Author: SamTheChef

Thai green chicken curry recipe

This is a follow up from the last post (Thai green curry paste)

I love the distinct flavour of a Thai curry, get one up on the takeaways with this fairly simple recipe, let’s get to it!

Ingredients (serves 6-8)

  • 500-800g of diced chicken, white or brown meat is fine
  • 1 tin of coconut milk (about 400g)
  • 1 large onion or 2 medium finely diced
  • 2 limes
  • 200-300g mangetout, or sliced green beans
  • 2-4 tbsp thai fish sauce
  • 1-2 tbsp light soy sauce
  • 2-4 tbsp green Thai curry paste
  • 1-2 tsp sugar
  • 100-200g new potatoes
  • 1-2 chicken stock cubes
  • A good handful of Thai basil, or basil
  • Oil for cooking, I use sunflower or groundnut
  • Salt and pepper

Equipment

  • Knife
  • Chopping board
  • A wok, or frying pan
  • Saucepan
  • Slotted spoon
  • Measuring jug

Prep and cooking (30-40 minutes)

  1. Start by boiling a pan of water with some salt, when it’s at a rolling boil add the beans and cook for about 3 minutes, remove with a slotted spoon and put in a measuring jug, run under a cold tap until the beans are cold and drain the excess water, put to one side.
  2. Slice the potatoes in half/equal sized pieces and cook in the same water as the beans for 7-10 minutes until soft but not overdone. Run under cold water until cold, drain and put to one side.
  3. You can either do this after the first 2 steps or at the same time (just keep track of what you’re doing), heat some oil to a medium high heat in the wok/pan, when it’s nice and hot add the onion and stir/toss constantly for 1-2 minutes until starting to colour.
  4. add the Thai curry paste and cook for another 1-2 minutes while stirring.
  5. As the coconut milk and keep the heat high until it starts to bubble.
  6. Add the sugar, soy, fish sauce, stock cube and diced chicken. Turn the heat down low and simmer with a lid on for about 10 minutes (until the chicken is cooked).
  7. Zest the lime into the pot, add juice if desired (taste first).
  8. Before serving stir in some basil leaves while it’s hot but not on the heat about a minute before serving.
  9. Enjoy some Thai!

“Ain’t nobody got Thai for that“

So there you have it, pretty simple and always a joy to eat.

Been busy with work the past few days but got some days off coming up so will hopefully get a few new recipes/guides up soon!

Thai green curry paste recipe

I’ve had a few requests for a Thai green curry, specifically one that uses ingredients that are easily obtainable in the UK.

I would advise making your own Thai curry paste as it packs more of a flavour punch, it’s cheaper than that from the shop and it’s more fun doing it yourself.

I thought I’d start with a Thai curry paste recipe, as a good curry paste (should) make a good curry!

To the recipe!

Ingredients (makes about 500ml)

  • 2-3 medium onions
  • 10-15 green chillis
  • Ginger paste (2-3 tbsp)
  • Garlic paste (2-3 tbsp)
  • 1-2 lemons
  • 2-4 limes
  • 2 tbsp coriander seeds
  • 1 tbsp ground cumin
  • 50ml Thai fish sauce
  • 20ml light soy sauce
  • 30-50g fresh coriander
  • 100ml olive oil

Equipment

  • A food processor, or,
  • A mixing bowl/measuring jug and an immersion blender

Prep (5 minutes)

  1. Zest and juice the lemons and lime into bowl.
  2. Dice the onion and add to bowl.
  3. Slice chillis, remove seeds if you don’t want it so hot and add to bowl.
  4. Lightly crush the coriander seed, add to the bowl with the rest of the ingredients.
  5. Blitz until smooth and keep in the fridge for upto 3-4 weeks.

Lemon squeezy

Nice and easy.

You can vary the amounts of ingredients depending on personal taste.

I’ll be doing a Thai green chicken curry recipe next so keep an eye out for it.

Looking at costing, the above recipe works out about £1.45 cheaper if you were to buy the same quantity from a supermarket, not too shabby!

Classic lemon tart recipe

Sharp and citrus! With delicious pastry.

Lemon tart (should) go down well pretty much anywhere, anytime.

This is a request from @michaelsmeatham on the Facebook page, so on to the recipe.

Ingredients (makes 1 large tart, 16 portions, or 8 large)

  • 500g shortcrust pastry
  • 8-10 eggs
  • 5-8 lemons (8 is pretty intense)
  • 250-350g caster sugar depending on your sweet tooth
  • 200-300ml double cream
  • Flour to roll pastry

Equipmemt

  • Rolling pin
  • A quiche/tart dish, around 23-28cm
  • Tin foil
  • Baking beans, or rice etc. (Dry and weighty)
  • Mixing bowl
  • Whisk

Prep and cooking (45-90 minutes)

  1. If you haven’t already, masker some shortcrust pastry.
  2. Heat oven to about 160°c fan (gas 4)
  3. Roll it out to about 1-1.3cm thickness, put in pastry case and blind bake for 15-20 minutes, I’ll upload a guide on blind baking on my next day off.
  4. While the case is in the oven get the filling ready by putting the eggs, sugar and cream in a mixing bowl and mix well, you can add a few extra egg yolks if you want it to make it a bit richer.
  5. Now zest the lemons into the mix, how many is up to you, when zesting try not to get the piff (white part under the skin and before the fruit) as it makes it more bitter, we want sweetness.
  6. Juice the desired amount of lemon juice, add and mix well. Lemon juice really adds sharpness, so you want enough to counteract the sugar but not incapacitate your mouth. At the end of it it’s all down to personal taste.
  7. When the case is ready turn the oven down to 140-150°c fan (gas 3). Pour the mixture in and bake for about 49 minutes, I set a timer every 10 minutes to check to adjust heat/turn it round if needed.
  8. Voila! Ideally you want to chill it before eating, but some things can’t be helped.

You saucy tart

Maybe not so saucy, or at least until you cook it, but a joy to eat nonetheless.

You can cut the recipe in half for a smaller tart, or you could use a cupcake/muffin tray to make mini tarts.

Having a look at the supermarkets, the price seems to range from about £2.50-£4, that’s for a regular (8 slice) tart, about 400-450g which is close enough to half the size of the above recipe.

Costing the recipe (I used tesco online for prices) the above recipe will set you back about £4.25 or about 26p a serving, giving you twice as much for the same (similar) price, and its homemade(!)

Any problems give me a shout!

Addictive apple crumble recipe


Crumbo!

Call it what you want, apple crumble always reminds me of Sunday’s when I was a kid, for me it’s with a big dollop of ice cream but custards always good.

Quick and easy (and delicious). This can be knocked up in about 30-40 minutes.

I will post a recipe with fresh apples soon, but I’ll be honest it tastes just as good with tinned apples.

Ingredients (serves 6-8)

  • 2 tins of sliced apples (about 600g, drained)
  • 500g self raising flour
  • 250g butter
  • 250g sugar (I usually use half caster, half demerara

Equipment

  • Mixing bowl
  • Knife
  • Oven dish big enough to hold everything.

Prep and cooking (30-40 minutes)

  1. Heat the oven to about 170°c (fan)
  2. Make the crumble, put the sugar and flour it a bowl. Cut the butter into cubes and add to the bowl, rub it all together with your fingertips until it looks like crumble, it should take 3-5 minutes.
  3. Empty the apples into the dish.
  4. Lightly cover with all the crumble (don’t push it down as it will all push together and cook as a big lump instead of crumble.
  5. Cook for 30-40 minutesnuntil golden brown
  6. Enjoy!

Tooty frooty; an apple that plays the trumpet.

Fiendishly simple, and just as tasty.

Apple crumble has been a classic since around world war 2, where rations meant it more economical than pies, to cut costs even more sometimes half the flour would be replaced with oats, which can add a nice texture.

Although it’s common to be sweet, crumble can also be savoury, such as a fish or vegetable crumble.

Hope you enjoy!

More recipes soon

Chip shop curry sauce recipe


Perfect with some nice chunky chips.

For me this is another big comfort food!

Love it or hate it, it’s a staple when it comes to fish and chips, or more importantly chips.

This recipe is somewhat similar to Chinese curry sauce, but with a slight variation on flavour and a few raisins thrown in.

Ingredients (makes enough for about 6 people)

  • 60g butter for cooking
  • 1 large onion or 2 medium
  • Garlic paste (about 1tbsp)
  • Ginger paste (about 1 tbsp)
  • 3-4 tbsp mild curry powder
  • 1-2 tsp ground turmeric
  • About 50g of raisins
  • 1 star anise
  • 1-2 tbsp of malt/white wine vinegar
  • 500ml chicken or vegetable stock
  • Salt and pepper

Equipment

  • Saucepan
  • Knife
  • Chopping board
  • Wooden spoon
  • Measuring jug

Prep and cooking (60-90 minutes)

  1. Heat the butter in a pan, dice the onion and cook for about 5 minutes on a medium heat.
  2. Add the garlic and ginger paste and cook for another 5 minutes. You want to get the mixture nice and soft, but not too much colour developing.
  3. Mix the curry powder and turmeric together with a little bit of water and add to the pan with the star anise, raisins and vinegar. Cook for another 1-2 minutes, be sure to keep stirring so nothing burns to the bottom of the pan.
  4. Add the stock and turn the heat up full to bring to the boil.
  5. When it starts boiling turn the heat down low and simmer for about half an hour, again be sure to stir occasionally to ensure nothing sticks to the bottom of the pan and burns.
  6. Take out the star anise and mix 3-5 tbsp of cornflour with some water to make a slurry, add it bit by bit to the sauce, cook for a minute or so before adding any more until you reach the desired thickness.
  7. I like to serve the sauce how it is, but if you want it smoother just put it in a food processor or blend it with an immersion blender.

Costing

Looking at price, I was in the chip shop a couple of days ago and got some curry sauce, it came in the usual polystyrene cup which is guess is about 100ml and it set me back £1.40

The above recipe will cost about £1.80-£2, Working out around 30p a serving!

So quite a saving, but it was a long day, we were all tired, and that’s kind of the point of paying someone else to make food for you(!)

The most expensive components here are the curry powder, butter and stock cubes (for chicken stock, unless you have fresh) do you can cut the cost further by replacing butter with oil, using a bit less curry powder and use 1 less stock cube (I usually use 2-3 for 500ml).

Just remember this will compromise in flavour a slightly on texture, but it can cut the cost to about 20p a serving.

Enjoy!

More recipes soon.

Champion chips recipe


Chippy chips chips, everyone loves chips!

If you don’t, then you probably should but I’m not one to judge.

What with storms taking over the past few weekends, why not have a go at these chunk-a-dunk homemade chips.

This is my favourite recipe for mouth watering moreish chips.

CHIPS!

Ingredients (serves 1-2)

  • 4 large potatoes, russets come out well
  • 2 medium onions
  • 1 bulb of garlic
  • Handful of fresh thyme on the stalk
  • Handful of fresh rosemary on the stalk.
  • Oil, I usually use rapeseed or sunflower (enough to deep fry)
  • Salt and pepper (preferably sea salt)
  • Water

Equipmmet

  • Medium/large saucepan, if you have 2 it speeds things up a bit
  • Roasting tray/oven dish
  • Knife
  • Chopping board
  • Collider or slotted spoon
  • Plate
  • Kitchen towel
  • If you have a deep fat fryer it helps, if not we just use a saucepan on the hob

Prep and cooking (25-30 minutes)

  1. Start by peeling the potato and cutting the chips, I haven’t done a guide for this yet I’ll try and get one up tonight, but it’s similar to a julienne slice. I cut them quite thick, about 1 inch squares and usually get 4-6 chips from 1 potato.
  2. Put the chips the a saucepan, slice the onions into quarter and add to the pan (skin still on).
  3. Separate the cloves from the bulb on garlic and roughly crush them, add to the pan (skin still on).
  4. Add the rosemary, thyme and a fair amount of salt.
  5. Fill with water until everything is covered and put on a high heat to boil.
  6. Either turn on your deep fat fryer (180°c) or fill another saucepan with oil and put on a high heat.
  7. As the potatoes come up to boil turn the heat down but only slightly. Keep an eye on them but they should need about 5-10 minutes depending how thick you’ve cut them (thinner will cook quicker). You want them to be at the point of nearly being ready to mash, but still hold their shape enough to manoeuvre.
  8. When they are ready either drain with a colander and put the chips on a wire rack/chopping board or remove from the pan with a slotted spoon.
  9. Let them cool for a minute or two then deep fry for 3-5 minutes until golden brown, if using a saucepan turn the heat down slightly when you add the chips, and before adding test the oil is hot enough by holding a chip and dipping it in.
  10. Remove when ready and put on a plate/bowl with kitchen towel. You can get them warm in the oven but they will lost their crispness overtime, but they will become nice and soft.
  11. If you want to make these to freeze, only half cook them when deep frying, clean of oil and freeze. To finish them off just add to hot oil straight from the freezer or defrost first.

Chip chip horay!

Now you can enjoy top notch chips all day long.

It seems that chips, or fries first started showing up in Latin America around the 17th century.

Here in England the first chips that were commercially available were reportedly made by a mrs.’Granny’ Dulce in 1854, more than 100 years after Latin America.

This started the English fast-food tradition of what we know and love today as fish and chips.

More recipes to come!

Mayonnaise base recipe


The gloopy gunk that people love, it’s white and spunky,

Yes, it’s mayonnaise of course!

On its own, I can’t stand the stuff, but as a base it’s handy stuff, kind of like food glue.

This recipe is for absolute bog standard mayo with no particular flavour but I’ll mention a bit more on that after, to the recipe!

(If you have a food processor then it will do all the hard work for you here, but keep in mind if you have a large food processor you will probably need to make a larger amount, if you have a small/mini one the below recipe should work fine)

Ingredients (makes about 300ml)

  • 2 egg yolks
  • 250ml oil, olive oil makes wonderful mayo but it’s not cheap, any regular oil like sunflower or rapeseed is great for adding flavours to
  • 2-3 tsp white wine vinegar or lemon juice (you can just use water but it’s not quite as easy)

Equipment

  • Food processor
  • If you don’t have a food processor; a mixing bowl or measuring jug
  • A measuring jug
  • Either a whisk, electric whisk or immersion blender (hand blender)

How to make it (5-10 minutes)

If you have a food processor;

  1. Put the egg yolk in the food processor with the vinegar/lemon juice and pulse until fully mixed together.
  2. Add about 1/2 tsp of oil, pluse for 5-10 seconds or until fully mixed, and repeat. Do this about ten times.
  3. Now start to do the same thing with about 1tsp of oil.
  4. Gradually add larger amounts of oil until you’ve used it all and you’re left with a thick mayonnaise.

If you don’t have a food processor;

  1. Put the egg yolks in a mixing bowl with the vinegar/lemon juice and mix well.
  2. Add about 1/2 a tsp of oil and mix until fully incorporate, repeat this about 10 times.
  3. Now do the same thing but with 1tsp of oil.
  4. Keep doing this with increasing amounts of oil until you have a thick mayonnaise.

Things to remember

The acid in the vinegar/lemon juice helps with the emulsification but try not to use too much as it can ruin flavour.

Make sure any oil is properly incorporated before adding any more oil, otherwise it’ll probably split.

Try not to over-whisk, especially with an electric whisk or food processor, as this can cause overheating and again make it split.

Mustard also helps with the emulsification, so if your going to add it I’d recommend putting it in before adding the oil.

When it comes to flavours you can try pretty much anything, different spices and herbs all work well.

Any problems let me know and I’ll try to help!

More recipes soon.

Takeaway style garlic and herb dip recipe


I would class this as a major comfort food but I do love garlic.

Shockingly easy to make, garlic and herb dip goes well with nearly anything, especially any form of potato or a kebab.

Let’s get to it!

Ingredients

  • Mayonnaise (homemade or shop bought)
  • Garlic paste
  • Mixed dried herbs
  • Salt and pepper (optional, I wouldn’t say it needs it)

Equipment

  • Mixing bowl
  • Whisk or wooden spoon
  • Desert spoon

Putting it together (2 minutes)

  1. Put the desired amount of mayonnaise in the mixing bowl.
  2. Put the desired amount of garlic paste in the mixing bowl, I usually go quite heavy on it.
  3. Add dried herbs, it’s easy to overdo as the herb taste can completely overpower everything so it’s best to just add a little at a time.
  4. Mix!
  5. Add salt and pepper if you think it needs it.
  6. Eat a gallon of the stuff.

Where does garlic go for a drink?

The salad bar.

Nope, I don’t get it either, but apparently it’s a garlic joke that I found online.

But there you have it! 4 (or 5(or 6)) simple steps to garlic and herb dip.

Just don’t overdo the herbs, if you want to make your own I’ll be posting a mayonnaise recipe next so keep an eye out.

Fragrant yellow basmati rice recipe


It doesn’t have to be yellow, but why not!

Turmeric, along with cloves, cardamom and a few other tasty aromas give this rice its appetising scent.

Perfect with a curry and easy to master let’s get to the recipe.

Ingredients (serves 4-6)

  • 400g Basmati rice
  • 600ml Water/chicken stock
  • Salt and pepper
  • 2-3 tsp ground turmeric
  • 4 cardamom pods
  • 4 cloves
  • 1 cinnamon stick
  • 4 dried bay leaves
  • 1/2 a star anise
  • 1 tsp oil or butter

The amounts on spices are just guidelines, adjust according to preference.

Equipment

  • Saucepan with a lid
  • Measuring jug
  • Tin foil

Cooking (30+ minutes)

  1. In a saucepan warm the butter/oil on a low heat with all of the spices apart from the ground turmeric, heat for 2-3 minutes to release fragrance.
  2. Add the rice and turmeric and mix well in the pan.
  3. Add the water/stock and turn the heat up full.
  4. Stir occasionally to stop any rice sticking/burning to the bottom of the pan, as it comes to a boil turn the heat down low a cover with a lid. Cook for 9 minutes without disturbing the pan or removing the lid.
  5. After 9 minutes take the lid off (watch out for steam!) and wrap some tinfoil tightly around the top of the pan as airtight as possible like a lid.
  6. Turn the heat off and leave the pan on the cooking ring for 20+ minutes, if recommend a minimum of 30 minutes. The rice should stay hot for 1-2 hours until you remove the tinfoil.
  7. Remove any spices that have risen to the top then fluff with a fork, removing any whole spices you can see.
  8. Serve and enjoy!

Tin foil hats at the ready..

The reason we use foil is to help with the steaming of the rice, which is also why you want to leave it costs Ceres for 20+ minutes before serving.

The rice will be cooked after the initial 9-10 minutes, but steaming it through after will (or should) provide wonderfully fluffy rice that doesn’t stick together.

Try it both ways and you should see quite a noticeable difference!

This rice goes great with most types of curry, or just on its own as a snack.

Rice can be frozen and reheated in a microwave, but it tends to go quite claggy.

More recipes soon!

Beautifully basic chocolate chip brownie recipe


Basic; in terms of your bog standard, no thrills brownie, but no stranger to extreme richness and rotting teeth.

Chocolate brownies!

Everyone still seems somewhat undecided if it sounds racist 🤔 but we don’t care about that!

Chocolate, and, butter! With loads of sugar! What’s not to like.

Ingredients (makes 15 brownies)

  • 400g butter
  • 400g caster sugar
  • 250-300g milk chocolate
  • 50-100g milk chocolate chips
  • 4 eggs
  • 200g plain flour
  • 1-2 tsp baking powder
  • Oil or butter to grease dish

Equipment

  • 2 mixing bowls
  • A hand whisk, electric is much easier
  • A sieve
  • A spatula
  • Microwave, or a saucepan and metal bowl to make a bain marie
  • I usually use a large Pyrex dish, which measures about 15cm x 30cm

Prep and cooking (40-60 minutes)

  1. Start but putting the chocolate and butter in a mixing bowl, if using a microwave use a plastic bowl and heat on full for 20-30 seconds, remove and stir and keep doing this until everything has melted, you want to try and heat it as little as possible and dissolve as much as possible by stirring. If using a saucepan and metal bowl then half fill the pan with water and bring to the boil, reduce the heat to low and put the bowl on top so the steam melts the chocolate and butter.
  2. Put the chocolatey butter liquid into the fridge.
  3. Turn the oven on to 160°c (fan).
  4. Crack the eggs into a clean mixing bowl and add the sugar. Whisk well on full speed for a minute or two until thick and foamy, it should be a pale golden colour. If using a manual whisk this should take 3-5 minutes.
  5. Take the chocolate mix out of the fridge and pour into the egg mix, use a spatula to empty the bowl.
  6. Mix well with a whisk.
  7. Sieve the flour and baking powder into the mix and fold in with the spatula. Folding in means gently mixing without knocking any air out.
  8. Grease the baking dish and fill with brownie mix.
  9. Sprinkle chocolate chips on the top and put in the oven for 20-25 minutes, it’ll be ready when you can put a skewer in the centre and it comes out clean.
  10. Eat lots of brownies.

Earn some brownie points

Originating in America, the little bites are true devils food. Butter. Sugar. Chocolate. Nice 😈

Once cool these can be cut into squares and individually wrapped in clingfilm to go the freezer.

When you fancy one just pop it in a bowl and cover it with the clingfilm and microwave on full for 1-2 minutes.