Asian Cravings: Panang Gai Curry

Happy sunday peeps,

And yet another weekend is coming to an end. Why oh why do weekends pass by so fast?! And why oh why must weekdays be so long?! Is it because in the weekends you can do whatever the beep you want? Whereas the weekdays are filled with work and doing things one 'must' do, such as cooking, cleaning, sports to stay in shape?? 

Hmm could be, which is why I have decided that my goal in life is to have absolute pleasure in my work, and if I don't, well then I'll change. Because let's face it, you are stuck in the office or wherever a lot of hours of the week, so better make the best out of it. 

Another thing that I decided is to take away all the 'must do's' and turn them into 'wants': I must not do anything, instead I will do them because I want them. I want to clean the house because I want a clean house, I want to cook because I want a healthy and good dinner, I want to go running because it makes me look and feel good. Most importantly, if I want to see my friends I will see them no matter what day it is. Why limit yourself to the weekends? Let's make the best out of every day!!!

What do you like to do most on the weekends? 

Speaking about giving in on 'wants'..... once in a while, as we know from the beginning of this blog, I want and absolutely MUST give in on my Asian cravings. For these emergencies I always have my panang gai curry and coconut milk ready to turn into a yummy, fast and most of all easy curry. 

For Italians out there: check out the asian or international food stores near Centrale or on the borders of the city to get the ingredients...you'll be surprised about the number of things you can get there other than Italian shizzle.

Ingredients: serves 2

• 2 espresso cups of rice
• 300 gr of chicken cut in cubes
• 1 green pepper cut in cubes
• 1 paksoi cut in chunks
• 1 can of coconut milk
• 1 tablespoon of sunflower oil
• 2 teaspoons panang gai curry
• 1 tablespoon fish sauce
• 1 tablespoon peanut butter
• 1 teaspoon lime leaves

How to make it:

Bring a big pan of water with a fist of salt to a boil. Add the rice and cook it according to the pack - usually it's around 10 - 15 minutes.

In the meanwhile you heat up one tablespoon of sunflower oil (olive oil is too strong for asian food), and you add the curry. Stir until it slightly melts a bit into the oil. Then you add the coconut milk. Heat it up before you start adding the chicken and vegetables.

Once you added the chicken and vegetables (which you can do at the same time) you let the whole simmer for 5 minutes in order for it to cook and suck in all the flavors. Then you add the fish sauce, peanut butter and lime leaves. Stir for another 2-3 minutes. 

The rice should be done by now. If it's cooked before the curry is done, then you can take it out of the water and let it steam a bit. 

Outcome: serve the rice with the curry and simply enjoy... nothing else... just enjoy! 

Panang Gai Curry

Buon Appetito
Chef Steph & Chef Cathinka

Cook to impress: Coeurs Fondant Tout Chocolat

International cooking means going beyond Italian and Dutch cuisine, hence today I offer you: Chocolat Fondant! A little French chocolate cupcake that will melt your heart with it's melting heart....
Basically you don't bake the cupcake all the way through so that the inside remains liquid, smooth, hot & sexy chocolate.

Food can be sexy and this is proof! Mmmmmmmmm....

I made this with Chef Cathinka in Hamburg two weeks ago and she got the recipe from Nestle's new app that you can get on your phone, or simply go to their site: http://www.latableadessert.fr/
Obviously it's a site based on Nestle chocolate and has marketing intentions only, but heck, if that means we get easy going, real deal, sexy french chocolate desserts in our homes: je dirais que c'est tres tres tres bien! <3

Ingredients:

• 100 gr pure chocolate 
• another 8 cubes of pure chocolate
• 3 eggs
• 80gr powdered sugar
• 50 gr of butter
• 1,5 tablespoon of flour

How to make it:

Preheat your oven at 260 degrees Celcius.

Melt the chocolate au bain marie and add the butter once it's melting.

In a bowl you mix the eggs with the powdered sugar, after which you slowly add the flour.

When the mixture is homogenous, you add the chocolate and stir well.

Butter and flour your cups in order to avoid sticking and fill them up for 1/3, place one chocolate cube in each cup and finish it by covering up the cups with the remaining mixture.

Place the cups circa 10 minutes in the oven.

Outcome: Eat them when they are still hot and you will truely be in heaven for at least a couple of minutes! 

Coeurs Fondant Tout Chocolat

  Bon Appetit

Chef Steph & Cathinka 

Yummy Marinated Shrimp and Avocado Salad

One of my favorite dinners is salad. It is not only healthy and quick to make but there are a million different variations. This one is with marinate shrimp, avocado and mache lettuce (the type that looks like a little bunch of leaves pulled from the ground.

Ingredients:

• Salad of your choice (here; Mache)
• Fresh cherry tomatoes
• Sundried tomatoes
• 1 avocado
• Shrimps
• Marinad (see below)
• Balsamic Vinegar (I found that it is worth paying a little extra to get a really good one. The taste becomes much more sweet and round)
• Extra Virgin Olive Oil

How to make it:

I started with frozen, uncooked shrimps (if they are already cooked they do not take in as much flavor from the marinade); I unfroze them (if you have little time rinse them with luke-warm water for a minute) and cut the backs. Then I mixed the marinade (see ingredients below) and mixed it with the shrimps;

- Sweet & sour chili sauce

- Oyster sauce

- Fish sauce

- Kecap Manis (sweet soy sauce)

- Soy sauce

- Fresh Chili

If you have it at home you can also add finely chopped garlic and ginger. This marinate is also delicious with chicken (the longer you let it marinade the better the taste). 

I let the shrimps stay in the marinade for about an hour, and right before mixing the salad I lightly fried them on high temperature. Be carful not to overcook the shrimps as they will become dried and chewy. Cut the avocado and tomatoes into pieces, and in a bowl mix all the ingredients together. This will be your end result :)

Outcome:

Bon Appetit!

Chef Cathinka