Another Best Friend in My Kitchen : Sri Racha Chilli Sauce

I grew up with Thai chilli sauce which we call Sri Racha Sauce because legend has it that the sauce was originally made in Sri Racha, the seaside town in Chonburi – east of Bangkok as a dipping sauce for seafood. The most authentic and well-known Sri Racha sauce is made by Sri Raja Panich (now part of bigger food corporation – Thai Theparos Foods).

Sri Racha Sauce has been made widely known in the US by the American-Vietnamese entrepreneur who manufactures the sauce and bottles in squeezable plastic bottles (Huy Fong Foods). Its taste and colour are different from Thai Sri Racha Sauce. Thai ones are not as red and taste better as it’s more familiar to me.

The originality aside, I always have a bottle of two of Thai Sri Racha sauce in my larder. I do not mind whether it comes in a plastic or glass bottle – but the glass bottles make me feel nostalgic with fond memory of spending part of my childhood in Sri Racha. The Sri Racha sauce I’m having at the mo is in glass bottle and made in Chonburi (probably not in Sri Racha). A teaspoon or two of Sri Racha sauce will lift up the taste of many dishes. I use it in my Pasta dishes , Seafood Chowder , Buffalo Wings, Spicy Coleslaw, Tuna Mornay and Chicken Pot Pies, etc. It’s also good as a substitute for Portuguese Peri Peri Sauce for Baked Chicken.

Heroes

I have heard that NBC will release new version of Heroes : “Heroes Reborn”  this year and I welcome it. I was a big fan of Heroes Season 1and a much, much smaller one of Season 2.

It was a great comic book styled TV series - funny and exciting at the same time. It’s all about people with special ‘abilities’ but not all of them using these abilities in a heroic way – and this greyness made it even more interesting. The story line was good and did not try to be too serious. The Cheer Leader was in her uniform almost all the time as in comic strips. The cinematography, visual effect and art-direction were amazing. The actors and actresses were good especially Gabriel Grey and Hiro Nagamura.

They did not shy away from killing old characters to make way for the new ones either which was refreshing and we were very much looking forward to Season 2. Season 2 was a bit slow but still interesting enough – a hint of romance would be fine but obvious one did not mix well with comics. Even Tim Kring, the creator of the show admitted it. He also admitted that he had made a lot of mistakes which resulted in downward rating in every consecutive season.

We stopped watching after Episode 4 in Season 3 – it almost killed off our fondness of characters in Season 1. Heroes Reborn should be interesting - I hope that it will be at least as good as Heroes Season 1 if not better now that the creator himself knows what had gone wrong with Heroes from Season 2 onwards.

Note: The photo above is from NBC Website.

I'm Serious

I'm serious and I mean it. I have business to do here. I have Bob to look after and I have to lead him all the way through the forest, to the beach....etc. Sometime he stops a wee bit too long with that darn camera in his hands and I have to egg him on to move along. It's not easy you should know that.

Grilled Chicken with Lemongrass and Coconut Milk (ไก่ย่าง)

Towards the end of the festive season is a good time to have a nice long dinner with friends. The anxiety and stress and hypes for Christmas have long gone – people are getting mellower. The weather has been good – why not having some meat on the barbecue.

We had some friends over for Thai-ish meal with grilled chicken, carrot salad (Som-tam) and spicy pork mince salad (Larb Moo) served with sticky rice. I think every one’s gone home well fed and happy.

The star of the show was the chicken – with Thai marinade.

For 4 people you’ll need:

2 Chickens, cut in halves

1 Stem Lemongrass, chopped

2 -3 coriander roots, chopped

6 – 7 cloves of garlic

8 white pepper corns, 8 black pepper corns

½ teaspoon salt

2 tablespoon soy sauce

1 tablespoon dark soy sauce for basting

½ can (425 g can) of coconut cream + 2 tablespoons for basting

Pound lemongrass, garlic, coriander roots, peppercorn and salt with mortar and pestle into fine pulp. Add the mixture to coconut cream and soy sauce. Reserve about 3 tablespoons of the marinade for basting and pour the marinade over the chickens in plastic bag – massage the chicken pieces through the bag and leave overnight (or at least 6 hours) in the fridge.

Add 2 tablespoons of coconut milk and dark soy sauce to the marinade for basting.

Grill the chicken halves on charcoal BBQ, keep basting all the way until cooked through – serve hot with sticky rice, sweet chilli sauce or this street style sauce.

New Year's Day Snorgle

New Year's Day was nice and warm and Bonnie had her walk in the park as usual after brunch. She came across this little kitten. She has known this kitten a little bit but not as up-close and personal until the New Year's Day when it gave Bonnie a New Year's Day snorgle. The look on Bonnie's face is priceless.

It's  newly acquired by one of the houses by the park. It's been groomed and trained by Rudi since Day1 so you can imagine how friendly it is - the community cat in the making. The kitten seems to wait for Bob and Bonnie almost everyday. It (sorry, we haven't flipped it over to see if it's a she or a he:) also seems to be interested in Bonnie than Bob.

It's their first snorgle - many more to come, I guess if Bonnie lets it, that is.

Cajun Popcorn

This one will be a crowd pleaser snack. I use mocrowave popcorn as it is easier and quicker to prepare. You'll also need 2-3 tablespoons of butter and a cajun spice mix - this one is also easy and you can do it yourself. 

Cajun Spice
1 teaspoon smoked Paprika
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon salt

Mix the above in a jar and shake well. Melt butter in a sacepan over medium low heat - when the butter melts, sprinkle the spice mix and swirl the pan to mix. Drizzle the mixtrure over the popcorn and enjoy. It will be very nice with ice cold beer.

Happy Holidays

Have a safe and Happy Holiday Season everyone.