Gumbo

serves 6 - 8

Ingredients:

For the cajun herbs:

* 1 spoon garlic powder

* 1 spoon onion powder

* 2 teaspoons white pepper

* 2 teaspoons black pepper

* 1,5 teaspoon cayenne pepper

* 2 teaspoons thyme

* 0,5 teaspoon oregano

* Salt to taste

For the roux:

* flour

* butter/oil

For the dish:

* Cajun herbs

* 3 spoons of roux

* 2 middle sized onions

* 1 paprika

* celery

* 1 can okra (300 g)

* 1 can of tomato cubes

* 1 spoon tomato puree

* 60 g butter

* 2 garlic cloves

* 2 bay leaves

* 0,5 teaspoon piment

* Tabasco to taste

* 1 spoon worcestersauce

* 2 liters fish stock

* 500 gram middle sized shrimp

* andalouie sausage ( or "Gelderse gekookte worst" if you can't find it in the Netherlands)

* Rice 

Preparation:

Start by making the roux, you do this by having an evenly distributed amount of flour and oil or butter. I used oil. Heat up a pan and warm up the oil until it starts to get hot. Add a quarter of the flour and keep stirring on medium heat. Slowly add more and more flour until you reached an even amount of oil and flour. Keep stirring until it reaches a dark brown colour. It should not burn! Keep stirring, this is very important, but you can also take the pan from the heat and stir for 30 seconds before putting it back. When the roux is finished, put it aside. 

Rinse the okra and set aside for later.

Finely cut all the vegetables and the garlic. Stir fry the onion, paprika and celery on low heat for 2 - 3 minutes then add the garlic and the sausage. Put the heat on the lowest setting and let it cook for 10 - 20 minutes, while stirring occasionally. Meanwhile start boiling the rice.

Now add the Okra, the tomato cubes and the tomato puree to the vegetables, along with all the herbs, worcestersauce and tabasco. Stir thorougly and let it cook for 2 minutes. Now add the fish stock and the roux and mix until blended. Bring to the boil, turn the heat low and keep stirring occasionally for 15 minutes while it simmers. Now add the shrimp and cook for 5 minutes more and your dish is ready. Bring to taste with salt and pepper if you like.

Serve immediately with the rice.

Enjoy your meal,

Mike & Leda

Shrimp curry with stir fried rice

serves 3 - 4

Ingredients:

* 500g middle sized shrimp
* 1 small can of bamboo shoots
* 1 spoon of tom yum paste
* 1 spoon of lemon juice

* 2 spring onion

* 1 thumb sized ginger

* 3 garlic cloves

* 200ml coconut milk

* 2 cups of rice, pre-boiled
* Curry powder
* Turmeric powder

* 1 red paprika

* 1 small can of pineapple (or 2 slices)
* 200g small sized shrimp

Preparation:

This is my Christmas special this year; I once ate this dish at a Thai restaurant, and this is my interpretation of the recipe. I might be a little off, but the taste comes close to what I've had, and I sure loved it! Here goes:

Be sure to have boiled rice ready for this dish, as you need it cold, because it is better to stir fry then.

Peel the garlic and ginger and use a rasp to grate them. Finely cut the paprika and cut the spring onion in rings. Finally cut the pineapple as small as possible.

Heat up a wok and a saute pan with 2 spoons of oil both. In the wok we're going to make the stir fried rice, in the saute pan the shrimp curry. Once they both reached temperature, turn the heat of the saute pan to low and add the ginger and garlic. Softly let them fry, while stirring.

Meanwhile add the paprika to the wok, and stir fry for about 5 minutes. 

Back to the saute pan, add the bamboo shoots and mix well. Let it cook for a couple of minutes more on low heat. 

Now add the small shrimps to the wok and stir-fry for about 1 minute. Add the curry powder and turmeric and mix well. Turn the heat low. Now add the pineapple and mix. 

Let's go back to the saute pan, turn the heat high there and add the large shrimps. Stir fry for about one minute and add the spring onion and tom yum paste. Mix well, and add the coconut milk. Blend again and bring to the boil. Once it boils turn the heat low.

In the wok pan, add the rice and use two spatula's to blend everything well. Make sure no single grain of rice is left white, and the ingredients are blended together nicely.

Let both pans on low heat for 2 - 3 minutes more and serve on a plate separately from each other.

I hope you like this recipe, because I certainly did. This is my Christmas dish, and I ate this as a treat to myself.

I hope to see you soon again!

Yours truly,

Mike

Tom yum prawn soup

serves 6

Ingredients:

* 800g prawns (cleaned)

* 250g oyster mushrooms

* 250g cherry tomatoes

* Tom yum paste
* 1 liter of chicken stock

* 250ml coconut milk

* Coriander

* 2 garlic cloves

* Small chunk of ginger

Additional:

* Pre boiled noodles

Preparations:

Finely chop the garlic and ginger. Cut the mushroom is strips and the tomatoes in halves. Finely chop the coriander. Heat up a pot with a bottom of oil. Turn on lowest heat and stir fry the garlic and ginger until they start to color. Now add the tom yum paste. The more, the spicier. Stir fry until the paste is mixed well. Add the coconut milk and mix well. Now add the chicken stock and stir until blended. Let it cook on high heat.

When the soup is cooking, add the mushrooms and cook for about one minute. After that add the tomatoes. Cook for one minute more. Now add the prawns and stir well until everything is mixed. Be sure not to cook too long now, since the prawns will dry out.
Mix some coriander in the soup and stir until blended. If you like noodles with this soup, make sure the noodles are pre boiled. Now put them in a bowl and pour the soup over them. Leave alone so the noodles will heat up by the soup. For decoration add some coriander on top.

Bon apetite!

I hope you like this recipe and hopefully until next time!

Yours truly,

Mike