Thai Pork Wrap recipe based on found shopping list No.4

Continuing my occasional post inspired by one of my shopping lists - this one features in Volume One of a series of mini zines I will be making to record my finds, you can find it here.

This list is rather extravagantly written on one very small corner of a very large, brand new A4 manila envelope which still has the price written in the corner.  This implies to me that it was written in a hurry on the first piece of paper to come to hand, but the super neat and organized, bullet-marked list belies this!

The ingredients here can only be for some sort of South East Asian curry, the galangal is a dead give away as I've only ever seen it used in Thai cooking (it's a relative of root ginger, it has a different texture, being a bit more like Chinese water chestnuts, the skin is more pale with pinkish markings and less tough than ginger, it looks a bit like a very knobbly Jerusalem artichoke.  The taste is decidedly more citrussy and ginger can be used as a substitute as galangal can be tricky to find)

I've done a little research and created a recipe of my own based on some I've found on-line and in my collection of cookery books.  It can be made with the ingredients from my list as well as the normal Asian store cupboard ingredients I would expect any cook to have.

Thai Pork Wraps

Chinese leaves
2 tablespoons of cooking oil 
6-8 fat cloves of garlic, finely chopped
3 shallots, finely minced
5 inches of fresh galangal
2 whole small red chilli, thinly sliced - leave the seeds in if you like it hot
500g of lean pork mince 
1 large carrot, shredded (you can use a mandolin or vegetable peeler if you knife skills are not up to it!)
2 tablespoons of Thai fish sauce
2 tablespoons of soy sauce
1 lime - juiced
Handful bean sprouts

To garnish
Handful of fresh coriander, finely chopped
Handful of peanuts, roughly chopped
3 spring onions, finely sliced on the diagonal

Method
Separate the Chinese leaves, keep them whole, wash them and set aside on a towel to dry.

In a large frying pan or wok on a medium heat, add the oil, garlic, shallots, chilli and galangal and lightly fry for a minute, don't let them colour too much.  Turn the heat up to a high temperature and add the pork mince and stir well, keeping the meat constantly moving and mixing it well with the other ingredients so that it cooks dry and doesn't steam which will happen if your overcrowd the pan.  It is best to do this in two batches if you only have a small pan/wok.

One the mince has cooked, add the finely shredded carrots and toss for a moment or two so that they wilt a little.  Add the fish and soy sauces and mix well.  Add the lime juice (no pips please) and stir once more and remove from heat.  Arrange in a serving dish and add the chopped coriander, peanuts and bean sprouts.  To finish, sprinkle over the sliced spring onions. 

Spoon the minced pork into the Chinese leaves and fold over to make a parcel, eat and enjoy.

(Ingredients on the list not used in recipe - beef and mixed veg)

What's for supper, a little book of found shopping lists.

I have a secret, it's not earth shattering gossip or anything like that, it's a little embarrassing. People think I'm strange.

Here goes - I collect shopping lists, as I have mentioned here before. Other people's shopping lists. I look in shopping trolleys, the floor around trolleys and at the end of the conveyors at checkout and when I find a list, it makes me happy. I have a drawer full of them and really want to share the eccentric, eclectic, gourmet, fast food wonderful variety of them.

So using list I've scanned some I have made them into a little tiny book of sixteen full colour pages each one with a little glimpse into the life of someone who lives in my part of the world. I've even hand stitched it!

What's for Supper?  A little book of found shopping lists - by Sarah Franklin

Shopping List 2 - A bit of an odd lunch with a chocolatey dessert.

This is a bit of a random collection of items, there's no obvious plan here, the person who made it certainly likes their fruit.  And onions!  Perhaps they're trying to loose some weight and the chocolate bars are there as a treat?

If I were to be given the items on this list, here's what I'd do with them (assuming that I have a stocked larder and fridge with all the usual cooking bits and pieces).

As a starter, I think some prawns with a low fat yogert dressing with some fresh herbs stirred through, nice and simply, and served on a bed of shredded lettuce.

I'd bone and skin the chicken thighs, marinate with olive oil, garlic and lemon juice and fry them in a hot pan until nice and brown round the edges.

To accompany the chicken, I'd roast about half of the 20 omon (I'm assuming that's onions) as I really like them this way - remove the skins and cut into half through the stalk and then in quarters still through the stalk so they don't fall apart.  Carefully mix with olive oil and unpeeled cloves of garlic and some rosemary stalks.  Spread out on a roasting tray and roast in a hot oven until browned but still soft.  Turn over a couple of times.  Drizzle with good quality balsamic vinegar when they've cooled a little.

I think that I'd melt the dark cho bar - 7% and the cho bar with some butter and an egg yolk to make a nice smooth dipping sauce for the clemtains (clementines?), kiwi and melon - both I'd chop this rather random selection of fruit into nice size pieces and using the 70s style cocktail sticks pierce the fruit and arrange it artfully on a platter with the chocolate sauce - everyone likes fruit dipped in chocolate.  The pomegranate seeds will be served in a bowl to add a little glamour to the proceedings.

The cola will be there for those who have no taste in drinks!

A spring garden lunch imagined from Shopping List 1

I go food shopping several times a week, I've never been one to do a big weekly shop - I like to make my daily food depending on my mood and I'm often a bit wary of a full fridge.

While I'm at the supermarket or local shops I'm usually on the lookout for discarded shopping lists.  Sometimes there's a couple and sometimes none.  It can be embarrassing to be leaning into empty trolleys or picking things up from the floor, but needs must!  There's something so revealing about them and I find it really interesting to be able to look at a list and (usually) see straight away the purpose of the shopping - an Italian supper, a Thai curry or a summer lunch - a little secret glimpse into someone else life.

I have found that I suddenly have a decent sized collection of lists, so I have gathered them together and scanned them and want to share them with the regular blog posts I plan to make where I'll show a picture of the found list and I'll imagine a meal and/or an occasion from what's written.

Here's my first one:

It looks like it's a weekend lunch for quite a few people to me.  I can see it being out in the garden and hosted by an older couple (the writing reminds me of my grandmother's), from the items, I don't think that they are great gourmets or cooks, more the sorts to buy from the deli counter and with a preference to meat over vegetables and healthy thing.  I think there would be children present, grandchildren prehaps?  I hope they have some good early spring weather for their party!

Here's my interpretation of this list and what I'd do with it 'ready steady cook' style using the standard contents of a reasonably stocked larder and fridge for those essential extras.

New pototoes will be made into a salad with French dressing which I'd mix while the potatoes were still hot so that all of the delicious mustardy, herby garlicy flavours would work their way right it.

A nice simple salad with the lettuce and toms for any health concious guests with just a little olive oil and lemon dressing.

The eggs I'd hard boil, grate and mix with salt, pepper and some mayonnaise and serve on the buns which I'm interpreting as nice bread rolls - if there are children coming I'm sure these would go down well.  I know I don't exactly have much experience with kids, but I recall egg sandwiches being popular!

I'd make a nice platters with the pies and cold meats, I'd cook the crown turkey and thinly slice cold.

I'd make another nice big plate of the pizzas which I'd cut up into slices let everyone help themselves.

The chips I'd keep in the kitchen for emergencies in case any kids are irritatingly picky and won't eat anything else!

To finish with, the gatau's

The Bicardie Breezers would be served on ice......

Toilet/rolls will go into the guest loo and the flash and w up liq will go under the sink in the kitchen to clean up the mess when everyone has gone.