White Mulled Wine

Although Christmas is over for another year (sob!) it's still the period where you're trying to eat up all that left over Christmas food. To help you along this post is the recipe for White Mulled Wine, which is lighter and fresher than normal mulled wine and will trick you into feeling just a little better about having another piece of cheese!

This went down really well with the non-red wine drinkers in my family. The original recipe calls for an additional 4-5 tablespoons of sugar, but I found that the cider and the elderflower made it more than sweet enough and those that want it can add sugar to their individual glasses of needs be.

Adapted from the Good Food Magazine (Dec 2012) 

·         2 bottles cheap-ish white wine , medium-dry is good

·         500ml bottle light cider

·         150ml elderflower cordial

·         zest 2 lemons (pared into strips using a vegetable peeler)

·         2 cinnamon sticks

·         Vanilla essence

      Put all the ingredients into a pan and heat until steaming but not boiling. Ladle into mugs or glasses to serve, while you keep the rest warm on a low heat.

The Karczma Polish restaurant review

Arriving at this restaurant was not a nice experience, rough street, drunk people yelling and being aggressive, outside of the place looked very odd as it’s part of the run-down polish social club, but as soon as you step inside all that disappears... Warmth and buttery coloured light washes over you and the staff greet you very enthusiastically. As a party of six we had booked ahead, but the restaurant was half empty (Friday night, last one before Christmas) but because the restaurant is made up of two rooms, the one we were in was full. Big wooden benches and draped furs help make everything seem very cosy. The menu is in polish and English (some of the translations are pretty funny) and is pretty extensive. Fortunately the restaurant owner was on hand and kindly explained what was most popular and answered all our questions.

We were given complimentary bread, gherkins and a kind of traditional lard spread which I have discovered is the following:
“Smalec is a type of Polish lard created from rendered pork fat. It is a classic peasant dish typically used as a substitute for the ‘rich man’s butter’ and is spread on bread. Smalec and bread were the daily ration for seminarians in Poland during the days of communist oppression.”

From their website

So there you have it!

We ordered a selection of dumplings to start shared among the table- potato  cottage cheese and onion and mixed meat dumplings (usually you would also get cabbage and mushroom, but various members of our party do not eat mushrooms). Polish dumplings are half way between pasta and Asian dim-sum dumpling skins in texture and taste. We all agreed they were delicious.

The ENORMOUS ham hock

Among the choices in our party for mains were (taken from their menu description):

“Beef Olives” - steak rolled around a stuffing of smoked bacon, sausage, onion and pickles, mashed potatoes, assortment of salads

Beef Stew - A real treat , this melt-in-the-mouth beef stew is served on large potato pancake, fried and crisped around the edges , assortment of salads

Succulent ham hock, roasted slowly in beer, fried potatoes, fried sauerkraut, horseradish, mustard

Hunter’s stew - considered Poland’s national dish (sausage, sauerkraut, potato)

The portions were VERY generous and after the bread and dumplings we all struggled to finish. The ham hock was a particularly sizable portion! The beef stew was very tender and the fried potatoes lovely and crispy.

After dinner we had shots of honey vodka which rounded everything off nicely!

It cost £20 each which included shared starter, main meal, 2 bottles of wine (between 6), a shot of honey vodka and a good tip – so it’s very good value!

If you can get past the exterior coming to this restaurant is a warm and fun experience with lovely staff and interesting inexpensive food. http://www.thekarczma.co.uk/index.html

Mount Fuji Review

I visited Mount Fuji with a friend this weekend and thoroughly enjoyed it! We went at Sunday Lunch time. At the weekend the usual lighter lunch time bento boxes aren’t on offer but they have extra specials only available at the weekend.

It’s easy to miss Mount Fuji next to all the bigger restaurants in that area of the Bullring, it’s tucked away under Mamas and Papas opposite Chaophraya Thai Restaurant . Mount Fuji is independently run and has been open since 2008. It’s a little restaurant with a mix of normal tables and long bar tables, there were lots of seats when we arrived at about 1:30 but by 2:30 it was filling up.

I opted for Pork Tonkatsu Bento (£10.25) - Pork fillet coated in Japanese breadcrumbs, then lightly fried, and my friend for Agedasih Tofu Bento (£9.25) - Tofu fried and served with Tempura sauce. The prices on the website are out of date - each of the dishes was a few pounds more expensive than it suggested (prices above are correct). 

The bento boxes come with rice, salad, pickles and vegetables. The pickles were really nice and the little green beans in a peanut sauce were also lovely. The pork was very tender and not at all dry which can often be a problem with breaded pork. My friend’s tofu was really smooth and silky and the tempura sauce was very moreish – a little sweet and a little salty and nicely light to go with the tofu. Over all I really enjoyed the meal and would be keen to try more of the menu. 

I would recommend skipping the enormous queue for Wagamamas and going to Mount Fuji!

http://www.mountfuji.co.uk/

Pineapple Rice with Broccoli in Oyster Sauce

Birmingham’s Wing Yip (http://www.wingyip.com/) is a food heaven for Asian ingredients. I used to come here as a child and I remember it seeming like an enormous warehouse with giant sacks of rice and endless bottles of mysterious sauces. Although the aisles don’t seem quite so never-ending, nor do the shelves disappear into misty heights, it still holds an excitement. The range of products is amazing and most of the frozen meat and fish products are so unusual I have no idea how to cook them (instant natural jelly fish anyone?  - http://www.wingyipstore.co.uk/p-8840-inst-jelly-fish-shred-ykof.aspx)! Plus last time I was there there’s were a set of Buddhist monks shopping which is a good enough endorsement for me!

So I recently went and stocked up on giant bottles of soy, oyster sauce, the super yummy Hainese chicken rice paste, tum yum paste and barbeque pork bun dim sum etc.

Tonight, inspired by the recent Ken Hom and Ching-He Huang BBC cookery programme Exploring China, I’m a recipe adapted from Ken’s Pinapple and Pork rice and combine with broccoli in Oyster sauce.

Pineapple Rice

Less than 30 mins preparation time, 10 mins cook time (not including pre cooking the rice) Serves 4 

Ingredients

·         long grain rice measured to the 400ml/14fl oz level in a measuring jug and cooked according to packet instructions

·         2 tbsp groundnut or peanut oil

·         500g minced pork

·         3 tbsp light soy sauce

·         salt and freshly ground black pepper

·         3 tbsp finely chopped fresh ginger

·         4 tbsp finely chopped spring onions

·         2 tbsp sesame oil

·         1 small pineapple (approximately 225g/8oz), peeled, cored and chopped into 1cm/½in pieces

Preparation method

1.       Allow the cooked rice to cool thoroughly by spreading it out on a baking sheet. The rice must be cold before you use it in this recipe.

2.      Heat a wok over high heat until it is hot. Add the oil, and when it is very hot and slightly smoking, add the pork and stir fry for two minutes (I would suggest stir frying until some of the water released has cooked off). Add the soy sauce, salt, pepper, ginger and spring onions and continue to stir-fry for two minutes.

3.      Add the rice, mix well and stir fry the mixture for another five minutes until the rice is heated through and well mixed.

4.      Stir in the sesame oil, add the pineapple pieces and stir fry until the pineapple is heated through, but not cooked. Serve at once.

Broccoli with Oyster Sauce

Prep Time: 5 minutes, Cook Time: 10 minutes, Total Time: 15 minutes

Ingredients:

·         Broccoli for 4

·         1 teaspoon salt

·         1 teaspoon baking soda (keeps the broccoli a nice shade of green)

·         1 slice ginger (about 1/2-inch thick)

Sauce (makes a good amount of sauce, enough to drizzle some over the rice if you want to)

·         6 tablespoons chicken broth or water

·         4 tablespoons oyster sauce

·         2 tablespoon Chinese rice wine or dry sherry

·         1 teaspoon sugar

Preparation:

1.       Chop broccoli into medium sized florets

2.      In a large saucepan, add enough water to cover the broccoli. Add the salt, baking soda and ginger. Bring to a boil.

3.      While waiting for the water to boil, prepare the sauce. Combine the chicken broth or water, oyster sauce, rice wine or dry sherry and sugar. Bring to a boil in a small saucepan. Turn the heat down and keep warm while blanching the broccoli.

4.      Add the broccoli to the boiling water. Cook until the stalks are tender but crisp (3 - 4 minutes). Rinse in cold running water. Drain.

5.      Pour the sauce over the broccoli. Serve immediately.