Tag Archives: fish sauce

Fish, From the galley, Thailand

Thai Fish Cakes

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I have been making these fish cakes for years. They are quick and easy to make, and very tasty when served hot with a nice salad. I have also used this recipe to make finger food, which I can serve cold at picnics or when out sailing (did you know we live on a boat?) and they have been well received. Swap your dipping sauce flavours to add variety and get creative with garnishes. Spriggs of coriander look pretty or add different texture by sprinkling with deep fried basil leaves.

Thai style fish cakes - white fish, rice flour, coriander, egg, fish sauce, red curry paste - easy to ensure gluten-free (choose gluten-free curry paste)

Ingredients
500g firm white fish fillets
1 egg
1 Tablespoon fish sauce
3 Tablespoons white rice flour
½ cup fresh coriander leaves
3 teaspoons red curry paste
4 – 5 green beans, very thinly sliced
2 spring onions, very thinly sliced
oil for cooking

Method
Process fish in a food processor until well minced and then scoop it into a mixing bowl.

Next place the egg, fish sauce, rice flour, coriander leaves, and curry paste into the food processor and process until well combined. Add this mix to the fish along with the beans and the spring onion. Mix well.

Form one heaped tablespoon of fish mixture into small patties (use damp hands). Heat cooking oil in a frypan over medium heat and cook the fishcakes in batches, for a few minutes each side or until golden brown.

Drain on a paper towel and serve with a dipping sauce such as sweet chilli sauce or Nam Jim.

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Cooking Our Catch, Crustacean

Chilli Crab

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We have caught many blue swimmer crabs in our time. At times in South Australia, they are abundant. Over the summer months, you see many people catching them in crab pots or raking for them waist deep in water.

crab

The sweet meat of the blue swimmer crab is delicious and chilli crab is one of my favourite recipes to make with them! This is how I make my chilli crab and it has been a hit with many people. Be warned it is messy to eat… best not to worry about the mess and dig in though, because it will disappear fast!

chilli crab 2

Ingredients

1kg raw Blue swimmers
2 Tbs peanut oil
3 garlic cloves, chopped
2 tsp ginger, grated
2 red chillies, seeded and sliced
2 Tbs hoisin sauce
½ cup tomato sauce
¼ cup sweet chilli sauce
1 Tbs fish sauce
¼ cup of water
¼ tsp sesame oil
4 spring onions, sliced
½ cup water
Coriander sprigs to garnish

chilli crab

Method

Clean and cut crabs into segments and crack the claws. Click here for video of how to clean blue swimmer crabs.

Combine the hoisin, chilli, fish and tomato sauces, the sesame oil and the water in a bowl and set aside.

Heat wok until hot, add oil and swirl to coat. Add the garlic, ginger, chilli and stir-fry for 1-2 minutes.

Add the crab pieces and stir-fry for 5-7 minutes until they turn orange.

Stir in the hoisin, chilli, sesame oil mix. Toss the crab and sauce together to combine well and bring to the boil.

Cover and simmer for about 8 minutes. Sprinkle with spring onion and garnish with coriander.

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Chilli Crab #asian #recipe #chilli #crab #hoisin

chicken, Cooking with Local Ingredients, Laos, Salad

Laos Larb Kai (Chicken Salad)

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I have made the point of naming this Laos’ Larb Kai because it came to my attention while we were travelling in Laos, that the delicious meat salad called larb, did, in fact, originate in Laos, not Thailand as many believe.

I have always enjoyed larb at the Thai restaurants in Adelaide, and in Thailand itself. I wasn’t surprised to see it on the menu in Laos, but I assumed, incorrectly, that the idea had derived from Thailand, not the other way around. In fact, it is regarded as the national dish of Laos – unofficially.

This spicy meat salad is served at room temperature with sticky rice or salad vegetables.

IMG_1889 (1)

Ingredients

3 Tbs of uncooked sticky rice (Optional)
300g of chicken mince
3-4 Asian shallots, finely sliced
2-3 stalks of spring onion, finely sliced (optional)
1 long red chilli, finely chopped
a handful each of mint and coriander chopped
1 Tbs chilli flakes
The juice of one lime
1 Tbs fish sauce
1/2 Tbs brown sugar

How I make my larb…

The first step is to toast the rice. I say optional for the rice because I have made it many times without the rice when I just wanted to make a quick meal. The toasted rice just adds texture.

To toast the rice, I just heated a wok on low heat without oil and added the rice. I continued to stir the rice until it browned and started to smell like popcorn about 10-15mins.

After I let the rice cool a little, I ground it in a mortar with a pestle to a powder and set it aside.

For the salad dressing, I mixed the juice of one lime with the fish sauce and brown sugar and set aside.

For the larb I added a little oil to my wok and fried up the chicken mince, breaking up any big lumps as I went. I removed the chicken from the heat and let it cool for a few minutes. This is when I prepared my vegetables (cucumber and beans) with which I was going to serve with the larb.

Once I was ready to serve I added the shallot, spring onion, and chilli flakes to the chicken in the wok and stirred it well (without heat). I then tossed in the mint, coriander, chopped red chilli and mixed well. I added the dressing next giving the salad a mix, before finally adding three tablespoons of the rice powder.

TIP: add the rice powder gradually as is will depend on the texture you want – I added one tablespoon gave the salad a good toss and did a taste test, before repeat that same process twice more.

Serve with rice or lettuce cups, or as I did with sliced cucumber and green beans.

IMG_1895_1

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Laos Larb Kai is an Asian style chicken mince salad with herbs. #recipe #chicken #mince #herbs #thai #laos #asian

Cambodian, Cooking with Local Ingredients, Salad

Green Mango Salad

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This was one of our favourite Cambodian street foods. Often made in roadside stalls; we watch these salads being made with tiny whole crushed crabs and sampled many others that incorporated small dried shrimp. I opted to make my mango salad with the dried shrimp* which is readily available in S E Asia where we are currently located.

Ingredients

2 green mangos, peeled and shredded/grated
1/2 a small carrot, grated (I used the carrot to add a bit of colour)
3 Tbs dried shrimp
1 small hot chilli, finely chopped
1 Tbs of finely chopped garlic
3 small Asian shallots, finely sliced
A handful each of holy** basil and mint, finely chopped
2 Tbs crushed peanuts

For the dressing
3 Tbs fish sauce
The juice of two limes
2 Tbs of sweet chilli sauce
1/2 tsp brown sugar

Mangosalad1

This is how I made the salad….

I put all the ingredients for the dressing in a jar and gave it a good shake and set aside until needed (this made enough salad dressing to save half to use the next day!)

Then in a bowl, I placed the shredded mango, carrot, shrimp, chilli, garlic, shallots, basil, mint and one tablespoon of the peanuts. I gave the salad a really good mix, then added the dressing and mixed it through well.

To serve I place a good portion on individual plates and sprinkle with more peanuts.

Just bloody delicious!

Mangosalad5

Notes:

*leave out the shrimp if you can’t find any or if you do not like them.

**use normal basil if you can’t get holy basil

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Green Mango Salad #mango #mint #basil #redonion #shrimp #nuts #chilli #recipe #lunch #dinner #asian #cambodia

Cooking with Local Ingredients, Soup, Thailand

Tom Kha Gai

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Sawadee Ka!

Tom Kha Gai, aka Thai Chicken Coconut Soup, is one of my absolute favourites! Now that we are back in Phuket I thought it was about time I made it. I first discovered this soup when Dwayne and I visited Phuket in 2007. I gotta say, I was a little reserved about trying a coconut soup… it didn’t look that appetising, but it was delicious! So flavoursome in fact, that I sat there tasting it and deciphering the flavours so I would be able to make it myself when I got back home. I think my tastebuds did a good job of recognising the ingredients and my Tom Kha Gai is delicious….. if I do say so myself! However, I don’t have a recipe to share with you as I cook it by taste every time I make it, and I forgot to write it down as I cooked it this time for the blog… doh! But I do remember what goes in it and what I did so I will explain it the best I can.

Tom Kha Gai
Tom Kha Gai

This is what I did…

I heated 1 cup of chicken stock and added about 8 kaffir lime leaves bruised and ripped apart, two sticks of lemongrass – the hard part remove and the inner white part bashed with a mallet; a couple of crushed garlic cloves, a 2cm piece of galangal, thinly sliced, a 2cm piece of ginger, thinly sliced and some chopped chilli.

I simmered it for 1/2 hour, then I added some chopped chicken and simmered for 10 minutes before adding the coconut milk (approx 250ml) and a handful of enoki mushrooms*. I simmered the soup for another 5 minutes and then added fish sauce, to taste, and a handful of coriander.

To serve, I ladled the soup into two large deep bowls and garnished with some more chopped coriander.

It is so easy to make and delicious!

Tom Kha Gai
Tom Kha Gai

Notes:

When I make Tom Kha Gai for Dwayne and me, I do not remove the chunks of ginger, galangal etc when I serve it, as this is how I have had it served to me most of the time in Thailand. However, when I have prepared this soup for guests I have strained the soup before I add the coconut milk, chicken, mushrooms, fish sauce and coriander.

*Shitake, or oyster mushrooms are more often used in Tom Kha Gai but enoki mushrooms were what I had at the time.

Enjoy!

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Tom Kha Gai - Thai Chicken and Coconut Soup. #chicken #coconut #coriander #galangal #thai #asian #dinner #lunch #lemongrass #mushroom #chilli #soup #recipe