Thai Chicken Patties with Lemongrass

My mother bought a free-range hen and she gave me the breast.  I was craving something Asian really badly. It didn't take me long to decide to make some Thai patties with lots of ginger, lemongrass & ... ramson. OK, ramson is not exactly Thai, but it's plentiful this time of the year in Romania and it tastes like garlic. 

I remember that last time I made chicken patties was more than a year ago when I posted my Madras Cheese Cream inspired by Claude Olivier, a Swiss food blogger I admire very much. He has this wonderful blog where everything he cooks is pure gourmet, but he does it so...effortlessly. There are wonderful recipes of starters, main courses, soups, desserts, beautiful photography, great restaurant reviews, wine pairing etc. Everything he posts is truly delicious and I have many times drooled all over the laptop dreaming of his recipes. 

Thai Chicken Patties (spring is beautiful) 

Type of cuisine: Asian/Thai/Low-fat

This is one of the easiest recipes in the world. It doesn't take long to make and it goes a long way if you have a party (it's perfect for a light starter). Or they are oerfect as a snack for lunch. 

Ingredients

500 gr of minced chicken breast

+

coriander/crushed garlic/grated ginger

+

the greens (finely chopped spring onions, wild garlic/ramson, parsley, lemongrass)

Method

Grind the chicken breast and place it in a large bowl. 

Grate the ginger and the cloves of garlic & chop the herbs.

Mix the meat with the greens and the spices, plus one tsp of coriander. To make the patties, shape them by hand and...

1) place them on parchment paper & roast them in the oven for about 25 minutes. 

  2) fry them if you don't care much about calories :)) 

I must say that fried patties are crunchier and very moist. I opted for roasting them in the oven at 180 degrees (as I tend to avoid frying and using oil as much as possible).

For this reason they were a little dry, but dipped in sweet chilly sauce they were amazing and totally guilt-free :))

The ginger gave them a mildly spicy taste and imparted a heavenly delicate flavour. Totally loved them with celandine salad with a simple lemon dressing. 

Yes, I must say I am totally in love with spring. What a beautiful, gorgeous, delicate and surprising season!

an edible celandine yellow flower - *I love spring*

Asian Style Strips of Beef in Spicy Soy Sauce with Steamed Rice

Yesterday evening coming back from work, I entered a butcher shop on a whim. I have always bought my meat from the supermarket - but not anymore. The meat was fresh and it looked great, so I bought a lump of lean beef, without having a specific recipe in mind. But when I came back home and opened the fridge, I discovered the last of ginger, button mushrooms and a pile of spring onions, and suddenly I had a craving for something totally Asian.

Honestly, I'm actually having a blank at the moment, thinking how to name this dish: Spicy Beef with Soy Sauce, Tender Beef Asian Style, Beef with Button Mushrooms and Spring Onions....'cos it's simple, but it's funky at the same time; I made it on the cheap & used local ingredients (no siitake mushrooms, water chestnuts and co), but the result was truly amazing....

Asian style strips of beef in spicy soy sauce with steamed rice

Type of cuisine: Asian

When I lived in Riyadh I used to cook Asian food all the time. It was so hot, the kitchen was relatively small compared to the one I have in Bucharest, and it was so easy to find good quality ethnic ingredients, plus we would regularly eat out in Indonesian, Chinese & Filipino restaurants. But when I came back home, I kind of lost my magic touch (or so I thought) and stopped cooking & eating Asian. I think this is my first Asian cusine post on this blog...  :( Hmmmm...

It's high time I broke the ice.

Ingredients

500 gr of tender beef cut into thin strips

2 white onions cut into rings

1 small carrot thinly sliced

4 spring onions

a small bulb of chopped ginger

4-5 crushed garlic cloves

a pinch of chilli

1 tsp of cinnamon

2 tsp of coriander

a pinch of cumin

dark & light soy sauce

+

a small cup of  warm water

Preparation & Method

Cut the beef in very thin strips. Wash and chop/slice/crush all the veggies (white onions, carrot, mushrooms, spring onions, ginger, garlic). 

Marinate the beef in light soy sauce, ginger and garlic, coriander, cinnamon and cumin. 

Fry the onion rings, then add the beef and stir constantly till it browns. 

Mix the dark soy sauce with warm water and a pinch of chilli powder and pour the mixture over the beef. 

Add the button mushrooms cut in halves and the carrot. Let them bubble for a couple of minutes. Finally, add the spring onions for a touch of colour and a great crunchy taste. 

(I personally don't like mushy veggies in my food, so I tend to add the vegetables towards the end.)

In the meantime, steam some rice and when that is done,the yummiest part comes next: a delicious light meal that is cooked in less than 30 minutes. What more can I ask for?

And while we were chatting away over dinner, I glanced over my phone and read on Twitter that Masterchef Romania had started for the past 30 minutes!! Had been looking forward to it for such a long time and now I had clean forgotten about it. 

It was funny watching it, certainly beats shows like The Voice or X Factor. At least, there will be things to learn from it & plenty of note-taking. One hopes :))