sartoric

So I've ummed and ahhed all morning about posting this but here goes.... After such success with the pork belly, the next night brings unmitigated failure ! This is is my nth attempt at an authentic Vietnamese Pho Bo. My usually reliable source suggested browning the beef and pork bones in the oven first, then simmering with the appropriate spices for several hours. The stock was gelatinous, but tasteless. Can an any one help me with a stock for pho ? PS - the dogs thought it was fine...

Okay, agreed these guys need an Asian rather than European treatment. Although, could you grow sage and rosemary ? They grow well in pots. i'd marinate the quail with some hot bean paste, brown sugar, lime juice and soy. Hot oven to start, then turn down.

My Italian mother in law used to bake prepared quails in a hot oven until browned (say 10 minutes), turn it down for a few more, then tip in some white wine for a sugo. To prepare the birds she would season and evoo them well, stuff the cavities with sage and rosemary, then drape prosciutto over the breasts.

Done !

Marinated pork belly with Asian flavours and crispy crackling. Recipes adapted from Kylie Kwong a brilliant fifth generation Chinese Australian chef. Link to details https://www.facebook.com/Whats-for-dinner--1427021760943871/ The pork belly. The meal, with rice, cucumber salad, eggplant salad, lettuce to wrap, and lime pepper dipping sauce.

Sure was juicy, I use an Asian butcher for the best pork belly. Crab is my favourite food @David Ross, they look delish !

Thanks patrickamory, here's a link to the recipe. https://www.facebook.com/Whats-for-dinner--1427021760943871/

Marinated roast belly pork, served with cucumber salad, eggplant salad, rice, lettuce to wrap and a lime pepper dipping sauce. All recipes adapted from a book by Kylie Kwong. She's a fifth generation Chinese Australian, has an award winning restaurant in Sydney, writes books and makes food doco's. The pork. The accompaniments. The meal.

I've just found this thread, love the pig discussion ! Just harvested a bunch of birdseye chillies. This lot will make about 250g of chilli paste. They get blanched and pulverised with salt and a tiny bit of rice vinegar.

Brekkie at our guesthouse in Siem Reap, Cambodia. Filled pancake with minced beef, bean sprouts and herbs, plus spring rolls with noodles in soup.

Thanks for this, very interesting !

Char siu pork belly with stir fried veggies, eggplant salad and rice. The veggies included baby corn, water spinach, snow peas and oyster mushrooms. the pork. the stir fry. eggplant salad. the meal.

Samlaa Keung Phet - spicy chicken stew from Cambodia Served with green cabbage salad, dressed with lime,garlic and chilli . The salad. The stew.

Cambodian chicken, mushroom, grape tomatoes and water spinach soup. I made a kroueng (similar to curry paste) with lemongrass, galangal, fresh turmeric, kaffir lime leaf, prawn paste, garlic, chillies and red onion. The mushrooms were rehydrated small shitakes and fresh oysters. Garnished with mint, bean sprouts and fried shallots. Served with rice and chilli jam.

We started with a little antipasto snack, marinated artichokes and very hot salami. Followed by gnocchi with ham, broccoli, artichoke hearts and peas in a three cheese sauce. Served with baby spinach, parmesan and pine nut salad, plus a few grape tomatoes with basil.

Lunch last week at So Khaeng restaurant near the crab market in Kep. We shared stir fried crab with fresh green Kampot pepper clusters and scallions, plus boiled crab with a black pepper and lime dipping sauce....so yum. They keep the crabs fresh in baskets, and wade out to get them as required. Or there's fabulous street food.

Tonight in a homage to Cambodia and Myanmar, I made this up. Pork fillet was marinated with Kampot pepper, lime juice, a little soy and peanut oil. It was browned in a cast iron pan then finished in a medium oven and rested. Served with steamed rice, stir fried broccolini, tomato salad - both these with loads of fried red onions, garlic, ginger and nuts, plus a lime & pepper dipping sauce.

No, they're calling my name !

Home after a bit more than 3 weeks in SE Asia, I crave simple roast chicken seasoned with fresh thyme and olive oil. Seen here with roasted potatoes, parsnip, carrots, shallots and garlic. Plus gravy made with pan juices and broccoli with cheese sauce.

When in Cambodia what do you eat ? Vietnamese food yeah ! We'd had 3 meals in Cambodia so far, one excellent serve of Vietnamese spring rolls, and two very ordinary Cambodian meals, one was a bland soup and one an ordinary local barbecue. So we head back to the Vietnamese place, it's called The Soup Dragon and is on the corner of Pub Street in the old market area. We have their claypot set, which consists of a claypot filled with fragrant stock, herbs and pork meatballs. It's placed on a table top burner. Alongside is a plate of wafer thin sliced beef, a plate of oyster mushrooms, a plate of gai larn, some rice noodles, some crispy tofu wafers, and four eggs. Accompaniments are chilli sauce, Hoi sin sauce, sliced garlic, sliced fried shallots, and more chillies. Break an egg onto the beef, add a stem of Gai larn, mix, then add to the soup. Add mushrooms, greens, noodles and crumble the tofu wafers into the pot. Eat, swoon. Our waitress comes back several times with a jug to top up the stock. We spent more than an hour eating this, washed down with two beers each, the cost was less than $15.

The spoils of a Burmese cooking class at our guesthouse. We made lentil soup, chicken curry, eggplant curry, tomato salad and stir fried veggies. My take - for nearly everything, the Myanmar people use lots of garlic and ginger pounded together, finely chopped red shallots, tumeric powder, chilli powder and water to simmer down. The salads are particularly interesting, I must find the crunchy dried bean mix that prevails on many. The set up. The meal, served with rice.

I don't think so Okanagancook. They're more like a thick pappadam. It's hard to get specifics here, there's a bit of a language barrier, but they are delicious. I love shrimp chips too (in Oz we call them prawn crackers), I've been known to fry up a huge plate and eat them all....

Lunch with friends at a local restaurant in Mandalay, Myanmar. Shan chips with a dipping sauce of green chillies, garlic and soy. Chicken with straw mushrooms, stir fried corn and snow peas, fried rice and prawn soup.

We leave tomorrow for nearly a month away, I'll miss my kitchen, but have some cooking classes planned.....The last supper is rice with prawns, wombok, cherry tomatoes and spring onions.

In two days time we'll be in Myanmar, so to get in the groove I made Burmese chicken curry with potatoes and pumpkin. Served with stir fried veggies, rice and roti bread. The curry. The veggies. The meal. More info here - https://www.facebook.com/Whats-for-dinner--1427021760943871/