Wickedfood Cooking School team came across this delicious dish in a cooking class at Thai House Cooking School in Bangkok. Phanaeng Beef Curry in sweet peanut sauce, is a delicious dish, but very rich because of the combination of coconut milk and ground peanuts.

500g rump or beef fillet steak, thinly sliced
1 can (± 400ml) coconut milk diluted with one cup water
1 can undiluted coconut milk
3T red curry paste
6 kaffir lime leaves
1/4 cup finely ground peanuts
3T fish sauce
11/2 T palm sugar
2 red chillies, finely sliced (without seeds)
1/2 cup sweet basil leaves.

1. Place 2 cups of the diluted coconut milk into a medium saucepan and add the beef. Bring to the boil and simmer until the meat is cooked and the milk reduced by half.
2. Meanwhile in another saucepan bring one and a half cups of the undiluted milk to the boil and cook hard until the milk begins to separate and has an oily surface. (Remove 2T of this mixture and set aside, for pouring over the finished dish.)
3. Add the curry paste to the separated coconut milk and bring back to the boil. Add the remaining half cup undiluted milk, a little at a time, and cook until it has an oily sheen.
4. Add the cooked beef mixture, kaffir lime leaves and remaining 1 cup diluted milk. Cook until the mixture begins to cook dry, adding more milk if necessary.
5. Add the peanuts, fish sauce, palm sugar, chillies and basil. Remove from the heat, and pour the retained 2T milk over as a topping.

Serves 4

Great Asian recipes – Click here:

Chicken feet

Biryani

Kaeng kari ka – yellow curried chicken

Phanaeng Beef Curry in sweet peanut sauce

Phat Thai

Tom yum kung

Green pawpaw salad

Fish head curry

Warm squid salad in a pineapple

Spiced pork spare ribs

Deep-fried silken tofu

Thai beef salad

3 Cup Chicken

Wickedfood Cooking School

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

Boksburg – (011) 823-5365 boksburg@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 classes are a novel way of creating staff interaction or entertaining clients.

Today, health concerns have made steak tartare a forbidden pleasure. Young children, the immune-compromised, and the elderly shouldn’t eat raw eggs or raw meat—but as for the rest of us, we take our chances sometimes. (It’s smart to buy beef from a reputable butcher and to chop it yourself, potentially avoiding butchers’ meat grinders that may be cross-contaminated with chicken or pork.)

The drama of mixing your own is well worth the effort

• Arrange some finely chopped raw beef on a buttered square of dense black bread
• sprinkle it with coarse salt and cracked black pepper
• then lay some rings of purple onion on top.
• Add a few plump, briny capers, an anchovy filet or two, and chopped parsley.
• Crown this jewel with a raw egg yolk nestled in half an eggshell.

Then tip the yolk out of its shell and watch it ooze, slice through the onion-topped beef, and sop up the yolk with the bread – worth the risk!

For a more elaborate version, try this one that Wickedfood Cooking School uses in one of our cooking classes.

Mayonnaise
2 egg yolks
2-3T ketchup
2t dijon mustard
1t worcestershire sauce
2–3 dashes Tabasco
3T olive oil
3-4T fresh lemon juice
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

500g thick flank or rump steak, exterior fat removed
1 small red onion, peeled and chopped
3 small cornichons (gherkins), chopped
½T capers, drained
¼ cup parsley, trimmed and chopped
Melba toast

Mayonnaise

1. Whisk egg yolks, ketchup, mustard, worcestershire, and Tabasco in a large bowl until smooth.
2. Gradually whisk in oil, then lemon juice. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
3. Slice beef into thin pieces with a very sharp knife or cleaver. Gather pieces together and slice crosswise into smaller pieces, then finely chop them and add to the bowl.
4. Add onions, cornichons, capers, and half the parsley, and mix gently with 2 spoons until just combined.
5. Fold in just enough of the mayonnaise to make the mixture slightly moist. Adjust seasonings. Mold on one large platter and serve with Melba toast as a starter for 4, or divide between 2 plates and garnish with remaining parsley. Serve with French fries, if you like.

Serves 2 or 4 as a starter

Wickedfood Cooking School

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

Boksburg – (011) 823-5365 boksburg@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 classes are
a novel way of creating staff interaction or entertaining clients.

Easy finger food that is really addictive, perfect with beer, taken from the Wickedfood Cooking School Chinese cooking class based around the Neil Perry cookbook Simply Asian.

Marinade
1 t soy sauce
1/2  t rice wine (shao zing)
1/2  t chilli oil
1 t cornflour
1 egg

500g pork spare ribs, cut into 5cm lengths
4 cups vegetable oil
1/2 cup coriander leaves
Szechuan salt and pepper to taste (see below)

Sauce
2 T water
2 T sugar
1 T soy sauce
1 T minced ginger
1 t minced garlic
2 T Chinese black vinegar

Marinade
Combine all the marinade ingredients. Pour the marinade over the ribs and leave to marinate for at least 40 minutes.

Heat the oil in a wok until very hot. Deep-fry the ribs until they are a deep golden brown. Remove with a slotted spoon and drain well on crumpled kitchen paper.

Sauce
Boil all the ingredients in a small pot until the sugar melts. Leave to cool.

Serve
Pile the ribs onto the centre of a large plate and sprinkle with coriander. Serve with the sauce, and Szechuan salt and pepper.

Szechuan salt and pepper
Combine 3 parts sea salt, and 2 parts Szechuan peppercorns. Roast over a medium heat in a frying pan until mixture starts to brown, then remove from the heat and pour into a bowl. When cool, grind to a powder.

Great Asian recipes – Click here:

Chicken feet

Biryani

Kaeng kari ka – yellow curried chicken

Phanaeng Beef Curry in sweet peanut sauce

Phat Thai

Tom yum kung

Green pawpaw salad

Fish head curry

Warm squid salad in a pineapple

Spiced pork spare ribs

Deep-fried silken tofu

Thai beef salad

3 Cup Chicken

Cooking schools in South East Asia

Thai House cooking school • Bangkok • Thailand

Chiang Mai Thai Cookery School • Thailand

Red Bridge Cooking School • Hoi An • Vietnam

Books reviewed by Wickedfood on Asian food:

Secrets of the Red Lantern

Kylie Kwong: Recipes and Stories

A Passion for Thai Cooking

Balance & Harmony, Asian Food

Wickedfood Cooking School

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

Boksburg – (011) 823-5365 boksburg@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 classes are a novel way of creating staff interaction or entertaining clients.

Lamb has a delicate tender meat with a fine grain and white crumbly fat to keep it succulent. Allow the roasted leg of lamb to rest for at least 10 minutes before carving to allow the meat to relax and the juices to disperse. At Wickedfood’s cooking classes, students make this dish with roast potatoes and grilled root vegetables.

lamb chopped bones from butcher

1 head of garlic, halved horizontally
1 x ±2kg leg of lamb bone in
6 garlic cloves, halved
1 bunch fresh rosemary cut into 2cm sprigs
1T  butter
salt and pepper

• Preheat the oven to 220°C
• In the bottom of a roasting tin scatter the chopped bones, trimmings and garlic head.
• Make 2.5cm deep incisions in the lamb, into each incision insert a half garlic clove and rosemary sprig.
• Rub the butter over the lamb and place the leg on top of the bones, season and place in the oven for 1-1½ hours (15 minutes per 450g for rare and 20 minutes for medium) turning over half way through.
• Remove the lamb from the oven, season again and transfer to a tray to rest.

Gravy

• Place the roasting pan over a moderate heat to caramelise the lamb juices, this will take 2-3 minutes. Strain of any excess fat.
• Pour in 350ml cold water, reduce heat and simmer gently for five minutes. Strain through a sieve. Serve the lamb with the gravy and seasonal vegetables.

Serves 6-8

Wickedfood Cooking School

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

Boksburg – (011) 823-5365 boksburg@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 classes are a novel way of creating staff interaction or entertaining clients.

This is one of the most popular dishes that we teach at Wickedfood cooking school. We make it at least once a week with our corporate teambuilding clients. It is a perfect salad for a hot summer’s day, best to serve the beef rare for maximum flavour. Grill it on a very hot fire so as to seal the meat, but leaving it succulent inside.

500g beef fillet

Sauce
2 cloves garlic
Handful coriander leaves
Handful mint leaves
2 T sugar
2 t light soy sauce
1 T lemon juice
1/2 t fish sauce
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
11/4 T olive oil

1 T lemon juice
1/2 T fish sauce

Salad
1 packet mixed salad leaves 1/2 cup rocket leaves

1 cup mint, basil and coriander leaves
2 spring onions including tops, thinly sliced
1 small cucumber, cut into thin ribbons

6 fresh red chillies thinly sliced

Pre-heat the grill or prepare the braai. Rub the meat with oil and grill turning once, cooking no further than medium rare. Leave to rest for 10 minutes and cut into strips.

Sauce
Crush the garlic in a mortar. Add the coriander, mint, sugar and pound to a paste. Add soy sauce, lime juice and fish sauce, and mix well.

Heat the oil in a large saucepan over a medium heat. Add the sauce and stir fry for ±1 minute. Add the beef and toss to coat. Immediately remove from the heat and spoon into a bowl to cool.
Deglaze the saucepan with the 1T lemon juce and 1/2 T fish sauce, and use as salad dressing.

Salad
Wash the salad leaves, rocket, mint, basil and coriander, and mix.

Everything up to this point can be done ahead of time.

To plate
Just before serving, toss the salad leaves lightly in the cooled dressing. Pile the leaves in the centre of a large platter. Arrange the beef on top and garnish with spring onions, cucumber and chillies. Pour any remaining meat sauce over and serve immediately to prevent the salad from wilting.

Serves 4

Great Asian recipes – Click here:

Chicken feet

Biryani

Kaeng kari ka – yellow curried chicken

Phanaeng Beef Curry in sweet peanut sauce

Phat Thai

Tom yum kung

Green pawpaw salad

Fish head curry

Warm squid salad in a pineapple

Spiced pork spare ribs

Deep-fried silken tofu

Thai beef salad

3 Cup Chicken

For other articles on South East Asia see:

A Taste of Thailand

Floating markets in Bangkok

Must try Singapore dishes

The ABCs of Singapore food

Singapore hawker food centres

Vietnamese cuisine

Cooking schools in South East Asia

Thai House cooking school • Bangkok • Thailand

Chiang Mai Thai Cookery School • Thailand

Red Bridge Cooking School • Hoi An • Vietnam

Books reviewed by Wickedfood on Asian food:

Secrets of the Red Lantern

Kylie Kwong: Recipes and Stories

A Passion for Thai Cooking

Balance & Harmony, Asian Food

Wickedfood Cooking School

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

Boksburg – (011) 823-5365 boksburg@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 classes are a novel way of creating staff interaction or entertaining clients.