Simple Cooking

This is truly yum!yum! I have never come across something like this in any Thai restaurant, so this is probably not an authentic Thai recipe.

But in any case, as I said, yum!yum!



This is what you need:

3 cups lower sodium chicken broth (not cream of coconut)
1 (13.5-ounce) can unsweetened coconut milk
1 (1-inch) piece fresh ginger, peeled and cut into 1/8-inch slices
2 tablespoons fish sauce
1 jalapeño pepper, finely chopped
1 tablespoon grated lime zest
1 teaspoon sugar substitute
1 pound medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
4 ounces button mushrooms, cut into 1/4-inch slices
2 spring onions, thinly sliced
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice


This is how to cook it

Combine broth, coconut milk, ginger, fish sauce, jalapeño, lime zest and sugar substitute in a large saucepan over medium-low heat. Bring to a low boil, partially cover and simmer for 10 minutes.
Add shrimp and mushrooms; simmer until shrimp are cooked through, 3 to 5 minutes. Remove and discard ginger. Stir in spring onions, cilantro and lime juice and serve.

Ok now that you know where Burma is (yeah! yeah!), here's another recipe from Burma, I came across and cooked very recently. Came out well and unlike Indian food, its not too spicy. The hotness quotient is subjective.

This is a somewhat dry recipe unlike the full on curry like Kaukse.

Here's what you need

2 Onions, rough chopped
5 Cloves garlic, rough chopped
1/2 Inch piece fresh root ginger, peeled and chopped
2 sticks of lemon grass, roughly chopped
2 Red chillis seeded and chopped (habaneros work well, you'll need rather more Thai chillis)
1tbsp Fish sauce (nam pla)
1 tsp Ground turmeric
4 tbsp Veg oil
1 kg Chicken cut into curry pieces
4 Green (or two black) cardamon pods
2 tbsp rough chopped coriander/cilantro leaf
Salt and fresh ground black pepper

Here's how to cook it:

Grind the first 7 ingredients (ie up to and including the turmeric) together into a smooth paste (food processor/pestle and mortar etc). Heat oil in wide frying pan or wok and add paste, stiry-fry until moisture has evaporated and paste has started to brown. Add chicken pieces and stir well, scrape bottom of pan to prevent sticking. THis wont be a problem if you are using a non stick. Cover tightly and simmer for 35-45 minutes - there should be enough liquid given off from the chicken during cooking but check now and then and stir. If chicken does get too dry and starts sticking/burning (and it's never happened to me) add a tablespoon or so of water and stir in, scraping residue off bottom of pan.
Shortly before chicken is ready slit open cardamom pods and extract seeds, crush seeds in pestle and mortar and add to chicken with coriander leaf, stir and simmer for a further minute or so, taste and adjust seasoning.
Serve with plain rice or coconut rice.

Goes great with Singha or Tiger Beer..hic!

For those who dont know where Burma is, its capital Rangoon might ring some bells. If not, Burma is a small kingdom, very cut off from the rest of the world, to the west of India and south of China. Its not completely oriental and is close to the Indian sub-continent, thus getting influences from both these culture. The Burmese are mainly hill people. America seems to be slowly discovering Burmese cooking, thanks to new restaurants like the one mentioned in Washington Post suggests.

The Kaukse is a chicken recipe, I picked it up from the net and have since cooked it a number of times. It is coconut based has full taste but is not hot and spicy and is to be eaten with rice.

This is what you need

1 chicken-cooked, de-boned and cut into small pieces
1 1/2 cups thick coconut milk
3 large onions-finely sliced
3 cloves garlic-crushed
1/2 cup chickpea flour
1 cup thin coconut milk
4 eggs hard boiled chopped
small coriander leaves-chopped
green chillies-chopped
chilli oil (1 tsp of chilli powder and 2 tbsp of olive oil cooked together for a minute)

This is how to cook it

Cook thick coconut milk in a saucepan, stirring constantly, until it is very oily.Add half the onions and all the garlic and fry, stirring, until they start to color.Add chicken and cook, stirring constantly for a few minutes. Set aside. Mix chickpea flour with cold water to form a thin cream. Add thin coconut milk to the pan and when it comes to a boil stir in the chickpea flour mixture. Cook and stir constantly until it thickens a little.Add the chicken and onion mixture, and simmer 3-5 minutes.Stir in chilli oil and remove from the heat. Garnish chopped hard boiled eggs, raw onions, coriander and green chillies.

Eat with rice.

A very standard Chinese Fare and delicious to say the least. Not very time consuming and has a fairly distint garlicy taste and flavour. Goes well with hot plain rice or fresh noodles.

The sauce is the soul of this recipe and adds the taste and the flavour while the chicken itself is coated with cornflour for the crunchiness.

Bring out the chop sticks!

Here's what you need:

Ingredients: 1 chicken (about a kg or less) cut into small pieces
2 tbsp corn flour
1/4 cup (60 g) oil
1 large onion-sliced finely
2 tbsp grated ginger
10 cloves garlic-finely chopped

Sauce ingredients to be mixed together
2 tsp soya sauce
1/2 cup water
1 tbsp vinegar
1/4 cup tomato puree
1 tsp salt or to taste
1/4 tsp powdered black pepper
1 tsp corn flour

Here's how to cook it

Wash chicken pieces and wipe dry. Put these and corn flour into a paper or plastic bag and shake well to coat chicken well. Remove the coated pieces, dust off the excess flour and keep aside.Heat oil in a kadahi. Add chicken pieces first over high heat then lower the heat and fry till golden and cooked through. Drain well and keep aside. In the remainder oil, add sliced onion, ginger and garlic, and stir fry till onion is transparent. Add chicken, turn around a few times, and then add the mixed sauce ingredients. Stir-fry till the sauce thickens a bit. Transfer chicken to a serving dish, garnish with spring onions and serve.

This a somewhat oriental themed Chicken recipe that I concocted myself. Its not too complex and can be managed easily and has a light taste unlike the more full blooded Indian recipes. The aroma of Lemongrass is very refreshing and gives the recipe a very light summery taste and feel. Goes well with rice.

This is what you need:

4-5 chicken legs
juice of 1-2 lemons
1 tsp ginger paste
1 tsp garlic paste (if using ginger garlic combined paste, just use 2tsp in total)
salt - to taste
pepper - to taste
2 tsp honey
oil - for shallow frying
4-5 tbsp water
a bunch of fresh lemon grass

This is how to cook it:

Marinate the chicken in lemon juice, ginger paste, garlic paste, salt and pepper for 2 hours. After that, heat some oil (2tbsp) in a non stick pan, add the marinated chicken marinade stir for a few minutes.Drop in the lemon grass, mix and add the water. Cover and simmer for about 20 mins or till done. Now add the honey, mix well and cover again for a few minutes.

Serve with a lemon wedge.