Thailand

 

To Start:

Thai Style Chicken Soup

Or

Thai Fish Cakes

 

Seafood:

Thai Spice Marinated Sea Trout.

Or

Seared Scallops With Spring Onions.

 

Main Course:

Choose From

Stir Fried Beef With Cashew Nuts

Minted Lamb Patties

Lemon Grass Pork

Chicken Satay

Garlic Roasted Quail With Honey

Braised Oxtail In Spicy Sauce

Coconut Vegetables

 

Pudding:

Sangkaya Faktong

 

Thai cooking is making a significant impact on the high street restaurant business, beginning to rival both the Chinese and the Indian.

The Thai people are a delicate and gentle folk whose politeness and charm endear them to all when met in the local Thai restaurants or better still in their homeland. The early hippies ”discovered” Thailand en route to and from Australia and brought back tales of wonderful beaches and fab food served by smiling Thai, all for pence – enough to encourage Ma and Pa to pop over and take a look, come back and rave about it in the golf club – thus doing the local travel agents a big favour.

Now Thailand and its many coastal resorts is firmly on the tourist holiday map, and its cuisine being a subtle melding of Chinese and Indian flavours now established as a distinctive dining experience – so try dining out with this selection of authentic Thai dishes whilst staying in !

Things that you might need for your store cupboard; Galangal root (a mild form of ginger), lemon grass and Thai chillies for authentic flavour. You will, I hope have your Wok all cleaned and polished ready for action.

Thai Style Chicken Soup

 

The Thai style of cooking relies on holding flavours in a clear liquid, unlike the Indian whose love of “gravy” makes his food so distinct. So when confronted with Thai food and it’s transparent or “thin” looking base, be not disappointed, just dig in and the flavours will smack you between the eyes!

 

Assemble:

A large saucepan and lid

A wooden spoon

 

Ingredients:

A tablespoon of vegetable oil

1 Thai chilli (orange or purple) deseeded and finely chopped

2 cloves of garlic, peeled and creamed with a little salt

A medium sized fresh leek, well washed then finely sliced

2 cups of chicken stock, or a cube dissolved in water

2 cups of coconut milk

2 small breasts of chicken, skin off, finely chopped.

2 tablespoons of Thai fish sauce (or Chinese)

1 stalk of lemon grass split

A one inch piece of galangal root peeled and crushed (if not use ginger but only half)

A tablespoon of sugar

2 kaffir lime leaves

2 tablespoons of frozen

petite pois peas

2 tablespoons of chopped coriander

 

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Then you:

• Heat the oil in the large saucepan over a medium heat, then add the chillies and garlic and cook for about two minutes. Now add the chopped cleaned leek and fry for a further three minutes, stirring often.

• Add the stock and coconut milk into the pan and bring to the boil, then reduce and allow to simmer for five minutes.

• Now add the chicken, fish sauce, lemon grass, galangal root(ginger?), sugar and lime leaves and reduce the heat slightly, cover with the saucepan lid and cook for twenty minutes or until the chicken is tender.

• Finally add the petite pois with the chopped coriander and cook without the lid for a further three minutes.

• Remove the lemon grass and serve wearing batik silk sarong with wooden sandals keeping the sand off the carpet.

Thai Style Fish Cakes

 

The street vendors with their mobile “kitchen” produce some mouth watering tasty bites to tempt you when ever you feel peckish, or even if you just can not resist trying them. This is one of those “tasty bites” that work wonderfully well as a starter, with simple dipping sauces.

 

Assemble:

A food processor

A large mixing bowl

A flexible spatula

A slotted spoon

A saucepan for deep frying

 

Ingredients:

4oz of fresh smoked haddock – not the dyed yellow stuff

4oz of fresh cod

A small Thai chilli deseeded and finely chopped

2 garlic cloves peeled and chopped

1 stalk of lemon grass, chopped

2 large spring onions finely chopped

A tablespoon of Thai fish sauce

2 tablespoons of coconut cream

2 tablespoon of coriander

2 tablespoons of corn flour

Enough oil for deep frying

Dipping sauces as required

2 large fresh eggs, lightly beaten

 

Then you;

• Dice the fish to ensure that all bones have been removed and place in the food processor.

• Add all the other ingredients except the beaten eggs and coriander, to the food processor and blend thoroughly until all the fish is blended with the spices.

• Now add the beaten eggs and chopped coriander and blend for a further two minutes, until you have a firm paste.

• Scrape out the paste into a mixing bowl, cover with cling film and store in the fridge for an hour to allow the mixture to infuse and firm.

• Coat your dry hands with corn flour then take a tablespoon full of the cooled mixture and place it in the palm of your hand and gently roll into a ball. When formed finally, roll in on a plate covered with corn flour to totally coat the ball then gently press into a round shaped Pattie. Repeat this until all mixture is used.

• Put sufficient vegetable oil in the saucepan as will cover the fish Patties when introduced, and heat to a high heat until the surface of the oil moves. Now add one fish Pattie and if it immediately starts to “fizz” and move in the oil, the oil is ready for deep frying. Fry all the patties, four or five at a time for five minutes or until golden brown, taking care when you turn them not to break them.

• When cooked reserve onto a warmed plate covered with kitchen towel to absorb any surplus oil. Garnish with chopped coriander and place on a banana leaf with your chosen dipping sauces, and then serve in brightly coloured beach shorts down below your knees.

Thai Spice Marinaded Salmon

 

With the number of fishing boats you see when in Thailand you wonder that there is any fish left to catch – fear not as if by magic each morning as they return from the night’s labours the fishing boats crew are all smiles as they proudly disgorge the nights catch. As if that was not enough, fish farming has become a major source of income to the Thai economy with Thai tiger prawns appearing on most fresh fish counters throughout the world. I have resisted giving you a recipe for tiger prawns but have chosen to let you into this little known Thai take on Gravadlax, using farmed salmon or sea trout.

 

Assemble:

A mixing bowl

A wooden spatula and wooden bread board

A shallow dish

Heavy weights (full paint tins are good)

 

Ingredients:

A 1 pound tail piece of salmon or sea trout, filleted into two

4 tablespoons of coarse sea salt

4 tablespoons of dark sugar – muscavado if possible

 

For the marinade:

A 1 inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled and grated

2 stalks of lemon grass, outer leaves removed until you get to the clear fresh part

4 kaffir lime leaves, shredded not chopped

The grated rind of one fresh lime

A fresh Thai chilli, orange or purple, deseeded and finely chopped

A heaped teaspoon of coarsely ground black pepper

2 tablespoons full of coriander chopped finely

 

Then you:

• Run the back of a knife over the scale side of the fillets to remove any loose scales then run under a cold tap and pat dry with kitchen roll.

• Check for any remaining bones and remove with a pair of tweezers (if you use the old girl’s eyebrow tweezers make sure she doesn’t know!)

• Put all for the other ingredients into a mixing bowl and thoroughly mix into a coarse even coloured paste. Cover the bowl with cling film and leave to infuse in a fridge for two hours.

• Using a wooden spatula spread about one quarter of the mixture onto the bottom of the shallow dish, then place one of the fillets on top, skin side down.

• Now spread half of the mixture onto the exposed flesh side of the fish and then put the other fillet on top flesh to flesh.

• Spread the remaining quarter of the mixture onto the exposed scale side of the second fillet and gently cover with a wooden bread board.

• Ensure the board does not reach the side of the dish and place your heavy weights on top of the board so as to apply even pressure. Leave in a cool place lightly covered with a clean tea towel for one week turning over the whole fish each day and repositioning the weights so as to provide even pressure.

• To serve place one fillet flesh side up on the cleaned bread board and slice as thinly as possible just as if it where a smoked salmon side, saw carving at a 45 degree angle.

• Serve on cooled plates with a spiced mayonnaise making sure you have your bamboo coolie hat on at a jaunty angle.

Seared Galangal Scallops With Spring Onions

 

One of the best shellfish to accept the delicate flavouring of Thai spices is the scallop, although it’s a close run thing with the wonderful swimming crabs just taking my second place. Another nice thing about this dish is that it only takes seconds to cook –“it’s just a little thing I rustled up darling”

 

Assemble:

A medium sized wok

A wooden fork and spoon – why? - To toss the mixture

 

Ingredients:

6 freshly cleaned scallops complete with yolks

4 spring onions sliced, on the diagonal, into one inch pieces

A tablespoon of chopped fresh garlic

A tablespoon of galangal root peeled and finely chopped. If not use slightly less fresh peeled ginger root

A tablespoon of Thai orange chilli deseeded and finely chopped

A tablespoon of carrot cut into fine “julienne” strips

A large green pepper deseeded and cut into fine strips as above

2 teaspoons of dark soy sauce

 

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Then you;

• Heat the oil in the wok until its surface starts moving.

• Add the whole scallops one at a time and sear turning over often to ensure an even cooking. When the white part of the scallop has just turned fully opaque, and just starting to colour light brown remove and reserve to a warmed plate. Remember – the more and higher you heat protein the harder it gets – and you don’t want hard scallops do you?

• Turn up the heat and add all the rest of the ingredients and stir fry for five seconds – that is with vigour!

• Now reintroduce the scallops, and fry again to mix with the rest of the ingredients, add the soy sauce and mix together, toss well and serve immediately carrying a bamboo pole with water jug at each end, balanced on your shoulder.

Stir Fried Beef With Cashew Nuts

 

As most Thai cooking seems to be done “on the run” with delicious dishes whisked out of the ether at every street corner, it makes you stop and think why we in the west mess around with time consuming roasts and casseroles in massively expensive “fitted” kitchens when two minutes is all it takes to rustle up the most satisfying and memorable dish – this really is very FAST food!

 

Assemble:

A heavy wok, with wooden handle

A wooden fork and spoon

 

Ingredients:

¾ of a pound of lean trimmed beef, best with fillet

2 tablespoons of sesame seed oil

A 1 inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled and grated

A medium onion peeled and cut into half rounds

1 clove of garlic peeled and diced

A teaspoon of dark brown sugar

2 tablespoons of light soy sauce

1 small red and 1 small green pepper deseeded and cut lengthways into fine strips

2 spring onions sliced on the diagonal into half inch pieces

1 stalk of celery cut on the diagonal into inch pieces

4 mushrooms – Chinese if you can get them if not use open cup English with black undersides

3 tablespoons of roasted

cashew nuts

3 tablespoons of beef stock in which you have dissolved half a teaspoon full of corn flour

 

Then you;

• Trim the beef of all fat, then cover with cling film to avoid breaking the flesh, beat flat, on a bread board, with a wooden mallet until it is quarter of an inch thin ( or thick).

• Now cut the flattened steak into quarter of an inch strips and again cut these long strips to about two and a half inch pieces. Sprinkle over with cooking salt and mix together.

• Heat the sesame seed oil in the wok until it moves on the surface. Add the grated ginger, garlic and onion and fry over a high heat for three minutes.

• Now add the beef strips and turn up the heat a fraction. Toss the beef strips with the fork and spoon to ensure they are separated as they cook – now you are stir frying – wok and wholl!!

• Do not over cook the beef, as soon as it turns brown, after about three or four minutes, season with white pepper, the sugar and light soy sauce, take out and reserve on a warmed plate with noodles.

• Now add the green and red pepper strips, spring onion, celery, sliced mushrooms and cashew nuts, pour in the beef stock with corn flour and stir fry for a final three minutes.

• Reserve to the beef on the warmed serving dish with rice noodles and board your motorized sampan and serve with ear splitting grin.

Minted Patties Of Lamb

 

Here is another way of combining lots of flavours around a basic ingredient, in this case lamb. By preparing and then combining all the flavours and textures you need to produce the final dish and then cooking all at one time, sensational dishes appear out of nowhere. Try these lamb patties, oozing with mint, with the hint of a kick, serve with any stir fried vegetables.

 

Assemble:

Your trusty wok

A food processor

A mixing bowl

A bread board

A small saucepan

A small whisk

 

Ingredients:

Half a pound of lean lamb, trimmed and cut into cubes

2oz of pork dripping

1 scant tablespoon of light soy sauce

3 tablespoons of sesame seed or groundnut oil

1 teaspoon of dark brown sugar

3 spring onions chopped

A good tablespoon of freshly chopped mint (or more if you wish)

The white of a fresh egg

A teaspoon of corn flour

A dredging of plain flour for dusting

 

Then you:

• Put the chopped lamb pieces into the food processor and give it a good whiz until it is a fine paste then add the dripping and whiz once more

• Put the soy sauce, sugar, mint, spring onions, the beaten egg white into the food processor, then sprinkle over with the corn flour. Now whiz until all the ingredients are fully blended.

• Remove from the food processor into a mixing bowl and cover with cling film and leave to rest for an hour in the fridge.

• Dredge the flour on to the bread board.

• Now with a tablespoon take a full spoon full of the mixture and after flouring your hands roll it into a ball in the palms of your hand. Place the ball on the dredged flour and press down on the ball to make an oval flat Pattie shape, then coat with the flour on both sides.

• Heat the oil in the wok until the surface starts to move then add the patties, two at a time and fry until golden brown on both sides. Remove with slotted spoon and reserve in a warmed oven on serving dish.

• These patties are super when topped with a little sweet chilli sauce, mixed with a touch of dry sherry, some dark soy sauce and more chopped spring onion.

• Serve having beaten your massive bronze temple gong (Eat your heart out Tommy Farr)

Lemon Grass Pork With Peanuts

 

Loin of pork is a Thai favourite as it responds to stir frying very quickly and also absorbs marinade flavours in short order. This simple dish is seen to be cooked on every street corner as part of the street vendors repertoire, along with Chicken Satay (coming soon to a recipe near you!)

 

Assemble:

A Wok with wooden handle

A wooden fork and spoon

A mixing bowl

Some cling film

A small frying pan

A bread board and rolling pin

 

Ingredients:

About 12oz of pork loin trimmed - cut on the diagonal in strips about quarter of and inch thick.

2 lemon grass sticks, peeled to the fresh and then finely chopped

2 spring onions tailed and finely cut on the diagonal

8 black peppercorns coarsely crushed

2 tablespoons of peanut oil

2 garlic cloves peeled and crushed

2 small red chillies, deseeded and finely chopped

1 tablespoon of dark brown sugar

2 tablespoons of Thai fish sauce

2 tablespoons of crushed freshly roasted peanuts

 

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Is this the queue for “Mary Poppins!”

 

Then you;

• Put the trimmed and sliced pork medallions into the mixing bowl, add the lemon grass, spring onions, crushed peppercorns then season with a little salt and stir to mix all the ingredients. Cover with cling film and leave to marinade in a cool place for twenty minutes.

• Heat the wok over a fairly high heat, then add the peanut oil (or other nut oil) and swirl around so it coats the sides of the wok.

• Now add the marinated pork, making sure each slice is separate, and stir fry over a medium heat for about four minutes, stirring to brown both sides of the pork.

• Add the crushed garlic and chillies and continue to stir fry for a further ten minutes or until the pork is cooked through.

• Heat the small frying pan over a medium heat and when thoroughly hot add the fresh peanuts. The skins will begin to fall off so roll the nuts around the pan until all skins are off and the peanuts begin to brown. Put into a small bowl and when cool sieve out the skins and crush the roasted peanuts to a coarse powder with a rolling pin on a bread board, then reserve.

• Add the fish sauce to the pork in the wok and then sprinkle over with the sugar whilst still stirring, and then finally add the crushed peanuts and black pepper, and stir fry for another two minutes.

• Separate up to two warmed bowls, with rice noodles and hitch up a passing water buffalo and drag to the table for service.

Garlic Roasted Quail With honey

 

The Chatter of wild quail is a familiar sound around the rice fields of Thailand as they fatten themselves up, a bit like the wood pigeon over here. These small birds have a plumpness that makes them provide more meat than you would imagine and makes them ideal for open air roasting, which is why you can see large numbers of street food vendors with great skewers of quail just waiting for your command to “toast two please”.

 

Assemble:

A mixing bowl

A whisk

Game scissors (or stout kitchen scissors)

A roasting pan or wire rack

A garlic crusher

A pastry brush

 

Ingredients;

½ a cup of dark soy sauce or Thai fish sauce

2 tablespoons of a good blossom clear honey

A tablespoon of dark sugar

6 large garlic cloves peeled and crushed

A flat tablespoon of coarsely ground black pepper

A teaspoon of galangal powder

2 tablespoons of sesame seed oil

4 dressed quails

 

Then you;

• Firstly prepare the rub for the birds; in a large bowl beat together with a whisk the soy sauce, honey, and sugar. When combined add the crushed garlic, crushed peppercorns and sesame oil and whisk again until all is combined.

• Take each quail and using the scissors split down the bird’s backbone and lay flat on a flat surface, its called spatchcocking.

• With the pastry brush apply a generous coating of the rub mixture on the inside of the birds and cover and chill for an hour

• Take the birds and turn them over and apply another generous coating of rub mixture on the breast side of the quails, cover and chill for a further hour,

• Pre heat the oven to 230, when at temperature place the quails breast side down on a wire rack underneath which you have placed an oven proof dish to catch the drips. After ten minutes turn the quails breast side up and baste with the juices from the oven proof dish and cook for a further fifteen minutes or until the quails are golden, and crisp.

• Take the quails from the wire rack and skewer through the bird twice to its original shape, two per skewer.

• Serve with a chilli dip or whatever your fancy takes and proceed to the table by hollowed out log canoe with two paddles.

Satay Ayam

Chicken Satay

 

This is really for eating on the hoof, dipping your bamboo skewer with its pieces of browned chicken into the little tub of satay sauce and slobbering about the pavements marvelling at the prices of Rolex watches the little man at your elbow is insisting are genuine fakes. This dish is therefore an ideal Barbie dish and will enchant your guests who by now will be sick of burnt hamburgers. Do this dish in three stages, the chicken marinade, the sauce and then grill the chicken and you will be amazed at how simple it is to produce such deep and wondrous flavours.

 

Assemble:

10 bamboo skewers 9 inches long

A shallow dish

A food processor

A small saucepan

A small frying pan

 

Ingredients:

2 small or one large chicken breast, skin off

For the Satay Sauce:

4oz of skinned peanuts

2 tablespoons of vegetable oil

2 large cloves of crushed garlic

2 spring onions tailed and chopped

½ a teaspoon of chilli powder

2 teaspoons of dark brown sugar

A tablespoon of fresh lime juice

1 tablespoon of coconut milk

A small pinch of galangal powder

Salt and ground black pepper

For the marinade:

2 cloves of crushed garlic

A teaspoon of galangal powder

2 shallots peeled and chopped

2 tablespoons of dark soy sauce

1 tablespoon of fresh lime juice

A red chilli chopped and deseeded

A tablespoon of chopped coriander

 

Then you:

• Cut the chicken into bite sized pieces and thread them onto the bamboo skewers, leaving a small gap between each. Place all when threaded into a shallow dish.

• Mix all the marinade ingredients together thoroughly then pour over the chicken making sure all pieces are covered, and then cover with cling film and leave to marinade for two hours.

• Place the shelled and skinned peanuts in a small frying pan and roast gently until just brown and firm. When the peanuts have cooled, place them in the food processor and grind until fine.

• Heat the oil in a saucepan and when hot add the garlic and shallots and cook for three minutes. Stir in gently a cup of water, add the chilli, sugar, galangal powder, the ground peanuts and bring to the boil stirring often and then simmer uncovered for about twenty minutes.

• Grill the chicken kebabs until brown with as much marinade on them as you can and hold on a warm plate.

• When the peanut sauce is thick, season, then add the coconut milk and lime juice and bring to the boil again and simmer until the consistency of double cream. Place into a fancy bowl and dip in the cooked kebabs then sprinkle with chopped coriander.

• Hail a passing rickshaw and serve “al fresco” by the nearest paddy field.

Braised Oxtail In Spicy Sauce

 

This next recipe relies on your local butcher having just butchered a water buffalo – well that’s a pity “if you’d only been here last week” the plaintive cry of the out of stock butcher. Fear not this recipe works just as well with our traditional oxtail so you will be able to prepare this festive dish after all; its well worth the cooking time.

 

Assemble:

An electric coffee grinder

A wooden bread board

An oven proof casserole dish

A fat skimmer (or balloon)

 

Ingredients:

6 pieces of oxtail, from the centre of the tail - trimmed

6 shallots, peeled and chopped

8 garlic cloves, peeled and roughly chopped

4 Thai chillies (orange if possible), deseeded and chopped

An ounce piece of galangal (ginger) root, peeled and chopped

2 tablespoons of rice or plain flour

1 tablespoon of ground turmeric

3 tablespoons of groundnut oil

2 lemon grass stalks, peeled to the fresh leaves

6 kaffir lime leaves

2 cups of water in which you have dissolved a tablespoon of tamarind essence

3 tablespoons of dark brown sugar

A 4oz tin of peeled plum tomatoes

 

Then you:

• Put the chopped shallots, garlic, galangal (ginger) root, and chillies into the electric coffee grinder and grind to a paste.

• Mix the flour with the ground turmeric and season with salt and ground black pepper in a mixing bowl then spread evenly over the bread board.

• Having trimmed the fat from the oxtail pieces, roll them in the flour mixture ensuring the whole piece is covered in a layer of the flour. Leave to rest for half an hour.

• Heat the oil in the oven proof casserole dish and when hot stir in the spice mixture stirring until the paste becomes golden and fragrant.

• Now add the floured oxtail pieces one at a time and cook until each piece is brown all over.

• Add the lemon grass stalks, lime leaves, tomatoes and tamarind water and gently combine. Top up with water to cover the oxtail and bring the whole to the boil.

• Allow to boil for two minutes then reduce the heat to a steady simmer and with the fat skimmer remove all fat from the surface.

• Cover with a lid and place in a medium oven, 160, for at least two hours.

• Take out of the oven and place on the top of the stove and stir in the sugar, season, then allow to cook uncovered for a further hour, or until the meat is falling off the bone

• Divide into two portions and serve wearing a full temple dance outfit including those “must have” golden baggy pants.

Coconut Vegetables

 

In the main most vegetables are stir fired as the Thai cook their entire meal all at once in their woks; vegetables as a separate accompaniment are the exception rather than the rule. If you prefer to have your meal with a separate vegetable plate try this - a coconut and chilli sauce over steamed cauliflower and carrots with a little red pepper. This can be served with all the preceding recipes if desired.

 

Assemble:

A large pan with lid

A steamer or electric steamer (better still)

A mixing bowl nice enough to serve to table

An electric blender

 

Ingredients:

½ a pound of cauliflower florets (without stalks)

¼ a pound of Broccoli florets

4 medium carrots peeled and cut into narrow strips.

A large red pepper deseeded and cut into strips, the same length as the carrots

2 cloves of garlic peeled and finely chopped

2 tablespoons of fresh lime juice

1 tablespoon of dark brown sugar

A decent pinch of red chilli powder

An ounce of desiccated coconut soaked in hot water for half an hour

 

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Then you:

• Place the cauliflower, broccoli and carrot into the steamer and steam for about five minutes or until they are just cooked (al dente).

• Drain into a serving bowl and keep warm

• Put the red pepper, lime juice, chilli powder, garlic and sugar into the blender and blend to a smooth paste, transfer to a small bowl and combine the soaked coconut, having squeezed it free of excess water (reserve the water its coconut milk!)

• Pour the blended paste over the warm vegetables and turn to ensure all vegetables are coated with the sauce.

• Garnish the dish with freshly chopped coriander and take to the table in the “de- luxe” rickshaw, with a 42 inch Plasma T.V. complete with stereo sound and tinted windows.

Sangkaya Fak Thong

Egg Custard In Pumpkin

 

Puddings are more of a festive treat than the automatic end course of your meal. This is not to say that the Thai people do not have a sweet tooth – quite the reverse, a quick glance at the state of the teeth of their older citizens will betray their love of all things sweet. This, therefore is hardly a pudding as such, however it makes for a spectacular ending to your Thai eating out (by staying in) experience and is sure to gain ecstatic acclaim.

 

Assemble;

A mixing bowl

An egg whisk

A large steamer pan and lid or an electric steamer

 

Ingredients:

About 5oz of palm sugar (jaggery)

8 large fresh hen’s eggs – yolks only

1 cup of coconut cream

One pumpkin no more than 8 inches diameter - or any that will comfortably fit inside your steamer (check before you start!)

 

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Then you:

• Take the top off the pumpkin with a sharp knife and reserve.

• With a soup spoon remove all the seeds and fibres from the centre of the pumpkin, taking care to leave all the soft flesh.

• You can keep and dry the pumpkin seeds for future use.

• Grate the jaggery (palm sugar) as necessary into a bowl, add the egg yolks and coconut cream and whisk lightly into a froth.

• Pour the frothy mixture into the hollowed pumpkin, right to the top, and then gently replace the severed top.

• Now place into the steamer (it will fit if you have checked it before you started!) and steam gently for about half an hour or until the custard in the pumpkin’s centre has cooked and is set.

• Gently remove from the pan and place upright and allow to cool for at least an hour.

• When cool slice, with the sharpest knife you’ve got, the pumpkin sideways to about one inch thickness and gently ease the slice with its set custard centre onto a serving plate

• Serve having gently sprinkle jaggery on the custard wearing your Yul Brunner “King and I” trousers with freshly polished head.