Prawns, Rice and Coriander

 Steamed prawns and rice, with diced yellow peppers and onion (twenty minutes). Dressed in Soy and Chilli sauce, plus diced coriander leaf. Can be served hot or cold. Delicious!

Peppers, Prawns and Spinach

 A delicious meal of precooked prawns (a bargain from the local Co-op), sliced yellow and red peppers, plus diced spinach. All steamed, and soused in some gluten free soy sauce. Ten minutes to cook. Fabulous!

Chicken Stir Fry

 Chicken Stir Fry with diced carrot, chilli, red onion, mushroom, yellow pepper, two colours of cabbage, and soy sauce. The chicken was pre-roasted in the oven, and then diced. The stir fry took five minutes at a high heat, stirring frequently. 

Vegetable Stir-Fry

 Pretty straightforward and tasty dish. Everything diced and sliced apart from the bean sprouts and the red chillies. Cook for five minutes at a high heat. 

Chicken, Egg Noodles and Beansprouts

 Fresh egg noodles bought from Aldi, along with a large bag of beansprouts. 

The chicken was cooked first at a medium heat in some rapeseed oil, along with the spring onions and diced chestnut mushrooms. Then a large handful of beansprouts was added to the pan at a high heat. Once they looked done I added  the egg noodles (which I'd soaked in a pasta bowl with boiling water while the beansprouts were cooking), and turned the heat down to medium again. Constantly stir, otherwise the noodles will stick.

Add chilli and garlic and soy sauce according to taste.

Egg Noodles with Yellow Pepper, Spring Onion, and Green Beans

 A simple vegetarian dish. The diced vegetables were cooked first in a wok with a little rapeseed oil (five to seven minutes at a medium heat). The noodles were prepared in another pan of boiled water (about five minutes - judge by eye). Add the noodles to the wok and stir together for about four minutes or so at a medium heat. Serve and dress with soy sauce. 

Salmon, Blackbean sauce, and Soy Risotto

 Basmati and Thai black rice. with a broken salmon fillet, and Black bean and soy sauce. Plus Sriracha Chilli Sauce.Cooked slowly in a skillet for twenty minutes (rice boiled separately for twenty minutes).
 

I had some leftovers, which I cooked with diced garlic. Also excellent.

Noodles and Mushrooms

 A simple dish of egg noodles and diced white mushrooms. Noodles from the far east, so they just required to be soaked in a covered dish of boiling water for five minutes, along with the chilli sauce. The mushrooms were cooked in a separate pan at a medium heat. 

Alcatraz Breakfast (with chicken and black bean sauce)

 Noodles were an important part of the diet of prisoners in Alcatraz (checkout Clint Eastwood's 'Escape from Alcatraz'). Why? No idea really, though it was an easy thing to cook for breakfast. The prisoners would have received a proper meal later in the day. 

I started with the chicken and black bean sauce and added the noodles. Five minutes to prepare the noodles. Stirred together. Delicious!

Diced Pork Loin Steak with Cashews

The rice was steamed first and allowed to cool. Regulary turned with a fork until ready (20-30 minutes). Reheated shortly before serving the vegetables and pork on the bed of rice. The red pepper and the onion were diced, along with the mushrooms, garlic and chilli. Stir-fried along with the  (preroasted) pork steak pieces, and the cashews. Served together with a drizzle of soy sauce. 
 

Black Pepper Chicken

A classic Chinese dish, which is simple to make, and with minimal ingredients. Roasted chicken breast, diced, dressed in freshly ground black pepper (this is essential if the dish is to work - ordinary pre-ground black pepper won't do. Szechuan pepper is recommended). Celery stalks, topped and tailed, and cut into thin strips, and then diced. Add diced garlic. Add soy sauce and rice wine. Steamed for half an hour before serving.

Devilled Chicken

Chicken Breast marinaded in a salsa made with tomato puree, black pepper, a pinch of paprika, crushed garlic, a quarter teaspoonful of red chilli powder, a pinch of dried rosemary, a dash of soy sauce, plus some Cox's 'Bloody Mary Spice' (optional!).

The spicy salsa was rubbed into the chicken inside a sandwich bag, and then was put in the fridge for two hours. Cooked in an open casserole dish on the middle shelf of the oven at 180 deg C for 45 minutes. 

The chipped potatoes were marinaded in olive oil and salt for an hour and a half, and then drained. Grilled in a roasting dish for 25 minutes (judge progress by eye). 

 

Smoked Gammon Risotto, with Green Beans

Smoked gammon pieces cut from a roasted joint. Served with diced green beans and steamed Basmati rice. Drizzled with a little soy sauce. The joint took 1 hour and 45 minutes in the oven, was allowed to cool and was kept in the fridge overnight. The gammon was stir fried with the beans, and then was added to the steamed rice and served in a standard chinese bowl. 

 

Chicken with Chinese style Rice

I've taken to cooking rice along the lines of the process in China. I don't have a rice cooker, but basically the idea is to cook the rice slowly, and to allow it to stick together (oobviously the opposite of most western practice). You can do this by putting the rice in a small pan, and cooking it until the water has evaporated. If you leave it for a bit longer, and add something like sunflower oil, it will become a little crispy underneath. Fabulous! I used turmericed rice with a handful of thai black rice, cooked and drained separately, so most of the purple dye was removed. 

The rest of the dish is composed of diced chicken breast, diced red and green pepper, diced onion, chopped pak choi leaves, diced ginger and garlic. Cooked for about ten minutes in a separate pan. Dressed in a little dark soy sauce on serving. 

 

Singapore Fried Noodles with Chicken

I respect many aspects of chinese cooking, but I tend to avoid cooking at very high temperatures (I can't stand the smoke in the kitchen). The vegetables (with the ginger, garlic and diced chillies) were fried at a very low heat for about twenty minutes. Then set aside. After that I cooked the diced chicken breast, again very slowly at first - altogether for about twenty minutes in the same oil I used to cook the vegetables. 

The Singapore noodles were sourced from Sainsbury's, who supply a couple of varieties (plain and curried) which are pretty authentic. I steamed them first for a few minutes (or you can blanche them in boiling water). Then they were drained and then fried in sunflower oil at a high heat for a couple of minutes in a skillet. Meanwhile the chicken and vegetables were being reheated in another pan. 

Assembled on a plate with a drizzle of dark soy sauce. Utterly delicious!

 

Curried Singapore Fried Noodle with King Prawns

A favourite dish from student days, when we used to hop on a bus to Chinatown in London, to have Singapore fried noodles at Wong Ki's restaurant (Gerrard Street). 

This variant of the dish uses curried noodles from Sainsbury's. The Vietnamese king prawns (also from Sainsbury's) were cooked for a couple of minutes in a little sunflower oil. The vegetables were cooked first for about four minutes at a high heat - diced red pepper (one third of one pepper), one diced spring onion, some chopped root ginger, and two cloves of garlic. No chilli this time. 

I added the noodles to a wok containing the stirfried vegetables, and mixed them together. Cooked in two and a half minutes, stirring often. I then added the king prawns. Decanted to a serving plate, and dressed in a medium dark soy sauce. 

 

Chickpeas, Green Beans, and Spicy Chips

Chickpeas soaked for several hours before being cooked in unsalted water for three hours. With an added dried red chilli. The green beans were steamed for ten minutes. The spicy chips were parboiled for seven minutes in salted water, before being drained, and then dressed in tomato ketchup, olive oil, Oregano and Basil. Cooked under the grill for fifteen minutes (judge progress by eye). Served on some dark soy sauce. 

 

Mince, Potatoes and Green Beans

A delicious variation on this favourite British dish.

Diced leek and carrot were stir-fried slowly for twenty minutes in some sunflower oil. The vegetables were decanted to another pot and boiling water was added to it. Slowly simmered for half an hour.

The ground beef was added to the original saute pan, and browned over twenty minutes (judge progress by eye).

Then the ground beef was decanted to the pot containing the vegetables using a slatted spoon, leaving the surplus beef fat in the saute pan. Stir through thoroughly, and add the vegetable stock, two dashes of dark soy sauce, half a teaspoonful of paprika, and half a dessert spoonful of cornmeal. Stir together. Allow to simmer under glass for forty-five minutes or so, by which time the beef will be beautifully tender.

Serve with boiled potatoes cooked for twenty minutes,  and green beans boiled for seven minutes.

Singapore Fried Noodles with King Prawns

Cooked Nicaraguan king prawns from Sainsbury's along with curry flavoured Singapore noodles from the same store.

Served with diced chilli and garlic, spring onion and mushrooms. The vegetables were stir-fried alone in sunflower oil for four to five minutes at a high heat. The heat was turned down and the noodles were added to the pan.

The prawns were blanched in water brought to the boil for two minutes before being added to the wok containing the noodles. Stir fry vigorously for another two to three minutes at a medium heat. Serve with a drizzle of dark soy sauce. A favourite dish!

Mushroom and Cabbage Stir-Fry, with Chilli Chicken

Mushroom and cabbage stir-fry ingredients from the local Co-op, and onion and bean sprouts. Stir fried-for seven minutes at a medium heat (I have an efficient cooker hood, but I still try to avoid cooking at very high temperatures). The stir-fry was decanted to a plate heated in the oven.

The chopped roast chicken was prepared in a separate small pan, with chicken stock, deseeded and diced red chilli, plus a quarter spoonful of powdered ginger (fresh is better if you have a root in your fridge). Simmered under glass for ten minutes until most of the chilli salsa has been reduced.

Serve on top of the stir-fry and drizzle with some dark soy sauce and some white pepper.