Holy meal time batman!

Hokai, it's time for another round of whats in my bowl/plate/chopsticks. For the most part I won't have quantities because unless I am baking a cake, which I haven't done yet, cooking is more about mood. Some days I'm into stronger tasting stuff other days I'm not. Quantity wise if I make too much then I have left overs for lunch the next day. Sweet!

So here goes


First of all is my variant Thai Redd Curry Chicken vermicelli.

What's involved
150-250g piece of skinless chicken breast, diced or sliced
Red Curry paste
Coconut milk
Bamboo shoots, sliced
1 medium sized onion sliced
spring onions or shallots sliced
chilli, chopped fine
vermicelli

How to make it
This is a stupidly simple dish to make. Heat up a pan and fry the curry paste for a bit then toss in the cocount milk. If you're brave, like me, then at the time the curry paste is frying toss in the chilli and fry that for a bit to really get the heat up. Bring the whole concoction to a boil, then add the chicken, if the chilli wasn't added during the fry up add them now. Let the mix come back to a boil then add the onions and bamboo shoots. At this stage prepare the vermicelli by boiling some water and soaking the noodles in them until soft, drain well.
Once the curry is reduced a bit, or the chicken is cooked and tender, it's pretty much ready to serve. Just pile all the stuff into a bowl and voila! Snow peas are a good addition to this dish


Next up, Spaghetti Puttanesca
Whats involved
Tomato mix, either peeled tomatoes or premixed tomatos
Olives, sliced or whole doesn't matter, about a half dozen if you want to slice them, a few more if you want to keep them whole
Capers, rinsed and drained, probably about 1-2 tablespoons full. Too many and the dish becomes too sour
Anchovies, chopped roughly
garlic, for one person probably about 2 cloves, finely chopped
Spaghetti
chilli

How to make it
This is another simple dish to make. Over medium heat, gently fry the garlic and anchovies for a minute or two then add the tomato paste/canned tomatoes/fresh chopped tomatoes. Bring the mix to a boil. I used whole canned peeled tomatoes once, so I had to chop them up as they were cooking. Once bubbling away nicely, add the chilli, olives and capers. Do the usual seasoning. You made need to add some sugar if it tastes too sour.

Prepare some spaghetti in the usual way. Because the sauce cooks fairly quickly, you can start on the spaghetti at about the same time as you start cooking the sauce.
Unlike bolognese where the sauce has huge chunks of meat, this one is more liquid so it's possible to cook the spaghetti to just short of al dente and then drain it out then add it to the sauce and finish cooking it the rest of the way like that.

Variation
For a more carnivorous version, I added in chunks of diced chicken. The chicken should be added before the sauce has reduced otherwise the chicken becomes tough.



Stir fried Chicken Egg Noodle (although the stuff I used looks like Ramen)

Whats involved
Diced chicken breast
Onion
spring onion
Chinese cooking wine and fish sauce.
corn flour
chicken stock
finely sliced ginger

Making it
Before cooking, soak the chicken in the cooking wine and fish sauce. I only did it for 20min or so while I was chopping the veges, but obviously you can do it for longer. There's no major skill involved in cooking this meal. Soften the onions with the ginger and throw in the chicken, stir fry until chicken is cooked on the outside. Add in a cup or so of chicken stock and boil for a bit to reduce it and intensify the flavour. Add in the corn flour mixed with water to thicken. Not too much else it will look like glue.

Boil some water and soak the egg noodles in it till they're soft, then drain. Now if you want to, you can toss the noodles in a hot well oiled pan with some salt for a few minutes to make them toasty or just throw it straight on a plate and pour the chicken sauce on top. I recommend the first option. It tastes better.



Until next meal time, gochizousama!