Monday, July 24, 2006
My Green Curry
Seeing as I recently hosted my first dinner party here in HK and some of my guests questioned if the Thai green curry I made was made or decanted (it was rather good) I feel duty bound to give my full recipe, it serves about 5 fairly hungry people when served with rice. I'd say it was medium-hot but it depends on your chillies (remember, when in doubt more is better... )
Grate the zest from 3 limes and juice them.
Slice up about 600g chicken and put half the zest and juice over it, put to one side for at least an hour.
Use the other half to soak one large lemon grass stalk (that you've sliced very finely) for at least 30 minutes (soak for 30 min that is, not slice, try to do that quicker!).
Buy a blender or spend hours with pestle and mortar.
Place following in blender or mortar;
Soaked lemon grass stalk inc juice and zest
10 whole green bird eye chillies (they are the small hot ones!)
½ inch chunk ginger finely chopped
two handfuls of chopped up fresh coriander (stalks and leaves)
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground coriander
½ teaspoon ground turmeric
3 garlic cloves (finely chopped)
7 shallots peeled (lightly chopped)
Splash oil
Splash fish sauce
Blend/ pummel with pestle until you have a green paste.
Put green paste into a dry wok or heavy frying pan and cook until the kitchen smells of curry (few minutes) then add 1.5 tins of coconut milk (that you’ve shaken before opening).
Coconut milk will separate slightly and give off bit of oil after few minutes, when this happens add:
chicken and lime zest & juice,
a finely sliced red chilli (de seeded),
3-4 desert spoons of fish sauce,
a handful of shredded fresh basil leaves
a teaspoon of sugar.
If you have vegans with you may want to add baby aubergines, baby sweet-corn and sugar peas after about 5 minutes so they have something to eat, if you’re into that sort of thing it works fairly well and make food go further!
Cook for a further 5-10 minutes until chicken is cooked, throw in a little finely sliced spring onion strips with a minute to go (I forgot that bit on Satureday, d'oh!) then serve with anything you want. I recommend boiled long grain rice with more finely sliced fresh spring onion, red chilli and coriander thrown on top and steamed leaves to the side.
Et voila!
Grate the zest from 3 limes and juice them.
Slice up about 600g chicken and put half the zest and juice over it, put to one side for at least an hour.
Use the other half to soak one large lemon grass stalk (that you've sliced very finely) for at least 30 minutes (soak for 30 min that is, not slice, try to do that quicker!).
Buy a blender or spend hours with pestle and mortar.
Place following in blender or mortar;
Soaked lemon grass stalk inc juice and zest
10 whole green bird eye chillies (they are the small hot ones!)
½ inch chunk ginger finely chopped
two handfuls of chopped up fresh coriander (stalks and leaves)
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground coriander
½ teaspoon ground turmeric
3 garlic cloves (finely chopped)
7 shallots peeled (lightly chopped)
Splash oil
Splash fish sauce
Blend/ pummel with pestle until you have a green paste.
Put green paste into a dry wok or heavy frying pan and cook until the kitchen smells of curry (few minutes) then add 1.5 tins of coconut milk (that you’ve shaken before opening).
Coconut milk will separate slightly and give off bit of oil after few minutes, when this happens add:
chicken and lime zest & juice,
a finely sliced red chilli (de seeded),
3-4 desert spoons of fish sauce,
a handful of shredded fresh basil leaves
a teaspoon of sugar.
If you have vegans with you may want to add baby aubergines, baby sweet-corn and sugar peas after about 5 minutes so they have something to eat, if you’re into that sort of thing it works fairly well and make food go further!
Cook for a further 5-10 minutes until chicken is cooked, throw in a little finely sliced spring onion strips with a minute to go (I forgot that bit on Satureday, d'oh!) then serve with anything you want. I recommend boiled long grain rice with more finely sliced fresh spring onion, red chilli and coriander thrown on top and steamed leaves to the side.
Et voila!
Tuesday, July 11, 2006
My 8 names
Just because I saw it on someone elses blog and liked it!
1. YOUR ROCK STAR NAME: (first pet and current street name)
Socksy Gar-Door-Gun ?!? (not sure how to write the Chinese name so have to go phonetic)
2. YOUR MOVIE STAR NAME: (grandfather/grandmother on your moms side, favorite candy)
Nick Skittles (I think I may be type cast as a scally)
3. YOUR "FLY Guy/Girl" NAME: (first initial of first name, first two or three letters of your middle name)
JRo
4. YOUR DETECTIVE NAME: (favorite color, favorite animal)
Black Rhino
5. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME: (middle name, hometown)
Robert Lancaster
6. YOUR STAR WARS NAME: (first 3 letters of your last name, last 3 letters of mother's maiden name, first 3 letters of your fathers name)
Par-cca-rob.
7. JEDI NAME: (middle name spelled backwards, your mom's maiden name spelled backwards)
Trebor Accor (the force is strong in that one!)
8. SUPERHERO NAME: ("The", your favorite color, the automobile you drive)
The Black MTR (no car so have to get mass transit railway to work I'm afraid!)
Have to add Porn Star name as well (first pet and mothers maiden name)
Socksy Rocca!
1. YOUR ROCK STAR NAME: (first pet and current street name)
Socksy Gar-Door-Gun ?!? (not sure how to write the Chinese name so have to go phonetic)
2. YOUR MOVIE STAR NAME: (grandfather/grandmother on your moms side, favorite candy)
Nick Skittles (I think I may be type cast as a scally)
3. YOUR "FLY Guy/Girl" NAME: (first initial of first name, first two or three letters of your middle name)
JRo
4. YOUR DETECTIVE NAME: (favorite color, favorite animal)
Black Rhino
5. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME: (middle name, hometown)
Robert Lancaster
6. YOUR STAR WARS NAME: (first 3 letters of your last name, last 3 letters of mother's maiden name, first 3 letters of your fathers name)
Par-cca-rob.
7. JEDI NAME: (middle name spelled backwards, your mom's maiden name spelled backwards)
Trebor Accor (the force is strong in that one!)
8. SUPERHERO NAME: ("The", your favorite color, the automobile you drive)
The Black MTR (no car so have to get mass transit railway to work I'm afraid!)
Have to add Porn Star name as well (first pet and mothers maiden name)
Socksy Rocca!
Monday, July 10, 2006
Making a party
There aren't many things you can do to guarantee a party will be a success but one such thing is the hugely overlooked cheese hedgehog!
Now originally this was the cheese and pineapple hedgehog (or at least it was when I was 10 and my mum made it for my birthday party) but being an independent man of the world I've reduced and refined it to base elements.
1) vaguely spherical root vegetable
2) kitchen foil
3) cocktail sticks
4) cubed hard English cheese
How could you not love the pure simplistic beauty of it, truly a sure winner for any party and after almost 20 years without one in my life I now feel complete again!
And here it is, wonderfully presented by the lovely Lis and Julie!
cheese hedgehogs = class.
Now originally this was the cheese and pineapple hedgehog (or at least it was when I was 10 and my mum made it for my birthday party) but being an independent man of the world I've reduced and refined it to base elements.
1) vaguely spherical root vegetable
2) kitchen foil
3) cocktail sticks
4) cubed hard English cheese
How could you not love the pure simplistic beauty of it, truly a sure winner for any party and after almost 20 years without one in my life I now feel complete again!
And here it is, wonderfully presented by the lovely Lis and Julie!
cheese hedgehogs = class.
Monday, July 03, 2006
Germany '06
arse arse arse arse arse arse arse arse arse arse arse arse arse arse arse arse arse arse arse arse arse arse arse arse arse arse arse arse arse arse arse arse arse arse arse arse arse arse arse arse arse arse arse arse arse arse arse arse arse arse arse arse arse arse arse arse arse arse arse arse arse arse arse arse arse arse arse arse arse arse arse arse arse arse arse arse arse arse arse arse arse arse arse arse arse arse arse arse arse arse arse arse arse arse arse arse
not my most eloquent of blog entries but says all I need to say about the world cup.
not my most eloquent of blog entries but says all I need to say about the world cup.
