Thai Chicken Curry with Peanut Sauce

It is getting darker and darker at this time of year in Sweden and we all try to counter it by having lots of Christmas lights and candles as you can see from the picture below. To make things feel brighter we made a Thai chicken curry with peanut sauce. This recipe has rather strong taste but can be made milder simply by reducing the amount of spices and/or adding cream.

Thai Chicken Curry with Peanut Sauce (4 port.)

• 4 chicken files (cut in pieces)
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 1 dl peanuts (natural)
• 1-2 tsp Tobanjan (chili bean paste)
• 1-2 tsp red curry paste
• 2 tbs peanut butter
• juice from half a lime
• 1 tbs brown sugar
• 1 dl water
• 1 cube of chicken stock
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 dl cream
• Vegetables according to taste

Stir fry the chicken pieces quickly to give some surface and then remove from the pot. Chop garlic and peanuts, mix all ingredients (except for chicken, vegetables and cream) in the pot and let it boil. Simmer for a while and then pour in the cream.  Add chicken and vegetables (such as onion, green paprika (ピーマン) or pine apple) to the sauce and let the curry simmer.

We served this curry with salad and jasmine rice boiled together with a few clove seeds for that extra oriental taste. Another hit is to drink a coconut smoothie you will recognise from Panate's Steamed Thai Fish. Simply mix a can of coconut milk, one banana and a bit of pine apple and you will be dreaming of white sand beaches and palm trees all night.

Sukiyaki すき焼き

Though sukiyaki is perhaps not as inherently Japanese as say sashimi, it is immensely popular together with the other nabemono dishes (pot dishes). The reason I say it is not Japanese is because the use of beef comes from foreign influences and sukiyaki can be dated to the mid 19th century and the first sukiyaki restaurant (Isekuma) opened in Yokohama in 1862. Prior to the black ships and the end of isolation (sakoku or 鎖国) in 1854 the Japanese cuisine included no pork or beef and only fowl in limited amount. In the beginning many Japanese people had difficulties in accepting eating meat and some resellers tried to sell it under the label "mountain whale". Sukiyaki, however, was one of the dishes that caught on early due to its simplicity which harmonises with Japanese thoughts on food.

Sukiyaki is an excellent dish with which to introduce foreigners to Japanese cuisine. Though, unless eaten at a restaurant, it requires a table pot which is not as common in occidental kitchens. We were fortunate to get one from a visiting Japanese professor who did not want to bring it with him back home.

Sukiyaki

• Thinly sliced beef
• Leek/Negi
• Chinese cabbage 
• Chrysanthemum/shungiku
• Shiitake and/or enokitake 
• Harusame
• Tofu
• Eggs

Cooking Sauce

• Butter or lard
• Soy
• Sake
• Water
• Sugar

The beef should preferably be cut by a professional as they need to be really thin (see picture). Cut begetables, mushrooms and tofu into good bite size and put harusame in water to soften for about 10 min. After these preparations it's really just to eat. We give no amounts for anything as this is up to your liking both in regards to vegetables and the sauce. First put some butter or lard (only the first time) in the pan and then add soy, sake, water and sugar to make up the cooking sauce. Again make the proportions to your liking. If the sauce runs out, just add more.

The way to eat differs somewhat from family to family and no way is better than the other. But the way we eat sukiyaki is to simply mix the sauce, heat up the pan and add things as the meal progresses. Then the food inside of the pot is up for grabbing. A beaten raw egg is put in each bowl which you dip the food in before eating. As the meat and vegetables are quite thin they will be ready very quickly. Though make sure not to take the same piece with your chop sticks between to people. Two pairs of chop sticks on the same food at the same time is a big no-no in Japan. Serve the sukiyaki with rice. Enjoy!

Tiger Cake (again!)

As we liked the Tiger Cake so much, Naoko was kind enough to make another round. Recipe available here. Enjoy the picture below. If you would like to taste you'll have to make it yourself or come for a visit.

The mug in the background is made by Naoko's cousin Takashi who is an illustrator. You can find more of his cool stuff at his site.

Chicken with Herbs

As I got a bit of a cold this weekend Naoko decided to make one of our long standing favourites for dinner - Chicken with herbs. The dish is sort of international, but perhaps I would label it as Mediterranean. It might take some practice the first time, after that it is a rather easy dish to make. The best meat to use is the thighs though this time we couldn't get it and used the lower part of the leg instead. Please enjoy!

Chicken with Herbs (3-4 people)

• 900 g or seven chicken thighs (with skin and bones)

 Marinade

• 2.5 tbs olive oil
• 2.5 tbs (Skånsk) coarsely grinded mustard
• 1 tbs lemon juice
• 1-2 graded garlic cloves
• rosemary
• thyme
• marjoram
• salt & pepper

Chop herbs and mix the marinade together. Lift the skin of the chicken thighs and pierce the meat with a fork (to let the marinade into the meat). Stuff the marinade under the skin and leave the chicken to soak for 30 minutes to an hour. Cook the chicken in the oven at 180°C for 20-30 minutes. Raise the temperature at the end to get a more crispy skin. Serve with salad and couscous or rice. We generally prefer couscous and this time around we mixed it with some chopped onions, chopped green paprika and a bit of crushed tomatoes. Hope you like it!

Tiger Cake

Though it is called marble cake in English, the Swedish name is tigerkaka or tiger cake - 虎のケーキ. Naoko has a lot of nice cakes up her sleeve, but this was one she hasn't tried before. Now with recipe below!

Tiger cake (for the round cake form of 18cm diameter)

Ingredients

• Butter 140 g
• Sugar 140 g (I used only ca 100 g)
• 3 eggs (divide them into egg yolk and egg white)
• Milk 20 ml
• Vanilla powder/essence
• Flour 170 g
• Baking powder 3 g
• Cocoa powder 10 g
• Sugar (to be mixed with cocoa powder) 10 g

1. Put small amount of butter around the form. Warm up the oven around 160-170 degrees.
2. Mix flour and baking powder and put them through a sieve.
3. Put cocoa powder and sugar in a small bowl, add hot water little by little gradually and make cream. Make sure you do not add too much hot water. It is good to make the consistency of the cream to that of mayonnaise.
4. Microwave butter just a bit so that it is soft (but NOT melted) and whip it with a whisk.
5. Add sugar gradually (you can divide the sugar into 2-3) and mix it by rubbing the sugar into butter. Mix it to the extent that the mixture becomes white and creamy.
6. Add egg yolk and mix it thoroughly until it becomes creamy.
7. Whip egg white in another bowl until it is hard and can make a horn when you lift the whisk.
8. Blend half of the whipped egg white (7) in 6, using wooden spatula. Blend it as if you are cutting the mixture, so that you do not kill the foam.
9. Blend half of the flour and baking powder (2) in 8 with wooden spatula, as if you are cutting the mixture. Once the first half is sufficiently blended, add the remaining flour and baking powder and blend. Be careful not to kill the foam.
10. Add the remaining of the whipped egg white and blend it in 9 similarly to how it is done earlier with wooden spatula.
11. Make cocoa dough by take approximately one-fifth of 10 and and mix it into 3.
12. Add the cocoa dough sparsely in 10. Do not mix too much so as not to lose the tiger pattern.
13. Put the dough into the form. Be careful not to destroy the tiger pattern.
14. Even the surface and put the form in the middle level of the oven. Bake it in the oven (160-170 degrees) for 40 minutes. Once baked, take it out of the form and cool it down on a grid.

Panate's Steamed Thai Fish

Inspired by the gift of a steam pot and recipes from Panate when he left for Thailand I decided to make a surprise, Thai dinner for Naoko. The main dish recipe is quite simple:

Panate's steamed Thai fish (2-3 people)

• 400 g white fish (I used Hoki fillet)
• 1 chili fruit
• 1 piece of fresh ginger
• 2 spring onions
• 2 tbs oyster sauce
• 1 tbs soy

Put fish in a (shallow) bowl. Slice ginger and chili into long fine pieces and put over and around the fish. Mix the soy and oyster sauce and pour over the fish and vegetables. Boil water in the steamer and add the bowl with fish in the top level of the steamer. Let it cook for 15-20 minutes. Make sure not to cook too long as the fish will become dry.

The Thai fish I served with jasmine rice and our fabled Chinese new year salad. The freshness of the salad was a great match to the oyster sauce heavy fish. To make things even more festive I made a simple coconut smoothie. Simply mix (in a mixer) one can of coconut milk, one can of pineapple and one banana. Delicious!

Kani Kurimu Korokke

For our three year anniversary I wanted to make something special and I just saw the recipe for kani kurimu korokke or crab cream croquette at Runny999's youtube channel. We often talk about cooking crab since Naoko's mom served it two years ago, but never got to it. So what better occasion than our special night?

White cream sauce & crab (2 people)

• 5 tbs flour
• 60 g butter
• 4 dl milk
• 200 g crab meat
• 150-200 g onion (minced)
• 4 tbs white wine

Chop the onion finely (mince) and stir fry in a little butter over low heat until golden brown. This might take a little while so here is a good opportunity to clean out the crab from its shell. The easiest way is to use scissors to cut open the shell. Then just crumble the meat into a bowl. Remove the onion to a separate bowl when ready.

Now it is time to make the white cream sauce. Melt the butter in the pan at medium heat. Add flour in three or four batches and mix well after each one. You will now have a thick batter. Add the milk, just like with flour, in three or four batches and mix until smooth. Transfer the sauce to a separate bowl.

Add a some oil to the pan and stir fry a few of the crab shells for a minute and then add the white wine. Turn off the heat after 20 seconds and remove shells when the liquid has reduced somewhat. Add the crab meat and onions and just mix (without heat).

Blend the crab mix into the cream sauce and put it into the freezer for about 20 minutes. This gives a rather thick and easy-to-work-with batter. You can already cut the batter into equal parts. Put a little oil on your hands and form the batter into rolls or hamburgers according to your liking. Normally these are supposed to be deep fried, but we don't have the right equipment and we prefer not to deep fry as it's also rather messy. A good alternative is to just stir fry in a bit of extra oil. Cover the korokke rolls in flour, then dip into beaten egg and finally cover in Japanese panko or bread crumbs. Stir fry two at a time and add oil as needed. The result is a golden brown korokke, crispy on the outside and creamy inside.

Serve with Japanese rice, finely shredded cabbage and tonkatsu sauce. At our anniversary we drank freshly pressed pineapple juice, but this dish would go as well with water, beer or white wine. Itadakimasu!