Jamie's 15 Minute Meals: Thai Chicken Laksa

I received Jamie's 15 Minute Meals for my 24th birthday, and decided I would expose myself to new flavours, techniques and skills by cooking my way through the book, one recipe at a time. Four years later and I'm still not through the first section. I took a hiatus after doing the Michelle Bridges 12WBT, focused more on calories than on nutritious filling food. I then almost forgot about the challenge, until the middle of college last year when I decided I should really get back into cooking new recipes to challenge myself once more.

At least once a month I cook a new recipe.

And as this is my virtual paperless scrapbook, I thought I would blog about each recipe here because why not.

This Thai Chicken Laksa was so yummy the first time I made it, it was one of the first 15MM recipes that came out super awesome the first time I made it. It took me longer because I didn't have the right food-processor attachment, but the extra time it took was worth it.

So now it's been added to the meal roster, and I am looking forward to making this one more often.

The best thing about this laksa is how thick it is. The grated pumpkin in the soup really adds depth, and there are just some really powerful flavours working their magic. The first time I made it I didn't have kaffir lime leaves, and the second time I made it I forgot the coriander - but both times it has been super flavoursome and I haven't noticed the missing ingredients too much. I add a bit more stock than what JO says, because otherwise the noodles soak up all the broth.

And the chicken thighs are gorgeous and moist, and I love the five-spice/honey/sesame combo. It's a real winner. Soong loves it too.

So this one is a winner because:

• there's only one pot, one grater, one frypan and one mini food-processor to wash. 
• it tastes awesome
• Soong likes it
• it's super easy
• now that I know how to make it, it'll just keep getting faster and faster

This was recipe 11 out of 119 recipes in total. I'll do a bit of back-blogging about the first 15 recipes, and then will blog as I go for the rest! Exciting stuff. 

A place for thoughts

It's probably a good time to start fact checking again and making an objective account of all the really wonderful things that happen, the wonderful people around me and the wonderful ways God blesses me. That will keep me in line!

In the break between the last blog post and this one:
- I finished an amazing year of Bible college and graduated with a Dip of Bible & Missions
- I went back to working at my old job, but in a new office
- I learned a lot about caring for people with mental illness
- We started hosting young adults home group
- We had a wonderful housemate move in and stay for a year (who is about to move out)
- I learned to ride a bike
- I passed Greek! But am pretty bad at it now as I haven't done hardly anything since :(
- I read a few books
- I didn't go on holidays anywhere, but we've got a trip to USA planned.
- Had lots of little fun adventures, including seeing live music, spending time with friends, picnics, getting outdoors, cooking
- I won a competition on Instagram and got a free cookbook
- I had a pretty nasty ankle injury thanks to my friend's dog
- We got internet at home, installed air conditioning and an awning (feeling like real grown ups now)

So it's been a full year and a half, and a happy year and a half.

And here's to more regular blogging. Because paper and pen is so 2010, and everyone needs one or more scrapbooks.