FLOWER POT KITCHEN: BIG GIRLS DIET TOM YUM PASTE AND BONE BROTH RECIPES

22 Mar 2017

BIG GIRLS DIET TOM YUM PASTE AND BONE BROTH RECIPES

AUTHENTIC TOM YUM GOONG AND BONE BROTH RECIPE

This is a super fast go to in my fridge that ensures I have something hot sweet and sour to eat within five minutes from walking in the door, from just a mug to keep me satisfied to a full blow large bowl loaded with lovely fresh vegetables and my choice of chicken, prawns, zoodles etc...

Fabulous vibrant zingy authentic fresh Thai tom yum paste, this is so good you will never buy a shop brought jar again I promise! Fairly quick to make and considering most original families in South East Asia do make their pastes and sambal fresh every day may inspire you to do so too, having said that the quantity of this jar will keep in the fridge for a couple of weeks if it lasts that long! This is a staple in my family fridge. Recipes: for Tom Yum Soup and Bone Broth below.

Prep time 10 minutes / Cooking time 5 minutes

Ingredients

(makes 1 small jar / 10 portions)

50g dried chillies soaked in 200ml hot water

2 tbsp tamarind pulp

1 clove garlic finely chopped

1 lime zested or 1 lime leaf finely chopped

1 lime juiced

3/4 tbsp coriander seeds ground

1 tbsp finely grated ginger

1 tsp finely grated galangal

1 stick lemon grass finely chopped

1 small red onion finely chopped

3/4 tbsp brown sugar

1 tbsp white wine vinegar

3/4 tbsp coconut oil

Place all the ingredients except the coconut oil in your food processor and blitz to a paste, or finely chop by hand and leave at that or pound to a paste in a pestle and mortar. Add the coconut oil to a pan and melt on a medium heat add the tom yum paste to your pan and cook for around five minutes until medium thick. That's it! Now to store...

Storing Tom Yum Paste

If you want to can this, pop your sterilised dry mason jar in a pre heated oven 170 degrees C / 340 F for 5 minutes, remove and fill the hot tom yum paste in to the hot jar immediately and then pop the lid on and place the jar back in the oven for 10 minutes, turn the oven off and leave to cool and seal. I still keep this in the fridge and use within a couple of weeks, well it never lasts longer than that!

TOM YUM GOONG PASTE

TOM YUM GOONG SOUP

(serves 2)

This gorgeous broth is so versatile you can use any vegetables or herbs to hand and below is my favourite variation, just have fun with your favourite greens. Fancy a creamy coconut Laska then just add coconut milk and noodles and maybe more lime juice.

What's more once you have some bone broth stored in your fridge you can whip up this meal in five minutes or treat yourself to a mug of soup in the same time it takes to make a cup of fresh coffee.

1 ltr chicken stock, bone broth

(poached chicken bone broth recipe below)

1 tbsp tom yum or more to taste

1/2 lime juiced

1 tsp turmeric

200g left over poached chicken

2 spring onions

1 red chilli finely diced

3 tbsp chopped coriander

2 big handfuls spinach

1 bunch watercress

6 spears asparagus

1 bunch broccoli florets

Bring the stock to a gentle simmer and add all the ingredients, simmer for a couple of minutes so that the broccoli and asparagus are cooked, taste and adjust the seasoning with sea salt if needed. Enjoy.

Chicken Bone Broth

(makes 3 ltrs)

1 organic chicken

1 onion halved

3 carrots peeled

1 stick celery halved

2 leeks quartered

1 tbsp sea salt

10 black peppercorns

1 bay leaf

3 sprigs fresh thyme

3" piece of ginger bashed

1 stalk lemon grass bashed

1 lemon halved and squeezed

Place all the ingredients in a large stock pot and pour in around 4 litres of water to cover the chicken, bring to a gentle just simmer and leave to poach away for around 1.5 - 2 hours, take off the heat and leave the chicken to cool in the broth for an hour or so this allows the chicken meat to absorb some of the gorgeous cooking juices and makes the chicken the moistest you will have ever eaten.

Remove the chicken and stock vegetables from the poaching stock liquid, taste the stock and either season with more sea salt or reduce the volume down to intensify the flavour of the broth.

Remove all the meat from the chicken and add back to the broth, pour the broth in to a large jug or one litre mason jars and store in the fridge ready to go when you need it.

No comments:

LIFE MY PASSION

Welcome to my daily life of cooking, one winters day many years ago my family and I were all inspired by a back to back rainy day of River Cottage this got us to stop talking about and start actually doing, suddenly three weeks later eight vegetable beds were dug, greenhouse erected and our first vegetables were propagating, this was the start to raising and growing our own food, our fabulous son Oscar changed our path in life which lead us to sell our small thriving restaurant of 10 yrs and to start our new life (Terrifying!) a life of the self sufficient in touch with nature and seasons, taking a step back and looking forward to a slower change of pace and making the most of every moment.

My passion for cooking was stronger than ever and having time at home with Oscar I found I had a new direction and I was no longer striving for perfection, I was suddenly very passionate for the enjoyment of the other side of food, something I had not realised, being the Chef/Cook and every other duty of your own small restaurant made me see that I never actually took time to cook what I wanted!

So there I was muddy boots and hands digging deep in more than one sense and I found myself transported back in time to where everyone grew some of their own food, it is a wonderful world with a real sense of achievement and loss, Slugs Snails and Caterpillars! But thats another story! Childhood memories of summers when I lived with my grand parents reminded me of so much that I had learnt about the make do and mend generation that I had forgotten.

Now as a family we love our free wild food days where we gather what nature has provided, have gone from being mini mini garden urban small holders, who did raised pigs at home because we could not wait to find land and supporting ourselves from our garden to now owning a very small farm that allows us to grow more vegetables for the whole of our family and neighbours, raise our own gorgeous Gloucestershire Old Spot pigs, (Sausages!) and pets! Dorset Down sheep, chickens for eggs and pet goats! Suddenly having large quantities of produce started to wake up the Cook in me!

The Cook was awake that part of me that wants to cook for the masses and I found myself setting up Flowerpot Kitchen, a Farmers Market Stall, I wanted to use our honest raised meats and make old fashioned pork pies, rabbit pies and game pies from the local game keeper along with old fashioned techniques and the best hot water crust pastry. This in turn grew to a small cottage industry from home weekly supplying three farm shops and a deli along with also attending three farmers markets A few years later there came a time when my son Oscar's health changed and it was an easy decision to stop.

I still hold the occasional pop up 40 seater restaurant or gourmet lunch which we do for local charities for the love of sharing food and to remind that Cook in me why I love our go slower self sufficient life!

So here I am sitting amoung the vegetables watching the chickens loving that every season nature teaches me something new and that nature is in charge! She has taught me to just go with it and grow. Give it a try from a tray of salad on your windowsill to a few tomato plants it all counts.