Here is a collection of Oriental recipes we have found and cooked over the years plus a few submitted ones we have received. If the chillis aren't available try sustituting with a similar chilli, but don't mix up the annuums with the chinense varieties as they have a completely different flavour. Oriental recipes use mainly annuums which are thinner skinned, such as birds eye which add more heast than flavour.

Starters, Dips & Pastes

Fish Sauce with Chilli and Lime

1 fresh red chilli or
1 fresh green chilli
4 tbls fish sauce
2 tbls fresh lime juice

Finely slice the chilli and add into a small bowl pour in the rest of the ingredients and mix well.
Serve as a dipping sauce for deep fried snacks.

Fish Sauce with Vinegar and Lime

1 fresh red chilli or
1 fresh green chilli
2 tbls fish sauce
2 tbls white vinegar
1 tbls fresh lime juice
1 tbls sugar

Finely slice the chilli and stir into a small bowl the rest of the ingredients. Mix well
Serve as a dipping sauce for deep fried snacks.

Korean Dipping Sauce

1 red chilli
1 spring onion
1 small clove garlic
4 tbls rich sweet dark soy
2 tbls white vinegar
1 tbls sesame oil
1 tsp roasted sesame seeds
1 tsp sugar

Crush garlic and very finely chop, finely slice chilli and spring onions, combine all ingredients in a bowl and mix well.

Tom Yam Sauce

3 tbls coarsely chopped dried red chillis
3 tbls finely chopped shallots
3 tbls finely chopped garlic
1 tbls dried shrimp
1 tbls fish sauce
2 tsp sugar
4 tbls oil

Heat the oil and fry garlic until golden brown and remove, then fry onion until golden brown and crisp and remove, then fry chilli briefly until it darkens and remove. Using a pestle and mortar or a blender, blend prawn, chillis, garlic and shallot to make a paste. Add this mix back to the original oil and stir in rest of ingredients over a low heat, and you should have a dark red slightly oily sauce, which can now be kept refrigerated in a jar for later use.

Hot & Sour Soup (Thai)

475ml chicken stock
1 tbls tom yam sauce (see recipe or buy it)
2 lime leaves
1 stick lemon grass
3 tbls fish sauce
3 tbls lemon juice
2 small red / green chillis
8 straw mushrooms
8 large raw prawns

Heat the stock and add the tom yam sauce. Finely slice the lime leaves and add. Bash and chop the lemon grass into 1 cm pieces and add to soup with fish sauce, lemon juice, sugar and chillis, bring to boil and simmer for a few minutes. Peel and deveign the prawns and add to the soup, cut the mushrooms in half and add them also, simmer for another 2 minutes and serve.

Thai Red Curry Paste

7 large red chillis
2 inch piece of galangal or ginger
zest of a whole lime
1 stick lemon grass
3 cloves garlic
bunch of fresh coriander root
6 shallots
1.5 tsp of shrimp paste
2 tsp paprika
1 tsp garam masala
0.5 tsp salt

Roughly chop chillis, garlic, galangal or ginger (whatever is available), shallots and lemon grass and place with rest of ingredients in a blender. Blend well to a paste adding additional lime juice if too dry. This paste can be then be used fresh or divided into tablespoon measures and frozen.

Chilli Soup (Thai)

10 small dried chillis
2 cloves garlic
1 inch galangal
2 shallots
1 stalk lemon grass
1tsp shrimp paste
1/2 tsp ground white pepper
1 litre chicken stock
4 oz lean pork
4 tbls fish sauce
1/2 tsp sugar
1/2 chilli powder
1 tbsl chopped spring onions
1 tbsl chopped coriander

Pound or blend chillis, garlic, galangal, shallots, lemon grass, shrimp paste and pepper together to make a paste. Bring stock to boil and add 1 tbls of the paste, stir in and add thinly sliced pieces of the pork. If neccessary skim the soup and then add the fish sauce, sugar and chilli powder, cook until meat is done add choppped spring onion and coriander.

Grilled Scallops with Chilli and Ginger (submitted)

50g butter
1 garlic clove, finely sliced
3cm root ginger, peeled, shredded
2 red or green chillies, finely sliced
8 scallops or 10 large prawns
pinch of salt
a good handful of fresh coriander leaves, no stems

1. Mix butter, garlic, ginger, chillies.
2. Sprinkle salt on scallops.
3. Add butter mix to a hot pan and allow to bubble.
4. Add scallops and cook for 3 minutes, turning
each scallop after 2 minutes.
5. Serve sprinkled with coriander leaves and a chunk of
crusty bread.
***Can be cooked in a pan on the BBQ ***

Sweet & Sour Chilli Sauce (submitted)

1 cup green chilli
1 onion
2 garlic
3 rings sweet pineapple
peri-peri oil
1 tps peri-peri powder
salt
4 tbsp brown sugar
1 can tomato & onion relish

Cut all veg finely, fry in peri-peri oil till tender. Add can of relish, add: sugar, salt, peri-peri powder. Simmer for 15 mins. Use on all meat dishes, fish or salads. Store in fridge or bottle.

Dried Prawn Floss (submitted)

A. 100 grams of dried prawns (pounded very fine)
B. 30 to 35 dried chillies (shred finely)
1 lemmon grass stalk (shred finely)
8 to 10 shallots
1 clove garlic
1 cm either fresh or dried tumeric
C. some tamarind juice (1 table spoon of water to get the juice)
salt and sugar to taste
D. 1 table spoon oil

Wash the chillies and put them in a blender together with the ingredients from B. Blend till smooth. Dish it out. Heat the oil in a wok or frying pan, add in the grounded ingredients and fry till fragant. Then add the pounded prawn and fry till very dry over a slow fire. Season to taste with the tamarind juice and fry till very dry. Lastly add in the salt and sugar to taste and fry till well blended. Dish out and when cool keep in an sir tight container. Serve with cucumber slices or mint leaves.Very delicious as a sandwich ingredient. Have a delicious meal with rice.

Mains

Sticky Chilli Gingery Ribs

1 kg short pork ribs
6 tbls dark soy
6 tbls sugar
7 - 8 cm piece fresh ginger
6 spring onions
3 tbls Chinese rice wine
3 - 6 long red chillis

Try to get short ribs or cut the long ones in half so you have about 7 - 8 cm long pork ribs. Cut the ginger into 3 or 4 pieces and lightly crush so they split, cut spring onions into half and cut the chillis into half lengthways. Add all ingredients to a pan with about 1 litre of water and bring to the boil. Turn heat down to a medium simmer and remove any scum off the top, cover and simmer for about 45 minutes turning everything over every so often. Remove lid and turn up heat and reduce to a thick sticky glaze turning the ribs over to continually coat them.

Sweet & Sour Hot Aubergines

8 oz onions
1 inch ginger
2 tsp cumin seeds
2 tsp coriander seeds
3 - 5 fresh long red chillis
2 inch cinnamon stick
1lb aubergines
1 tbls smoked paprika
3 - 4 tbls tamarind pulp
1 - 2 tbls dark brown sugar
salt to season

Finely slice the onion chillis and ginger, finely grind cumin, coriander, cinnamon in a coffee grinder and cut the aubergine into 1 inch cubes. Heat a wok, add some oil and lightly fry the onions, chillis and ginger for a few minutes then add the ground spices and fry for another minute. Add the aubergine, tamarind, sugar and paprika turning once and then add 300ml of water, season with salt and simmer for about 30 minutes or until you have a thick sauce.

Red Chicken Curry

2 tbls oil
4 chicken breasts
400 ml coconut milk
4 tbls red curry paste (see recipe)
2 tbls fish sauce
1 tsp dark brown sugar
4 lime leaves
handful of basil or mint leaves

Cube up chicken and brown in a wok or large frying pan, remove meat and set aside. Skim the cream off the coconut milk and fry in the wok with the red curry paste for a few minutes. Lower the heat add the chicken, rest of the coconut milk, fish sauce and sugar and simmer for a few minutes. Finely slice the lime leaves, tear up the basil or mint and scatter over the curry and serve.
Best served with fragrant Thai rice.

Beef with Lime Leaves and Chilli

2 tbls oil
2 cloves garlic
1 large red chilli
6 oz beef steak
1 tbls light soy
1 tbls fish sauce
2 lime leaves
4 tbls chicken stock
small red pepper
a few green beans
pinch of sugar

Finely chop garlic and chilli, slice beef and pepper into thin strips and diagonally cut the beans. Heat the wok add the oil and throw in the garlic and chilli, stir for a minute and add the beef stirring for another minute. Add the soy sauce, fish sauce, sugar, finely sliced lime leaves and stock. Stir fry over a high heat for a minute or two then add the red pepper and green beans for another minute.
Best served with noodles.

Pineapple and Prawn Curry

2 tbls oil
small tin of pineapple
1 red and green chilli
12 shallots
1 stick lemon grass
1 inch fresh ginger
12 oz raw prawns
1 tbls of fish sauce
1 tbls cashew nuts

Peel and deveign the prawns and roughly chop the pineapple. Using a pestle and mortar or blender, grind together the chillis, shallots, nuts, lemon grass and ginger to make a paste. Heat oil in a wok and stir in the paste for a few minutes, stir in the coconut milk and bring to the boil. Turn the heat down add the pineapple and cook for 5 minutes. Add the prawns and fish sauce and cook for a few more minutes.
Best served with fragrant Thai rice.

Spicy Chicken

1lb chicken breast
5tbls groundnut oil
2 spring onions
1 red dried chilli
1 tsp chopped fresh ginger
1 tsp chilli bean sauce
300ml chicken stock
1/2tsp roasted and ground sichuan peppercorns
1/2 tsp sugar
2 tsp dark soy sauce

Cube up the chicken, heat the wok and add the oil and the dried red chilli. Add the chicken and brown, remove and drain on kitchen paper, set aside. Diagonally slice spring onion into 2 inch pieces. Clean wok and reheat with another tsp oil and stir fry the spring onion, ginger and chilli bean sauce for a minute then add chicken stock, sichuan peppercorns, sugar and dark soy sauce, turn heat down add chicken pieces and cover and cook for 20-30 minutes.
Serve with rice or noodles.

Chiang Mai Curry

2tbls oil
1 clove garlic
1tbls red curry paste (see recipe)
4tbls thick coconut milk
4 oz lean pork
1 inch ginger
2tbls chicken stock
2tbls fish sauce
1 tsp sugar
1/2tsp turmeric powder
2tsp lemon juice

Heat wok, add oil then fry crushed garlic until golden brown, add red curry paste and stir in coconut milk and cook until its starts to reduce. Add thinly sliced pork and chopped ginger and stir for a few seconds and add stock, fish sauce, sugar, turmeric and lemon juice, stir and cook for a minute or two until meat is cooked through. Serve with rice or noodles.

Sliced Steak with a Hot and Sour Dressing

6 oz lean steak (fillet)
1tbls lemon juice
1tbls fish sauce
1tsp sugar
1 red chilli finely sliced
2 shallots finely sliced
1 spring onion finely sliced
1tbls chopped coriander

Preheat grill or BBQ or griddle pan to a high heat. Grill steak briefly so it remains rare in the middle. Slice thinly and set aside. In a bowl mix together the lemon juice, fish sauce, sugar and chilli and then stir in the shallots, spring onions and the beef. Toss together and serve on a bed of salad leaf or noodles.

Beef Noodle with Lime Leaf

1 tbls oil
1 garlic clove
2 small red chillis
1/2 tsp chilli powder
4oz lean beef finely sliced
1tbls fish sauce
1 tbls dark soy sauce
1/2 tsp sugar
2 lime leaves
1 medium tomato
8 oz soaked noodles
coriander

Heat wok and add oil, add finely chopped garlic, fresh chilli and chilli powder and quickly stir, then add beef stirring. Add the fish sauce, soy sauce, sugar and very finely sliced lime leaves. Add the chopped tomato stir all together and add the noodles, toss all together and serve garnished with chopped coriander.

Bridget's Crab Noodles (submitted)

1 can crabmeat
mange tout
carrots cut into strips
thick white rice noodles
red chillies
spring onions
cream coconut and sesame oil to taste

Boil noodles up, cover in sesame oil, soy sauce and spring onions.
Saute veg and chillis in the crab meat brine in a pan. Add the coconut and crab meat last and serve on top of the noodles.