THAI RED CURRY PASTE - NAM PRIK GAENG PHED

Who doesn't love Thai curry, this recipe was shown to me by a Thai, so is pretty authentic. The paste is made up of dried and fresh ingredients, and is worth the effort to make, shop bought pastes and sauces will not even come close to this paste. In Thailand cooks learn to judge the balance by smell, but that is best left to Thai's, or David Thompson, that practice is far too advanced for myself or novice paste makers. If you do happen to make this paste, i would not worry first time round about tring to judge the balance as you can correct this at the cooking stage. After a couple of attempts you can taste as you go!

RECIPE;

Dried ingredients;
1 tbsp coriander seeds (roasted until fragrant)
2 cardamon pods (roasted until fragrant)
1/2 teaspoon black peppercorns
1/2 teaspoon of salt
10 big dried red chillies - seeds removed and pre-soaked in water for 10 minutes, then finely chopped.

5g galangal
5g lemongrass-chopped (white bottom piece)
5g kaffir lime peel - (alternatively use 2 lime leaves center stem removed and finely chopped. Kaffir limes are harder to come by in the west, kaffir lime leaves are easily bought frozen).
10g coriander root - chopped i(f not available use 10g of the stems closest to the roots)
15g shallots -(chopped) small asian shallots with pink skins
15g garlic - crushed
5g shrimp paste
10 small red chillies

METHOD;

Place the dried ingredients into a pestle and mortar,grind to a powder. Add the rest of the ingredients,hardest first and pound to a smooth paste. This can take long time but the result is well worth the effort.
I find that adding an ingredient at a time and pounding is easier to work with, else the mortar is overloaded. Alternatively add all of the ingredients to a blender or spice grinder, and blitz to a smooth paste. You might need to loosen the ingredients with a little water. This method is not as good as the latter but does make a suitable paste.

YIELD;

4-5 TBSP

The paste can be stored in the fridge for up to a week in a sealed container and can be frozen, but the flavour will diminish.

THAI SWEET CHILLI BURGER WITH CUCUMBER

My fiance has an aversion to chilli and fish sauce yet eats these two wonderful ingredients unknowingly quite often. "why you putting fish sauce in everything?" she said. So i have to go through the monotony yet again of explaining why for one i do not put fish sauce in everything and for two, the use of chilli does not have to mean HEAT! After yet again explaining that the fish sauce has a purpose, and yet again that "no it won't taste fishy", i eventually with some simple explanations manage to make some inkling of sense. You see when i cook food containing Fish sauce or chilli she is normally busying herself elsewhere, so does not see what goes into the dish only the finished meal. Then i go through my usual response and try to remind her that Worcester sauce is in fact made with Anchovies, and this super ingredient she uses quite liberally, in different dishes, with no ill effect.
Anyhow back to the burgers. For a while now i have been wanting to make beef burgers with sweet chilli sauce, and serve them in buns with sliced cucumber! Nothing special, probably bizarre to your average fast food customer, but the result was pleasing and the Fish sauce fiance enjoyed, for me it was just taking ingredients that i enjoy and bringing them together. If you have had the pleasure of eating cucumber in a fish sauce based Thai dipping sauce, then we will more than likely be on the same wavelength!

MAKES 6-8 - DEPENDING ON SIZE

RECIPE;
500g lean mince beef
2 tbsp of Thai sweet chilli sauce(shop bought condiment)
2 tsp of Thai fish sauce
1 small onion (finely chopped)
Sea salt and ground black pepper
Sliced and peeled cucumber

METHOD;
Place the finely chopped onion and mince into a food processor and pulse till it forms a ball. Remove and place into a mixing bowl make a well in the middle and add the chilli and fish sauce, and black pepper to taste. Mix using your hands and form into patties of your desired size , season with salt and pepper. Best cooked on a griddle or griddle pan. Cook to your liking, about 6-8 minutes does the trick! Of course you can cook these under the grill or shallow fry.

TO SERVE;
Rest the burgers for a couple of minutes, meanwhile wipe the griddle of excess fat, then toast your buns or alternatively grill the buns and serve with a little melted strong chedder if desired and sliced cucumber.

SUPER SIMPLE OVEN CHIPS VERY FLUFFY INSIDE AND WONDERFULLY CRISP

Please excuse the title, but imagine if your regular frozen oven chip was big, i mean big, not the size of some pathetic overweight matchstick but nice and fat, crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside, you would be over the moon right? Well I'm going to tell you how......................OK, enough of the sales talk but i got your attention with my cheesy 80's sale's pitch eh! Well since our seldom used deep fat fryer was relegated to the recycling plant or maybe even revitalised by one of the ever numerous totters , we have been without chips! Not fries but Chips, big fat humdingers, maybe not Mr Blumenthal quality but definitely bloody good chips. Do not do frozen, so homemade oven chips it is, again lest i bore you - big fat chips! Now too the point , honestly i feel that the key to great homemade oven chips is the size. Size is everything right girls, well and technique some might say, but size is the key here. You need enough surface area for the crisping process and enough inside to benefit from the full fluffy effect, not enough and your not going to notice the creamy fluffiness that melts on your tongue after biting through the crispy exterior! Now debates rage on about potato varieties that are best suited, but personal choice for me is King Edwards, followed by Maris Pipers, but other varieties of floury spuds will do the trick.

RECIPE;
Choose your potatoes, give them a peel, and slice into big chips. Bring a saucepan of lightly salted water to the boil, whilst waiting, heat the oven to 220C/gas 7/450 F. Find a suitable tray or roasting tin and place a film of sunflower oil or olive oil over the base(3-4 tbsp). Place the tray into the oven. Once the water is boiling place your chips into the water, bring back to the boil and cook for 5 minutes. Drain then place into the hot oil, coat with the oil and season with sea salt and ground black pepper, back into the oven for 35- 40 minutes or until golden brown. Turn occasionally.