As You Like It South-East Asian Inspired Soup with Chilli

MISS MARIGOLD'S HOT CHILLI SOUP "RECIPE" (feeds 4-6, depending on how hungry!)

Welcome to Miss M's Cookery Class!
I love making soup, & it's really easy if you just follow a few basics... it's slow food, soul food for the whole person, not just the body... when you cook soup, take time... stir in good intentions... it really makes a difference...if you make extra,  you can freeze it for when you're cold & want something quickly... but cook it slowly... cook it lovingly... er... better read this before you begin as well!

There's no official "recipe" for this soup... so, as with almost all my cooking, it's "as you like it" - quantities will be whatever is in the store cupboard or garden, & it's never the same, but always sustaining.

I do need a few basic INGREDIENTS though:

onion, garlic, fresh ginger, chillies, & when I can purchase it, fresh turmeric, limes or lemons (can add a little of the zest as well - especially if supplies are short!) ...
carrots, chopped coriander (fresh, preferably with the roots attached), red capsicum... I like finely chopped fennel for sweetness & aroma...

*fish sauce (vegetarians substitute a little soy), soy sauce, tinned low fat coconut milk (ok, dessicated if you must!), sweet chilli sauce, good quality powdered vegie stock, good quality vegetable oil... sesame oil if you have it...water...salt - as pure & clean as you can get it - cheap supermarket salt leaves a nasty taste on the back of your tongue...

VEGETABLES: It's an "anything you've got" meal, so try to balance the flavours & textures to please your palate : create!
mushrooms, silverbeet (chard), baby spinach, baby bok choi, peas, snow peas (mangetout) green beans, shredded cabbage, mung bean (or any) sprouts, watercress, finely shredded kale
I have been known to add crushed tomatoes, extra fennel, zucchini (courgettes), broccoli, & I can't remember what else.

RICE NOODLES OR COOKED LONG GRAIN RICE can be added for "bulk" in cold weather. In fact, I'd even chuck in some cooked, diced potato, but remember to balance the flavours - starchy things seem to dull the piquancy...


USE : HEAVY BASED POT WITH A LID, (I also need a trivet on the stove, as I sometimes burn the bottom!) & NICE LONG HANDLED SPOON TO STIR (so you don't burn yourself!) and PLEASE make sure your KNIVES are SHARP so you don't cut yourself as easily, & so you actually slice through the vegetables, rather than bruising them... nicely cut vegies actually taste better - it's worth the trouble...

 METHOD:

Collect your ingredients... 

Chop 1 onion, & separately,
finely chop together 2 or 3 cloves garlic, peeled fresh ginger, about the size of your thumb or less, 2 long, sweet de-seeded chillies, or 2 fiery birdseye chillis, - whatever you think (NOTE BELOW)
peeled fresh turmeric 3/4 size of thumb & a few cleaned coriander roots, if you have them - impossible to say how many - taste varies so much, so at least 6, & no more than 10, & powdered tastes different, but is acceptable)... a MORTAR & PESTLE are satisfying, & bash the tough coriander root well, but I prefer a sharp knife...hmmm...

So, as with any soup, slowly sweat your onion in a tablespoon (or so) of oil with lid on pot, 10 mins at least (do NOT burn it - this is crucial to the success of good soup!), to release its delicate sweetness, and then add the above ingredients, along with a dash of sesame oil, & a little citrus zest if liked, then cook very, very gently, until all is soft and the aromas combine... your kitchen will smell divine!

Add hard vegies, like a couple of carrots & a sliced capsicum & some fennel - sweat them gently, until they release some juices, then sweat some mushrooms if you like, for a bit of depth... then water to cover about 3/4 of vegetables, & some of the citrus juice, turn up the heat to simmer, & then begin to add the sauces & stock - PLAY with this part... adding just a dash of each at a time, & tasting in between until you're happy with it - fish sauce stinks, & overpowers the dish very easily - BE CONSERVATIVE!... add vegie stock before any salt - is already salty, & recommended stock/water ratio is on the packet! Add more water to cover well... simmer... taste... add coconut....taste... adjust sauces & seasoning...taste...there should be a balance of sweet & sour flavours... keep topping up the water if it evaporates.. (boiling from kettle is best) 
Maximum 10 minutes before serving, add freshly chopped coriander, keeping some aside for garnish... herbs loose their robust essential oils if overcooked... and if you're using rice noodles or cooked rice, (or potato) this is a good time to add them, to stop them going gluggy (yuk!)... also, slivers of fennel, or bean sprouts or anything very tender should go in at the last minute, to keep them firm & fresh tasting....a final taste... adjust seasoning.

Serve in bowls, garnish with more chopped coriander (or whole leaves if you like) & finely sliced red chilli, with  a bowl of sliced chilli on the side, & slices of lemon or lime, soy sauce, salt & extra sweet chilli. I'm pretty sure you already have your favourites!

... golden & steaming, smelling clean & fresh, tasty & nourishing... worth using fresh ingredients, organic if possible, & preferably from garden to plate!

BUON APPETITO!


*notes on chillies - they vary in heat! If you're unsure as to how hot they are, carefully try nibbling a bit without the seeds... if it's mild, use it whole, but if hot, de-seed - you can always add more as a condiment when your soup is cooked & WASH the juice off your hands, board & knife!!!

Beltane Blessings

.....we're wishing you....

   ....sunshine and flowers.... 
    
    ....and...










Big Beautiful Bright Beltane Blessings!

Erasers, perfectionism, & happy accidents

When I was a kid, my art teacher banned erasers, so I learned to draw without them. I wonder now, if she had a deeper reason for teaching us to make "mistakes" into "happy accidents".
 She was a very good teacher... 

Now I am adult, if I need an eraser, it's a warning sign that I'm compromising my integrity, by not expressing myself freely. I'm pernickety & pedantic and secretly, I feel cheated out of my own creative experience. My effort to resolve the work unappreciated, I feel manipulated into having to produce something "perfect' for the rest of the world's to approval, instead of birthing something new with a life of its own, that I will love, imperfections & all, knowing the secret struggle we shared....

 

 There is a tenderness between the artist and the piece of work which has struggled to be born. Erasers, in a quest for perfection, can wipe away the unintended lines that reveal & respect the intrinsic character of the work....

And metaphorical erasers can disregard the private tenderness between a person creating their life, & the life they are creating that is known only to them,

 " happy accidents" & all.

Yep, she was a very good teacher....

Art Floozie

This week I saw Monet's water lilies in the flesh for the first time...
 it was a breathtakingly, achingly beautiful exhibition at NGV in Melbourne....
.... moved me to tears... and being privy to the work of the master has left me wondering so much about where to go with my own creative work....

With spring growth putting on a spurt, I am drawn outside to the garden, to create & maintain... inside the cluttered studio tells the story of someone who has never specialised in, or perfected any medium...

I confess, I am an art Floozie, with a capital F! I haven't had one life-long passionate love affair with any particular medium, in fact I'll play with any pretty thing that comes along! Some may be horrified at my lack of fidelity, but I simply can't pass up a new creative experience...... yet I don't consider myself "dilettante", which implies being hopeless... I am brilliantly, blissfully happy in all my art relationships...

There is potential for creative expression in almost any activity, whether tidying my personal space, or making something for others...

I like to make my work from many blended elements - knitting with 30 or 40 colours thrills me, and mosaics that employ varying shades of hundreds of carefully cut pieces of glazed tile delight me...

I'd never make a meal from one ingredient, yet those I choose must compliment & balance each other, lest they result in indigestion, and a badly executed painting has a similar effect on the mind.... on it goes, into every area of my life, this ordering, this impossible quest for beauty & perfection....

So, I think life generally, is an opportunity to express myself & connect with my inspiration, whatever I happen to be doing at the time... 
BUT, is this art? Is a life well lived one in which creativity has been priority, as well as pleasure?
 A reason for living could be to create a channel through which the Arwen flows unimpeded... but is it art?

Taking sides

....trees are helpful for finding your point of view....

...some people say it can be hard to see the wood for them....

...a Kookaburra seems to know what to do... just laughs, & finds a better vantage point....

 

..... perhaps your point of view might depend upon which side of the tree you find yourself standing on.....

Blessings of Imbolc and Lughnasadh

Waiting for spring feels akin to waiting for the first breath of a baby... all is anticipation for the new life that is...

The wisdom of the seed (or in this case, bulb!) is to store potential for growth...but it needs the animation of fire, the sun's illumination, to grow....

....this morning, as I reflect upon on the association of this time of year with Goddess Brigit, flame within the icy waters, it occurs to me that as midwife and healer, poet and smith, nothing in this world manifests without the warmth of illumination, and tender care.... that potential locked within a protective casing of ice over the fallow period of winter, now needs to be gently nurtured to fruition...

In my part of the world, we have had no snow over winter this year, but the symbolism still fits... the spring thaw has begun, and I look forward to a new season of growth and hope for a fine harvest.

In the South, I wish you the gentle blessings of Brigit's clear light, and in the North, I wish you the blessings of Lugh - God of golden sunshine - may you enjoy stamina enough to reap a fine golden harvest.

Wild weather and Violets

Windy and wild, this morning I picked the most pungent violets I have ever had the pleasure of experiencing..... 

I found a British hedgerow recipe almost a year ago, which I will share with you here...

RECIPE:

Take 3 or 4 handfuls of clean, fresh violet flowers, 150 ml boiling water,  300gms castor sugar..

Remove stalks and green centers of flowers, and put them in a clean ceramic or stainless steel bowl, then tip over boiling water and cover. Leave for 12-24 hours....

Then put the violets and water into the top of a double boiler, or a pot that fits over the top of another one. Add sugar and stir...

In a lower pot (under the one with the violets in it) bring water to a gentle boil, and; carefully stir the violet mixture until sugar is completely dissolved... now it is a syrup!

Now, strain off the violet syrup,put into a clean, sterilized jar, label and refrigerate up to 12 months...


Use in cakes and baked things like scones, biscuits, and in butter creams, ice-cream and custards.... Oh! how about a sprinkle in slightly sweetened organic whipped cream on a freshly baked, warm scone, with a bit of home- made crab apple jelly....


or add a dash of this syrup to chilled fizzy drinks and lemonade... I rather fancy trying it sprinkled over some delicately flavored, chilled fruit, such as fresh lychees..on a hot summer afternoon... soon...