sartoric

Agreed, it's the best way to eat kale

My bamix died early this year, aged 40. You have lucked in

A few 100 metres south of the War Remnants museum (very interesting BTW) there's a food hall similar to the hawker centres in Singapore. It's similar in that many different vendors share the space with communal tables for patrons. There you can find such delights as "garlic chicken wings temperamental " and "beef communications landscape". No kidding, I have photos. Methinks they need a better translator. Thank you for leading me to this forum via your post on Fodors.

Kale chips. Rip up kale, sprinkle with olive oil and good salt, into a moderate oven for 10 minutes.

Moroccan beef skewers with Harissa dipping sauce. Served with couscous, garlicky green beans, carrot salad, baba ganoush and toasted pita breads. I have skirt steak thinly sliced across the grain (easier if partially frozen). I marinate this in my Moroccan spice mix: 1 teaspoon ground coriander, 1 teaspoon ground cumin, 1 teaspoon paprika, 1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric, 1/2 teaspoon sea salt and 1/2 teaspoon garlic salt plus olive oil in a bowl. The slices get threaded onto soaked bamboo skewers, chill in the fridge for a while, then get briefly grilled on the barbie. To make the Harissa dipping sauce, I mix my killer homemade Harissa, olive oil, lemon juice, tomato paste and malt vinegar. The couscous is prepared with chicken stock. I add butter and finely diced spring onion at the end. The green beans are steamed, refreshed, then finished with a mix of butter, crushed garlic and turmeric sautéed together. For the salad, I grate a carrot, add fresh orange juice, ground cumin, olive oil, season well, cover and put in the fridge. To serve add finely shredded mint leaves. The baba ganoush is a mix of roasted eggplant (hot oven until it collapses, peel and mash flesh), tahini, minced garlic, lemon juice, ground cumin and salt and pepper. This one has a chunky texture, a stick blender can be used if you prefer smooth. The salad, beans and eggplant dip can all be made well before serving. Toast pita breads. Serve mezze style. Eat.

Thanks Darienne. Yes Daintree is a couple thousand kilometres north from here. It's a very beautiful area though and well worth a visit ! Maybe one day you'll get here.

I'm an amateur but passionate cook living on the Gold Coast in Australia. I've been interested in food and cooking for about 40 years (yes, I started young) and travel often to South East Asia where perhaps my main food interests lie. We are lucky to enjoy a sub tropical climate, so grow many herbs, plus tomatoes and small veggies on our suburban block. I love the research involved in finding and adapting new recipes. I also love the challenge of looking in the fridge/pantry at what's available, then coming up with a delicious meal. It's great to find this site, happy days ahead !

I'm not sure how many cookbooks I have, guess about 140. They do have their own dedicated bookshelf in the kitchen, mostly Asian and other on the left, mostly European or western on the right.

Chicken satays with peanut sauce and fresh pickled cucumber. Served with gado gado salad platter. Yesterday I marinated some 2 cm cubes of thigh fillet in a mix of ground coriander, cumin, turmeric, minced garlic, soy sauce, lemongrass paste and peanut oil. Today they get threaded onto soaked bamboo skewers, and are destined for the barbecue. For the salad, I hard boil eggs, cool, peel and cut into quarters. I get a steamer going and steam in the following order : small potatoes, trimmed green beans, shredded cabbage and snow peas. Drain, cut potatoes when cool and reserve all. I heat a small pan and fry cubes of tofu in peanut oil. Drain on paper towels. The peanut sauce has evolved over the years from a recipe in a 30 year old cookbook- "The Cooking of Southeast Asia " published in 1984.... In a small sauce pan I heat crunchy peanut butter and water, then add minced garlic. When the mixture boils and thickens, I turn off the heat and add lemon juice, brown sugar, soy sauce and chilli paste, and a little coconut milk, all to taste. Half of this gets thinned with some of the rice wine and sugar mix from the cucumber pickle (below) to make the salad dressing, the rest is a dipping sauce. The cucumbers get cored, quartered and finely sliced, I add a de seeded chilli, some grated ginger and diced red onion, then pour over a mix of rice wine vinegar, sugar and salt which has been heated to dissolve the sugar. I place the salad veggies, the tofu, and a few lettuce leaves on a plate, top with bean sprouts, then drizzle the dressing over. Fire up barbie, grill satays until just cooked. Serve on lettuce leaves, with peanut sauce and cucumber pickle in bowls on the side. Eat.