Thursday, January 26, 2012

Beet this!

I thought I’d share with you my new raw salad – this is a recipe I discovered after been given a beetroot and having no idea what to do with it apart from roast it………


This salad is ever so healthy and fresh and bursting full of colour and natural flavour! Since making it the first time, ive since altered the recipe by adding lots of other veges I think give it create colour and also go really well.


So here goes:
Grated raw beetroot
Grated raw carrots
Corn kernals
Pepitas (pumpkin seeds)
Orange segments
Fresh coriander
Chopped capsicum
Spring onions
Rocket leaves




Dressing
Red wine vinegar
Olive oil
Lemon juice
Pepper/salt


What a bright little addition to the dinner table! :)

Panang Curry!

This dish would by far – have to be my favourite Thai dish ever invented.

I usually eat it at Lanna Thai in Subiaco – who I have declared the overall winner of BEST Panang Curry in Perth from all (and I have been to quite a few) the Thai restaurants in Perth. I’ll be blogging about this very soon!

I once tried a Panang Curry that rivalled this curry in Melbourne on Lygon Street – This Thai restaurant called Chang Mai Thai – but that’s another story, another blog post.
Despite all this talk of Panang Curry in Restaurants, this post is about the Panang Curry I made from scratch!

For those of you who don’t know what a Panang curry consists of, It is typically a coconut milk based Thai curry with the base flavour of Red Curry with Peanuts – giving it a red curry/satay flavour = amazing!
To make the paste, I needed to blend:
Lemongrass
Chilli
Ginger
Garlic
Fish sauce
Lime rind



This is all the ingrediants in the food processor to make the Panang Curry paste



This was then heated in a wok with coconut milk, chicken and veges were added.


The chicken, spring onion, lime rind and fish sauce.


We put the remainding paste into an ice cube tray to freeze to be used at any time!



The Panang Curry paste and onion heating over the stove

Frying up the chicken to be added to the curry.

Fish sauce, lime juice and crushed peanuts were added and cooked through.

Believe it or not, once the curry was put in the bowl and served with steaming white rice. The camera didn't stand a chance as it was gobbled up before I think I took a breath.


Overall, this took a fair while to make. The paste was the main adventure, sourcing all the raw ingredients from a local asian food mart then carefully adding the precise amounts to maintain the right balance of flavour.


You can easily buy curry pastes from your local supermarket, you don't even need to go to an asian food store. However the task of making this favourite dish from scratch was much more appealing at the time for the sake of a "challenge". :)

This curry (like most homemade curies - I've been told) is best served a day or two after making it.  


This allows the curry paste to marianate throughout the veges and meat and create a gorgeous flavour!




If I had my way, I'd finish this meal with some sweet sticky rice with thai coconut custard or mango (if it's in season). But this is one recipe I just can't seem to perfect!


Lucky I have an amazing Thai friend who makes me this dessert whenever I am down south visiting her.


...Looks like it's time for another road trip ;)