My
good friend Elizabeth has kindly requested that I put up a guest post here on
her blog. Out of the kindness of my heart, and my own shameless desire for anonymous
self-promotion, I have decided to indulge her. So today I am providing you with
two recipes which, in my own opinion can reasonably be regarded as idiot-proof.
In the interests of science, I am going to test this claim by having Elizabeth
here attempt to follow them.
Pad
Krapow
The
first is a Thai dish known as ‘Pad Krapow’ which is more often than not my
default option for dinner when I can’t be bothered to think or read a recipe.
It’s a fairly basic stir fry of a protein of choice, mixed with a sauce of
chillies, garlic, fish sauce, and basil, usually served over rice and topped
with an optional (but definitely compulsory) crispy fried egg. All of which can
be put together in the time it takes the rice to cook.
This
recipe calls for regular basil, instead of the prohibitively expensive and hard
to find Thai basil. Purists will tell you that this dish should therefore be
called “pad bai horapa” instead of “pad krapow”. Nobody likes purists.
The
measurements are by no means exact. Not everyone’s tastes will be the same, and
nobody likes a pedant who follows a recipe to the precise gram. What I’ve
provided is a basic outline which you can adjust to your tastes and
preferences.
Ingredients
- About
200g of protein of choice; chicken beef or pork, either thinly sliced against
the grain into thin rectangular strips or minced, depending on how you prefer
it. For beef, thinner slices are better, for chicken and pork cut a little
thicker is so the meat does not dry out.
o In terms of cut, a sirloin or
rump for the beef will serve you well, if you’re tempted to use a cheaper cut
of beef such as the generic ‘frying steak’ you get in supermarkets, don’t
bother, use mince instead, unless you enjoy the texture of vulcanised rubber.
For chicken, boned skinned thigh fillets are best, but breast is also fine, and
for pork a loin steak or pork chop will do.
- 2
garlic cloves
- 2-5
birds eye chillies – depending on your heat tolerance. I recommend starting
with 2 and working your way up or down.
- Fish
sauce or light soy sauce, 1 – 2 tbsp
- Oyster
sauce or sweet dark soy sauce (I prefer oyster) 1 tbsp
- Optional
sugar ½ tbsp – try it without first, but some people like it sweeter.
- ½
cup warm water or chicken/vegetable stock
- White
pepper
- 1
big handful of basil, Thai basil if you can find it, regular works just fine.
- 1
egg, optional (but not)
- Vegetable
oil
Method
- Put your rice on to cook
- Finely dice garlic and chillies
or pound in mortar and pestle to a coarse paste
- Season meat with a few dashes
of white pepper
- Have all other ingredients
measured out and ready nearby the wok. This happens quick.
- Add the fish sauce, oyster
sauce, and sugar (if using) to the wok and stir till everything is well coated.
- Heat about 1-2 tbsp oil in a
wok and coat well. Get the wok hot. I mean hot. I can’t stress this one enough.
- Once oil is smoking, add garlic
and chillies, stir for a few seconds until you can smell them, then add the
protein and stir fry for a minute or so till half cooked. Everything should be
searing and sizzling the whole way through this process, not stewing or
bubbling. If it’s not, then stop stir frying and just leave everything to sit
for a minute or so to let the wok heat up again.
- Slowly add about half of the
stock or more until dish reaches your desired level of sauciness.
- Once meat is nearly cooked,
which it should pretty much be by this stage, add the basil leaves and stir
through till they have just wilted.
- Dish everything out onto a
plate of white rice.
- Wipe out the wok, or in a new
clean pan, fry an egg with runny yolks and place on top of the meat.
- Eat.
Variations:
If you
believe in notions such as health, add some spinach at the end with the basil or
throw in a cup of diced green beans with the meat to make it a one plate meal.
Orange
and Almond Cake with Cinnamon Syrup
The
second recipe is a dessert. I’m not overly big on sweets, but you can’t exactly
show up on a blog called “cupcake continent” and just post about chillies and
fish sauce can you? It’s a riff on an orange and almond cake that has been
doing the rounds on the internet for a while. I’ve added my own variation to
this by reducing the sugar in the cake and soaking it with a cinnamon syrup.
Ingredients
For the cake
- 2 large
oranges or 3 medium oranges
- 200g ground almonds
- 50g flour
- 150g sugar
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 6 eggs
Method
- Place oranges in a saucepan of water with enough water to cover them
- Bring
water to the boil, reduce heat and simmer for 1 hour or more, topping up water
as needed to keep oranges covered (I am also told you can microwave the oranges
for about 8-10 minutes in a covered container instead). This is to remove the
bitterness in the oranges.
- Meanwhile,
preheat the oven to 190c, line and grease a 9-inch baking tin with baking paper
- Measure
out ground almonds and flour, whisk together in a large bowl with baking powder
and cinnamon and set aside
- Once
oranges are done, discard the water, and place the oranges in colander to cool.
Once cool enough to handle, chop oranges into rough pieces, skin and all, removing
any seeds and the core.
- Place
oranges in a food processor and puree until you get a smooth paste.
- In a
separate bowl beat eggs and sugar together until they are pale and fluffy,
about 2-3 minutes with a hand mixer, or until you get tired if using a whisk.
- Add
beaten eggs to flour/almond mixture and whisk to combine
- Fold the
orange puree into the flour mixture until everything is well combined
- Pour mixture
into the cake tin, and smooth the top with a spoon
- Place tin
in the middle shelf of the oven, then reduce heat to 180c and bake for 1 about
hour – you may need to cover the cake with foil with after about 30 minutes to
stop the top burning
- Check
after 45 minutes by inserting a wooden skewer into the centre of the cake. If
it comes out clean, or with a few crumbs on it, the cake is done.
While the
cake is in the oven prepare the syrup
For the Syrup
- Juice 1
orange or zest 1 orange
- 2 tbsp honey
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 1 cinnamon stick
- ½ cup water
- 1-2 tbsp
orange liqueur (optional)
- Combine everything in a saucepan and simmer for
about 10-15 minutes till it starts to thicken, and becomes, well, syrupy.
- Remove from heat and stir through 2 tbsp orange liqueur if you so desire.
- Once cake
is done, remove from the oven and poke holes with a skewer in the top of the
cake to help the syrup penetrate.
- Reheat the syrup till slightly warm, then
strain it into bowl, and pour it over the top of the cake. You may need to add
the syrup in a few stages, as it may take a while to soak through the cake.
Once the cake is cooled, remove from the cake tin
and serve.
You may
wish to dust the top with icing sugar, or serve it with a bit of whipped cream
or yoghurt.
Photo credits:
(1) www.rasamalaysia.com
(2) http://static1.cakeandcookierecipes.com/files/2012/08/09-slice-of-moist-orange-cake.jpg
