This is a green curry made with minced chicken and small green aubergine. Those green beads you can see in the photograph are the aubergines, but don’t worry, large peas will work too. This dish is also made with fish mince, and served with hot cooked. A shared dish of the curry is placed in the center of the table and each guest takes spoonfuls of the sauce onto their rice. Note, you can eat the citrus lime leaves.

Ingredients  for 2 people (Medium Hot)
200 gms. Chicken Mince
50 gms. Green Curry Paste
400 ml Coconut Milk
2 Tablespoons Fish Sauce
1 Teaspoon Salt
2 Teaspoons Sugar
50 gms. Small Green Aubergine
5 gms Basil
2 Red Chilles
2 Kaffir (Citrus) Leaves

Serve With
Hot Rice
or Rice Noodle

Preparation
1. Put a medium sized pan on the heat, add the coconut milk and cook for 1 minute.
2. Add the green curry to the pan and stir it untill mixed, bring to the boil.
3. When the curry is boiling, add the chicken mince using a teaspoon. The aim is to make round ball shaped mince balls.
4. Cook for 10 minutes until the chicken is thoroughly cooked.
5. Add the fish sauce, salt, sugar, red chillis, aubergines, citrus leaves, basil (basically all the other ingredients) and stir it for a few seconds over the heat to warm them through.
6. Turn the heat off and serve it warm with hot rice or rice noodle.

Mang Gai Tod : Crispy Chicken Mince Parcels

The crunchy mix you see in these leaves is fried chicken flavoured with fried baby shrimp. I’ve used lettuce in the photograph, but traditionally we’d use betel  leaves. These leaves are an acquired taste but very popular in Asia. They are the same plant that betelnuts come from, the nuts they sell on the street in Taiwan. Unfortunately they are popular because they are a legal stimulant, and I avoid them because it makes my heart flutter as though I’m nervous.

Below is a photograph of the Betel leaf version of this dish

Ingredients

• 100 gms Chicken Breast
• Oil

Ingredients for Sauce

• 70 gms Sour Tamarind Pulp
• 250 ml Water
• 50 gms Sugar

Side Dish

• Betel leaves
• Dried Small Shrimps
• Dried Chillies
• Peanuts

Preparation

1. Slice the chicken breast thinly and grill or fry dry (without the oil!) until cooked. This is the first stage of cooking the chicken.
2. Blend the chicken in a food processor to small pieces.
3. Now fry the chicken fragments in the hot oil until browned. Because the chicken was pre-cooked, it will not stick together and you end up with separate grains of crunchy chicken.
4. Then fry the small shrimp, dried chillies and peanuts for 30 seconds and take it out.
5. To make the sauce, mix tamarind pulp and water, squeeze the tamarind to get the sour juice out, then sieve to remove the pulp leaving only the liquid.
6. Place this liquid in a pan and boil, add the sugar and stir till dissolved.
7. Serve it by, put all fried stuff on the leaves. When you eat, you roll it up and dip it in the sauce 

Kai-Gieuw Mu Sap : Pork Mince Omelette

If you think an omelette should taste of eggs, this recipe is a wake-up call. It has a strong meaty flavour with a slight spicy after-taste that is very different from a traditional ‘eggy’ omelette. Best of all, it’s a very easy dish to make. A good way to serve this omelette is to cut it into squares, so that it can be shared between several people as a side dish

Ingredients  for 2 People

• 3 Large Eggs
• 75 gms Pork Mince
• 2 Tablespoons Light Soy Sauce
• 1 Tablespoon Fish Sauce
• 1/2 Teaspoon Sugar
• 10 gms Coriander Leaves
• 10 gms Spring Onion (approx 1)
• 2 Big Red Chillies
• 100 ml Oil
• 1/2 Teaspoon White Pepper

Preparation

1. Chop the coriander, spring onion and chillies.
2. Whip the eggs in a mixing bowl.
3. Add the pork mince, light soy sauce, fish sauce, sugar, spring onion, coriander, and pepper. Mix thoroughly.
4. Put oil into frying pan and preheat the oil.
5. Fry the eggs mix for 1 minute.
6. Turn the omelette over and fry the other side for a minute.
7. The omelette should be cooked and golden brown. To make sure its cooked squeeze it, and no liquid should come out.

Serve With
       Salad Vegetable
       Hot Rice
       Sweet Chilli Sauce