Kim chi (Korean Pickles)

We got stuck with a large amount of cucumbers and after many weeks of making simple pickles we had enough. It was time to find a spicy alternative. Enter kim chi, spicy Korean pickles! We had tried and loved kim chi on our last trip to Korea and were determined to have a try at making our own. They turned out spectacular, extremely spicy and addictive. They're great as a condiment, added to soup or served as a side order like regular pickles.

Adapted from  Dr. Ben Kim's recipe.

Ingredients:

15-20 small cucumbers cut into bite-size pieces
2 tbs salt
1 tbs minces garlic
1/2 cup green onions, roughly chopped
1/4 onion, chopped
2 tbs red chili powder
1 tsp white wine vinegar
1 tbs honey

The Recipe:
Toss the cucumbers with salt and let sit overnight.
Combine the cucumbers with the rest of the ingredients, and mix well.
Transfer to glass jars with just a little bit of brine and let ferment for 48 hours at room temperature. Place the jars in the refrigerator for safe keeping.

Egyptain Cauliflower Salad

This is a simple cauliflower salad adapted from My Egyptian Grandmother's Kitchen by Magda Mehdawy.
The Ingredients
1 small cauliflower
1 tbs. olive oil
1 teaspoon cumin
1 tbs lemon juice
salt and pepper to taste
1 tbs chopped parsley

The Recipe
Separate the cauliflower into medium sized pieces and steam in a steamer (if you don't have a steamer you can boil the cauliflower whole in water and then cut it into pieces). Place in a bowl. Mix the olive oil, cumin, lemon juice and salt and pepper. Pour over the cauliflower and mix. Garnish with parsley.

Walnut Sage Olive Oil

In a moment of creativity we arranged a few toasted walnuts, 3 leaves of sage and a clove of garlic in a small glass jar and filled it with olive oil. We left it untouched for 3 weeks on a shelf in our kitchen. When we finally opened the jar a few days ago, we discovered it really worked! The aroma and taste of the walnuts, sage and garlic blended into the oil. You can add it to salad dressing or sprinkled it on soups. Try it out, or even better - try your own combination.

Caramelized Tofu with Rice Noodles

We had quite the bizarre weather here in Tel Aviv today. Despite it being January, warm and dusty air filled the city and we decided to stay home in bed. Around mid-afternoon we started to get hungry and cooked up this light summery (and weather appropriate) dish of tofu and rice noodles. This delicate sweet-sour-spicy dish also makes a great "take it to the office" lunch.

Ingredients (makes 2-3 portions):

For the caramelized tofu:

300 gr tofu

4 tbs soy sauce

1 tbs sugar

For the noodles:

250 gr cooked rice noodles

2 tbs vegetable oil

1 tbs finely chopped garlic

1/2 tsp finely chopped red chili

2 tbs soy sauce

2 tsp fresh lemon juice

1/2 tsp sesame oil

1/4 cup chopped coriander

The Recipe:

Prepare the tofu. In a large bowl, mix the soy sauce with the sugar. Slice the tofu into 1cm slices and add to the bowl. Mix well, making sure the tofu slices are completely covered in thee soy sauce mixture.

Place a grill plate over very high heat and wait until it is very hot. Place the tofu slices on the hot grill plate and grill for a 5 minutes on each side. Lower the heat and let grill until the tofu browns. Set aside and let cool. When the tofu cools, slice into 1cm slices.

For the sauce, fry the garlic and chili in the vegetable oil for a couple of minutes in a small pan. Add soy sauce, lemon juice and sesame oil and let cook for another 2 minutes.

Throw the chopped coriander, tofu and cooked noodles into a large bowl. Add the sauce and mix well.

Serve in personal bowls with a slice of lemon.

Noum Bai Chok by the Waterfront, Sihanoukville

Noum Bai Chok (not sure about the spelling), yet another yummy Cambodian dish that came straight our way as we were slurping our mango smoothies, is rice noodles and herbs in a fish curry soup. It's made on the spot by the trusted smiling vendor who wanders around the beach carrying all the products on her shoulders. First she piles a bowl with assorted fresh herbs: mint, banana blossom, green beans and others we could not identify.

Then, she adds a handful of fresh hand-made rice noodles and covers the lot with a hearty fish curry broth.

All that was left for us was to add the condiments of dried/fresh chili, salt and sugar to our liking. God bless.

A word of advice: the best food on Cambodian beaches is sold by these mobile vendors.

Cambodian Fish Products

The basic ingredient in Cambodian cooking is salty fermented fish paste. We happen to visit a factory that makes this staple in many varieties. The fish is cleaned, de-boned and thrown in a pile on the floor, where salt is added. The pile sits to ferment for two-three weeks. It is then chopped and transferred into large vats where it ferments even further. Different fish, seafood and spices make for different types of paste.

We cannot describe the smell that surrounds the village.


Close by, fish are sun-dried, smoked and sold in brick size bundles. Bits of dried fish can sometimes appear in cold salads or as a beer snack.

Northern Eats, Chiang Mai

In Chiang Mai you are never too far from a hearty and incredibly delicious bowl of Khao Soi. This egg noodle curry soup, made from red curry, coconut milk and pieces of chicken, is topped with pickled mustard greens, sliced shallots, fried noodles and a squeeze of fresh lime juice. The place to get it is on Faham Road where many local restaurants serve the dish.

The Cooking Class

Chiang Mai offers many cooking classes. We randomly picked one and had a go. The Chiang Mai Thai Cookery School is one of the more popular establishments for vacationing Brits and Aussies searching for a way to impress their mothers back home. The course was well run (considering the large number of participants, we were 30!) and consisted of demonstrations and individual practice. We cooked and enjoyed 6 dishes in 6 hours and went home satisfied.

Fellow chefs at lunchtime.


Tom Yam Goong.
This famous fresh Thai soup is so easy and quick to prepare. All you need to do is chop garlic, shallots, lemon grass and galangal root and add them to a chicken/fish/veg broth. Wait till it boils then add cubed straw mushrooms and tomatoes. After a couple of minutes add chopped chillies, fish sauce and kaffir lime leaves and cook on low heat for 2 minutes. Finally, throw in some fresh prawns (clean an headless) or chunks of white fish (but don't over cook). Remove from heat, squeeze in lime juice and top with coriander.

Ingredients clockwise: tomato, straw mushroom, lemon grass, lime, purple shallot, galagal root (the pinkish chunk) and kaffir lime leaf.


Tom Yam soup, ready.


Tord Man Plaa, a deep fried fish patty is made out of ground white fish, red curry paste, fish sauce, tapioca flour, baking powder, palm sugar, shredded kaffir lime leaves and thinly sliced green beans. Just mix the ingredients and deep fry in a wok until brown.


Laap Gai is a spicy chicken salad served with cold cucumber. To make this one you need to toss minced chicken breast, sliced shallots, finely chopped galagal, fish sauce, lime juice and chili powder together in a wok. When the chicken is cooked, remove from heat and mix in chopped fresh spring onion, coriander and mint.

Red Curry Paste, Nam Phik Gang Phet

Curry pastes are not bought but hand ground in mortar and pestle (can be made in a blender). We used this red curry paste as the base for Red Curry with Grilled Duck.

Mash together:
1 red chili
1 tsp. galangal
1 tbs. lemon grass
1/2 tsp. kaffir lime rind
1 tsp coriander root
5 pepper corns
1 tsp. ground coriander seeds
1 tsp. ground cumin
1 tsp. salt
1/4 cup shallot
10 cloves of garlic.

(The recipe is taken from the Thai Chef International Cooking School)


Kaffir lime, its rind, juice and leaves are widely used in Thai cuisine.


Chopping the chillies. Watch your eyes.


Grinding the ingredients in a stone mortar and pestle.

Tom Kha Gai, Chicken and Coconut Milk Soup

Chicken breast, galangal, lemon grass, kaffir lime leaves, straw mushrooms, coconut milk, chicken stock, fresh cayenne chillies, fish sauce and lime juice make up this deliciously tasty and aromatic soup. Boil the coconut milk and stock first, then add mushrooms and chicken, and finish with the rest. Serve in a bowl and garnish with fresh cilantro.

Freshly sliced lemon grass.


Straw mushrooms, kaffir lime leaves and bird chillies.


Fish sauce (rosey color) and lime juice (yellow).


The finished product.

Cooking Workshop, Bangkok

Sitting for breakfast one morning at "Cafe the Flow" (real name) we were offered a cooking workshop by the lovely owner. We accepted and spent the afternoon chopping, grinding, steaming and frying a 9 course Thai dinner. We learned basic Thai cooking techniques and some great tips. We also had a lot of fun. Here's a peek at what we cooked up:

Som Tum, Spicy Green Papaya Salad. Mashing together all the ingredients with a wooden mortar and pestle.


Frying Spring Rolls, Por Pah Thod, We made everything (including the wrappers) from scratch.


Our finished steamed Chicken Curry Cakes, usually made in banana leaf cups.


Believe it or not, tiny eggplants used in Red Curry with Grilled Duck, Gang Phed Ped Yang.

Chillies in Jayma Bazaar, Osh

At one of the stalls in this vast yet charming market, we came across a large variety of chillies: dried, ground, powdered and paste.