This is just a quick post to share another one of the amazing recipes we learnt to cook in Thailand, this time for a dish called Pad See Ew. This is a really quick and easy stir fried dish which can be made suitable for vegetarians with some basic swaps.

We loved this dish and actually thought it was nicer than Pad Thai – which is actually cooked for tourists and very rarely eaten by locals. The flavour of Pad See Ew is much better! The texture of the noodles can be a little strange to western tastes (we didn’t have a problem but it is personal preference, so if you don’t like the thick noodles, they can be substituted for thinner rice noodles).

We know it’s been a long time since we posted a recipe, but we haven’t actually been self catering since we left New Zealand! Whilst in the van we were fan of one pot meals, including an improvised spicy mixed bean and chorizo stew with rice, the smell of which was complimented by many other campers. Given we took a fantastic cooking course in Chang Mai, we thought we’d share a couple of our favourite dishes from the day, starting with a classic Green Curry.

Chinese vegetable stir fry with egg fried rice.

Start cooking the rice. Fry the onion and pepper in oil until softened. Add the broccoli and fry until tender. Add garlic, ginger and chilli for a few minutes before adding soy sauce. Reduce until sticky and add seeds and nuts. Add more soy sauce until sauce is desired consistency.

Once the rice is cooked, heat in large pan or wok with oil (stirring constantly) for a few minutes. Push rice to one side of the pan and add beaten egg to the other - fry like an omelette before chopping up and mixing into rice. Add cooked peas and serve with sauce.

This is one we thought we would be quite difficult given the basic kitchen we have, but actually, it turned out great and had the added benefit of being ultimately customisable.

Dough:

• 3 ½ cups of plain flour
• ¼ ounce of dry yeast
• 1 teaspoon of sugar
• 1 ¼ cups of warm water
• ¼ cup vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon of salt

Topping:

• 1 can of tomato puree with garlic and basil
• Fried onions
• Sliced mushrooms (in Bolivia, these come almost exclusively in a can which was certainly a new experience for us)
• Fresh chilli, sliced
• Cheese (we used local cheese which has a similar texture to halloumi
• Oregano

Dissolve the yeast and sugar in a large bowl with water. Leave for 5 minutes then add oil and salt. Gradually add the flour a cup at a time and combine. Kneed for 10 minutes on a lightly floured surface. Oil a clean large bowl, add dough and leave covered in a warm place until doubled in size (around 45 mins to an hour). Whilst this is proving, fry the onions until soft and set to one side. Knock back the air in the dough and stretch out on to oiled baking sheet. Spread tomato puree and add toppings. Bake at 200 degrees centigrade for 25-30 minutes or until crust is golden brown.

Tasty, cheap and fun to make. Who doesn't love pizza?!

Having spent some time trying out different ingredients from local shops and supermarkets, we thought we'd start a mini series of recipes that are fun to make and really enjoyable to eat.

The first installment is for the creatively named Road Curry with homemade flat bread.

Paste:

• 3 cloves of garlic
  
• Generous chunk of ginger
• Big handful of fresh coriander (chopped)
• Crushed sweet yellow chilli/pepper powder (could use turmeric or curry powder as an alternative)
• Crushed red pepper powder (paprika or cayenne as substitutes)
• ½ lime (juiced)
• Salt & ground black pepper
• Hot chilli powder (or dried chilli)

Sauce:

• 1 onion
• 1 red pepper
• 2 celery sticks
• Small carrot (diced)
• 5 fresh tomatoes
• Generous helping fresh coriander (chopped)
• ½ stock cube in 1 cup of water

Flat breads:

• 1 teaspoon of salt
• 2 tablespoons of oil
• 2 cups of flour
• ½ cup of water

Mash together the paste ingredients and add to a pan of fried onion, pepper and celery. Cook the paste for a few minutes, adding some chicken stock for additional moisture to stop it sticking. Add the remaining ingredients and boil down until tomatoes have softened and the carrot is tender.

For the breads, combine the ingredients in a large bowl and kneed. Form into even balls and leave to rest for a few minutes. Hand stretch dough and fry in a hot pan with oil until brown spots appear on the bottom. Flip to cook the top side for a minute and set aside.

We served our curry with potatoes instead of rice