One Night (or six) In Bangkok

So, here we are in Bangkok! When I say 'we', I mean Mandy and I on a shoot for Five Tastes (please do follow on Facebook!)

Five Tastes is a range of authentic Asian dishes that you can whip up at home - even on a weeknight. The initial dishes are Pad Thai, Red Curry, Green Curry and Laksa. If you don't normally cook these kind of dishes at home, I suggest you start with the meal kits which have the right measures of many of the ingredients already sorted for you. Or you can use the curry cooking sauces - just adding your own meat and veg, or if you're feeling even more adventurous, choose the pastes and go crazy making up your own version of the dishes.

You can watch the video of the story behind Five Tastes here, which explains that it's the balance of sweet, sour, bitter, salty and savoury (or umami as the locals call it) that makes Asian cuisine so unique but also tricky to do from scratch at home.

The idea behind our campaign is to taste test the products here in Asia. We've brought over three duos of regular folk to cook up a storm for the locals to demonstrate how easy it is to do and how authentic the result is. You can follow all the action on Facebook and so far, it has been very funny!!!


Our first duo, Ash and Brodie are just gorgeous in every sense of the word. And tonight they will be cooking Five Tastes Pad Thai from a street cart on Soi 38 - one of the city's busiest strips for street stalls - this should be good!

But as we're here, we thought we should check out a few of the other local authentic snacks - like fried grasshoppers. Curiously, there is no 'squish' - they're all 'crunch' and aren't dissimilar to the tarantula legs we chowed down on in Cambodia. We also tried a silk worm - maybe not the worm - maybe it was just the larvae. They look a little creepy but really, taste like some kind of bland bean - and same texture too.

Anyhow, rest assured that Five Tastes in much more delicious than the snacks!!!

Silk Worm Grubs

Grasshoppers - yuuuum

A Couple of Quick Soups

After uni, my parent felt so sorry for me having persistently limped through my commerce degree, with two majors in accounting, (happily my social life was far more energetic!) that they sent me to cooking school. I’ve always enjoyed food and cooking (probably the later is motivated by the former!) So for something different, I thought I’d share a couple of quick soup recipes I made up as part of my artillery in my war against those 5 kg I need to lose.

I’d really love some feedback if you like this kind of post. My recipes are always pretty loose, which again, may or may not appeal. Let me know what you prefer because I can make them tighter

It’d also be good to know if you’re having problems posting comments – as I regularly have issues! So if you can’t comment, please drop me an email motherwhoworks@gmail.com

Asian Style Chicken Noodle Soup

In a large pot, bring 2 litres of chicken stock to a simmer (Campbell’s is pretty good if you don’t have any  – and no – I’m not being paid to say that!!). Add 3- 4 sliced skinless chicken breasts and poach for a few of minutes.  Add about half a packet of Pad Thai (wide) rice noodles (from the supermarket) and a punnet of slices Swiss Brown or shitake mushrooms. Simmer for about 10 minutes and that’s it. You could also add spring onions or small broccoli flowers.
When serving, add a generous handful of fresh coriander, a big squeeze of fresh lime juice and several splashes of fish sauce (or Tamari if you’d prefer). Add chili if you like it hot.
It’s a really tasty, fat free, salty and sour concoction. The chicken provides protein too, which keeps hunger at bay for longer. You can keep it in the fridge for days and just microwave the base soup, adding the fresh condiments at eating.

Green Vegetable Soup

This one was inspired by what was left in the fridge, so quantities don’t really matter. Sautee a couple of diced onions in a mere splash of olive oil in a big pot. I added lots of chopped celery, 2 bunches of asparagus, about 2 continental cucumbers (peeled), broccolini and broccoli (including the stalk – peeled.) Toss it all around for a bit then add chicken stock until veggies are covered (add a bit of water too if you need). Add 3-4 chopped up big potatoes and simmer the whole thing until all the veggies are soft. Give it a burl with the Bamix until it’s smooth-ish. If you don’t care for it so thick, add more stock/water. Serve with sea salt crystals and cracked black pepper. It’s surprisingly tasty!