Weekend noodles

At the end of a long week you want a good dinner that isn't so hard to fix. You want to sit back, relax and maybe enjoy a glass of wine. What you don't want to do is pop some ready made meal in the microwave. There is so much more to food than that and I make no apologies for promoting the real way here. Now to be clear I will not encourage you to be a gourmet or a chef. There are others who can do it better than me. I'm the person who reads that stuff and makes it in his own kitchen everyday. Sometimes I love to fuss over my food but sometimes it is fuel.
So if you make any of these dishes I'm going to have to trust you to use your own judgement on whether something is cooked or not. Just remember I'm doing this because want people to be practical and get more from their food. Better taste, less waste.

Yesterday I finally had a day off after a long week, we had planned to go out, do a load of jobs in town and eat at a place that puts garlic in everything (beer, ice cream etc etc) but the jobs were more complicated than expected and we ended up coming home instead and watching a movie (woo hoo how excting are we?). This sudden Plan B required us to raid the fridge and the freezer to rustle up dinner on the hoof. So I apologise for a lack of authentic flavours here but it tasted good. We used Pad Thai as an inspiration and then adapted it to what we had.

Weekend noodles
As ever all recipes serve 2.

Everything needs to be prepared in advance for this dish because it comes together very fast.

Vegetable oil
Sesame oil
Garlic plenty chopped very finely
Dried Chili chopped very finely
Prawns
Tamarind paste dissolved in hot water
Rice wine
Soy sauce
Broccoli cut into florets
Carrots sliced into thin strips
Mushrooms sliced
Palm Sugar
Lime juice
Mung beans
Peanuts crushed in a pestle and mortar
Noodles

Put on a pan of water. Let it come to the boil and add the noodles
In a separate pan warm a little vegetable oil and sesame oil
Add half the garlic and chilli and fry gently
Add the prawns – admittedly ours had come out of the freezer so I needed to be a bit patient while the water evapourated.
As they begin to brown add the tamarind water, a dash of rice wine and a dash of soy.
Add the vegetables except the mung beans
Add the remaining garlic and chili
Cook for a few minutes and then add the mung beans and cook for about half a minute to make sure everything is coated and finished cooking.

To serve put the noodles on a plate, put the prawns and vegetables on top, a quick dash of lime juice and then sprinkle with peanuts. Eat hot.

Hee Haw!!

Another week has passed in snowy Helsinki and the days are getting longer which makes me happy. However my workaholic tendencies seem to be getting more extreme and not less. I have been doing crazy things like agreeing to extra meetings at both ends of the day and then bringing work home and carrying on. I'm not happy with this and spoke to my boss yesterday about it and while it is up to me to sort out at least I'm not sitting on it and letting it fester. Off to Sweden today with work and back on Wednesday morning, found out yesterday that one place we're going to visit is 4hrs drive each way from where we are staying. Time to pack the iPod and a good book I think.

Having basically said "oh woe is me" in the paragraph above I must confess to being a glass half full kind of person. Therefore it should not surprise anyone that after an excellent movie, a beer (or two) and a good night's sleep this boy's view of the world is back to super positive. I'm all boyscouty this morning and ready for whatever insane challenges may come. I have a worrying tendency to spout positive claptrap in English and unsurprisingly most of the Finnish I seem to be learning seems to be in this vein as well. Time to seek professional help!!! I digress, so back to the beer and movie. Unfortunately I didn't make the Thursday Night Movie Club this week but am definately going next week. Instead the boss and I settled back and watched "It's a wonderful life" instead. It's not one I would watch everyday but once in a while it's excellent to let it's magic work on your tired bones.

*****
Pad Thai Noodles a la Monkey House Kitchen.

This week I managed to get into the Kitchen and make a Pad Thai Noodles my style (for this week at least). I hope you try it and that it tastes good.

If I have never spelt it out before I do believe that recipes are guidelines only. They are there to be adapted, pushed, pulled, bullied, loved but not necessarily obeyed. So never be afraid to wing it. After all, that way you will waste less and things will be tastier.

Garlic
Chilli
Thai fish sauce
Lime Juice
Palm Sugar
Mushrooms
Dried prawns (in boiling water)
Onion (or spring onions)
Vermicelli noodles
2 beaten eggs
Bean sprouts
Unroasted peanuts crushed in a pestle and mortar

Make sure everything is prepared before you start this - you will not have time to do it once the cooking starts!

Soak the noodles in boiling water for 10 minutes, then drain and have ready.
Put some oil in a wok
When hot add some of the chilli
Fry the prawns and mushrooms and set aside
Put in the rest of the chilli plus the garlic, onions, dried prawns (and water), fish sauce and palm sugar and lime juice.
After a short while add the noodles, mushrooms and prawns
Mix well
Add the beaten egg and leave for 2 minutes or so for the egg to set
Serve
Garnish with peanuts and bean sprouts

Until next time waste nothing and have fun!