The Recycled Cook

Malaysian Beef Rendang Although this is a beef curry the uniquely Malaysian Rendang sauce can be used for making a chicken, fish or even vegetable curry. As Malaysia is a Muslim country, unlike many other South East Asian countries Pork curries are not really an option. Just like the Mussaman curry the first thing to decide is if you are going to make your curry paste from scratch or simply buy it in a jar which I do sometimes when time is prohibitive. To make the paste from scratch you will need 1 brown onion coarsely chopped, 3 long red chillies (Mild), 3 small red chilies (hot) both deseeded and sliced thinly,  2 stems of lemon grass crushed and chopped (or 1 tablespoon of lemon grass paste), 3 garlic cloves crushed and chopped roughly, 2 teaspoons of finely chopped Galangal (or ginger),  2 teaspoons of ground coriander,  2 teaspoons of ground cumin, 1 teaspoon of turmeric and a splash or two of Fish sauce or salt to taste. To make the Rendang paste c rush all the ing

Mussaman Curry On a cold autumn evening there is nothing quite as satisfying as a home cooked curry. This is one of my favourites from southern Thailand. As the name suggests this curry is as more Malaysian than Thai, the name actually means Muslim curry. This makes a delicious vegetarian dish or, if preferred you can add meat too, but the flavours are so rich it doesn't really need it. For a really authentic Mussaman curry you should make your own curry past but I do use pre-mixed paste if time is short or I am feeling lazy. Surprising;y you can now find Mussaman curry paste as well as the more common Red and Green Thai curry pastes in several supermarkets. To make the paste from scratch you will need 50g of finely chopped shallots, 3 bay leaves (fresh if available), 3 tablespoons of palm sugar, 3 tablespoons of Thai Fish sauce (Nam Plah), 10 small garlic cloves chopped roughly (I hope you like garlic), 6 small red chillies (deseeded) and chopped roughly, a few white pe

Pickled Quince Two good friends of mine, Ros and Gary, gave me some quinces recently which I have never prepared before although but I have often had quince jelly (known as Membrillo in Spain) which goes particularly well with hard cheese, especially a nice mature Manchego.  I have to say that Ros's quince jelly is as good as any I have tried in Spain. Knowing I couldn't improve on that that I decided to try pickling them instead, something which I have done quite a lot of recently as it is a great way of preserving food and adds an interesting accompaniment to dishes. The first thing to do is to prepare your pickling liquid. In a saucepan pour in some apple cider vinegar, wine vinegar or half and half (allow approximately 3 cups of vinegar per pound of fruit). Add two teaspoons of pink or black pepper corns, a tablespoon of juniper berries and two bay leaves. Bring this to the boil, reduce heat and simmer for a few minutes to infuse the flavours. Take off the heat

Mixed Bean Salad Now the summer is pretty much over and we are moving into Autumn we are at the end of the bean growing season. The young juicy runner beans have either been eaten or, if you are like to think ahead, have been sliced, blanched and frozen for winter use. If you still have beans now that you picked late on in the summer the chances are they will be either past their best or very stringy. Here is an idea of something you can do with them that is easy to make, light and of course healthy. Firstly split open the pods with your fingers and pop out the beans into a container, mixing several varieties make this salad a lot more interesting. Rinse them thoroughly and then blanch them in boiling water for two minutes. pour into a sieve and drain well.  Once cool you can keep these covered in the fridge until ready to make your bean salad.  The blanching will have killed any bacteria so they should keep well for a couple of days but I would recommend finishin

The Recycled Cook By Adrian Sleeman Thai Fishcakes (Tod Man Pla) The main difference, apart from the flavour of course, between Thai fishcakes and the more common western variety is that in Thai cooking they don't use potato, in fact they use very little other than fish, chillies and some snake beans. Don't be put off by the name, snake beans are just a very long variant of our own French beans, in fact, as they are quite hard to come by in most supermarkets I use the more readily available variety most of the time. I also miss going to Chinatown for food. Red fish fillets That is one of the things I miss about living in London is the large number of small asian supermarkets where you can find a wide variety of exotic ingredients. These fishcakes can be made with any flaky fish but red fish such as Red snapper or red mullet works very well. Skin and trim your fish fillets making sure to pin-bone them carefully  then chop  and blitz the fish fillets in a b

The Recycled Cook By Adrian Sleeman "Som Tam" Thai Salad Traditionally this salad is made with Green Papaya but they are a little hard to get in Carmarthen so I have made this dish, as always, with what I had available. In this case that was carrots and courgette, the latter courtesy of my neighbour's allotment. This salad makes a really great accompaniment to Thai food but also works well as a side dish, a starter or just a healthy snack. Preparation time is about ten minutes but don't rush if using the Mandolin. What Thai people call a Salad feels more like a pickle to me as they use citrus juice (lime or lemon), Fish sauce (Nam Pla) and vinegar in their preparation. The Thai term for salad can be confusing for Westerners. Mandolin with shield Carrot and Courgette Start by shredding your vegetables into thin ribbons, I used a Mandolin with a medium side shredding attachment but a potato peeler and a knife will do the jo

The Recycled Cook By Adrian Sleeman Piedmont Peppers Another vegetable dish for you today which can either be used as a starter, a side dish or even on as a light supper. The original recipe uses dried anchovies but I have substituted Serrano ham in this version. To make this as a vegetarian option simply revert back to the anchovies. Firstly halve the peppers, cutting through the stem which makes the presentation better. This is easiest with a large, sharp cooks knife. De-seed and take out the core. Place some thinly sliced slivers of garlic in the base of each pepper, bashing them lightly with the handle of the knife to release their flavour. Tear some small slices of cured ham such as Bayonne, Serrano, Parma or, as I do sometimes, Carmarthen ham (legend has it that the Romans took this idea back to Italy and created Parma ham).  Drizzle with a little olive oil and season with black pepper. Add some small sweet basil leaves if you have them or tear up