Ingredients
100g peeled onion or shallots
8 garlic cloves
1cm sized piece of ginger, peeled and sliced
15g lemongrass (soft white stem only), sliced
2 tsp ground coriander
3 Kashmiri dried red chillies
1 birds eye chilli
4 tbsp vegetable oil
50g fresh coriander
1¼ litres vegetable stock
3 branches laksa leaves (aka kesum leaves), or curry leaves, or both
2 tsp curry powder
1 tsp palm sugar
400ml coconut milk
100g rice vermicelli noodles
300g bean sprouts
150g french beans, trimmed and halved
250g fried tofu puffs or prawns (optional)
4 limes, halved

Method
Put the first seven ingredients in a small food processor bowl. Add half the oil, and the roots and stems of the fresh coriander, and process to a semi-smooth paste.
Heat the remaining oil in a saucepan and fry the spice paste on medium heat for 20 minutes, stirring all the time – you want to cook it slowly without burning. Add the stock, laksa branches, curry powder, salt, sugar and coconut milk, simmer gently for 30 minutes, then taste and add more salt if necessary.
About 7 minutes before laksa us ready remove and discard the curry leaf branches (the leaves can stay in the soup). Add the beans and prawns. About 4 minutes later add the noodles and half the sprouts. When the soup is done ladle into large bowls and top with the remaining sprouts and shredded coriander leaves. Squeeze lime juice on top and throw one half of squeezed lime into each bowl.

Anyway today I decided to some chocolate cupcakes. Again I have taken my inspiration from the wonderful hummingbird bakery recipe book. I have made two small adjustments. Instead of plain flour, I used self raising and therefore only used a teaspoon of baking powder (rather a teaspoon and half). I also substituted the cream cheese with quark ( a fat free soft cheese) to try and cut down on the calories a little (also its all I had in the fridge!)

So here’s the recipe

Chocolate cupcakes

Ingredients

Cakes
100g self raising flour
20g cocoa powder
140g caster sugar
1 tsp baking powder
a pinch of salt
40g soft unsalted butter
120ml whole milk
1 egg
1/4 tsp vanilla essence

Frosting
150 g icing sugar
20g unsalted butter
75g quark (or cream cheese)

Method

Preheat the oven to 170C/Gas mark 3.

Line a 12 hole muffin tin with paper cases.

Put the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder, salt and butter in a large bowl and beat on a slow speed with an electric hand mixer (or put into a stand mixer) until well combined and a sandy consistency.
Whisk the egg, milk and vanilla extract together in a jug and add half to the dry mixture. Beat slowly to combine and then more quickly to beat out any lumps.
Add the remaining liquid mixture and beat slowly to combine. Do not overbeat as the cakes will become heavy.

Transfer the mixture into the cake cases until 2/3 full and bake for 20-25 minutes in the preheated oven until they spring back to the touch. A skewer inserted should come out clean.
Remove from oven and allow to cool on a wire rack before frosting.

For the frosting, beat the butter and icing sugar together until well combined. The mixture will be crumbly.
Add the quark or cream cheese and beat to combine. Keep beating for a few minutes, you will see it get lighter in colour and texture. Then use the mixture to frost the cupcakes.

Double chocolate chip cookies

Makes twelve.

50g unsalted butter
450g dark chocolate, roughly chopped
2 eggs
170g soft light brown sugar or light muscovado sugar
¼ tsp vanilla extract
85g plain flour
½ tsp salt
½ tsp baking powder
2 baking trays, lined with greaseproof paper

Preheat the oven to 170°C/gas 3. Put the butter and half the chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water (do not let the base of the bowl touch the water). Leave until melted and smooth.

Put the eggs, sugar and vanilla extract in a freestanding electric mixer with a paddle attachment (or use a handheld electric whisk) and beat until well mixed. Pour in the chocolate mixture, beating on slow speed until well combined.

Sift the flour, salt and baking powder into a separate bowl, then stir into the chocolate mixture in 3 additions, mixing well after each addition (scrape any unmixed ingredients from the side of the bowl with a rubber spatula). Finally, stir in the remaining chocolate until evenly dispersed.

Arrange 6 equal amounts of cookie dough on each prepared baking tray. Make sure that the cookies are spaced apart to allow for spreading while baking. Bake in the preheated oven for 10-15 minutes, checking regularly after 10 minutes. They are ready when the tops start to crack and look glossy. Leave the cookies to cool slightly on the trays before turning out onto a wire cooling rack to cool completely.

This is Adam signature dish, so easy to make we eat it nearly every week.

Ingredients
1 clove of garlic
1 red chilli
1 nut sized picece of galangal
1 tin coconut milk
1 stick of lemongrass
3/4 kaffir lime leaves *
1 tbsp thai red curry paste
A handful of thai basil*
Juice of half a lime
1 tsp palm sugar*
1 tsp fish sauce
1 red pepper
1 handful mushrooms
1 carrott*
1 handful green beans*
1 pak choi*

* the beauty of this dish is you can really adapt it to what you have available and vary the vegetables to your taste. Any crunchy veg will do. Can’t get lime leaves or Thai basil? leave it out. Don’t have palm sugar? Use normal sugar. No galangal then ginger will do just fine.

You can of course make the curry paste but it much quicker to buy it and it tastes just good!

Method
Start by finely chopping the ginger, garlic and chilli. Also chop all the veg into even sized piceces: slice mushrooms, carrots into battons etc.

Into a large pan heat a tbp spoon of veg oil. On a medium heat fry garlic, ginger and chilli for 1 min then add tbsp Thai red curry paste and fry for another two mins. Then add the coconut milk. Simmer on a med/low heat. Add lime leaves, tsp spoon of fish sauce, stick of lemongrass with the bulb part smashed (use rolling pin or something heavy), sugar and lime juice. Allow this mixture to simmer for 10 mins siring occasionally. Then add the vegetables and thai basil and cook for 5 mins. Serve with rice. Yummy.

Thai-Baked Sea Bass with Fragrant Rice

Serves 8

for the dipping sauce
25ml sesame oil
1 small red chilli, seeded and finely chopped
35g ginger, peeled and finely chopped
1 stick lemon grass
3 lime leaves
2 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
125ml sweet soy sauce
100ml light soy sauce

for the Fragrant Rice
2 sticks lemon grass, bulbous ends crushed
8 lime leaves
salt
1.5ltr water
225g basmati rice, washed twice in cold water

for the Sea Bass
35ml sesame oil
3 medium chillies, seeded and roughly chopped
3 sticks lemon grass, peeled and bulbous ends roughly chopped
80g root ginger or galangal, peeled and roughly chopped
4 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
8 lime leaves, roughly chopped
15g coriander
8 x 200g pieces sea bass, scaled and filleted
1–2 metres banana leaf or foil

First make the dipping sauce. Heat the sesame oil in a pan and fry the chilli, ginger, lemon grass and lime leaves slowly with the garlic for 1 minute to soften and release the flavours. Add both soy sauces, bring the mixture to the boil, then cool and pour it into a bowl or, ideally, individual soy dishes.

Now for the rice: simmer the lemon grass with the lime leaves in 1.5ltr salted water for 10 minutes. Add the rice and simmer it for 10–12 minutes until it is just cooked. Drain in a colander, then return it to the pan with a lid on and let it stand for 10 minutes before serving. This will help it become nice and fluffy. Serve the rice in individual bowls or put it in a large bowl to pass around to guests.

While the rice is cooking, prepare the fish. Heat the sesame oil in a pan and fry the chillies, lemon grass, ginger, garlic and lime leaves in it for a couple of minutes. Then put them into a food processor with the coriander and chop them finely. Preheat the oven to 200ºC/gas mark 6. Spread the paste on each fillet and wrap it in a piece of banana leaf like a parcel, folding the leaf so that the edges join underneath the fillet. Bake for 10–15 minutes.

Serve the fish on individual plates with a little pot of dipping sauce and either individual bowls of Fragrant Rice or pass a large bowl round.

Lentils are high in iron, serve with a leafy green vegetable(high in vitC) to help you absorb the iron!

Ingredients

• 8-10 ounces spinach, stemmed and sauteed
• 200g green lentils, cooked
• 100g mushrooms
• 1 tablespoon cumin
• 3 tablespoons bread crumbs
• 1 beaten egg
• 1 clove garlic
• a small bunch of coriander
• salt, pepper and tabasco to taste
• 2 tablespoons olive oil

Method

Finely chop the garlic and mushroom. Gently fry in olive oil over a low to medium heat until browed.

Squeeze any excess water from the spinach and chop finely.

Toast the cumin seeds in a dry frying pan for a two minutes.

Mix the garlic, mushroom, spinach, lentils, cumin, bread crumbs, together in a bowl. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Add the chopped coriander and tabasco. Mix in the egg. Form the bugers by forming a ball in your hand, then carefully pat them into a burger shape. Refrigerate the mixture for at least 30 minutes.

Bake in the oven on a medium to high heat for 15 mins, turning half way through the cooking time.

Serve warm with oven baked potato wedges and a green salad.

Inspired by lipsmackinggoodness blog

I’m not a big fan of cheesecake – but friends (who are) loved it.

Serves 8

Ingredients

Base

• 8 digestive biscuits
• 6 tbsp caster sugar
• 100g unsalted butter

Vanilla cream cheese

• 400g cream cheese
• 6 tbsp icing sugar
• Juice of 1/2 lemon
• 1 vanilla pod, split
• 600ml double cream

Method

Make the base first. Grind the biscuits by putting them in a large mixing bowl and bashing with a rolling pin until they resemble fine breadcrumbs. Melt the butter and add it to the ground biscuits and mix. Divide the mixture between 8 ramekins and pat down to form the base.

For the vanilla cream cheese, put the cream cheese, icing sugar and lemon juice in a large bowl. Add the seeds from the vanilla pod and beat until smooth. In another bowl, lightly whip the cream to soft peaks, then fold into the cream cheese mixture.

Add the cream cheese mixture to each ramekin and level the tops with the back of a knife. Chill until ready to serve.

Add blueberries on top if you wish. Serve

This recipe is adapted from Gordon Ramsay’s No Bake Berry Cheesecake.