Asian Food | Finding Feasts

Scrumptious Prawn and Chicken Laksa

Scrumptious Prawn & Chicken Laksa, this dish is more than scrumptious, it’s actually mood altering.

Amazing flavours perfectly balanced in a soothing, creamy broth makes this soup a must for when you feel like something uplifting or comforting.

One tip I’m always banging on about is that if you are making a paste from scratch, double or triple the recipe and freeze it in portions. This basically means you have a meal from scratch ready to go when you want it next time. There is barely any extra time involved in making one or three portions but saves you a good amount of time when you have a craving but are completely unmotivated to do the prep work.

Another tip is to never leave your rice noodles to cook in boiling water. I have never been able to get a good result from this method. I prefer to place them in a bowl and pour the hot water over them to soak. They are less likely to go soggy and when they are at your preferred texture, drain them and rinse under cold water. They can sit like this for ages so do it early and they are ready to go when you are.

Slurping permitted! Blondie

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Thai Noodle Salad w/ Fried Soft Shell Crab

Thai Noodle Salad w/ Fried Soft Shell Crab – There really isn’t anything more delicious than a beautifully cooked, crunchy soft shell crab.

I had two crabs still in the freezer, which whenever I opened the door would scream to be cooked… You seem to always feel – at least I do, that you need an occasion to cook these, so I had been holding off… till today!

I have a detailed description of how to clean the crab in a previous post, How To Prepare Soft Shell Crab, so there’s no excuse not to try this – you will love it!

The flavours are deliciously fresh and zingy with lots of textures to make your mouth feel likes it’s at a party!

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Spicy Cumin Lamb & Noodle Soup

Spicy Cumin Lamb & Noodle Soup – Ever since Master S and myself came across Spicy Cumin Noodle Soup from Noodle Warriors in the new Hawkers Lane Chatswood, Sydney, I have been frantically trying to mimic the flavours. We fell head over heels in love with this soup; the best way to describe the flavour is as a taco flavoured soup. Amazing.

I’ve made so many versions of it to date and I think this one is the closest. It’s super spicy with a magnificent cumin and sichuan pepper hit (don’t you just love that tingly, mouth numbing effect you get from sichuan pepper!) The lamb is fall apart tender with the vegetables adding the sweetness that compliments the flavours of the cooking broth.

This soup is traditionally served with smashed noodles, which are handmade noodles torn into rough strips. They are quite thick and play an important part in this soup, so this will be next on the agenda.

I used a slow cooker but you can certainly make this in the oven, just keep it to about 100°c/210°f. The original soup is time absorbing but make sure you freeze the leftover cooking broth from the lamb and you will have an amazing soup flavour base to use in other soup dishes.

Happy slurping! Blondie 🙂

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Prawn & Spinach Curry

Prawn & Spinach Curry is a quick whip up dinner (under 30 mins) that is so full of beautiful flavours that it’s sure to be included in your regular dinner cycle.

It’s a bit of a mix of Thai and Indian style curries, and is delicious with steamed jasmine rice but can also be made into a stunning soup by adding one cup of chicken stock and serving with rice noodles.

Enjoy… Blondie

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Lamb Rice Bowls w/ Lots of Veggies

Lamb Rice Bowls w/ Lots of Veggies – One of the quickest meals you can make during the week is a Korean Rice Bowl, even quicker if you have prepped your cooked vegetables over the weekend to use throughout the week.

I doubt there is a right or wrong way to making up this bowl, just so long as you can fit everything in, oh and that you have the vegetables cut into largish bite size mouthfuls. Use any mix of vegetables and remember to use some warm and some chilled, some crispy and some tender. Let your creativity run away with you.

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Asian Slow Cooker Boneless Leg of Lamb

Asian Slow Cooker Boneless Leg of Lamb – This is a 6 hour on high or 8-10 hour on low slow cooker recipe for a simply stunning lamb recipe, which you will be able to use throughout the week in various meals, like a Lamb Rice Bowl, Lamb Tacos, Lamb Ramen Noodle Soup…endless possibilities.

This really is a no effort type of meal with amazing results that will give you melt in your mouth tender meat and a sauce that has a slight heat with sweet and sour flavours. Once the lamb is cooked and you are reducing the liquid you can add fresher flavours like coriander root, more chilli and some lime juice.

Genuinely mouth wateringly good. Blondie 🙂

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Honey King Prawns

Chinese food is a weakness of mine. Hubby and I use to love ordering massive amounts of food from my favourite Chinese restaurant up the road and then spend the night gorging ourselves – Honey king prawns, Mongolian lamb, Peking duck, Beef in black bean sauce, mixed entrees and rice. It certainly wasn’t all eaten in one sitting but also enjoyed over the next couple of days. Chinese food, for me, has always meant that you would sit yourself down in front of a banquet of food and enjoy the slow procession of tasting each and every dish, just one of the reasons why I love Yum Cha so much. As ‘street’ as Yum Cha is, it still has a decadence that’s very appealing.

Yesterday though, I suddenly realised that I should try making some of these dishes myself. I chose Honey king Prawns and Mongolian Lamb to be my first dishes. Both turned out to be so much better than my favourite restaurant’s equivalents that I will forever now be making them myself. The Mongolian Lamb was outstanding but was all eaten so I don’t have a photo to put up yet, will blog about it shortly. The Honey King Prawns were perfect. Lightly battered and a simple honey sauce drizzled over the top.

Chinese food is very quick, so quick in fact that you really can produce your own banquet of food without feeling exhausted at the end of it.

Happy Year Of The Monkey!

Blondie

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