Beef Rendang

 Rendang is loved for its rich, thick sauce and beef that falls apart at a mere touch.

2 x 400ml cans coconut milk

• 3/4 cup rendang curry paste (see related recipe)

• 1kg beef chuck steak, cut into 3cm pieces

• 3 dried bay leaves

• Steamed SunRice White Medium Grain Rice, to serve

Shredded coconut, toasted, to serve

• Step 1
  Place the coconut milk

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   and curry paste in a large saucepan. Bring to the boil over medium-high heat. Stir in the beef and bay leaves until combined.
• Step 2
  Reduce heat to medium-low. Simmer, stirring occasionally, for 3 hours or until the beef is tender and the sauce is thick.
• Step 3
  Divide the rice among serving bowls. Top with the rendang and sprinkle with shredded coconut.

Peanut dipping Sauce

 

INGREDIENTS

• 3/4 cup creamy peanut butter
• 1/4 cup rice vinegar
• 1/3 cup reduced sodium tamari or reduced-sodium soy sauce
• 3 tablespoons honey
• 1 1/2 teaspoons grated fresh ginger or 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1 to 2 medium cloves garlic, pressed or minced, to taste
• 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes, plus more for sprinkling
• 2 to 4 tablespoons water or coconut milk, or as necessary to reach your desired consistency
• Optional garnishes: sprinkling of chopped roasted peanuts and additional red pepper flakes
  
  

  INSTRUCTIONS

  1. In a 2-cup liquid measuring cup or medium-sized mixing bowl, whisk together the ingredients until well blended. If your peanut butter is particularly thick, you may need to use the full 4 tablespoons of water to thin out the mixture (or more, if necessary).
  2. Feel free to adjust to taste here—for example, sometimes I want my sauce more savory and add another clove of garlic, or a little sweeter, so I add extra honey.
  3. If you’re serving the sauce as a party dip, transfer it to a serving bowl and sprinkle with chopped peanuts and red pepper flakes for some visual interest!

Summer rolls

 Makes 12 rolls

Ingredients

• 12 rice paper wrappers (bánh tráng)
• 2 oz. lettuce (optional)
• 1 oz. dried shiitake (or wood ear mushrooms), rehydrated, and thinly cut in strips
• ½ bunch basil (leaves only)
• ½ bunch mint (leaves only)
• ½ bunch cilantro (leaves and stems)
• 1 carrot , julienned into thin matchsticks
• 1 cucumber , thinly julienned
• 8 oz. very thin rice vermicelli
• 12 oz. firm tofu or shrimp

Instructions

• Bring a pot of water to a boil and cook the rice vermicelli for 2 minutes until tender.
• Drain and rinse in cold water. Set aside.
• Fill a large bowl with hot water to moisten the rice paper wrapper.
• Submerge one dry rice wrapper in the water.
• Place the moistened wrapper flat on a plate, cutting board or dampened cloth.
• Place a small portion of each ingredient, including salad, herbs (basil, cilantro, mint), tofu or shrimp

  
  

  
  and vegetables (carrot, cucumber, mushroom) on the bottom side of the wrapper closest to you.
• Add rice vermicelli.
• Wrap the roll up by taking the edge closest to you and flipping it up over the filling.
• Gently roll the filling up until reaching the halfway point, then pull the sides in and roll it the rest of the way.
• Serve with hoisin sauce, peanut sauce or nước chấm.

Vietnamese Pho

 

For the broth

• 1 lb short ribs with bone
• 4 slices ox tail
• 2 marrow bones
• 3 scallions , cut in halves
• 1 whole star anise
• 1 whole nutmeg
• 1 stick cinnamon
• 5 whole cloves
• 5 pods cardamom
• ½ lb daikon , julienned

For the toppings

• 8 oz. rice noodles (ideally bánh phở)
• Soybean sprouts
• 10 scallions
• ½ bunch mint
• ½ bunch cilantro
• ½ bunch Thai basil
• 2 lb round (sirloin, or shank)
• 3 limes
• 2 hot peppers

Instructions

• Heat a frying pan and roast the spices (star anise, nutmeg, cinnamon, clove, cardamom) for a few minutes to develop their aroma.
• Place these spices in a tea ball or cheesecloth (tied with kitchen twine).
• In a large pot, place the scallions, the ribs, the marrow bones, the ox tail slices and the spice tea ball.
• Add the julienned daikon.
• Cover with water and bring to a boil. Then, lower the heat. Cover to three quarters (do not close the lid completely) and simmer for 3 hours. If necessary, skim the fat as it is cooking.
• At the end of cooking, filter the broth. Thinly slice the ribs and the ox tail and set aside.
• Cook the rice vermicelli in a large volume of boiling salted water for 4 minutes. Drain and rinse with cold water and set aside.
• Thinly slice the round (sirloin or beef shank) and set aside.
• Rinse and drain the soybean sprouts. Rinse, dry and then roughly chop the herbs (mint, cilantro, Thai basil).
• In individual bowls, place the ingredients in this order:

  - rice noodles

  - daikon

  - slices of round (sirloin or shank)

  - slices of short ribs

  - slices of ox tail

  - soybean sprouts

  - herbs and thinly sliced scallions
• Pour the hot broth into each bowl and serve immediately after adding the juice of half a lime and thinly sliced hot pepper (optional) in each bowl.
• Mix the food for about thirty seconds using chopsticks and enjoy.

Notes

Tip: place the meat in the freezer for 30 minutes before slicing it. The meat is firmer, and it becomes easier to thinly slice.

Thai Curry Noodle soup

 

2 tbsp coconut oil
2 large desiree potatoes, peeled, cut into 4cm chunks
1 onion, thinly sliced
1/2 cup (150g) yellow curry paste
800ml coconut milk
2 cups (500ml) chicken stock
1/4 cup (60ml) fish sauce
1/2 tsp brown sugar
Juice of 1 lime
600g skinless chicken thigh fillets
200g dried rice noodles, cooked according to packet instructions
2 cups baby spinach
1 long red chilli, thinly sliced
Thai basil leaves plus coriander leaves, to serve

1. Heat oil in a large saucepan over high heat and add the potato. Cook, stirring, for 2-3 minutes to soften slightly, then add the onion and cook, stirring, for a further 2-3 minutes or until soft. Add curry paste and stir until fragrant and potato and onion are coated. Stir in the coconut milk, stock and 2 cups (500ml) water until combined. Bring to the boil, then reduce heat to low and simmer for 30 minutes or until potato is just soft.

2. Stir in fish sauce, sugar and lime juice. Check seasoning for balance and add more fish sauce, sugar or lime as required. Cut chicken into 3cm pieces, add to sauce and simmer gently for 25 minutes or until chicken is cooked through

3. To serve, divide the noodles among bowls. Ladle the curry sauce over the noodles and garnish with spinach, chilli Thai basil and coriander to serve.

Garlic confit sauce with greek yogurt

 Ingredients

- 1 cup peeled garlic
- 1 cup raw peeled almonds (if using it)
- 3 cups olive oil
- 2 tbsp of herbs of your choice (Thyme, rosemary, basil, oregano or mint)
- 2 cups full fat greek yogurt
- 1 lemon use the zest for the confit and the juice for the sauce.

1. Combine the garlic, almonds (if using it), herbs, lemon zest and olive oil into a sauce pan. Simmer for one hour or until the garlic become brown.

2. Remove the lemon zest and using a blender mix the all the ingredients except the lemon zest.

3. Add more olive oil if you would like the texture to be runnier.

Shrimp Pad Thai

 


Ingredients

PAD THAI SAUCE

• 35 g palm sugar, chopped (3 Tbsp tightly packed)
• 3 Tbsp (45 ml) water
• 4 Tbsp Thai cooking tamarind 
• 2 Tbsp good fish sauce 

PAD THAI

• 4oz (115g) dry rice noodles, medium size, soak in room temp water for 1 hour (see note 2)
• 2 Tbsp dried shrimp, medium size, roughly chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, chopped
• ¼ cup roughly chopped shallots
• 3 oz (85 g) pressed tofu, cut into small pieces
• 3 Tbsp finely chopped SWEET preserved daikon radish (see note 3)
• Dried chili flakes, to taste (optional)
• 3 Tbsp (45 ml) vegetable oil
• 10 medium sized shrimp, or as many as you like (to sub other protein, see note 4)
• 2 eggs
• 2 ½ cups (120 g)bean sprouts, loosely packed
• 10 stalks garlic chives, cut into 2” pieces
• ¼ cup roasted peanuts, roughly chopped
• 1 lime
• Garnishes and condiments for serving: chili flakes, roasted peanuts, bean sprouts and garlic chives.

(In Thailand, fresh banana blossom is sometimes served on the side of pad thai. I don't love them personally, but if you do and can find them, go for it!)

Instructions

TO MAKE PAD THAI SAUCE (SEE NOTE 5): 

1. Add palm sugar to a small pot and melt over medium heat. Once the sugar is melting, keep stirring until it darkens in colour (see video for colour). Immediately add water, fish sauce, and tamarind paste. The sugar will harden immediately and this is okay.
2. Bring sauce to a simmer, then turn off heat. The hardened sugar will not have dissolved at this point, but let it sit while you prep other ingredients and it should be dissolved by the time you need it. Check that it is dissolved before you start cooking!

TO MAKE PAD THAI (SEE NOTE 6): 

1. Cut drained noodles once with scissors so they are half as long. This makes them easier to toss and separate in the wok.
2. In a bowl, combine tofu, garlic, shallots, preserved radish, dried shrimp, and chili flakes.
3. Heat a wok or a large nonstick skillet over high heat and add just enough oil to coat the bottom. Sear shrimp, or whatever protein you're using, until done and remove them from pan.
4. In the same wok over medium heat, add a little more oil if needed, then add everything in the tofu bowl and sauté for a few minutes until garlic starts to turn golden and shallots are wilted. If the wok looks dry, add a little more oil. (Don't skimp on oil otherwise the noodles will clump up together.) 
5. Turn heat up to high then add noodles and sauce. Keep tossing until all the sauce is absorbed.
6. Once sauce is absorbed, you can turn off the heat and taste the noodles for doneness. If they're still undercooked, add a little more water and continue cooking, being careful not to add too much water!
7. Once noodles are done, push them to one side of the pan. Add add little extra oil to the empty space and add eggs. Break the yolks, then put noodles on top of eggs and cook for about 30 seconds. Flip and toss to mix eggs into noodles. 
8. Toss the cooked protein back in, plus any collected juices. Then add bean sprouts, garlic chives and half of the peanuts. Turn off the heat and toss until well mixed.
9. Serve immediately with a lime wedge and extra peanuts on top. For a classic presentation you can add a little extra side of bean sprouts and some garlic chives garnish.
10. Do not use the black, sticky "tamarind concentrate" from India as it is much more concentrated and cannot be used in the same way in this recipe. Either make it from pulp or buy the brown paste that is from Thailand or Vietnam.
11. You can soak noodles in advance, drain, and keep them well sealed in the fridge for a few days. I use Erawan brand noodles. Some brands, such as Thai Kitchen, have thinner noodles and take less time. Keep an eye on them and drain once the noodles are completely pliable (no resistance when bending). No time to soak? See emergency noodle-soaking in the blog post.
12. Thai sweet preserved radish is hard to find, but you can omit or use the Japanese version instead which is called “takuan” and is bright yellow. See blog post for more info.
13. If using chicken, pork or beef, slice into bite-sized pieces and marinate them with just a bit of fish sauce or soy sauce so the meat isn't bland.
14. You can make a big batch of sauce in advance and store indefinitely in the fridge.
15. I recommend cooking no more than 2-3 servings at a time to avoid crowding the pan and making the noodles soggy.
16. Be sure to squeeze a bit of lime on top before eating!
    
    
    

Pad Thai

 Pad thai (ผัดไทย) is probably the most famous Thai dish around the world but it is also one of the least traditional dishes in Thai cuisine.

Ingredients

• 4 oz. Thai rice noodles (sen lek or เส้นเล็ก)
• 1 cup bean sprouts
• 6 Chinese chives (or scallions)
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 2 tablespoons tamarind concentrate
• 2 tablespoons palm sugar
• 1 shallot , finely chopped
• 1 tablespoon pickled turnip (optional)
• ½ cup extra firm tofu
• ½ lime
• 2 tablespoons crushed peanut
• 4 shrimps
• ½ teaspoon crushed chili
• 3 cloves garlic , minced
• 4 teaspoons fish sauce (namh pla or น้ำปลา)
• 1 egg
• Black pepper

Instructions

• Start by soaking the dry noodles in water at room temperature while preparing the other ingredients, about 30 minutes.
• The noodles should end up being soft but not mushy.
• Roast the peanuts in a pan without oil for a few minutes.
• Cut tofu into thin 1-inch (2,5cm) strips.
• Fry the tofu separately in a pan with a little oil until golden brown.
• Cut Chinese chives into 1-inch strips (2,5cm) diagonally.
• Set aside a few pieces of fresh chive for garnish.
• Rinse bean sprouts and keep half for garnish.
• Heat cast iron skillet or heavy bottomed pan over high heat and add vegetable oil.
• Add shallot, pickled turnip (optional), garlic and tofu and stir until they begin to brown.
• Drain noodles and add to the skillet. Stir quickly to prevent the noodles from sticking.
• Add the tamarind concentrate, palm sugar, fish sauce and chili. Stir.
• Keep on high heat so that the liquid evaporates.
• Make room for the egg by pushing the noodles to the sides of the pan.
• Break the egg in the middle of the pan and stir until it is almost cooked.
• Stir the egg in the noodles. The noodles should be soft and tender.
• If the noodles are too hard and undercooked, add a little water.
• Add shrimps and stir. Sprinkle with pepper.
• Add the bean sprouts and chives and stir.
• Pour the mixture on a serving platter and sprinkle with crushed chili and peanuts.
• Serve hot with a wedge of lime on the side, and fresh Chinese chives and bean sprouts on top.
• Add Sambal or crushed chili to spice it up.