Ilse's Kitchen - culinary adventures of a girl who loves to eat

I was in the mood for carrot soup, so I bought some carrots. While trying to decide on a recipe a regular European version crossed my mind, I considered Cajun carrot soup, and then finally settled on Thai. The combination with peanuts appealed to me so I settled on this recipe, tasted, adjusted it a little and voila. Ingredients (serves 4): 500g carrots, chopped 1 sweet potato, chopped 1 red onion, chopped 4 cloves garlic, minced 1 inch ginger, grated 1 teaspoon galangal paste 2 tablespoons Thai red curry paste 1 tablespoon peanut butter 400ml coconut milk 400ml water Juice of 1 1/2 lime 1 stalk lemon grass 1 tablespoon olive or coconut oil salt to taste To garnish: fresh cilantro handful chopped peanuts chopped chili pepper or chili flakes Instructions: 1. In a big pan, fry the red onion in the oil for a few minutes until softened, then add the garlic, ginger, and galangal paste.  2. Fry for a few minutes more, then add the carrot and the sweet potato and...

Sometimes you see a recipe that makes your mouth water just thinking about it. I had that with this dish, which of course meant I had to try to make some to see if it was as good as it sounded. I played with the quantities and ingredients a little bit - the original recipe was a little too sour for my liking, but this was just right. Recipe (serves 2): 2 salmon filets 250mL full-fat coconut milk juice of 1 lime, plus a few slices to garnish 1 tablespoon lime zest 1 medium shallot, chopped 2-3 cloves garlic, minced 1 inch lemon grass, skin removed and inner core grated 1 tsp dried oregano 1 tbsp olive oil 1 tsp corn starch (if you prefer a runnier coconut milk-texture rather than a thicker sauce, leave this out) 1 tsp sugar salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste fresh cilantro and oregano leaves, chopped. *Serve with brown or white rice. Instructions: 1. Pad the salmon filets dry with paper towel, and season both sides with salt and pepper. 2. Heat a ski...

I spent four years living in Mexico, and tacos de bistec con queso were one of my ultimate feel-good foods. There are a lot of great Mexican recipes, but this is one of my favourites: it’s super easy and one of the few things that I still make on a very regular basis. So yesterday, when my boiler quit on me and I was left without heating or hot water and full of fear of the possibility of an impending lock-down & the implication that this meant I might be left in the cold for the length of quarantine, this was naturally what I turned to. And it worked to reassure me for a while - the familiarity was comforting and the spiciness warmed up my insides. Ingredients (makes 4): Salsa Roja 3 medium sized plum tomatoes 1 small yellow onion 1 clove garlic 2 red chili peppers, deseeded (or more, if you prefer it extra-spicy) few decent dashes olive oil pinch of salt Tacos: 200g beef steak 1 medium-small yellow onion, chopped. Few good handfuls grated cheese 1 lime, cut i...