Last night we had princeofcairo's mega-health edition Tom Yum Kai recipe for our now-traditional Thursday night family dinner (my sister, her husband momosnyx, Stef and yours truly). It was as exquisite as so eloquently advertised, and we should now be sufficiently fortified against any assaults of the Mexican flu.

It took a number of trips to the various if few sources of Asian foodstuffs in the area to gather the ingredients, but particularly the substitution of fresh for dried galangal improved on an already delightful dish.

In exchange I'll post one of my favorite soup recipes, which is quick enough to prepare of a night's rpg session, if you have a little time beforehand. It's a recipe by Ken Hom, who's cookbooks on Asian and particularly Thai cuisine opened up a whole new world for me.

( North Thai Chicken-Noodle-Soup (serves 4) )

Miller Rogers, my boss' wife (and overall nice person), is a nutritionist (Ernährungsberaterin) and is trying to do some research on what people typically eat at home. If you like to help, you can post your dishes in the comments, and I'll forward them to her. Here's what she's got to say:

I am trying to do some research on what people cook and eat at home. Everyone has 3-5 fail-safe dishes that they cook at home on a regular basis. I wonder if you would remind replying with whatever your dishes are.

I am not looking for perfect nutritional balance, or showing off with steamed broccoli, but more everyday foods like shepherd's pie, lamb hot pot, roast chicken, pasta and sauce etc or whatever it is you actually eat. I want to find out from 1,000 people what is being eaten and cooked at home. Would you mind forwarding this on to five people and asking them to do the same so I can reach the 1,000 different people? (Any age, any continent)

If you could include other dishes you do, whether Starters, Side dishes or Puddings then I will be even more pathetically grateful.

I really appreciate your time, and hope you don't mind my asking.
Thank you.

Miller Rogers

And here's some stuff that I often cook:

Potato-Leek Bake

Boil potatoes, skin and cut into pieces. Fry onions, garlic, leek and (optionally) mushrooms for a short time. Add 250ml cream and 1 or 2 teaspoons of curry. Salt and pepper to taste (optionally add Tabasco, Sesame oil and/or soy sauce), let cream boil up once.

Mix potatoes and leek-cream mix in oven dish, cover with gratin cheese (or Gouda). Bake in oven until cheese gets crispy.

Tortellini Bake

Cook 250g tortellini until al dente. Put in oven dish and add 200ml cream and 150g of ham (cut into small pieces). Add salt, pepper, tabasco to taste. Cover in gratin cheese and bake in oven until cheese is crispy.

Thai Pork-basil dish

Fry ground pork in red Thai curry patse with onions and garlic. Add basil and a few spoons of cocunut milk. Simmer for a couple of minutes. Serve with steamed rice.

Spaghetti al Tonno

Cook spaghetti until al dente. Fry onions and garlic in olive oil. Add chopped fresh tomatoes and/or tomato paste. If using tomato paste, add water. Add oregano, salt, pepper, tabasco. Optionally add leek, corn or fresh basil. Simmer until sauce has thick consistency.