Thai salad with mango

This is the food I just love, its light, crisp, clean flavors, tangy dressing, its all about the dressing and marinade!
Another yummy dish for using up mango and veggies hanging around in the fridge. What a beautiful way to get your vegetable intake up, it's so much easier when the food is tasty!

I marinated 1 kg of chicken thighs so I had some for leftover lunches. Marinated in lemongrass, garlic, ginger, fish sauce and sweet chilli sauce/or chopped chilli, cooked on the BBQ.

Makes 4 huge portions or 6 average portions

Ingredients
¼ chinese cabbage (wombok) finely shredded
1 carrot, cut into matchstick size
1 lebanese cucumber, cut into 2 long halves and sliced thinly
1 small and 1 green capsicum, thinly sliced
150g snow peas, thinly sliced on the angle
2 stalks of celery, thinly sliced
125g bean sprouts (half a bag)
60g brown rice vermicelli noodles, cooked and then cooled under running cold water and drained. Cut up with scissors to make the noodles more manageable.
1-2 mangoes, cheeks taken off and using a large spoon to take the flesh from the skin, sliced finely.

Method
Toss everything together and arrange the mango on top. Serve with marinated chicken and Thai dressing. This is just lime juice, sweet chilli sauce and fish sauce, mix with a little water to make your dressing. You can add some minced ginger in too.

Prawn and avocado rice paper rolls

Makes 16

Ingredients

125g dried vermicelli noodles, I have used brown rice vermicelli-find in the noodle section at the supermarket- cooked according to instructions, then rinse with cold water.

400g cooked prawns- count how many and divide by 16 to work how many to put in each one

1 carrot, cut in half to get 2 short pieces and then cut into matchstick size

1 lebanese cucumber, sliced lengthwise, scoop the seeds out with a teaspoon, and then slice thinly

½ red capsicum, sliced thinly

If you have some lettuce to use up you can shred a few leaves and add this in the veg mix

1 avocado, sliced

Mint leaves- about 3-4 for each roll. You could also use thai basil.

2 packs of rice paper- find in the Asian section at the supermarket

Dipping sauce is sweet chili sauce, lime juice and fish sauce.

Use approx. 1 lime, 2 tbsp sweet chilli and about 1-2 tsp fish sauce. Please taste and adjust according to your liking.

Method

Mix the noodles and vegetables together.

In a large frying pan put in some warm water.

Take 1 rice paper roll and dip in cover with water for about 5-10 seconds until flexible. If you leave to long it will end up breaking.

Place the rice paper on a clean board and near the bottom end of your paper put 3-4 prawns, a slice of avocado and a small handful of your noodle mix/veg and 3-4 mint leaves.

Fold like a burrito. Fold the bottom in, and then both sides and then roll up.

Serve with Thai dipping sauce.

San choy bau

Serves 4

Ingredients

300g pork mince, you can use any mince if you want

1 brown onion, finely diced

2 cloves of garlic, minced

1 thumb size piece of ginger, minced

250g pack of bean sprouts- reserve a handful for the garnish

2 carrots, finely diced

2 stalks of celery, finely diced

150g of mushrooms, finely diced

½ bunch of coriander-washed and chopped, keep the chopped stalks separate from the leaves- chop the roots off and keep in the freezer and use when you make a curry paste

1 iceberg lettuce- you need 8 leaves. Cut the stalk out and then run under running water this helps release each leaf.

½ bunch of coriander-washed and chopped, keep the chopped stalks separate from the leaves. Reserve some of the leaves for garnish- chop the roots off and keep in the freezer and use when you make a curry paste

2 tbsp oyster sauce

1 tbsp tamari or soy sauce

Juice of 1 lime

Optional garnish, sliced red chilli, chopped roasted peanuts

Method

If you like you can use a food processor and blitz the garlic, ginger, onion (and mushroom if your kids don’t like mushroom, they won’t taste it!)

In a large pan or wok fry off all your vegetables and coriander stalks in some oil. Cook 2 minutes and then add the mince, cook a further 3-4 minutes until the mince is cooked. Then add in your bean sprouts, oyster, tamari and lime juice, coriander leaves and mix through. Serve up in your lettuce cups and garnish with your reserved bean sprouts, coriander leaves, chopped peanuts and chilli.

In the pic I also had with some kimchi.

watch here how to separate your lettuce leaves
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xDBxUNOkLi0

Leek, mushroom, carrot & kale in a creamy thyme sauce

Ingredients

 300g button mushrooms, sliced

1 leek, white part only, washed, 1 cm slices

4 carrots, peeled and thinly sliced

1 bunch kale, washed and chopped up, you can take the stalk out if you want to

2 cups vege/chicken stock

¼ cup cream, you can omit if you want

1 tablespoon chopped thyme, you could dried thyme or a different herb (1-2 tsp)

3 teaspoons (approx.) corn/rice flour

Salt and pepper

Method

In a wok or really big pan, melt a little butter and add the leek, mushroom and carrot, stir-fry for 3-4 minutes. Add stock and thyme and simmer for 10 mins or until the veg is to your liking. Add cream, stir in then sprinkle over flour evenly over the veg and stir in, it will thicken, if you want it thicker sprinkle over a little more flour. Add kale and wilt down for 3 mins or so. Season with salt and pepper.

You can add sliced chicken/beef etc with the leeks or throw some prawns/fish in at the last 5 minutes of cooking.

 I like this dish- the leek has our sulphur group, the carrot has our beta-carotene, the kale is our green leafy group, full of folate, vitamin K, beta-carotene and the mushrooms have selenium, riboflavin and copper.

   Thyme contains many active principles that are found to have disease preventing and health promoting properties.

 Thyme herb contains thymol, one of the important essential oils, which scientifically has been found to have antiseptic, anti-fungal characteristics. The other volatile oils in thyme include carvacolo, borneoland geraniol.

  Thyme contains many flavonoid phenolic antioxidants like zea-xanthin, lutein, pigenin, naringenin, luteolin,and thymonin. Fresh thyme herb has one of the highest antioxidant levels among herbs, a total ORAC (Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity) value of 27426-µmol TE/100 g.

  Thyme is packed with minerals and vitamins that are essential for optimum health. Its leaves are one of the richest sources of potassium, iron, calcium, manganese, magnesium, and selenium. Potassium is an important component of cell and body fluids that helps controlling heart rate and blood pressure. Manganese is used by the body as a co-factor for the antioxidant enzyme, superoxide dismutase. Iron is required for red blood cell formation.