Chilli
Birds Eye or Thai chillies are available in most supermarkets and are quite distinctive so really do try to find them if you can. They are small and have a fruity taste and are hot! Like, really quite hot but in a good way. They are extensively used in many Thai dishes, such as in Thai curries and in Thai salads, you can use the green as well as the ripe red chilis. Not all chillis are equal which I’m sure you know but just in case you didn’t I thought I’d flag it.

But Margie I don’t have a pestle and mortar!
If you don’t have a pestle and mortar, you can just use your knife and a chopping board. Crush the garlic before you begin and use a knife to really finely chop the coriander and the chilli. Then use the side of your knife to really mash the whole lot into a paste.

Slicing steak
You may have heard people talking about slicing steak “against the grain” before and not really known what they are talking about. But it’s something you can do to really make sure your steak tastes as good as it can as it’s going to make the beef so tender. And it’s very simple to do - when you look at the steak you will notice that most of the fibres are going in one direction - this is the grain! Lay the meat on the cutting board so that “the grain” appears as going from left to right, then use your knife to slice perpendicular to these lines or “across the grain”

Cooking green beans
This is a niche tip in some ways but one I feel weirdly passionate about. Overcooked green beans are gross. Limp and mushy and just unpleasant. But perfectly cooked beans are a thing of beauty. You want to cook them for about 5–7 minutes to get perfectly crisp but tender green beans—al dente. And always in salted water. Of course if you plan to cook the beans further after blanching them, then aim for a shorter cook time - more like 3–5 minutes and then you can char or sauté them without running the risk of overcooking the beans. A 5-7 minute cooked bean is perfectly cooked when you can bite through one without hearing it squeak.

Drain the beans and immediately plunge them into ice water to shock them. Drain again, then pat dry with paper towels. Whatever you do, do not skip the step of dunking the beans in cold water as soon as you remove them from the heat. Shocking the beans stops the cooking process and locks in their bright green colour.

A little bit of cooking involved to make this salad but I would argue largely an assembly job which I find very comforting after a long day.

And with that, all that’s left to say is Happy New Year! Can’t wait for all the exciting things coming in 2024 -