Tom Yum Soup

With winter coming up, its a great time to get into some hot hearty soup. And none comes hotter than this! Thai Tom Yum Goong (prawn) is one of my favourites and I always order it if I go out for dinner.

Try it if you dare:

2 Servings

Ingredients
- 4 cups water
- 1 cup prawns
- 5 mushrooms
- 1-2 limes
- 1 lemon grass
- 3 kaffir lime leaves
- 2 tablespoonfish sauce
- 5 sprigs cilantro
- 3 chili peppers

Directions
Start boiling the water in a 2 quart pot. Peel and devein the shrimp and set them aside. Cut lemon grass into pieces, 5-6 inches long. Use the back of your knife to pound the lemon grass, just to bruise it to release the flavor. If you want, you can tie the lemon grass into a knot to make it easier to manage.

Drop the lemon grass in water and let boil for 5 minutes.

Put the fish sauce and 1 lime's juice into the bottom of the bowls you will serve the soup in. Crush chili pepper and add to the bowl.

Remove the stems from the kaffir lime leaves and add the leafy part to the pot.

Clean and halve the mushrooms and add them to the pot.
Add the prawns and turn off the heat. Prawn gets too tough very quickly, and will cook even when it is just sitting in the warm broth. Scoop the prawn and liquid into the serving bowls immediately. As soon as you add the liquid to the serving bowl, you will see that the broth becomes cloudy because of the lime juice. Sprinkle with cilantro and serve.

Be very careful, the peppers can be hot. Take a small sip at a time. Add more fish sauce and/or lime juice if it tastes bland. It's right if it's good for your sinus.

Larb Gai - Spicy Thai Chicken Salad

This one is one of my favourite all time chicken dishes ever. This is a very tasty and spicy dish and is sure to rev up your metabolism!

Ingredients

* 1 lb boneless skinless chicken breasts, minced in food processor(do not sub ground chicken, it is too fatty!)
* 1 tablespoon roasted rice powder(available in Asian markets or you can make your own by roasting raw rice in a dry skillet till brown)
* 3 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
* 2 spring onions, chopped
* 2 tablespoons chopped shallots
* 3 tablespoons chopped mint leaves
* 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
* 2 tablespoons lime juice
* 1 1/2 tablespoons fish sauce
* 1 teaspoon garlic and red chile paste
* thinly sliced cabbage or lettuce, for serving
* spring onions to garnish

Directions
* Heat nonstick skillet over medium heat, no oil necessary.
* Add chicken, stir until cooked through.
* Remove from heat, drain excess liquid.
* Add fish sauce and lime juice.
* Toss all together with cilantro, onion, shallots, mint, cayenne, rice powder, and ground chile/garlic paste.
* Adjust seasoning to taste.
* Serve immediately over lettuce leaves or thinly sliced cabbage.
* Garnish with sliced spring onions.

Tandoori Chicken

Ingredients:
6 large chicken breasts sliced into thin strips
250ml plain unsweetened yoghurt
Tandoori seasoning

Directions:
- Remove any chicken skin and fat. Cut chicken into thin slices

- In a large bowl, mix together the yoghurt and Tandoori paste (adjust the quantity of paste or powder according to your taste). Mix well.

- Add the chicken strips and ensure all chicken is evenly coated. Cover the dish and marinade at least five hours in the fridge - preferably overnight.

- To cook: either pre-heat a GF grill (about 10 mins on moderate to high temp) or pre-heat your oven grill (ideally on fan grill setting) to 200 degrees Celsius. If you’re cooking the chicken in the oven – line an oven tray with baking paper as this marinade makes a real mess! Cook the chicken well – until there are no pink bits in the meat.

- Serve with a mint yoghurt dressing (off season), brown rice and lots of green vegies. To make the dressing combine 2 tablespoons of Colman’s Mint sauce (it’s in a small jar with a yellow label) with about 1/4c of plain unsweetened, low fat yoghurt. Drizzle the dressing over chicken. The combination of mint and Tandoori may sound unusual but it’s extremely tasty.

Lemon Chicken

Ingredients
- 6 large chicken breasts sliced into thin slices
- 1/4 fresh lemon juice
- 1/4 cup water
- 2 Tblsp crushed garlic
- 1 tsp dried mint
- 1-2 tsp cornflour

Directions
- In a large microwaveable dish with a lid combine the water, lemon juice, garlic, mint and one teaspoon of the cornflour. Mix all well.
- Add in the chicken.
- Cover the dish and microwave on high power for 3-4 minutes (depending on the wattage of your microwave). At the end of this time turn the chicken in the dish and mix the sauce.
- Microwave for a further 3 minutes. At the end of this time check the consistency of the sauce – add more water if too thick or add the second teaspoon of cornflour (mixed with a little water so that you don’t end up with lumpy sauce) if the sauce is too thin.
- Microwave until the chicken is well cooked (no pink bits) and the sauce has thickened.
Serve with brown rice and lots of green vegies

Sunday brunch bacon and egg muffins

Ingredients

10 x egg whites
2 x Whole eggs
100gm Tegal Chicken Bacon grilled then diced
2 x tbs finely diced red onion
2 x tbs finely diced red capsicum
3-4 drops Tabasco sauce (optional)
Salt and pepper to taste

Method
Preheat oven to 180 degree. In a bowl combine all other ingredients, mix well.
Divide into 4 greased muffin cups.
Bake 15-20 mins or until a knife inserted comes out clean.
Serve with grilled tomato, mushroom.

Serves 2

by Maree Stubbington

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