New ways with lamb.
I’m fairly new to cooking lamb Chinese style at home. Beef and chicken are my go-to meats of choice for stir fries, but lamb makes a tasty change, especially with white pepper and fresh coriander root.
Read moreSpicy beef wontons
A must-have Chinese ingredient.
There used to be a little dim sum shop in my home city that I liked going to after work sometimes. I was young and too self conscious to eat on my own in restaurants, so I’d drag whoever I could get to come with me from the office and order a basket of the spicy beef dumplings and scoff them down, trying to remember to share them.
Read moreVeggie noodle stir fry
A julienne peeler is an ace little kitchen gadget.
Much cheaper than a spiralizer, less washing up than a food processor, and safer than oh-so-dangerous feeling mandolin. Said peeler will set you back just a few quid, and if you can’t find one in your local supermarket or kitchen shop, try eBay or Amazon. But enough of my sales pitch.
Read moreMinced Chinese chicken in lettuce cups
Many moons ago I lived in a rough and ready part of town.
What it lacked in beauty it more than made up for in spirit and food, and there I got to experience flavours from far flung places like Jamaica, Kurdistan and Pakistan.
Read moreSous vide crispy skinned pork belly
All good things come to those who wait.
The sous vide is teaching me something that no one else has managed before. No, it isn’t punctuation or maths, this new found skill is patience. And using my new Polyscience sous vide kit from SousVideTools.com requires bags of it – it’s been a case of learn some or be disappointed with dinner. And when dinner doesn’t go to plan I turn into a pain in the ass. And no one (least of all poor Mathew) wants that.
Crispy salt and Szechuan squid
A classic Chinese takeaway guilty pleasure.
Whether it’s one of a few dishes being eaten on an evening in, or devoured all on its own at the end of a night out.
Oriental pork ‘ragu’ and noodles
A little labour, a lot of love.
There are some evenings I’m happy to spend hours in the kitchen preparing and cooking meals, and then there are times I want to put in minimal effort but still get maximum results. This is one of the dishes I can turn to for just that.
Chinese chicken wings, thighs and drumsticks
When I was little, we always had a box of Chinese chicken wings in the fridge.
Our house was full of foods from all over the world. I remember the pantry being stocked not with crisps, biscuits and treats like my friends homes were, but things like vine leaves, yellow bean paste, kimchi, black rice and smoked mussels. It didn’t make quick snacks very easy, but thanks to my dad meals were delicious, inventive and adventurous. I always felt very lucky on the food front.
Chinese chicken broth with five spice dumplings and rice noodles
Restorative and healthy food of the highest order.
When feeling a little run down (or in my case, like you’ve been overdoing things), chicken noodle soup really does hit the spot. But yeah, you might have guessed, in my world it’s got to be oriental.
Whole poached chicken plus three dish ideas
It seems the poached Asian chicken recipe I posted over a year ago is the most frequently viewed entry on the blog.
Because of this dishes popularity, and of course because I love oriental food, I’ve decided to do another one in a slightly different way, and to show a number of different things that can be cooked from it. Hopefully this will please the thrifty, greedy and chili addled among you (and I don’t know about you, but I fall in to all three categories).
1. Cleansing ginger, chicken and Szechuan peppercorn broth with rice noodles
Now, you know I love noodle soup (I think it should be a food group in itself) so no surprise there’s one making an appearance here.
Szechuan peppercorns are very potent and clean tasting, almost mentholated, so they work really well with a big kick of ginger and green chilli, helping the chicken pack a punch in it’s fragrant liquor.
2. Rice paper rolls with chicken, crispy fried shallot and aromatic herbs
I love these rice paper rolls, you can wrap up loads of tasty things in them like a spring roll - but these don’t come with any guilt.
I’ve eaten them a few times in Vietnamese restaurants and have always really liked them, though the best time I tried them was in Thailand, not from a street vendor or somewhere only the locals go, but in Bangkok airport between flights.