Following on the rough theme of easy, quick thai cooking recipes that i should realistically be able to knock up despite my culinary dsylexia, what we have here is a stir fry pork and prawn with egg fried rice.

This is another non spicy thai dish dispelling the myth that thai food is often spicy (although if you are a chili addict you could quite easily throw some in if necessary). If your looking to find out how to make egg fried rice or are looking for a bit of variation instead of adding the usual chicken – try this version.

Pork and prawn is a nice mix of flavours and consistancies and goes well with egg fried rice. This dish will take about nine minutes to cook up but does require fifteen minutes preperation beforehand – but only because you have to boil some rice up first.

Most of the ingredients are available in the local grocers and the most exotic ingredient is soy sauce so this thai cooking recipe is not to hard to recreate.

Ingredients (serves 2)

Pork Loin 150g
Soy Sauce 3 tbsp
Vegetable Oil 1 Tbsp
Onion 1/2 medium onion
Shelled King Prawn 150g
Tomato Sauce 2 Tbsp
Cane Sugar 1 tbsp
Rice 4 cups
Egg 2no

Preparation (15 mins)

Boil some jasmine rice until cooked (about 10-12mins) and drain.

Cut the pork loin into thin strips and marinade it in soy sauce for 10 minutes.

Slice the onion into thin strips.

Peel the shrimps and slice the tails lengthways.

Cooking (10 minutes)

1.  Heat the vegetable oil in a large pan on a high heat.
2. Once the oil is hot add chopped onion to the oil and stir fry on a medium heat for 1-2 minutes.
3.  Add pork to the pan and stir fry with the onion until the pork changes colour.
4. Add prawns to the pan and stir fry for a minute or two until they change colour.
5. Add 2 tbsp of tomato sauce to the stir fry and add 1 tbsp of cane sugar. Mix into the stir fry and cook for a minute.
6. Add in all the drained boiled rice and mix thoroughly into the stir fry. Cook for a minute stirring as you go.
7. Take the stir fry out of the pan and put onto a side plate.
8. Put a tablespoon of vegetable oil into the pan and heat through. Add the two eggs to the hot oil and break up and stir fry in the pan for a minute until the egg cooks through.
9. Add back the fried rice into the pan and stir the egg into the fried rice.
10. Take off the heat and plate up.

This thai fried chicken recipe is a little more complex to put together than a standard stir fry, but worth the effort. There is no spicyness or heat in the dish, instead there is a very very subtle sweetness to the dish….i even hestitate to really call it sweet.

The chicken is seasoned with a salt and pepper rub before frying and then a red sauce is created with a mix of tomato sauce, worcestershire sauce, chili sauce and sugar. This is all then watered down. It sounds like there should be heat, but the balance of sweet ingredients and spice creates a subtle medley of flavours that can’t really be classed as one or the other. Its just plain flavoursome……..

Ingredients – Serves 2

Chicken Leg 500g
Salt 1 tsp
Ground Black Pepper 1/4 tsp
Vegetable Oil 2 cups
Onion 1/4 cup
Tomato Sauce 3 tbsp
Thai all purpose seasoning sauce 1 tbsp
Thin Soy Sauce 1 tbsp
Worcestershire Sauce 1 tbsp
Chili Sauce 2 tbsp
Cane Sugar 2 tbsp
Bay leaves 3no
Water 1 cup
Fresh Green Beans 6no
Carrot 1no

Preparation – 2-3 minutes

Rub salt and black pepper into chicken.

Clean the carrots and green beans. Slice the carrots into finger slices.

Cooking – 35 mins.

1. Put 2 cups of vegetable oil into a hot wok and heat on a high temperature
2. Put the chicken into the hot oil and deep fry for about five minutes on each side or until skin turns yellow on each side.
3. Remove the chicken and put into a seperate saucepan.
4. Remove the oil from the wok.
5. Put about two tbsp of fresh oil in the wok and stir fry the onion until the colour begins to change.
6. Once the onion begin to change colour add the tomato sauce, the all purpose seasoning sauce, thin soy sauce, worcestershire sauce, chili sauce, sugar and bay leaf. Mix altogether and stir it on a medium heat for a minute.
7. After a minute pour the sauce over the chicken in the seperate saucepan.
8. Cook the chicken and the sauce in a saucepan on a medium heat, just simmering for a further 25 minutes.
9. Whilst the chicken in sauce is cooking boil the carrots and green beans in a pan of water for 10 minutes or until soft.
10. Once the chicken has simmered for 25 minutes plate up.

Not usually eaten with rice, just the veg.

Ok, this is a nice easy thai stir fry recipe to start with. This version of sweet and sour pork takes about five minutes to prepare and about nine minutes to cook up, and all you need is a single pan……it just doesn’t get easier than that!

This sweet and sour isn’t like the claggy dishes sold in restaurants with syrupy sauce that leaves you thinking you have made a mistake by the end of the dish. This version has a delicate sweetness that isn’t all powerful and doesn’t destroy your palate by the time you have finished. Vinegar and fish sauce seem to provide the sour or the balancing element.

My favourite thing about this dish is the textures…..something that can easily be ruined if cooked to long so watch out. Peppers and onions provide nice crunch, tomatoes provide soft explosive, sweet juiciness and oyster mushrooms generate a smooth texture. I like chili heat, but only to a certain degree. This dish doesn’t include chili’s but if your addicted, or just in the mood you can add them for additional effect. Here’s what you need and how to do it (check out the video at the bottom) :

Ingredients (Serves 2)

Olive Oil 1 tbsp
Chopped Garlic 2 Cloves Large Garlic
Pork Loin 400g
Oyster Mushrooms 100g
Cucumber 1/2 cup
Onion 1/4 cup
Tomato 1/2 cup
Green and Red Pepper Mixed 1/2 cup
Spring Onion 1 cup
Tomato sauce 2 tbsp
White Vinegar 1 tbsp
Cane Sugar 1 tbsp
Salt 0.25 tsp
Fish Sauce 1 tbsp
Water or Chicken Stock 0.5 cup
Tapioca flour 0.5 tbsp
Ground Black Pepper 1 tsp

Green Thai chili’s (optional to taste)

Preparation 5-10 mins

Slice tomatoes into halves, slice onion, cut the cucumber into slices, break oyster mushrooms into pieces, chop peppers into bite size pieces, chop and press garlic, cut spring onion stems into inch long pieces, slice thai chili leaving seeds (optional)

Cut the pork into bite sized strips.

Mix the tapioca flour with 1 tbsp of cold water.

Cooking (9mins)

1. Heat up a wok or a high brimmed frying pan to a high heat.
2. Once the wok is hot add 1 tbsp of olive oil.
3. Let the oil heat through (but not smoking) then add the two chopped and crushed cloves of garlic, heat through for a minute or until you can smell the garlic. Turn down the heat to a moderate heat.
4.  Add the 400g of sliced pork and stir fry until the pork is cooked (Changes colour, 5 mins).
5. Add the cucumber,onion, tomato, green/red pepper, (chili if required) and stir fry with pork until the vegetable begin to change colour and soften. (2mins)
6. Add spring onion, tomato sauce, vinegar, sugar, salt, fish sauce, water (or chicken stock) and water/tapioca mix and continue to stir fry for 1 minute. Turn off the heat and serve up with some jasmine rice.

Special note to self – don’t double up to try to create enough for four in one go. It won’t cook easily and will just work out bad.