The #Shelfie Project: Marion: Recipes and Stories from a Hungry Cook by Marion Grasby

I wasn't an avid watcher of the very first season of Masterchef Australia but I do remember a public outcry when one of the favourites, Marion, was eliminated in the last few weeks of the competition. Regardless of missing out on a spot in the finals, Marion has had a successful post-Masterchef career, having had released not only cookbooks, but her own range of curry pastes and Asian food kits in supermarkets.

This is her first cook book and it is absolutely adorable. Western and family recipes from Thailand are interspersed with photos of produce at Thai markets and of Marion herself, making the cookbook colourful and extremely easy on the eyes. She also includes personal stories from her life and how she shifted from a journalist at the ABC to a fully-fledged devotee to da culinary lyf.

While a lot of the recipes in here are too adventurous for me to attempt (those including eel and other such exotic ingredients), I like that this book touches on a lot of the basics such as Pad See Ew, Thai fried rice and red curry paste.

You only have to take a short drive to your local supermarket to know that curry pastes of all tastes and varieties are readily available for purchase, with red curry paste being one of the more common ones. However I loved the idea of making my own, and while it is certainly more labourious, the satisfaction you gain is well worth it.

I assume it was a combination of the fact I added turmeric to the Chiang Mai noodle soup and left out the shrimp paste that the curry lacked the red colour, but it certainly did not detract from the taste at all. The soup I made with the paste was extremely delicious and I had to exercise gross amounts of restraint in order to stop eating it. It can also be served with rice if you're not much of a noodle fan (I know, I know! But apparently these people really do exist...).

Red Curry Paste
Adapted from Marion: Recipes and Stories from a Hungry Cook by Marion Grasby
Ingredients
10 dried long red chillies
1 tsp coriander seeds
1 tsp cumin
1 tbs uncooked rice
3 golden (French) shallots, roughly chopped (I didn't have any so i substituted with a small brown onion and 2 extra garlic cloves)
4 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
10cm piece of ginger, peeled and roughly sliced
1 stem lemongrass, white part only, roughly sliced
1 tsp sea salt
1 fresh red chilli, sliced
2 tsp shrimp paste

Method
Soak the red chillies in some boiling water until softened (about 10 minutes). Drain, pat dry and set aside. Meanwhile, toast the cumin and coriander seeds in a dry pan over medium heat, until fragrant. Remove from pan and set aside.

Use a mortar and pestle to pound everything (except for the chillies and shrimp paste) for "as long as your arms will let you."

Transfer everything, including the shrimp paste and chillies, to a food processor and blitz until a smooth paste is formed. I left out the shrimp paste and found that the curry paste was very dry and added two tablespoons of oil to help it come together. Transfer to an airtight container and store in the fridge for up to a week.

Khao Soi (Chiang Mai Noodle Soup)
Adapted from Marion: Recipes and Stories from a Hungry Cook by Marion Grasby
Ingredients
200g dried egg noodles, prepared according to packet instructions, drained and set aside
200g chicken breast, cut into thin strips
2 tbs vegetable oil
3 tbs red curry paste
1/2 tsp ground turmeric
3 cups coconut milk
2 tbs fish sauce
1 tbs white sugar

Method
Heat the oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat and add the curry paste and turmeric. Cook for one minute, until curry paste is steaming and fragrant.

Add 1 cup of the coconut milk and simmer for two minutes. Then add the rest of the coconut milk. fish sauce, palm sugar and 1 cup of water. Allow to simmer for five minutes.

Reduce the heat to low and add the chicken breast. Allow to cook slowly for 20 minutes or until chicken is soft and tender.

When ready to serve, arrange handfuls of noodles into bowls and spoon over the soup. Garnish as desired with sliced red chillies, fresh coriander, fried shallots and a squeeze of lemon.