Soba, aubergine and mango salad

Just incredible. Courtesy of Yotam Ottolenghi's book, Plenty:

120 ml rice vinegar
40 g sugar
1/2 tsp salt
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 fresh chilli, minced
1 tsp sesame oil
zest and juice of 1 lime, plus extra juice to taste
sunflower or rapeseed oil for cooking
2 medium aubergines
250 g soba noodles (made from buckwheat flour)
1 ripe mango (or 2, depending on how much mango you want)
handful each of coriander and basil, roughly chopped
1/2 red onion, sliced thinly

For the dressing, bring the vinegar, sugar and salt to the boil and cook for a minute. Take off the heat, add in the garlic, chilli and sesame oil, and leave to cool. Once cooled, add the lime juice and zest.

Dice the aubergine into 2cm pieces. Fry until golden brown. Once cooked, sprinkle salt over the aubergine and place in a colander to drain.

Cook the soba noodles for around 5-8 minutes depending on the pack instructions. Once cooked, drain in a colander, rinse with cold water, and leave to drip dry. Original instructions say to squeeze out the excess water - not sure if this is entirely necessary, but you do you.

Dice the mango into chunks similar in size to the aubergine. Roughly chop the herbs. Throw the noodles, aubergine, mango, herbs, onion and dressing into a big bowl, mix everything together, then leave to marinade for an hour or two. Serve with bread.

Can serve as a main meal or a side, depending on how hungry you are. Add whatever you want to the salad - tofu and mushrooms spring to mind.

Watermelon gazpacho

Another excellent find from this summer. The original is courtesy of Saveur, and a very nice place it is too.

1 kg watermelon, rind removed and roughly chopped
big bunch coriander
a third as much mint (or to taste)
3 tbsp lime juice
2 tbsp olive oil
1 Noa or English cucumber, peeled and roughly chopped
1 chilli, deseeded and roughly chopped
1 big tomato (I used coeur de boeuf, but it's up to you), roughly chopped
1 onion, peeled and roughly chopped
salt and pepper to taste

Throw everything into a blender or food processor. Chill for a few hours and serve.

Excellent on a hot summer's evening. 

Thai gazpacho

It was a very hot summer here, so we ate a lot of cold soups. This one turned out very nicely, although if you want it to have a reasonably attractive colour, make sure you use yellow tomatoes, not red ones. Otherwise, though, it's all very tasty. Based on this recipe.

Ingredients:
3-4 large yellow tomatoes, cut into chunks
1 full Noa cucumber, or 1/2 English cucumber, peeled and cut into chunks
1/2 yellow pepper, deseeded and cut into chunks
1 onion
1-2 cloves garlic
1 tbsp lemongrass (paste, fresh, or frozen)
1 thumb-size piece of ginger, peeled and roughly chopped
juice and zest of 1 lime
2 tbsp fish sauce
1 tsp chilli paste OR 1 chilli (or to taste)
mint, (Thai) basil and coriander to taste (should be about 1/2 cup or so)
1/2 a 400ml tin of coconut milk (you can use more too, but keep some for serving)
seasoning

Throw the tomatoes, cucumber, pepper, and onion into a blender and blend. Add the garlic, lemongrass, ginger, lime juice and zest, fish sauce, chilli, herbs and seasoning, and then as much coconut milk as you want (less is more, add little by little until you have as much as you want). Blend the mixture until smooth.

Put in the fridge to cool for a few hours. Serve with some bread on the side. 

Smoked mackerel kedgeree

A slightly different breakfast dish, but this could be good for almost any meal. Despite the list of ingredients, it's very quick, easy and cheap to make. It shouldn't be too spicy - the main taste is the mackerel - so don't overdo the chilli. I based my version on this one from BBC Good Food, but I've made adaptations where necessary.

Should serve 2-3

1/2 cup basmati rice
2-3 thin smoked mackerel fillets
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp coriander seeds
3-4 curry leaves (optional)
1-2 onion, diced
1-2 garlic cloves, minced
chilli to taste, finely diced
1 carrot, speed-peeled or thinly sliced
1/2 leek, thinly sliced
1/2 small bunch coriander, roughly chopped
1 bay leaf
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp curry powder
100 g frozen peas, cooked
knob of butter
4 boiled eggs (I put mine in the cold water in the pot and then boiled them for 3.30 and they were perfect, but you do you)
1 lime, juice

To prep: boil and peel your eggs, cook your peas and put them to one side, cook the basmati rice as per directions, and haul out your wok.

Place the mackerel fillets in a bowl and cover with boiling water. I suppose you'll cover it with around 200-400 ml of boiling water. Let to sit for a while.

Stir-fry the mustard seeds, corianders seeds, curry leaves, onion, garlic, and chilli for a couple of minutes, then add the carrot, leek, coriander and bay leaf. Cook for around 8 minutes.

Add in the rice, pour in about half the water from the fish, and stir very well. Add in the turmeric, curry powder, peas and butter, stir well, and cook for another few minutes.

Peel one egg, stir it in, then add the lime juice. Serve with the remaining eggs and with yoghurt if so desired.

One-pot Thai chicken noodle soup

Mostly courtesy of Carlsbad Cravings. Do be careful with the spice. It is very nice, though - very recommend.

Ingredients:
500g chicken fillet, sliced to make very thin fillets
2-3 onions, diced
2 carrots, diced
2-4 tbsp Thai red curry paste (to taste)
2cm piece fresh ginger, minced
4-5 cloves garlic, minced
2 chillies, minced (optional)
1l chicken stock
2 400ml tins coconut milk
2 tbsp fish sauce
1 tbsp sugar
5-6 lime leaves
1 tsp basil or Provencal mix
Pepper to taste
250 g mushrooms, sliced
2 red peppers, sliced
150 g rice noodles, broken up into manageable pieces
handful roughly chopped coriander, plus extra to serve
juice of 2-3 limes, plus extra to serve

Brown the chicken in a big soup pot and then remove and put on a plate. Add in the onions and carrots and cook for 2-3 minutes. Add the curry paste, ginger, garlic and chilli and cook for 2-3 minutes. Return the chicken to the pot, then add the stock, coconut milk, fish sauce, sugar, lime leaves, basil and pepper. Bring to the boil then simmer for around 15 minutes or until the chicken is tender enough to shred. Remove the chicken from the pot and leave to cool until it can be shredded. In the meantime, add the mushrooms and peppers, bring to the boil again, add the (uncooked) noodles to the pot and simmer for around 4 minutes. Add the chicken, coriander and lime juice. Mix and serve with bread and wine on the side.

Chicken Noodle Stir Fry a la Jamie Oliver

An adaptation of Jamie Oliver's chicken noodle stir fry recipe. Unfortunately, we were lacking space in terms of a wok big enough to fit everything in. Needs had to, so I changed it a bit. The result was quite good:

Ingredients:

250 g egg noodles, cooked according to instructions and kept to one side
2-3 chicken breasts, thinly sliced into 1 cm strips
5 cm ginger, chopped into thin strips
3 garlic cloves, minced
Chilli to taste, sliced thinly
2 red onions, diced
1-2 carrots, sliced thinly
1 yellow pepper, sliced
1 head broccoli, cut into small florets and with the stalk shredded as far as possible (second part optional)
Soy sauce to taste
Sriracha to taste
Coriander
Lime juice

1) Cook the noodles as instructed in a rather large pot (3-5 litres or so).
2) Season the chicken with pepper and fry in a large pan until browned, or for 3 minutes or so.
3) Add the ginger, garlic and chilli and fry for another minute or so.
4) Add the onion, carrot, pepper and broccoli and stir fry for a bit longer (3-4 minutes). Add soy sauce and sriracha to taste, then stir fry for a bit longer.
5) Add the stir fry, coriander and lime juice to the noodles and mix in. Serve warm.

Enjoy.

Gazpacho

This is a cold tomato soup perfect for summer. Very nice too. It's a slight adaptation of a recipe I found on food.com.

Ingredients:

800 g flavoursome tomatoes
Tomato juice
1/2-1 cup cucumber, peeled, deseeded and chopped up
1/2-1 cup red pepper, deseeded and chopped up
1/2-1 cup red onion, chopped up
1 chilli (or to taste), finely chopped
Garlic to taste (usually 1-2 cloves), minced
Olive oil
Lime juice to taste
2 tsp balsamic vinegar
2 tsp worcestershire sauce
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
Coriander, to serve

To peel and deseed the tomatoes, cut a cross into the top or bottom of the tomato and then drop it into boiling water for 15 sec. When deseeding, put the remains into a sieve over a pot or bowl and try and get as much juice as you can from it, and then top up whatever juice you get with the tomato juice until it is about 1 cup. Put everything into a blender or food processor and blend until quite smooth. Leave overnight in the fridge, or serve with ice cubes and coriander.

Grilled salmon, courgette salad, rice salad, guacamole, and a full stomach: AKA Jazz Salmon

Source

Tasty special treat courtesy of Jamie Oliver. He's a bit of a git, what with his fabulous this and awesome that, but his recipes are, if you'll excuse the language, fantastic. I have made this a few times - my favourite part is the crunchy skin. It's a bit pricey to make in Estonia, but it's good for an occasional treat.

Definitely not my recipe, and I post this purely because I love it so very much. Enjoy.

Ingredients:

2 peppers
A bunch of spring onions
4 fresh chillies
1 x 1kg salmon fillet with skin, descaled and deboned as far as possible
2 lemons
fennel
1 mug basmati rice
225g pickled red peppers
some fresh mint leaves
balsamic vinegar
400g baby courgettes (although I've done this with larger courgettes too)
fresh coriander
1 clove garlic
2 limes
2-3 ripe avocados
olive oil (lots)
salt and pepper to taste

I agree with Jamie's advice to "get all your ingredients and equipment ready. Fill and boil the kettle. Turn the grill on to full whack. Put a saucepan on a medium heat. Put the standard blade attachment into the food processor (if you've got one)" (which we don't). There's a lot happening in a short period of time. This is from his 30-minute recipes, and even if it takes you slightly longer, you'll still be busy.

Anyway, here we go.

Salmon:

1. Pour a couple of lugs of olive oil into a large roasting tray. Slice the peppers, the spring onions, and 2 chillies.
2. Drizzle olive oil over both sides of the salmon, season, and grate lemon zest over the fillet - it'll need a full lemon for a big fillet.
3. Rub the flavours into the salmon. If needed, halve the salmon so it fits into the tray, then put the salmon in the tray skin up and put the vegetables around it.
4. Put under the grill and set the timer for 14 minutes. Put the rice into a medium saucepan with a pinch of salt and cover by 1.5 cm with boiling water.
5. Put the lid on, turn the heat right up and leave to cook for 7 minutes. Once cooked, take off the heat and leave to steam for 7 minutes, still covered with the lid.

Salad:

1.Squeeze the juice of ½ a lemon into a large serving bowl and add a couple of lugs of extra virgin olive oil and a good pinch of salt and pepper.
2. Finely chop the a couple of sprigs of mint leaves and ½ a chilli and add to the bowl.
3. Speed-peel as much of the baby courgettes as you can (using a mandoline if possible but a vegetable peeler works fine, too) over the dressing and put whatever is left behind on a large wooden chopping board.
4. Take the bowl of salad to the table but don’t toss until right before you are ready to serve.

Rice

1. Roughly chop and mix the jarred peppers and remaining mint leaves on the chopping board with the remaining courgette.
2. Add a pinch of salt & pepper, a good lug of extra virgin olive oil and a splash of balsamic.

Salmon

1. When the 14 minutes are up, take the tray out of the oven.
2. Using a knife and your fingers, carefully peel the skin away from the flesh and flip it over.
3. Sprinkle a pinch of salt and the fennel seeds over the exposed side of te skin.
4. Turn the peppers over, then put the tray back under the grill and cook for a further 5 minutes, or until the skin is really crispy.

Guacamole (n.b this can be done by hand for a chunkier texture)

1. Trim the rest of the spring onions and put them into the processor with most of the coriander, a chilli (stalk removed), a peeled clove of garlic, the juice of 1 of your limes and a good drizzle of extra virgin olive oil.
2.Whiz up while you stone the avocados and quarter the tomatoes.
3. Stop whizzing, and squeeze the avocado flesh out of its skin into the processor.
4. Add the tomatoes and pulse until chunky.
5. Put into a bowl and add more seasoning or lime juice to taste if needed.
6. Take to the table with a few wedges of lime for squeezing over.

Rice

1. Quickly fluff up the rice with a fork, then tip over the board of chopped veg and gently mix together. Take to the table.
2. Use tongs to carefully turn the crispy salmon skin back over.
3. Season with salt & pepper and cook for a further 5 minutes.

Serve with flour tortillas - these can be warmed in the microwave for 30s if bought, or wrapped in foil and placed in the grill after it has been turned off for a few minutes whilst you take everything else to the table.

Ceviche

Ceviche is a lovely South American dish of raw fish, coriander, and citrus fruit. And... that's about it, really. At least, the basics are really basic. But there are lots of possibilities to expand on the base. So go wild. This is the most recent, very basic, but quite fantastic version I used.

500g salmon, cut into 1cm-long strips
500g white fish (can't remember which type, since it was in Estonian), ditto
1/2 cup lemon juice, freshly squeezed
1/2 cup lime juice, ditto
1 chilli, seeded and finely diced
1 1/2 tomatoes, finely diced
1/2 onion, finely diced
1 small red pepper, ditto
Coriander to taste and serve
Dash of Tabasco, salt and pepper to taste, oregano
Avocado to serve

Combine everything in a non-metallic bowl or dish (glass or plastic) and leave to sit for at least 4 hours or overnight. Serve with the avo and extra coriander.

I feel I should point out that this doesn't keep, so it should be eaten within 24 hours. These proportions should serve 6-8.

If you're feeling adventurous, substitute your fish for other fish, or even prawns or other seafood; or add grapefruit, pomegranate, garlic, basil, etc. Go wild.

Have fun.

Jungle Curry

This stuff is all a matter of personal taste - as hot or mild as you want. The first time I had it, I was caught short in the middle of a class the next day. Not the most pleasant experience of my life. The meal was fantastic though. Here's my take on the subject. Not quite as good as the original, but it does the trick.

Should serve 3-4 people, depending on quantities

200g of chicken or pork (original recipe stated that it should be wild meat. If you can get some boar or metsasealiha, then all the better. Otherwise, chicken on the bone works nicely)
Vegetables, primarily brinjals, cherry tomatoes, bamboo shoots, and mushrooms
Coriander, Thai basil, and chillies

Curry paste:

1/2 an onion or equivalent in shallots
1 1/2 inches or so of galangal or ginger (about 3-4 tbsp, fresher is obviously better. If you use dried stuff, soak it then mash it up using a pestle and mortar)
1 tbsp green peppercorns (not blue ones)
2 tbsp lemongrass (fresher is better, and if dried, see above)
a lot of garlic, to taste basically
Lime leaves, again, to taste
Lime zest
Lime juice (just, use lime. Somewhere. Anywhere)
Coriander root
2 1/2 to 3 tbsp fish sauce (although you might want to add this to the pan, not the sauce. Up to you. Try either way)
1/2-1 tsp of shrimp paste
A few chillies, dried or otherwise (to taste)
A 400ml tin of coconut milk

Blend all the stuff for the paste in a food processor. Brown the chicken in a wok, add the vegetables and cook for a bit, then add the paste. Close to the end, add the coriander et al, and serve over rice.

There is obviously more than one way to skin a cat. This recipe is something I've pieced together, and it is quite tasty, although not overly spicy. Try using extra coconut milk or coconut butter if you are so inclined, for something thicker and creamier. Or add extra ginger to the meat, not the sauce (try strips of ginger). Any way you work it, it works out well.

Enjoy.

Tom Yum Chicken

Needs to be marinaded for a while (preferably overnight) but easy and tasty.

Tom Yum Chicken

4-6 chicken legs (thigh and drumstick)

Marinade: 

10 or so shallots
5 or so garlic cloves
3 or so tbsp Tom Yum paste
2 or 3 fresh chillis
1 tbsp pickled jalapenos (or equivalent something. Use something spicy)
3 or 4 lime leaves
2 tbsp honey
spices, salt and pepper to taste

Prepare the marinade by blending it all together with a hand-held blendy thing. Don't add any water, it's meant to be like this. Smear over the chicken (possibly scoring the chicken some to get the taste in) and then leave to marinade for at least 2 hours, preferably overnight.

When ready, wrap each piece in tin foil, shove in the oven at 200 degrees and leave to cook for 45min. If not done, use your discretion and cook for longer.

Serve with lemon and coriander.