Tag Archives: Limes

Fish Friday…Yellow Tail Fish with Sesame seed crust.

 

Sesame crusted Yellowtail fish

The Yellow Tail fish or Amber Jack is native to the North East Pacific from Japan to Hawaii. It is also not related to the Yellow tail Tuna.

In Japan, this fish is eaten cooked or raw and known as Hamachi or Buri.

As you know I am firmly in the camp of eating healthily and choose my fish carefully …I steer clear of farmed fish and only eat locally caught straight off the boats or fish which is responsibly sourced. It doesn’t mean however that it is expensive which a lot of people seem to think …You can buy fish responsibly and at good prices by researching your local markets or even buying frozen.

This fish has extra lean, firm white meat and if you want a lighter meal then it is a lovely tasting fish with a mild flavour.

For two servings.

  • 2 x 150 g pieces yellow tail fish or any other firm white fish.
  • Freshly ground black pepper
  • Sea salt to season…..I use pink Himalayan or mineral salt which is farmed close to my home.
  • 1 egg white whisked until it is foamy.
  • 3 tbsp sesame seeds.
  • Oil for frying…I use coconut oil.

 

For chilli, lime and soy sauce.

  • 60 ml Soy sauce
  • 2 tbsp honey……I use honey from the comb
  • 1 clove garlic, crushed
  • 1 chilli, deseeded and finely sliced..guess who leaves the seeds in? Moi
  • Juice of 1 lime
  • A drizzle of  sesame seed oil
  • Fresh coriander leaves to serve

Let’s Cook!

Preheat the oven to 180 °C.

Season the yellow tail fillets with a little salt and freshly milled black pepper. I cut the fish into steaks…

Dip the seasoned fish into the egg white and coat both sides with sesame seeds.

Heat a little coconut oil( or oil of your choice) in a frying pan and sear the fish for about a minute on each side or until the sesame seeds are golden brown. Remove the fish and place in a roasting pan.

Cook in the oven for about 10 minutes or until the fish is just cooked through.

Meanwhile, make the soy sauce reduction. Place the soy sauce, honey, garlic, chilli, lime juice and sesame oil in a small saucepan and bring to the boil.

Cook for about 2–3 minutes or until the sauce has reduced slightly and has thickened so it coats the back of your spoon.

Remove the garlic clove and set to one side…

Once the fish is cooked, remove it from the oven and serve immediately, drizzled with a little soy sauce reduction.

Sesame crusted Yellowtail fish

Served with jasmine rice, steamed pak choy and fresh lime wedges.

Enjoy!

If you liked this recipe then please share or reblog on your favourite social media 🙂

This is going to be my last fish Friday post and I will be doing Fruity Fridays the main reason is that I am working on my Cook Book…

As my repertoire of recipes is vast and no one wants war and peace..do they? Also, I have bought big thick cookbooks in the past with many chapters and in all honesty have probably never read the whole book or tried all the recipes not even probably 10% so I decided that I would split them into groups my first one being my favourite fish dishes from around the world…So if fish is your choice then you can pick your cuisine and will have lots of yummy fish recipes all tried and tested by my family and friends all in one place … I find that much better… what do you think?

Please let me know in the comments x

 

Thank you for reading this post and I hope you enjoy the dish x

 

Papaya Salad…. one of Thailands iconic dishes.

Papaya Salad Som Tam

Papaya Salad or as it is known here, Som Tam.

One of my favorite dishes which is eaten with nearly every meal and sold everywhere on markets, by the roadside with lovely chicken or fish and a dish that I would say every visitor to Thailand will sample and remember.

You will see the trees growing everywhere in gardens, by the roadside and waste land we have at least  6 in our garden alone and not sure how many on the farm and have planted one outside our house so that anyone passing can help themselves.

The papaya tree laden with fruit:

Papaya on tree

 

For those of you who are not lucky enough to be able to buy green Papaya then here is the recipe for you and some alternatives if you can’t buy green papaya.

Ingredients:

A Green Papaya…1 papaya unless you are making a huge dish full will make at least 3 two serving portions. If you keep it covered or put in a plastic bag it keeps very well in the fridge and doesn’t go brown like some fruits and vegetables once peeled.

  • 1 Carrot
  • Handful cherry Tomatoes or 2/3 med sized tomatoes.
  • 2 long green beans.
  • Dried shrimp (optional)
  • 1 Lime
  • 4/5 birds eye chillies
  • Fish Sauce.
  • Sm amount of palm sugar about a half teaspoon.

Method:

Shred green Papaya and Carrot.

Cut tomatoes up roughly in smallish pieces or cherry tomatoes in half.

Put the chilli, sugar and little fish sauce in pestle and mortar and pound away.

Add papaya, carrots, tomatoes and dried shrimps ( a bit at a time) and keep pounding.

Add lime juice and the lime cheeks, peel ..all of it….. a little more pounding, stir and serve.

Tip 1: TASTE, Taste and taste again because it is about balancing those hot, salty, sweet, sour tastes of Thai Food and your personal taste.

I find that in papaya salad the heat of the chilli is more pronounced so if you only like a little heat start with half a chilli or 1….and TASTE……lime juice and fish sauce the same… taste……..Thai food is all about balancing of the sweet, sour, spicy, salty flavours so once again TASTE as it’s very personal and individual…

I love the fish sauce so I am probably..well… nought probable about it… I am….bit free and easy with it…..but that’s my taste and maybe not yours ……I am now becoming in danger of overusing a word…but TASTE…….

Tip 2: If you cannot get Green Papaya where you live then you can use shredded Cucumber or Swede as a substitute. Both are good and particularly with the swede unless you are a connoisseur of Papaya Salad then it would be hard to call.

Another variation on the Papaya is substituting shredded  Green Bananas ..I have not seen it made everywhere… it seems to be more regional but it was good, very good.

I hope you enjoy my little recipes they are not all precisely measured but just how we do it here ….whatever we have goes in the pot or pestle i.e the addition of crab ( in its shell) and yes you do get mucky fingers because again it’s eating with what you were born with.

Som Tam with Phla

Oh, and you serve Papaya Salad with Khao Neow (sticky rice), Chicken or fish..fresh veggies of your choice….

Whatever you fancy and this is one of my favourites and so many variations..but I have found me a little man who makes it just the way I like it… Sometimes I just want to eat and the beauty of Thai street food is it is just like it has come from your own kitchen… How fresh does that  Papaya look? Freshly shredded…

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So when I am on my morning walk …I tell my favourite papaya man I will be 30 mins or however long I think I may be..pick up my fresh coconut juice and then my Som Tam and maybe some freshly cooked chicken on the way back home …

I am so blessed that I have such lovely food on my doorstep.

I hope you enjoyed this post if you did please share or reblog as I am sure at least one of your friends would also love the recipe for an authentic Papaya salad and sharing is caring…

It is simple food at it’s best…

Until next time stay safe, have fun AND laugh a lot as laughter is the best medicine and IT’S FREE so please also do me a favour…ASK a question because as you know…I love it when I hear someone question something, please don’t be a follower be a questioner and ask!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yellow Tail Fish with a sesame crust.

Sesame crusted Yellowtail fish

I love to eat fish and we were shopping and having a mooch around the fish stalls when this beautiful fish with a broad yellow stripe down the middle caught my eye. I hadn’t seen this fish here before and assumed that it was now in season.

The Yellow Tail fish or Amber Jack is native to the North East Pacific from Japan to Hawaii. It is also not related to the Yellowtail Tuna.

In Japan, this fish is eaten cooked or raw and known as Hamachi or Buri.

As you know I am firmly in the camp of eating healthily and choose my fish carefully …I steer clear of farmed fish and only eat locally caught straight off the boats or fish which is responsibly sourced. It doesn’t mean however that it is expensive which a lot of people seem to think …You can buy fish responsibly and at good prices by researching your local markets or even buying frozen.

This fish has extra lean, firm white meat and if you want a lighter meal then it is a lovely tasting fish with a mild flavour.

For two servings.
2 x 150 g pieces yellow tail fish.

Freshly ground black pepper

Sea salt to season…..I use pink Himalayan or mineral salt which is farmed close to my home.

1 egg white whisked until it is foamy.

3 tbsp sesame seeds.

Oil for frying…I use coconut oil.

For chilli, lime and soy sauce.

60 ml Soy sauce
2 tbsp honey……I use honey from the comb
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 chilli, deseeded and finely sliced..guess who leaves the seeds in? Moi
Juice of 1 lime
A drizzle of  sesame seed oil
Fresh coriander leaves to serve

Preheat the oven to 180 °C.

Season the yellow tail fillets with a little salt and freshly milled black pepper. I cut the fish into steaks…BUT next time I will leave as a piece it will be easier for the Sesame seeding. I didn’t think it through when I cut the fish into steaks..yep I boobed. My sesame seeds didn’t all stay put.

Dip the seasoned fish into the egg white and coat both sides with sesame seeds.

Heat a little coconut oil( or oil of your choice) in a frying pan and sear the fish for about a minute on each side or until the sesame seeds are golden brown. Remove the fish and place in a roasting pan.

Cook in the oven for about 10 minutes or until the fish is just cooked through.

Meanwhile, make the soy sauce reduction. Place the soy sauce, honey, garlic, chilli, lime juice and sesame oil into a small saucepan and bring to the boil.

Put the soy sauce, honey, garlic, chilli, lime juice and sesame oil into a small saucepan and bring to the boil.

Cook for about 2–3 minutes or until the sauce has reduced slightly and has thickened so it coats the back of your spoon.

Remove the garlic clove and set to one side…

Once the fish is cooked, remove it from the oven and serve immediately, drizzled with a little soy sauce reduction.

Served with jasmine rice, steamed pak choi and fresh lime wedges.

Enjoy!

If you liked this recipe then please share or reblog 🙂

 

 

 

Spicy red curry, Pork,Rice and coconut balls.

These spicy rice balls are a lovely way to use up any leftover cooked rice and are quite delicious. They are one of the first things I was taught to cook by my daughter in law more years ago than I care to remember. Whenever we have a party or anything they are one of the first things to be eaten, adults and kids alike they love them.

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 We had these last night and we did have a couple left over….. guess what I have just had with some ginger and chilli, lime juice squeezed over it and wrapped in a white cabbage leaf… all the Thai flavours and textures..so yummy!

 

Ingredients:

500 gms cold cooked rice.

250 gms minced pork.

150 gm coconut flesh. I have a funny little gadget that I bought long ago and I scrape the flesh out of a fresh coconut…

1-3 tbsp red curry paste.

2-3 tbsp fish sauce

1 tsp sugar.

2 eggs beaten.

Method:

Mix all ingredients together it will be slightly sticky. With wet hands shape into medium sized balls about 3-4 cm.

Heat oil until hot but not smoking as the outside will cook before the inside and cook rice balls 15-20 minutes until brown and cooked through.

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These balls are best eaten with a piece of white cabbage, some diced ginger and chilli put ball or part of it on cabbage and wrap around, squeeze some lime juice over it and eat, it is a crunchy fusion of Thai flavours, so yummy.

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If you are a vegetarian then omit the pork and you still have tasty rice balls….In fact, a lot of the balls you buy on the markets do not have Pork. If you don’t use pork then adjust your cooking time.

If you are not sure of the level of spice then form a small ball having used the lower level of paste and fish sauce, fry a tester.Then if you need to ..Add more chilli paste.

Enjoy!

Thai Lemon Grass Salad(Yum Takrai)

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This recipe is for all you veggies as promised. I personally love this salad it is so fresh and vibrant, you could leave out the dried shrimp if you really eat no meat or fish products, slightly different taste but still good as if I don’t have any to hand then I leave them out.

Yum Takrai (Spicy Lemon grass Salad)

15 stalks fresh lemongrass.

1⁄4 cup finely chopped ginger

2 tbsp. toasted cashews
2 tbsp. whole dried shrimp
1 1⁄2 tbsp. fish sauce
1 1⁄2 tbsp. fresh lime juice
1/2-1 1⁄2 tbsp. sugar
1 tbsp. whole dried shrimp, finely ground
4-6 red Thai chillies, stemmed and thinly sliced
2 shallots, very thinly sliced lengthwise
3 raw stemmed long beans, cut into 4″ pieces for garnish.
Method:
Trim and slice lemon grass very finely. Transfer lemongrass slices to a medium bowl, separate rings with your fingers. Add ginger, cashews, shrimp, fish sauce, lime juice, sugar, ground shrimp, Thai chiles, and shallots, and toss well. Garnish with long beans. Serve on Banana Leaf or Betel Leaf as in my picture.
Serve with steamed jasmine rice or cauliflower rice if eating Gluten free.
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We also serve with a tamarind sauce made by combing 3 tbsp tamarind pulp with cup water in small pan, bring to boil and simmer 5 mins.
Remove from heat and stand 15 mins you can help break tamarind down with a spoon, strain through sieve extracting as much liquid as possible.
Add 2cm peeled finely chopped ginger and 2 cloves finely chopped garlic, 11/2 tbsp palm sugar,2 tsp fish sauce,1 tbsp chilli/garlic sauce and 1 tsp soy sauce to tamarind liquid. Bring to boil, simmer 5 mins.
Whisk 1 tbsp cornflour with little water whisk into sauce cook 1 min or until thickens.
Taste and adjust seasoning add more sugar if required.
Keeps in an airtight container in the fridge for up to one week.
I hope you enjoy this little salad, if you love Thai food then please have a look around my blog for more authentic Thai Recipes.
Love you all xxx

If you can dream it, you can do it!

One of my very first posts and toe dipping into the world of blogging.

Retired? No one told me!

29 days to Christmas …yikes…. Best get that ham curing …I have  lots of different recipes on my Pinterest  Boards but I will also give you my tried and tested  home cured ham recipe next week….promise!

But as   promised in last weeks blog….see I don’t forget…  one of my favorite Thai dishes  Nam Dock Nua ( Beef Salad).

This week sees me having my 1st Thai Language lesson. So watch this space…..I’m sure progress will be slow…even very slow…ha ha but at the moment I only speak Nik noy Thai ( very little.)

I have also been ploughing through Word Presses how to..for beginners..thats me! ….. Have managed to add FB, Linked In and Pinterest buttons so that’s a result…. so my aim is to be able to do one thing a week sooooo…..what does that mean for you…my faithfull followers ?…….who knows? certainly not me!…….Could be change of header or pictures absolutely anything!…So…

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