A glass of Chalky’s bike and some posh crisps, followed by a two-course Eastern inspired meal – washed down with some prosecco is a perfect way to spend a Saturday evening. Rick Stock was huge success and worth the two and a half hours of preparation time I spent in the kitchen Saturday afternoon blending, chopping and pulsing away to make various aromatic pastes and concoctions. I was also pleasantly surprised to find that a trip to Waitrose was all that was needed to stock up on the exotic ingredients I needed to make it – result!
The starter was Vietnamese banh tom (otherwise known as prawn and potato fritters) and Balinese satai lilit (or seafood satay). I was really worried about the fritters, as raw spuds cut into matchsticks, smothered in a beige batter don’t really look that appetising - and they didn’t look much better when they were cooked either – ekk! But Rick, AKA God, knew what he was doing when he added it to his book. The secret of this little dish is how you eat it. You break the fritters into smaller pieces and wrap them, alongside some fresh mint and coriander, into a little gem lettuce leaf. You then dip the lettuce pancake into a ginger, lime and chilli sauce and Bob’s your yummy Uncle. The seafood satay was every bit as good as I was hoping. I used coley and prawn but you can use any white fish. Probably better it cooked on a BBQ or flame grill but my little oven-grill did them proud!
The main course was a Thai fish curry, jungle style served with fragrant yellow rice. Jungle curries are not made with coconut milk so are generally much hhhhhhhotter. The sauce looks a bit like a gravy and it’s packed full of ginger, lemon grass, along with various different types of red and green chilli and spices. The yellow rice, which is cooked in coconut milk, helped cool it down a bit and the whole meal was lovely. However, as turmeric is in most of the dishes I spent the evening with yellow hands and nails, making me took like a smoker with a 90 a day habit! Still, it was worth it! Rick and Chalky would’ve been proud!
The starter was Vietnamese banh tom (otherwise known as prawn and potato fritters) and Balinese satai lilit (or seafood satay). I was really worried about the fritters, as raw spuds cut into matchsticks, smothered in a beige batter don’t really look that appetising - and they didn’t look much better when they were cooked either – ekk! But Rick, AKA God, knew what he was doing when he added it to his book. The secret of this little dish is how you eat it. You break the fritters into smaller pieces and wrap them, alongside some fresh mint and coriander, into a little gem lettuce leaf. You then dip the lettuce pancake into a ginger, lime and chilli sauce and Bob’s your yummy Uncle. The seafood satay was every bit as good as I was hoping. I used coley and prawn but you can use any white fish. Probably better it cooked on a BBQ or flame grill but my little oven-grill did them proud!The main course was a Thai fish curry, jungle style served with fragrant yellow rice. Jungle curries are not made with coconut milk so are generally much hhhhhhhotter. The sauce looks a bit like a gravy and it’s packed full of ginger, lemon grass, along with various different types of red and green chilli and spices. The yellow rice, which is cooked in coconut milk, helped cool it down a bit and the whole meal was lovely. However, as turmeric is in most of the dishes I spent the evening with yellow hands and nails, making me took like a smoker with a 90 a day habit! Still, it was worth it! Rick and Chalky would’ve been proud!
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