What to Cook This Weekend from Chicken Noodle Soup and Cambodian Fish Amok to Japanese Tonkatsu

What to Cook this Weekend is a newish weekly series that we launched last month with suggestions for often easy but always memorable weekend meals from our recipe archives. Meal ideas might include dishes we’re making at home that we think you’ll like, feasts to cook for holidays, along with the occasional recipe we’re testing that you might like to try.

Our new What to Cook this Weekend series came about because our other new recipe series What to Cook this Week, which we also launched last month, was so well-received by readers, we decided to try a weekend edition, hence What to Cook this Weekend. As both have proved popular, we’re going to continue them, so look out for What to Cook this Week on Sunday night.

Each week What to Cook this Weekend will comprise a round-up of meal suggestions for this weekend from the Grantourismo recipe archives – which are heaving with hundreds of recipes for dishes from around the world, beginning with decade-plus-old recipes from our first recipes series The Dish.

We launched The Dish on recipes for the quintessential dishes of places we travelled to when we launched Grantourismo and our 12 month global grand tour back on New Year’s Day 2010. Many of our most popular recipes on the site come from that series, from our Moroccan Moroccan lamb tajine with prunes and almonds to this classic Toulouse cassoulet. 

Suggestions for recipes you could make might include meals to cook for holidays, dishes that we’re cooking in our kitchen that we think you might also like, and meals based on seasonal ingredients. As with our What to Cook this Week series, we’d also like to use What to Cook this Weekend to occasionally share recipes we’re developing for our cookbooks that we’d love you to try out and share feedback.

Before I share our suggestions for what to cook this weekend, I have a favour to ask. Grantourismo is reader-supported. If you’ve enjoyed our recipes, please consider supporting Grantourismo and what we do here by buying us a coffee (we’ll use our coffee money to buy cooking ingredients for recipe testing) or making a donation to our epic, original Cambodian cookbook and culinary history on Patreon. You can also shop our Grantourismo store for gifts for foodies, including fun reusable cloth face masks designed with Terence’s photography.

Another way to support the site is by using our links to book accommodation, rent a car or campervan or motorhome, buy travel insurance, book a tour on Klook or Get Your Guide, or purchase something on Amazon, such as these James Beard award-winning cookbooks, cookbooks by Australian chefs, classic cookbooks for serious cooks, cookbooks for culinary travellers, travel books to inspire wanderlust, gifts for Asian food lovers, picnic lovers and travellers who love photography. We might earn a small commission but you won’t pay extra.

Now let’s share our suggestions as to what to cook this weekend.

What to Cook This Weekend from Chicken Noodle Soup and Cambodian Fish Amok to Japanese Tonkatsu

Here are our ideas as to what to cook this weekend…

Friday Dinner – Russian Chicken Noodle Soup Recipe

If you’ve had a big week and like the idea of keeping things simple tonight, take a look at our Russian chicken noodle soup recipe and consider making a big pot of this comforting broth.

My Russian chicken noodle soup recipe with chicken meatballs makes another one of my Russian family recipes, my Russian grandmother’s chicken noodle soup – with a few tweaks.

It’s an old-fashioned chicken noodle soup – let’s call it a retro soup – but it’s also a restorative soup as only chicken soups made from scratch can be.

It is also an easy soup to make, coming together quickly, in just 30 minutes or so. The juicy chicken meatballs cook in the soup and there’s no stock to make, the flavour coming from the meatballs and subtle use of spice.

It’s also a fantastic soup for leftovers, refrigerating well, and tasting even better the next day. I still have leftovers and will be putting the pot on the stove very soon.  

Russian Chicken Noodle Soup Recipe with Chicken Meatballs for a Comforting Old-Fashioned Soup

 

Saturday Breakfast – Breakfast Salad Recipe

I know I’ve shared this with you before, but our breakfast salad recipe from our Weekend Eggs recipe archives is just so good, so filling, and so easy to assemble.

It makes a healthy-ish breakfast salad with soft boiled eggs, avocado, crispy bacon, mushrooms sautéed in the bacon juices, crunchy lettuce, sweet cherry tomatoes, and bright tangy pickles.

It’s for those of you who can’t decide between a healthy breakfast or comforting bacon and eggs.

We also have tips for getting those perfectly soft-boiled eggs in Terence’s guide to how to boil eggs perfectly.

Best Breakfast Salad Recipe with Soft Boiled Eggs, Bacon, Avocado, Sautéed Mushrooms, and Pickles

 

Saturday Lunch – Tuna Melt with Simple Sourdough Batard Recipe

Terence has been resuscitating his sourdough starter this week, which has been dormant in our refrigerator for almost six months since we moved into a new apartment without an oven.

Thanks to a reader’s donation, we were able to buy a smart new toaster oven, so Terence will be baking sourdough again. (Tips here if you’re also baking sourdough in a toaster oven.)

I’ve placed my order with the baker for a simple sourdough batard tomorrow. We prefer the slightly longer sourdough batard to the round sourdough boule as it’s better for sandwiches and toast.

Simple Sourdough Batard Recipe for Making the Baguette’s Lesser Known Cousin

I have had cravings for Terence’s tuna melt so that’s Saturday’s lunch order also placed. Terence’s tuna melt recipe takes the often-limp grilled cheese and tuna toasted sandwich and, by replacing the milk bread with fresh home-baked sourdough bread, turns it into a café-worthy gourmet open sandwich.

Not in the mood for a tuna melt? We have more sourdough bread ideas for you. Haven’t begun your sourdough journey yet?

See Terence’s simple sourdough starter recipe, beginner’s guide to easy sourdough baking and sourdough starter discard recipe ideas to use the excess sourdough you remove when you feed your starter.

Ultimate Tuna Melt Recipe – How to Make the Best Tuna Melt Ever

 

Saturday Dinner – Cambodian Fish Amok Recipe

Fancy something special for dinner on Saturday night? I recommend you try your hand at our Cambodian fish amok recipe made with the Khmer yellow kroeung spice paste, below.

Khmer Yellow Kroeung Recipe for Kroeung Samlor Machou, Cambodia’s Essential Spice Paste

 

You’ll use the herb and spice paste as the base of your fish amok or amok trei. ‘Amok’ means to steam in banana leaves (although you can use ramekins if you like) while ‘trei’ is simply ‘fish’.

It’s a sumptuous steamed Cambodian fish curry and it’s an ancient dish dating back to the magnificent Khmer Empire, which at one point ruled over Cambodia and much of neighbouring Thailand, southern Laos and southern Vietnam.

You’ll need to pound the paste in a mortar and pestle. That’s not as hard as it sounds, it will give your arms a good work-out, and it will fill your kitchen with wonderful fragrances.

Cambodian Fish Amok Recipe for an Authentic Steamed Fish Curry in the Old Style

Serve it with steamed jasmine rice if you want to keep things simple, but if you’re up for a feast – it’s Saturday night after all – three or four more Cambodian dishes.

Perhaps, for starters, you could make some of these crispy fried Cambodian spring rolls, below, and a home-made spring roll dipping sauce to go with those, or these fragrant kaffir lime and lemongrass fish cakes.   

Then, to eat along with your fish amok, perhaps a salad, such as this beautiful banana flower salad if you can access banana flowers, or this crunchy cucumber salad if you can’t, this smoky char-grilled eggplant with savoury minced pork or this stir-fried squid with Kampot peppercorns. Or browse our collection of Cambodian recipes for more ideas.

Cambodian Fried Spring Rolls Recipe for Crispy Deep-Fried Egg Rolls

Sunday Breakfast – Thai Son-in-Law Eggs Recipe

It’s been a while since we made this Thai son-in-law eggs recipe for kai look keuy, crispy fried soft-boiled eggs drizzled in a sweet tamarind sauce and sprinkled with fresh fragrant coriander, spicy dried chillies, and crunchy fried shallots and garlic.

I do love these. You can eat them on their own as a light breakfast or snack, or as the Thais do with steamed rice to make a real meal out of them.

These golden-brown fried soft-boiled eggs have an ever-so-slightly crispy skin and they’re drizzled in a sweet and sour homemade tamarind sauce – although you could be very generous with the sauce and drown the things in it if you like.

You’ll need to sprinkle them with crunchy fried shallots and fried garlic, which you can make or buy. We get our’s from the local market here in Siem Reap.

We get fresh tamarind year around, so we make a paste from it by soaking the tamarind in hot water for a while, then squeezing it and removing the seeds, but you can also use a store-bought tamarind paste.

A good Thai fish sauce, such as Megachef is also a must.

Thai Son-in-Law Eggs Recipe for Fried Boiled Eggs with Sweet Tamarind Sauce

 

Sunday Lunch – Mexican Grilled Corn Salad Recipe

I’m going to make this Mexican grilled corn salad recipe from scratch on Sunday. It can be assembled using any leftovers from our Mexican corn on the cob street food snack called elotes if you make that.

We won’t be, plus it’s easy to do on a griddle pan in the kitchen or an outdoor barbecue or grill. Here in Cambodia we use a traditional clay brazier.

If you’re already starting to get into the Christmas spirit and having friends over and want to  make a Mexican food feast, see our recipes for sopa de tortilla, tacos al pastor, chili con carne, an easy red tomato salsa, authentic Mexican guacamole.

We also have recipes for classic margaritas and micheladas.

Another option is our Southeast Asian-style char-grilled corn with lime butter and lemongrass mayonnaise or grilled corn salad with lime, chilli, lemongrass mayo, and sourdough croutons.

Mexican Grilled Corn Salad Recipe for a Taste of Mexico at Home

Sunday Dinner – Japanese Tonkatsu Recipe with Tonkatsu Sauce

It’s been ages since we’ve had Japanese food, so I’m going to ask Terence to make his tonkatsu recipe on Sunday night, as this is his specialty.

This recipe makes the most tender Japanese deep fried pork cutlet you’ll ever taste.

The simple but revered deep-fried Japanese pork dish has an amazing crunch from the golden panko crust, melt-in-your-mouth moist pork, and the tangy taste of the tonkatsu sauce.

We first realised what a great dish tonkatsu could be on our second trip to Tokyo ten years ago, almost mid-way through the year-long global grand tour that launched this website.

At a very tranquil tonkatsu place at sleek Roppongi Hills we ate a perfectly deep-fried, breaded pork cutlet in silence, it was so sublime.

We won’t be eating in silence on Sunday night. We’ll be playing some carols and getting in the mood for Christmas. How about you?

Tonkatsu Recipe for the Most Tender Japanese Deep Fried Pork Cutlet Ever

Please do let us know if you’ve made any of our What to Cook this Weekend recipes in the comments below as we’d love to get your feedback and hear how our recipes turned out for you.