Eats/Reads

This was the result of banging together what we happened to have in the fridge, rather than buying ingredients on purpose. The result was quite tasty. Notes: It was a little light on sauce, and the sauce might have been better with some lime juice. Also next time, dress the lettuce lightly too. 400g grilled salmon, flaked 2 small carrots, grated 4 scallions, chopped Fresh basil and mint, chopped About 1/4 mango, in small cubes 1 head of lettuce sauce: 1 tbsp fish sauce 1 tbsp light soy sauce 1 tbsp rice wine vinegar 1 tbsp brown sugar 1 tsp toasted sesame oil 1 chili, minced Thai jasmine rice Mix the salad ingredients together. Mix the sauce ingredients together. Then mix the sauce with the salad. Make a bed of lettuce on a plate, put the hot rice on top, then put the salad on top of the rice.

We finally broke down and made Mexican food at home. Our nice Aunt Sarah had sent us some enchilada sauce (tasty - thanks!) so all we had to do was make tortillas and the filling. Result: Very tasty! Need to work on making tortillas softer. It could also have been spicier (maybe add more chili to beef?). If we get this recipe down, we're really never returning to the States! The tortillas: If you live in the sort of glorious locale where good tortillas (i.e. no additives and very tasty) are available at the store, by all means skip this step and just buy a pack. 250g plain white flour 150ml water 5g (about 1 tsp) salt Knead ingredients together until smooth. Let sit for about 30 mins. Divide into eight. Roll each portion into a ball. Roll until 2-3mm thick. Place frying pan on medium height. Cook for about 1 minute on each side. Wrap in tea towel to steam. [Note: Mine were a little tough. Not sure if they were too thick, or needed to be kneaded more/less. Will investigate purchase ...

A friend sent us this recipe, and it was fantastic. 400g beef sirloin, lightly grilled and thinly sliced 200g cucumber, peeled and shredded 50g onion, sliced thin Fresh herbs, chopped Whole lettuce 2 tbsp fish sauce 2 tbsp lime juice 1 tsp sugar 1 hot chili, minced 1 clove garlic, minced We can't grill in our flat, so we pan fried the steak the way Best Recipe recommended: heat an iron skillet for 10 minutes, add a little oil, salt and pepper the steak, and cook it for 5 minutes on the first side, 3 minutes on the second. This was supposed to give us rare steak, but I would call the result medium or medium-well. Still tasty, but next time I'll cook it less. We used coriander (cilantro), mint and basil for the herbs, because we happened to have all three. Any nice collection of fresh herbs will likely do nicely. Mix the sauce ingredients vigourously. Mix everything else besides the lettuce. Add the sauce. Serve over the lettuce. Simple and delicious.

This is basically a Jamie Oliver recipe, from his first cookbook, "The Naked Chef" - long before he was so terribly overexposed. I didn't have the coriander seeds he called for and I used a lot more garlic. Also I used fresh chili not dried. It was tasty! Next time: See if I can create a crispier crust by heating up the pan more. 1 clove garlic 1/4 fresh red chili 3-4 large fresh basil leaves small handful fresh cilantro juice of 1/4 lemon salt and pepper 8 oz tuna steak Chop up the first four ingredients until they're very fine (or mash them in a mortar and pestle). Add the lemon, mix, then season to taste. Heat up an iron skillet or grill pan until it's very, very hot. Put in just a bit of oil and spread it thin. Heat more. Spread the herbs and spices on both sides of the tuna steak. Throw the fish into the hot pan. Cook one minute on each side. Remove from pan, slice into thin pieces. We served it over leek/tomato fried rice, and with a side of creamed spinach.

Tender, delicious and remarkably easy to make. 4 chicken thighs 1 1/2 tbsp sake 1 1/2 tbsp light soy sauce 1 small onion, minced 2 cloves garlic, minced 1" fresh ginger, minced 1 chili, seeded and minced Combine everything but the chicken in a bowl and mix. Place each thigh on a piece of aluminum foil with 1/4 of the sauce, wrapping it tightly. Steam in a bamboo steamer for 45 minutes. We had this with leek fried rice. It was delicious. Next time, I'll make more sauce per piece of chicken, and, as usual, it could be spicier. Even SMCC said it could be spicier.

The chicken katsu was so good, we decided to try pork katsu. 4 thin pork shoulder steaks, about 500g total Everything else the same as the chicken katsu I trimmed the fat from the pork steaks and whacked them thin with the flat of a big knife. The pork was perfect at 4 minutes a side. We doubled the hot chilis in the tonkatsu sauce, and SMCC thought it was spicy enough, but I could have had it much spicier. We did red cabbage as a side dish. We sliced a whole cabbage thin, steamed it until it was soft, tossed it in a little toasted sesame oil and served it with a little light soy sauce. Quite nice.

Being sick is a great excuse to booze up. 1 1/2 oz Jameson's 3/4 oz lemon juice 4 oz boiling water Cinnamon Ground cloves Grated ginger Cayenne pepper Honey Smooth.