Wednesday 6 October 2010

khmer pork, coconut & pineapple curry


A friend recently bought me some galangal, which is believed to be close to extinction around Buckinghamshire & Oxfordshire! 
Anyway it has been looking at me longingly from the cupboard, so I decided to make this curry, which features a healthy amount of it in.  The recipe is from Rick Steins far eastern odyssey.

This one is for you Mr K ...

Serves 4

Cambodian Khmer curry paste
(kroeung)

25g peeled galangal
1 tsp ground turmeric
20g garlic, chopped
4 fat lemongrass stalks, core chopped
2 kaffir lime leaves, shredded
1 tsp Thai shrimp paste
1/2 medium hot red or green chili, chopped

Put all the ingredients into a food processor and blend with 1 tablespoons of water to get the paste moving.

500g lean boneless pork shoulder
1 small pineapple or 200g prepared fresh pineapple cubes
4 small, round green Thai aubergines or 100g purple aubergine
3 tbsp vegetable oil
40g fresh coconut, grated
300ml coconut milk
2 tbsp fish sauce
2 tsp palm sugar
1 tbsp tamarind water
leaves from 1 small bunch Thai sweet basil (I used coriander)

Cut the pork into 2.5-3cm pieces.  If necessary, peel the pineapple, cut it into 4 wedges lengthways, slice away the core and cut the fruit into chunks.  Cut the round green aubergines into wedges or the purple aubergines into pieces similar in size to the pineapple.
Heat 2 tablespoons of the oil in a wide based pan or wok, add half of the pork pieces and brown lightly on all sides.
Set aside on a plate and repeat the remainder.
Add the remaining oil and the curry paste to the pan or wok and fry gently over a medium heat for 2-3 minutes until it starts to smell aromatic.  Return the pork and to the pan with 300ml of water , part-cover and leave to simmer gently for 1 hour.
Uncover, add the grated coconut, pineapple, aubergines and coconut milk and simmer with the lid off for a further 10 minutes.  Add the fish sauce, sugar and tamarind water, then stir in the basil.  Season to taste with salt and serve.




Porridge with apricots, honey, mascarpone & almonds


As you can see I have been craving porridge quite a bit recently ... it has to be something to do with the misty mornings ... 
This is probably one of the only breakfasts that'll get me out from underneath a warm duvet!
The recipe is from Miss Dahl's voluptuous delights by Sophie Dahl, although I have adapted it slightly.

Serves 2

A handful of dried apricots
250ml/1 cup of orange juice
1 cinnamon stick
100g/1 cup of porridge oats
500ml/2 cups of water or milk
1-2 tablespoons of manuka honey (I used normal runny honey)
1-2 tablespoons of creme fraiche (I used mascarpone)
almonds (optional)

First, poach the apricots in the orange juice with the cinnamon stick.  This should take about 5 minutes.

In a separate saucepan, cook the porridge - two cups of water to one cup of porridge, or milk, if you prefer.  If you are using classic rolled oats this should take about 5 minutes.  Pour the orange juice away and put the apricots in the porridge.  Serves in two bowls with a spoonful of manuka honey and creme fraiche in each.




Oatmeal, blueberry & white chocolate cookies

I made these cookies for my lovely boss' Laurie & mummy Sam. 
I think Laurie could be the cookie monster ... as he has been known to demolish any unaccompanied packets of biscuits lying around!!!

These cookies are from the same recipe as the chocolate chip, oatmeal cookies with cherries & pecans I previously blogged, however I omitted the pecans, swapped dark chocolate chips for white ones and used blueberries instead of cherries. 

The original recipe can be found here