Category Archives: Thai

Thai pumpkin soup

May 28, 2018 1:37 pm / Leave a Comment /

I said last year that I wanted to do some more soups and now that it has become chilly in Sydney after a long, hot summer it is a good time to test a soup using the combi oven.

Roasting your vegetables first is a great way to get more flavour and in this version cook your curry paste at the same time.  If you don’t have a combi then saute the vegetables in a splash of oil and the curry paste over a low heat and then transfer to the steam oven to finish the cooking.  You do need to cook out the curry paste.

This is a recipe that you can adapt and play around with yourself.  You might like to roast the vegetables in the first stage a lot longer to give them some colour and try it without the curry paste or use the spices from my Spicy pumpkin soup here.

Whatever option you choose remember to use the one deep dish for the roasting and steaming the soup so that all the flavours you have in the base of the pan will go into your soup, making it even more delicious 🙂

Ingredients:  Serves 6-8

½ Butternut pumpkin, chopped into chunks
½ large Kumera, chopped
4 cloves garlic
knob ginger, sliced
1-2 tablespoons of Red Curry Paste
1 Pandan leaf, split and tied in a knot (optional but nice)
1 leek sliced and washed well OR 1 onion chopped roughly and added with roasting stage.
3 cups chicken or vegetable stock
1 cup water
1 cup coconut milk
Fresh coriander leaves to garnish

Method:

  1. Chop all the vegetables except the leek if using into similar size chunks.
  2. Put into a deep steam oven tray or deep large container that will hold over one litre.
  3. Add the curry paste & pandan leaf if using to the centre, cover with the vegetables and cook on Combination mode 180°C plus 90% steam for 30 minutes.
  4. Carefully remove dish from the oven and add the stock, water and leek if using.
  5. Return and change to steam oven mode and cook 100°C for 30 minutes, stirring 10 minutes or so into the cooking time.  This will break up the curry paste now that it has been cooked and remove all the yummy bits from the bottom of the pan.
  6. Test that everything is soft and remove from the steam oven.
  7. Set aside to cool.  Add the coconut milk if using and puree until smooth.
  8. Check for seasoning.  If you have used commercial stock the flavour should be OK otherwise season with fish sauce and a little brown sugar for that true Thai taste.
  9. Garnish with fresh coriander to serve.  Yum 🙂
Posted in: Combi Steamer, Soups, Steam Oven, Thai

Black sticky rice with coconut milk

March 6, 2016 8:08 pm / Leave a Comment /

Black sticky rice

One of my all time favourite Asian desserts.  This classic is also excellent served as part of a brunch or in tiny individual bowls or glasses at the end of a cocktail party.

Yet another rice dish that is fantastic cooked in the steam oven.  I use to cook this in my old Le Creuset pot that was lined in a pale coloured enamel.  A great pot but not for sticky rice as it use to turn it purple.  Easier to cook and wash up in the solid steamer tray.  Half quantity is a generous serving for four.

Result was delicious, just as good as before but without the messy pot!

Ingredients:  Serves 8-10

2 cups black glutenous rice
2½ cups water
2 Pandan leaves, cut to fit length of solid tray and spit down spine

Syrup:
125g palm sugar
¾ cup water

1 cup coconut milk
pinch sea salt to taste (it can be slightly over salted as the rice doesn’t contain any salt and it will balance out all the flavours)

Method:

  1. Wash black glutenous rice well in a sieve under cold running water.
  2. Soak overnight in cold water.
  3. Drain, rinse again and place into the solid steamer tray with the Pandan leaves flattened, ripped into strips down the spine to release the flavour and pushed under the water.
  4. Cook at 100°C steam for 30 minutes.  Open the steam oven half way through the cooking time to push the leaves into the liquid a little more.
  5. Remove from steam oven and immediately cover with a piece of aluminum foil.  The rice should be cooked but still have a ‘bite’ to it.  This process helps to extract all the flavour from the Pandan leaves.
  6. Let it go cold with the foil over until ready to serve or refrigerate for later*.
  7. In the meantime melt the palm sugar and water together in a small saucepan and set aside.  This can be stored in a jar in the refrigerator until required.
  8. When the rice has cooled (about 20 minutes) uncover, remove the Pandan leaves and discard.  You will need to scrape all the rice from the leaves.
  9. Stir in as much of the palm sugar syrup as you like to sweeten*.  It should be sweet but not sickly.
  10. Serve slightly warm* with coconut milk drizzled over the top and fresh, ripe mango for that tropical hit 🙂

Note:  *You can make this a few days before and reheat in the steam oven @ 100°C for 4 minutes.  If you are doing this don’t add the syrup until you are ready to serve.  In fact I never add the syrup until serving time when the rice is warm.  Let your guests add a little more if they like it sweeter.

Posted in: Breakfast/Brunch, Desserts, Gluten free, Steam Oven, Thai

Thai beef salad

June 19, 2015 12:43 pm / Leave a Comment /

 

Thai beef salad

Traditionally, the meat for a Thai beef salad is seared on the bar-b-que and cooked rare so the meat is tender and juicy.

Now, with a steam oven you have another great way to cook beef so that is will be the best, most tender steak you have ever eaten!  This recipe calls for the more expensive eye fillet steak but would also be fantastic with Sous vide steak here.

I have given you two options for the dressing.  One quick and one that I have been using for years from Charmaine Solomon’s Thai cookbook.  The lemongrass needs to be sliced paper-thin.  I think that the extra effort involved in using a traditional recipe such as this is worth it if you have the time.

Ingredients:  Serves 4-6

650g beef eye fillet
oil
200g baby green beans
2 spring onions, sliced finely
1 red onion, thinly sliced
2 Lebanese cucumbers, thinly sliced
1 punnet cherry tomatoes, halved
2 cups baby spinach leaves or spinach & rocket mix
½ cup coriander leaves
½ cup Thai basil leaves
½ cup mint leaves

Dressing 2, Quick option

1 birds eye chilli, finely chopped (leave the seeds in for a little heat)
1 clove garlic, crushed
2-4 kaffir lime leaves, very finely shredded into super thin strips
2 tbsp. lime juice
2 tbsp. lemon juice
2 tbsp. sweet chilli sauce
1 tbsp. fish sauce
1 tbsp. palm sugar, finely grated

Dressing 2, Traditional version

1 tsp chopped garlic
1 tbsp. chopped coriander roots and stems
black pepper, ground
1 tbsp. palm sugar
2 tsp Golden Mountain Sauce (or Maggi ‘Seasoning’ sauce)
2 tbsp. lime juice
2 tsp fish sauce
2 small purple shallots
1-2 red chillies seeds removed or to taste
1 stem lemongrass, sliced paper-thin

Method:

  1. For Traditional dressing:  Pound or crush the garlic, coriander roots, pepper and palm sugar.
  2. Stir in the sauces and juice.
  3. Slice the white part of the lemongrass, chillies and shallots very, very thinly.  Start with one chilli, you can always add more.
  4. For the Quick dressing:  Just mix all ingredients together in a jar.  Shake.
  5. For meat: Brush beef lightly with oil.  Sear in a hot pan until browned on all sides.
  6. Place beef in solid stainless steel tray.  Steam @ 100°C for 15 minutes.  If you have a smaller fillet, about 340g then 7 minutes was perfect.  Don’t overcook it, better to be under done than over.
  7. Place beans & snowpeas in perforated tray.  Steam @ 100°C for 2 minutes.  Refresh in cold, iced water.  Don’t steam with the beef on this occasion as your timing will be extended and the beef may overcook.
  8. Remove beef from steam oven and rest for 10 minutes.
  9. Just before serving, slice the beef.  Toss salad ingredients and dressing, leave a little to pour over the meat.

Serve with a small bowl of steamed rice here.

 

 

Posted in: Gluten free, Healthy eating, Salads, Steam Oven, Thai

Thai seafood soup

October 24, 2014 8:28 am / Leave a Comment /

Thai seafood soup

This is the first soup I have cooked in the steam oven and is a great example of how you can cook multi levels, with different ingredients all at different times.

I did do the Steamed salmon in ginger broth here where the other ingredients were cooked in the steam oven but the stock was boiled to reduce on the stove top.

This is a quicker version of the classic Tom yum goong without making a paste or your own stock, however fish or prawn stock is very easy to make and only takes 20 minutes to cook.  If you would like to make it, make sure you fry the prawn heads and shells until they turn red before you add the water and other flavourings.  You then need to pound out the shells in a sieve to extract as much flavour as possible.

If you have the smaller, narrow depth steam oven then you will need to cook your soup in a larger, deeper dish of your choice as your solid steamer tray is too small for this quantity.  Increase your time to 8 minutes as cooking time is increased compared to cooking in stainless steel.

Ingredients:  Serves 4

4 cups fish or prawn stock
2-3 bird’s eye chillies, seeds removed or to your taste
1 clove garlic, chopped finely
2 slices of ginger
4 spring onions, finely sliced
3 tbsp lime juice
1-2 tbsp. palm sugar or to taste
1-2 tbsp fish sauce or to taste (start with 1)
1 stick lemongrass, white part only smashed a little to ‘bruise it’
4 kaffir lime leaves, broken
500g fresh seafood of your choice (eg white fish, green prawns, salmon fillet etc)
Medium size packet (200g) thin bean thread or rice noodles (quantity is approx. a large handful each person)
Bunch of spinach, Asian bok choy or other greens
handful chopped coriander leaves
handful bean shoots (optional)
extra chilli to garnish (optional)

Method:

  1. Combine stock, chillies, garlic, ginger, lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves, white part of spring onions only and palm sugar and steam @ 100°C 6 minutes on the bottom shelf.
  2. If using rice noodles, soak them in boiling water.
  3. In the soup, add the fish sauce & lime juice, taste the stock and adjust flavour.  It should have that Thai salty, sweet & sour hit.  Add the bean thread noodles if using and stir to soften in the stock.
  4. Peel and devein the prawns, cut the fish into bite size pieces and place on perforated tray above the stock.  No need to add baking paper.  Cook @ 85°C for 2 minutes.
  5. Slice your bok choy or spinach into bit size pieces and add in another tray for a further 2 minutes @ 85°C.  If using baby spinach there is no need to pre-cook.  Just place into the bottom of the bowl.  If your prawns are already cooked, add them now to warm through.
  6. Ladle the soup into four bowls, removing the lemongrass, ginger and kaffir lime leaves and add the seafood and vegetables.

Garnish with the bean shoots, fresh herbs, spring onion tops, extra chilli and a wedge of lime.

 

 

 

 

Posted in: Dinner parties, Fish, Gluten free, Soups, Steam Oven, Thai

Steamed Thai fish cakes

June 12, 2014 9:45 am / Leave a Comment /

Thai fish cakes

Traditionally fried, there is no reason why traditional Thai fish cakes can’t be steamed and become healthy Thai fish cakes!

No fat, quicker to cook and a lot less washing up than a greasy pan with oil the flavour is just as good and cooking in this manner allows you to also be steaming other things at the same time 🙂

Try serving these along-side the Steamed prawns with soy dressing here or the Chicken & spinach gow gees  here.

I have jazzed them up a bit by putting a drop of sweet chilli on top with some chopped toasted cashew nuts, coriander & mint leaves for garnish.  Everyone enjoyed them and the texture wasn’t as ‘rubbery’ as your traditional fish cake.

Ingredients:  Makes approx. 16

300g white fish fillets
2 tsp Thai red curry paste
1 tbsp. fish sauce
2 tbsp. cornflour
1 egg, beaten
1 tsp finely chopped red chilli
2 tbsp. chopped spring onions
1 tbsp. chopped coriander

Sweet chilli sauce, toasted cashews or peanuts and fresh herbs to serve

Method:

  1. Remove any trace of skin or bone from the fish and cut into small pieces
  2. Put into food processor and process until smooth
  3. Add red curry paste, fish sauce, cornflour and egg.  Process until well mixed.
  4. Scrape into a clean bowl and stir through red chilli, coriander and spring onions
  5. With wet hands shape into small, flat discs about the size of a 50c piece.
  6. Line a perforated steamer tray with baking paper and place the fish cakes in a single layer
  7. Cook @ 85°C for 8 minutes.  Test one to ensure it is cooked all the way through.
  8. Spoon over a little sweet chilli sauce and top with nuts and herbs.

Serve with toothpicks for an all in the mouth at once flavour hit!

 

 

Posted in: Dinner parties, Party Food, Steam Oven, Thai

Thai Fish Skewers

July 10, 2013 7:41 pm / 1 Comment /

I have an abundance of Kaffir Lime leaves so I need to do a few more recipes with them.  I did the Lindt chocolate the other day which was different, I just love the aroma and flavour they give to all sorts of things.  As you can see from clicking on the chocolate recipe it doesn’t just have to be Thai.

For people who need to lower their cholesterol steam cooking without any added fat is the perfect appliance to try to conquer this issue.  We should all try to increase our intake of fish, cut back on fatty, saturated fats, increase vegetables and eat lots of grains.

Try to marinade for about 1/2 hour.  Don’t leave it too much longer than this because the lime juice will start to cook the fish.

Thai fish skewersIngredients:

600g firm white fish fillets
1 tablespoon of chopped coriander roots, leaves and stalks
1 teaspoon of grated ginger
1 finely chopped small chilli, seeds removed
1 spring onion, finely chopped
1 tablespoon of fish sauce
1 tablespoon of low salt soy sauce
1 tablespoon of lime juice + a little of the rind grated finely
1 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoons of palm sugar, grated or 1 tsp brown sugar
Black pepper

Method:

Trim fish and cut into 2cm cubes
Place all the other ingredients into a bowl, add fish, cover and refrigerate 1/2 hour.
Thread a Kaffir lime leaf onto a skewer, followed by some fish until you have required number of skewers.

SAM_0114Pictured above is only 450g of fish

Steam @ 90°C for 5 minutes or until fish is cooked when tested.  5 minutes was perfect, it just melted in your mouth.
Serve with Steamed Jasmine rice (or Brown rice if your being good), a lime cheek to squeeze over and some steamed green vegetables.  The fish gives you some nice juices which are fairly salty because of the marinade so don’t salt the rice for this dish.

So healthy!

Recipe adapted from Miele

 

 

Posted in: Fish, Main Courses, Steam Oven, Thai

Sago Pudding with Gula Melacca & Coconut Milk

June 27, 2013 4:27 pm / Leave a Comment /

I saw Poh Ling Yeow do this recipe on Everyday Gourmet and I was amazed how the Sago looked so different than it did when my mother made a terrible version of ‘Lemon Sago’ as kids that was gooey and tasteless.

I also wanted to try to cook sago in the Steam Oven as I can’t find anyone who has done it.  Please contact me if you have!

Poh said to use plastic moulds, I guess that makes it easier to remove.  The only ones I had were some little Tupperware ones left over from when my kids were little that I use to set jelly in.  I think they are so cute as the recessed top became a little well for the Gula Melacca 🙂

Sago pudding

This is the recipe link http://www.everydaygourmet.tv/recipes/496-sago-pudding

So instead of boiling 8 cups of water I initially tried Sago with 2 cups water, cooked in the Steam Oven for 20 minutes with fresh Pandan leaves tied in a knot for extra flavour.  Disaster, gluey just like mum’s!  It still tasted ok, the Gula Melacca and Coconut milk mixtures are delicious.

Next attempt, 4 cups of water, cooked in the Steam Oven for 10 minutes.  Be quick, don’t let it sit in the water at all.  Result was better – it’s the overcooking that makes it sludge.  You still need to run lots of cold water through it at the end but it’s now plump, sago pearls like Poh had and not a claggy mess.  Still more like a jelly I thought but I love any Asian desserts so it was worth a try.

I am glad I tried Sago in the Steam Oven, it certainly beats having a dirty, sticky pot to wash as the solid steamer tray is easier to clean up.  The more recipes I develop for the Steam Oven the more I understand it and that’s what I want everyone to do….. 🙂

Posted in: Desserts, Steam Oven, Thai

Red Thai Curry

June 20, 2013 7:55 pm / 2 Comments /

No need to wash all those pans, now you can cook a delicious Thai Curry in your Steam Oven with the rice and vegetables at the same time!  Well you do end up with 3 steamer trays to wash but they really only need a rinse out in hot soapy water.

Sometimes I try to make my red Thai paste but that is more time consuming.  This is a quick mid-week version.  Traditionally Thai people put pineapple and cherry tomatoes in this dish and that is fantastic, particularly with duck but for mid-week I often cook this with whatever I have in the fridge at the time.  Tonight is kumara and green beans but if you can manage to get some Thai basil it certainly makes the dish so much better.  I didn’t have any tonight, the garnish is Vietnamese mint just for colour.

Red Thai curry

Serves 4-6

Ingredients:

1½ cups jasmine rice, washed
2 cups water
600g chicken thigh fillet, trimmed of any fat and cubed
3 generous tablespoons of Thai Red Curry Paste (I used 1/2 x 195g jar of Ayam Red Curry Paste) OR to taste
2 tablespoons of palm sugar, grated
1 tsp of fish sauce
4 very finely sliced kaffir lime leaves with the stems removed
140ml can coconut cream
1 medium size kumara thinly sliced then cut into bite size pieces
handful of green beans, trimmed
few cherry tomatoes cut in half
Fresh Thai basil or coriander to serve

Method:

  1. Mix the Red Thai Paste, sugar and fish sauce into chicken and let it marinate for a few minutes while you put on the rice and kumara.
  2. Place rice and water into a solid stainless steel tray on the bottom level of the steamer,  at the same time peel and cut kumara and place in the small perforated tray on the top level.  Steam both uncovered 100°C for 6 minutes.
  3. Remove kumara and set aside.
  4. Now add the chicken to the middle level and cook uncovered for 8 more minutes 100°C.  Leave the rice, it will continue to cook.
  5. Remove the chicken and stir in the coconut cream.  It will be quite runny.  If you like you could thicken it with 1tsp cornflour mixed with 1tablespoon of water and mix in well before it goes back into the steamer.
  6. Add the beans on top of the cooked kumara and put it back into the top level.  You now have the rice on the bottom, the chicken in the middle and the vegetables on the top.  Cook for another 2 minutes at the same 100% power.
  7. Stir in vegetables and thai basil or coriander and serve with the fluffed steamed rice.

 

Posted in: Main Courses, Steam Oven, Thai