Bami Haeng Bhet (Duck with Noodles)

Hello! It's been a long time since I've last posted anything on my blog. I guess I'd simply comes the point where I'd run out of of recipes to post, and was struggling for ideas. There has also been a distinct lack of travelling with life getting in the way and incredibly, a new baby shortly arriving in our household! So while I can still have the opportunity, I'm going to be doing a bit of posting for the time being. Interestingly for me, pregnancy hasn't diminished my love for Thai food (or any food!!) as I've had a great appetite, very little morning sickness and no odd cravings. I'm hoping that my baby girl will also eventually love these flavours as much as I do as she takes in and tastes tiny amounts of whatever I eat. Time will tell!

 To ease back into blogging, I've been bringing together collections of my old recipes on Tumblr and now have a few new ones to add as well.

This new recipe is called 'bami haeng bhet' which can simply be translated to duck with dry noodles. It's quite a simple dish, featuring a pan roasted duck breast, sliced over fresh egg noodles with a side of Asian green vegetables, or in this case, chard, with a rich sticky sauce drizzled over and crunchy bits of garlic and spring onion to top it off.

I really enjoy using fresh egg noodles, as they've a much better texture than the dried ones and are much less likely to clump together. By the way, don't be put off that the recipe suggests the noodles are dry, it just refers to the fact that they're not in a soup.

This recipe serves two

You'll Need:

• Two duck breasts, with skin, trimmed of excess flabby bits
• A pack of fresh egg noodles (ba- mi), loosened
• A large handful of your chosen Asian leafy green vegetables, roughly chopped- choi sum, pak choi etc. or in my case, rainbow chard as we grew it in our allotment
• 4 cloves of garlic, chopped
• two spring onions, chopped
• vegetable oil for frying

For the sauce:

• A big splash of light soy sauce
• a small splash of oyster sauce
• a small splash of water
• a level dessertspoon of palm sugar (or light brown sugar)

Begin by getting a pan of water on to boil and set a steamer over it. 

Let's start off by making some crispy garlic, this gets sprinkled over the finished dish. Heat a generous splash of vegetable oil in a frying pan until reaching a medium heat but definitely not smoking or the garlic will burn. Pop in the garlic, moving it from time to time, letting it slowly sizzle and gently crisp and turn golden brown over a few minutes. Drain out with a slotted spoon onto absorbent kitchen paper.

Retaining the garlic flavoured oil and a medium heat, place the duck breasts skin side down in the pan. Press firmly down to keep the meat flat and help the fat to render out and cook for around ten minutes until the skin is browned and crisp. Flip over and cook on the meaty side for a further two- three minutes, then set to one side and rest. If there is an excessive amount of oil in the pan, drain some off but leave any brown and crispy bits for now.

Hopefully your pan of water is now boiling. Set your green veggies off to steam- giving them a few minutes. Your fresh egg noodles can go in the water but will only take around one minute to cook. Drain both and set them ready in serving bowls.

Finally, to make the sauce that will go over the duck and noodles, heat up the frying pan with the garlic/duck flavoured oil and when hot, add in the soy and oyster sauces, sugar and if needed, a splash of water to bring everything together; scrape and mix in any crispy pan residue and stir, heating for a minute or two; however- don't over- reduce as you'll want some sauce to get down to the noodles below.

Slice the rested duck, place on top of the noodles and pour over the sauce, sprinkling with the crispy garlic, fresh spring onions and in Thai style, any other seasonings you fancy, such as chilli flakes, vinegar, peanuts or a little more sugar.

Holidays in New England

Hey Folks,

It's been a long time, over a month since I was last on here, I'm now getting caught up with work, jobs to do, got over the holiday jet lag etc. What a great trip- New England really is such as beautiful and diverse part of the USA, almost everyday there was a change of scenery- historic Boston, stunning wild Cape Cod with it's beautiful houses and gardens, sweeping river valleys, lush green mountains in the Adirondacks, laid back Portland and a rather quirky Salem. The sea and seafood in general was a major player in our diets- we had some amazing lobster at a place called Thurston's Lobster Pound on Mt Desert Island, Maine. As ever, I would kill to be able to get such fresh, tasty and affordable seafood here in the UK. I could almost imagine all the Thai recipes I could have used it in.

Not to worry, the one thing I always miss when travelling in either Europe or the US is the lack of spice. Last time we were travelling in the USA, we were in the far south east, being so near to Cuba and also lots of Mexican influences meant we weren't short of flavours and spices so on this trip we did make one or two excursions in order to get our taste buds going.

Thai however was not on the menu (per se) as at no point did we come across any Thai restaurants I would say that felt authentic and not the usual identical westernised versions.

We did however spend several hours in Chinatown in Boston; right as the day was getting going and just as Saturday evening was ramping up (and the city's Gay Pride event was winding down- what a fantastic atmosphere there was).

We ended up, at the recommendation of a Time Out article giving 'The Dumpling Cafe' (www.dumplingcafe.com) a whirl where their 'juicy pork dumplings' are particularly recommended.

We chased our juicy dumplings; which are bitten, slurped then topped with ginger with some pan fried dumplings (very much like Japanese gyoza) and some very garlicky stir fried morning glory.
Service was cool, brisk and the food was a little on the greasy side but the flavours were strong, punchy and the food was fresh and tasty.

A few days later we had travelled to Cape Cod where we spent our first full day in the beautiful Provincetown in the 'toe' of the peninsula. Of all the places on our trip that we visited, this was my favourite spot.

We did a bit of research and heard very good things about a place called 'The Canteen' (www.thecanteenptown.com) a busy, slightly hipster-ish place which served an eclectic mix of food and local craft beers. My eye was immediately draw to the Vietnamese cod banh mi sandwich and greedy thing that I am, to their intriguing house speciality; deep fried Brussels sprouts in fish sauce.

The cod banh mi was excellent and just what I was looking for but let me tell you something, those ugly looking crisped up sprouts were A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!! wow, so simple but I couldn't stop eating them- I wanted more! As far as I can tell, the crispy fried sprouts are simply tossed in a nam jim seafood sauce (fish sauce, lime juice, chilli, coriander and perhaps a pinch of sugar). with the local beer, the food went down a treat; do try them if you're visiting Cape Cod.

And so, normal life resumes once again, and as usual, I'm already thinking of where my next travels will take me....

Pad Woon Sen (Stir Fried Vermicelli Noodles)

Pad woon sen, a speedy stir-fry dish for when you don't know what else to cook!! Joking aside this is possibly one of the most versatile dishes you will find in the Thai repertoire. There is very little that can't be substituted or skipped. As long as you're frying a combo of meats and/or vegetables with fine mungbean glass (vermicelli) noodles, you can't go far wrong. There does seem to be a common theme of cabbage, beansprouts, tomatoes and Chinese celery but, whatever you have can go in. It's another cross over dish- very definitely exported from Chinese cuisine along the way.

                                                                           *

I also want to give you a heads up that I'm going to be away on holiday for a few weeks- sadly, no not Thailand (although it is exactly one year already since I was in Malaysia- I do miss it and would love to go back to Kuala Lumpur again one day). This time we're going to be in the USA. We've been quite a few times already and tend to do big road trips; two years ago it was the Deep South, this time it's New England.

For the next three weeks, I'll be travelling and eating my way around Boston, Cape Cod, the Hudson Valley, the Adirondacks, Vermont/ New Hampshire, Mt Desert Island, Portland and Salem. Hopefully  eating a LOT of fresh seafood, buffalo wings, popovers, pies etc. I am particularly looking forward to experiencing Boston's Chinatown; I hope to post from there.

If you've any recommendations- it doesn't need to be Thai/Asian food, I love all food- then I would be thrilled to hear from you. And now back to my version of Pad Woon Sen....

                                                                             *

Okay so this recipe will make plenty for 2 and still enough for 3

You'll need:

• 2 sheets/nests of dried mungbean/glass vermicelli noodles (they're transparent)
• A small bag (200-250g) of raw king prawns/shrimp
• 2 small pork chops or steaks, fat trimmed off and cut into strips
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1 carrot, peeled and cut into coins
• About a 1/4 of a white cabbages, cut into large squares (cut a thin slice off one side, then chop)
• 3 or 4 stalks of Chinese celery, chopped into large pieces. Regular celery leaves are great too
• 3 or 4 spring onions, trimmed and cut into large pieces
• 4 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
• A big splash of oyster sauce
• A big splash of light soy sauce
• A small splash of dark soy sauce
• A big pinch of sugar
• A big punch of black pepper
• Vegetable oil for frying

Soak your vermicelli noodles by submerging them in cold water for 10-15 minutes, breaking them up as they soften. Drain and keep handy.

Heat a wok up until very hot, almost smoking and add in the oil, swirling to coat the base. Throw in the pork and stir fry for 1 minute, until mostly cooked through. Add in the raw prawns and stir fry for a further minute until they've mostly turned pink. If by any chance you're using pre-cooked prawns, add them in later (at the point that the celery and spring onions go in).

Next in goes the garlic, just toss it very lightly for a few seconds before adding in the carrot and cabbage, stir frying for around 1 minute. Now shove all these ingredients to one side of the wok, leaving them for a moment and pour the beaten egg into the empty side. Let the egg start to cook before lightly scrambling it before letting it set again. Repeat the setting scrambling until it's 90% cooked before mixing all the ingredients back together again, making sure the egg's well distributed.

Now throw the celery and spring onions into the pan, stir fry them for minute before adding in the noodles, 3 sauces, pepper and sugar. Stir well,the sauces will soften and darken the noodles and mix all the ingredients today. Try and let the noodles stick to the base of the wok a bit; it'll give you some nice crunchy bits. Cook for a final minute or two and serve.

Gaeng Jued Woon Sen (Clear Broth with Vermicelli Noodles)

Yesterday I had a poorly sick husband and unfortunately even this soothing bowl of gaeng jued (plain or clear broth) didn't help; it did mean I got to take it to work for my lunch though!!! As this is such a nutritious, dare I say it- plain dish (and by plain, it's far from boring; it just doesn't have the usual variety of herbs, spices and chillies that usually feature in Thai food) I had been saving making it for the next time my husband was feeling under the weather, which doesn't happen very often so it's been on my to do list for ages now!

In this recipe the vegetables, not the meat are the main ingredients, it can easily become vegetarian or vegan by using a vegetable stock, and substituting the meatballs with more tofu and mushrooms. 

Those of you paying attention may wonder where the curry is; 'Gaeng' is the somewhat unspecific Thai word for a soupy sauce or stew, it just so happens that most dishes with 'gaeng' in the title (Gaeng Massaman, Gaeng Kari, Gaeng Kiew Wan etc.) are what we in the west traditionally lump under the generic term 'curry'. Gaeng Jued, fits much better in the 'stew' category.

That cleared up, here's the recipe; it's a versatile dish- as long as there's lots of vegetables, feel free to chop and change your veggies and proteins. It is quite a long list but as everything is just getting boiled up together in a pot, it's not too onerous.

For 2 big bowls use:

• 200g pork mince
• 6 shitake mushrooms (soaked in boiling water for 20 mins)
• a small handful of Chinese jelly/wood mushrooms (soaked in boiling water for 20 mins)
• a small tube of soft egg tofu, cut into slices
• 1 carrot, peeled and sliced
• 5 leaves of Chinese cabbage, cut into large chunks
• 4 spring onions, cut into chunky slivers
• a good handful of coriander, stalks separated from leaves
• 1 nest of vermicelli (cornstarch/mungbean) noodles (soaked in boiling water for 10 mins)
• 500ml of pork stock
• 2 lemongrass stalks, lightly bashed
• vegetable trimmings (carrot peelings, spring onion trimmings, a celery stick
• a teaspoon of black pepper
• 3 cloves garlic, peeled
• a small splash of fish sauce

Start off by making your stock [I admit I had a head start as I already had some concentrated pork stock in the freezer that I had left from another recipe. I added 500 ml of water to the jelly stock to make it liquid again.]

To make the stock even more flavoursome add the trimmings of carrot, spring onion, coriander stalks (reserving the leaves for later) and a bit of celery, plus the lemongrass stalks into a large pot and cook over a low heat for around an hour, topping up with water if it gets too low.

While the stock is cooking make the meatball mixture. First pound up half of the coriander leaves, garlic and black pepper into a smooth paste. Mix this through the mince with the splash of fish sauce. Leave to one side for later.

After an hour, use a strainer to scoop out and discard all the solids, leaving behind a rich light brown clear broth. You still need about 500ml of liquid.

With all ingredients prepared and ready to go, heat the broth over a medium heat. Pop in the carrots and let them soften for about 5 minutes before adding both mushroom (sliced if they are large) for a further 5 minutes. Next in goes the noodles (loosen them in the broth) and the Chinese cabbage, cooking for a minute.

Grab the meatball mixture and use a large spoon to make egg shaped meatballs by pressing the mixture against the side of the bowl. Very carefully, push the mixture into the simmering broth; don't stir but flip them over after a couple minutes.

Finally slide in the tofu slices and heat through for a final minute.

Scoop a big ladleful of ingredients into a bowl along with plenty of broth, topping with a sprinkling of spring onions and some of the remaining coriander.

Gai Pad King (Chicken Fried with Ginger)

This ubiquitous dish is found on every Thai restaurant menu up and down the country (UK), it's one of those dishes that gets overlooked in favour of something more exotic, spicier and perhaps ''more traditionally" Thai. However, it's one of the healthiest stir fries out there with lightly cooked crunchy vegetables, low fat- high protein chicken and mushrooms and immune boosting ginger and chillies.

The ginger is used as a vegetable meaning this stir fry is full of fragrant and peppery ginger flavours. Easy to make, very quick to cook, colour and packed with flavour, it made a great weekday dinner.

For two people use:

• two small chicken breasts, cubed
• 1 small onion, cut in slivers
• 3/4 spring onions, cut in inch long pieces
• a large piece of ginger, peeled (2-3 inches long) and cut into thin slivers
• a handful of Chinese wood/jelly ear mushrooms, soaked in hot water until soft then drained and cut into strips
• 3 cloves garlic, peeled and finely chopped
• 3 small red chillies, chopped
• a pinch of sugar
• a big splash of light soy sauce
• a big splash of oyster sauce
• a small splash of fish sauce
• a small splash of vegetable oil for frying

Get the oil heated up in a wok until it's nice and hot, throw in the onion and stir fry, letting it get some colour. Next in goes the chicken, stir frying for a couple of minutes until it's white and mostly cooked through. Add the garlic and spring onions next, giving them a quick turn in the wok. Now add in the mushrooms, ginger and chillies and mix well.

Finally add the sugar and three sauces, toss everything to get it well coated and serve- it shouldn't take more than five minutes to cook.

Moo Hong (Stewed Pork)

I've been looking forward to making this sticky, sweet braised pork dish for a while now and it did not disappoint. Moo Hong belongs to a family of similar Chinese influenced, dark coloured stews that also includes khao kha moo (stewed pork leg) and moo paloe (pork braised with eggs). They all share some common ingredients: soy sauce, star anise, long cooking time and fatty cuts of pork but it's down to the consistency and what they're served with that makes for some subtle differences.

Moo Hong uses large chunks of belly pork and is cooked down until you're left with a rich, peppery, sweet and sticky sauce and meat that is soft and unctuous. Although it needs just over an hour to cook it's very easy to make.

For two large portions use:

• 400g of pork belly, rind removed and cut into inch square pieces. Try to find a piece that is fairly even in thickness and has a good meat/fat ratio
• half a bulb garlic, peeled
• a dessert spoon of black peppercorns
• a small handful of coriander roots or stalks (roots seem impossible to find in the UK)
• a golf ball size chunk of palm (or light brown) sugar
• 3 star anise
• a big splash of oyster sauce
• a big splash of light soy sauce
• a big splash of dark sweet soy sauce (I use Indonesian kecap manis)
• 2-3 cups of water (you may need a bit more)
• small splash of oil for frying

Make a well blended paste by bashing the black pepper, palm sugar, garlic and coriander in a mortar; by adding the harder ingredients first and adding the softer ones last you should end up with a fairly smooth paste.

Heat a splash of vegetable oil in a deep pan until medium hot. Carefully add in the cubed pork belly and fry for 3-4 minutes until some of the fat has rendered out and the pork is lightly browned. Pour off the excess fat from the pan (there'll be plenty in the dish as the pork cooks down).

Pop in the spice paste and stir well for a moment or two; the sugar in the paste will make the pork sticky but be careful not to let it sit and burn. 

Pour hot water over to just cover the pork then add in the rest of the ingredients (sauces and star anise). The sauce will be dark but very thin. Pop on a lid and lower the heat to a gentle simmer, let the pork reduce and cook down for around 75-90 minutes. Check it and stir gently every now and again, making sure there's still enough liquid; top up with a little water if need be.

The final sauce should be thick and sticky (of a honey- like consistency). Serve with freshly cooked rice and some extra coriander.

Goong Ob Woon Sen (Baked Glass Noodles with Prawns)

Using up the rest of the huge box of prawns I had meant thinking of more recipes I could put them in. This one seemed a great one with which to continue the recent trend for seafood and/or Chinese influenced Thai dishes. The Chinese influence can clearly be seen in the use of clay pot cooking and ingredients such as sesame oil, soy sauce and Shaoxing rice wine. A word of advice, check if the pot you're using is safe to go on the stove- mine wasn't so I oven baked my dish which was perfectly fine and certainly healthier- many versions of this in Thailand start with a thin layer of lard to stock everything sticking!

It takes a bit of time to cook but is easy to do and as a one pot dish- makes the washing up after easier!

For two people use:

• 2 sleeves/blocks of glass noodles (woon sen) made from mungbean flour
• 10/12 very large tiger prawns
• a handful of coriander leaves, ripped up
• a small bunch of coriander roots/stalks, chopped
• a 2 inch piece of peeled ginger, chopped
• 4 peeled cloves garlic
• a dessert spoon of black pepper
• 2 spring onions, finely sliced
• a big splash of light soy sauce
• a small splash of dark soy sauce
• a small splash of Shaoxing Chinese rice wine
• a big splash of oyster sauce
• a small splash of sesame oil
• 1 cup chicken stock

Boil the kettle and pour over the dry glass noodles, letting them soak for about 10 minutes until soft. Pop the oven on to heat up, about 180C/ 360F.

Use a pestle and mortar to make a rough paste of the black pepper, coriander roots/stalks, ginger and garlic; throw this into your baking dish. In a separate bowl/jug, mix up the liquid ingredients (soy sauces, oyster sauce, sesame oil and Shaoxing rice wine). Back to the baking dish and on top of the paste put the drained glass noodles, followed by the sauce you've just made up. On top of everything arrange the prawns and scatter over the spring onions. Place the lid on the dish and cook for 30-40 minutes; the noodles will be soft and crispy near the edges. Sprinkle the chopped coriander leaves over and mix everything together before getting stuck in together.

Sukiyaki (Thai Hot Pot)

Sukiyaki is a beautiful marriage between a Chinese hot pot and Japanese shabbu shabbu, blended with Thai ingredients and flavours to create something that's colourful, fun, beautiful and really healthy to eat. In an ideal world, you would have a tabletop stove with a pot designed to bubble away while you sit around. Unfortunately I don't have one and you may not either; don't let it put you off; it's really not that difficult to cook in a big pot on the stove and nip back to cook and fill each bowl of ingredients you build. The great thing is the more ingredients that get cooked, the more flavour the basic stock gets.

There are no rules when it comes to ingredients, so create your own mix of meats and/or tofu, seafood, vegetables and fungi, noodles and seasonings, I've used what was available to me and what took my fancy. The sauce you serve with it should be salty, sour, spicy and sweet- put a spoon into the bottom of each serving bowl before pouring in the broth and use it as a dipping sauce to perk up each mouthful.

For two people use:

For the sauce:

• 2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
• 2 small red chillies, finely chopped
• a small splash of light soy sauce
• a small splash of fermented yellow bean sauce
• juice of 1 lime
• a big splash of sriracha chilli sauce
• a pinch of sugar
• a pinch of sesame seeds

For the sukiyaki: (remember you can choose whatever ingredients you like)

• 8 very large prawns
• 2 chicken thighs, sliced very thin
• a small pack of fish balls (10 or so)
• a small pack of enoki mushrooms, ripped into thin bundles
• several stalks of choi sum, cut into large chunks
• a bundle of morning glory, cut into large chunks
• 1 litre of chicken stock

Make the sauce by mixing up all the ingredients, set to one side.

Heat the stock in your largest pot/pan on a medium/high heat until gently boiling.

Using chopsticks, put in the chicken, waving around to cook in the broth. Make sure the chicken is fully cooked and then start adding combinations of whatever ingredients you want to use, cooking until just done. Pop some of the sukiyaki sauce into your bowl, ladle yourself some broth over, mixing with the sauce and top off with the cooked ingredients.

Khao Na Bhet (Duck & Rice)

So, just one week to go until we head off to Malaysia for a few weeks. While I’m there I hope to bring you the food we encounter on our travels and what we cook while we’re over there (we’re staying with family and are lucky to have access to a Malaysian wet and dry kitchen). We’ve also been given an amazing present of a phototour for just me and my husband around Pudu wet market so I can’t wait to bring you those images.
Before we go, this week I’ll be posting two duck recipes; I bought a whole duck as it seemed much better value than messing around with duck breasts which are so expensive. A whole duck cost £8 and provided two full main meals over two days and huge lunch portions so was definitely worth it.
Duck is actually used quite a lot in Thailand, it’s common in dishes with a Chinese origin (such as this one) and the eggs are also commonly used.
This is a simple but very satisfying one plate dish with a great flavour profile-not too sweet (I personally dislike duck in syrupy sweet sauces), a little salty, savoury and smoky.
To make this dish use:

• 1 prepared duck (you’ll have over half the duck left for other recipes)
• a few stems of choi sum/pak choi or similar vegetable, chopped
• a big squirt of kecap manis or dark soy sauce
• small splash of sesame oil
• small splash of light soy
• a dollop of honey (or palm sugar)
• a clove of garlic, sliced
• a small splash of oil
• half a cup of white rice

Coat the outside of the duck in the kecap manis/ dark soy and massage into the skin. Roast in a deep oven tray at 180 degrees celsius for 90 minutes or until the fat has rendered and the skin is crispy and dark golden brown. Lift the duck out and rest, covered in foil. Leave the tray of duck juices to cool with the tray resting at an angle.
Boil a pan of water for the rice and start cooking.
After ten minutes or so with the tray of juices it should be possible to delicately scoop off the fat using a spoon, leaving behind the dark duck juices underneath- this forms the basis for the sauce.
When the pan juices are more or less free of fat, pour the juice into a small pan and add the light soy, honey and sesame oil. Slowly heat and reduce the liquid roughly by half.
Quickly heat a wok with a splash of oil and stir fry the garlic clove for a few seconds before throwing in the choi sum and stir a few times until it wilts.
Drain rice and plate up. Sprinkle with the choi sum. Slice off a duck breast and chop into bite size pieces, placing over the top of the rice. Pour a suitable amount of the sauce over everything.

Hoi Jor (Shellfish Rolls)

Having never worked with fresh bean curd sheets, these were probably one of the trickier Thai foods I’ve made and it can take a bit of practise to get the amount of filing and the role shape correct but I’m pleased with the outcome. What we’re looking at here is a pork mince and crab filling, rolled up in a bean curd sheet, steamed, sliced and then deep fried. They make a great appetiser to a healthier Thai main meal or would be perfect served alongside some other Thai snacks such as Tod Mun Pla (Fishcakes) or Po Pia Tod (Spring rolls) for canapes/buffet food. If you don’t have access to an Asian supermarket and can’t get bean curd sheet, use filo pastry instead and skip the steaming stage, making closed parcels rather than open ended rolls with the pastry.

For around 15 rolls (not all will be equal in shape) use:

• a packet of fresh bean curd sheet (roughly 2/3 A4 sized sheets)
• 100g of fresh or tinned crab meat (shredded/ chunks/white/brown it’s all good)
• 200g of pork mince
• 1 egg, beaten
• 3 tablespoons of rice flour
• a small handful of coriander (stalks are ideal)
• 4 cloves of garlic, peeled
• a teaspoon of black peppercorns
• 4 spring onions, very finely chopped
• a big splash of light soy sauce
• a small splash of Chinese rice wine (Xiaoxing/ Shaoshing or sherry)
• vegetable oil for frying
• Sriracha sauce for serving

Start by pounding the pepper, coriander and garlic into a paste in a mortar. Add the paste to a bowl along with the pork, crab, egg, flour, spring onions and liquids. Beat together well. The mixture should have the consistency of a loose meatloaf/ sausage meat before cooking.
Lay a sheet of bean curd in front of you (landscape). Divide the mixture equally between the amount of sheets of bean curd you have and place one portion of the mix in the middle/bottom part of the bean curd sheet. Spend a bit of time getting it into a roughly even sausage shape, leaving about 2 inches free from either edge. Fold the sides in first, then roll the whole thing up, leaving the seam underneath the roll. Repeat to use up the rest of the bean curd/ mixture.
At this point you’re supposed to start tying the roll into sections, like a Christmas cracker- for me it didn’t work. Even using wide thread slowly cut through the soft bean curd like a cheese wire before the roll got anywhere near tight enough.
Instead, for this next step, I recommend just keeping the rolls seam side down. Heat a steamer/ colander over a boiling pan of water. Gently place the filled rolls into the steamer and allow to slowly cook in the steam for 15 minutes. Check the water levels in the pan periodically to make sure it hasn’t boiled dry.
When the time’s up, remove the steam cooked rolls, leave them to cool for a while and then use a very sharp knife to cut them into 1 inch long slices- be careful to keep those loose ends tucked under for now.
Heat a frying pan with oil to a depth of ½ inch. It needs to be hot but not smoking. Carefully lower in the rolls, cooking in smaller batches if needed. The bean curd bubbles up and goes brown and crispy fairly quickly. Cook for about 3-4 minutes, gently turning the rolls over on all sides until all the bean curd,and the filling is golden brown and crisp. Drain on kitchen paper before serving.
Feeling lazy after all this effort, I served my hoi jor with a dipping bowl of Sriracha but by all means, make/use a chilli sauce of your choice.

Khanom Jeeb (Thai Style Steamed Dumplings)

Khanom Jeeb are the Thai interpretation of Chinese Sui Mai (steamed pork dumplings). There are usually some minor differences between the Chinese and Thai versions such as the use of white pepper and coriander root. For my version, I’ve decided to use the Chinese ingredients but add Thai herbs and flavours to the mixture and dipping sauce…

Depending on the size you make them, my recipe should do about 40-60 dumplings, halve the ingredients for less/ double up for more…

• A pack of yellow dumpling skins (sorry this is one you will need to go to an Asian grocers for)


• Half a packet of pork mince (roughly 300g)


• Half a tin of water chestnuts, cut into a fine dice


• A small handful of Chinese black fungus, soaked in boiling water until re hydrated then chopped into fine strips (optional and another specialist ingredient)


• 4 spring onions, finely chopped


• 2 red chillies, finely chopped


• 3 cloves garlic


• 1-2 stalks of lemongrass (ends trimmed, outer layers removed and the rest very finely diced (most supermarkets sell it fresh now)


• A thumb sized piece of galangal, very finely diced (some supermarkets sell this- morrisons does) or if is often sold in jars)


• A pinch of sugar


• a good splash of fish sauce (nam pla) all supermarkets sell it

Stir the ingredients (apart from the dumpling skins!) in a bowl until all the ingredients are well mixed.

Make a circle shape with your thumb and forefinger and lay a dumpling skin over the top. Take a heaped spoonful of the mixture and place it in the centre of the skin, letting it fall into the well you’ve made. Shape the skin around the filling and use a clean spoon to level off the top Repeat- many times! When you’ve used all your ingredients up. Place the finished dumplings in either a greaseproof paper lined bamboo steamer or concoct a similar version with a colander/sieve- just remember to line it otherwise you’ll leave most of the dumpling skin behind! Steam the dumplings, in batches if needed, for 10 minutes over rapidly boiling water.

While the steaming is going on, make a quick dipping sauce…

• finely chop a few red or green chillies


• put them in a small bowl with a good splash of soy sauce


• and a smaller splash of fish sauce


• with a pinch of sugar and stir well.

and serve!