Passport & Plate - Chicken with Cashew Nuts (Gai Phad Med Mamuang)

amused — Fri, 6 Mar 2015 10:14:37 GMT

Ingredients
Ingredients (serves 2)
200g chicken breast thinly sliced
70g deep-fried cashew nuts (if you have raw cashew nuts deep fry them in half a cup of oil over a low heat until they are brown, drain)
2 tablespoons oil
3 crushed cloves of garlic
1 small onion – sliced
1 big chilli (red or green) – sliced
60ml water
a few spring onions – sliced

Sauce
1 tablespoon oyster sauce
1 teaspoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon fish sauce
1 teaspoon palm sugar

How to prepare this recipe
Preparation:
Put oil into wok, add garlic and when it begins to turn brown add the chicken, onions, chillies – stir-fry for about 3 minutes.
Add water and stir again.
Add sauce ingredients and stir-fly briefly.
Turn off the oven and serve with rice

The story behind this recipe
Her hands grasped the rims of a huge rice bag tightly and her body went rigid as she was staring inside. When she looked up and her eyes met mine, I immediately knew something was wrong and I rushed towards the corner.
"I thought they were sesame seeds," her voice trembled, a finger pointing inside.
No, they were neither sesame seeds nor any other seeds. There was no denying that what we were both staring at, amongst the even pearly grains of rice, were ugly, little black bugs.
Having noticed the disgust emanating off our faces our Thai friend gently pushed me away, peered inside and gave out a hearty laugh.
"If you mind, just wash the rice and picked them out," Thom didn't even try to hide his amusement.
And that was exactly what we did. Two Cinderellas dressed in loose T-shirts and worn out flip flops laboriously working over their bowls. Later, at a candlelit dinner we looked knowingly at each other, satisfied with ourselves, plates of rice and chicken in front of us.
The following day we hugged, kissed and waved our goodbyes. They left, I stayed for a few more days. When the lunchtime came and I sat at a wooden table staring at my rice marked with small black dots I knew were not sesame seeds. Two more lunches passed before I was able to swallow the next mouthful of rice. Two more days and then I didn’t care anymore, I was hungry.

Photos: My Scholarship entry - A 'place' I have visited

amused — Mon, 14 Jan 2013 10:34:00 GMT

Sometimes I get this impression that all my life evolves around travelling - I plan, I set off, I live the other life, I come back and tell and show, and then go on to planning again. Sometimes when I walk I stop, take a step back or forward and think about the right image to capture, and then... continue walking as I'm cameraless on my way to work. Travelling has changed my attitude towards people and the world, photography has changed my way of perception. I'm trying to capture emotions and moments learning to think more and to observe better, trying not to shoot thousand of photos, but just to catch the moment I want. I'm a curious, open-minded and eager traveller. I keep trying things, be it a new dish, a sport or a language. There are so many people to meet, so many places to visit, so many new experiences awaiting somewhere that I look forward to what the life will bring and I'm never bored. As a kid I dreamt of 'places I must visit'. Then I grew up, started travelling and realised that every place turns out amazing if only you you travel with an open mind. So I've been to Armenia, Benin, Columbia, Denmark,...... Mexico... and I hope Oman will be next on my list.

This is Africa – a lesson on patience

Passport & Plate - Chicken with Cashew Nuts (Gai Phad Med Mamuang)

Photos: My Scholarship entry - A 'place' I have visited