Thai Salmon Fishcakes with Quick Chilli Dipping Oil

These are a great lunchtime meal if you are following Slimming World - they come in at just 4.5 syns for the oil and Thai Green Curry Paste and I use my HEB for the Ryvita.

I serve with ribbons of carrot and cucumber made using a vegetable peeler a small side salad and a tiny pot of chilli infused oil.

The below makes two fishcakes - be warned they are moreish!

Here's how:
Dipping Oil:

• 1 tsp dried chilli flakes
• 2 tsp olive oil

Fishcakes:

• 1 100g fillet of salmon
• 2 spring onions
• 1 clove garlic
• 1 thumb of fresh ginger
• 1 red chilli
• Juice of 1/2 a lime
• 1 tbsp fresh coriander
• 1 tsp Green Thai Curry Paste
• 1 Original Ryvita 

Firstly in a small pot place the chilli flakes and the oil and leave to infuse a little - this is your dipping sauce and will act as a great dressing for any salad you serve alongside too.

Now drizzle in a tiny bit of oil or spray into a pan and place on a low heat.

Finely chop the spring onions, chilli and coriander and place into a bowl.

Mince the garlic and add to the bowl and grate in the ginger.Cut the lime in half and squeeze into the bowl.

Crumble the Ryvita into the bowl.

Next finely chop the salmon into small pieces and add to the bowl and give a good stir with a spoon.

Finally add the curry paste and again stir. Then you'll need to get your hands messy by smushing it all together with your hands and making two rounds which will be your fishcake. You could of course use an egg in this mixing process which will help bind the fishcakes too, I just chose not to.

Next add each fishcake to the pan and fry gently for three to four minutes on one side before turning over to do the other side. Each side should be nicely golden brown. Don't be tempted to cook for too much longer as the salmon will overcook. Enjoy!

Thai Beef Salad

Thai Beef Salad

This Thai Beef Salad is utterly delicious and is so quick and simple to throw together, so perfect for mid week when time is often limited and precious. 

It's packed full of fiery and aromatic flavour and lots of wonderful textures and is a real crowd-pleaser.

You could use any cut of beef, but I particularly like to use a large sirloin for this and as we love it rare, that is what you will see here, but if you prefer your meat cooked a little more, of course do so to your taste. 

I like to marinate the meat overnight, but if time is lacking, marinate for 30 minutes to an hour before cooking. I have also made this with no time to marinate at all, and once drizzled with the zingy dressing it's absolutely fine, so make according to your time. 

You can also mix it up in terms of the vegetables and salad items you use - include your favourites and if you want to bulk it out, add some rice noodles and make a little extra dressing. 

Here's how:

• 1 large sirloin steak, about 2cm thick
• Marinade for the steak:
• 1 lemongrass stalk
• 1 large red chilli
• 1 clove of garlic
• 1-2cm piece of ginger
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• Juice of half a lime
• 1 tbsp shaosing wine
• Drop of fish sauce

For the salad:

• 1 bag of pea shoots
• 1 large carrot
• 4-5 raddishes
• Handful baby corn
• Cucumber - about 3-4cm long section 
• Handful beansprouts
• Handful coriander leaves
• Handful salted peanuts
• 1 red chilli

For the dressing:

• 1 red chilli
• 1/2 lime juiced
• 1 tbsp brown sugar
• 1 clove garlic
• Freshly grated ginger (about 1-2cm piece)
• 1 tbsp fish sauce
• 1 tbsp sesame oil

For the steak marinade, slice the chilli, mince the garlic and slice the ginger (no need to peel), and bash the lemongrass a little and simply throw everything into a zip lock food bag, or a plastic container with the sesame oil, fish sauce, lime juice and soy sauce. Throw the steak in and allow the flavours to seep into the meat. Be sure to turn the steak over every so often, to ensure  all of the meat takes in the flavours. Pop into the fridge if marinating overnight, or if you only have an hour, leave at room temperature.

When ready to make the salad, place a griddle pan on a medium heat and allow to come up to a high temperature.

Once hot, place the sirloin  in the middle of the griddle and allow to cook for two minutes, then turn over and cook for two more minutes, and then remove from the pan and allow to rest whilst you prepare the salad and dressing.

Use a large plate or platter and scatter the pea shoots across it first.

Now peel and cut the carrots into thin matchstick sized pieces, then cut the radishes and cucumber into similar thin sticks and scatter all over the pea shoots. Now throw over the beansprouts, coriander and peanuts. If you like a lot of spice, also slice the red chilli and place all over the salad plate. 

Now make the dressing in a small bowl, literally just combine the freshly grated ginger (to taste), sliced red chilli, brown sugar, lime juice, soy sauce, fish sauce and sesame oil and mix well. 

Now slice the steak as thick or thin as you'd prefer, into gorgeous slithers, place over the salad and drizzle all over with the dressing. So fresh, so simple, so delicious. Enjoy!

Quick Thai Salmon Noodle Soup

Few things are as comforting as a bowl of nourishing noodle soup and this Thai salmon one tastes great, is full of goodness that can be thrown together in no time at all. Win, win.

The great thing about this is you can add any number of vegetables - just use what you have in stock. It's great with a variety of mushrooms that really soak up and take on the flavour of the soup, and topped up with fresh beansprouts before serving for a welcome crunchy.

The below serves two.

Quick Thai Salmon Noodle Soup

Here's how:

• 2 fillets of salmon
• 100g mushrooms
• Handful broccoli florets
• 2 tbsp sweetcorn
• 4 spring onions
• 1 large garlic clove
• 1 red chilli
• 3cm piece of ginger
• 1 tbsp Thai green curry paste
• 1 tbsp sesame oil
• 1 tbsp fish sauce
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 lime
• Tin coconut milk
• Handful fresh chives and coriander
• 1 portion of rice noodles (I use Mama)

Firstly pour the sesame oil into the heavy bottomed saucepan and place on a medium heat.

Finely slice the spring onions, chilli and garlic and add to the pan and allow to saute for a few minutes.

In the meantime, slice the mushrooms and set aside, and half the lime and put to one side for the moment too.

Peel and slice the ginger and add to the pan with the green Thai curry paste and broccoli florets and stir.

After a few minutes add the coconut milk, fish sauce and soy sauce.

Meanwhile use this time to carefully remove the skin from the salmon fillets and chop into chunky, bite-sized pieces. 

Add the salmon to the pan at the same time as the mushrooms and sweetcorn.The salmon will only take a few minutes to cook through and you don't want over-cooked fish which will turn rubber and tasteless. It'll be easy to tell when the salmon is cooked as you can see the colour-changing from a deeper red opaque to a lighter pink.

As you can see the colour of the salmon changing, add the rice noodles to the liquid, push them down so they're fully immersed in the cooking liquid. After one minute, remove the soup from the heat and allow to stand for a moment.

Squeeze over all of the lime juice and serve in deep bowls. Scatter over some coriander leaves and some chopped chives and add a touch or sriracha if you like a a hit of extra spice. Enjoy!

Thai Spiced Pumpkin Soup

Following a lovely pumpkin-picking session at The Pumpkin Patch on Sunday, I made this delicious Thai-inspired Pumpkin Soup on Monday for me, Glen who was at home poorly, and Bridget, for a healthy, hearty and warming lunch.

It’s super simple to make, tastes great and you could make a huge batch of it if you so wished. After pumpkin season has passed, you could substitute the pumpkin for butternut squash; which is readily available throughout the year, or even sweet potatoes. But for a lovely, Halloween-inspired meal, this is a great choice – and it works for vegetarians too.

If you're catering for little ones or those without a heat tolerance - maybe tone down the chilli usage to just half a red chilli - we don't need to as Bridget loves a bit of spice and it's a great family meal.

Thai Spiced Pumpkin Soup

Here’s how:

• 1 small roasted pumpkin, or half a larger one (roast for 40 minutes)
• 1 tablespoon coconut oil
• 1 large white onion
• 1 red chilli
• 1 clove garlic
• Two thumb nail piece of fresh ginger
• Two sticks celery
• Handful fresh coriander
• 2 kaffir lime leaves
• 1 can coconut milk
• 150ml vegetable stock
• ½ Lime

I like to roast the pumpkin for 30-40 minutes first, then allow to cool, peel and chop into bite-sized chunks, discarding the centre seeds and pith, unless you are doing something with the seeds.

Place the coconut oil into a heavy-bottomed saucepan, and place onto a medium heat.

Now peel and dice the onion and add to the saucepan to slowly sauté. Peel and mince the garlic and chop the chilli and add to the mix. Slice the celery and add to the saucepan, and peel and slice the ginger and again, add to the saucepan.

Add the pumpkin then pour over the pumpkin and vegetable stock, add the kaffir lime leaves and allow to cook down for 30 minutes or so, to allow the pumpkin to absorb all of the beautiful, fragrant flavours.

After 30 minutes, remove the kaffir lime leaves, add the coriander leaves and the juice of half a lime and allow to cool a little.

Once sufficiently cooled, use a hand blender or food processor to blitz to a fine soup consistency.

Return to the pot, and place on a medium heat to bring it back up to the required temperature. Serve with some delicious bread – enjoy!

Thai Spiced Pumpkin Soup