diversions & rituals

Monday, February 20, 2012



thai shrimp salad with rice noodles - so yummy

oh good, a recipe (I'm sure you're all thinking) & a pleasant diversion from the whines & whinges of a challenging, exciting & tres busy creative empire builder's life.

Inspired by a recipe from the PBS Saturday afternoon UK cooking show Rachel Allen

Thai shrimp salad with rice noodles

dressing
2 tbsp. fish sauce
1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
1 small thai chilled chopped fine (seeds removed) - optional
2 heaping tbsp brown sugar
1-2 tbsp asian hot chili sauce

In a small pot simmer until sugar is dissolved & mixture reduces slightly. Set aside to cool.
Add 2 tbsp grated fresh ginger & 1 medium clove of finely minced garlic

stir fry
12 raw shell on shrimp
1/2 yellow pepper sliced
1/2 red pepper sliced
1 cup sugar snap peas whole
8 stems asparagus sliced on the diagonal

in a wok with a small amount of vegetable oil stir fry quickly with more minced garlic & grated fresh ginger on very high heat until shrimp are pink & opaque & vegetables are still crunchy set aside to cool.

raw stuff
2 cups softened rice noodles (vermicelli) cooled
1/2 English cucumber seeded & chopped
1 large carrot grated
1/2 a sweet onion halved & thinly sliced
1 big handful of fresh cilantro stems & leaves chopped rough
a couple of big handfuls of bean sprouts

Place above ingredients in a large salad bowl place

Combine remaining ingredients & dressing with raw items in salad bowl & toss/mix vigorously. Serve in large bowls topped with lots of chopped unsalted peanuts & pass the hot chili sauce please. Last night's dinner. OMG so delicious I think we might have it again tonight ;-)

making lists (weekly goals + daily goals). creating rituals throughout my day. flavoured latte at 10am chill. mint tea at 3pm chill. take some time out to draw chill. walk to post office, chat with girls chill. walk again with Winnie in golden late afternoon light chill. breath, breath, breath chill

designer tips & tricks - ya huh !! guest posting today over at Deanne Fitzpatrick's blog

15 comments:

  1. Man that looks good. Never heard of Rachel Allen. Will have to look her up.

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  2. Great idea for a dinner salad, it's now on my to-do list. Morning and afternoon tea ritual? Very civilized and good for you.

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  3. Shammy Sham it was sooooo delicious we're having it again tonight & yes check her out her recipes are all lovely & simple xo S + Gang

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  4. hey John ! & another very versatile recipe - add what you have on hand. Also good with fresh chopped mint (grilled chicken, salmon ...) yummy

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  5. Must add fish sauce to shopping list. And all the other stuff in that recipe.

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  6. xo MS & the chopped peanuts are key

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  7. I will keep this in mind. I know when I show it to the girls they will ask for an immediate trip to the store for supplies today. Like, IMMEDIATE. LOL So I have to be ready to hop in the car as soon as they see your luscious photo.

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  8. Susan, any tips on making this with small people? I'm totally making this my blog post for today. I know you work with kids my kids' age with art projects, any thoughts on how to work with this recipe with eight year olds so they really get to do a lot of it? Very excited to try something other than cupcakes with my kiddoes, and they are shrimp freaks, PLUS they were asking about asparagus the other day, sooo... yeah.

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  9. Are they too young to chop ? Lots of chopping, slicing & grating in this recipe. Once the shrimp is cooked & cooled they could peel shells off, measuring out the ingredients for the dressing. What fun to prepare dinner with the sweeties - enjoy.

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  10. They can do some chopping with the butter knives, and they can grate. I'm not sure what age to introduce sharper knives, I need to investigate that. They could probably do the vermicelli themselves. I can let them stand at the stove and stir stuff, as long as I'm around - mama's still a bit a'skeered of the open flame on that there gas stove, hehe. They can definitely do the dressing. Yeah this is going to be fun!

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  11. OK I copied down the recipe and made my shopping list. I have a feeling that dressing is going to become one of my go-to dressing recipes.

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  12. MS that maggi extra hot asian chili sauce is to die for + it's not really xtra hot - sweet & delicious

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  13. I think with the kiddies we're gonna go with sweet chili sauce instead of hot chili sauce. Heh. I happen to have an enormous bottle of sweet chili sauce in the pantry anyway...

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  14. Done and posted! http://makingspacethejourneyout.wordpress.com/2012/02/20/oh-wow-thats-good/

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  15. I'm gonna have to give this recipe a go too.

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