At Wickedfood Cooking School we teach our students a variety of southeast Asian inspired soups in our Thai cooking classes.   A laksa is the closest one will get to a hearty warming Southeast Asian soup.  It comes in many guises, this one is an adaption from Reuben Cooks, our cookbook of the week.  In his recipe he uses salmon fillets, but we find them a little rich and prefer whitefish such as hake or gurnard. Once you have mastered this recipe substitute the seafood for chunky vegetables or chicken breasts.

1L chicken or vegetable stock
1 tin coconut milk
Salt and black pepper
20 steamed, shelled mussels
400g salmon, cut into chunks (see introduction)
Juice of 1 lime (about 2 tablespoons)
2 red bird’s eye chillies, chopped (optional)
350g rice vermicelli noodles, cooked
1 handful of coriander or basil or mint leaves, to garnish
Onion sprouts, to garnish

Laksa paste
1T whole coriander seeds
3 stalks lemon grass
1/2 cup canola oil
1/4 cup picked fresh coriander leaves
1T curry powder
1T turmeric
6 lime leaves
1/2 cup grated palm sugar
1/2 cup Thai fish sauce
3 green chillies, chopped
3 red chillies, chopped

• Heat the stock in a large pot. When hot, add the laksa paste. Simmer for a few minutes and add the coconut milk. Continue to simmer for 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Taste and adjust the seasoning.
• Add the steamed, shelled mussels and simmer for 1 minute.
• Add the fish and simmer for 2 minutes.
• Add the lime juice and chillies, if using. Bring the soup almost to boiling point, cover the pan and turn off the heat.
• Serve as soon as the noodles are ready. Reheat the rice vermicelli noodles, drain well and transfer to a large bowl. Moisten the noodles with a little of the soup from the seafood pot. Serve the noodles, soup and seafood in 4 large bowls, garnished with herbs and onion sprouts.

Laksa paste

• Blend all the ingredients together to make a fine paste.

Serves 4

Try these other Asian inspired soups:

Chinese corn and chicken soup

Tom yum kung

Sunninghill – (011) 234-3252 sunninghill@wickedfood.co.za

Runs cooking classes throughout the year at its purpose-built cooking studios. Classes are run in the mornings and evenings 7 days a week (subject to a minimum of 12 people). The venue is also popular for corporate events and private functions – team building cooking classes, birthdays, kitchen teas, and dinner parties with a difference.

Our classes are hands-on, where every person gets to participate in the preparation of the dishes. They are also a lot of fun where you not only learn new skills, but get to meet people with similar interests. For corporate groups and teambuilding cooking classes these events are a novel way of creating staff interaction or entertaining clients.

Q: I can not get my fishcakes right . I’ve tried different recipes but they are always soft ,even if I leave the mixture in the fridge for a few hours,but the bigest problem, they absorb a lot of oil although I use very little oil to fry them . They are very nice and tasty but not easy to handle.

A: There are a number of techniques to use when making fish cakes.  These include:

1. Ensure that you have a good wet/dry mix.  You need a binding agent such as egg and a starch for binding,  such as cooked potato, flour  or breadcrumbs.
2. Work the mixture when mixing, so that it becomes sticky.
3. Once the fish cakes have been shaped, chill in the fridge for approximately 30 minutes so that the firm up.

At Wickedfood Cooking School we make delicious fish cakes in our Thai cooking class.  Fish cakes are a popular snack, found throughout Thailand, and are an ideal starter or appetizer. Every chef has his own secret recipe, and we found this one at Pat’s Home Thai Cooking School in Phuket, especially delicious. What makes them special is that they have no flour or baking powder, which when added, tends to make the cakes rather stodgy. When making the cakes make double quantities and freeze any leftovers. Always bring back to room temperature and heat through before serving as they are best eaten warm. These cakes can also be made using chicken, pork, beef, lamb or prawns, but then blend the meat in a food processor until almost pasty in consistency.

500g fine flesh white fish fillets (hake, cob), skin on

1 egg

¹/2 cup string or French beans, sliced fine

3T kaffir lime leaves (or basil), shredded

1t sugar

1t salt or 1T fish sauce

1-3T red curry paste

±3 cups oil for flying

1. Using a fork, scrape the meat off the skin, a little at the time, which will give the meat the appearance of having been ground.
2. Place the fish in a large bowl, together with the remaining ingredients, except the oil, and knead with the hands until sticky. Then continue to mix, aerating by taking spoonfuls and forcefully dropping back into the bowl.
3. Heat the oil in a wok or frying pan. Dampen the hands with a little cold water, and then working with approximately a tablespoonful at a time, form into approximately 3cm x 1cm diameter cakes, and drop into the hot oil, taking care not to splash. Fry for about 3 minutes on either side, or until golden brown and crispy, then drain on paper towel.
4. Serve with cucumber dipping sauce

Serves 4-6

Wickedfood Cooking School

Sunninghill – (011) 234-3252 sunninghill@wickedfood.co.za

Runs cooking classes throughout the year at its purpose-built cooking studios. Classes are run in the mornings and evenings 7 days a week (subject to a minimum of 12 people). The venue is also popular for corporate events and private functions – team building cooking classes, birthdays, kitchen teas, and dinner parties with a difference.

Our classes are hands-on, where every person gets to participate in the preparation of the dishes. They are also a lot of fun where you not only learn new skills, but get to meet people with similar interests. For corporate groups and teambuilding cooking classes these events are a novel way of creating staff interaction or entertaining clients.

This recipe is from Gordon Ramsay’s Great Escape: 100 of My Favourite Indian Recipes.

Gordon: “Butter chicken, or murgh makhani, was one of the first dishes I tasted when I went to India. Its origins can be traced back to Mogul times, but the dish and its history is most closely associated with Delhi’s famous Moti Mahal restaurant, where I had the pleasure of eating this fantastic dish. Over time, numerous chefs have attempted to emulate the rich buttery sauce, and flavours vary slightly between restaurants. This is my version of the classic dish.”

For the sauce:

1½T  ghee or melted unsalted butter
2 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped
2cm ginger, peeled and finely chopped
1 cardamom pod, seeds lightly crushed
2 cloves
1t  ground coriander
1t  garam masala
1t  ground turmeric
1t  hot chilli powder, or to taste
275ml tomato puree
1T  lemon juice
40g unsalted butter
100ml double cream
1T  chopped coriander, to garnish

1. Place the chicken in a bowl with the garlic, ginger, salt, chilli powder and lemon juice. Mix, cover with cling film and chill for 30 minutes. Mix together the yoghurt, garam masala, turmeric and cumin and add to the chicken, making sure that each piece is well coated with the mixture. Cover again and chill for 3-4 hours.
2. Preheat the oven to 180°C. Put the marinated chicken pieces on a grill rack set on a baking tray and bake for 8-10 minutes. Brush the chicken pieces with a little oil and turn them over. Bake for another 10-12 minutes until just cooked through (or grill over very hot coals on the braai – ±5 minutes on each side).

For the sauce:

1. Heat the ghee or butter in a pan and add the garlic and ginger.
2. Fry for a minute or so then add the cardamom, cloves, coriander, garam masala, turmeric and chilli powder. Stir well and fry for 1-2 minutes until they give off a lovely aroma.
3. Stir in the tomato puree and lemon juice and cook for another couple of minutes.
4. Add the cooked chicken pieces to the sauce and stir well to coat. Finally, add the butter and cream and stir continuously until the butter has melted and the sauce is smooth. Taste and adjust the seasoning. Transfer to a warm bowl and serve hot, garnished with chopped coriander.

Serves 4

More Indian cuisine from Ramsay:

Gordon’s tandoori spiced halibut
Gordon’s vegetable curry
Shami lamb kebabs
Gordon’s chicken tikka masala
Gordon’s samoosas

For other Gordon Ramsay recipes, click here

Other Gordon Ramsay books reviewed by Wickedfood:

Gordon Ramsay’s Great British Pub Food

Cooking for Friends

Wickedfood Cooking School

Sunninghill – (011) 234-3252 sunninghill@wickedfood.co.za

Runs cooking classes throughout the year at its purpose-built cooking studios. Classes are run in the mornings and evenings 7 days a week (subject to a minimum of 12 people). The venue is also popular for corporate events and private functions – team building cooking classes, birthdays, kitchen teas, and dinner parties with a difference.

Our classes are hands-on, where every person gets to participate in the preparation of the dishes. They are also a lot of fun where you not only learn new skills, but get to meet people with similar interests. For corporate groups and teambuilding cooking classes these events are a novel way of creating staff interaction or entertaining clients.

Rick Stein’s Far Eastern Odyssey is our cookbook of the week.  It offers a wide variety of mouth watering dishes from Southeast Asia and the Indian subcontinent. If you want more recipes from this book, click here.

4t black mustard seeds
6T mustard oil
75g onions, peeled, halved and thinly sliced
40g garlic, peeled, thinly sliced
1t  turmeric powder
2t chilli powder
1t  salt
4 x 175g fish steaks hake, gernard, or cob
50g red onion, peeled, thinly sliced
1 green chilli, thinly sliced

1. Place the mustard seeds into a spice grinder and grind to a fine powder.
2. Heat the mustard oil in a small frying pan, then add the onions, garlic, turmeric powder, chilli powder, mustard seed powder and salt. Gently fry for 3-4 minutes, or until the onions and garlic are softened and slightly browned.
3. Transfer the mixture into a food processor and blend to a smooth paste. Spread half of the paste over one side of each fish steak.
4. Tear off four 30cm squares of aluminium foil and place each fish steak, paste side down, into the centre of each piece. Spread the remaining spice paste over each fish steak.
5. Scatter the sliced red onion over the fish and sprinkle over the green chilli. Fold up the foil and crimp the edges to seal and make four parcels. Place the parcels into a steamer, cover and steam for 20 minutes, or until the fish is cooked through (the fish should be opaque and flake easily when gently pushed at the thickest part).
6. Unwrap each parcel and lift the fish onto warmed serving plates. Spoon over the juices from the parcels and serve.

Serves 4

Wickedfood Cooking School

Sunninghill – (011) 234-3252 sunninghill@wickedfood.co.za

Runs cooking classes throughout the year at its purpose-built cooking studios. Classes are run in the mornings and evenings 7 days a week (subject to a minimum of 12 people). The venue is also popular for corporate events and private functions – team building cooking classes, birthdays, kitchen teas, and dinner parties with a difference.

Our classes are hands-on, where every person gets to participate in the preparation of the dishes. They are also a lot of fun where you not only learn new skills, but get to meet people with similar interests. For corporate groups and teambuilding cooking classes these events are a novel way of creating staff interaction or entertaining clients.

A good chicken stock is the basis for most  sauces and soups in Chinese cooking, including Chinese corn and chicken soup.  At Wickedfood Cooking School,  we save all the offcuts from chicken carcasses that we use, in the freezer, and then once a month make a large quantity of stock which we then freeze in 500ml quantities.  It is important to boil the stock for a long time at very low heat, barely simmering.

±500g chicken carcasses/bones and/or necks

±500g pork spare ribs or meat bones

4 spring onions, each tied in a knot

12 slices ginger, crushed with a cleaver

4L water

¹/3 cup (80ml) rice wine

2t salt

1. Remove any excess fat from the bones and discard. Chop bones into large pieces.
2. Place bones into a stock pot with spring onions, ginger and water and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat to a mere simmer and cook for 3-4 hours. Skim to remove any impurities.
3. Strain through a fine strainer and discard the solids. Leave in the fridge overnight and then skim any remaining fat from the surface.
4. Return the stock to a pot add the rice wine and salt to taste. Bring to the boil and simmer for 5 minutes.
5. Store in the fridge for up to 3 days or freeze in small portions.

Makes ± 3L.