Memories of Chiang Mai

Two of my most favourite people in the world have just spent a couple of days eating and drinking their way around Chiang Mai in Northern Thailand. They seemed to find it amusing to keep me up to date with the occasional message or photo here and there to torture me in my obvious absence. Clearly unable to join them I was thrown into the mood for a good Pad Thai last night, and as I'm yet to discover a source of really good Thai food in DC yet (suggestions most welcome) I decided the best bet was to chuck one together at home. It's been more than 12 months since I was last in Thailand, but it has a smell you'll never forget. The fragrances attached to the food there is instantly recognisable and utterly forgettable, and I do recall the best Pad Thai I had was in Chiang Mai. If I had a bottle of Thai whisky I'd have rounded it off with a glass as they did (!) but anyway, this rather lengthy but totally worth it recipe is for Randal and Paula...

Pad Thai

Serves 2

25g tamarind paste
3/4 cup boiling water
2 tblsp fish sauce
2 tblsp palm sugar
1 tblsp rice wine vinegar
100g rice stick noodles
150g marinated tofu, recipe follows
1 to 2 tblsp peanut oil
1 cup chopped spring onions
2 tsp minced garlic
2 whole eggs, beaten
2 tsps salted cabbage
1 tblsp dried shrimp
75g bean sprouts, divided
1/2 cup roasted salted peanuts, chopped, divided
Freshly ground dried red chilli peppers, to taste
1 lime, cut into wedges

Place the tamarind paste in the boiling water and set aside while preparing the other ingredients.

Combine the fish sauce, palm sugar, and rice wine vinegar in a small bowl and set aside.

Place the rice stick noodles in a mixing bowl and cover with hot water. Set aside while you prepare the remaining ingredients. Once the other ingredients are measured out into separate bowls, drain the water from the noodles and set them aside. Cut the tofu into 1/2-inch wide strips.

Add the tamarind paste to the sauce and stir to combine.

Place a wok over high heat. Once hot, add 1 tblsp of the peanut oil. Heat until it shimmers, then add the tofu. Cook the tofu until golden brown, moving constantly, for no longer than 1 minute. Remove the tofu from the pan to a small bowl and set aside.

If necessary, add some more peanut oil to the pan and heat until shimmering. Add 2/3 of the spring onions and then the garlic, cook for 10 to 15 seconds. Add the eggs to the pan; once the eggs begin to set up, about 15 to 20 seconds, stir to scramble. Add the remaining ingredients in the following order and toss after each addition: noodles, sauce, cabbage, shrimp, and 2/3 of the bean sprouts and peanuts. Toss everything until heated through, but no longer than 1 to 2 minutes total. Transfer to a serving dish. Garnish with the remaining spring onions, bean sprouts, and peanuts. Serve immediately with the ground chilli peppers and lime wedges.

Marinated tofu

150g extra firm tofu
1 1/2 cups soy sauce
1 tsp Chinese five spice powder

Wrap the tofu firmly in a tea towel. Place the wrapped tofu into an 8-inch cake pan. Top with another cake pan and weigh down with a 5-pound weight. (Bags of dried beans or grains work well.) Place in refrigerator and press for 12 to 15 hours.

Place pressed tofu in a 2-cup container. Combine soy sauce and five-spice powder and pour over tofu. Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes, turning once. Remove the tofu from the marinade and use immediately or store in the refrigerator for up to 2 to 3 days.

Bulgur wheat with aubergines and mint

Serves 2

Bulgur is one of those mild, warming grains that both soothes and satisfies. I find great value in its nubbly texture and nutty flavour. To me this is supper, but others may like to use it aside something else such as grilled chicken or a gravy rich stew. At this time of year, it's just one of the mesmerising display of cold mezzah we assemble as part of the opening scene of our Iftars.

6 tblsp olive oil

a small onion

a bay leaf

2 small aubergines

2 large cloves garlic

225g bulgur wheat

500ml vegetable stock

4 tomatoes

3 tblsp pine kernels, toasted

15-20 mint leaves

Warm the olive oil in a shallow pan, peel and finely slice the onion and let it cook slowly in the oil with the bay leaf. When the onion is soft and pale gold, add the aubergine, cut into 3cm pieces, and the peeled and chopped garlic.

Let the aubergine cook, adding more oil if necessary, until it is golden and soft. Pour in the bulgur wheat and the vegetable stock.

Bring to the boil, then leave to simmer gently for 15-20 minutes till the wheat is tender and almost dry. Halfway through cooking roughly chop the tomatoes and add them, then, once the wheat is cooked (it should still be nubbly and have some bite), stir in the toasted pine kernels and chopped mint leaves.

Check the seasoning, for sure it will need both salt and pepper.

Caramelised hazelnut chocolate clusters

Makes 24

These petits fours are simply clumps of hazelnuts set in a buttery caramel and then coated in melted dark chocolate. If the notion takes you, milk or white chocolate can easily be substituted, and the nuts swapped for some dried fruit. Such a simple recipe for the kids to get involved in the kitchen.

200g caster sugar
2 tblsp water
50g butter
100g whole hazelnuts
200g dark chocolate (55–60 per cent cocoa solids)

Line a baking sheet with a silicone cooking liner or baking parchment. Melt the sugar with the water in a heavy-based saucepan over a very gentle heat. Once all the sugar grains have dissolved, stir in the melted butter. Increase the heat and boil to a mid-golden colour. Take off the heat.

Drop in a cluster of three nuts, scoop out at once with a metal spoon and place on the lined baking sheet. Repeat with the remaining nuts to make about 24 clusters. Cool until set and firm.
Melt the chocolate. Dunk each nut cluster into the chocolate to coat and place on baking parchment to set. Store in an airtight tin for up to three days.

Almond lemon tart

Serves 6

This simple, but intensely rich and lemony recipe uses an unsweetened shortcrust pastry, no need for any extra sugar in the crust. It needs something slightly sour and berry like to cut into it too, crushed raspberries, poached cherries or some pureed redcurrants for example.

225g shortcrust pastry
2 lemons, juiced and the zest finely grated
65g ground almonds
85g caster sugar
3½ tblsp double cream
4 egg yolks
100g butter, melted

Preheat the oven to 200c/gas mark 6. Roll out the pastry and place in a 23cm tart dish. Prick the bottom with a fork, line with greasproof paper weighed down with baking beans and chill for 30 minutes.

Bake the tart base in the preheated oven for 15 minutes. Remove the beans and paper, then set aside. Reduce the oven temperature to 130c/gas mark ½.

Beat together the remaining ingredients and, once the oven has cooled, pour the lemon mixture into the pastry case and bake for 45 minutes or until golden and just set. Serve while still warm with the berries and a scoop of clotted cream.

Grilled courgettes with tahini dressing

Serves 4

I hear the weather back home is pretty damn fine at the moment, and it is Sunday after all, so I reckon a few barbecues must be in the planning stage. This great little dish is terrific as it is, or served as a side dish with crisp edged lamb chops and a little goats cheese, say, or, best of all, stuffed into flatbread with shreds of charred barbecued lamb.

55ml tahini
55ml water
Juice of ½ lemon
1 clove garlic, grated
Sea salt
450g courgettes, sliced 1cm thick lengthwise
3 tblsp olive or rapeseed oil, plus more for drizzling
Freshly ground black pepper
3 tblsp fresh mint leaves, shredded

First make the dressing, which is a cinch - just whisk together the tahini, water, lemon juice, garlic and a pinch of salt, then set aside.

Brush the courgettes with oil, sprinkle with a little salt and grill over medium coals until lightly charred and tender - about four minutes on each side.

Arrange the courgettes on a plate, drizzle over some of the tahini dressing and a splash or two of oil, a few grinds of pepper, some salt flakes and a sprinkling of mint. Serve immediately.

Pea and pesto soup

Serves 2

Soup making is like bread making in a sense - cleansing, pure and theraputic. There is nothing simpler, and no secret in using the fridge's darkest secrets to boil and blend together to produce a warming bowl of something, but making a soup on purpose with intended ingredients is one of the kitchen's best quick fix moments. I do believe that any soup will taste better made in a blender rather than a food processor, and it’s best to use a blender which has a central plug in the lid that you can remove to stop pressure building up. The only fat I've added is a little butter at the end just to smoothen off the soup, you could do a splash of cream too, but it really isn't crucial to this.

750ml water
375g frozen peas
2 spring onions, trimmed but left whole
1 tsp Maldon salt or ½ tsp table salt
½ tsp lime juice
4 tblsp fresh pesto (if not fresh, then from a tub, but not a jar)

75g soft butter

Bring the water to a rolling boil, add the frozen peas, spring onions, salt and lime juice to the pan and let everything bubble together for 7 minutes.

Discard the spring onions and blitz the peas and their liquid with the pesto in a blender.

If you're feeling swanky, force the soup through a fine sieve. Whisk in the butter and serve without delay.

Artichoke soup with ginger and walnuts

Serves 4-6

The beauty of blending any members of the artichoke family into a soup like this is the way you instantly get a creamy and rich texture, with only the smallest amount of butter. Globe artichokes can of course be used, but if you can get the Jerusalem variety, their own natural nuttiness blends wonderully with the spice mix topping

2 large leeks
40g butter
4 medium sticks of celery
400g Jerusalem artichokes
1 litre light stock or water
a small bunch of parsley

For the spice mix
1 tsp coriander seeds
30g shelled walnuts
30g fresh ginger
4 tsp groundnut oil

Discard the outer leaves from the leeks then cut into thin rounds. Rinse under running water, and then add them with the butter to a heavy saucepan. Let the leeks cook in the butter over a low heat for a good 15 minutes or so till they break down with the pressure from the back of a spoon.

Finely slice and add the celery, then peel and chop the artichokes and stir them in, too. Cover the pot with a lid so the vegetables sweat and soften without colouring, then pour in the stock and bring to the boil. Turn the heat down to a simmer, partially covered with a lid, this will take about 25 minutes for the artichokes to become tender.

Grind the coriander seeds to a fine powder and then add the walnuts, mashing them briefly to a pulp. Peel the ginger and slice thinly, then cut into thin matchsticks. Heat the oil in a shallow pan and fry the ginger for about 30 seconds till it's golden and crisp. Toss in the crushed walnuts and coriander; let them sizzle briefly then tip onto kitchen paper.

Liquidise the soup in a blender, stir in the parsley and check the seasoning. The soup should be mild and slightly nutty tasting. Ladle into bowls and top with ginger and spice mix.