Thai food

In the spirit of it being our 8th wedding anniversary the Husband booked us a table at my favourite Thai restaurant in town. The grandparents were on baby sitting duty and we had a rare night out !

We may live in a small Norfolk market town but we're lucky in as much as we have a couple of pubs which do great food, a lovely Indian restaurant which also does (quite slow on occasions) delivery, a great Chinese and this fantastic little Thai restaurant.

I love Thai food but can't always deal with the heat. I adore spicy food but just can't do blisteringly hot - unlike the Husband. He doesn't quite subscribe to the same idea as my Dad - a good curry burns twice - but he's not far off.

Being rather unadventerous last night, we went for the set menu, but what is there not to like ?

We got a dish of mixed starters which included satay, steamed dumplings, thai fishcakes, prawn spring rolls and accompanied by 6 little pots of dips.

With our appetites suitable whetted the mains arrived. Now this must be the worst picture in the world but it shows what we had. From the top, anti-clockwise beef in oyster sauce, the biggest juiciest prawns in a spicy sweet and sour like sauce, egg fried rice with a green curry fragrant with a gentle heat and stir fried veg.

After that we were suitably full but it was all washed down with a Macon-Villages chardonnay.

The service was excellent, the bill reasonable and the company - well what can I say !!

Thai meatballs

So, day 2 of my low-carb diet. I've just got over the headache from hell (caffeine and sugar withdrawal) and the nausea and thinking this may just work - again !

Last night was something quick and easy after work - baked salmon topped with pesto. Yum.

Tonight I did an old low-carb favourite which all the family will eat, although son no1 did state that they were "a little bit spicy but it was an ok spicy". Son no2 ate a few mouthfuls and then just ploughed into the peanut sauce - strange child he is.

THAI MEATBALLS WITH PEANUT SAUCE

serves 4

1 small onion
1-2 cloves of garlic
1 red chilli
1 tsp each of lazy ginger and lazy lemongrass
juice of 1/2 lime
stalks from a bunch of coriander
500g pork mince
seasoning

for the sauce

1 rounded tbsp peanut butter (I used crunchy as I prefer the texture)
1 heaped tsp dessicated coconut
2 tsp tamari soy sauce
1 tsp fish sauce
juice of 1/2 lime

To make the meatballs. Put the onion, garlic, ginger, lemongrass, chilli, coriander and lime juice in a processor and whizz to a paste. Mix with the mince and season. Set aside for a few hours if possible.

Mix all the ingredients for the sauce with about a tbsp of boiling water to thin it down. Set aside to rest, it will thicken on standing so may need more water later. I have also tried mixing with some creamed coconut which is nice too.

Heat some groundnut oil in a large pan and add walnut size balls of the meatball mix to the pan and cook until brown and golden.

I served this with green beans and steamed broccoli but would be good (for those not low carbing) with rice and a large salad.