Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Tofu pastries

 
Ingredients:

150 g firm tofu
2 spring onions, chopped
3 teaspoons chopped coriander leaves
1/2 teaspoon grated orange zest
2 teaspoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon sweet chilli sauce
2 teaspoons grated fresh ginger
2 teaspoon cornflour
2 sheets ready-rolled puff pastry
1 egg, lightly beaten

Method
1. Drain the tofu, then pat dry and cut into small cubes. Put the spring onion, coriander, zest, soy and sweet chilli sauces, ginger, corn flour and tofu in a bowl and mix. Cover and refrigerate for an hour

2. Preheat the oven to 220 C. Cut each pastry sheet into 4 squares. Drain the filling and divide into eight. Place one portion in the centre of each square and brush the edges with egg. Fold into a triangle and seal the edge with a fork.

3. Put the triangles on two lined baking trays, brush with beaten egg and bake for 15 minutes.

Saturday, March 5, 2011

Spicy Green Papaya and Seafood Salad


Ingredients

3-4 chillies, to taste
1 garlic cloves, peeled
6 cherry tomatoes, halved
3 tablespoons fish sauce
3 tablespoons lime juice
1 teaspoon tamarind water
3-4 tablespoons brown sugar (or shredded palm sugar), to taste
1 cup shredded green papaya (paw paw)
4 medium-sized cooked prawns, peeled
4 cooked octopus, halved
4 fish balls, halved
4-5 long coriander leaves, coarsely chopped
2 table spoons roasted peanuts, coarsely chopped

Optional
Sliced pickled mustard greens
Trimmed bean sprouts
100 g boiled rice vermicelli

Using a pestle and mortar, pound the chilli and garlic to a coarse paste. Add shredded papaya (paw paw), cherry tomatoes, lime juice, tamarind water, fish sauce and brown sugar to the mortar and lightly bruise with the pestle and use a spoon with your other hand to fold the mixture ( It should taste spicy, sour, salty and sweet). Finally, add long coriander, prawns, octopus, fish balls, pickled mustard, bean sprouts and rice vermicelli and carefully work everything together.