Kristin's Cookbook Project

As there was a combined Asian and Middle-Eastern grocery store that has finally opened in the small coastal town where I live, it made it a lot easier for me finding some non-western cooking ingredients that the "regular" grocery stores and supermarkets don't have. One of those things being curry leaves, which meant I could finally make Acehnese Chicken with Curry Leaves from the cookbook named Coconut & Sambal by Lara Lee. While this was perhaps a slightly more complicated and time-consuming recipe, it was still fairly easy to make. Even with A LOT of chili in it, it didn't taste too overpowering spicy hot, but I do enjoy when the food has a kick to it. I can admit I'm more used to Thai, Chinese, and Indian food, so I do enjoy trying something a bit different from time to time, and I'll probably make this one again some time.

As I love seafood and I had some salmon I wanted to use, I found a recipe for an Indian salmon curry in a Norwegian cookbook titled "Med smak av India - milde dufter og rike smaker fra Nord-India" by Naresh Mehra. Although the list of spices and such may have been a bit daunting to lots of white people, it was nontheless an easy recipe to follow with a rather tasty result. As it is autumn, almost winter, it's nice with some flavourful and comforting dinners when it's cold outside.

As it's autumn and thus soup season, I looked through my cookbooks and decided I wanted to make a Thai-inspired chicken soup I found in a Norwegian cookbook named "Matmisjon - Ekte mat fra ti matbloggere" edited by Hanne Stensvold. The recipe I used was one of those that's fairly easy to follow, and the only adjustment I needed to do was not using as much stock/water, as I didn't quite have enough room in the pot, but it produced several portions of soup anyway, so it wasn't a big deal really. The soup itself had some warmth and kick to it, as I used both red curry paste and a chopped chili in it, which is rather nice on a cold autumn day. A big bonus is that as it's made from scratch, rather than being one of those soup-mix things, is that it was a bit filling too (I feel that a lot of times, those soup mixes doesn't quite cut it). I dare say this is one of those recipes I'd love to make again.

As I've got a weak spot for Thai food, I ended up making beef satay with peanut sauce recently, thanks to a Norwegian cookbook called "Fristende Thai". I didn't have any skewers, so I didn't bother with those, but overall it was a fairly easy recipe, even if the beef needs to marinate for a little while. I also served it with some chopped spring onions for some more flavour and texture. While it may not look too fancy, it was tasty and I'll probably make it again some time.

I do love a good Chinese dish, and as I had some bao buns in the freezer that I wanted to use, I ended up making bao buns with crispy chicken and pickled carrots for dinner today. I found the recipe in a Norwegian cookbook called "Alt Asiatisk 2" by Elisabeth Le and I found it fairly easy, especially as I had both the bao buns and the sriracha mayo already, so I didn't need to make those things. Making the crispy chicken and pickled carrots were fairly easy in my opinion and the directions made it even more easy. Fair enough, I doubt I would last long working in a kitchen based on presentation and such, but the food was overall good I think. I also made use of some lettuce from my garden, just to have some more veggies.

As I was fortunate enough to get my hands on udon noodles last week, I ended up making Japanese Yaki Udon for dinner. I did use a recipe from the Norwegian cookbook "Alt asiatisk" (Everything Asian), and the author also has a food blog  with plenty of recipes. For me, Yaki Udon was one of those fairly easy recipes and I did enjoy the taste of the sauce, in addition to the texture of the noodles.It's anyway a recipe I'd love to make again some time due to the taste and how easy it was to make. I can't deny that making more use of my cookbooks has made me realise just how easy it is to make various dishes from the Asian continent, whether it's Chinese, Thai, or other cuisines. Sometimes the list of ingredients might be a bit intimidating by the length, but it's really tasty.

As I've been a bit busy, I've totally forgotten to write a blog post, but last week I made a chicken stir-fry with green veggies and I used a recipe from a Norwegian cookbook called "Vidunderlig kinesisk" (roughly translated as Wonderful Chinese). I had to visit an Asian grocery store to get my hands on Chinese five spice for the recipe, as the regular grocery stores and supermarkets didn't have it, but then I had an excuse to actually visit an Asian grocery store, which is always a bit fun. The recipe was fairly easy to follow and the end result tasted really good in my opinion. I've also fallen a bit in love with Chinese five spice as a result and I'm now in search of more recipes containing that spice blend. I think it's one of those spice blends that gives a bit of warmth to a dish in a sense and I bet it tastes really good on a cold autumn day. It's also highly likely that I'll make this recipe again some time. One can't go wrong with...

Alright, it took a while before I got into gear and actually started writing more blog posts for this blog and I'm sorry about that. Anyway, earlier this week I ended up making Chicken Satay from scratch, thanks to a recipe I found in a Norwegian cookbook called Alt Asiatisk 2 - Enkelt, raskt og godt by Elisabeth Le. She also writes the food blog called  Alt Asiatisk , so if you understand Norwegian and enjoy various types of Asian cuisine, it's worth checking out. As I didn't have any skewers, I couldn't put the pieces of chicken on those, but it made making this dish a bit less of a hassle in one way. Personally, I found the recipe fairly easy overall and most, if not all, ingredients could be found at either a regular grocery store or at least a well stocked supermarket, which is always a bit neat. Regardless, the end result was really tasty and I'm sure I'll make it again some time. The only thing is that one need to plan a bit ahead, as the chicken needs to...