meemalee

Seared Pork Patties on a Bed of Noodles, Herbs and Salad with Pickled Vegetables I've made another cookery video with the folks from VoucherCodes  (the first one was for ohn no khao swe - Burmese Coconut Chicken Noodles). This time around, the theme is Affordable Alfresco - perfect for the lovely summer we're having right now, so I decided to adapt one of the salad dishes from my book Noodle!. This dish originates from Hanoi - its full name is Bun Cha Ha Noi. Bun refers to the noodles* and Cha refers to the meat patties. Apparently Bun Cha is the second most popular dish in Vietnam after their national dish of pho. You can see why this might be the case as it delivers a lot of punch - sweet and smoky meat over piquant herbs and salad wrapped up with soft, cooling noodles. You'll also be interested to know that it's super-quick to make and the ingredients are all easy to find - you can use entirely British produce. What's more, out of all th...

It's supposed to be Summer, so why are the gutters along my rooftop overflowing with rain? I'm cold, I'm miserable, and I want something to cheer me up.  I wander into the kitchen, and I get a pack of mixed seafood from the freezer, some kimchi from the fridge, a lime, some chives, a chilli, and a packet of udon.  I combine the lot with some vegetable broth and, in minutes, a magical broth is formed. Suddenly it doesn't seem so bad that the sun won't come out to play. Seafood and Kimchi Noodles Serves 2 500ml vegetable stock (I like Marigold bouillon) 400g fresh udon noodles (~ 2 packets) 300g mixed seafood (frozen or fresh, cooked or raw - you can just use prawns if you prefer) 1 tbsp caster sugar 1 tbsp good fish sauce (Three Crabs or Hung Thanh Phu Quoc) 4 tbsp kimchi, chopped ( easy recipe here  or buy ready-made) Handful of chives, chopped One lime, halved 1 red finger chilli, chopped (optional) Combine the stock with the sugar in a...

NOODLE! by MiMi Aye A while ago, I was asked to write a book about noodles as part of a wonderful series called 100 Great Recipes published by Absolute Press .  I'm a bit of a noodle geek (though by no means an expert), and there's nothing I like more than sticking my face into a big bowl of the stuff, so my first thought was, "Amazing! I'd love to do this". However, I have a full-time job, so I ummed and ahhed for a while, thinking I wouldn't have the chance to work on it.  Then I decided that, as I was pregnant, I could just write the thing whilst I was on maternity leave.  This was a mistake. She tried to stop me writing this book, but failed. Roll forward a year, and after blood, sweat, tears and many, many sleepless nights, here we are - Noodle! * by me is out today. The dishes were styled by the wonderful Genevieve Taylor and stunning photos taken by Mike Cooper . Forgive me for quoting the official press release, but: Pop...

Smoky Bacon and Watercress Noodle Soup There's a sudden chill in the Spring air, and I feel like I need warming up, but I don't want to indulge in something too stodgy.  This noodle soup is sweet, smoky and slightly sharp - which makes for a satisfying, but light and refreshing dish.  It takes no time at all to make and uses mainly store cupboard ingredients, so is perfect for a week-night meal.  This dish is a recent invention, but it's already become a favourite at home.  You can switch the leafy herbs according to what's available - try mizuna, peashoots, or a friend of mine made a lovely suggestion of using wild garlic which is in season right now. Smoky Bacon and Watercress Noodles  ( this also appeared in The Guardian's COOK supplement on 15 March 2014 ) Serves 2 Ingredients 6 rashers of smoked streaky bacon 500ml chicken or vegetable stock 2 tbsp caster sugar 300g fresh udon or rice noodles 2 tbsp light soy sauc...

Miso Salmon, Green Tea Soba Noodles, Stir-fried Shimeji Mushrooms I don't believe in diets, but sometimes I feel like I'm stretched too tightly, uncomfortable in my own skin like the bug man in Men in Black. Times like those, I still want to eat my fill, but I don't want to have to have a lie-down afterwards. This Japanese-influenced dish does the trick - the dressed noodles are bright and zingy, whilst the salmon is sweet, comforting and savoury. Even better, after a bit of advance prep, it only takes 15 minutes to cook. Miso Salmon with Soba Noodles  Serves 2 All ingredients are available in larger supermarkets, health food stores or online from the Japan Centre. 2 salmon fillets, about 150-200g each, skin still on  150g dried soba noodles (I used matcha ie green tea soba)  Groundnut or other neutral oil for frying 1 spring onion, green and white parts, finely sliced  1 tsp black sesame seeds  For the salmon marinade: 1 rou...

Mohinga, Burma's Breakfast of Choice Bursting with contrasting textures, fragrances, and flavours, mohinga is a Burmese catfish chowder served over rice vermicelli. It's the breakfast of choice wherever you go in Burma, and considered our national dish. As soon as we're back in Yangon, my family and I will devour bowl after bowl of mohinga, brought home in huge metal tiffin carriers from the nearest street vendor, or eaten in situ at our favourite stall. Heaped with crispy split-peas, slices of soft duck egg, bouncy fishcake, and fresh feathery coriander leaves, with extra fish sauce and lime to squeeze on the side, it's hard to know when to stop, and for many, their love for mohinga borders on obsession. Mohinga is usually made with small river catfish known in Burmese as nga gyi, nga ku or  nga yunt which I believe are related to the Pangas catfish. While you can't get the same fish in the West, I've found that a combination of tinned mack...

The national dish of Burma is called mohinga , a kind of fish chowder with lemongrass and banana stem that's served over rice vermicelli noodles. But arguably the most famous Burmese dish is one called ohn-no khao swè - Coconut Chicken Noodles. The reason for this is that ohn-no khao swè is generally considered the predecessor of the famous Northern Thai noodle dish Khao Soi - a dish so beloved that it has spawned its own fan sites and even essays . Apparently "khao soi" doesn't actually mean anything in Thai, so it's very likely that the name is just a derivation of khao swè, the Burmese word for "noodles", which literally means "fold pull" ie the method for making noodles. To add support to this theory, outside of Burma, ohn-no khao swè is also known as khao sway, khauk swe, khaot swe and my absolute favourite, cow suey. That's what happens when you try to transliterate a non-Roman language like Burmese. " Ohn-No Khao Swè ...

Sometimes I'm a genius. At least that's what I tell myself when I make up a recipe. I still had the pea shoots that I'd blagged from Waitrose at Taste of London 2009 , and I lay on the floor for a bit thinking what I could do with them. For the uninitiated, pea shoots (aka pea tops or pea sprouts) are the heart-shaped, tendrilly leaves of the garden pea plant. Long beloved in Chinese cookery where they are known as dòu miáo , they have only just made an appearance on our shores. The little leaves taste just like the sweetest, freshest peas and are best eaten raw or lightly cooked, in salads and stir-fries . However, it occurred to me that since peas and ham go so well together in Pea and Ham Soup , I could attempt to create a summery riff on the same. I adore my noodle soups and decided that this would be my gameplan, so I fried some ham, boiled some udon, made some broth, and bunged the pea shoots on top. Then I scoffed the lot. As suspected, the pea shoots and the ham c...

Until recently, a cousin of mine used to live on instant noodles. He loved Doll , Nissin , Mamee , Koka , Shin Ramyun , Maggi and many, many more, until one day he suddenly claimed that he had developed an acute condition called "noodle face" and would henceforth no longer consume such foodstuffs. How "noodle face" manifests, he never deigned to elaborate. However, as I've just bought the most humungous box of cup noodles ever ( MaMa's Shrimp Tom Yum rice vermicelli ), how long before I too succumb to "noodle face"? I'll keep you posted.