Take-me-away-to-Thailand spicy noodle salad

I recently spent eight heavenly days in Thailand, at a resort at Khao Lak, about 90 minutes north of Phuket. It was eight days away from Canberra’s never ending winter, of warm days and nights, of swimming in the rain, cracking open our own coconut using just rocks, and of bone melting massages. And, of course, it included loads of fresh, simple Thai food. 

Our local Khao Lak beach

 

Relaxing in paradise, with our own freshly cracked coconut

This three-year-old takes a beach stroll every afternoon

The wonderful Phang Nga Islands

Evening at the resort

There are so many lessons to be found in Thai cooking. The ingredients are fresh and the flavours are bold. There’s no fear of spice and it’s all about balancing the sweet, the sour and the salty. A dish of Pad Thai may be accompanied by small bowls of lime juice, chilli flakes, fish sauce so that the diner can tweak the flavours to suit their own palate.

It’s not often that I’ll feature recipes on the blog using out of season vegies but, right now, I need a dish that will take me away to a small restaurant on the beach, that sings of a summer half a world away…

Spicy noodle salad

Salad

Glass noodles aka vermicelli, enough to make 200g when cooked

2 shallots – dice the white end, and cut the green shoot into 2cm lengths

50 g tofu, diced

A small handful of celery leaf or coriander, roughly chopped

1 tomato, julienned

4-5 button mushrooms, sliced

Dressing

2 tsp sambal oelek, or chilli sauce

2 tbsp lime juice

1 tbsp coconut palm sugar

1 tbsp soy or fish sauce

Soak the noodles in water for 30 minutes, or until they soften.

To prepare the sauce, mix the ingredients together in a small bowl. Taste and adjust until it tastes the way you want it to, then set aside.

Bring a cup of water to the boil in a small saucepan. Add the tofu and mushrooms for just 30 seconds then drain through a sieve.

In another saucepan, boil water and add the noodles for 30 seconds. Drain the noodles and drop into iced water to rapidly cool them. Drain well and put them in a large bowl. Add the tofu and all the vegies, pour the dressing over the top, toss to mix and serve.

Finding comfort in baked apples

Baked apples are simple, delicious, and the definition of comfort food. This recipe uses no sugar except for that found naturally in the fruit, but it’s still lovely and sweet. For the stuffing, I’ve used the nuts and fruit I had in my pantry – feel free to use whatever you have in yours. Walnuts, cashews, and any dried fruit will work beautifully. You can even swap out the tahini for any kind of nut butter.

Tahini, almonds, goji berries, sultanas, dates, macadamia nuts and apples.

The best apples in terms of flavour and your health will be the ones you can get from a local orchard, preferably an organic one, at the regional farmers market. These apples will often be unusual varieties that you’ll never see in a supermarket, will be freshly picked so they won’t have been in cold storage for the last year, and won’t have been treated with the pesticides that see apples listed in the dirty dozen of fruit and veg for high pesticide exposure. Steer clear of bruising but other blemishes are fine and won’t affect the flavour – and if a bird’s pecked your apple you know it was the best fruit on the tree! 

 

Baked apples

Makes 4-6 servings

Cinnamon, nutmeg, and vanilla. This grinder contains
vanilla bean pieces and is very quick and easy to use.

In a small food processor, roughly chop four tablespoons of almonds, two tablespoons of macadamia nuts, and a couple of tablespoons each of dates, sultanas and goji berries. Stir through two tablespoons of tahini, a quarter teaspoon of cinnamon, a pinch of nutmeg, and an eighth of a teaspoon of vanilla bean or its extract. This stuffing quantity will easily fill at least four apples.

You need to remove the core from your apples while otherwise keeping the apple intact. The easiest way to do this is with a purpose-made apple corer, but four long cuts with a sharp knife in a square shape around the core will also do the trick – just watch your fingers.

Put the cored apples on a baking tray and fill them with your fruit and nut stuffing – push it in to get as much in as possible – then dab a small dollop of coconut oil at the top. Add the leftover stuffing to the baking tray. Bake for 30 minutes at 180 degrees Celsius/160 degrees fan forced. Serve the apples straightaway, with a good sprinkling of the leftover stuffing and a dollop of custard or coconut cream.