Wonton soup

Some inspirational shots from making wonton.

Ingredients I use in my stock:

- Chicken broth

- Lemon grass

- Lime leaves

- Brown sugar (or palm sugar)

- Lime juice

- Fresh ginger (or thai ginger)
- Tomato for acidity

- Garlic

- Soy sauce

- Sesame oil

For garnish:

- Green onions

- Cilantro
- Sriracha sauce

- Chilli & garlic sauce

Wonton:

- Wonton wrappers

- Raw ground beef (seasoned with soy sauce, sesame oil, a drop of Worcestershire sauce)

Blend and form into tiny meatballs (this just makes it easier when filling)

- Water (for sealing wonton)

I hope you enjoy this photo sequence :)

There are many ways to fold wonton, my sister brings up the edges and forms a tight seal so it's like a little purse, and I like to make little triangles as you see in the first photo however sometimes they tear (usually if you have nails it's a difficult shape to make) so I went with a small flat purse design and even though it's a little hard to describe it worked well for me and I was comfortable making them.

With any leftover meatballs they freeze well and you can throw them into any other soup (I made a white bean and swiss chard soup using a tomato base and added some tiny pasta (almost like an italian wedding soup) and it was so delicious)

Also I added a few shots of my green onion "patch" because I saved the bottoms, soaked them in a glass of water for a day or two and then planted them, you can see the updated shot at the very bottom and now I can harvest them for use :)

Thai inspired Indian sweet rice Dessert

I was inspired by my mothers new favourite recipe for Thai Mango pudding, it's a dessert of steamed rice mixed with coconut milk and then served with a mango on top, there is also a coconuty sauce to go with it.

Mum was kind enough to buy me a bag of this rice and I tasted hers a few times but I wanted to make mine without coconut milk so here's my experiment and it turned out really good! I would put saffron next time and maybe nuts and raisins mixed in.

I love the indian sweet rice dessert that I often see at Indian and Pakistani weddings, it's one of my all time favourite desserts and this is kind of similar.

So here it goes:

1 1/2 cups sticky rice or thai sweet rice

Wash and soak rice in a bowl of water for 4-5 hours

To make the syrup. Bring to a boil right before the rice is done so it's still warm:

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup water

Pinch of salt

-You can add saffron by mixing a few threads in water and letting it sit for 5 hours or so then adding the vibrant red liquid into the sugar mixture.

Blend:

1/8 cup melted butter
A drop of vanilla (optional)

Steam the strained rice by adding to a sieve (metal) lined with cheese cloth (or not! Like I did) and placed into a pot. Fill the bottom of the pot with water and bring to a boil. Add the rice inside the cheese cloth, flatten it out and fold the corners of the cloth over.

Place inside the pot and let it steam away as the water boils for 30 minutes, check on it 15 minutes through and gently flip the rice "patty" over so the top part is now on the bottom and it can steam evenly.. also ensure there is enough water in the bottom or add more if needed. The steamer (sieve/cheese cloth/rice) should not touch the water at all. Only the steam should rise and cook the rise slowly.

Be careful the steam is hot, so don't burn yourself.

At this point after 30 minutes the rice should be sticky and clear.

Transfer to a large bowl or a casserole dish with a fitting lid.

Pour the sugar/water mixture & the melted butter over the rice and place the towel under your casserole dish or bowl and place it back into the pot (turn of off) just so it's warm.... This will allow it to absorb the syrup for 30 minutes or so.

Decorate with Raisins, walnuts, almonds, pistachios, coconut, whatever you like for garnish.

Enjoy!

For those interested in the coconut version check this youtube video from Show Me the Curry