Tom Yum Soup

This one is one of my child hood favorites and it comes as a surprise that even before chinese, thai cuisine was a norm, Tom-Yum Soup has been available in plenty. This simple, thai soup is a comfort food for me and reminds me of “Nanking” – the first asian restaurant in my home town of Nagpur in central India.

The key to this simple soup is a good stock. We made a shrimp and chicken stock using peels from the shrimp, bones and skin from a rotisserie chicken breast and flavored with cilantro stems, lemon grass and ginger.

The next key ingredient is the thai red-curry paste. I used a store bought paste this time but making it at home is high on my to-do list. I believe in home-made stocks and feel like it is about time to take my spice blends equally seriously.

5 cups of shrimp stock
1.5 cups baby-bella mushrooms (quartered)
2 stalks of lemon grass (cut into finger long pieces)
4 kaffir lime leaves (optional)
0.5 inch piece of galangal (can substitute with ginger)
4 red chillis (I used “kashmiri” chillis – they have a nice deep red color but are not very hot, I also shook off most of the seeds to reduce the heat)
1.5 table spoon fish sauce
Juice of 1.5 limes
1 teaspoon white sugar
1 tablespoon red curry paste
1 to 1.5 cups coconut milk (as per desired creaminess)
Cilantro and scallions for garnish.

Some of the recipes I researched used a tom-yum soup paste and a thai red chilli paste, but I went with the red curry paste since it is very easily available and multi-purpose.

Most recipes called for mixing in the ingredients and bringing the soup to a slow simmer and boil and then stirring in the coconut milk at last. I tried a different approach. I tempered the galangal/ ginger, kaffir lime leaves, red chillis and mushrooms in a teaspoon of hot vegetable oil. Next I added the red curry paste, lime juice and sugar and stirred for about a minute before adding the stock etc. As the soup came to a slow boil, I finished by adding the coconut juice and garnished with cilantro leaves and chopped scallions.

If you want to make the soup a little heartier, stir in peeled, de-veined shrimps and/or small asian flavored meatballs along with the coconut milk.

Anita shrimp curry

Went on Saturday night to our friend Anita&Subodh's place for a get together with other Charlotte friends.  Two dishes that I absolutely loved - the shrimp curry (pictured above) and a cold spinach/yogurt salad.

The shrimp curry was a south indian flavoured spicy hot curry with a strong smoked paprika flavour. Was very surprising - kept me guessing for a while, as it tasted like really good barbe-cue chips that you can't put down.  Was unique in that I had not had smoky paprika in indian food - went very well with roti's and rice.

To go with this spicy  barbe-cue curry was a cold spinach and yogurt salad. Something that I would normally abhore!  Again the flavours were amazing and made me want go get a third serving.

If only I hadn't had three Stella's, the spinakopita's, the gree-pea crostini's, and the crab dip with crackers!  Will have to get the recipe from Anita or just make another trip :)

Dumpling Extravaganza

Our friends Antti and Fan invited us and a few other folks from work for dinner - a Dumpling Extravaganza.  They fed us appetizers and then put us to work!

It was definitely a gourmet evening which started with Bone Marrow.  They got the bones from Harris Teeter (our neighbourhood grocery store) and roasted them in the oven.  Unfortunately, I do not have the exact recipe but I do have a picture of the finished product.  Salil was all excited, but I was a bit hesitant about putting bone marrow in my mouth. 

Fan expertly scooped out the marrow and spread it like butter on a piece of toast.  It was topped off with a simple celery salad.  My apprehension vanished with the first bite.  It was like eating the most luxuriously buttered toast I have ever put in my mouth.  There was not much of a texture to the bone marrow itself, but it definitely made for a tasty bite along with the crunchy bread and lemony celery salad!

With an abundance of drinks, chips, mini crab cakes and chatter, we got down to the dumpling making bussiness.  Fan and Antti had made two stuffings.  One was ground pork with chinese cabbage seasoned with grated ginger, soy sauce and a bit of bone marrow soup.  The other one was ground pork and shrimp with shittake mushrooms.  The dumpling wrappers are easily available in asian markets.  Making the dumnpling itself was rather easy - a little bit of water to seal the edges was all that was necessary.  Fan steamed some of the defective pieces which were in the danger of unwrapping when boiled.  She boiled some and pan friend others. 

Three simple yet very delicious dipping sauce were served with the dumplings.  Fan made the first one by frying some flower peppers in vegetable oil adding it to soy sauce and rice wine vinegar.  The next sauce was a store bought chilli pepper sauce with peanuts etc.  The label in the picture is in chinese, but its worth going on a hunt for this one.  The third sauce was a simple refreshing mixture of soy sauce and rice wine vinegar.

The dinner ended with a big box of Godiva biscuits passed around the room!

Batts grill

Batt's Grill is our favorite sea food place anywhere in the world...may be anywhere in the world other than British Columbia!  Located in Surf City, NC; this is the highlight of our summer beach trips.  We found this place in the summer of 2007 when we were at the beach for our friends Matt and Crystal's wedding and had a strong recommendation from the locals. 

Batt's is a no non-sense fried seafood place.  You can have a plate of fried shrimp, oysters, fish, clam strip - alone or in various combinations.  They also make chowders and baked stuffed crabs and such but honestly, nothing beats a plate of seafood.  Their hush puppies are great and come with the seafood plate along with two other sides.  There is a wide variety to choose from - green beans, corn, mashed potatoes, fries, peas, black eyed peas, cole slaw, rice and more.  What Salil loves is the fact that you can get desserts as sides and they make some good banana pudding!! An endless cup of sweet tea on a hot summer day is a bonus.

All in all, a highly recommended place.  Though the prices have gone up in the last couple of years, they are nowhere close to the other touristy places.  For $6-8, expect a good comforting meal without too many frills.  Fortunately, they dont smoke in the restaurant anymore!! Surf City/ Topsail Island area is very accessible from the triangle and is much less crowded than Wilmington or Myrtle Beach.   

In addition to our summer trip, we went to the beach this year for thankgiving.  Batt's had an amazing thanksgiving spread for $6.  Salil had his best birthday meal that day.

Jambalaya

I was watching Food Network this suday, trying to keep myself occupied while Salil was working and saw this incredible Jambalaya recipe on Ina Garten's show.  I admit that this is the first time I paid complete attention to a cooking show, took notes, bought fresh ingredients and made lunch.

2 links of Andouille sausage, chopped to bite size pieces
1 cup finely chopped onion
1 cup chopped celery
1/2 cup roasted green peppers (use 1 cup if they are not roasted since roasting concentrates the flavors significantly)
1 finely chopped jalapeno pepper
3 big garlic cloves, finely chopped
4 cups chicken stock
2 cups long grain rice (I used Basmati)
10 big shrimps, peeled and deveined
Salt
Pepper
Olive oil
1/2 cup chopped cilantro
1/4 cup chopped scallions

Heat some olive oil in a deep, heavy bottom pan and saute the sausage on medium high heat.  Once the sausage turns brown on the edges (about 10 minutes) take it out of the pan and set aside.  In the same pan, add a couple teaspoons of olive oil and saute onions and celery untill they are soft.  Add the roasted green peppers and warm them through for a couple of minutes. 

Make a well in the bottom of the bowl by moving the vegetables to a side and add a teasoonful of olive oil.  Add the chopped garlic and jalapeno peppers.  Stir in with the rest of the mixture after 1 minute.

Wash 2 cups of Basmati rice, remove excess water and add it to the pot.  Warm the chicken stock in a separate sauce pan and add 3 cups of stock to the rice.  Cover and let it simmer for 15 minutes.  Add the sausage and the rest of the stock depending on the consistency and the level of done-ness of the rice.  In my hands, the ratio of rice to liquids at 1:2 works best.  Season with salt and pepper and simmer for another 10 minutes untill the rice is tender.  At this stage, turn the heat off and add the shrimp, cilantro and scallions to the pot.  Bury the shrimp delicately under a layer of hot rice and cover.  The shrimp will steam and turn curvey and pink in about 12 minutes.  Garnish with some scallions and jalapenos!

I loved the results..the cooking time for shrimp turned out to be perfect.  This was my first attempt at the Jambalaya and I can see it becoming my go-to comfort food fairly quickly.