Thai Seafood Soup

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Preparation: 30 minutes, for 3-4 people

Ingridients:

6 cups chicken broth 
1 package mix of seafood
2 cod fillets
1 stalk lemon grass*
2 gloves garlic, minced
1 tblsp ginger, grated
1-2 sliced red chilies or a pinch of dry crushed chili
1 medium tomato, thinly sliced
1 can coconut milk (thick, not lite)
1/2 teaspoon dark soy sauce 
1 tblsp regular soy sauce
juice of 1 lime
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 cup fresh coriander (cilantro), chopped
salt, pepper
optional: handful of fresh mushrooms, sliced

Method:

Pour the chicken broth together with lemon grass into a deep pot over medium-high heat. Bring to a boil. 

Add garlic, ginger, chili and mushrooms (if using). Reduce heat to medium and simmer 2-3 minutes, or until mushrooms are soft.

Add seafood, cod and tomato. Simmer over medium heat 3-4 minutes, or until shrimp turns pink and plump and mussels have opened. Scallops, crab, and fish should all be firm to the touch and no longer translucent.

Reduce heat to medium-low and add the coconut milk, soy sauce, lime juice, and sugar. Stir well to combine and gently simmer until hot.

Add salt, pepper, sugar and more chili if needed. 

Serve in bowls with fresh coriander sprinkled over. If you like spicy food you may want to add few drops of Thai chili sauce.


*If you don't have lemon grass you can use lemon instead. (Boil three slices of lemon in the soup).

Chinese Wonton Soup

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Preparation:

for 4 people, 1 hour

Ingidients:

1l of clear chicken broth
24 dumplings (wonton)
1 spring onion

Dough:

1 egg
225g flour
6 tbsp water

Stuffing:

250g peeled shrimps (fresh or frozen)
1 egg
1 tblsp cornstarch
1 teaspoon of vodka
1 teaspoon sugar
1 tbsp oil
1 teaspoon sesame oil
salt, pepper

Method:

Beat egg in a bowl. Add water and mix well. Pour the sieved flour and knead it until you obtain a smooth dough. After cover the dough with a napkin and set aside for 30 minutes. 

When the dough is ready roll it out on a floured surface to a thickness of 1,5 mm. Cut into squares (2,5 cm).

Combine egg with vodka, salt, pepper, oil, sesame oil, sugar and cornstarch. Chop shrimps and combine them with the rest of the ingredients and mix thoroughly. 

On each square of dough put 1 teaspoon of the filling. Form dumplings, pinch two opposite sides of the square together, repeat with two other sides. 

Bring broth to a boil. Wash, peel and chop spring onions. 

Cook dumplings for 2 minutes in a boiling broth. Immediately after cooking, place dumplings in cups, pour broth and sprinkle with spring onions. Serve hot.

Carbonnade à la flamande - Belgian Beef Beer And Onion

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Last December I went to Antwerpen. I told my friend I wanted to try something typical Belgian. She took me for Carbonnade which is beef stew flavoured with beer. It's delicious and very simple. Go ahead and try it yourself! 

Ingridients:

500 g  stewing beef, cut into cubes
2 slices bacon, chopped
3-4 medium onions, sliced
2 carrots, sliced
1/2 tblsp brown sugar
1/2 tblsp flour
1 bottle belgian beer
500 ml stong beef broth
2 tblsp oil
1-2 bay leaves
1-2 allspice
pinch of thyme (fresh or dried)
pinch of salt and pepper
parsley (chopped)
mustard

You can do Carbonnade either entirely on the stovetop, or you can start cooking on the stove and finish in the oven. (if you go for the second option set your oven on 175C).

Method:

Season the beef with salt and pepper. Souté the beef in hot oil. When the meat gets slightly brown take it out and set aside. Then deglaze the pan by adding a splash of beef broth. Add the broth to the beef and drop bacon to the pan and fry it nicely over medium heat until brown. Remove the bacon and set it aside together with the beef.

Put sliced onions into the pot and fry them in the remaining fat until they start to turn soft and golden (it will take about 15 minutes). After the onions have been cooking for a couple of minutes sprinkle them with a pinch of brown sugar (which is supposed to caramelize them slightly).

Once the onions are cooked, put them in a pot together with beef and bacon and sprinkle with the flour and stir it in. (most of the recipes call for tossing the beef cubes in flour before frying them, but by doing so you will end up just browning the flour instead of the meat when you do this).

Turn up the heat slightly and pour the beer. It will go all fizzy for a few seconds, but then it will calm down.
Add salt and pepper and enough broth to cover the meat. Add bay leaves, allspice, and thyme. Bring it to boil and cook on a low heat for about two hours or place it into the oven and cook for about the same time. Stir it occasionally preventing from burning on the bottom of the pot, until the meat is tender.

After an hour add sliced carrots and stir in.

To finish the carbonnade, stir in a handful of chopped parsley and a tablespoon or two of mustard (mustard is not necessary).

Carbonnade is traditionally served with boiled potatoes. I served it with roasted buckwheat.