Grilled Fish Tacos

After making my Fiery Roasted Red Pepper Salsa the other day I couldn't resist making another favourite – Grilled Fish Tacos. They are so light and refreshing and perfect for a sunny day. They are also great for serving to friends as you can just put everything on the table and let everyone help themselves. Even my 2 year old loves them as he can just pick at what he likes and it's fun to assemble the tacos - I just miss out the spicy salsa for him!! This recipe serves 4 but is easily doubled so serve with some ice cold beer or a nice chilled white wine and you have the perfect Friday night meal to enjoy in the garden!

Fiery Roasted Red Pepper Salsa

Since this month's Sweet Heat challenge is Mexican food I couldn't resist making and sharing with you my favourite spicy salsa. And to really mark the occasion and change things up a bit I decided it was finally time to give the good old habanero (Scotch Bonnet) a go to really amp up the heat level! With or without the scotch bonnet this really is a fantastic salsa for those of you that like some heat but if you prefer a less intense heat then use Serrano, Jalapenos or whatever you can gets your hands on to add some spice – and if you don't like spicy food simply miss the chillies out all together and you will still have a delicious, roasted pepper and tomato salsa.

Thanks to a recipe by Thomasina Miers I now roast my tomatoes and garlic in a dry frying pan until they get nice and charred which adds a further dimension to this flavour combination. If you like you could also char them on the barbecue or if you are short of time you can miss that step out but I do recommend giving it a go.

Sweet Heat Round Up # 7 ~ Thai Food

It might be Spring but with the way the weather has been around here, it seldom feels like it, so this month's Sweet Heat challenge was perfect for transporting us to warmer, exotic climates and the beautiful aromatic tastes of Thailand. So whether you have a passport or not, with this collection of recipes you could quite easily be basking on the white beaches of Thailand, sipping coconut water and savouring the regional delights.

To whet our appetites and get things going, Nicola from 41 Feasts kept her other half (and us!) extremely happy with her Thai Spiced Prawns.

Next up and Corina from Searching for Spice recreated one of her favourite restaurant starters and made a fantastic Thai Spiced Beef Salad packed with chilli, lime and coriander for that perfect Thai salad.

Using her newly purchased and delicious curry powder, Janet from TasteSpace made a healthy and wonderful Raw Thai Pineapple Parsnip Rice.

The lovely Janice aka Farmersgirl, and Sweet Heat regular contributor treated us to her super tasty Thai Vegetable Stir Fry with Coriander Rice.

My entry for this month's challenge was one of my favourite starters for a Thai feast – Thai Fishcakes with Cucumber Dipping Sauce.

And you can't have a Thai challenge without a Thai curry appearing so I was delighted to see this beautiful Thai Green Curry from Tango Like Raindrop who was able to finally put her green curry paste to good use.

Another mouth watering and finger licking chicken recipe came courtesy of newcomer and the very lovely Dom of Belleau Kitchen fame who whisked us away to the exotic climates of Thailand with his one-pot Roasted ThaiChicken Thighs.

I was also delighted to welcome another newcomer, Jen from Juanita'sCocina, to the Sweet Heat party with her absolutely fantastic looking and super Spicy Thai Noodles....they definitely pack a spicy punch!

And finally Laura from Credit Munched ends this Thai feast with a deliciously light and aromatic Thai soup packed with Thai chillies, ginger and lime.

As always thank you so much to everyone that took part this month and check out tomorrow's post for the next challenge which is being hosted by the lovely Emma over at Souperior. As always it's going to be spicy!! Happy Cooking : )

Thai Fishcakes

Whenever I make an entire Thai feast I always like to start with these Thai Fishcakes served with a Cucumber Dipping Sauce that is refreshing and spicy at the same time! They are super easy to make (providing you have a food processor!) and always seem to be a hit, no matter who I serve them to. I love the contrasting crunch of the green beans with the soft fishcakes so I add a little more beans than you would normally expect, but if you like you can reduce the amount of beans a little.

This month's Sweet Heat Challenge is Thai Food so I thought these would be the perfect dish to share.

You can make the fishcakes in advance but I would suggest making the Cucumber Dipping Sauce no more than an hour or so before you plan to serve them so that the cucumber stays crunchy and delicious!

Sweet Heat # 7

So far this year Sweet Heat has challenged you to Rock Indian food and make some Spicy Spanish Tapas, and so now I thought it would be nice to take a trip to South East Asia for some Spicy Thai Food! With Spring just around the corner (apparently!) I love the light, fresh and vibrant flavours of Thai cooking which of course includes plenty of spicy heat. On top of that the Songkran Festival which is Thai New Year begins on April 12^th this year, so what better way to celebrate that to indulge in plenty of aromatic Thai food. Due to the vastness of this months theme you have plenty of options – it can be sweet, savoury, a starter, main course, soup, street food or even a Thai inspired condiment – whatever you like, it just has to include chillies of some form (and they don't necessarily have to be Thai chillies!). So transport yourself and your kitchen and take a journey to beautiful Thailand and start cooking some spicy Thai food to invigorate and excite your taste buds.

As always the usual rules apply......

• You must mention Sweet Heat in your post with a link back to this site. You are more than welcome to also include the Sweet Heat Logo on your post but it's not mandatory.
  
  
• Send your post url, your name and a photo of your creation to vanillacloudsandlemondrops@hotmail.co.uk no later than April 27th.

• You can create your own recipe or make your favourite recipe but please credit the original source if using someone else's, and please if using someone else's recipe, you must write the directions in your own words!
  
  
• You can enter as many times as you like. The more the merrier!
  
  
• Your entry must include chillies of some description, after all that is what this challenge is all about.
  
  
• If you tweet your recipe use the hashtag #sweetheat and tag me @LyndseyFleenor and I will re-tweet it! You can also post the link of your entry on my facebook page.

This month you have until April 27^th to enter, so what are you waiting for?... Can you handle the heat?!