chilli Archives - freespiritfood

Hokkien Har Mee Laksa Bowls #harmee #laksa

This version of the famous Hokkien Har Mee, spicy Malaysian prawn and pork soup, was inspired by our daughter’s recent visit to have Laksa at Abel’s Komi Tiam in Canberra.

Stuck here in Sydney, with a couple of pork short ribs in the freezer, I googled around for a recipe to use the ribs and come close to an almost irreplaceable Abel’s Mum’s Laksa experience.

I read with interest about all the different versions of street hawker soups …which brought back great memories of our trip to Malaysia many moons ago.

Night market at Langkawi Island in Malaysia

The solution came forward in the form of a combination of recipes and my decision to just buy a good ready-made curry paste to start off the process. I bought this and other ingredients at a new Asian supermarket Summit at Bondi Junction

The great thing about this recipe is that it’s easy to make and you can pre-prepare most of it and just repeat and assemble at the end.

The other inspiration was this article in The Guardian Use your Noodle By Yottam Ottolenghi

The end result, somewhere between a laksa and a har Mee was just the soupy Asian fix we were looking for, and I got to use up the pork short ribs!

This recipe will serve 3-4 people.

Ingredients:

500-750g pork Asian style short cut ribs (ask your butcher)
8-10 green prawns with heads and shells intact
180g curry laksa paste (or closest you can get)
50g of rock sugar chunks
1 teaspoon salt
4 litres of water
3 tablespoons of vegetable oil
500g yellow Hokkien noodles
350g or thereabouts of rice vermicelli noodles
1 bunch water spinach or Asian greens of your choice eg bok choy
2-4 hard boiled eggs
3-6 tofu puffs
Bean sprouts
Asian crispy fried shallots
Leaves of half a bunch of Vietnamese mint (totally optional but great if you can get it. It’s not called Laksa leaf for nothing)
Finely chopped coriander, mint or vietnamese mint for garnish.

Method:

1. Cut pork ribs into single pieces in between the ribs, set aside

2. Peel and remove veins from prawns, reserving heads and shells.

Don’t forget to keep prawn heads and shells

3. Heat 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil in a large stock pot or casserole, add half the curry paste (reserve the rest for later). Stir fry curry paste until dark and fragrant, add prawn heads and shells (not the prawns!). Stir fry until prawn heads turn pink.

Add in prawns after frying half the curry paste

4. Add pork ribs, rock sugar and salt and cook turning until ribs are covered in curry paste and meat is sealed.

Add pork ribs to prawn and curry paste mixture.

5. Pour in all the water if you can and bring to a boil, then reduce to a low simmer for 1.5 hours, checking from time to time to skim off impurities and oil from pork ribs. Check to see park is fall of the bone tender, add more water along the way to ensure you have enough soup for all your diners. (End result should be about 2 litres of delicious soup stock.)

Skim stock to remove impurities along the way

6. After about an hour, hard boil your eggs, blanch your green vegees and set aside, blanch Hokkien noodles and vermicelli noodles, chop herbs, wash bean sprouts …so you have all your ingredients ready to go.

7. After an hour and a half of simmering…..Strain soup stock into a large bowl through a fine sieve or strainer. Remove pork ribs from sieve and set aside to cool in a bowl.

8. I then strained the stock one more time through a fine sieve, but that’s not totally necessary.

9. Clean stockpot or casserole dish. Pour stock back into the pot and place on stove ready to heat up and pour into your bowls.

10. In a small non-stick pan, add the other 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil, heat, then add all the rest of the curry paste. Once the curry paste is dark and fragrant and the oil is separating from it, place half of it into a small sambal dish. Add the prawns to the remaining paste and oil in the pan and fry until prawns turn pink and paste is nicely coating the prawns.

11. Heat the soup stock until simmering and add vietnamese mint leaves, tofu puffs to warm up….Quickly reheat ingredients in microwave if needed, an assemble bowls.

Reheating stock with laksa leaf and tofu puffs

12. In large soup serving bowls, arrange your ingredients starting with equal amounts of Hokkien and vermicelli noodles sitting side by side, top with warmed pork, green, prawns, bean sprouts, heated up tofu puffs and halved boiled eggs.

13. Remove vietnamese leaves from stock if using, then ladle soup over bowls until just under the brim of ingredients.

Soup poured over ingredients and garnished before serving

13. Sprinkle with herbs and crispy shallots and serve piping hot with the sambal on the side for those who want an extra chilli kick.

June 12, 2023June 12, 2023

ShanthiniLeave a comment

High Five for Hujan Locale #ubud

It was lovely to drop back in to Hujan Locale in Ubud for a family lunch last Sunday. With the mix of colonial and Asian touches of decore, the backdrop of a traditional Balinese family compound and sunlight and beautiful breeze streaming in to the upper dining room, it is still a beautiful space made even better with their delectable cocktails and food.

True to Will Meryck style, the menu featured fresh seasonal Indonesian ingredients and at Hujan Locale, the menu ranges across specialities from various regions, with strong nods to Malaysian and Chinese flavours and styles.

The style is certainly more Pan Asian but the focus is on great Indonesian ingredients and is very different menu to that at Nusantara., so is a very good option as a contrast.

We began with the superb slipper lobster dumplings in a tangy tomato sauce.

Slipper lobster dumplings at Hujane Locale

The Crispy While Fish (Tilapia River Fish) served with a green papaya salad., lettuce leaves, and a tangy tamarind sauce …which followed was stunning in its presentation and deep fried in a way which separates the bones from the fillet making it easy to share and enjoy. The combination of the crispy fish, the sauce, papaya salad wrapped in lettuce leaves was delicious.

Whole Crispy Tilapia at Hujane Local, Ubud

We tried the light vegetable curry cooked in a mild coconut sauce with yellow rice. Lovely as a side and/or a vegetarian option.

We finished our lavish lunch with the spectacular whole pig hock cooked in a sweet “Babi Kecap” style sauce, with steamed buns, cucumber and spring onions. The expertly deboned and shredded the pork at the table adding a sense of theatre to the occasion.

Definitely another High Five for Hujan Locale at Ubud. Here’s a link to my first review 7 years ago when it was just a new kid on the block.

March 23, 2023March 23, 2023

ShanthiniLeave a comment

Neil’s Nifty Nachos and Chilli

On our last night at Arcadia Retreat in Rarotonga our friend Neil made this delicious and nifty version of nachos and chilli.

As we know Nachos are usually multi-layers of tortilla chips with cheese and a variety of toppings often including versions of chilli con carne or meatballs. Inevitably the chips go soggy in parts, but with Neil’s Nifty Nachos, there is no danger of that!

The nifty trick is simply serve the cheesy tortillas baked in the oven separately to the chilli, sour cream and guacamole!

His recipe for the chilli con carne is also delicious, imbued with spices such as cinnamon and cloves!

Tips for great nachos

In exploring tips for great nachos I found these two articles which focus on the more traditional multi-layered versions.

This story from the Cape Cod Times suggests using the cheese as a buffer zone to protect the crispiness of the chips. (This story also has some interesting suggestions about the creation and naming of nachos.)

And Bon Appetit lays out 10 rules for making nachos.

But neither suggest Neil’s Nifty Nachos version of simply separating the chips and sauce and completely avoiding any chance of soggy chips in the first place!

So here’s how he does it.

Neil’s Nifty Nachos and Chilli Recipe

Make the chilli first, but don’t forget to get the ingredients for the nachos and sides when you go shopping!

Chilli Ingredients

250g beef mince
250g pork mince
1 large onion finely diced
1 can kidney beans (do not drain, it will go in with the brine!)
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 bay leaf
1 cinnamon quill
6 whole cloves
1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds
1/2 teaspoon of chilli powder
4-5 cloves of garlic finely chopped
3-4 fresh red chillies finely chopped (deseed if you prefer)
1 can chopped tomatoes
2 teaspoons tomato paste
1 cup water
1/2 bunch of fresh coriander chopped
1 green capsicum diced
1 fresh tomato diced
Salt and pepper to taste

Method:

1. Heat oil in a large heavy based pot or pan with a lid, and add cinnamon, cloves, cumin seeds and bay leaf ..heat until fragrant.

2. Add pork and beef mince, garlic, onion, chopped chilli and chilli powder.

3. Turn up heat frying and breaking up mince continuously with a spoon for about 5 minutes until well coloured and onions are translucent. It’s important to dry fry the mince rather than allow it to stew.

4. Add tinned tomato, tomato paste and can of kidney beans with brine and simmer over medium heat for 20 minutes or so to allow mince to absorb flavours, adding 1 cup water if mixture is sticking.

Add tomatoes, tomato paste to mince mixture.

5. Add green capsicum, half the fresh coriander and fresh tomato and cook for another 15 minutes until sauce is reduced and capsicum is just cooked.

6. Add the rest of the fresh chopped coriander and mix through.

7. Serve with tortilla chips, sour cream, pickled jalapeños and guacamole on the side.

Nachos ingredients:

1 bag of tortilla chips
1 cup freshly grated cheddar cheese (as chunky grate as you can)
1 cup grated mozzarella
Baking paper

Method:

1. Turn on your grill to high heat and line baking pan with baking paper.

2. Alternately layer tortilla chips generously sprinkling the two types of cheese between them, saving enough for a thick layer of cheese on top.

Chunky grated cheese for Neil’s tortilla chips

3. Grill chips until cheese is melted and chips are crispy. Serve immediately on the side with Neil’s chilli, sour cream, pickled jalapeños and sour cream on the side.

Serving Neil’s Nifty Nachos and Chilli

Lift the cheesy tortilla chips with the baking paper onto a platter or just place baking pan (on a placemat) on the table with chilli con carne and sides such as sour cream, guacamole and pickled jalapeños to the side.

Guests serve themselves, layering the chips with the chilli and sides to their taste, but you can be guaranteed that the chips stay crispy and the chilli is delicious!

February 5, 2023February 5, 2023

Shanthini1 Comment

Zesty Finger Lime Cucumber Salad

This zesty finger lime cucumber salad was a delicious accompaniment to our warm beef salad, and would also be lovely with grilled or poached fish or chicken.

A friend of ours had gifted us native Australian finger limes which are becoming a very trendy ingredient on restaurant menus “down-under”, but they are still difficult to find in shops. If you see any, make sure you grab them as you will love their unique “caviar” like texture with tiny balls of lime that pop in your mouth.

You can read more about this intriguing fruit https://tuckerbush.com.au/finger-lime-citrus-australasica/

I really wanted to make a dish that would showcase their flavour n texture ad thought cucumbers would be a good “backdrop” for this purpose.

I found this great recipe on The Devil Wears Salad but didn’t have all the ingredients to hand so improvised with things I had to hand.

The resulting cucumber salad topped with the caviar-like pearls of finger lime was delicious and the perfect zesty accompaniment to our warm beef salad.

(Thanks Helen for gifting us such a wonderful new ingredient!)

Ingredients:

2 Lebanese cucumbers
4-5 ripe finger limes
1 red chilli (deseeded if you prefer)
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon crushed fresh ginger
1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
1 tablespoon white wine or rice vinegar

Method:

1. Slice and chop one cucumber into small chunks. I slice then quarter each slice. Then using a large vegetable peeler, “peel” the second cucumber into long ribbons. Mix the 2 styles of cucumber in a bowl and set aside.

2. Chop the chilli finely and crush the ginger.

3. Mix together the soy sauce, sesame oil, crushed ginger , chopped chilli, and vinegar in a small bowl.

3. Cut the finger limes in half, horizontally. Onto a plate, Squeeze the end of each half gently but firmly until “pearls” of lime emerge. Repeat with all lime halves until you have a glistening pile of finger lime “caviar”. (You want to do this as close to serving your salad as possible so the finger lime pearls don’t dry up and clump together in lumps)

Finger lime caviar squeezed from halved lime

5. Gently toss dressing through cucumbers, then place the dressed cucumbers on a serving plate and scatter the finger lime caviar over the salad and serve immediately.

January 29, 2023January 29, 2023

Shanthini2 Comments

Bang Bang Chicken Salad

Bang bang chicken is a spicy shredded Chinese chicken salad that we first tasted at the humble but iconic “Chinese Noodle Restaurant” in the Prince Centre in Sydney’s Chinatown. As well as their delicious handmade noodles, their shredded chicken salad is always on one of our menu choices when we visit. It’s been a family favourite since the early 90’s!

Over the years I have also tried to recreate it at home. It’s a great weeknight dinner which can be served with lettuce cups, steamed greens and some jasmine rice if you like, or just delicious on it’s own.

It has the name “bang, bang” because it was traditionally banged with batons to loosen the chicken fibres before shredding. I use a mallet to do this and it works a treat!

Add chopped steamed green beans and lots of cucumber to add a bit more bulk to it as a meal in itself! It’s a great for lunch the next day too.

Ingredients
2-3 poached chicken thigh fillets
Glad wrap and a meat mallet
2 teaspoons Chinese chilli oil (I use Chiu Chow style)
2 teaspoons Szechuan pepper crushed
1 teaspoons soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon ginger pounded to a paste (optional)
1 teaspoon Chinese Chinkiang vinegar
1/2 teaspoon white sugar
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1/2 cup sliced spring onions
1 cucumber sliced and cut into chunks

Method:

1. Place glad wrap over poached chicken laid flat on a chopping board. Use mallet to lightly flatten, then shred into long strips into a bowl.

2. Whizz or pound Szechuan pepper in a spice grinder to a (not too fine) powder, place in bowl, mix with sesame oil, vinegar, chilli oil, sugar and soy sauce.

3. Add spring onion to chicken, then dress, mix well, taste to see if you want to add extra chilli oil or Szechuan pepper, or soy sauce if not salty enough.

4. I add the cucumber last and lightly toss.

January 21, 2023

Shanthini2 Comments

#Booji Breakfast: spicy Indian scrambled #eggs

A favourite Indian breakfast and famous street food which is just as good for a quick lunch or dinner. There are lots of different versions and you can experiment by adding chopped bacon bits, tomatoes or even finely diced boiled potato.

I made this today for Father’s Day breakfast served with crunchy sourdough toast and sausages.

Ingredients:

1 small onion very finely diced
1 large mushroom finely diced (optional)
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 or 2 cloves garlic smashed to a paste
2 green birdseye chillies finely chopped
1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
1/2 teaspoon cummin powder
1/4 teaspoon red chilli powder
1/2 teaspoon cummin seeds
2-3 curry leaves (optional)
1 tablespoon diced coriander
3 large eggs beaten

Method:

1. Heat oil and 1 tablespoon of butter in a non stick frying pan over medium heat.

2. Add cumin seeds and curry leaves if using. Heat until fragrant.

3. Add onions and cook slowly over gentle heat until translucent, then add garlic and sauté for a minute.

4. Add turmeric, cumin and chilli powders and sauté until cooked into onions, about 1.5 minutes. Then add green chilli and mushrooms or other ingredients you may choose to add, like cooked bacon bits or finely diced boiled potatoes. Add a sprinkle of salt. Cook for 1-2 minutes until heated through.