Hot & Sour Mushroom Noodle Soup
Serves 4-6A delicious light, clear soup.
6 cups (1½ litres) water
4 T (60 ml) Ina Paarman's Chicken Stock Powder
2 cm piece fresh ginger, finely sliced into rings (no need to peel)
2-3 cloves of garlic, finely sliced lengthwise
3 T (45 ml) rice wine or cider vinegar
4 T (60 ml) soy sauce (Kikkoman)
1 T (15 ml) sugar
1 small red chilli, finely sliced into rings
1 x 200 g button mushrooms, halved through the stems
1 medium carrot, scraped and sliced into paper thin rings
2 small bok choy or small punnet of baby spinach
150 g Chinese egg noodle ribbons
Bring the water to the boil. Add the Stock Powder, ginger, garlic, vinegar, soy sauce and sugar. Boil for 5 minutes. Add the chilli, mushrooms, carrot and bok choy. Boil for 5 minutes. Add noodles and cook for 4 minutes. Serve piping hot.
CHEF'S TIP:
This soup can be refrigerated for 2-3 days.
Thai Green Curry
Serves 6Our Coriander Pesto is the secret to the intense flavour of this dish.
1 fresh free range chicken
GARNISH
1 red chilli, seeded and cut into very fine strips
2 t (10 ml) Ina Paarman's Green Onion Seasoning
1 T (15 ml) Ina Paarman's Chicken Stock Powder
1 tin (400 g) coconut cream or milk
1 x 125 g Ina Paarman's Coriander Pesto (Reserve 1 T if making papaya sambal)
2 chillies red or green, finely sliced across
3 T (45 ml) fish sauce
handful of fresh coriander
2 lemon leaves, cut into hair fine strips
Preheat the oven to 180°C.
Slice deeply into the breasts and thighs of chicken. Season the chicken inside and out with a mixture of Green Onion Seasoning and dry Chicken Stock Powder.
Place on a rack over a roasting pan with 2 cups of water in the bottom of the pan.
Roast over this 'water bath' for 1¼ hours. Leave to cool. Remove skin and bones and shred the meat into long thin strips. Place coconut cream on the work surface, upside down. Open the tin. Pour off the watery milk and use it to make a stock together with chicken bones. (Reserve the thicker creamy solids to stir-fry the chicken).
Pour excess fat from the pan. Place bones back in the pan. Add ½ cup of water as well as the watery part of the coconut milk. Put the roasting pan with bones etc. on the stove and boil for 8-10 minutes while scraping up the browning.
Spoon the thick coconut cream into a wok or hot frying pan. Boil over high heat until the coconut cream is reduced by half. Add the shredded chicken. Cook, while stirring for 2 minutes. Add the Coriander Pesto, chilli fish sauce and strained stock from the roasting pan. Warm through.
Taste for seasoning and add a handful of fresh coriander leaves. Garnish with finely sliced chilli and lemon leaves. Serve with Basmati rice.
CHEF'S TIP:
If strapped for time, use a grilled supermarket chicken. Make a stock in the microwave with the bones, ¼ cup of water, 1 t Chicken Stock and the watery coconut milk. Cook on high for 8 minutes.
Carrot Curls
Serves 4
2 large carrots, scraped
Water with ice cubes
toothpicks
Use a potato peeler to cut the carrots into long thin strips. Curl the strips around your finger and secure each roll with a toothpick. Drop curls into ice water as you go. Leave to stand for about 35-45 minutes to set the curls.
To serve - drain and remove toothpicks.
Basmati Rice
Serves 4
2 cups (400 g) of Basmati rice
3½ cups (875 ml) water
2 t (10 ml) Ina Paarman's Green Onion Seasoning
Cook the rice slowly in the water with seasoning for 12-15 minutes. Remove from the heat and leave to stand with the lid on for 10 minutes.Fluff up the rice with a fork (or chopsticks) before serving.
Papaya Sambal
Serves 4
1 green chilli, finely sliced
4 cloves of garlic, crushed
1 firm papino or half a paw-paw, cubed 2 cm x 2 cm
1 T (15 ml) brown sugar
2 T (30 ml) fish sauce
2 T (30 ml) lemon juice
1 t (5 ml) Ina Paarman's Lemon & Black Pepper Seasoning
1 T (15 ml) Ina Paarman's Coriander Pesto
12 halved cherry tomatoes
fresh coriander
Mix the chilli, garlic and cubed papino. Dissolve the brown sugar in the fish sauce and lemon juice. Add the Lemon & Black Pepper Seasoning and Coriander Pesto. Mix to blend. Pour over the sambal and toss. Garnish with cherry tomatoes and fresh coriander.
Cucumber and Apple Salad with Lime & Coriander Dressing
Serves 4
A clean refreshing salad to compliment any curry.
1 red apple, cored (not skinned), halved and finely sliced
1 T (15 ml) lemon juice
½ cucumber, diced 1cm x 1cm
4 spring onions, finely sliced
1 red chilli, seeded and finely chopped
½ cup (125 ml) Ina Paarman's Lime & Coriander Dressing
In a salad bowl, toss the apple and lemon juice. Add the cucumber and spring onions. Sprinkle the chopped chilli over and mix gently. Dress just before serving.
Rice Pudding with Glazed Chilli Pineapple
Serves 6
Simmering the rice slowly beforehand in milk gives an extra creamy texture.
¼ cup (60 ml) basmati rice
2 cups (500 ml) full cream milk
1 cup (250 ml) water
1 x 250 g Ina Paarman's Lemon Cheesecake Mix
1 cup (250 ml) fresh whipping cream
Use a medium size saucepan. Add the rice to the milk and water and bring to a slow boil with the lid slightly tilted for 35 minutes until the rice is completely tender. Stir now and then. Leave to cool.
Strain out the rice over a mixing bowl and keep the rice in the strainer on one side. Measure the milky liquid and if needed, fill up the measuring cup with water to make one cup. Return this one cup of liquid to the mixing bowl.
Sprinkle the cheesecake mixture over the milk mixture and beat until blended. Add the rice to the cheesecake mixture. In a smaller mixing bowl whip the cream until firm. Gently fold the whipped cream into the cheesecake and rice mixture using a spatula or metal spoon.
Dish into individual pudding bowls, cover and refrigerate. Can be made a day or two in advance.
1 pineapple, peeled
GLAZED CHILLI PINEAPPLE
cayenne pepper
1 vanilla bean
¾ cup (187 ml) sugar
Line a baking sheet with non-stick baking paper.
Slice the pineapple in half lengthways. Turn the flat sides of the halves down and cut into very thin half slices and then halve the slices again to form triangles. Arrange on the lined baking sheet. Sprinkle lightly with a dusting of cayenne pepper.
Preheat the oven to 180°C.
Slice the vanilla bean in half lengthways and scrape out all the black seeds. Rub the vanilla seeds into the sugar between your hands. Sprinkle a generous layer of vanilla sugar over the pineapple. Bake for 35 minutes until the sugar is brown and bubbly. Leave to cool. If preparing in advance, store in an airtight container on the paper. Spike pineapple pieces into the puddings just before serving. This pudding is simply delicious at any temperature, but I like it served at room temperature.
CHEF'S TIP:
If the pineapple gets tacky in storage, re-crisp briefly in the oven.
The wine suggestion this month is courtesy of Van Loveren - their recommendations are :
Team the Hot & Sour Mushroom Noodle Soup with Van Loveren Merlot - a lightly wooded Red Wine that shows elegant strawberry tones on the nose and a rich, fruity palate. The soft, well-balanced tannins ensures for early drinking.
Without a doubt the Van Loveren Gewurtztraminer compliments our Thai Green Curry. It is a full-flavoured, semi sweet wine with a fine rose petal nose and exotic spices on the palate.
Wolverine Creek Reserve Noble Late Harvest - Rhine Riesling works well with the Rice Pudding - it's s full-rounded dessert wine showing subtle, yet luscious flavours of honey and apricot. A regular award winner !