Lex Culinaria

Five-Spice Braised Lamb and Bok Choy

Since about the beginning of September life has been totally out of control. Work has been crazy busy and then as soon as work starts to slow down I do too out of sheer exhaustion. I suppose being 5 months pregnant doesn't help. Now that I can actually eat again and spend time in my kitchen without feeling nauseated (torture for someone who loves to cook and eat as much as I do!) I really find I am stretched for time and energy.

I've taken to doing my own small-scale meal assembly on Sundays. I plan a menu for the week and assemble the ingredients for the main part of it. It might be chicken breasts that I marinate in lime, crushed coriander, honey and mustard (very tasty!) or a pot roast. Then  all i have to do make sure I put it out to thaw (or into the slow cooker) in the morning and when I come home in the in the evening I finish it off and prepare a salad and side. It cuts the "I can't be bothered cooking" way down and we actually manage to eat healthily 5 nights out of 5 (except the odd indiscretion). It's really been working well and isn't too much of a chore at all as it takes me only about an hour on Sundays to get the meals together and into the freezer.

This week, one of the meals I made was this slow-cooker lamb recipe which is dead easy to prepare and a twist on the usual Italian or French inspired wine or tomato-based braises that seems to predominate. You could prepare this ahead and freeze most of it, as I did, or you could just make it straight through. Either way, it's gorgeous, spicy and salty. Perfect over rice or just on its own and the lamb just melts in your mouth. This will serve 6 easily.

• 2.5 pounds stewing lamb
• 3 cups beef broth
• 1 large onion, sliced
• 3 inch by 2 inch piece fresh ginger, peeled and thinly sliced
• 5 cloves garlic, smashed
• 1 Tablespoon Chinese 5-spice powder
• 3/4 cup Chinese rice wine (unsalted)
• 1/3 cup soy sauce
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• water to cover
• 8 bunches baby bok choy washed, trimmed and separated
• 16-20 medium mushrooms, thickly sliced (preferably mixed, but any kind will do)
• cornstarch to thicken
• more rice wine - about a half cup.

If you're making this ahead to pop in your slow cooker later in the week, put the first 9 ingredients in a large zippered freezer bag and freeze until needed. Otherwise, place all ingredients except bok choy and mushrooms, into the slow cooker and allow to cook for 6 to 8 hours. You can either saute the mushrooms and bok choy and make a bed out of them, or you can add them to the slow cooker towards the end of the cooking time - I'd say add the mushrooms with about 45 minutes left to go and the bok choy with about 15 minutes left.

Once the meal is finished cooking, remove the meat and vegetables from the broth. Using a large wide-bottomed stir fry pan, reduce the cooking liquid until the flavour is strong enough for you. I reduced mine by half, but it will really depend on how much liquid evaporates from your slow cooker and whether you topped the liquid up at all during cooking. Use a bit more Chinese wine, into which you've stirred a few spoons full of cornstarch to thicken the sauce.

Place a heap of rice (if you are serving it with rice) into the bottom of a big soup plate. On top of that, make a nest of bok choy and mushrooms. place some lamb pieces on top of the vegetables and ladle over some of the sauce.

This also reheats well for lunch the next day!

Fish Dumplings in Lemon Garlic Broth

Yesterday, Cakes and I stopped at the Billingsgate Seafood Market for lunch (the best fish & chips this side of Melbourne) and I bought a gorgeous thick halibut fillet. I had a vague idea that I wanted to do a fish dumpling in broth, but wasn't quite sure what I intended exactly. For a recipe that, as I said to Cakes, I "pulled out of my ass", what resulted was a pretty stellar way to dress some fish up for a spectacular dinner. This one's going on my list of dinner party dishes.

If you're looking for something interesting to do with that really nice piece of fish you bought and you want something a little fancier than just plain grilled fish (even if it is crusted with sesame seeds). This is your dish. It's not too fancy though, and has great fresh, simple flavours. I used halibut, but it would work equally well with a other firm fleshed fish like tuna, swordfish or salmon.

Aside from perhaps the bok choy, if you've got a fairly well-stocked pantry, you should be able to knock together this tasty dish for a first course or a main, in not much more time than it would take to grill that fish. The broth is lemony and garlicky and the dumplings are really delicate and tender because I made them with the same dough as Chinese Jiaozi. The bok choy, soy sauce and sesame oil give it an Asian flavour. Make extra, because someone's bound to want seconds.

• 350 grams halibut fillet, skinned
• 1/2 cup soy sauce
• 1 inch piece fresh ginger root grated
• 3 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
• 1 1/4 cups white flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup boiling water
• 1 teaspoon butter, soft
• 3 cups chicken broth
• 4 cups water
• rind of 1 lemon
• 3 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1/2 teaspoon minced lemon grass
• 2 chopped green onions
• juice of 3 small or 2 large lemons (about 1/3 cup)
• 1 large bunch bok choy thinly sliced, both white and green parts
• 1 Tablespoon chopped cilantro
• soy sauce for drizzling
• sesame oil for drizzling

Chop the fish fillet into cubes about 3 cm or 4 cm square, you should end up with about 16 or 20 cubes. Toss the cubes into a Tupperware container with the soy sauce, garlic, ginger and sesame oil and allow to marinate for 30 minutes to 2 hours.

Sift the flour and salt together. Drop the teaspoon of butter on top of the flour and pour the boiling water over top. Mix the dough together swiftly - the best way to do this is to use a Kitchenaid or other stand mixer. Roll the dough into a ball, cover with flour and then waxed paper and allow to rest for 20 minutes.

While the dough is resting, combine the chicken stock, water, lemon peel, lemongrass, garlic and onion in a large soup pot. Leave the stock to simmer while you work with the dough.  Slice the bok choy and set aside.

After the dough has rested, use your fingers to pinch off small balls, about the size of a large kumquat or small apricot. Flour your work surface well and use your rolling pin to roll each ball out into a circle about 10 to 12 centimetres across. You should be able to make around 20 circles of dough. Flour each circle and stack them.

Bring the stock to a vigorous boil.

Drain the fish cubes. Place one cube in the centre of each circle. Use a pastry brush to dampen the exposed edge of the dough. Fold half of each circle over the fish cube to make a semi circle and pinch the edges of the dough together, pleating it as you go, rather than making a flat edge. Fold and please the dumplings one at a time and drop each one into the boiling stock before you move on to folding and pleating the next one. This will give the stock enough time to recover a full boil between each dumpling. After you have tossed the last dumpling into to pot, add the bok choy and cilantro, allow the pot to boil for 30 seconds more and then remove it from the heat and set aside. Let the pot rest for 5 to 8 minutes. Ladle about 2 cups pf the stock off into a small bowl and add the lemon juice to it.

Use a slotted spoon to remove some bok choy and dumplings to each of four soup plates and then ladle over a bit of the reserved stock with lemon juice. Drizzle over a bit of soy sauce and a few drops of sesame oil.

Serves 4 as a main dish or 6 to 8 as a starter.

Khanom Kluay: Thai Steamed Banana Cake

It's hardly fair. The Thais do such a great job of savoury dishes, it hardly seems fair that they excel at sweets as well. Among my favourite deserts are some standard (and not so standard) Thai ones - sweet sticky rice and coconut milk with mango, black sticky rice pudding, water chestnuts in tapioca starch and pandanus sugar syrup. Like Thai mains, the deserts are made with a heavy emphasis on fresh produce (mangoes, bananas, pineapple, coconut) and coconut milk, which to me is pure heaven.

Another of my favourite Thai sweet recipes is this yummy and easy steamed (or baked) cake. It's got a very dense, moist texture and is very puddingy, so only a small serving is required. If you can find fresh coconut, or even if you can but can't be bothered to grate it, you can use dried unsweetened coconut. To use dried unsweetened coconut instead, all you have to do is soak it in warm water for 10 minutes before using it in this recipe.

Like the clear Thai soup I made earlier this week, I adapted this recipe from that given to me at the Chiang Mai Thai Cookery School (vanilla isn't really used in Thai cooking, but I can't seem to wean myself from it). I made this in individual servings inside plain white Chinese tea cups and it looked adorable! The tea cups offer just the right amount of this filling dessert for a single serving.

Make sure to lightly grease your baking dish(es) before puring your batter in!

Serves 6

• 2 large bananas
• 1/2 cup glutinous rice flour
• 1/4 cup tapioca flour
• 1/3 cup sugar
• pinch of salt
• 1/3 cup coconut milk
• 1 + 1/2 teaspoons vanilla (or half a vanilla bean, seeds scraped into the batter)
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 2 cups grated coconut (fresh, or dry coconut that has been soaked)

Preheat oven to 400F.

Break up the bananas into a large bowl and mash well using a fork, or a mixer. Add in all the remaining ingredients, reserving a tablespoon of the coconut. Mix well until all the ingredients are thoroughly combined.  Pour the mixture into a one 8 x 8 baking tin, or several smaller baking dishes. Place baking tin(s) in a larger pan and fill the outer pan with hot water until the water level reaches halfway up the sides of the baking dishes. Bake for 28 minutes. Remove from oven and sprinkle the rest of the grated coconut on the top. You can also steam this cake in a pudding tin if you have one.

You can serve this hot or cold. I do prefer it hot! Maybe that's just because I can't stand to wait.

Tom Jued: Thai Clear Soup With Minced Pork

This really easy and light-tasting soup is the first Thai dish I learnt to make on my first trip to Thailand in August 2000. It's also probably the only Thai soup that isn't hot and spicy. Thanks to the garlic, coriander and beansprouts, it really highlights the fresh and light taste that characterizes Thai food, without the usual heat. If you can bear to eat a Thai meal without adding a few peppers, be my guest!

I usually make a large quantity of the meatballs and freeze them raw in a plastic baggie. Having them on hand that way make this soup even easier: 5 minutes from start to finish! It's make a great first course to a heavier meal because it's so light ans refreshing.

The recipe below is adapted from the recipe given to me at the Chiang Mai Thai Cookery School by Sompon Nabnian, the proprietor of the school.

If you can't find coriander root, you can use the stems, finely chopped, but increase the amount to 4 tablespoons. Glass noodles are also called bean thread. You should be able to find them in any Chinese grocery store. You will need to soak them for a few minutes in hot tap water and then use kitchen scissors to cut them into smaller pieces. After that, drain them and they are ready to use in your soup recipe.

Serves 6

• 300 grams minced pork (about 1 + 3/4 cups)
• 3 tablespoons coriander root, finely chopped
• 6 cloves garlic, chopped
• 4 cups chicken stock or water
• 3 cups Chinese cabbage
• 1 cup soft tofu, cut into small pieces
• 1 + 1/2 cups soaked glass noodles (about 150 grams dry)
• 3 tablespoons light soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon fish sauce
• 2 spring onions, chopped
• 1/4 cup coriander leaves

Mix the pork, coriander root or stem and garlic together with your hands until very well Separate the mixture into tiny meatballs, about the size of a small grape - you should be able to make approximately 48. Set aside.

Put the stock into a pan and bring to the boil.  Add the meat balls and cook for 2 minutes.  Turn down the heat to medium-low, then add the shredded Chinese cabbage and tofu and simmer gently for another two minutes.  Add the soaked glass noodles followed by the light soy sauce and fish sauce.  Ladle into 6 bowls and garnish each with coriander leaves and spring onions.

Chinese braised pork hocks

 

 

A while ago I posted that I had come into possession of some mighty fine pork hocks and had no idea what to do with them. Several fantastic readers sent in some fantastic suggestions. Given that I have a quite a few pork hocks at my disposal, I'll try to make a few of the recipes over the next little while.

I just couldn't get past my love of the bison spare ribs I made a few weeks ago. So I decided to try a similar approach with the pork hocks. To my mind, they could probably use s bit more cooking time than the bison got as the meat was not as tender. I've accounted for that in the recipe below, but, if you've got the time and you are using a slow cooker, I'd just let them go all day! The worst that can happen is that the meat will just fall off the bone, which is probably better that having to burn yourself pulling hot pork off a scorching bone with your fingers!

Like the bison, this flavour is intense and rich with the flavour of the rice wine and soy sauce. For me, the words "pork hocks" conjure up images of the deep south -- collard greens, corn grits, a rocking chair on the porch, a dusty old pickup truck, biscuits and gravy....So I thought I'd pair the spareribs with grits instead of rice. The grits definitely have a corn taste to them, but in texture, they closey resemble a firm-grained, yet sticky rice, so worked well with the Chinese-flavoured sauce. I was fresh out of collard greens, so employed some orange capsicum and snow peas sauteed in a splash of rice wine to take on the role of understudy to collard greens.

I also wanted to experiment with the different flavours of rice wine, as I used only one specific kind in the bison recipe. Here I use a blend of two very different brews.

I must say that, when I opened the package, I was quite relieved to see that the pork hocks did not have feet attached to them!

Serves 4

• 2 pork hocks (about 4-5 pounds), rinsed well
• 1 cup light soy sauce
• 1 cup dark salted rice wine
• 1 cup clear rice wine
• 1/2 cup palm sugar
• 1/3 cup sliced ginger
• 4 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1 onion, sliced
• 1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
• 4 star anise
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 3 1 inch pieces of orange peel, pitch removed

Put the pork hocks in a slow cooker (or a large pot on the stove top) together with all the other ingredients and add sufficient water so that the liquid covers the meat completely. If you're using a pot on the stove top, gently bring to the boil then and turn down to simmer. Simmer the pork hocks for at least 2 hours, or longer if you have the time. If you're using a slow cooker, allow to cook for 6 hours from the time you put all the ingredients in the pot.

Remove the cooked pork hocks to a plate to cool slightly. When cool enough to touch, use your fingers to work the flesh away from the bone, use your fingers to clean the meat of the skin and as much of the sticky jelly as you can . Discard the bone, jelly and skin. Set the meat aside.

Strain the stock and bring it to a boil, allow to boil rapidly to reduce the stock to one third of its volume or more. taste the stock during reduction. If it is not strong enough for your liking, reduce it some more.

Once the stock is strong enough for your taste, place the pork meat pieces in it and warm them in the stock for 5 minutes. Serve pork over grits or rice and drizzle the reduced stock over the top.

Asian inspired bison short ribs over sesame sushi rice

I had some marvellous, rich and dark rice wine braised bison short ribs about a month ago at Wild Tangerine and have been dying for an excuse to attempt something similar. I was looking for a make-ahead and reheatable main course to round out the meal I made for my office mate who won the contest I ran at work, offering a prize of a dinner for four. It was the perfect opportunity, I thought, to try these ribs out. Of course I made enough for  us and a few guests of our own!

The ribs are fall-apart tender and the sauce is rich and dark with soy sauce and salted rice wine. It's definitely the kind of dish that brings out the plate-mopper in all of us, so be sure to serve it with lots of rice to soak up the juice!

I served ours over sushi rice infused with vinegar, palm sugar, sesame oil and toasted sesame seeds. The version I made for my coworker was paired with sesame crusted black rice cakes. Both were excellent. One or two ribs per person is sufficient as they have far more meat on them than beef ribs. Make sure you get the correct kind of rice wine. Some rice wine is sold in clear bottles and is a white liquid at about 9.5% alcohol volume. That is not the right kind. The correct rice wine is a dark golden colour, an alcohol content of 17.5% and is known as salted rice wine. Check the importation label to make sure your wine comes from the general brewery of Siao Hseng City in the Zhejiang Province of China. It is sometimes known as Ko Yu Dragon Mountain Brand (Hua Tiao Chiew).

Asian inspired bison short ribs (serves 4)

• 4 pounds bison short ribs, cut into individual ribs.
• 1.5 cups soy sauce
• 1/2 cup salted dark rice wine
• 4 cloves garlic, crushed and chopped
• 1/2 cup palm sugar
• 1 tablespoon minced lemongrass
• 3 pieces ginger, each 1/2 cm. thick and measuring 1-2 cm. by 3-4 cm, cut into sticks
• 1 litre water
• 1/2 medium onion, sliced thinly
• 4 stalks green onion, chopped
• 2 chopped Thai peppers (or 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes)
• juice of one lemon
• juice of one lime

Place all ingredients into a large (5-6 litre) pot  or into your slow cooker. If there is not enough liquid to cover the ribs, add water until they are covered. Bring to the pot to the boil (or, if you are using your slow cooker, wait until you see it start to bubble and spit). Reduce cover and simmer for 3 hours. Remove ribs from the liquid and set aside. Strain liquid through a sieve and reduce in a pot over medium high heat until reduced in volume to about 2 cups, and sauce is thick enough to coat a spoon. This will take about 30 minutes. Return ribs to pot,a stir to cover with sauce. Serve over rice.

Sesame crusted purple rice cakes

• 1 cup black sticky rice, cooked (find out how to cook black sticky rice here)
• 1 cup white sticky rice, cooked (find out how to cook white sticky rice here)
• 1 tablespoon palm sugar
• 1 teaspoon regular white, unsalted rice wine
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
• 1 cup toasted sesame seeds

Combine all ingredients except sesame seeds. With damp hands roll the rice into 4 equal balls (about the size of a small baseball. Roll balls in sesame seeds and flatten with hand, or press into a biscuit/scone cutter, to make a round cake shape.

Spray with oil and heat in oven at 325F for 15 minutes. Serve with bison short ribs on top.

Pad Thai Tribute

I love Thailand. I found it very depressing to watch some of my favourite places on earth on the telly in the days since the tsunami. The Thais are such warm people and their country is so beautiful. There were so many places on the news that I recognized.  In order to make myself feel better I decided to make the pad Thai I learned to cook at the Chiang Mai Thai Cookery School. I’ve been there both times I’ve gone to Thailand and the next time I go, I will definitely be taking their master class! The teachers are wonderful and funny and the class is so interesting. It’s not just a live cooking show, but a hands on instruction and interactive discussion on all topics relating to native Thai foods.

I can’t claim that this is the original recipe as I’ve mutated it somewhat over the time I’ve been making it. For starters, theirs calls for tamarind paste, and I much prefer lime juice for the sour. I’ve never liked tamarind paste.

When I’m missing Thailand, like now, I cook up a big batch of this, make myself a pineapple shake and settle back.

The quantities of ingredients listed are all really an estimation of what I use and are thoroughly alterable to suit your own tastes. I like my Pad Thai pretty spicy and limey, so bear that in mind.

Serves 4

Ingredients:

1 Tbsp oil

4 cloves chopped garlic

5 chopped shallots

¼ cup Tiny dried shrimps

25-30 prawns, peeled with tail on

3 Tbsp soy sauce

½ cup fish sauce

4 Tbsp palm sugar

Juice of 2 whole limes

4-7 birds eye chilies, diced fine, including seeds

Fresh wide rice noodles (or dry, but soaked in boiled water for 5 minutes)

3 eggs

4 cups bean sprouts

½ cup crushed peanuts

4 lime wedges

Heat oil in large non-stick wok or stir-fry pan and stir-fry the garlic, shallots, dried shrimpies and prawns for 2 minutes. Meanwhile whisk together in a bowl the soy sauce, fish sauce, palm sugar, lime juice and chilies and set aside. Add the wet noodles to the pan and stir-fry for 3 more minutes, adding about a ½ cup of water or chicken stock to soften the noodles. Stir in sauce, and continue cooking.

Break eggs into sauce bowl and whisk to combine.

If your pan is big enough, push noodles to the side and pour egg into the empty spot. Otherwise, empty contents of pan into large bowl. Pour eggs into empty pan and rotate pan to get a large, thin omelet covering the bottom and sides of the pan. When the omelet has just about set, return the noodle mixture to the pan and stir to combine, breaking up the omelet and mixing it through the noodles. Remove pan from heat, add bean sprouts and stir to combine.  Heap servings onto plates and garnish with crushed peanuts and lime wedges.

As an added bonus, here are some of my favourite photos of our last trip to Thailand.