Singapore Fried Noodle with Chicken

Stir-Fried vegetables and chicken pieces, with fantastic Singapore noodles from Sainsbury's.

The vegetables were stir-fried first in a little sunflower oil, at a high heat initially, but reduced a minute or so after the vegetables were added to the wok (I use an electric cooker, and the hobs take a while to cool down). The vegetables included mushroom slices, bamboo shoots, bean sprouts, green cabbage, onion, and red chilli (deseeded).

I added the chicken pieces, which had been marinaded and pre-cooked in chicken stock with ginger. The stir-fry was on the hob altogether for seven minutes.

The vegetables and chicken pieces were then decanted to a pre-heated serving plate, and the wok was now used to fry the noodles. I added sunflower oil to the wok and cooked the noodles for two minutes at a medium heat, stirring frequently to prevent sticking (the noodles came vacuum-packed, and ready to cook).

Once ready, the noodles were added to the serving plate, and the vegetables and chicken were mixed through. The dish was drizzled with soy sauce. Delicious!

Chicken Stir-fry with an Oyster and Spring Onion Sauce

This is a variation of the chicken stir-fry I had yesterday, with additional spring onion.

A basic mix of stir-fry vegetables from the local co-op - bean sprouts, red and yellow pepper, two colours of cabbage, red onion, and sliced carrot. Supplemented by a handful of unsalted cashew nuts, some bamboo shoots, and a little sliced water chestnut. Stir-fried in a wok for around seven minutes, starting at a high heat, and a middling heat for the rest of the time. Stir frequently. Watch its progress carefully, and judge readiness by eye.

I heated the roast chicken pieces (diced chicken breast), two diced spring onions,  and the cashews in a high sided pot at a high heat,  along with a drizzle of sunflower oil. Stirred for a couple of minutes until the chicken and the cashews began to brown, then the heat was turned down substantially.

I added the Oyster and Spring Onion Sauce (ready made and sourced from Aldi) to the pot and stirred the ingredients thoroughly together. Simmered under a glass lid for five minutes, stirring occasionally.

There is no garlic or chilli in this stir-fry. Why buy a deliciously flavoured sauce only to risk wrecking the result with additional strong flavours?

Decant the vegetables to a serving plate. Add the chicken pieces with the sauce, cashews and spring onion on top of the stir fry, and serve. Fifteen minutes from start to finish, if you are used to using two cooking vessels simultaneously. And delicious!

Sweet and Sour Chicken with Fried Rice

Chicken pieces in a sweet and sour sauce, with added dried red chilli, bamboo shoots, diced onion, sweetcorn, and diced button mushrooms.

Cooked for half an hour under glass, with some vegetable stock.

Served with fried basmati rice. Dress with some dark soy sauce.

Want to make your own sweet and sour sauce? It is pretty straightforward, and is describe here.

Pork and Pepper Stir-Fry

A pork stir fry with two different kinds of cabbage, bean sprouts, red and
yellow peppers, chestnut mushrooms, red onion, carrot, bamboo shoots, finger chillies, garlic, root ginger.

The whole dish was cooked in the same wok, so I started with the pork. I cut into strips two raw pork loin steaks, after removing the surrounding fat. The strips were put into the wok when the sunflower oil was hot, and stir fried for ten minutes, with the heat turned right down to the lowest. After that I turned up the heat again, and added chopped peppers, 3 chopped finger chillies, bamboo shoots, chopped mushroom, garlic, and root ginger strips. Cooked for three minutes stirring almost constantly.

Finally I added the cabbage, bean sprouts, red onion, and some carrot pieces, and stir-fried for a further 3 minutes at a medium heat.

Served on a spiral of dark soy sauce.

Sweet and Sour Roast Pork Stir-fry

A bag of stir-fry vegetables from the Co-op, including two kinds of cabbage (one of them being cavolo cabbage), bean sprouts, carrot, red onion, red pepper, yellow pepper, and water chestnuts, to which I added garlic and four green finger chillies, cooked in sunflower oil. You could add bamboo shoots and mushrooms if you have them to hand.

Cooked for five minutes in a wok, from a high heat, which was gradually reduced, to avoid burning the vegetables.

The roast pork was cooked the day before, and was cut into strips. Added to a small lidded pan with a sweet and sour sauce (bought from Aldi. I've described how to make this sauce elsewhere on the blog). Cooked slowly for fifteen minutes to ensure thorough heating of the pork.

Added together on the plate, along with some dark soy sauce drizzled over the top, and freshly ground black pepper.

Vegetable Stir-Fry with Red Pepper, Bamboo Shoots, and Chestnut Mushrooms

Made with brown basmati rice, cooked for 25 minutes to half an hour in boiling water with turmeric, powdered ginger, and some Chinese five spice. Plus finely chopped scotch bonnet chilli (one half only! Remove all the seeds) and a little sunflower oil to prevent sticking.

The vegetables were: three cloves of garlic, diced, two dessert spoonfuls of bamboo shoots, preserved in oil, chopped chestnut mushrooms, half a stick of celery, chopped, two spring onions, diced, half a dozen green beans, chopped, and a quarter each of red and yellow pepper, chopped. If you have any liquor left over from a jar of grilled peppers, marinade the vegetables in that for an hour before cooking.

Rinse the rice and drain. Allow to cool. Then add the rice and the chopped vegetables to a wok with some preheated sunflower oil at a medium to high heat, depending on how you like to cook a stir-fry. Stir frequently for about four to five minutes (judge the result by eye).

Serve on a spiral of dark soy sauce. Also good with some egg noodles. Delicious!

Sweet and Sour Pork

Stir-Fry vegetable mix from the Co-op. Pork from the freezer. Actually pork chops, which I divested of bone, and then stir-fried in sunflower oil.

I added thinly sliced Scotch Bonnet chilli, spring onion, and diced red pepper. Stir-fried for fifteen minutes, until the pork was properly cooked, turning occasionally.

The  sweet and sour sauce was shop bought from Aldi, which includes tomato puree, chilli, vinegar, and sugar. Heated in a separate pan, to which the pork and other vegetable ingredients were added. Allowed to simmer under glass until the stir-fried vegetables were ready.

The stir-fry vegetables were cooked in sunflower oil for between five and seven minutes, depending on the heat, befor being decanted to a plate, followed by the sweet and sour pork. Delicious!

Beef and Mushroom Stir-Fry

Boiled beef chunks cut into thin strips and stir fried in sunflower oil with bamboo shoots for five minutes. 

Then a stir-fry mix of sliced mushrooms, red chilli, garlic, ginger, carrot, onion, white and green cabbage, chopped baby sweetcorn, and bean sprouts was added, along with a dash of a sweet chilli sauce, and stir-fried for five minutes at a high heat. Served on a spiral of dark soy sauce. 

This was a very quick meal to prepare, since the stir-fry mix came ready made, with the exception of the chilli, garlic, ginger, sweetcorn and bamboo shoots. Preparation time starting from scratch would be about twenty-five minutes. 

Baby Sweetcorn, Mushroom, and Bamboo Shoot Stir-Fry

The ingredients are: baby sweetcorn, bamboo shoots, mushroom, red and green chillies, garlic, ginger, spring onion, red pepper, cabbage, sweet chilli sauce. All stir-fried in some left over beef fat.

Chop all the vegetables into pieces while the beef fat is heating in the wok.

Decant into a pyrex bowl, and add a little vinegar, sweet chilli sauce, and some chinese rice wine. Stir, and allow to stand for a few minutes.

The point of using the beef fat is twofold - the avoidance of waste, and to impart flavour to the stir-fry. You can cook this dish with sunflower oil instead, but you won't get the same flavour. Spoon the vegetables into the hot fat, and stir-fry at a medium to high heat for seven minutes, stirring frequently.

Afterwards, the stir-fried vegetables were decanted  into a metal seive, and drained for two minutes into a bowl, shaking every ten seconds or so. That way ninety percent of the beef fat is gone from the dish after cooking.

Vegetable Chow Mein

A chow mein made with rice noodles, rather than the more customary egg noodles.

The vegetables were marinaded in the sauce (described in a moment). The vegetables were: chopped fine beans, red pepper, onion and bamboo shoots. Plus a clove of garlic, and a couple of topped finger chillies for heat.

The sauce I used was bought from Aldi, and is made from ginger, oyster sauce, fish sauce, extract from anchovies and soya, malt and barley extract, and a little wheat to act as a thickener. You could make something like this for yourself, with the first three ingredients, some soy sauce, and some cornflour as the thickening agent.

The vegetables were cooked for ten minutes in the chow mein sauce under glass. The rice noodles were fresh, and were stir-fried in a little sunflower oil until slightly crispy (about three and a half minutes at a high heat). The noodles were decanted onto a plate covered with a spiral of soy sauce, and the vegetables were spooned on top. Delicious and quick to make!

Vegetables in Hoisin & Garlic Sauce, with Crispy Noodles

Brocolli spears, chopped mushroom, red onion, red chilli, and bamboo shoots, in a hoisin and garlic sauce, served on a bed of crispy noodles. 

The vegetables were stir-fried in a little sunflower oil at a medium heat for about 15 minutes, until tender. Alternatively, the vegetables can be parboiled first, and the stir-fry time reduced. Then the sauce was added to the wok, and stirred in thoroughly to the vegetables. Allow to cook under glass for another four to five minutes. 

The crispy noodles were prepared first, by soaking in boiled water for five minutes. Drained, and allowed to dry a little. Then they were decanted into a wok brushed with sunflower oil at high heat until the underside of the noodles becomes crispy (check by turning at the edges). Turn the noodles over several times over the next two minutes, then decant to the serving plate, and add the vegetables in the hoisin and garlic sauce. 

Vegetables in Hoisin & Garlic Sauce, with Crispy Noodles

Stir-Fry Marinade, with Crispy Pork

The vegetables - white and green cabbage, onion, carrot, red pepper, brocolli, red chilli, root ginger, chopped garlic cloves, cashew nuts, bamboo shoots - are marinaded in a little white wine, rice wine, fish sauce (nam pla), and sunflower oil. Leave for at least an hour and a half in a covered glass bowl, occasionally turning the mix.

The pork I used is some ham trimmings, cut into strips. Cook the ham first at a medium heat for at least four minutes, until the edges start to become crispy. Drain the marinade from the bowl, and add the vegetables to the wok. Stir-fry at a medium heat for about seven minutes. Serve piping hot.

Stir-Fry Marinade, with Crispy Pork

Beef and Cashew Stir-Fry

If a meat ingredient is present in a stir-fry, I always cook that first, in order to be sure it is properly cooked through. So for this stir-fry I cooked the braised and chopped pieces of beef in preheated sunflower oil at a high heat, along with cashew nuts, and chopped red chillies, until both the beef and the cashew nuts were slightly browned.

I added a teaspoonful of rice wine and stirred the contents of the wok for a further minute.

Then the vegetable ingredients were added: bean sprouts, cabbage, shredded carrot, chopped water chestnuts, bamboo shoots, onion, and mixed peppers.

Stir-fry the contents of the wok for three to four minutes at Chinese kitchen heat, or around seven minutes at a lower heat. Serve on a spiral of dark soy sauce.
 

Beef and Cashew Stir-Fry

Chicken Stir-Fry with Water Chestnuts and Bamboo Shoots

There are endless ways to stir-fry food, but if a meat ingredient is present, I always cook that first, in order to be sure it is properly cooked through. So for this stir-fry I cooked the chicken breast pieces in preheated sunflower oil at a high heat, along with cashew nuts, sliced garlic, and chopped red chillies, until both the chicken and the cashew nuts were slightly browned. 

I added a teaspoonful of Nam Pla fish sauce (Squid brand), and stirred the contents of the wok for a further minute. 

Then the vegetable ingredients were added: bean sprouts, cabbage, shredded carrot, chopped water chestnuts, bamboo shoots, onion, and mixed peppers. Often I put together the vegetable selection myself, but if I want bean sprouts in the mix, I often buy a stir-fry pack from the supermarket, since bean sprouts don't keep, and a much of a large bag would go to waste, unless I'm entertaining guests. 

Stir-fried until the vegetables were cooked - 3 minutes at Chinese kitchen high heat levels, and much longer (up to 7 minutes) at medium heat. Served with dark soy sauce. 

Adding the vegetable ingredients to the chicken pieces

Chicken Stir-Fry with Water Chestnuts and Bamboo Shoots

Cashew and Mushroom Stirfry

Whole cashew nuts and chopped chestnut mushrooms stir fried at high heat for five minutes in sunflower oil, dark soy sauce and some oyster sauce. After that the following ingredients were added to the wok: green chilli, whole garlic cloves, chopped cabbage, beansprouts, carrot, red and green peppers, onion, water chestnuts, bamboo shoots, and a sprinkling of ginger powder (out of fresh ginger root!)

The heat was turned down to a medium heat and the whole dish stirfried for ten minutes before serving. 

Cashew and Mushroom Stirfry