, cubed (I dry mine out in a dry non stick skillet on low heat for 10 minutes before using)
basil
4 keffir lime leaves (I buy mine semi-dried and keep them in the fridge for weeks)
half red chilli, in slivers for garnish
1/4 cup cashews crushed for garnish

1.) Preheat the oven to 200C. Prepare the paste if you are making yourself.
2.) Toss the sweet potato in the salt pepper and olive oil and spread evenly on a lined baking sheet. Bake the sweet potato for abotu 45 minutes or until goldenbrown and soft.
3.) Combine the coconut milk and 3 tbs red paste in a hot skillet or wok and mix well. Add the sugar, soy sauce, ginger and tofu and begin to cook about 5 minutes.
4.) Bring the mixture to a boil and add the basil and lime leaves. Then add the sweet potato, toss and remove from heat.

5.) Serve garnished with the fresh chilli and cashews.

Tofu with Sugar Snap Peas

To my 'many' blog followers out there (at the time of writing this I have a whopping 5), I apologize for the long delay in posts. A long full time work week, followed by a week of amazing weather and relaxing with friends, followed by 10 days of having my mom and aunt in Helsinki, it has taken me this long to sort through pictures and have the patience to sit inside and update my blog. It doesn't mean I haven't been cooking- or enjoying some fabulous meals in Stockholm or Tallinn for that matter (which I'll post later about) :)

This is another great light summer meal that uses snap peas, which are in season now. I modified this recipe from another great cookbook 'Vegetarian Suppers' by Deborah Madison. Since the tofu is simmered in the broth, even less oil is needed. A couple days after I made this, I made it again. And now that it's been about a month since I made it that I'm finally posting it, I'm getting another craving. See, the thing is- it's just simple, delicious and it doesn't leave you feeling heavy afterwards.

With tofu, normally, I start by slicing the pieces into 1'' thick slices and then cutting them on the diagonal to make medium sized triangles. Then, I lay the pieces flat on a non-stick skillet without any oil and cook them for about 10 minutes on each side at really low heat, maybe on my electric oven, I use a mark 2 or 3. That evaporates a lot of the moisture and makes the tofu more firm so that it doesn't fall apart when added to the broth with the other ingredients. But I do this with tofu in most recipes these days.

Start with the broth, which is a flavoring most akin to some Thai foods. (I just received a Thai cookbook from my awesome neighbor back in the States and I can't wait to go to the Asian grocer and get cooking again) The broth can simmer for a long time if you want a good flavor infusion, but I would say that about 15 minutes is enough, otherwise a lot evaporates and then you have more of a reduction sauce than a broth.

Serves 2-3

Prep time: 10 minutes

Ready in: 30 minutes

Broth

3 tbs chopped fresh or frozen lemon grass (I buy mine fresh, but freeze what I don't use)

2 slices of ginger (this can stay good in the 'fridge for months)

1 tbs lime juice (or zest of one lime)

2 tbs fresh cilantro (I use a cilantro pesto that I buy in the jar, because I can't seem to keep fresh cilantro growing very long)

pinch of good salt

1 tbs soy sauce

couple drops of Thai fish sauce (optional)

1 tbs brown sugar

1.) With 1 1/2 cups water (about 4dl) in a skillet, add the lemon grass, lime, ginger, cilantro and salt and bring to a boil.

2.) Simmer for about 15 minutes and then strain so that only the liquid remains.

3.) Add soy sauce, fish sauce, and sugar. Adjust the seasoning to your likings.

Stir Fry

1 package of firm tofu

1 tsp peanut oil

2 cloves garlic, sliced

1/2 red onion, sliced

2 scallions, including the greens, sliced

sugar snap peas (a good generous handful)

1 tsp tumeric

jalopeno or red chilli, sliced on the diagonal (optional)

1.) Heat the oil in a skillet. Add the garlic, onion, scallions and chilli. Stir fry on high heat for about 1 minute.

2.) Add the peas, turmeric, and tofu and stir fry for another minute.

3.) Add the broth and simmer until the peas look a vibrant green color and the tofu is cooked through (if you used my preparation method for the tofu this should not take more than a couple minutes).

4.) Season with salt and pepper and serve over jasmine or sticky rice, or somen noodles.

Tofu in Spicy Chile Sauce with Coconut Rice

This recipe has it all, salty, sweet, sour, spicy. Very spicy in fact. I love the aesthetics of shapes with both rice cakes and tofu, and the green and red peppers contrasting the yellow color from the tumeric. It all comes together really well and is really easy to make. What can I say, I just love this. It reminds me of this Thai restaurant that I ate at with my friend W in Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica, and they served their coconut fish soup with star fruit and it was lovely.

Start with the rice the day before or in the morning. That way the rice has time to cool and set so that it's easier to cut into shapes.

Coconut Rice Cakes

1 1/2 cups basmati rice

1 cup coconut milk

1 tsp tumeric

black and/or white sesame seeds

peanut oil for frying

salt and pepper

1. Rinse the rice. Boil 2 cups of water with the coconut milk and add salt, pepper, and tumeric.

2. Add the rice, turn down the heat to a simmer, cook covered for about 20 minutes or until the rice is ready. Allow the rice to cool.

3. Lay a piece of plastic wrap on a cookie sheet. Spread the rice evenly about 1 1/2 inches thick over the cookie sheet. Sprinkle with sesame seeds. Cover the top with another piece of plastic wrap, so the rice doesn't dry out.

4. Place in the refridgerator over night or until well chilled.

5. When ready to make the tofu, cut into squares or triangles and fry lightly on either side. Enough to give a crisp to the edges and heat through.

Spicy Tofu
1 package firm tofu sliced into 1 1/2 inch thick triangles
1 cup coconut milk
3 tbs soy sauce
1 tbs brown sugar
2 limes
3 shallots, diced
1 red jalopeno chile, sliced on the diagonal (seeds removed if you want to minimize the heat)
1 green jalopeno chile, sliced on the diagonal (''   '')
3 cloves garlic
1 tsp tumeric
1 tbs fresh or dried mint leaves
1 tbs fresh or dried basil leaves (Thai basil works best here, but isn't easy to find)
salt and pepper

1. Cook the tofu on low heat on a dry non-stick skillet for about 10 minutes on each side. This evaporates a lot of the excess liquid and makes the tofu a bit firmer. Since we'll be adding more liquid later, you don't want soggy tofu.
2. Remove the tofu, sprinkle with the juice of half of one lime.
3. Return the skillet to heat, add peanut oil, shallots, garlic, and chiles and saute until golden.
4. Add cocounut milk, soy sauce, sugar, mint and basil, salt and pepper. Continue to cook until everything is well heated through.
5. Squeeze the juice of half a lemon over the sauce.
6. Assemble the rice cakes on a plate and dish the tofu and sauce on top. Drizzle with excess sauce, serve with lime slices.