Tag: thai
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River Cottage’s Thai Fish Curry
I couldn’t have picked a better recipe for my first ever homemade fish curry than River Cottage’s Thai Fish Curry.
It is so aromatic and the flavours are perfectly balanced. You can use firm fish fillets solely or a mix of fish and crab/crayfish meat. I reckon a couple of prawns would go amiss either.
Note: The River Cottage website says you can make and freeze the curry paste in larger batches ahead of time.

Steps
- Making the curry paste
- Cooking the curry
- Serving
Ingredients
- 2 Tbsp oil (I used peanut oil)
- 400ml coconut milk
- 200ml fish stock or water
- 2 Tbsp fish sauce
- 2 tsp raw sugar
- 125g French beans (I used snow peas instead), sliced on the diagonal
- 100g spring onions, sliced on the diagonal
- 800g firm fish fillets (I used pink snapper), skin off and roughly cubed
- Curry paste:
- 2-6 small green chillies
- 1 brown onion (small), chopped
- 100g fresh ginger, chopped
- 4 garlic cloves, peeled
- 2 Tbsp galangal paste (I used a small chunk fresh out of my garden)
- 3 lemongrass stalks, tough outer layers removed, finely sliced
- 2 tsp ground coriander
- 2 tsp ground cumin
- 1 lime, juice and zest
- 4 kaffir lime leaves, chopped (optional)
- 1 tsp Thai shrimp paste
- 1 tsp sea salt
Equipment
- 1 chef’s knife
- 1 chopping board
- 1 wooden spoon
- 1 deep saucepan
- 1 wet blender
Making the curry paste
- Add to your wet blender the:
- 2-6 small green chilies
- 1 brown onion
- 100g fresh ginger
- 4 garlic cloves
- 2 Tbsp galangal paste
- 3 lemongrass stalks
- 2 tsp ground coriander
- 2 tsp ground cumin
- 1 lime, juice and zest
- 4 kaffir lime leaves
- 1 tsp Thai shrimp paste
- 1 tsp sea salt
- Blend until you get a smooth paste.

Cooking the curry
- Heat the 2 Tbsp oil in your saucepan then fry the curry paste, keeping it gently moving, for several minutes on medium heat.
- Add the 400ml coconut milk and the 200ml fish stock or water, 2 Tbsp fish sauce and 2 tsp raw sugar.
- Bring to a simmer and cook for 20 minutes stiring occasionally.
- Now add the 125g French beans and the 100g spring onions and cook for another 5 minutes.
- Gently mix in the 800g of cubed fish and cook for another 3 minutes.
- If you are using any seafood (squid perhaps) that might go rubbery if over cooked, hold off till last minute.


Serving
Serve on bowls of rice and garnish with slices of chili and torn coriander leaves.

Enjoy and please visit the River Cottage website for more amazing meals,
PK
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PK’s Simple Tom Kha Gai
My way of making Tom Kha, a Thai coconut, chicken and galangal soup, one bowl at a time is great if you have a family with widely different stands on what they will or won’t eat. For example, I love tomatoes, mushrooms and spring onions so I use lots of them in my bowl. My lads don’t so they get more mushrooms, carrot and corn.
It is also great when you have your friends over for lunch or dinner. Simply put a big pot of soup on the table with the vegetables and rice separate and everyone can build their own bowl. Don’t forget slices of lime, chopped Thai chilies and extra fish sauce. 🙂
Note: I think this makes enough soup for 2 hungry adults.

Steps
- Preparing the ingredients
- Bringing the soup to the boil
- Serving
Ingredients
- 1 poached chicken breast
- 1 small coriander plant (roots and leaves), whole
- 1 chunk of fresh galangal, bruised
- 3 kaffir lime leaves, bruised
- 1 lemongrass stalk, bruised
- 1 Tbsp fish sauce for the pot and 1 Tbsp for each serving bowl
- 1 Tbsp lime juice for the pot and 1 Tbsp for each serving bowl
- 1/2 cup water
- 2 cups chicken stock
- 1 cup coconut milk
- 3 Thai chiles, sliced (optional but encouraged)
- Your personal choice of vegetables
- Coriander leaves to garnish
Equipment
- 1 chef’s knife
- 1 chopping board
- 1 wooden spoon
- 1 saucepan/soup pot
Preparing the ingredients
- Cut your poached chicken breast into cubes or slices.
- Bruise the galangal chunk and the lemongrass stalk and add to the pot.
- Bruise the kaffir lime leaves, or like I have put little tears in the edges to release the flavour better, and add to the pot.
- Add one small coriander plant.
- Add:
- 1 Tbsp fish sauce
- 1 Tbsp lime juice
- 1/2 cup water
- 2 cups chicken stock
- 1 cup coconut milk
- 3 Thai chiles (optional)

Bringing the soup to the boil
- Let everything come to a boil really slowly to infuse all the flavours. I don’t move it very often and then only a gentle swirl.
- Once you have a gentle boil, turn the heat down a bit and add the poached chicken.
- Cook until the chicken is safely warmed through but not for too long or it will go stringy.

Serving
- Build up a bowl of your favourite vegetables and add 1 Tbsp fish sauce and 1 Tbsp lime juice.
- Add some chicken and then add as much soup as you want (liquid only, the rest stays behind).
- Provide your guests with some cooked rice, slices of lime, extra chiles and fish sauce.


Enjoy,
PK
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PK’s Rice Paper Rolls
These deceptively filling rice paper rolls won’t break the bank and are full of healthy fillings to boot :).
Bring together your preferred ingredients and have some warm water on standby.
Last time I made them I made use of my FoodHacks: Quick Pulled Chicken Breast and fresh ingredients from my kitchen garden.
Simply
- Place a sheet of rice paper in warm water for 5 or so seconds a side.
- Place the sheet on a moist surface (I used a moistened wooden chopping board).
- Put a small amount of your chosen filling in the top part of the rice paper sheet.
- Fold the top over the filling in a downwards motion and then the sides into the filling.
- Roll the whole sheet down and over several times.
- Eat.
- Repeat and enjoy :).
Serving
I whipped up some of my Southeast Asian Dipping Sauce, squirted in some Sriracha Hot Sauce, added some coriander sprigs and Hoisin Sauce.

Enjoy,
PK
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PK’s NoRecipe Southeast Asian Dipping Sauce
This is my go to sauce if I need to quickly whip up a Southeast Asian style dipping sauce or salad dressing. I use it for rice paper rolls, spring rolls, beef salads, chicken salads and so much more.
Adjust the balance of fish sauce to sugar as you see fit or to suit how you are using it. Put a squirt of Sriracha or sweet chili sauce in there for a bit of a zing :).
Steps:
Simply mix:
- 1 Tbsp fish sauce
- 1 Tbsp peanut oil
- 1 tsp raw sugar
- 1/4 cup lime (or lemon juice depending on purpose)
- sriracha sauce, to taste and optional
Give everything a good whisk to dissolve the sugar and you are done :).


Enjoy,
PK
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PK’s Southeast Asian Dipping Sauce
This is my go to sauce if I need to quickly whip up a Southeast Asian style dipping sauce or salad dressing. I use it for rice paper rolls, spring rolls, beef salads, chicken salads and so much more.
Adjust the balance of fish sauce to sugar as you see fit or to suit how you are using it. Put a squirt of Sriracha or sweet chili sauce in there for a bit of a zing :).
Steps:
Simply mix:
- 1 Tbsp fish sauce
- 1 Tbsp peanut oil
- 1 tsp raw sugar
- 1/4 cup lime (or lemon juice depending on purpose)
- sriracha sauce, to taste and optional
Give everything a good whisk to dissolve the sugar and you are done :).


Enjoy,
PK
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Sriracha Hot Sauce
This spicy yet tangy sauce from Thailand is a new favourite of mine. It smells like someone bottled a volcano but it doesn’t taste that hot and in fact has quite a complex flavour.
I use it a lot because my family doesn’t like chili and this is a way for me to spice meals up at serving time. Wikipedia writes ‘It is named after the coastal city of Si Racha, in Chonburi Province of eastern Thailand, where it may have been first produced for dishes served at local seafood restaurants.‘
This is the brand that I use:

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PK’s Easy Thai Fish Cakes
Fish cakes taste great and are an amazing way of making a little bit of fish go further. They were a staple growing up and one of the dishes, my mum cooked us, that will always stay with me :).

I never use a recipe and no two batches come out the same but that is half the fun.
Below I am doing a take on Thai fish cakes but I am just as likely to make them coated in breadcrumbs. Sometimes I keep the potatoes chunky, sometimes I mash everything well to give a smoother texture.
I just follow two basic rules in that I use a 1:1 ratio of fish to parboiled potatoes and I like to add colour by using finely minced fresh vegetables in the mix itself. If you find the cakes fall apart during cooking, try a bit more egg in the mix next time.
Parboil the potatoes:

Mash your fish (I am using canned John West Pink Salmon):

Prepare the vegetables (I am going for a Thai taste so I am using lime zest, shallots, coriander, garlic and some red capsicum for colour):

Whisk an egg or two and mix everything up (I did this gently as I wanted a chunky look):
Make small or large cakes, using your hands, as you please and then pop them in the fridge for a bit (just look at the colours, beautiful):

A quick shallow fry is all that is needed:

Serve with some greens and you favourite sides:

Enjoy,
PK
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PK’s Cheaters Red Curry Paste
Here is my, unashamedly, unauthentic red curry paste :).

I use it to make Thai Red Chicken Curries and also Tom Kha Gai (one of my favourite south-east Asian soups).
Please read PK’s Curry Paste Kit before you get going and also ramp the chili factor skywards if you are allowed to. You will notice that I use a blender because I am a lazy cook. However I prefer the chunkier look of the paste if you use a mortar and pestle.
One last thing, I would love to use Kaffir lime zest instead of common limes but my tree never seems to fruit. I think it has something to do with what it is grafted to.
You will need:
- Ingredients:
- 1 Tbsp whole coriander seeds
- 0.5 Tbsp whole cumin seeds
- 1 Tbsp rock salt (add more if you want a more authentic taste)
- 0.5 tsp whole black peppercorns
- 1 Tbsp powdered kashmiri chili (add more and use whole chilis if you want a more authentic taste and look)
- 3 coriander roots
- 7cm of pickled galangal root
- 5 garlic cloves
- 3 lemongrass stalks, freshly harvested, leaves removed
- 1 large red shallot
- 1 Tbsp dried belacan (shrimp paste)
- 1 Tbsp lime zest (I used about 2 small limes to get this much)
- a dash of lime juice
- a dash of water (add less or more depending on your desired consistency)
- a dash of olive oil or garlic infused olive oil (I think you can skip this if you are using a mortar and pestle)
- 2 Kaffir lime leaves (sorry everyone, I know this is really not the done thing traditionally)
- Equipment
- a chopping board
- a sharp knife
- a serving bowl
- a wet blender with a very small bowl
- a dry spice mixer
- a medium frypan (for dry roasting the spices)
Make the paste
I love bringing everything together before I start cooking. The ingredients in this dish are so visually appealing and the aromas are simply amazing.

Steps:
- Dry roast the 1 Tbsp whole coriander seeds, 0.5 Tbsp whole cumin seeds and the 0.5 tsp whole black peppercorns.
- When cooled, pop them in you dry spice mixer and pulse to a rough consistency.
- Chuck the rest of the ingredients (at least roughly chopped) in your wet blender:
- 1 Tbsp powdered kashmiri chili
- 1 Tbsp rock salt
- 3 coriander roots
- 7cm of galangal root
- 5 garlic cloves
- 3 lemongrass stalks
- 1 large red shallot
- 1 Tbsp dried belacan
- 1 Tbsp lime zest
- a dash of lime juice
- a dash of water
- a dash of olive oil or garlic infused olive oil
- 2 Kaffir lime leaves

Storing
This paste freezes well in a small container or snap-lock bag. I prefer to make it in just enough of a quantity so I can use it fresh in a dish.
Enjoy and please send me your tips,
PK
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- Ingredients: