Tag: thai

Hilaire Walden

27 February 2022

Some chefs love the limelight, some prefer to stay in the background, focusing on cooking and writing. Hilaire Walden is clearly one of them. 

She is author of some 40 books and she has written for prestigious magazines and newspapers about food, cooking and restaurants. She wrote The Great Big Cookie Book, The Book of Tapas and Spanish Cooking, the Book of French Provincial Cooking, The Singapore Cookbook, Quick After Work Summer Vegetarian Cookbook, The Book of Fish and Shellfish and more recently I Love My Barbecue. Indeed, a broad culinary spectrum!

The Loire

One of our favourites is Loire Gastronomique. In this book she follows the course of the French river and describes the various regions, local products, local recipes and of course the wines that go with it. Cheese, cookies, pies, everything. The Loire region is known as the Garden of France. In this garden you’ll find wonderful castles (Azay-le-Rideau, Chambord, Chinon), great wine (Muscadet, Sancerre, Pouilly-Fumé) and beautiful food (asparagus, lots of fruit, artichokes and of course Lentille Verte du Puy). The book is inspiring and it will make you dream of a walk along the Loire, with a view on Amboise and a glass Crémant de Loire in your hand.

Recipes

One of the benefits of Hilaire Walden’s recipes is that they are always correct. Sounds odd, but as we all know, unfortunately, often recipes are simply not complete or correct.
If you prepare a dish for the first time, simply follow her instructions and you’re fine.

She started publishing books around 1980, so perhaps your favourite book will be second hand, but don’t worry, it will not be outdated.

Hilaire Walden
Hilaire Walden - Loire Gastronomique

Curry with Shrimps, Cardamom, Coriander and Ginger

2 January 2018

A simple but very tasty main dish. Serve it with some rice and you will have a lovely and rich dish.

We enjoyed our curry with a glass of Spanish gewürztraminer. The white wine needs to be aromatic and herbal. The gewürztraminer should come with a touch of sweetness which links nicely to the coconut and the cardamom.

What You Need
  • 1 small Red Onion or a bigger Shallot
  • 1 Chilly Pepper (a quarter or a half, depending on the spiciness)
  • 1 Garlic Clove (both fresh and prepared)
  • 1 Cardamom
  • Coriander (seeds and fresh leaves)
  • Ginger (fresh, 5 centimetres)
  • Nutmeg
  • 1 or 2 Djeroek Poeroet leaves (these are the leaves of the Makrut or Thai Lime (Citrus Hystrix); if fresh use 1 leave
  • Curry Powder
  • 6 – 10 fresh Shrimps
  • Coconut Milk (150 ml)
  • Olive Oil
  • Black Pepper
What You Do
  1. Clean the shrimps and remove the parts you don’t want to eat, especially the dark vein. This is actually the shrimp’s gastrointestinal tract, so not something you want to eat
  2. Once cleaned, set aside
  3. Cut the onion in four and then slice
  4. Remove the seeds from the chilly pepper and cut the pepper in small bits
  5. Fry the onion gently in a skillet with olive oil
  6. Use a mortar to crush the coriander and cardamom seeds
  7. Add the curry powder, the cardamom, the coriander, the grated nutmeg and the chilly pepper to the pan
  8. Fry a bit more, making sure you get all the tastes
  9. Add one clove of fresh garlic, one prepared and the grated ginger
  10. Fry and stir
  11. Start adding the coconut milk and keep stirring
  12. Add the djeroek poeroet
  13. When the sauce starts to thicken, check if you have sufficient sauce for the shrimps.
  14. f not, add some more coconut milk
  15. When thickened, add the shrimps and let cook for 4 minutes, maximum, depending on size
  16. Chop the fresh coriander leaves
  17. Just before serving add three quarters of the fresh coriander leaves to the curry and mix
  18. Check if some black pepper is required
  19. Sprinkle some more fresh coriander just before serving the dish.
  20. Serve with rice, preferably Camargue red rice because it offers such a wealth of taste. Indian Basmati will also do the trick of course.