Wednesday 23 December 2015

The one with the Asian invasion


 Mmm, just thinking about the pink red insides of the meat and the charcoal grill marks, makes my mouth water.

I was fed up with it all. The pizza, the pasta, the polenta, the parmigiano. Mamma mia! So this weekend we mixed it up. We took it all the way to the east and went for Thai beef salad and Chinese massages. Wait, what...
Ok, here's the deal. In a drunken mood I had made a delicious Thai beef salad last summer - guess the mojitos brought out my wild side. Reminiscing those hot summer days (however the holidays are my favourite time of the year), we decided to have another go at it last weekend. So Saturday night we had Thai beef salad, next to the Christmas tree. Who says you can't have the best of both worlds? 

So that was part one, now over to round two. I was told I had a surprise waiting for me on Sunday morning. However, the annoying little kid I am, can't stand surprises. So I was my sneaky self and figured out a couple of days beforehand what was going on... MASSAGES it was! Yay yay yay! That's why on Sunday morning we had lazy breakfast and went to a massage place near the central train station (don't ask - there were no "happy endings" involved though).

Result: Asian invasion complete. Great weekend as well. 

Feel the need to counter all the cinnamon, turkey and Christmas cookies? Then try this Thai beef salad to spice up your life!


Ingredients (serves 2 - 3)
  • 1 paksoi
  • 75 grams of peas
  • 2 spring onions
  • 1 cucumber
  • Fresh mint
  • 2 stalks of lemon grass
  • Beef for 2 - no quantities: some people really like their meat, others like it a little less. We did about 200 grams per person.
  • 20 grams of rice
  • A medium sized chili pepper
  • Peanuts (unsalted)
  • 1 tbs of sugar
  • 3 tbs of fish sauce
  • 1 lemon
What to do
  • Mix the sugar and the fish sauce with the juice and zest of the lemon. Put aside.
  • Chop up the paksoi. I like chopping up most of the white part and then tearing up some of the less hard green leaves.
  • Cut the harder top and bottom part off the lemon grass. We will only use the middle bit. Slice it into small rings.
  • Slice the cucumber.
  • Chop up the spring onions. 
  • Chop up half of the chili pepper. If you can stand the heat, leave the seeds.
  • Cook the peas. I used frozen peas, cooked them for about 2 minutes, drained them and cooled under ice cold water.
  • Take a pan, put it on high heat. Once it's really hot, add in the rice. Toss it around until it looks golden brown. At that point, grind it with a pestle and mortar. Put aside.
  • Put a grill pan on really high heat. Wait for about ten minutes.
  • Put some type of grease on the meat: olive oil, coconut oil, even butter. It's all good.
  • Once the pan is really hot, put in the meat. Two to three minutes on each side. Take out of the pan, cover with tin foil for about 5 minutes.
  • Put all the vegetables in a mixing bowl, toss around.
  • Put veggies on plate, drizzle dressing on top. Slice the meat in pretty even chunks, put on top of the veggies. Sprinkle some peanuts, toasted rice and mint on top. TADAAAA.
Inspiration: healthyfans.com

Et voilà, bon'ap!

However, one more thing. I'm trying to improve my photo prop stash. I'm the kind of person that really likes pretty ugly, especially when it comes to plates. So the uglier the plate, the better I like it. How do you like this one?

Do you know any Asian recipes I should definitely try soon? And any advice on where I could get better photography accessories? 

Love,
Julie


 

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