Thai Seafood Soup

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Preparation: 30 minutes, for 3-4 people

Ingridients:

6 cups chicken broth 
1 package mix of seafood
2 cod fillets
1 stalk lemon grass*
2 gloves garlic, minced
1 tblsp ginger, grated
1-2 sliced red chilies or a pinch of dry crushed chili
1 medium tomato, thinly sliced
1 can coconut milk (thick, not lite)
1/2 teaspoon dark soy sauce 
1 tblsp regular soy sauce
juice of 1 lime
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 cup fresh coriander (cilantro), chopped
salt, pepper
optional: handful of fresh mushrooms, sliced

Method:

Pour the chicken broth together with lemon grass into a deep pot over medium-high heat. Bring to a boil. 

Add garlic, ginger, chili and mushrooms (if using). Reduce heat to medium and simmer 2-3 minutes, or until mushrooms are soft.

Add seafood, cod and tomato. Simmer over medium heat 3-4 minutes, or until shrimp turns pink and plump and mussels have opened. Scallops, crab, and fish should all be firm to the touch and no longer translucent.

Reduce heat to medium-low and add the coconut milk, soy sauce, lime juice, and sugar. Stir well to combine and gently simmer until hot.

Add salt, pepper, sugar and more chili if needed. 

Serve in bowls with fresh coriander sprinkled over. If you like spicy food you may want to add few drops of Thai chili sauce.


*If you don't have lemon grass you can use lemon instead. (Boil three slices of lemon in the soup).

Chinese Wonton Soup

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Preparation:

for 4 people, 1 hour

Ingidients:

1l of clear chicken broth
24 dumplings (wonton)
1 spring onion

Dough:

1 egg
225g flour
6 tbsp water

Stuffing:

250g peeled shrimps (fresh or frozen)
1 egg
1 tblsp cornstarch
1 teaspoon of vodka
1 teaspoon sugar
1 tbsp oil
1 teaspoon sesame oil
salt, pepper

Method:

Beat egg in a bowl. Add water and mix well. Pour the sieved flour and knead it until you obtain a smooth dough. After cover the dough with a napkin and set aside for 30 minutes. 

When the dough is ready roll it out on a floured surface to a thickness of 1,5 mm. Cut into squares (2,5 cm).

Combine egg with vodka, salt, pepper, oil, sesame oil, sugar and cornstarch. Chop shrimps and combine them with the rest of the ingredients and mix thoroughly. 

On each square of dough put 1 teaspoon of the filling. Form dumplings, pinch two opposite sides of the square together, repeat with two other sides. 

Bring broth to a boil. Wash, peel and chop spring onions. 

Cook dumplings for 2 minutes in a boiling broth. Immediately after cooking, place dumplings in cups, pour broth and sprinkle with spring onions. Serve hot.

Carbonnade à la flamande - Belgian Beef Beer And Onion

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Last December I went to Antwerpen. I told my friend I wanted to try something typical Belgian. She took me for Carbonnade which is beef stew flavoured with beer. It's delicious and very simple. Go ahead and try it yourself! 

Ingridients:

500 g  stewing beef, cut into cubes
2 slices bacon, chopped
3-4 medium onions, sliced
2 carrots, sliced
1/2 tblsp brown sugar
1/2 tblsp flour
1 bottle belgian beer
500 ml stong beef broth
2 tblsp oil
1-2 bay leaves
1-2 allspice
pinch of thyme (fresh or dried)
pinch of salt and pepper
parsley (chopped)
mustard

You can do Carbonnade either entirely on the stovetop, or you can start cooking on the stove and finish in the oven. (if you go for the second option set your oven on 175C).

Method:

Season the beef with salt and pepper. Souté the beef in hot oil. When the meat gets slightly brown take it out and set aside. Then deglaze the pan by adding a splash of beef broth. Add the broth to the beef and drop bacon to the pan and fry it nicely over medium heat until brown. Remove the bacon and set it aside together with the beef.

Put sliced onions into the pot and fry them in the remaining fat until they start to turn soft and golden (it will take about 15 minutes). After the onions have been cooking for a couple of minutes sprinkle them with a pinch of brown sugar (which is supposed to caramelize them slightly).

Once the onions are cooked, put them in a pot together with beef and bacon and sprinkle with the flour and stir it in. (most of the recipes call for tossing the beef cubes in flour before frying them, but by doing so you will end up just browning the flour instead of the meat when you do this).

Turn up the heat slightly and pour the beer. It will go all fizzy for a few seconds, but then it will calm down.
Add salt and pepper and enough broth to cover the meat. Add bay leaves, allspice, and thyme. Bring it to boil and cook on a low heat for about two hours or place it into the oven and cook for about the same time. Stir it occasionally preventing from burning on the bottom of the pot, until the meat is tender.

After an hour add sliced carrots and stir in.

To finish the carbonnade, stir in a handful of chopped parsley and a tablespoon or two of mustard (mustard is not necessary).

Carbonnade is traditionally served with boiled potatoes. I served it with roasted buckwheat. 

Sushi Kappa Maki

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Mother's Day! I wanted to make sushi already a long time ago, but I never had enough motivation, and I wasn't sure I could make it properly. Finally, there comes a perfect occasion:  to surprise my mom with the new dish for the Mother's Day! The effect was amazing. Try it yourself!

Sushi Rice

Preparation:

90 minutes, 6 people

Ingridients:

1 1/2 cup sushi rice

1 1/2 cup water

Seasoning

3 tblsp light wine vinegar

2 tblsp sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

Method:

Wash rice, soak for a minimum of 30 minutes, pour the water and cook according to the usual recipe.

Spices mix in a mug.

Place rice in a bowl (it can NOT be a metal one) and using a flat, wooden spoon loosen it, stirring from the bottom.

Pour the seasoning on rice and stir well.

Let the rice cool down within the room temperature under a cloth. (do not put it in the fridge!).

Sushi-kappa-maki

Preparation:

20 minutes

Ingridients: 

Stuffed Wafer Roulade

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Preparation:

15-20 minutes, 4 people. 

Ingridients:

half a stick of butter 
3-4 tblsp of sugar
2 tblsp cocoa powder
1-2 tblsp of gelatin 
a handful of crashed walnuts
1 wafer 
1 banana

Method:

Melt butter, sugar and cocoa powder in a pot. Taste it, if it's too bitter add more sugar. Dissolve gelatin with a hot water in a glass (use as little water as possible, but make sure you obtain liquid). 

Add gelatin liquid into the chocolate mixture. Add crushed walnuts (you can also add raisins, petit beurre biscuits or some other nuts if you like). Bring it to a boil and the turn out the heat, put the pot aside and wait until it thickens slightly.

Distribute the chocolate mixture on the wafer, it will soften the wafer. Take a rather straight banana, put inside and roll up the wafer. Wrap it in an aluminium foil and refrigerate. 

Cut into pieces before serving. 

Potatoes a la Savoyarde

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Potatoes a la savoyage is a classic French dish which goes well almost with any meat. 

Preparation:

85 minutes, 4-6 people

Ingridients:

650 g medium size potatoes 

250 ml of cream 

250 ml of milk

80 g grated Emmentaler cheese 

1/2 garlic cloves minced

a pinch of nutmeg 

salt, pepper

Method:

Wash potatoes, peel and cut into 3 mm thick slices. Sprinkle with salt, stir and leave it for 10 minutes to soften. 

In a capacious saucepan combine cream with milk. Stir, season with salt and boil on a high heat, then reduce the heat and cook further for about 5 minutes. 

Rub baking pan with garlic from the inside. 

Gently squeeze the potatoes, put into the saucepan with milk and cream. Boil and remove from heat then place it in baking pan (potato layer should not be thicker than 3 cm - if necessary use two or more baking pans). Slightly sprinkle with nutmeg (be careful not to overdo it, if you add too much nutmeg the dish will be bitter) add cheese on the top and bake for 40-45 minutes in a preheated to a temperature of 130 C degrees oven. Serve hot. 

Shrimp Cocktail

Preparation: 20 minutes

Ingridients:

30 g of frozen shrimp

1 teaspoon cogniac

1 tblsp horseradish

1 1/2 tblsp ketchup

4 green lettuce leaves

4 tblsp mayonnaise

2 medium oranges

a pinch of salt, pepper, tabasco

Method:

Defrost shrimps, mix with cognac and leave in a cool place for about 15 minutes.

Mix mayonnaise, horseradish, ketchup and spices. Be careful, you don't want to add too much ketchup! (just make sure your mixture is slightly pink). Then mix shimps with the sauce. 

Divide washed and dried lettuce into small pieces. Peel oranges, remove white skin parts and cut the rest into small pieces. 

Place lettuce into the cocktail cups, add oranges, shrimp mixture and again some lettuce on the top. Leave in a cool place before serving.