Prawn Laksa

This is a very fast dish to make last minute for dinner. Its almost the same as making your regular thai curry with a few twists here and there. 

It is basically a soup, but a very wholesome and filling one. You can always substitute ingredients to suit your needs or just use what you have in your pantry. I've used frozen prawns in this recipe and instead of thai red curry paste I used thai sour curry paste. It is available in the same little plastic box as the regular ones. You can also use Tom Yum paste instead. Kaffir lime leaves can be bought and stored in a Ziploc bag in the freezer for ages. I haven't added any thai red chillies to this dish as I thought the thai paste had enough heat in it.

Prawn Laksa

Ingredients:
fresh ginger, sliced
bamboo shoots canned
1 red capsicum sliced
few sticks of lemon grass
a few (4-5) kaffir lime leaves
1/4 - 1/2 tsp of fish sauce
1 fish or prawn stock cube or  1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp of jaggery or brown sugar
a few fresh prawns deveined (or frozen)
1 tsp of thai red curry paste
1/2 lemon
7-8 tbsps. of coconut milk powder
fresh basil leaves, washed
1/4 packet of thai rice vermicelli
Spring onions chopped fine for garnishing
Coriander leaves chopped fine for garnishing

Method:
Soak the vermicelli in hot water with a teaspoon of salt for about 15 mins.

Heat oil in a casserole. Bruise the lemon grass sticks with a mallot. Then add them to the oil and fry for a little bit. I find that frying the lemon grass sticks releases all their flavor. Add in the ginger and sauté. Then add in the curry paste. Give it a good stir. Now add the cube or just plain salt. Add the jaggery , fish sauce, and squeeze the juice from 1/2 a lemon.

Prepare the coconut milk by dissolving it 1 cup of water. Add more powder to water, if you would like more gravy. It needs to be soupy. Add the coconut milk to the dish on a medium heat and let it cook for 10 mins. Now add in the prawns.

Always cook any fish in a curry for not more than 7 mins or it will be overdone. Once prawns turn opaque in colour they are cooked.

After 7 mins, add in the red capsicum slices, bamboo shoots and kaffir lime leaves. Always add kaffir lime leaves at the end or they make the dish bitter. Drain the rice vermicelli and add to the casserole.

Throw in a handful of torn basil leaves.

Serve hot in bowls and garnish with spring onions and freshly chopped coriander leaves.  

Quick And Easy Soup For Kids With Rissoni Pasta

This recipe is extremely versatile. Adults or children both can have it and you can simply add whatever ingredients you have in your pantry or fridge. I've been giving this to my babies from the time they started eating solid food, and even now they all love it.

This recipe is the kiddie version which I made for my 1 year old, but for adults you can add more grown up ingredients like shitake mushrooms, spring onions, boiled chicken or shrimp, sausages etc.. You can give this soup a thai twist as well. I love adding a bit of lettuce, just thrown in right at the end.

I've cooked this in my small pressure cooker as a one pot meal and it doesn't take more than 5 mins for the whole dish to be ready.
I didn't add tomatoes to this particular one, but I usually add a small tomato in as well.

I have used for this recipe, risoni pasta also known as orzo (rice like) pasta. For kids, you could also use alphabet pasta instead. I always have a box of this pasta sitting in my pantry.

Quick and Easy Soup for Kids with Rissoni Pasta

Ingredients:
1 cup of rissoni pasta
1 onion chopped fine
1 potato diced in cubes
handful of baby peas
ham chopped in cubes
salt to taste
water

Method:
Heat oil in a small pressure cooker. Add in the onions and fry till translucent. Add in the potato, peas (except the ham) and about 1/2 tsp of salt. I haven't used a stock cube here, as I tend to avoid using them if I am cooking specially for my little one.

Add in the pasta and give it a good stir. Then add the water. Roughly around 4 - 6 cups of water. There should be an inch of water at least over the top of the pasta. You could add more water, as it will get absorbed by the pasta. You want to achieve a soup like consistency at the end.

Cover the pressure cooker and turn the heat on its highest setting. When it whistles, lower and time for 2 mins.

Once the timer is finished, take the cooker off the heat. Pressure cookers are dangerous and need to be handled with care so this is what I usually do when I need to open it; to release the steam you need to lift off the counterweight gradually and bleed off the steam, I usually do this by levering the weight with a fork and adjusting it to let out the steam gently or just run the sides of the cooker under water until it has suffficiently cooled down to reduce the pressure in the cooker.

Do NOT attempt to open the cooker without letting off the steam as this could result in some serious steam burns.

Once opened, add in the cubes of ham, and its ready to serve.