Red Hot Chilli Peppers

Now that the Flash Mob blooper is water under the bridge, it’s time for new activities. What to do on a rainy day in spring? Now, I could rent Julie & Julia again… or rock my own kitchen.

Since I discovered this Asian grocery market one block away, I’m in a total ‘spices and coconut juice buying-frenzy’: fresh ginger $1! A dozen chillies $3!! A bunch of scallions $2!!! And so my basket is filling up without the fear of bankruptcy. Blissfully happy I unpack my catch at home, admiring the smooth shiny skin of chillies. But here raises the question: what to do with heaps of chillies (of a rather phenomenal size)?

Spice things up! Make ya man sweat! You can try to be creative with peppers - even on paper - but it’s like the flash mob thingy: it needs practice. And most importantly, Richard is already sweating hard over his research proposal and there’s also no need for spicing up our marriage. Right? Dear? (he says: nope)

Anyway, I leave you with a recipe of a Vietnamese stirfry. It actually doesn’t taste too fabulous and looks even worse. Or maybe it’s just my personal – pretty shaky - relationship with ‘Nam? Anyway, those not so sweet memories are sitting on another blog and I intend to let them stay there. Last but not least: if you want to ignore my judgement and fancy a fiery stirfry tonight… don’t say I didn't tell you:

tomorrow it’s going to taste a whole lot better. It takes time to get the flavors going, as Jamie O. puts it nicely. This is from now on [also] my favorite excuse for doing - erm- not much...

Because you know, I’m cooking up this amazing book and striking articles! It just needs to boil in my head some more, to become the perfect treat.

Sick Chicken Stirfry:

500 g chicken thigh (or breast) fillets, cut into bite size pieces

3 tbsp fish sauce

1.5 tbsp sugar

2 lemon grass stalks, white part only, finely diced

4 garlic cloves, finely diced

2 long red chilli, finely diced

3 tbsp vegetable oil

1/2 onion, cut into wedges

1 cup young coconut juice

3 coriander sprigs for garnish

Preparation:

In a mixing bowl combine fish sauce, sugar and mix until sugar has dissolved. Add half of the lemon grass, half of the garlic, half of the chilli and all of the chicken. Coat the chicken then marinate it covered and refrigerated for 1 hour or over night for a better result.

Bring a large saucepan or wok to medium heat, add oil and remaining lemon grass, garlic, chilli, and fry until fragrant and slightly brown. Turn heat to high then add the chicken sealing all sides until browned, around 2 minutes on each side. Now add coconut juice, onions and cover with a lid, then cook on medium heat for a 5 minutes or until sauce has reduced by half.

Transfer to a bowl, garnish with coriander (if you like a soapy mouth) and eat with jasmine rice.

An Ngon!