This Week’s Posts Here and Elsewhere

Here:

A personal review of Paradise Park.

This month’s edition of JPIX.

Memes I have taken part in:
– Post-Snow Snowdrop for Today’s Flowers.
– Red in Home Office for Rub Tuesday.
– Watery Shots on Watery Day for Watery Wednesday.
– Sepia Road for Sepia Scenes.

Reflections on education:
– Equality?
– Getting out of the Rut?

An Asian recipe I have adapted.

Elsewhere:

Jew Wishes reviews a thriller.

Leora reminds us that Tu B’Shvat is a holiday for trees and shares memories of her bat-mitzvah.

The fruity festival not just for tree huggers, a Jewish Chronicle article on the next holiday . Recipes to celebrate Tu B’shvat. The bulgur wheat salad looks particularly appetizing.

Adapting a Recipe

 

Laksa is a popular Asian spicy noodle soup. The recipe I use was published in an Australian cookbook but has two flaws: it isn’t kosher and it uses ingredients I can’t find. So here is how I have adated it so that I can cook and eat it.

LAKSA

2/3 cup (180g) laksa paste (laksa paste isn’t kosher since it includes shrimps so I use red curry paste)
3 ¼ cup (800ml) coconut milk
1 litre vegetable stock
1 ½ cups fish stock (I don’t add fish stock only vegetables stock)
1 fresh long red chilli, sliced thinly
6 kaffir lime leaves, shredded finely (these are impossible to find here so I usually forget them but I was thinking of using kale instead)
250g rice stick noodles
3 cups (240g) bean sprouts
6 green onions, sliced thinly (I prefer to use a thin leek)
1 cup (150g) toasted unsalted cashews
½ cup fresh coriander

1 Cook paste in large heated saucepan, stirring, until fragrant. Stir in coconut milk, stocks, chilli and (lime) leaves; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, covered, 20 minutes.
2 After 10 minutes, add the thinly sliced leek.
3 Meanwhile, place noodles in large heatproof bowl; cover with boiling water. Stand until just tender, drain.
4 Divide noodles among serving bowls. Ladle mixture over noodles; top with sprouts, onion, cashews then coriander.

Option: Tofu can be added. Stir cubes of firm tofu into hot mixture just before serving.