Good morning and welcome to my kitchen…Fruit is plentiful here it is sold everywhere ready to eat …cut up with a dip of your choice…
Watermelon, Pineapple, Green Mango, Yellow ripe Mango, Guava, Apple or Strawberries when they are in season the choice is yours…
The cost is no different (unlike) it was when I lived in the Uk… it’s no cheaper to buy the whole fruit and cut it up yourself than it is to buy it freshly cut(no waste) for the consumer…
It comes either with a little pot of Salt, Sugar and dried chilli, Nam Pla Wan, a dark sticky dip, or a dark sticky tamarind dip…
Prik Glua...Salt, Sugar and dried Chilli.
Easy to make in your own kitchen…the kids will love it and it’s an intro to a bit of chilli…
You can make as little or as much as you wish…
Sugar and Salt are equal quantities fr example…1 tbsp of sugar and salt to 1 tsp of dried chilli flakes…of course you can add less chilli or more chilli.
If you wish to substitute with a sugar substitute that’s fine ..when you taste… taste with a piece of fruit…
When the green Mango is particularly sour Lily loves this she also loves the Tamarind one…
Nam Pla Wan…a very traditional dip sold and eaten with green mango and other fruits not a dip I like to eat or make…I don’t eat fermented fish past but it is a very popular dip here..high in sugar but given the fermented fish paste etc I can understand that it needs balancing.
We much prefer the dark sticky Tamarind sauce which is the other option and Lily likes this one as well…
2 large Green mangoes peeled and cut into half-inch pieces…
Let’s make some sauce…
In a small pan, toast the rice over moderate heat, shaking the pan frequently, until lightly browned and fragrant, about 10 minutes be careful not to let it burn… Let cool slightly, then transfer to a spice grinder and coarsely grind.. . you should have 1 tablespoon of rice powder.
Using the same pan wipe out the pan. Add the dried chillies and toast over moderate heat until browned in spots, about 3 minutes. Transfer to the spice grinder and grind to a coarse powder; some seeds will remain.
In a medium bowl, stir the fish sauce with the sugar until the sugar dissolves. Stir in the shallot, fresh chilli and toasted rice powder. Add the dried chilli powder, 1 teaspoon at a time, checking the heat as you go. Let the dipping sauce stand for 20 minutes. Transfer to a small bowl and serve with the mangoes or desired fruit.
The rice powder will act as a thickener.
Sauce 2..with Tamarind Pulp.
This is how I buy my Tamarind pulp here you should be able to buy it in Asian stores or a Tamarind Paste…
4 tbsp of Tamarind pulp or paste
2 red Thai chillies finely sliced
2 tbsp Peanut Oil
1 tbsp Fish Sauce
2 tbsp palm/raw sugar
Juice of half a lime
2 tbsp Shrimp Paste(optional)..I don’t add this.
Firstly soak the tamarind in warm water until soft then strain and remove any pips.
Add fish sauce and palm sugar to the tamarind pulp and whisk until thick and smooth then add the lime and peanut oil..mix well and add the chill…taste with a piece of fruit and adjust chilli if required.
Enjoy with your green mango or fruit of your choice…
Thank you for joining me in my kitchen today see you tomorrow for Tropical Friday’s x
Toothache and brain freeze…some great health hacks…head over to Smorgasord to read more …simple but effective and the Party Trick…all I will say is at your risk…haha..#recommended read
I love the Olympics and although I support my home country along the way someone always catches my eye through their story like this young athlete and of course then countries don’t matter its the person and Suni Lee certainly gets my support…with her family support and sheer will to succeed she is doing just that…the perfect role model…..Please head over to Pete’s to read the whole story #recommended read
Every Olympics, there are human interest stories that capture my attention. I don’t follow women’s gymnastics, but I always enjoy the spirit of competition. One Olympic athlete we may hear more about in the days to come is American gymnast Sunisa “Suni” Lee.
There are many aspects of Suni Lee’s story that I find fascinating. She is the first Hmong American athlete to compete in the Olympics. The Hmong are an ethnic group that originated in Southeast Asia. They haven’t had a country of their own. There are between 9 and 11 million Hmong people in the world today. They lived in southwestern China for thousands of years but began immigrating to other neighboring countries in the 17th century. As a teacher, I taught several Hmong children.
Suni Lee performing on the uneven parallel bars at the Tokyo Olympics
The most famous and decorated gymnast on the American team…
Welcome to series 3 of the Culinary Alphabet A-Z…Where the middle letter is K…
Nothing is as it seems here…this new series is the brainchild of Chel Owens who writes at A wife, My Verse, and Every Little Thing…my followers are so good to me they think up all sorts of permutations of the Alphabet for me to blog about…not sure if they want me to call it quits or what they will come up with next…Chel like Pete was, however, will be called on to make her contribution every two weeks…they don’t get off scot-free…so I hope you have started brainstorming Chel…haha x
So what’s in store? In this series the A, B, C, etc will be the middle letter, for example, Cajun, Cabbage, Ackee and Yucca… how easy that will be who knows I am sure some of the letters of the alphabet could cause the grey matter to rebel or implode…haha…I also don’t want to use plurals to form a word as I may need that word for another letter and its sort of cheating I think…unless of course I really get stuck…which I am sure will happen…
Today it is words where the middle letter is J...A little easier than J which was quite hard…The Baker baked some Cakes words like this are pretty generic but I will see how I go before I succumb to using them I make life hard for myself sometimes…or how about Pukka Pies.
Let’s go and see what I have found…
Ackee…Weird ( and) sometimes dangerous fruit.
The Ackee fruit is the national fruit of Jamaica…If improperly eaten, though, ackee can cause what has been dubbed the Jamaican Vomiting Sickness — which, other than the self-explanatory symptoms, can lead to coma or death.
Unripe ackee fruit contains a poison called hypoglycin, which means you must be careful to wait until the fruit’s protective pods turn red and open naturally. Jamaicans will often say that the fruit will “yawn” or “smile”—open naturally, on its own—before it’s ready to be picked from the tree.
Once open, the only edible portion is the yellow arilli, which surround always-toxic black seeds. With all that risk comes a delicious payoff — Jamaica’s national dish is ackee with codfish.
In preparation for use in the national dish, ackee and saltfish, the fruit is usually boiled gently for up to half an hour. The prepared fruit is removed from the water and usually sautéed with onions, tomatoes, sweet peppers, allspice, and Scotch bonnet peppers, and then mixed with salt fish. It’s easy to tell when ackee is cooked because the flesh will turn from a cream colour to bright yellow. Remove it from the heat source as soon as it turns yellow to avoid overcooking it. When it’s fully cooked, ackee becomes delicate; it crushes and falls apart easily.
When served with salt fish, it’s often accompanied by breadfruit, hard dough bread, Johnny cakes, fried plantain, or boiled green bananas. It’s also often eaten with rice and peas, or white rice.
Ackee can also be used in soups and desserts such as cakes and custards.
Bakmi …
Bakmi is a Chinese word that literally means “meat noodle.” It refers to a kind of egg noodle introduced into south-east Asia by the Chinese. Today it is most commonly used as part of the name of any of a number of Indonesian dishes made with those noodles. In addition to the noodles, Indonesian bakmi recipes usually include meat, often chicken, and a variety of vegetables. There are many regional and local variations of the dishes.
Bakso…
Bakso is an Indonesian meatball and is an extremely popular Indonesian food. It’s everywhere; you’re just as likely to find it being sold by street vendors (called kaki lima) and posh eateries.
Chickpeas…
One of my favourites legumes they have a lovely creamy texture which is why they are ideal for making hummus…They are brilliant as a snack…just roasted…or just used to bulk out soups, stews and salads…
High in protein, they are one of the earliest cultivated legumes…They are also high in fibre and contain several key vitamins and minerals. Sometimes called garbanzo beans they are used extensively in Mediterranean and Middle Eastern cuisines.
Note:it is not recommended to eat raw chickpeas or any other pulses due to the content of toxins and anti-nutrients. These components are reduced with sprouting and cooking.
Chickweed…
Both edible and delicious…
Chickweed is excellent raw — use it like sprouts; eat it in sandwiches, wraps, etc. And of course it’s a great base for a salad.
It’s also great cooked and makes a good substitute for spinach.
Cockles…
Sitting on the beach with a plate of cockles and some brown bread is my idea of heaven…
Cookies…
Ahhhhh the power of language…in the US it’s cookies in the UK it’s Biscuits however biscuits in the US means scones to me …don’t me started on Graham Crackers as they are sort of a digestive biscuit to me they are sweet and crackers we eat with cheese or pull them at Christmas…confused yet?…x
Cookout…
A meal which is cooked and served out in the open..like a BBQ then?
Corkage…
Corkage is a service charge that is levied by venues for opening and serving bottles of wine, sparkling wine, champagne and even spirits that are bought externally by customers with the intention of consuming them on site. … Some venues charge per head but most will charge per bottle opened on site.
Crackling…
One of life’s pleasures…Perfect Pork Crackling is a wonderful thing and happily popular here as well…
Gerkins…
Gerkins or baby pickles are small cucumbers pickled in brine…delicious sliced in a burger or with cheese or fish and chips …or just because…Gherkins can be made sweeter by adding some sugar to the vinegar or brine. Although, Dill pickles (flavoured with dill stems) are typically sour. …
Junket…
A dish of sweetened and flavoured curds of milk that is often served with fruit. Think “Little Miss Muffett” eating her curds and whey..some older cookery books still refer to “curds and whey”
Kashkaval…
Kashkaval is Bulgaria’s popular yellow, semi-hard cheese made from sheep’s milk that can be spicy or bland. It’s great for grating, cooking and melting, and is similar to Italian pecorino or Greek kasseri, but can variously taste like provolone and even pungent blue cheese (without any hint of mould).
Milksop…
An old fashioned late middle English dish from milk plus bread something my nana and my mother used to make and give us if we were unwell or given to young children…Bread and milk…
Mulukhiya…
Are the leaves of Corchorus olitorius, commonly known in English as denje’c’jute, nalta jute, Tossa jute, jute mallow or Jew’s mallow. It is used as a vegetable…
highly nutritious ancient super-green from the Middle East. It’s also known as Egyptian spinach, jute mallow or Jew’s mallow…sometimes also known as “the king of vegetables”
Parkin…
Parkin is a gingerbread cake traditionally made with oatmeal and black treacle, which originated in northern England. Parkin is baked to a hard cake but with resting becomes moist and even sometimes sticky.
Pickles…
Pickles I adore pickles of all sorts and pickle anything…watermelon rinds, garlic, jalapenos, pineapple, cucumbers…you name it and I pickle it…an ideal snack..Lily loves to snack on pickled cabbage which we call Pak Dong …Including pickles in your diet as a healthy snack can help you shed pounds, thanks to their low-calorie count. A cup of dill pickles — regular or low sodium — has just 17 calories. Even if you’re following a very restricted diet of 1,200 calories per day, that’s less than 2 per cent of your daily calorie allowance.
Pak Dong…Is Thai pickled cabbage which comes in many forms from just cabbage or cabbage and green onions this version has added small yellow eggplants…one of my favourites if I can get there before Lils…haha
Ingredients:
1 white cabbage. cut or torn into pieces.
8 large spring onions chopped
12-15 sm yellow eggplants halved
Coarse Salt.
Let’s Pickle:
Layer Cabbage, Onions, eggplants and salt in the dish add a little water. Mix it all together with your hands.
We then leave the dish covered on the kitchen top or in the sun for 1 day.
Then drain and lightly rinse and add more salt if required. Cover and leave for 2/3 days or until it reaches your ideal taste. With pickled cabbage, it is purely down to personal taste some like it saltier or sour more than others. Just play with it and you will soon discover your ideal version.
My daughter in law who is Thai doesn’t like it as sour as we do… she doesn’t like the Winegar taste as she puts it… Once it reaches your required taste it is ready to eat.
This recipe is suitable for vegetarians and vegans.
Porkpie…
A pork pie is a traditional English meat pie, served either at room temperature or cold. It consists of a filling of roughly chopped pork and pork fat, surrounded by a layer of jellied pork stock in a hot water crust pastry. It is normally eaten as a snack.
Reibekuchen…
A fried potato pancake…Reibekuchen are German potato fritters, also known as Kartoffelpuffer. They are common in many areas of Germany, the name “Reibekuchen” being characteristic of the Rheinland area. Reibekuchen may be served with apple sauce, pumpernickel bread, treacle, or Maggi-brand seasoning sauce.
Stinkbean…Sa Tor.
Very popular here…
Also popular in Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Laos, Burma and NE India they are known as Bitter Bean, Petai, Kampa, Mizo, Pakra and Sa Tor here in Thailand which translates as the stinky bean. When you eat this bean it has the same effect on your urine and your farts as asparagus and I have also been told that if you eat Sugar Puffs then it smells like Sugar puffs …Totally off subject but that was what my son told me when I informed him they had the same effect as asparagus…When the beans are young they can be eaten raw, fried or pickled. The beans are either pickled or frozen when being exported.
For more info on the stink bean(Sa Tor) and a delicious recipe please click here
Sockeye Salmon…
The sockeye, also called red or blueback salmon, is among the smaller of the seven Pacific salmon species, but their succulent, bright-orange meat is prized above all others. They range in size from 24 to 33 inches in length and weigh between 5 and 15 pounds.
Chicken Tikka…
Authentic Chicken Tikka Masala is usually made with yoghurt marinated chicken, skewered and chargrilled …authentic chicken tikka is a wonderful thing and my next project is to buy one of these and replicate chicken tikka and naan bread cooked in this…I reckon if they can cook chicken on the markets in one of these I can do chicken tikka in my garden…and slap the nan bread on the hot sides when the chicken is cooked…
Turkeys…
Christmas dinner for many people…a large bird in the genus Meleagris, native to North America. There are two extant turkey species: the wild turkey of eastern and central North America and the ocellated turkey of the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico
My turkey babies are not babies anymore….
He is just such a handsome boy, isn’t he? They love just love wandering about the farm and eating the greens and picking bits here and there….They are a joy to keep and have really lovely natures…..One got attacked by a dog a while ago but let himself be picked up and his leg cleaned so placidly he is lovely….The dog..banished we cannot have an animal which attacks the other animals…The turkey is alive and well after his little skirmish and none the worse for wear thank goodness. Our chook who thinks he is a turkey is still living with the turkeys he doesn’t want to be with the chooks…
He even speaks like a turkey now…
Thank you so much for joining me today…K was quite hard to start with but then it got easier… NEXT time it’s the letter L for Jelly and Jello… a bit of Salsa far easier methinks…x
See you tomorrow where I am in my kitchen the Onion Bahjees were popular in my house I have made them a few times already…see you tomorrow there are also some health Hacks from Sally think frozen nose syndrome from drinking an ice-cold shake …or toothache…Don’t miss it …x
Who is going to join me for Plastic Free July…? (Sign up for the challenge here) It’s never too late even though we are in the last week of July…every little helps and there are some great ideas on the website..small changes combined DO make a difference.
Personally, Plastic Free July has been a stepping stone for me and will not stop on the 31st of July…If you have been looking at the figures and watched the video on the biggest garbage dumps around the world I hope that has encouraged you to think about your waste and how you can reduce it I know many of you are already aware but we can all do more…
“You cannot get through a single day without having an impact on the world around you. What you do makes a difference and you have to decide what kind of a difference you want to make.” —Jane Goodall
Whilst I agree we should do more to reduce the plastic we throw away TODAY I am sharing the good news stories…the ones which give me hope..it doesn’t mean however that we should be complacent…
We all buy books and to get that hardcopy in one’s hand is special it could be made all the more special if the cover was plastic-free…
Plastic Free reading…
Plastic Free tells the incredible story of how a simple community initiative grew into one of the worlds most successful environmental movements.
To ensure that traditional plastic lamination wasn’t used, the publishers worked through alternatives and decided on using the reverse side of the coated artboard, so the surface was a bit textured, and used a dry trap varnish for protection. They loved the effect so much they have now used it for other titles.
Normally, the boxes are plastic shrink-wrapped onto the pallet with plastic straps. To get around this the publishers used metal straps instead.
I think this is a huge step forward in many ways…one which we could find so easy do as the buyers of so many books…I am getting my copy, are you?
I don’t go out partying as much (not) at all at the moment as I used to but the market is huge for the ages of 18-45 and Heineken have stepped up as all manufacturers should do and hopefully will follow suit and will do something about it…
I am particularly showing big business as they have the market to make these changes on a larger scale ALTHOUGH I am not for one minute discounting my own efforts or yours for collectively we can make a difference…it is a combined global problem and we all need to play a part…
Green spaces in cities help offset climate changes and provide physical and mental well-being for their citizens Biodiversity – all living organisms, including plants, animals and microorganisms – is essential for human existence. Yet when we think about biodiversity, we rarely picture a city in our minds.
With this goal in mind, the Global Commission on BiodiverCities by 2030 was launched last month, as part of the BiodiverCities by 2030 initiative. The commission is made up of a diverse group of city experts and practitioners from the public and private sectors, civil society and academia whose passion for and expertise in biodiversity conservation and climate change will steer its objectives to make cities safer, more fulfilling and cleaner places to live.
When I look at some of the designs they seem very futuristic to me and I wonder how they will work given the population of the world..when I see lovely green plants going all the way up a tower block will they look like that all year round I am guessing given how plants change during the seasons that unless thought is given to mixing types of plants they maybe won’t…Just some thoughts…
A mouse believed to have been wiped out 150 years ago has been found alive and well on a remote island in Western Australia.
Distinguished by its shaggy fur, the Gould’s mouse has been hiding in plain sight for decades: researchers monitoring the rodent thought it was a different species. This week scientists set the record straight.
The resurrection of the mouse is a rare piece of positive news against a backdrop of population declines. However, it’s not the only cause for celebration down under: in May,
Stabilising the climate means rapidly slashing emissions. However, scientists say sucking historic emissions out of the air is also vital if we are to keep warming to internationally agreed levels.
A £30m project to do just that was announced in the UK this week. As part of the trial, scientists will test the most effective ways of drawing climate-heating carbon out of the air, including planting trees, re-wetting peatlands and spreading rock chips that absorb CO2 on farmland. It will be one of the world’s biggest carbon capture projects.
“Greenhouse gas removal is not only essential, but it also has the potential to become big business,” said Prof Cameron Hepburn, from the University of Oxford, who is coordinating the trials. “As we rebuild societies and economies following Covid-19, we have an opportunity to orient ourselves towards the green jobs and industries of the future.”
There are lots of good things going on around the world…Hopefully with what we do on an individual basis and what governments and manufacturers do it will be enough…
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” —Margaret Mead
Thank you for popping in It’s lovely to see you and read your comments… see you tomorrow for my A-Z where the middle letter this week is the letter K…Anyone for Chicken Tikka?…
With good weather continuing in Ireland, Sally has been able to sit out in the evenings which is lovely ..Sally has published another new book so please over as she has had some great reviews there are also lots of other goodies music, laughter, book reviews for you to peruse at your leisure#recommended read.
