Thai inspired san choy bau

This is my entry for this months Royal Foodie Joust. Jenn holds this monthly competition where foodie bloggers join in a "cook-off" using three ingredients. The three ingredients are chosen by the previous winner. Heather who won last months joust, chose pork or barley (for our veggie friends), citrus and peppercorns. A great combination and one that had me thinking for a few weeks. So I decided to go "Thai" and make a Chinese favourite utilising Thai ingredients! How's that for cross cultural? By the way, if you want to participate and vote just go here. Join up and get cooking!

San choy bau is a classic Chinese dish that can be found on a lot of menus. Traditionally, its made with chicken or pork mince and uses water chestnuts in the recipe. The cooked meat mixture is then placed in iceberg lettuce cups and rolled up to be enjoyed. Its very flavourful and addictive! I decided to use this recipe by adding a few Thai ingredients to the mix. I have rambled on many times about my love of Thai food. I spend a lot of time in Bangkok and love all the flavours associated with Thai cooking. The food is spicy, sweet, sour and salty all at the same time. Your taste buds are in for an enjoyable time with Thai food. Go ahead and tantalise them!


Some of our ingredients for the paste

RECIPE FOR THAI INSPIRED SAN CHOY BAU

N.B Some of the ingredients can be substituted if you cant find them. You can use brown sugar instead of palm and grated lime zest in place of the kaffir lime leaves.

• 1/2 a bunch of coriander (cilantro) roots, cleaned and scrubbed
• 2 escallots finely chopped
• 2 whole chillies , ends removed
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 2 tbsps of peppercorns, preferably white
• 1/3 of a cup of tamarind puree
• 2 tbsps of Thai fish sauce
• 3 kaffir lime leaves finely sliced
• 2tbps of grated palm sugar

• Iceberg lettuce
• peanut oil for frying
• 250g of pork mince (not too lean...we want a little flavour here!)
• 1/2 a cup of Thai Basil leaves
• Freshly squeezed limes

Place the above ingredients in a food processor till you achieve a lovely chunky, thick paste. Set it aside once done. Heat a wok up with some peanut oil and get it smokin! Place the paste into the wok and let it fry off. Then add the pork mince to the fried paste mixture and toss through ensuring the mixture is well combined and cooked through. Break up any lumps and continue to cook until there are no more pink bits visible. This should take no more than 10 mins. You need to work fast with a hot wok! Just before removing form the heat throw in your Thai Basil leaves and toss through. Remove from heat and leave it rest for a few moments.

The iceberg lettuce cups or "wrappers" can be prepared in advance. A good tip is to leave the lettuce soak in the kitchen sink filled with water. It becomes easier to remove the leaves without breaking them. Once you have the desired amount of leaves, snip the outer edges to make cute little cups. (all the "snipped" bits can be used for a salad later). Take the pork mixture and place it in the lettuce cups. Squeeze a little lime juice on top and garnish with sliced chillies and coriander leaves.


Enjoy the San Choy Bau

Tags:recipes royal foodie joust Coriander Thai

Dukkah Crusted Lamb

A friend noted the other day that I had been cooking a fair few salads here on my blog. He said it would be good if I could do some more meals with "bite". I interpreted that as meaning he wanted some meals that were a little more "filling". So I gave into my caveman instincts and decided to whip a meal fit for any carnivore. With a little flair of course! I had actually been craving lamb since my return from Greece. A quick visit to the local butchers had netted me some beautiful organic lamb fillets. Another visit to the deli and I noticed some freshly prepared dukkah for sale. "Great flavours" I thought. The lamb and the dukkah were a marriage made in heaven. Dukkah is that exotic Middle Eastern blend of ground hazelnuts, toasted sesame seeds, ground cumin and coriander. Traditionally served with bread and olive oil, it's quite versatile and can be used to flavour just about anything. I love its simplicity versatility.

When I got home I brainstormed and worked out this great quick recipe. The coriander or cilantro pesto was a last minute inclusion and added another dimension to the dish. Very simple, very quick and very tasty. I drizzled some extra virgin olive oil over the lamb and then sprinkled a liberal amount of the dukkah over it. I massaged the dukkah into the lamb making sure it was coated evenly. After letting it rest and marinate in the fridge for half an hour I threw it into a hot pan and seared it on all sides. I then placed the pan (with a stainless steel handle...not a plastic one!) into an oven that had been preheating at 200 deg C. I let it "bake" or cook for about 10 mins. Once it was out I placed onto another plate, covered it in foil and let it rest for about 5 mins. It's very important to let the meat rest as this allows it to maintain its juiciness and tenderness. Once I was ready to serve it, I thought it looked kind of naked. It was screaming for something else. So out came the coriander or cilantro to US folks and bang! Another marriage was born! I placed a bunch of coriander leaves and stems into a food processor, added some whole ground roasted almonds, a squeeze of half a lime, a good amount of extra virgin olive oil and some salt and pepper for seasoning. The "pesto" or salsa was just what the lamb needed. Even I was impressed!


Lamb and coriander pesto

Tags:quick recipes lamb Coriander