Tag: mortarandpestle

• 

  Mortar And Pestle

  The mortar (the bowl) and the pestle (the rounded club shaped part that you hold) have been used for ever and a day to crush and grind cooking ingredients.

  

  It can be used to grind dry ingredients to a fine powder or equally to give them a coarser texture. I use it for wet ingredients when a wet power blender would make the paste too smooth.

  To show you what I mean, this is the same very tasty sauce (first picture is blended, second is ground):

  

  

  My two tips are:

  1. avoid the temptation to get a small one as spices like peppercorns and coriander seed will make a break for it as soon as you start grinding 🙂
  2. don’t spend too much on them, they all do the same thing regardless of the price tag

  Dry

  

  Wet

  

  PK

  Related Links:

  • see recipes that use a mortar and pestle here
  • see more kitchen kit here
  • see more equipment posts here

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  Written by

  PK

  ·

  June 10, 2017

• 

  Beetroot Powder

  I looked everywhere and couldn’t find the beetroot powder in the shops that I needed for a butter chicken. I was in my local grocery store looking for it and about to give up when on the way out I saw some fresh beetroot.

  So I made my own dried beetroot to get the powder and along the way got lots of yummy beetroot crisps too.

  Steps:

  Take a fresh beetroot and peel it.

  Cut it into really thin slices as this will aid the drying process.

  

  I then used my oven, as it was already on from cooking the previous dish and cooling down, to slowly dry the slices out.

  You can use a dehydrator if you have one.

  

  

  Keep the crisps whole in an airtight bag. You can then munch or grind them as needed.

  Enjoy,

  PK

  Links:

  • see more beetroot posts here
  • go to all ingredients

  Written by

  PK

  ·

  December 3, 2016

• 

  PK’s Thai Beef Salad

  I love south east asian salads. They are a feast for your eyes and your taste buds. The range of flavours is diverse and so hard to get right sometimes. The pay off is worth it though and this particular dish is no exception. It is now a family favourite and lends itself well to any communal meal.

  I have shown my timing preferences below for serving the salad with warm beef slices. Of course, if you prefer cold meat in this dish, you can make them in any order and well ahead of time. Oh and don’t forget to bring your steaks out of the fridge a little earlier so they are approaching room temperature as they go in the frypan.

  STEPS:

  1. Make the Nam jim dressing
  2. Roast the rice
  3. Gather the salad ingredients
  4. Cook the beef steaks
  5. Serving Suggestions

  You will need:

  • Nam jim Ingredients (repeated here for your shopping list):
    • 1 tsp powdered kashmiri chilli
    • 5 coriander roots (cilantro)
    • 3 garlic cloves
    • 2.5cm piece fresh ginger root
    • 3 Tbsp fish sauce
    • 3 Tbsp lime juice
    • 1 Tbsp palm sugar
  • Roasted Rice Ingredients
    • 100g of basmati or jasmine rice
    • 1 Tbsp of rock sea salt
  • Salad Ingredients
    • several large cabbage leaves (1 per person)
    • 2 cups baby spinach leaves
    • 1 handful of coriander leaves and stems
    • 1/2 large red capsicum
    • 1/3 of a burpless cucumber
    • 1 red shallot
    • 1 spring onion
    • 6 cherry tomatoes
    • 1 cup bean sprouts
    • 1 handful of mint leaves
    • 1 medium carrot
    • 1 handful of snow peas
    • your favourite fresh chilis (optional)
    • unsalted peanuts to taste (optional)
  • Steak Ingredients
    • small eye fillet steaks (1 per person)
    • ground black pepper to taste
    • table salt to taste
    • kecap manis or soy sauce (optional)
  • Equipment
    • an oven tray
    • a mortar and pestle
    • a chopping board
    • a small serving bowl for the roasted rice
    • a large salad bowl
    • a large frypan

   Make the Nam jim dressing

  

  Steps:

  1. Make the Nam Jim dressing as per PK’s Favourite Nam Jim Dressing.

  Roast the rice

  Steps:

  1. Pre-heat your oven to 200° C.
  2. Spread the rice grains across an oven tray and cook for about 15 minutes or until golden brown.
  3. Remove them from the oven and allow them to cool.
  4. Grind 1 Tbsp of rock sea salt in a mortar and pestle.
  5. Add the cooled roasted rice grains to the mortar and pestle and grind to your desired consistency. I personally like the result to be variably granulated and not fully powdered.
  6. Add to a small serving bowl.

   

   

  Gather the salad ingredients

   

  Steps:

  1. Wash and dry all of the vegetables.
  2. Put the cabbage leaves aside as you won’t need them until serving time.
  3. Keep the 1 cup of bean sprouts aside for the same reason
  4. Slice and then
  5. To a large salad bowl add:
     • 2 cups baby spinach leaves
     • 1 handful of hand torn coriander leaves and stems
     • 1/2 red capsicum fine sliced (deseeded and pith removed)
     • 1/3 of a burpless cucumber sliced and quartered
     • 1 shallot fine sliced
     • 1 spring onion fine sliced
     • 6 halved cherry tomatoes
     • 1 handful of hand torn mint leaves
     • 1 medium carrot fine sliced  (I use a potato peeler to make thin strips)
     • 1 handful of hand torn snow peas (chop the ends off each first.

  Cook the beef steaks

  

  Steps:

  1. Preheat your frypan and add a splash of olive oil. You could barbecue them outside of course but I prefer a frypan when cooking eye fillet steaks.
  2. Cook the eye fillet steaks to  medium rare and allow them to rest, optionally adding a bit of kecap manis or soy sauce at this point.
  3. Thinly slice the cooked steaks.

  Serving Suggestions

  Steps:

  1. Place a whole cabbage leaf on each plate.
     • Fill to the brim with the salad ingredients.
     • Add the beef slices.
     • Throw some bean sprouts over the top.
  2. Serve to the table and let each person add as much or as little  of the roasted rice and Nam jim dressing as they like.
  3. Have sliced fresh chillis and unsalted peanuts on the table for just the same reason.

   

  Enjoy,

  PK

  Written by

  PK

  ·

  June 18, 2016

• 

  Easy Thai Beef Salad

  I love southeast asian salads. They are a feast for your eyes and your taste buds. The range of flavours is so diverse, you will never get bored of them.

  The key to a good beef salad is a great dressing and a good cut of beef that is thinly sliced and not over cooked. I hope you enjoy making the nam jim dressing and building the salad at the table like my family does. 🙂

  Notes: I have shown my timing preferences below for serving the salad with warm beef slices. Of course, if you prefer cold meat in this dish, you can make them in any order and well ahead of time. Oh and don’t forget to bring your steaks out of the fridge a little earlier so they are approaching room temperature as they go in the fry-pan.

  STEPS:

  1. Make the Nam jim dressing
  2. Roast the rice
  3. Gather the salad ingredients
  4. Cook the beef steaks
  5. Serving Suggestions

  You will need:

  • Nam jim Ingredients (repeated here for your shopping list):
    • 1 tsp powdered kashmiri chilli
    • 5 coriander roots (cilantro)
    • 3 garlic cloves
    • 2.5cm piece fresh ginger root
    • 3 Tbsp fish sauce
    • 3 Tbsp lime juice
    • 1 Tbsp palm sugar
  • Roasted Rice Ingredients
    • 100g of basmati or jasmine rice
    • 1 Tbsp of rock sea salt
  • Salad Ingredients
    • several large cabbage leaves (1 per person)
    • 2 cups baby spinach leaves
    • 1 handful of coriander leaves and stems
    • 1/2 large red capsicum
    • 1/3 of a burpless cucumber
    • 1 red shallot
    • 1 spring onion
    • 6 cherry tomatoes
    • 1 cup bean sprouts
    • 1 handful of mint leaves
    • 1 medium carrot
    • 1 handful of snow peas
    • your favourite fresh chilis (optional)
    • unsalted peanuts to taste (optional)
  • Steak Ingredients
    • small eye fillet steaks (1 per person)
    • ground black pepper to taste
    • table salt to taste
    • kecap manis or soy sauce (optional)
  • Equipment
    • an oven tray
    • a mortar and pestle
    • a chopping board
    • a small serving bowl for the roasted rice
    • a large salad bowl
    • a large frypan

   Make the Nam jim dressing

  

  Steps:

  1. Make the Nam Jim dressing as per PK’s Favourite Nam Jim Dressing.

  Roast the rice

  Steps:

  1. Pre-heat your oven to 200° C.
  2. Spread the rice grains across an oven tray and cook for about 15 minutes or until golden brown.
  3. Remove them from the oven and allow them to cool.
  4. Grind 1 Tbsp of rock sea salt in a mortar and pestle.
  5. Add the cooled roasted rice grains to the mortar and pestle and grind to your desired consistency.
  6. Add the finished product into a small serving bowl.

  Gather the salad ingredients

  Steps:

  1. Wash and dry all of the vegetables.
  2. Put the cabbage leaves aside, you won’t need them until serving time.
  3. Keep the 1 cup of bean sprouts aside for the same reason
  4. To a large salad bowl add:
     • 2 cups baby spinach leaves
     • 1 handful of hand torn coriander leaves and stems
     • 1/2 red capsicum fine sliced (deseeded and pith removed)
     • 1/3 of a burpless cucumber sliced and quartered
     • 1 shallot fine sliced
     • 1 spring onion fine sliced
     • 6 halved cherry tomatoes
     • 1 handful of hand torn mint leaves
     • 1 medium carrot fine sliced  (I use a potato peeler to make thin strips)
     • 1 handful of hand torn snow peas (chop the ends off each first.

  Cook the beef steaks

  

  Steps:

  1. Preheat your fry-pan and add a splash of olive oil. You could barbecue them outside of course but I prefer a fry-pan when cooking eye fillet steaks.
  2. Cook the eye fillet steaks to  medium rare and allow them to rest, optionally adding a bit of kecap manis or soy sauce at this point.
  3. Thinly slice the cooked steaks.

  Serving Suggestions

  Steps:

  1. Place a whole cabbage leaf on each plate.
     • Fill to the brim with the salad ingredients.
     • Add the beef slices.
     • Throw some bean sprouts over the top.
  2. Serve along with the roasted rice and Nam jim dressing, sliced fresh chillis and unsalted peanuts.

  Enjoy,

  PK

  Here are more southeast asian inspired cuisine and salad posts:

  Written by

  PK

  ·

  June 18, 2016

• 

  The Easiest Nam Jim Dressing

  Wikipedia writes ‘Nam jim (น้ำจิ้ม) is Thai for “dipping sauce”. It can refer to a wide variety of dipping sauces in Thai cuisine, with many of them being a combination of salty, sweet, spicy and sour’.

  I use this dressing in my PK’s Thai Beef Salad.

  I use a blender (don’t tell anyone please) instead of a mortar and pestle because I am lazy. You will get a more visually appealing result if you use the former, though I hope the taste is similar. I primarily use this dressing on my Thai Beef Salads and they have a lot going on visually anyway.

  Edit: Last time I made this dressing I used a mortar and pestle and the results were worth it 🙂

  If you haven’t already, please go and have a read of my post PK’s Curry Paste Kit. It will show you just how off the charts bonkers I am about using whole spices and the freshest ingredients when making your own pastes etc. Actually maybe give that post a miss ;).

  STEPS:

  1. Gather the ingredients
  2. Mix in the wet blender
  3. Serving

  You will need:

  • Ingredients:
    • 1 tsp powdered kashmiri chili
    • 5 coriander roots (cilantro)
    • 3 garlic cloves
    • 2.5cm piece fresh ginger root
    • 3 Tbsp fish sauce
    • 3 Tbsp lime juice
    • 1 Tbsp palm sugar
  • Equipment
    • a chopping board
    • a long sharp knife
    • a tablespoon
    • a teaspoon
    • a medium sized bowl
    • a wet blender with a small bowl
    • a dry mill (optional)
    • a small serving bowl for the middle of the table

  Gather the ingredients

  Steps:

  1. Dry mill your whole kashmiri chilis to get 1 tsb. Mostly I use store bought powder though.
  2. Wash the 5 coriander roots thoroughly if you have just harvested them. I have a stash in the freezer though of roots retained after using the rest of the plant. See my post Herbs – Coriander (Coriandrum sativum).
  3. Peel and rough chop the 3 garlic cloves.
  4. Peel and rough chop the 2.5cm ginger root.
  5. Bring the 3 Tbsp fish sauce, 3 Tbsp lime juice and 1 Tbsp palm sugar together.

  

  Mix in the wet blender

  Steps:

  1. Pop everything into your wet blender and pulse till you get the look you are after.
  2. Have a taste and add a bit more of anything you think is under represented. For example I normally add a bit more fish sauce for the saltiness factor.

  

  Serving

  Pop the lot in a serving bowl. I do this so that every one can build their own Thai salad at dinner. I haven’t tried storing this in the fridge for very long but the salt content of the fish sauce should let it keep for a while. You might just want to freshen up the citrus flavour by adding a bit of lime or lemon juice.

  I would love to hear about your favourite Thai salad dressing or dipping sauce.

  Enjoy,

  PK

  Written by

  PK

  ·

  June 12, 2016