Geri's Food

Tag: Asian Cuisine

  • Vietnamese Chicken Curry

    Vietnamese Chicken Curry

    This, without any doubt, is one of my most favourite Vietnamese dishes. So fragrant, so light and so beloved it is fair to say it has completely transformed our family views on the Asian cuisine, opening the doors wide for its enticing aromas and fresh-scented richness. I have learned to cook this dish more than a year ago, following a cooking lesson from one of the most renown Chefs in Belgium, the enchanting owner of the Little Asia Restaurant, Quyen. It was amazing to see her stepping gracefully and lightly and with an incredible speed and efficiency prepare this famous from the menu dish. Following her instructions, I have recreated at home the Vietnamese chicken curry countless of times, delighting my guests and beloved ones. Isn’t it wonderful, that nowadays we could quickly stop in the local store and come out with ingredients from far East Asia, enabling us to cook such marvellously delicious dishes?

     

    Ingredients

    (Serves 3 people)
    • 2 chicken breasts, cut in small pieces
    • 1 tsp Vietnamese fish sauce
    • 2 chillies, chopped into small pieces
    • 6 mushrooms, cut into pieces
    • 2 carrots, cut into fine sticks
    • 110g Thai Red Curry Paste
    • 250ml coconut milk
    • 1 lime juice, freshly squeezed
    • Handful of sprout soybeans
    • 2 tbs sugar
    • 1 tbs vegetable oil
    • 3 lemon grass sticks
    • Salt
    • Black pepper
    • fresh mint, Thai basil and coriander leaves

     

    Method

    1. Heat the vegetable oil in a deep frying pan.

    2. Add the chicken cubes, stirring constantly, then add the fish sauce and the freshly squeezed lime juice and salt and black pepper.

    3. Toss in the mushrooms and continue stirring on high heat.

    4. Add the chillies, the carrots and the lemon grass and lower the heat to medium.

    5. Add the red curry paste and mixing everything well add the coconut milk.

    6. Add the sugar to taste.

    7. Add the sprout soybeans and the fresh mint, Thai basil and coriander leaves.

    8. Serve straight away with Basmati rice.

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  • Stir-fried Ginger Chicken

    Stir-fried Ginger Chicken

    This morning we have agreed with my husband for a deal. I will do the shopping and the cooking while he will be taking care of other household duties. While still discussing about the lunch menu however my telephone began to ring and I was gone for a few minutes giving a carrier advice to a good friend of mine. Focusing on the telephone conversation I have been observing my husband starting to browse through our family cook book library looking for inspiration. He left a book open wide and with a gentle kiss was off to follow his fitness routine. What has he found out for me? When the conversation was finally over, I have glanced through the open pages to see a Mary Berry recipe for an easy stir-fried ginger chicken. Why not, indeed?

    It is amazing how quickly this dish could be ready, and how fragrant and fresh the ingredients seem booked in a stir-fry way. I am completely in love with the simplicity and the richness of the final dish and its zinging flavour combinations.

    {Original recipe from Mary Berry’s Cookery Course Book.}

     

    Ingredients

    • 6 spring onions, trimmed
    • 2.5 cm piece of fresh root ginger, peeled
    • 4 carrots, peeled
    • 1 red pepper, cored and deseeded
    • 1 yellow pepper, cored and deseeded
    • 350 g skinless, boneless chicken breast
    • 250 g dried medium Chinese e noodles
    • 3 tbsp sunflower oil
    • 2 tbsp Chinese rice wine or dry sherry
    • 4 tbsp dark soy sauce
    • Fresh coriander leaves, to garnish

     

    Method

    1. Slice the spring onions on the diagonal into short lengths. Cut the ginger into matchsticks. Cut the carrots and peppers into thin sticks no more than five millimetres thick and five centimetres long. Slice the chicken into thin strips across the grain. Soak and drain the noodles to soften.

    2. Place a wok over a high heat for one to two minutes until very hot. Add the oil and heat until it just begins to smoke. Drop the pieces of spring onion and ginger into the hot oil. Stir them around vigorously for about one minute, tossing to coat them in the oil.

    3. Push the spring onion and ginger to one side. Add the carrots and peppers and stir-fry in the same way for one to two minutes, then stir the spring onion and ginger back in.

    4. Push the vegetables aside and add the chicken a little at a time. Sizzle the chicken briefly on each side before tossing with the other ingredients for a further one to two minutes.

    5. Pour in the rice wine or sherry and allow it to bubble briefly. Add the soy sauce and stir to mix with the chicken and vegetables.

    6. Add the noodles to the wok and toss to mix. Taste and add more soy sauce if you like. Serve immediately, garnished with coriander.

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  • Tin Foil Thai Fish

    Tin Foil Thai Fish

    I love Thai food. Any opportunity to try something new and I am ready to put all my cooking skills to a test and challenge myself in attempting a new dish. Lorraine Pascale’s tin foil Thai fish recipe is extremely easy to follow. Just chopping a few ingredients, wrapping them up into tin foil and letting the oven do its magic. Yet, the flavours of this dish are most definitely not for the faint hearted. Spicy chilly, fresh ginger, celery, soy sauce, deep fresh lime. All sound individually divine but combined together they transform a humble fish into something gloriously delicious, steamed to a soft perfection. Combined with the deep meaty sesame oil paprika hoodles served as a side dish, even light and flavoursome this is a serious grown up Sunday lunch dish, definitely not to be served for children. Yet, what a stunningly easy to make, delicious treat!

     

    Ingredients

    Serves 4 people
    • 1 bunch spring onions
    • 2cm/¾in piece of ginger
    • 1 red chilli
    • 1 stick of celery
    • 1 carrot
    • 1 garlic clove
    • ½ a 28g/1oz bag fresh coriander
    • 4 sustainable fish fillets like trout or cabillaud (approximately 125g/4½oz each)
    • 4 tsp soy sauce
    • 4 tsp sesame oil
    • 2 limes
    For the noodles
    • 1 tbsp sesame oil
    • 2 x 150g/½oz packs straight-to-wok medium noodles
    • 1 red pepper
    • 2tbsp soy sauce (optional)
    • salt and pepper

     

    Method

    1. Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/Gas 6.

    2. Trim the spring onions and then cut them in half dividing the green and the white bits. Then cut each spring onion in half lengthways and set aside. Peel and finely slice the ginger and cut into thin strips. Deseed the chilli and cut into long thin strips also. Halve the celery stick and peel the carrot and cut both into thin finger-length sticks. Peel and finely slice the garlic and cut the stalks off the coriander (keeping the leaves and stalks separate).

    3. Tear off four 34cm/13in squares (approximately) of tin foil and lay them out individually. Put a piece of trout in the centre of each one. Divide all the prepared vegetables between each one, scattering them over. Only use the coriander stalks for now, reserving the leaves for serving. Drizzle the soy sauce and sesame oil over, squeeze in the juice of one of the limes and season with a little salt and freshly ground black pepper.

    4. Now wrap the trout up in the tin foil. Any old way will do, just as long as the foil is well sealed, but not too taut, so air can circulate and steam the fish. Place the parcels on a baking tray and put in the oven for 12 minutes.

    5. A few minutes before the fish is ready, cook the noodles. Put some sesame oil in a medium wok or sauté pan and get it nice and hot. Halve, deseed and finely slice the red pepper and then stir fry for a minute. Add the noodles and continue to stir fry for two minutes until they are piping hot. Add some soy sauce to taste if you fancy it and then season well with salt, pepper and a drizzle of sesame oil.

    6. Divide the noodles between four serving plates. Remove the trout from the oven and serve in the foil parcel next to the noodles. Quarter the remaining lime and nestle a piece into each one. Serve scattered with the reserved coriander leaves.

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  • Vietnamese Spring Rolls

    Vietnamese Spring Rolls

    I love these Vietnamese spring rolls!

    They are low on calories, a perfect excuse to be made any day. I love serving them as an refreshing appetiser for any Asian-inspired meal or simply to prepare them for myself as a light lunch for a busy working day.

    Whatever the occasion they are so tasty, light and easy to make that you should simply give it a try!

     

    Ingredients

    For 10 spring rolls
    • 10 rice papper disks
    • 1 tbsp rasped lemongrass
    • 2 garlic cloves (thinly chopped)
    • 1 tsp sesame seeds
    • 1 tbsp fish sauce
    • 1 tsp sunflower oil
    • 1 tsp sugar
    • 1 pinch of salt
    • 200g beef (cut in thin slices)
    • 10 lettuce salad leaves
    • 10 thinly cut slices of cucumber
    • 10 thinly cut slices of carrots
    • 10 thinly cut slices of red cabbage
    • 10 fresh mint leaves
    • 10 fresh Thai basil leaves
    • 10 fresh coriander leaves
    • A handful of Vietnamese noodles
    For the dip sauce
    • 2 tbs sugar
    • 2 tbs freshly squeezed lime juice
    • 2 tbs fish sauce
    • 1 tsp garlic (thinly chopped)
    • 1 tsp sweet red paprika (thinly chopped)

     

    Method

    For the rolls: Mix together in a bawl the slices of beef meat, the rasped lemongrass, the sesame seeds, the garlic, the fish sauce, oil, sugar and salt. Heat a little oil in a cooking pan and add the beef mixture cooking quickly on high heat.

    Set a handful of Vietnamese noodles in a hot water and let them rest of 3 minutes. Take them out of the water and let them rest in a bawl.

    Boil one litter of water and pour it in a deep bawl. Dip the sides of the rice paper in the hot water, rotating the disc in such a way that it is not dry any more and every inch has been dipped in the warm water. Lay the rice paper on a flat surface. In the centre of the disc lay first the salad leave, then a spoon of the cooked beef, a few strings of the Vietnamese noodles, the carrot, cucumber and red cabbage sticks, and top with the fresh mint, Thai basil and coriander leaves. Fold each side of the rice paper disk wrapping the feeling in a parcel roll. Cut the roll in the middle to expose the colourful filling inside and arrange nicely on a tray.

    For the dip sauce: In a deep bawl add together the lime juice and the sugar, mixing until the sugar is completely dissolved. Add the fish sauce, garlic and sweet paprika and mix well until all flavours are incorporated.

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  • Scampis & Cabillaud in Coconut Milk

    Scampis & Cabillaud in Coconut Milk

    Inspiration…

    It is amazing where it may take you when the right moment arrives?

    Like this simple, but incredibly delicious and impressive asian inspired dish.

    Who would have thought that scampis and cabillaud, brought to life by sweet Spanish paprikas and a magic touch of garlic would fit so nicely with coconut milk?

     

    Ingredients

    • 500g scampis
    • 250g cabillaud
    • 2 red paprikas
    • 4 garlic cloves
    • 4 spring onions, sliced to garnish
    • 500ml coconut milk
    • 1tbsp of Golden Syrup
    • Sea salt
    • Black pepper
    • 1tbsp of olive oil

     

    Method

    1. Prepare the scampis by cleaning them up and removing their hard skin. Heat a pan and place the scampis inside letting them cook for 5 minutes. Add the cabillaud and cook for additional 5 minutes, stirring gently and seasoning them with sea salt and black pepper. When ready, caramelize the scampis and fish with a table spoon of Golden Syrup.

    2. Meanwhile, cut two large red paprikas in small pieces. Cut the garlic cloves in small pieces as well. Preheat a pan with a table spoon of olive oil. Add the garlic and let it cook for a few minutes. Add the red paprika and cook for 10 minutes.

    3. Add the paprika and garlic to the scampis and fish mixing well. Pour in the coconut milk and let all flavours be absorbed together.

    4. Serve with rise garnishing the dish with fresh rolls of thinly cut spring onions.

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