Friday February 3, 2012

Dinner for 6

Deep Fried Spring Roll
Pad Thai

 Thai Beef Salad
 Kao Mok Gai (Chicken Braised in Rice with Turmeric & Spices) Served with Sweet Chilli Sauce
Wine Poached Pears with Yoghurt and Berries and Vanilla-Cinnamon Sauce

Thai food again.  I loved the deep fried spring rolls so much I just had to make them again and share them with others.  This time I had all the ingredients.  I didn't get a picture of them before they were gobbled up by the guest though.

I served three main dishes. Pad Thai.  This is a really easy recipe and was quite tasty.

Thai beef salad.  The beef may seem a little rare to some but it is the way we like it.  I use this recipe often but I used a little less beef and more salad than called for this time.  It is from a meal plan that is heavy on protein and I find it a little much when serving it along side other dishes.   

Chicken braised in rice with turmeric and spices needed a little tweaking.  I couldn't find Cassia bark so I used Cinnamon stick instead and I decided to use boneless, skinless chicken thighs instead of the legs and thighs cut into pieces it called for.  The chicken tasted delicious but unfortunately some of the rice was still hard.  It needed more liquid than was called for.  Not that I could have fit any more in my pan.  This dish was to big for my biggest fry pan.  

This dessert is another of my favourites.  I have made these a few times. The recipe is for two but it is easy to alter for more. I love the combination of yoghurt, berries and almonds with the poached pears and sauce.  Plus it is easy, not to filling, rich or sweet and looks fancy. 

Sources for the menu: Deep Fried Spring Rolls and Pad Thai are from Simply Thai Cooking . Thai Beef Salad is from The CSIRO Total Well Being Diet  by Dr. Manny Noakes & Dr. Peter Clifton. The Kao Mok Gai is out if a beautiful cookbook full of fantastic pictures and authentic recipes called Thai Street Food by David Thompson.  It is like a coffee table book filled with great recipes.  The Wine Poached Pears is out of Cuisine Tonight For Two  (the actual one in the photo with the 101 new recipes).