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Something Fresh

11 Jun

something fresh hong kong

Without generalising too much, nor aiming to insult too many people, the average Hongkonger I know is lazy. With so many restaurants within walking distance of pretty much anywhere, why would you not go out for dinner most nights? Or, if you do fancy a cosy night on the sofa, almost every restaurant will deliver, so why not order in? Unless you’re cooking for two or more people, supermarket shopping is painfully expensive (oh, how I miss Sainsbury’s), so surely it’s easier and cheaper to eat out/order in, right? Born out of three friends’ desire to encourage better eating habits in Hong Kong, Something Fresh has emerged with the hope of changing this mentality.

Something Fresh’s founder, Shawn, believes that “a fresh and healthy meal is something that people deserve every day, not just once in a while when time permits.” Therefore, similar to the tried, tested and of course much loved Secret Ingredient, Something Fresh will deliver you the ingredients washed, weighed and chopped, ready to make simple, delicious and healthy recipes in minutes. Something Fresh’s recipes are all vegetarian, vegan and many are gluten-free. If you’re a carnivore like me then don’t be put off by this; I don’t know how they do it, but the team behind Something Fresh manages to make vegetarian food exciting as well as super tasty.

I had the pleasure of trying out not one, not two, but four Something Fresh recipes on multiple evenings; when the fourth meal was over I was devastated and very nearly went online to book another Something Fresh delivery.

something fresh hong kong

The first meal I made was probably my favourite of the four: Mexican Flautas with Roasted Tomato Chipotle Salsa. Imagine crumbly feta, ripe avocado, crunchy sunflower seeds and crisp red pepper wrapped in a gently pan-fried tortilla. The whole process from when I received the delivery to when I devoured my ‘flautas’ took no more than 10 minutes and was effortlessly simple. Served alongside a satisfyingly fiery chipotle salsa, this was the perfect Sunday night dinner.

something fresh hong kong

something fresh hong kong

Other dishes I tried included chilli basil tofu with straw mushrooms, curried quinoa with roasted cauliflower and peas, and chickpea pancakes with avocado cilantro salsa. Each dish was designed to impress even the most vegetable-fearing individual, and each took a maximum of 20 minutes to cook and serve.

something fresh hong kong

Even if you’re a complete novice in the kitchen, the recipe card will guide you through each step. Ingredients are individually packaged and marked with a letter that corresponds to each step in the recipe, making it impossible not to be able to follow.

I am by no means a master chef, yet I have been cooking since a young age and love experimenting in the kitchen, or following complicated recipe books to create something truly delicious. Admittedly, for me, having everything pre-chopped and ready to go does take a little bit of the excitement out of cooking. At the same time, I am ashamed to admit that sadly, in Hong Kong, the process of cooking often feels more like a chore than a pleasure, so at times like these, to have someone do the hard work for me every so often and yet still be able to create something that makes my taste buds dance in contentment is certainly a bit of a blessing; Something Fresh offers a refreshing reminder that cooking needn’t be seen as a chore.

I believe it is due to the team at Something Fresh being of Indian descent, that each dish I tried featured chilli somewhere in the recipe. For me, the dishes carried the perfect level of heat, yet those who can’t handle their spice may need to slightly adapt the recipe to suit their tolerance level.

At the moment Something Fresh only offers main courses, yet I have heard that there are plans in store to create starters as well as desserts. Recipes change on the website every two weeks, with a choice of six delicious meals to choose from, and prices range from $150-$185 for two people. There’s no need to wander the supermarket aisles for hours wondering what to have for dinner; just go online, select your dish and delivery time, and you’ll have a tasty, healthy dish to impress your dinner guest in no time!

www.somethingfresh.com.hk

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Eat Your Words – where the critics get critiqued

3 Jun

Those of you who follow me on Twitter (@dimsumdiaries) may have seen an increasing number of tweets going backwards and forwards between me and the wonderful (if a bit of a teaser) chef Jason Black (@jasonblack_hk), in which either he dismisses my ability to cook, or I dismiss his. We are not simply being rude to each other (much); we are in fact creating a buzz about an exciting upcoming charity event called Eat Your Words, in which we will both be cooking.

Eat Your Words Hong Kong event

Take 5 great Hong Kong chefs, pair them with 5 awesome food writers (if I may say to myself), and you have yourself Eat Your Words, a fun event in which the diners (all 125 of them – yikes!) get their chance to critique the critics. The aim of this little exercise is to prove that when we writers put pen to paper (OK, fingers to keyboards) to insult or praise food, we do in fact know the labour and love that goes into creating each dish. We can write about food, but can we cook it?!

The event will be held on Monday 24th June, 7pm at The Salted Pig.

Here is the line up for the night:

Alicia Walker (Foodie) with James Black (The Salted Pig)
Janice Jann (Time Out) with Arturo Melendez (Chicha)
Janice Leung Hayes (E-ting) with Anthony Fletcher (The Pawn)
Adele Wong (HK Magazine) with Jason Black (Shore)
Ale Wilkinson (The Dim Sum Diaries) with Gregoire Michaud (Bread Elements)

There is of course an element of competition involved, as each team competes against each other to receive the highest rating from the diners. We’ve obviously saved the best for last, so make sure you save room for dessert…

As this is a charity event, there will also be an auction on the night with some really great prizes ranging from a two-night stay in a boutique hotel, to a meat cooking class from Jason Black. I have somehow agreed to put myself up for auction – bid for me and you could win a date with me at Chicha! Please bid high boys; I am expensive and it’s all for a great cause!

Tickets for this unique 5-course dinner (with drinks pairing) go on sale TODAY, Monday 3rd June for $888 per person, and a portion of all proceeds go to Foodlink, to help alleviate hunger in Hong Kong. Head down to The Salted Pig today to get yours!

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Winners for Jason Black’s Cookbook Competition Announced

22 Mar

cow pig chicken jason black hong kong

Jason Black’s recipe tester competition for his exciting upcoming cookbook cow pig chicken has now closed. We had an overwhelming number of responses, most of which were truly excellent. This made it almost impossible to select the top five entries, but, after very careful consideration, we have managed to narrow it down to five lucky winners.

We were surprised at the very generous offers to help from some fantastic chefs, some of which are even working at some of our favourite venues too! Testing the recipes is really about ensuring that they can work under most conditions, not just for able chefs but also for amateur home cooks. We were therefore unable to select the professional chefs, and the almost professionals, even though we would have loved to work with them. Practised cooks, who would most likely be able to cook a gourmet feast with their eyes closed, would have instinctively tweaked the recipes as they went along, or at least skim read the instructions, knowing what was coming next. The real challenge is following the recipes to the letter, in order to make sure that each step is logical, accurate and successful. We have no doubt that every single applicant could have done a superb job, but of course, with it being a competition, not everyone can be a winner.

And so, without further ado, the five lucky recipe testers are:

Sally Collier

jason black cookbook cow pig chicken

Sally is a keen cook, having grown up in her mother’s home catering kitchen.  Originally from Trinidad, she has lived in Australia, the US and the UK and now finds herself enjoying her fifth decade in HK.  Her favourite meal is a good roast with all the trimmings, followed by a lavish dessert, all of course accompanied by a great bottle of wine.

Karen Herrero

jason black cookbook hong kong cow pig chicken

Karen is a 32 year old Spanish citizen who grew up in Canada. In the past 10 years, her job has moved her from Canada to Belgium to France and 2 years ago to Hong Kong. She enjoys the chaotic lifestyle in Asia and is thankful to have a full kitchen to support her unique form of mediation… baking! She loves cooking and hosting brunches and dinners with a focus on European and Middle Eastern flavours.

Veronica Mihno

jason black cookbook hong kong cow pig chicken

Veronica, 45, is from Sydney, Australia. Her mum says she started eating solid foods at 5 months old … and frankly she hasn’t stopped since! She has travelled to 33 different countries and makes it her mission to sample whatever culinary delights she finds. She no longer buys traditional souvenirs; she buys kitchen utensils. She has been living in Hong Kong for 13 years and is still delighted with a new find at the wet markets, and you will most certainly find her puttering about the foreign food isles at supermarkets. She is an all round cook, but the best compliments from her friends and guests are for her roasts, pastries and cakes. “Yumm-o!”

Payal Patel

jason black cookbook hong kong cow pig chicken

Payal is a relative HK ‘newbie’ having moved here from the UK about 5 months ago.  She would be lieing if she said  she ‘lurves it’ just yet, but she’s definitely finding her way and making the most of what HK has to offer – which as you well know is plenty and some! She is pleased that she has not limited her experience thus far to merely bar hopping; she has been to some wonderful restaurants, been on numerous hikes and thrown in some travelling too. 

There’s nothing fancy about the stuff Payal likes to cook–large portions of unpretentious comfort food.

Megan Smith

jason black cookbook hong kong cow pig chicken

Though often referred to as ‘that girl who likes cake’, which, by the way, she takes to be a positive rather than negative reference, her real name is Megan Smith. Having graduated in the UK just last June, Megan hopped on a plane to HK as fast as she could to begin a new chapter of her life here. Currently “22-years-old going on 62″, she enjoys eating, food, cooking, food, baking, food, running (usually towards the prospect of food), rowing (often followed by food) and reading (about food). “Greedy? Me? Never!”

These recipe testers were selected on the basis of their excellent responses to the question “what makes you think you have what it takes to be one of Jason’s elite recipe testers?”

We are all very excited about cow pig chicken and can’t wait to get started on the recipe testing! Updates will follow, so watch this space to see how the book is coming along and when it will be on the shelves for you to buy.

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Jason Black’s Cookbook Competition – Do You Have What It Takes?

27 Feb

I think you are all aware of how much I truly love food. If I wasn’t eating out all the time visiting as many restaurants as possible to try to give you, my readers, a comprehensive guide to Hong Kong dining, I would be found in the kitchen, putting my love of food to good use and cooking up a feast. Now it is time to see how much you truly love food, and in particular how much you truly love cooking.

jason black cow pig chicken

The wonderful Jason Black, chef behind Shore and my favourite, The Salted Pig, is writing a magnificent cookbook entitled ‘Cow, Pig, Chicken’. It will contain recipes from his two already well-established eateries, as well as an exciting new concept, which will be coming soon.

I am honoured to be working as Jason’s editor on this project and, having seen the recipes, I know this is going to be a pretty phenomenal cookbook.

cow pig chicken jason black hong kong

We need you!

In the final stages of putting the book together, Jason now needs your help! In order to make sure that his recipes are spot on and will work in a home kitchen as opposed to a just a restaurant, Jason needs some able cooks to volunteer as recipe testers.

cow pig chicken jason black hong kong

The prize

The five lucky winners will be provided with the following:

  • Ingredients to test a selection of the recipes in their home kitchen
  • Inclusion in the credits of the book
  • Photos in the book of them testing the recipes (either in their own kitchen or in Jason’s test kitchen)
  • A free copy of the book, with their name on the front cover

How to enter:

All you have to do to enter and stand a chance of being included in Cow, Pig, Chicken is answer the following question:

What makes you think you have what it takes to be one of Jason’s elite recipe testers?

Please send an email with the subject heading ‘Cow, Pig, Chicken’ with your answer to thedimsumdiaries@hotmail.com before Friday 15th March.

Jason and I will handpick the five lucky winners based on the five best answers and contact these winners at the end of March.

Recipe testing will commence after Easter.

Good luck and happy cooking!

This competition is now closed. Thank you for all your excellent responses.

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Goodness gracious meatballs of flavour!

24 Aug obe organic hong kong

OBE organic hong kong

I had a very exciting experience earlier this week when a delicious delivery arrived at my office just in time for lunch. Inside a sturdy paper bag there was everything I needed to make a delicious meatball sub. But this wasn’t just any meatball sub; this was an OBE Organic sweet and spicy meatball sub.

obe organic hong kong

Australia’s oldest and largest producer of organic beef, OBE Organic, has teamed up with Chef Christian Yang, the chef behind super excitingly named Bang Bang Pan Pan to create four delicious and healthy recipes for meatballs. PARKnSHOP are doing a Meatball Mania promotion from 21st September to 4th October, during which time these scrummy meatballs will be available for you to buy at the discounted price of $56.90 per packet and make yummy recipes at home.

I’ve never been to Bang Bang Pan Pan (although it has been on my list since I stumbled past it after the Sevens a couple of years ago), but if my meatball sub was anything to go by, then Chef Christian Yang is certainly a bit of a god.

obe organic hong kong

Inside my bag was a cute glass Tupperware containing meatballs in their sweet and spicy sauce, branded with a label instructing me to microwave them (I was almost more excited about the Tupperware than its contents), a little box containing fresh Thai basil and fresh coriander, another little box containing pickled carrots and cucumber and last but not least, the softest, most delicious looking rustic baguette that at first sight I thought big enough to feed the 5000.

obe organic meatballs hong kong

It was as easy as microwaving the meatballs, stuffing them inside the sub, sprinkling them with the fresh herbs and pickled veggies, and indulging in my incredible sub that definitely made all of my colleagues jealous. Having originally thought the sub was enormous, it was so delicious that I ended up eating (almost) all of it, completely ignoring my silly gluten intolerance.

Now I’m afraid I have a little bit of bad news for all of you readers…when you buy your meatballs they won’t be quite as easy to make into the perfect sub; they come frozen, without the sweet and spicy sauce. But the good news is that in their frozen, naked form, you can create whatever recipe you so wish, and as they have been pre-cooked, it’s as easy as defrosting them and warming them up, so even the most amateur cook can make them into a delicious meal!

The very easy recipe for the Sweet and Spicy OBE Organic Meatball Sub is here for you:

Ingredients
1 packet OBE Organic meatballs
1 rustic baguette (or your favourite bread. Gluten free works too of course)
1 handful fresh coriander and fresh Thai basil

For the spicy tomato sauce
1 tin organic tomatoes
½ brown onion, finely chopped
2 cloves minced garlic
2 stems lemongrass, bruised
1 lime, juiced
1.5 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp fish sauce
1 tsp soy sauce
2 tbsp shiracca
Oil for cooking

Homemade Vietnamese pickles
1 carrot, cut into fine strands or grated
1 cucumber, peeled and cut into fine strands
100ml rice wine vinegar
4 tbsp caster sugar
4-5 tsp rock salt or 2 tsp fine salt

Mix the salt with the vegtables and allow the salt to extract water for 20-30 minutes. Wash three times. Add to the vinegar/sugar. (This will keep in a glass jar for up to 3 weeks.)

To serve

  1. Make the spicy tomato sauce by sweating the onions and garlic in oil on a medium-low heat. Once caramelised, add the tomatoes. Add all other ingredients except the shiracca and simmer with the lid on for 10 minutes. Add a pinch of sugar, a splash of fish sauce and shiracca to taste. (The sauce will keep in the fridge for up to a week)
  2. Defrost the meatballs and sear in a pan. Add the spicy tomato sauce and simmer for 2 minutes.
  3. Add the meatball filling to your favourite bread and garnish with the fresh herbs and pickles.
  4. Gorge and smile.

Other exciting recipes you can make are:

obe organic meatballs hong kong

Lady and the Tramp Spaghetti and OBE Organic Meatballs

OBE organic meatballs hong kong

OBE Organic Meatballs in Pho

OBE organic meatballs hong kong

OBE Organic Kimchi and Lettuce Wrap

If any of these take your fancy then feel free to get in touch and I would be happy to send you the recipe. Otherwise, just experiment, have fun and create your own exciting meatball recipes!

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Strawberry Risotto Recipe

28 Feb

Strawberry risotto

I was recently asked to try out Homegrown Foods’ organic vegetables and make a recipe of my choice for Sassy. I have only ever tried these delicious organic vegetables at Posto Pubblico, Linguini Fini and Cantopop where you can really taste the quality of the produce.

When there’s the prospect of a huge basket of amazingly fresh vegetables arriving on your doorstep however, you don’t realise quite the excitement that will arise. I scrutinised my cookbooks for weeks in advance, even though I didn’t have a clue which vegetables would arrive on the day.

The recipe I ended up making was one I had never in my life considered cooking, let alone eating. There was just something about it that was calling to me, begging me to cook it, begging me to taste it…

A strawberry risotto sounds a little terrifying, but somehow the tanginess of the strawberries goes beautifully with the sweetness of the wine and the nutty Parmesan cheese to make an incredibly tasty dish that I will no doubt make again and again – and now hopefully you can too!

Strawberry risotto
Serves 4

Ingredients:

1 litre chicken or vegetable stock
50g butter
1 leek, finely chopped
200g ripe strawberries, washed, hulled and halved
3tbsp good quality red or rose wine
300g Arborio rice
50g freshly grated Parmesan cheese plus extra for serving 

Method:

Heat the stock in a large saucepan and keep it on a gentle simmer.

Heat half of the butter in a heavy-bottomed saucepan. Sauté the leek on a low heat until it has softened and add half of the strawberries. Cook gently for a couple of minutes, and then add the wine. When it has slightly evaporated, add the rice and stir with a wooden spoon to coat all the rice. Season with salt and pepper and add a ladleful of hot stock, stirring almost continuously to prevent the rice from sticking.

When the rice has absorbed the liquid, add another ladleful and continue stirring, making sure you move all the rice at the bottom of the pan with the spoon. After about 20 minutes of adding ladle by ladle of stock, taste the rice. It should be soft yet firm, and the texture should be creamy and slightly liquid. You may have to continue cooking it for a few more minutes.

Add the remaining strawberry halves, the butter and the 50g Parmesan cheese and stir it in.

Serve immediately with a grinding of black pepper and extra Parmesan cheese.

Sassy are giving away a Homegrown Foods regular sized basket to one lucky winner. If you want to try your luck at winning your very own basket of delicious organic veg, fill in your details here. The competition closes on Monday 5th March – good luck!


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Angry Birds Cake

27 Feb

 

 

Angry Birds Cake

Just after my brother’s birthday last year, I sent him a link to a ‘Playable Angry Birds cake’ on YouTube, to which his immediate response was that I had to make the same thing for him this year.

Thinking it would be a little too difficult to make and transport this enormous masterpiece to a civilised restaurant such as Armani/Aqua, my mum and I decided to opt for a slightly scaled version, which we hoped would still have a ‘wow’ effect.

Fortunately the cake did have its desired affect (see his silly excited smile above!) and I have subsequently been asked to share it on The Dim Sum Diaries – both the basic cake recipe and photos of the finished product, so here you are.

Firstly, the actual cake: my brother has never been a huge chocolate fan, so I made his favourite cake: carrot. Jamie Oliver has the most amazing carrot cake, which he fittingly calls ‘a rather pleasing carrot cake’. I found the recipe a couple of years ago and since then I will never make any other carrot cake. Once you’ve tried it, trust me, you won’t either. It’s quite a time-consuming cake, but the result is more than worth it.

Angry Birds Cake

Ingredients:

250g unsalted butter, softened
250g light brown soft sugar
5 eggs, separated
zest and juice of 1 orange
170g self-raising flour, sifted
1 slightly heaped teaspoon baking powder
100g ground almonds
100g shelled walnuts, chopped
1 heaped teaspoon ground cinnamon
a pinch ground cloves
a pinch ground nutmeg
½ teaspoon ground ginger
250g carrots, peeled and coarsely ground 

Icing:

100g mascarpone cheese
200g full-fat cream cheese
85g icing sugar
zest and juice of 2 limes

Method:

Preheat the oven to 180ºC. Grease and line a 22cm-square cake tin or a round equivalent with greaseproof paper.

Beat the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Beat in the egg yolks one by one, and add the orange zest and juice.

Stir in the sifted flour and baking powder, and add the ground almonds, walnuts, spices and grated carrot and mix together well.

In a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites with a pinch of salt until stiff, then gently fold them into the cake mix.

Scoop the mixture into the prepared cake tin and cook in the preheated oven for about 50 minutes until golden and risen, or until a cocktail stick comes out clean. Leave the cake to cool in the tin for 10 minutes, then turn it out on to a rack and rest for at least an hour.

Mix all the icing ingredients together and spread generously over the top of the cake. 

Our Angry Birds cake required double the quantity and thus just a little bit longer in the oven.

Angry Birds Cake

The cake was the simple part; it was the icing and the figures that took most of the day. Everything was edible: the pigs and birds were made of marzipan, fondant icing, a lot of food colouring and licorice; the structure for the pigs was made of Ferrero Tronkys; the slingshot was a Twix and two chocolate fingers, the broken bricks were broken almond biscuits, and so on.

There was a near casualty transporting the cake to the restaurant, which required re-making the structure and securing it with new toothpicks to keep it in place, but all in all it was an absolute success. I dread to think what he’ll make me do next year?!

 

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Secret Ingredient

18 Nov

Ever since I was little, I have always loved cooking. I used to make every effort I could to do a big supermarket shop and cook yummy meals most days, whether just for myself or for small dinner parties. Now, however, living in Hong Kong, I cook far less often. Whether this is because I can’t really find exactly what I’m looking for in the supermarkets (and when I can it’s outrageously expensive), or whether it’s because I have just become lazy and reliant on eating out or takeaways is beside the point. The point is that cooking in Hong Kong has, for me, as I’m sure for many others, become less of a pleasure and slightly more of a chore. In England I was used to large work surfaces where I could spread out my ingredients and dance around the kitchen if I liked (and did with frequency). Here I am confined to a tiny kitchen. I do count myself fairly lucky however, as our kitchen at least has an oven, which is a rarity here in HK.

Secret Ingredient has taken all of these issues on board – the inconvenience and cost of supermarkets, the lack of space, the lack of ovens and, one issue that affects us all in this fast-paced city, the lack of time – and has come up with an incredible plan to help Hongkongers make delicious meals without any hassle.

Their very easy to navigate website offers four delicious recipes which change every fortnight and always include one vegetarian option and one low-carb option. All you need to do is choose which recipe you would like to make and Secret Ingredient will deliver every single ingredient you will need (down to the last drop of olive oil and sprinkle of salt), washed, weighed, measured and chopped, along with step-by-step instructions of how to make it so that you can prepare your meal in less than 30 minutes. All the recipes are designed to be cooked on two hobs, so no oven is required. In fact, they make the instructions so simple, with every ingredient clearly labelled and a “cook by letters” system, that you don’t even need to know how to cook. This is fantastic if you ever want to hold an impressive dinner party but are usually a complete disaster in the kitchen!

Being the only people who offer this amazing service, they obviously want to do everything perfectly, including importing nothing but the best meat and seafood and locally sourcing fresh produce every day meaning that everything is prepared on the day you order it.

I tested out the service this week (I made the Coconut blue cod with sautéed vegetables and jasmine rice) and was amazed at how easy and quick it was to get such a delicious result. I even had time to enjoy a glass of wine whilst I cooked and may have also had a little sing and dance around the tiny kitchen.

Speaking of wine, each Secret Ingredient recipe is paired with a selected bottle of wine which cannot be bought in any other shop in Hong Kong. Their sommelier recommends a Malborough Pinot Gris to go with the cod which perfectly complements this very tasty and aromatic dish. They also offer interesting beers and refreshingly light sodas as an alternative to wine.

Once you have made your selection online, you can either give them a delivery address or opt to collect the ingredients yourself from the Secret Ingredient workshop in Sheung Wan with the choice of paying by cash or credit card, and then get cooking! It really is that simple. A meal for two starts from $200, which, considering how much it would cost to buy each ingredient from the supermarket (particularly good quality meat and seafood), then this really isn’t a bad price. If you’re cooking for more than two people, simply multiply your order, let them know on your booking form, and the boys will adjust the quantities where necessary.

The boys at Secret Ingredient have got a never-ending list of ideas up their sleeve which all sound incredibly exciting. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that they will one day start to include a sweet option on their menu too! Keep an eye on their website for what’s to come and you’ll soon realise that cooking in Hong Kong needn’t be as much of a hassle as it seems.

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Morrocan Chicken and Lemon Soup

12 Jul

On my sister’s first night back in England (and possibly the warmest day we’ve had in a while!) she requested soup for dinner. I had been looking through cookbooks most of the afternoon anyway to find recipes for my birthday dinner on Wednesday, so was more than happy to continue browsing in search of a delicious soup recipe. Of course I chose the Covent Garden Book of Soups as they always know what they’re talking about.

This book has an amazing selection of soups, so I had to narrow my search down to soups containing chicken (as requested by the mother) and, after much deliberation (did we want a Colombian soup or a Moroccan soup?), I elected Moroccan Chicken and Lemon Soup.

It was an absolute hit. My dad commented that it is now his new favourite soup and I wholeheartedly agree. It is bursting with flavour, rich with spices and the thin slices of lemon add an unexpected and pleasantly surprising twist. I didn’t start cooking with the intention of writing about it, but quite honestly this soup needs to be shared with the world (or at least my little world of loyal readers –thank you!).

It is rightly placed in the ‘Reviving’ chapter of the book as it certainly has quite a kick to it. I would imagine it would be incredible on a miserable cold day but I can assure you it works wonders on a warm summer’s evening too…


Ingredients:
2 tbsp each of sunflower oil and extra virgin olive oil
600g chicken legs on the bone (I used breasts and boneless thigh pieces and it worked fine too)
2 small onions (I used a mixture of red and white)
1 leek, cut into 1cm slices
2 medium carrots, roughly chopped
3 sticks celery, cut into 1cm slices
2 large garlic cloves, crushed
2 tbsp honey
4 tbsp raisins
3-4 tsp hot curry powder
a pinch of chilli powder (optional but especially necessary if, like us, you only have medium curry powder)
1 tsp ground cumin
½ tsp allspice
1 litre chicken stock
50g long grain rice
1 large unwaxed lemon, thinly sliced
salt and pepper


To garnish:
Greek yoghurt
1 large handful of chopped fresh coriander


Method:
Heat the oils with ¼tsp salt and brown the chicken pieces lightly on all sides. Remove the chicken from the pan.

Using the same saucepan, gently cook the onion until soft, without colouring. Add the leeks, carrots, celery and garlic and cook for 2 minutes.

Stir in the honey, raisins, curry powder (and chilli powder if using), cumin and allspice and stir over the heat for a further minute.

Return the chicken pieces to the pan and add the rice and lemon slices. Stir, making sure to coat the chicken in the spices.

Pour over the stock, stirring well, and bring to the boil. Cover and simmer gently for 20-25 minutes until the chicken is cooked, stirring occasionally. In my opinion, it’s best to leave it simmering just a little longer to really bring out all the flavours. 

If using chicken on the bone, remove it from the bone at this stage and then return it to the pan.

Season to taste and serve garnished with a dollop of yoghurt and a sprinkling of fresh coriander.

Enjoy! (Trust me, you will!)

*I know this is the second chicken soup I have put on here in a short space of time, but, although at a glance they may look similar, they are completely different dishes and I think both of them need to be tried!

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Laab Moo

2 Jul

 

I’m currently back in England for a nice three-week holiday while I’m “in between jobs.” Having landed at the crack of dawn after a very uncomfortable flight, the first thing my dad told me on the car journey home from the airport was that I was to cook dinner that evening for him and his guests. No rest for the wicked! Fortunately these guests were visiting from Bangkok and one of them is in fact Thai. Therefore when she heard that my dad had asked me to cook a Thai Green Curry, she quickly jumped in and suggested we cook together. Excellent idea as, although I like to think I make a very good TGC, there’s no way I would allow it to be judged by an actual Thai person!

We not only made an amazing curry, but also some delicious vegetables cooked in garlic and oyster sauce, and a Laab moo. This, I guess, is Thailand’s answer to Lettuce Wrap. It’s an interesting combination: crispy lettuce with warm salty/sour filling, infused with lemongrass, with the satisfying crunch of the ground rice. I have eaten it many a time in Thai restaurants across the world but have never actually tried my hand at cooking it. It is a very simple yet tasty dish which can be served alongside other Thai dishes, or as a starter.

As all my friends are boring and working (am I unemployed and bitter? Never!), I have not really had the chance to dine in any of the South East of England’s finest restaurants yet. Hence, I shall share with you a truly scrumptious Thai dish…

Ingredients:
500g minced pork*
50g rice
Chicken stock
3 tbsp fish sauce
3 lemongrass stalks, finely sliced
2-3 shallots, finely sliced
1 tsp chilli powder
1 fresh red chilli, finely sliced
Juice of 1 lime
Large handful of coriander, roughly chopped
Large handful of mint, roughly chopped
Lettuce leaves (iceberg or little gem will work perfectly, separated into individual leaves)

Method:
Put the rice in a dry pan and heat until brown and slightly puffed (should take around 5-10 minutes). Ground using a mortar and pestle until crushed into a coarse powder.

In a heavy-based pan, add a little water (around 100ml) and a chicken stock cube. Cook at a low heat until dissolved. Add the pork and stir until cooked through.

Add lemongrass, shallots, chilli powder, fresh chilli and ground rice and cook for a couple of minutes, until a little softer.

Add fish sauce and lime juice. Bring to the boil and turn heat right down.

Finally add two thirds of the coriander and mint leaves. Stir through until leaves wilt slightly. Use the rest as garnish when serving.

Take a lettuce leaf, fill with laab moo, roll it up and enjoy!

 

*Can be made with minced chicken or beef as an alternative. I would imagine that it could even be made with quorn for those strange veggies out there!

 

 

 

 

 

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