Spanish Night!

Having returned from Spain recently I have been left with a craving for Spanish food. Fortunately, I under-packed and was left room to stuff my case with olives, Jamón ibérico and garlic! And so with Eurovision blaring in the background, we feasted on the following!

White anchovies in vinegar

 Jamón ibérico

Garlic, olives stuffed with pimento, roasted corns, white anchovies, Spanish red

Sweet, odourless garlic to be eaten raw - delicious

Thai Pork and Peanut Curry

I have adapted this recipe from the BBC Good Food website, quite how accurate their label of 'Thai' is, I'm not sure. It has Thai red Curry paste, peanut, and coconut milk all of which are used in Thai cooking, but perhaps 'inspired by Thai flavours' would be more accurate! To the recipe I added aubergine and purple sprouting broccoli. I chose the broccoli for the lovely colour and the aubergine for its melting, creamy texture. Enjoy!

Ingredients

1 tbsp vegetable oil

bunch spring onions, sliced

small bunch coriander, stalks finely chopped, leaves picked

400g pork tenderloin, sliced

Half a large aubergine, chopped into semi circles

Purple sprouting broccoli (for colour mainly, long stem will do)

4 tbsp Thai red curry paste (alter depending on how hot you prefer it)

4 tbsp peanut butter (this is the suggested recipe amount, I would reduce it to 3 tbsp as it’s quite over powering)

1 tbsp soft brown sugar

1 tbsp soy sauce

400ml can light coconut milk

175g pack baby corn

juice 1 lime

steamed jasmine rice , to serve

1.  Heat the oil in a large saucepan or flameproof casserole. Add the spring onions and coriander stalks and cook for 1 min. Add the pork slices and cook for 5 mins until starting to brown.
2.  In a separate pan heat a little oil and place the aubergine slices flesh side down to brown, turn over to colour the other side.
3.  In the main pan, stir in the curry paste and peanut butter. After 30 secs, add the sugar, soy and coconut milk, plus ½ can of water.
4. Add in the aubergine and broccoli.
5.  Mix well, put a lid on and leave to simmer for 15 mins, stirring occasionally.
6. Remove the lid, add the baby corn and increase the heat. Bubble for 3 mins until the corn is cooked and the sauce has thickened a little.
7. Stir in the lime juice and check the seasoning. Can now be frozen for up to 2 months. To cook from frozen: thoroughly defrost, then heat in a pan on the hob until curry is hot all the way through. Serve scattered with the coriander leaves and rice.

388 kcalories, protein 28g, carbohydrate 12g, fat 25 g, saturated fat 4g, fibre 2g, sugar 9g, salt 1.6 g (not including the aubergine/broccoli)

Restaurant review: Chaophraya Thai

I visited Chaopraya Thai restaurant near the Bullring with my family a few nights ago (Wednesday night at about 6:30, its started off reasonably empty but had filled up by the time we were leaving)) and was very impressed! It had very mixed reviews, from terrible to amazing, so I wasn't sure what to expect. http://chaophraya.co.uk/

Firstly it looks nice. It manages to have a jelly fish tank, a lots of reflective surfaces and orange colours, yet not look tacky. The staff were very welcoming and polite, we told them one of our party had a train to catch and they were very accommodating. (as an addition, the toilets are lovely! They have oil burners in, so smell like a spa!)

The menu is extensive, but there are the typical classic dishes to help you out! We picked mild dishes, as a few of our party don't like their food very spicy. Although not hot, the dishes had strong complex layered flavours.  The food is on the pricey side, but we had such a brilliant experience here that we all decided we would recommend it and can't wait to go back!


Four Seasons Duck Curry  £12.95
Four seasonal fruits of grape, pineapple, strawberry and tomato cooked in a flavourful curry sauce with roasted duck and sweet basil.

This was lovely, not too sweet, not to creamy and with a very sight heat, duck Thai currys are my favourite!

Crispy Pork Belly with Thai Basil £9.95
Street-style pan fried crispy pork belly tossed with fresh chillies, garlic, green beans and hot basil leaves.

This was also very flavoursome, the favourite dish of one of us, but others found the pork a little tough. The pieces were a little on the large size for eating with a fork and a spoon!

Chicken Pad Thai £9.95
Stir fried rice noodles in tamarind sauce with chicken, spring onions, carrots, egg, sweet turnip and bean sprouts served with ground peanuts and fresh mango.

This was lovely, the mango was a nice touch that lifted the dish.


King Prawns with Ginger  £14.95
King prawns sautéed with straw mushrooms, fresh ginger, peppers, onions, spring onions, chilli and soya beans.

Very nice, sharp and refreshing. Enormous juicy prawns and enough for most of our part of 4 to have 2 each.

Huevos Rancheros Mexican Breakfast

So I was inspired by the restaurant 'Giraffe' where you can eat a massively over priced but extremely yummy Mexican breakfast. But you can eat the same for a FRACTION of the price at home! Plus making your own tortillas is incredibly satisfying, utterly yummy and a fun thing to do on a lazy Sunday Morning! The breakfast takes some love and care because of resting the tortilla dough, but its worth it and the labour is actually very minimal. At the end you'll be left with warm buttery flour tortillas topped with sweet, spicy, salty beans and peppers and a hot runny egg, HEAVEN!

I make my tortillas to the recipe on the 'Homesick Texan' blog -  a brilliant resource for authentic Tex-Mex recipes.

Texas Flour Tortillas (adapted from The Border Cookbook by Cheryl Alters Jamison and Bill Jamison)
Ingredients:Two cups of all-purpose flour (can make them whole wheat by substituting one cup of whole-wheat flour for white flour)1 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder1 teaspoon of salt (note: I like to use smoked sea salt and you can add in smoked paprika if you fancy)2 teaspoons of vegetable oil3/4 cups of warm milk

from the Homesick Texan' Blog

Method: Mix together the flour, baking powder, salt and oil. Slowly add the warm milk.Stir until a loose, sticky ball is formed.

Knead for two minutes on a floured surface. Dough should be firm and soft. Place dough in a bowl and cover with a damp cloth or plastic wrap for 20 minutes.

After the dough has rested, break off eight sections, roll them into balls in your hands, place on a plate (make sure they aren’t touching) and then cover balls with damp cloth or plastic wrap for 10 minutes. (It’s very important to let the dough rest, otherwise it will be like elastic and won’t roll out to a proper thickness and shape.)

After dough has rested, one at a time place a dough ball on a floured surface, pat it out into a four-inch circle, and then roll with a rolling pin from the center until it’s thin and about eight inches in diameter. Don’t over work the dough, or it’ll be stiff. Keep rolled-out tortillas covered until ready to cook.In a dry iron skillet or comal heated on high, cook the tortilla about thirty seconds on each side. It should start to puff a bit when it’s done.Keep cooked tortillas covered wrapped in a napkin until ready to eat. Can be reheated in a dry iron skillet, over your gas-burner flame or in the oven wrapped in foil. While you probably won’t have any leftovers, you can store in the fridge tightly wrapped in foil or plastic for a day or so.

Makes eight tortillas.

The Topping
On top of these yummy hot buttered tortillas I scatter a mix which I just heat through briefly in a frying pan of:

Mixed Beans tinned in spring water
Sweetcorn (tinned or fresh and boiled in water for 10 mins)
garlic chopped finely
sweet red jalapeño peppers chopped

Then on top of this goes a hot runny poached egg, grated cheddar, ground black pepper and some fresh coriander to garnish!

Fish Fragrant Aubergine Pork (nothing to do with fish!)

I tried out one of Ching-he Huang's recipes from 'Chinese Food Made Easy' called 'Fish Fragrant Aubergine Pork'. Despite it not being traditional to Chinese cooking I expected the recipe to include fish sauce, or something similar. In fact, Huang explains:

'In Sichuan cooking over twenty three different flavours can be created "Yu-shinag" or "fish fragrant" is just one of these, but this dish does not actually taste "fishy". It's a way of describing the almost bouillon-taste that is derived from using good stock.'

So there you have it!

Sourcing the ingredients for this dish was straight forward, until I came to the 'chilli bean sauce'. This sauce or paste was featured prominently in 'Exploring China' where Ken Hom and Ching-He Huang visited the giant pots in which they ferment this paste, sometimes for years. I was keen to try it this dish featured it as it's star ingredient. Alas, most of the major supermarkets do not stock it. However, it can be found at Waitrose - Lee Kum Kee Chilli Bean Sauce and at any Chinese supermarket.

I really enjoyed cooking this dish and the end result was fantastic! The chilli bean sauce is VERY hot. I contacted Ching-He Huang and she said that it comes in different concentrations, so taste as you go!

Ingredients - serves 4

3 tbs groundnut oil

1 aubergine, halved lengthways and cut into 1cm/½in slices

2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

1 tbsp grated fresh root ginger

1 red chilli, finely chopped

200g/7oz pork mince (If you don't like/can't eat pork, I have cooked this with turkey mince too and it was very nice)

1 tbsp Shaoxing rice wine or dry sherry

2 tbsp chilli bean sauce (In the end I only used a dessert spoon of the sauce - careful!)

200ml/7fl oz hot chicken stock

2 heads pak choi or ½ Chinese cabbage, halved and sliced lengthways

1 tbsp clear rice vinegar or cider vinegar

1 tsp toasted sesame oil

2 spring onions, chopped

1 tbsp cornflour, mixed with 2 tbsp cold water

Using my handy ceramic grater, a god-send for ginger!

Cut lengthways and into 1cm slices

Preparation method

1.     Heat a wok until smoking and add two tablespoons of the groundnut oil, then fry the aubergine slices with a splash of water for 3-4 minutes, or until softened and golden-brown all over. Transfer to a plate and set aside.

2.     Wipe away the excess oil from the wok, reheat and add the remaining groundnut oil. Heat until smoking. Stir fry the garlic, ginger and chilli for a few seconds, then add the minced pork. Stir fry for one minute, then add the rice wine or sherry. Cook for 3-4 minutes, or until browned, then add the chilli bean sauce and hot chicken stock. Return the aubergines to the wok and add the pak choi.

3.     Season, to taste, with the vinegar and sesame oil and bring to the boil. Cook for 3-4 minutes, or until the pork is cooked through, then stir in the spring onions. Add the cornflour paste and stir until the liquid has thickened.

4.     Spoon the fragrant pork and aubergines into a serving bowl and serve immediately.

      More of the recipes from this book can be found here but there seems to be a few errors on the recipe for this dish, the amount of oil is different and it says it serves 2, whereas the book says it serves 4. I cooked it for four with rice and it was more than enough.

Adventures in Dumplings (part 1)

Asian dumplings or gyoza in Japan are completely wonderful things. They are part of yum cha which translates as ‘drink tea’. It is a mid morning/lunch meal with tea and dim sum to eat. I bought some dumplings from a charming lady in a food market in London to take home and eat and I thought I could try making them myself.

I’ve made two types of dumpling one more successful than the other! I’ll detail them over two posts. First pork pot stickers!

You can make your own dumpling skins – you need very few ingredients, but managing to get them the same size and thickness is challenging. There is a recipe here if you fancy having a go. Shop bought dumpling skins, however, are inexpensive and convenient. You can buy them online here or your local Asian supermarket will definitely have them.

Pork Pot Stickers

So named because the first cooking step is to fry the pot stickers until they’re golden on the bottom before steaming them. The original blog where the recipe came from that details the author’s family history and connection with dumplings is here. She also provides a great tutorial on how to pleat dumplings in their distinctive crescent shape.

Pork Filling
1 lb ground pork
4 large napa cabbage leaves, minced
3 stalks green onions, minced
7 shitake mushrooms, minced (if dried – rehydrated and rinsed carefully)
1/2 cup bamboo shoots, minced

1/4 cup ginger root, minced

3 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp sesame oil
2 tbsp corn starch

                       dipping sauce (you can also buy 

                       very tasty dumpling dipping sauce)
                       2 parts soy sauce
                       1 part vinegar (red wine or black)
                       a few drops of sesame oil
                       chili garlic paste (optional)
                       minced ginger (optional)
                       minced garlic (optional)
                       minced green onion (optional)
                       sugar (optional)
1/4 cup ginger root, minced
3 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp sesame oil
2 tbsp corn starch

Combine all filling ingredients in a large mixing bowl and mix thoroughly. Cover and refrigerate until ready to use.

To pan fry (potstickers): Place dumplings in a frying pan with 2-3 tbsp of vegetable oil. Heat on high and fry for a few minutes until bottoms are golden. Add 1/2 cup water and cover. Cook until the water has boiled away and then uncover and reduce heat to medium or medium low. Let the dumplings cook for another 2 minutes then remove from heat and serve.

Although I'm sure it's very naughty but you can also buy these dumpling moulds, instead of pleating them by hand!

recipe - copyright jennifer yu ©

(I'm also keen to try these vegetarian, whole wheat dumplings! Let the adventures continue!)

Shopping for Specialist Ingredients - Exeter

I have a real weakness for Asian food. Getting hold of the right ingredients in small cities and towns can be somewhat challenging, that said, all you really need is one good shop. So after a recent visit to Exeter, I thought I'd do a quick list of the main ones. Exeter has quite a few as it happens!

Yonk Foods -

 This is a great Chinese supermarket with very long opening hours, till 10pm most days, it has a bewildering selection of noodles, sauces, pastes, dried and tinned ingredients, as well as cookware and sweets. It has a very small fresh section where you can find large bags of beansprouts, pak choi etc and a small frozen section with dim sum, wonton wrappers and veg.

Continental Food Store - 

established In 1983, CONTINENTAL FOOD STORES of Exeter is the South West’s largest authentic international food & drink specialist, stocking a huge variety of Indian, Bengaladeshi, Chinese, Thai, Filipino, Korean, Malay, Japanese, Iranian, Arabic, Turkish, African, Nigerian and Jamaican brands and ingredients.

The range of spices, rice, pulses, pastes is really impressive and the store also contains a wide variety of imported vegetables and fruits. The only problem is these tend to be past their best, so make sure to root around to find good ones. Although most of the stock is reasonably priced, some items can be very expensive.

R. L. Hira -

Famed as Will Young’s favourite shop in Exeter when he was a student at the University , this shop contains a good range of dried ingredients, particularly for Indian and Thai cooking. They also carry their own baked goods such as samosas.

Seasons -

This little shop sells organic fruit and veg, whole foods and local produce. It specialises in vegetarian, vegan and gluten free foods but also carries a large range of Clearspring Japanese products