chile, kaffir lime leave beef with fat rice noodles

This was my lunch the other day.  I had some beef left over and I got a craving for rice noodles,
so without putting a lot of thought to it, this is what I came up with.

For the marinade I used

sliced fresh ginger
kaffir lime leaves
2 chilies
2 tablespoons brown sugar
sesame oil
tamari soy sauce
fish sauce

Sorry not good with the quantities as it just came out of the bottle.  Just taste it.

Let the beef marinade for a while,  1/2 an hour is good.
Then cook the beef in batches in a wok or a fry pan on high heat very quickly and then remove from the pan.
Meanwhile cook your noodles in boiling water for about 5-6 mins, check them though.
Add the noodles and beef back to the wok and pour over the marinade (with all of the bits in it) and add a bit more of any of the sauces if you want too.
I finished it up with the herbs from the garden, coriander, mint and basil and some chopped peanuts.
Actually there was some cabbage in there too, I must have cooked that after the beef.
The kaffir lime leaves are definitely the star of the dish.

beef noodles

I had a piece of beef (rump) left over from the prevoius nights dinner so I decided to do a noodle dish for my lunch today.
The only veges I had were peppers and courgettes so that is what I used

For this recipe you will need

1 piece of rump steak chopped into strips
2 courgettes julienned
1 red pepper julienned
basil leaves
2 serves of egg noodles
homemade hoisin sauce to taste

 Start off frying the beef in some vege oil in small batches in a hot wok.  Then set aside.
Next put in the courgettes and cook for a couple of minutes before adding the peppers followed by the noodles.  Put the beef back into the wok and add  some of the hoisin sauce.  Go easy as you can always add more.  Gently mix and finish off with some basil.  I also added some chile powder when I went to eat it as I just couldn't help it.

vietnamese salad

We had this salad for dinner last night, but the pictures are from the left overs that I had for my lunch today.  I just added a few more fresh vegetables and herbs.

For this recipe you will need

• 500g minced chicken
• 500g minced pork
• 400g of thin rice noodles (soaked in cold water until flexible)
• 1 cup of finely sliced cabbage
• 1 cup of finely sliced cucumber (skinned and seeds removed)
• 1 cup of bean sprouts
• 2 spring onions finely chopped
• 1 small finely sliced red onion
• 1/2-1 cup of finely chopped peanuts
• 1/2 cup chopped coriander leaves
• 1/2 cup chopped mint
• 2 tablespoons of finely chopped garlic
• 2 tablespoons of finely chopped galangal or green ginger
• 2 tablespoons of finely chopped coriander roots and stems
• 6 small finely chopped or 3 large kaffir lime leaves
• 2 tablespoons of jaggery or palm sugar
• 2-4 tablespoons of fish sauce
• 2 limes,  zest and juice
• chile flakes or 1-2 fresh chiles

Start off heating 2 tablespoons of plain oil to a wok or fry pan and gently saute on medium heat, garlic, galangal and coriander root and stems for a couple of minutes.  Do not let it get to much colour.
Next, add the chicken and pork mince all at once and cook through.  Add a little salt to taste.  Then add the sugar, chile and fish sauce.  Turn off the heat.
 Meanwhile drain the rice noodles of the cold water, then cover with boiling water from the jug, drain immediately and then rinse with cold water to stop them getting over cooked.  (you do not want them soggy).
Fold in the cucumber, cabbage, red onion, spring onions, bean sprouts,and peanuts, followed by the herbs, zest and juice of the limes. Add the noodles and combine. Taste for balance and add more of what you think it needs.


Serve and add extra herbs and sliced veges if you want on top.
This is a  really flavoursome delicious healthy meal which can be eaten at room temperature.

quick easy noodles

This is what Lily had for her afternoon snack yesterday.  She used to eat them all the time until they became overkill and then didn't like them.  But a long enough time has gone past and she likes them again.
I add some dried egg noodles to boiling water until just cooked.
Fry a sliced onion and garlic in a wok until soft, add a grated carrot the cooked noodles and some sticky sweet soy sauce and there you have it.  Much better for you than the 2 minute noodle variety.

chicken soba noodle salad with ginger peanut dressing

I have had a food revelation.  I poached some chicken breast for the first time and was stunned with the results.  So so simple.  I will be experimenting with this further.

Anyway for this recipe you will need  -  serves 4  -

• 1 poached chicken breast sliced thinly
• 1 head broccoli divided into flowerets and steamed
• 1 packet of soba noodles ( I used the green tea variety as that was all that was available)
• 4 spring onions sliced finely on the diagonally
• 2-3 tablespoons of nut mix ( tasti nut fusion) or sesame seeds dry fried
• ginger peanut dressing

Steam your broccoli for about 2  mins.  Take off the heat and leave the lid on for further cooking.  I like it on the firmer side.

Cook your noodles in boiling water and I stress, do not over cook them or they will be horrible.  Remember noodles are as much their texture as their taste.  Once cooked cool them with cold water and strain and then lay out in a flat dish until they are ready to use.  Add sprinkles of water or in my case the stock I used to poached the chicken to keep the noodles from getting sticky.

For the poached chicken, put the breast (minus its' tender loin) in a pot with enough cold chicken stock to cover.  Bring to the boil, turn off the heat, put on the lid and leave in the stock for a futher 30 mins to continue its cooking.  The results are superb and succulently tender.  Put in the fridge after the 30 mins if you are not using it straight away.

To assemble,  add the broccoli, nuts and noodles along with the dressing (as much as you would like) and toss together,  then put in your serving bowl.  Slice the chicken and layer on top with the spring onions.  This noodle salad is intended to be eaten at room temperature or cold.
I was pleasantly surprised with the results.  Very healthy and delicious with a naughty dressing.

prawn noodle salad

This is what I had for lunch the other day.  

• Finely slice up some red and white cabbage
• Grate 1 carrot
• Cook 1 serve of dried egg noodle (make sure not to over cook) you need the bite of the noodle for this dish.
• Cook 6 prawns any way you like.  I pan fried mine and let to cool.
• Sprinkle of sesame seeds
• 1 finely sliced spring onion cut on the diagonal
• Sprinkle of 7 spice assorted chile pepper - nanami togarashi
• Miso dressing

Toss the first 5 ingredients together with the miso dressing in a bowl and then transfer to a plate.

Place the spring onions on the top and sprinkle with the chile pepper

Pad thai

I made pad thai for dinner last night at the request of my son.  Unfortunately I didn't have all the correct ingredients but made do with what I had.  So this is my version.

You will need

• 1 large chicken breast  (it should be tofu)
• 200g of raw prawns
• 2 eggs
• 1 large packet of rice stick noodles
• 1 lime juiced
• 1/2 cup of roasted chopped peanuts
• 1 teaspoon of chile flakes
• 2 cups of finely slice white cabbage (it should be bean sprouts)
• 1 tablespoon of chopped garlic
• 4 spring onions
• 1 cup of pad thai sauce
• Water to loosen the sauce

Pad thai sauce

• 1/2 cup of tamarind puree 
• 1/4 cup fish sauce
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup water

Heat all ingredients in a pot until the sugar has dissolved

It should be tart, salty and sweet.  It will mellow once combined with the noodles and rest of the ingredients

Prep all your things in advance to make the final cooking easy.

Soak the rice stick noodles in cold water.  You want them to be flexible.

Start by making the egg omlette.  I used my wok for the cooking.  Remove the omlette that has been folded into three,  then cook the prawns with some garlic, remove and finally cook the chicken.  Don't over do it as it will need to get heated again in the final cooking when everything comes together.

Heat the wok to medium heat, add some oil and the noodles and 1/2 of the tamarind sauce.  Continously stir around.  You want the noodles to soften up, add water if it becomes to sticky.  Once the noodles are nearly done add the cabbage and the juice of the lime and the chile flakes.  Keep stirring adding more sauce and water to get the desired consistency and taste.  Finally add the nuts, prawns, chicken, egg that has been chopped up and spring onions and warm through.