Farmersgirl Kitchen

Sunday, 5 January 2014

Vietnamese Chicken Curry - ca ri ga

The light fresh flavours of the recipes in My Vietnamese Kitchen by Uyen Luu seem very appealing now that the festive season is over.

The Author
Uyen Luu hosts a Vietnamese supper club in her East London apartment where she cooks dishes she learned from her mother, she also holds Vietnamese cookery classes and teaches people from all over Europe. Visit Uyen's blog and find out more about her interests, including photography and film making.

The Photographer
Clare Winfield specialises in photographing food, her work has appeared in magazines and cookery books.

Introduction
The book has a foreword by Raymond Blanc who met Uyen durng the filming of his television series, How to Cook Well. The introduction goes on to tell of Uyen's childhood an cooking inspiration. This is followed by a glossary of ingredients with alternatives which is always useful.

Chapter 1 - Awaken the Senses, Breakfast
Many of the breakfast recipes would translate well into lunch or even main meal dishes. I particularly liked: Lemongrass Beef or Pork Baguette; Hue Noodle Soup with Beef and Pork, Chicken Curry (see recipe below); Beef Stew with star anise.

Chapter 2 - Feed the Soul, Soups
These are main course soups, full of fish, meat and vegetables including Hot and Sour Fish Soup, Duck Congee and Crab Tomato and Omelette Soup.

Chapter 3 - Sticky Fingers, Snacks
Street food is a major influence on the dishes in this chapter and there some of the tasty bites I liked the look of were Puff Pastry Chicken Pies; Spring Rolls, Sai Gon fresh summer rolls and Sizzling Crepes with pork and prawns.

Chapter 4 - Live Long, Noodles
There are many different kinds of noodles and the dishes in 'My Vietnamese Kitchen' feature a variety of these. Here are my favourites: BBQ Pork Belly Skewers (with rice noodle salad), Stir Fried Beef and Fresh Noodles and Egg Noodles with Chinese Broccoli.

Chapter 5 - Eat and Play, Lunch and Dinner
And so to the main event, I was fascinated by the Fishcakes with Dill which are held together with french baking powder rather than potato, so all that you eat is fish! Fish features heavily with a beautiful Fired Tiliapia with Green Mango and a Baked Seabream both of which I found very appealing. Rich and sticky BBQ Spare Ribs would be hard to beat and a rather surprising Spaghetti Bolognese, included because of the love of Italian food in the new cosmopolitan Vietnam.

Chapter 6 - Happy Endings, Sweets
I love Mango and the Mango Smoothie looks and sounds totally delicious. This chapter also includes Banana Fritters, Creme Caramel and Avocado Ice cream as well as Pandan Cake, coloured with an extract from Pandan Leaves.

The chapters are interspersed with interesting short essays about the Vietnamese way of eating, cooking and dining as well as information about the French influence on their cuisine.

Who is it for? Anyone who enjoys Asian food and would like to expand their repertoire I would suggest you check out Uyen's web site and if you like the recipes she has published there, then you will love this book . Fish, seafood, beef and pork feature throughout the book with a very few vegetarian recipes, so probably not a good buy for vegetarians.

Pros: The book is well laid out, with beautiful, tempting photographs and a fairly wide range of different recipes. The fusion of Asian and French cuisine leads to some really inspired dishes.

Cons: Some of the ingredients may be difficult to source outside a large city, although you may be able to get them online. It would have been helpful to include some information about where to source ingredients.

Ease of Use: While I have eaten curry for breakfast while visiting Malaysia, it's probably not something I would do at home, so I felt that it was easier to ignore the chapter headings when looking for a dish to cook. Otherwise, the recipe I cooked was well laid out and I had no difficulty following the instructions.

The Verdict
At first, I found it quite difficult to get going with this book, I think because of the chapter headings as I've described above. Once I got over this and just looked at the recipes, I found that there were many dishes here that I wanted to make.

The Chicken Curry was one of the best I have made, similar to a Thai Green Curry, with so much flavour and just the right amount of piquancy. I am, therefore, excited and encouraged to make more recipes from My Vietnamese Kitchen.

Chicken Curry (serves 2)
ca ri ga

1 tbsp cooking oil
1 red onion, roughly chopped
1 thumb's worth of fresh ginger, finely chopped
1 lemongrass stalk, finely diced
2 large chicken legs, cut into bite-size pieces or 6 whole drumsticks, skin on
3 teaspoons curry powder
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
165ml (2/3 cup) coconut milk
300ml (1 1/4 cups) chicken stock
2 medium potatoes, cubed
1 carrot roughly sliced
4 tbsp fish sauce
1 tsp sugar
ground black pepper
1/2 aubergine/eggplant cubed (optional)
handful of okra, cut into bite-size pieces (optional)
6 Asian shallots, peeled
handful of mangetout/snow peas (optional)
warm baguette and butter, or steamed rice to serve

Garnishes
Thai sweet basil
spring onion/scallion
Bird's eye chillis

1. Heat the oil in a medium saucepan over low heat. Gently fry the red onion , ginger and lemongrass.
2. Once the onion has softened, add the chicken legs and fry, turning often until they're evenly browned.
3. Add the curry powder, stirring well until the chicken legs are well coated. Add the garlic, coconut milk, chicken stock, potatoes and carrot and stir.
4. Cover with a lid and simmer for about 10 minutes.
5. Season the curry with the fish sauce, sugar and a pinch of black pepper, then add the aubergine/eggplant, okra, shallots and mangetout pea/snow peas.
6. Cook for a further 8-10 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through.

Garnish with Thai sweet basil, spring onions/scallions and chillies. Serve with a fresh, warm baguette and butter, or a bowl of steamed rice.

What I did differently
I used 6 chicken thighs, doubled up the aubergine, potatoes, carrots and the coconut milk. Used a Korma curry paste rather than powder. No okra or mangetout, so I used a green pepper and some green beans. The fish sauce and coconut milk are both key to the flavour of this dish.

My Vietnamese Kitchen by Uyen Luu
Published by Ryland Peters and Small
RRP £16.99

I'm entering this recipe for Bloggers Around the World, a blogger challenge from Chris at Cooking Around the World blog. This month the country of choice is Vietnam, thanks Chris for motivating me to make this dish and post the review.

Labels: Chicken, coconut milk, cookery book review, curry, fish sauce, kitchen, review, Ryland Peters and Small, Uyen Luu, Vietmanese

Saturday, 7 September 2013

Aubergine Parmigiana - Mac N Cheese Book Review and Recipe

Macaroni and Cheese is very popular and seen as a real comfort food. Until I was about 7 years old I refused to eat cooked cheese and wouldn't touch mac n cheese or cauliflower and cheese, much to my Mum's frustration. She used to sneak grated cheese into some dishes like scrambled egg to get me to eat it, but the turning point came when I went for tea at my friend, Anne's, house. There it was on the plate in front of me...macaroni and cheese, now back then you NEVER refused anything placed in front of you when out visiting, so I had to eat it. I was surprised to find that I actually enjoyed it, and learnt always to try everything before deciding that I don't like it. However, I can still remember sitting at that table looking at the mac n cheese and wondering how I would get through the meal.

Laura Washburn's book "Mac 'n' Cheese" is a celebration of this store cupboard staple. You don't have to use macaroni, you can make the dishes with other pasta shapes, but as it is the ideal shape for holding cheese sauce, I went out and bought some Marshall's Macaroni, the brand that I grew up with.

About the Author

Laura Washburn was born in Los Angeles but studied at university in Paris. She went on to train at the prestigious Paris cooking school Ecole de Cuisine La Varenne and work with Patricia Wells, best selling author of a Food Lover's Guide to Paris. She is now based in London, where she works as a cookery teacher and food writer.

The Contents

Introduction: contains information about the pasta, the sauce, the cheese and some cooking tips. Most important it features the Classic Macaroni and Cheese which forms the basis for the other recipes in the book.

Vegetables: recipes include Roasted Asparagus and Pecorino, Butternut Squash and Sage, caramelised Onions and Smoked Cheese, Jalapeno, Tomato and Monterey Jack, the gourmet Truffle and Cheese and Aubergine Parmigiana.

Fish: recipes include Crab Gratin, Tuna and Mushroom, luxurious Lobster Thermidor, and Smoked Haddock and Spinach

Meat: recipes include Spicy Beef, Greek Lamb, Chorizo, Sweet Pepper and Manchego, Ham Hock and Mozzarella, BBQ Chicken and Two Cheeses and Serrano Ham, Smoked Paprika and Spanish Blue.

Aubergine Parmigiana Serves 6-8

A handful of coarse sea salt (I didn't use this much)

500g/1lb macaroni

4-5 tbsp vegetable oil

1 large onion, finely chopped

1tsp dried thyme

1tsp oregano

1tsp dried rosemary

3 garlic cloves

1x 400g/14oz can chopped tomato

1 medium Aubergine/eggplant, sliced

125g/1 cup shredded mozzarella

leaves from 2-3 sprigs fresh basil, coarsely torn

50g/1 cup breadcrumbs

fine sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the Bechamel sauce

50g/3 1/2 tbsp unsalted butter

60g/6 tbsp plain/all purpose flour

625ml/2 1/2 cups milk

1tsp fine sea salt

100g/ 3/4 cup Fontina cheese

100g/1 and 1/4 cups grated Parmesan

1. Bring a large saucepan of water to the boil. Add the coarse sea salt, then let the water return to a rolling boil. Add the macaroni stir well and cook according to the package instructions until very tender. Stir periodically to prevent the macaroni from sticking together. When cooked, drain, rinse well under running water and let drip dry in a colander.

2. Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/Gas 6

3. Heat 2 tablespoons of the oil in a large saute pan with a lid. Add the onion and cook over medium heat for 5 minutes until just golden. Stir in the herbs and garlic and cook gently for 1 minute, taking care not to let the garlic burn. Add the tomatoes and 1 teaspoon of fine sea salt and simmer very gently for 20-30 minutes until very thick.

4. Arrange the aubergine/eggplant slices in a single layer on a baking sheet and sprinkle over the remaining oil Roast for 15-20 minutes until tender and just charred. Remove, season lightly with salt and add to the tomatoes. Simmer gently while you prepare the bechamel sauce.

5. Preheat the grill/broiler to medium.

6. Prepare the bechamel sauce: Melt the butter in a a saucepan. Stir in the flour and cook, stirring constantly for 1 minutes. Pour in the milk in a steady stream, whisking constantly, and continue to whisk for 3-5 minutes until the sauce begins to thicken. Season with fine sea salt. Remove from the heat and add the cheeses, mixing well with a spoon to incorporate. Taste and adjust the seasoning.

7. Put the cooked macaroni in a large mixing bowl. Stir in the aubergine/eggplant mixture. Pour over the hot bechamel sauce and mix well. Taste and adjust the seasoning. Transfer the macaroni mixture to a baking dish and spread evenly. Top with the mozzarella, the basil leaves and a good grinding of black pepper and sprinkle the breadcrumbs evenly over the top.

8. Grill/broil for 5-10 minutes until the top is crunchy and golden brown. Serve immediately

Who is it for: It would be a great gift for someone who loves Mac n Cheese or for those who cook for hungry hordes of starvng teenagers and want to ring the changes.

Pros: as the book concentrates on one type of dish, it's a book that you can turn to for inspiration when you want to jazz up your Mac 'n' Cheese or if you are simply looking for a tasty supper dish. There is a full colour photograph for every recipe and the recipes are easy to follow, with ingredients listed in both US and European measurements. Each recipe also has a short intro with serving suggestions or other tips.

Cons: this is not a low fat, low cal book, so these recipes are special comfort treats.

Ease of Use: Although there are quite a few steps, none of them were particularly difficult

The Verdict: The Aubergine Parmigiana was delicous, creamy and tasty. The recipe made two large dishes which served about 8 generous portions and the book is full of great ideas for variations on Mac n Cheese. My only concern would be the fat content and it would have been nice to have some lighter versions that could be made and eaten more frequently.

Mac 'N' Cheese by Laura Washburn
Photography by Steve Painter
Published by Ryland Peters & Small
RRP £9.99

Many thanks to RPS for providing me with a copy of Mac N Cheese to review. I was not paid to write this review and all opinions are my own.

Posted with Blogsy

Labels: Aubergine, basil, Bechamel, Cook book review, Eggplant, Fontina, Laura Washburn, Mac n Cheese, macaroni, parmesan, Ryland Peters and Small, tomatoes

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Farmersgirl Kitchen

Sunday, 5 January 2014

Vietnamese Chicken Curry - ca ri ga

Saturday, 7 September 2013

Aubergine Parmigiana - Mac N Cheese Book Review and Recipe

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