Come Dine With Me - The Recipes

I have just completed round one of our very own home version of Come Dine With Me (a popular cooking/lifestyle show here in the UK). My Thai themed recipes for Fish Cakes and Thai Red Curry are below. I also made an authentic (OK not at all Thai) Chocolate Cheesecake.

Starter: Thai all fish and no carb, super easy and delicious Fish Cakes

Ingredients:

• 450g boneless fish fillets, cubed (I used cod)
• 75g plain flour
• 2 tablespoons oyster sauce
• 2 tablespoons Thai sweet chili sauce
• 1 teaspoon fish sauce
• 1 teaspoon brown sugar
• 2 tbsp freshly chopped coriander
• 4 spring onions, sliced
• 1 egg

To make:

1) Combine fish, flour, oyster sauce, chili sauce, fish sauce, brown sugar, coriander, spring onions and egg. Process until well combined. You could use a food processor if you are a fancy pants and have such a contraption - I do not and combined with a wooden spoon then finished off with a hand blender 

2) Chill this mixture in the fridge for 30 minutes (you could prepare your dessert in this time, or grab a glass of wine and hit the sofa, after all you are working so hard...you deserve it)

3) Once your mixture is nicely chilled and should have firmed up a bit, shape the mixture into fish cakes, and dust with flour. I found this amount made 4 nice palm sized cakes.

I did steps 1-3 the night before and then covered in foil in the fridge to be cooked just before serving. When you are ready to cook yours:

4) Pour oil into a frying pan. Heat over medium-high heat until hot. Fry fish cakes for 8 -10 minutes, turning occasionally (do not get distracted and leave for too long, you will burn their little bums. If this does happen serve the other way around, no one will know...shhh)

Voila, I served on a bed of rocket and drizzled over the whole thing with sweet chili sauce. I also bought a lime to garnish with a wedge for your guests to squeeze as they so desire. Do not forget to take said lime out of shopping bag...

Main:Thai Red Curry

Ingredients:

• 1 tbsp vegetable oil
• 1 medium white onion, chopped
• 1 tsp root ginger
• 1-2 tsp Thai red curry paste (I used Tesco's)
• 400g can chopped tomatoes
• 50g sachet coconut cream
• 400g your meat of choice (I used chicken - this would be amazing with prawns)
• coriander , chopped, to serve
• Rice

To make:

1) Heat the oil in a medium saucepan. Add your onion and ginger, then cook for a few mins until softened. Stir in the curry paste, then cook for 1 min more. Pour over the chopped tomatoes and coconut cream. Bring to the boil, then leave to simmer for 5 mins, adding a little boiling water if the mixture gets too thick.

2) Tip in the meat, then cook for 5-10 mins more. Serve alongside your rice and sprinkle with a little chopped coriander, if you remember (I didn't remember)

Easy Peasy! The beauty of this dish is you can recreate easy enough as most of the ingredients can stay in your cupboard (coconut cream curry paste, tomatoes - all you need to do is buy some fresh meat).

Dessert: Chocolate Cheesecake

Ingredients:

• 20 Oreos (or another biscuit of your choice)
• 100gr melted unsalted butter (use proper full fat stuff, it'll be worth it)
• 100gr cream cheese (I went for Philadelphia full fat)
• 150gr whipping cream
• 200gr Nutella
• Chocolate sprinkles

To make:

1) Crush your biscuits - I did it the good old fashioned way by beating them in a bowl with a wooden spoon and pour in your meted butter 

2) Mix this all together and pat down into serving dish(s). Put this into the fridge to cool while you make the topping

3) To make your topping, whisk your cream until it forms light peaks. If you do this by hand well done you. I started by hand then got too tired/bored so employed the help of a hand whisk. A family member or friend may be just as effective

4) In a separate bowl mix your nutella and cream cheese until smooth and even (a bit further on than this, but doesn't it look good?)

5) When this is smooth beat in whipped cream. I did this staggered (so added half the cream, combined then added the rest) You should have something resembling this:

6) Take base out of fridge (it should be cool now) and pour on the topping. Smooth out as flat as you can

7) Top with chocolate sprinkles, or any other decoration you fancy and leave in fridge over night. When you are ready to serve garnish with strawberries and cream

This recipe was inspired from this blog - worth a look.

If you do make any of these, let me know how it goes!

Tweet Pin It Now!