Tag Archives: Ginger

Healthy Eating…How to lose weight and eat the foods you love…

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Welcome to my Tuesday ( Boot camp) where we have sensible conversations on what we eat and enjoy… Yes, enjoy! Let’s do this!

Just to recap on last week what have you been snacking on tell me???

Oh, and did you enjoy your pancakes ??? I did I had two with lime and a bit of sugar and they were delicious…

What did you think of last weeks post??? Which is just below in case you missed it…

https://blondieaka.wordpress.com/2018/02/13/healthy-eatinghow-to-lose-weight-and-eat-the-foods-you-love/

Did you try any of the snacks or have you got your own go-to snacks??

This week as I know so many of my readers live in colder climes I will give you the recipes for some delicious soups..all healthy, made from scratch and good for you…

This is one of my favourite Thai soups and the first time I have made it. It also brings back memories of a certain lady…Keeleigh who when she visited us could not get enough of this fabulous soup.

You may also notice that it isn’t the bright orange colour of many Tom Yum soups you see or may have had it is because a mix is used and it has colouring in it …If it is this colour it is made from scratch from fresh ingredients no preservatives and colourings.

Tom Yum soup with Prawns

Tom Yum Goon

Ingredients:

  • 2 litres of water
  • 4 stalks of lemongrass
  • 1-inch chunk of galangal
  • 10 kaffir lime leaves
  • 10 Thai chillies
  • 5 cloves of garlic
  • 500 gm Prawns
  • 300 grams of oyster mushrooms
  • 2 medium tomatoes cut into quarters.
  • 2 white onions (medium-sized) cut into large chunks.
  • 1 and a half teaspoons of sugar
  • 7 – 10 tablespoons of fish sauce (depending on your taste)
  • Juice of 5 -8 limes.
  • A handful of cilantro.

N.B Next time I will use shallots instead of white onions and I recommend using the lowest amount of limes and fish sauce and Taste! Adjust if necessary as everyone’s taste varies.

Let’s Cook!

The first thing to do is put about 2 litres of water in a large pot to boil.

Then I like to start by squeezing my limes. This is not the first step of the recipe, but it’s best to have your limes squeezed so when you need them later, you don’t need to rush to squeeze them all.

Take your stalks of lemongrass, and first tear off the outermost leaf and throw it out. Then, I like to use a rolling-pin or the handle end of a knife to lightly pound the lemongrass to release the flavours. Then just slice it diagonally into 1-inch strips or so.

Take about 1 thumb-sized chunk of the root part of galangal, and chop it into slices.

Coarsely break about 10 kaffir lime leaves – no need to cut them, just tear them – which is going to help release their flavour.

Peel about 5 cloves of garlic.

I used about 10 Thai bird chillies for this recipe, but you can use however many you’d like. First, take off the stem, and then you can either just slice them in two pieces, or give them a little pound on your cutting board like I did (just be careful of flying seeds). You can also remove the seeds if you’d still like the chilli flavour but not as much heat.

Throw the lemon grass, galangal, kaffir lime leaves, garlic and chillies into the water.

Tom Yum Goon 3

You can put the lid on just so it starts to boil which releases the herb flavours quicker.

Now prepare your prawns I remove everything except for the tail…..others put in whole prawns…personal preference.

Boil your soup with all the herbs in it for about 10 minutes.

Then add your mushrooms, which you should pre-rinse beforehand.

Cook for 4-5 minutes.

Add tomatoes and onions.

 

Cook for further  6-8 minutes.

Now add prepared prawns and cook for 2-3 mins( if overcooked the prawns will sink to the bottom of the pan. If you get any scum on the surface of soup it’s from the prawns then just skim it off the surface.

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Remove from heat and stir in fish sauce, lime juice, sugar and cilantro.

Taste and adjust if necessary.

This delicious soup is now ready to serve.

 

I hope you enjoy this soup as much as we do and remember to add the smallest amount of fish sauce and lime juice and taste and build on it, taste and build until you get the right level of salty and sour for you 🙂

Thai Rice Soup.

Thai Rice soup

 

This soup is eaten for breakfast, it is given to babies, anyone who is maybe a little unwell or just because they want a comfort food. If you use cooked rice then it will be more like a porridge and how it would be given to babies and also with less seasoning for babies.

If you want a bit more of a substantial soup then add a few prawns and if you are vegetarian just omit the meat and maybe add some pak choi or white cabbage shredded., some tomato…Play with the flavours.

Ingredients:

1/4 cup minced chicken or pork

3 cloves of minced garlic

1 and a half tbsp oil

1/2 tsp salt

2 tsp soy sauce

1 and 1/2 cup of fresh chicken broth

1 cup of steamed rice

1 egg

1 tbsp finely Julienned fresh ginger

1 spring onion finely sliced

1 tbsp coriander chopped

Pinch of white pepper.

Let’s cook!

Heat the oil and add the minced ginger and cook until ginger is golden remove half and set to one side for garnish.

Add the chicken or pork and season with salt and the soy sauce then pour in your chicken broth and the rice. Cook for 3-5 minutes depending on whether you want a soup or more of a porridge.

Turn up the heat and crack the egg in the middle of the rice either sir to combine through the rice or let the egg poach.

Pour into your bowl and top with the garlic, spring onions and ginger sprinkle with a dash of white pepper.

Enjoy!

Two lovely soups ..No calorie counting…I don’t do that… we all have a good idea of what our food contains and whether or not we could eat bowls of it or not…Don’t we???

I eat fairly small portions but if I am still hungry I would have a little more obviously with these soups you don’t eat bread…

I generally never ever feel bloated I eat enough..enough to satisfy my appetite…I don’t count calories..I am old enough to know what is calorie laden and I am not on a diet… It is a lifestyle for me and easy to maintain because …I had my pancakes ..did I not on Shrove Tuesday… I enjoyed them…

That was my treat and no guilt…BUT… I was extra careful the next day and also walked a few extra km.

What I am really saying is MODERATION AND COMMON SENSE…Cheat every day…Who is the loser…It isn’t me…

I do hope this is helping you along with your feeling healthier and eating healthier path… If you have any questions or foods you love and need recipes for ..Ask me…I don’t bite and enjoy my food and my sundowners… But also lose weight or maintain it as now I seem to lose in little bursts…If I feel it needs a kick-start then I up my walking or cut my snacks not that I eat many anyway or will have a soup day.

Until next time eat well but eat sensibly xxx

 

 

Fish Friday… Thai Fish with crispy kale and ginger.

Ok… I know it is Saturday here but some of you are on different timelines to me …so I think I can still sneak this in as Fish Friday…

Beautiful Picture of Steamed Fish 25 rest I think

Doesn’t that look amazing and I had so many requests for the recipe… It is also far easier than it looks and doesn’t it look impressive…

Mainly I can get sea bass/bream or locally caught fish here but this recipe can be adapted to whatever fish you can get regionally where you live like rainbow trout, Tilapia.

Ingredients: 

  • 1 or 2 whole sea bass, sea bream fresh or frozen or fish of your choice.
  • 1 handful fresh coriander
  • 1 handful fresh Thai basil
  • For the Sauce:
  • 1/4 cup oyster sauce
  • 1/4 cup soy sauce
  • 8 to 10 cloves garlic, minced or finely chopped
  • 1 tbsp fish sauce
  • 2 tbsp brown sugar
  • 1/4 tsp black pepper
  • 1 tbsp freshly squeezed lime or lemon juice
  • To garnish julienne very finely a large piece of fresh ginger ( sometimes I also add some garlic.
  • Shredded kale for garnish.

Let’s Cook!

Preheat oven to 375 F  or fire up the BBQ…..Here I use a kettle BBQ and cook the fish on a banana leaf.

Stir all sauce ingredients together in a bowl. Set to one side.

Place fish on a cutting board and score it by making vertical cuts an inch or more apart along the length of fish from head to tail. Turn fish over and do the same on the other side.

Place fish on a large piece of aluminium foil or banana leaf. Make sure the foil or leaf is big enough to cover and wrap the fish.

Drizzle 3 tablespoons (or more) of the sauce over the fish, covering both sides. Be sure to spoon some into the cuts you’ve made, as well as into the underside cavity. Reserve the rest for later.

Bring the long sides of the foil up and over the fish, scrunching it together. Try to keep the foil off the surface of the fish, making a kind of shallow tent over it. Fold up each end and scrunch to secure. If using banana leaf, fold the sides and ends up and over the fish to cover it. With banana leaf, you actually want the leaf to come into contact with the fish, as this adds to the flavour.

Bake the fish in the foil directly on your oven rack.

My fish is now going on to the BBQ…

N.B. If you are using banana leaf and oven cooking you will require a dish or tray, as a banana leaf is porous.

Bake for 20 minutes or longer, depending on the size and thickness of your fish. Remove fish from oven and check some of the deeper cuts to see if the inner flesh is cooked (it should be opaque, not pink or translucent-looking). If fish still needs more time, return to your oven for another 8 to 10 minutes, or until cooked.

Next remove the fish from the oven or your BBQ open up the foil, scrunching it around the fish to create a kind of bowl. If using banana leaf, simply open up the leaf, which will have become drier and slightly crispy.

Pour remaining sauce over fish and return to the oven. Turn oven to broil setting, and grill for 5 to 8 minutes, or until the fish is nicely browned and crisp-looking.

Meanwhile, crisp your julienned ginger in hot oil and drain on kitchen paper. Then quickly crisp your kale and drain on kitchen paper.

Remove from the oven and sprinkle the fish with the crispy kale and ginger…Just pile it on.

Beautiful Picture of Steamed Fish 25 rest I think

If I am cooking my fish on the BBQ I serve the leftover sauce in a small bowl.

Enjoy!

N.B. My grandson poised to dive in…lol

If you don’t want to miss any of my posts then please subscribe to my blog and if you enjoyed this recipe please reblog or share as sharing is caring…Thank you x

 

 

 

Fish Friday…Prawns with Asparagus.

It’s that time again Fish Friday...I honestly don’t know where the days go they just fly by..when you were kids did you not think that it took so long for Christmas to come round and then, of course, there was Easter but it just seemed like forever until Easter came  now before we know they all seem to merge into one and I can certainly remember last Christmas as if it was yesterday….Is it only me or does time just fly….

Today I am giving you one of my favourite dishes  Asparagus is very plentiful here and one of my favourite stir fries are with prawns, lemongrass and lime leaves.

Very quick and easy to do once you get your ingredients together.

Ingredients:

250 gm asparagus cut in half…asparagus is very thin here but if you are using thicker asparagus then either shave the asparagus or cut into 3-inch pieces.

A small piece of ginger peeled and grated.

1 stalk of lemongrass bashed and very finely chopped.

4 lime leaves very thinly sliced

3-4 tbsp of fish sauce

1 tbsp palm sugar or light muscovado sugar

1 tbsp coconut oil

10 raw king prawns either peeled or leave the tails on.

1 shallot thinly sliced

1-2 Thai birds eye chillies finely sliced

2-3 cloves of garlic finely chopped

4 spring onions cut into 2-inch pieces

Lets Cook!

Mix together the ginger, lemongrass, lime leaves, fish sauce and sugar and put to one side.

Meanwhile, heat the wok on high and when it’s really hot add the oil. Once the oil is shimmering, add in the king prawns and stir-fry for one to two minutes, until the prawns have gone pink with slightly golden edges. Remove with a slotted spoon.

Add the onion to the wok and stir-fry for two minutes. Add the chilli, garlic and spring onion and stir-fry for a further four minutes until the onions have softened. Add the asparagus and stir-fry for a further minute.

Finally, add the prawns, pour over the sauce which was prepared earlier, and cook until the sauce becomes sticky (around three minutes).

Serve immediately with Thai steamed rice and enjoy!

Last weeks post is here just in case you missed it…as it turned out it was a really popular recipe https://blondieaka.wordpress.com/2017/10/06/fish-friday-thai-shrimp-cakes-and-thai-sweet-chilli-sauce-recipe/

I am very happy for you to share these recipes with your family and friends and if you do…. Thank you x

I am now off to the kitchen to cook up another Halloween treat….

Until next time stay safe, have fun and laugh a lot as you know laughter is FREE and one of the best medicines known to man…