by malika mezeli
You will need…
1 no-nonsense steel wok
1 wire wool
1 metal wok spatular
1 medium pan for rice
1 large pan for soup
1 big knife
1 proper stone pestle & mortar
Just a few sturdy bits of equipment, nothing flimsy and fancy…
You will find all the ingredients by making a trip to the Asian supermarkets on Mare Street and the TFC supermarket on Ridley Road.
addresses:
Huong-Nam Supermarket, 185 Mare Street, London E8 3QE
TFC Supermarket, 89 Ridley Road, London E8 2NP
If you’re not familiar with any of the ingredients it is very important to taste them all in different forms. Get to know them and what the do to the dish. It might not be very nice chewing on lemon grass but will provide knowledge in order to cook with it. As the oyster sauce, fermented beans etc.
Chillies are not regulated on their heat so amounts are a guideline only. Same with garlic. The fresher it is, the more pungent it will be.
If fish sauce is left with the lid off, the water will evaporate, making it stronger. Still good to use but will affect the way you utilise it.
NB: All the quantities below are for about 3 to 4 people for each dish. All the dishes are made to be served alongside other dishes, but they don’t necessarily all go together. Here is a suggestion of menus below.
menu 1:
Tom Yam soup
chillie crispy pork
mixed vegetables
boiled rice
menu 2:
chicken turmeric soup
deep fried fish
prawn and vermicelli salad
baby aubergines with fermented soya beans
steamed rice
menu 3:
rice soup
salty eggs
stir fried clams with Thai basil
baby aubergines with fermented soya beans
NB: You can serve the rice soup with a little sliced ginger and fish sauce but this is optional. The other dishes will not go with the rice soup. However, they can be eaten with steamed rice.
Thai jasmine rice
Use 1 cup of rice per person.
1. Wash the rice in the pan about three times. This level of starch in the rice is a personal preference but three times should give good levels. No need to use a sieve.
2. Put the rice in a pan and cover it with cold water so that the water above the rice comes up to your knuckle on your thumb.
3. Place on a very low heat with the lid on. Check the rice from time to time. If the rice tastes cooked but is still too moist, take the lid off.
For rice soup, wash the rice once or twice if it is very starchy. In the pan have about one third of rice and two thirds of water. Cover with a lid and cook on medium heat till done. Add boiling water if it is too thick.
Baby aubergines with fermented soya beans and Thai basil
This dish is part of a meal (see top of the feature for suggestions of meals). No one is going to eat this on its own or a whole plate of it, but it will accompany rice and other dishes really well.
2 aubergines
a handful of Thai basil
2 cloves of garlic
3 small red chillies (less or more according to prefrence)
fish sauce
sugar (preferably palm sugar or otherwise white granulated; brown will have a flavour impact)
1-2 Tbsps sunflower oil
1 can of fermented soya beans
1. Peal, bash and chop the garlic in the pestle and mortar or with the side of the knife. Don’t mash the garlic completely or render it too small because it will instantly burn in the wok.
2. Slice the chillies lengthwise into strips.
3. Slice the aubergines in about 3/4 inch width on a diagonal.
4. Pick the basil leaves off the stalks, discarding the stalks, and wash the leaves shaking off the excess water.
5. Heat the oil in the wok. When hot add the garlic and chillies and move around for about 30 seconds until they are softened. You don’t want them to burn.
6. Add the aubergines. Keep the heat high and keep moving around the ingredients. The aubergines will soak up the oil pretty quickly which is good because you don’t want them to be dry. If you have some stock, you could also add a couple of spoonfuls to the aubergines.You know the aubergines are cooked when they become translucent and the skin goes all wrinkly.
7. Add 3 Tbsps of fermented soya beans. Mix and cook for 30 seconds/1 minute. Add the basil leaves. The sharp fresh flavout of the basil leaves will cut through the fat of the aubergines and the saltyness of the beans.
8. Add a bit of sugar and the tiniest splash of fish sauce. You don’t want it to be too salty but the fish sauce will add something that the beans don’t have.
9. Put in a dish and it’s ready to serve.
Put the wok under the tap and polish in circles with the wire wool. It’s just to get it rid of the food. Don’t worry about the oil. It’s now ready for your next dish.
Stir fried clams
2 cloves of garlic
2 handfuls of clams (frozen or fresh)
2 Tbsps oyster sauce
a handful of Thai basil
3 small red chillies (to preference)
1-2 Tbsps sunflower oil
fish sauce
sugar
1. Wash the shells.
2. Prepare the garlic and chillies as before or bash a couple of hits in the mortar.
3. Heat the oil in the wok. Add the garlic and chillies. Cook very briefly (as before).
4. Add the shells and cover the wok. Keep on a medium heat.
5. When the shells start opening, add the oyster sauce and a sprinkle of sugar and fish sauce. Keep it all moving for 30 seconds/1 minute, then add the basil leaves.
6. Taste the juice. Add more fish sauce or sugar to taste. The sugar is not added dor sweetness, so use very sparingly, but it works with the other flavours and brings them out.
7. Put in a dish. It’s now ready to be served.
Circulate the old wok with the middle aged wire wool. Splash off the excess water. You don’t want to put oil in a wet pan. Put the wok upside down over the heat for a few seconds to dry it. No need to scrub the wok at this point or ruin a tea towel.
Mixed stir fried vegetables with oyster sauce
Here I use mange-tout, baby corn, tomatoes, chinese greens and straw mushrooms. But you can also use long beans, broccoli, kale, cabbage, onions.
2 small red chillies
2 cloves of garlic
2 Tbsps oyster sauce
1-2 Tbsps sunflower oil
fish sauce
sugar (to taste)
a selection of vegetables (enough for 3-4 people)
The bigger vegetables will be chopped into smaller pieces.
1. Heat the oil in the wok. Add the garlic and chillies. Cook as before, until softened.
2. Add the harder vegetables first (ie. broccoli, corn, beans, etc.). Add the oyster sauce and fry until slightly softened.
2. Add the softer vegetables (chinese greens, cabbage, etc.). Add the tomatoes. Then add a couple of splashes of fish sauce. Taste and add fish sauce and sugar to taste.
3. Cook on a medium heat until all the vegetables are softened but still al dente.
4. Put in a dish and serve, or cover the dish and serve later.
Vermicelli prawn salad
For the dressing we will make Nam Jim. It’s a lovely Thai dressing that you can use for lots of other stuff. It’s used as a salad dressing or as a dip for barbecued meat with sticky rice.
When you order it in restaurants or cafes, this is made fresh to order and the customer will often request how they want it. Sweet (more sugar), sour (more lime), salty (more fish sauce), spicy (more chilli). So the ingredient quantities are variable to taste. If you can’t do spicy, be careful how much lime you put as this will make th chilli sharper. To dull it without making the sauce too sweet with sugar, add more fish sauce. However you prefer this sauce, it should always have a high kick.
Nim Jam:
juice of 1/2 lime
2 chillies
1 Tbsp fish sauce
sugar
coriander root (optional)
1 clove of garlic
100 g raw prawns
100 g vermicelli
coriander leaves (quantity to preference)
1. Bash a little sugar, chillies and garlic in the mortar. If your coriander has a root on it, wash it and add a teaspoon and bash it with the rest. Optionally you can slice the chillies thinly. If you bash them, the spice will spread through the sauce. If sliced, the sauce will still have a spicyness but you will get an isolated attack when you hit one.
2. Add the fish sauce and 1 Tbsp of lime juice. Adjust to taste.
3. Pull the heads and tails off of the prawns. Peel around the base of the tail first, then pull it off otherwise you will waste meat in the base of the tail. Slit the prawns down the back and remove the black vein. This is for aesthetics only.
4. Throw the prawns into boiling water and leave for a minute or until they lose their opacity. Scoop them out and leave to one side. Don’t rinse them in cold water. Leave them to cook in tehir own heat, thsi will ensure you don’t overcook them. Don’t throw the water out. You can keep it as stock for later.
5. Put the glass noodles in a boiling pot of water (not the same water used for the prawns above). Leave the noodles for about 2 minutes. You don’t want the noddles al ente or over swollen. This is a small window. Take them out and rinse under cold water.
6. Mix the coriander leaves, noodles and pranws and sauce. Serve.
Deep fried sea bream
1 medium sea bream
Waugh’s curry powder or any other kind of curry powder if not
fish sauce
2 cups sunflower oil
Don’t use fish that is slit on the belly for gutting. The fish should be sealed by its own skin. If you buy your fish from an Asian supermarket, you should be ok. British fish mongering doesn’t allow for whole fish frying generally.
1. Wash the fish and de-scale it. Hold it by the head and pull the knife gently towards you. Keep doing this until the fish is scale free but do not pierce the skin or over do it. Scales only. If you’re not sure, use a proper de-scaler or have the fish monger do it. With a big sharp knife chop off the boney fins and the bony bit of the tale. Pull the big fins by the gill out. Score the fish down the meatiest part diagonally three times on either side.
2. Put the fish in a dish and add 1 Tbsp curry powder and 2 Tbsps of fish sauce. Marinade the fish in the sauce and make sure you rub the sauce into the scoring marks. Prepare this when you first start to cook all of your dishes that way the fish will be marinated by the time you get round to cooking it.
3. Heat the oil in the wok. When the oil starts moving, place the fish carefully in the oil. Place a lid on the wok. When the fish lifts off the bottom, it is ready to turn. Do not attempt to lift the fish before it chooses to otherwise this will break the skin. Only turn the fish over once. The more you turn it, the more chances you have of breaking it. When the fish is deep brown on either side, it is done.
Alternatively you can cut out the curry powder. In this case, pour some Nim Jam sauce over the fish before serving it. Also, you can re-use the hot oil for other dishes, as long as there are no burny bits. If there are, strain the oil with a fine sieve or coffee filter.
Chicken turmeric soup
1/2 chicken cornfed, free range and organic (If you can’t afford it, use half the amount of chicken. There’s more flavour and nutrients in the packaging than in a factory chicken.)
3 cloves of garlic, bashed
3 cloves of shallots, bashed
2 little fingers of turmeric root, bashed
dried mushrooms
fish sauce
salt
Thais cut chicken bones across with a big knife. Although this can produce sharp bone shreds, it also exposes the inside of the bones and releases the marrow, so I’m all for it. It’s tasty and good for you.
1. Pull the excess skin off. Chop the breast legs and thigh in half through the bones with a big knife.
2. Put in a large pan and cover the chicken with cold water. Put the skin in as well. Remove the skin from the soup before serving. Put on a medium heat.
3. Add the turmeric, shallots, garlic and mushrooms. Season with pepper and plenty of salt. Cook for about 30 min and then serve.
This is super good for you and the turmeric root might even hold off Alzheimers!
Salty egg salad
2 salted eggs (They have white shells, usually raw or pre-boiled. If raw, boil them for 4 min.)
2 shallots very thinly sliced
2 small red chillies
Nam Jim (Hold the garlic and coriander and go easy on the fish sauce as the eggs are really salty)
1. While still in the shells, slice the eggs in half then half again the same way. Scoop the parts out of the shells with a spoon.
2. Arrange the eggs on a plate and pour the sauce over. Done.
Tom Yam Blah (spicy sour soup with sea bass)
If you have a cold or fever, this is great for you. You can even eat the slices of galangal. Have it super spicy.
2 peeled garlic cloves
2 peeled shallots
3 small red chillies (dried is ok if not fresh)
2 kaffir lime leaves
a thumb of galangal
2 stalk lemon grass
6 straw mushrooms closed or open (when closed, slice in half)
1 tomato sliced in 6 wedges
1 tsp fish sauce
juice of 1/2 lime
salt
sugar
1. Roast the garlic, shallots and chillies in a dry wok. Keep them moving. You should be able to smell them sweetening up. Dont let them brown too much.
2. Bash these in a mortar with a little sugar. Don’t over do the sugar, you can add more later if necessary. Bash until you obtain a smooth paste. You shouldn’t see the seeds of the chillies at all by the end. Keep our hand over the pestle and mortar so the chillies don’t whack you in the eyes.
3. Wash the fish. De-scale if necessary. Cut the head off from behind the gills. Then cut in about 1 inch pieces to the tail. Wash it.
4. Fill half a medium saucepan with water. You can use the prawn water from before or if you have any weak pure fish or chicken stock. Add the chilli paste to the water.
5. Cut a thumb size of galangal. Don’t confuse this with ginger. Snap it in the shop so you are not getting a stringy bit. It should snap easily and show signs of moisture. Scrub the skin. You don’t need to remove this but do wash and scrub. Peel it if you have to. The nobbly exterior will mean you will waste a lot. Slice into 10 pence pieces.
6. Cut the lemon grass stalks. Judge where it gets too stalky at the ends and cut off there. Again, lemon grass should not be stringy but you’ll be lucky to find non-stringy lemon grass here. You can eat this in the soup. Slice the root off and the tips. Bash it on a board with the pestle. You won’t eat this bit in the soup.
7. Put the lemon grass and galangal in the soup. Bring to the boil. Add a little salt. Taste. It should be coming together.
8. Bring the heat down and add the fish including the head. This shouldn’t be bubbling when you add the fish as it will break it up otherwise. Add the mushrooms and tomato pieces.
9. Keep on a low heat with a lid on for about 5 min. Add the kaffir lime leaves, fish sauce, and lime juice. If the fish is done, taste. Add more lime juice, sugar or fish sauce to taste. The fish should be flaky with pieces coming off. Add coriander to garnish. Done.
Chilli crispy belly pork
300-400 g belly pork
300 g extra fine runner beans chopped in 1 & 1/2 inch pieces
fresh green peppercorns
2 peeled garlic cloves
2 peeled shallots
3 small red chillies
1 stalk lemon grass, white bit sliced very thinly
1/2 tsp prawn paste
sugar
coconut milk
fish sauce sunflower oil
1. Fry the belly pork in a pan, turning it over every once in a while until crispy and brown. Remove from the pan and cut into 2 inch pieces.
2. Put the garlic, shallots, chillies, lemon grass, prawn paste and a tiny bit of sugar in a mortar and bsh until you otain a smooth paste. As before, you should not be able to see the chilli seeds by the end.
3. Put a bit of oil in the wok and fry the paste for 30 min/1 min. Add the pork and beans. Add fish sauce to taste and a bit of coconut milk to make the sauce thinner. Add the peppercorns.
4. Cook for a few minutes until the beans are cooked but still crunchy.
Sticky coconut rice and fresh mango
1 cup sticky rice
1 cup coconut milk
2 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1 mango ripe and sweet
For the mango, if you’re in the same room and can smell it, it’s good. If you can’t, don’t bother. Buy your mangoes from independent markets or shops. They sell boxes on Riddley Road, in the Asian supermarkets on Mare Street, in Chinatown or in Whitechapel Market. If you don’t get mangoes with a dark orange skin and flesh that smells sweet, don’t bother.If you can only make it to the chain supermarkets, don’t bother. These things they call mangoes are pale impersonators.
1. Soak the rice overnight in water. Wash.
2. Place the rice in a muslin sock over a pan of boiling water. Cover with a tea towel and steam for 20 min.
3. Put in a pan with the coconut milk, sugar and salt on a low heat. Allow the rice to absorb the milk.
4. Slice the mango from the top to the bottom, slicing through half the flesh to the end, then the other half to the stone. Do this around the stone. Cut horizontally into bite sice pieces.
5. Serve the mango pieces alongside a bit of coconut rice.
