Chickpea and Brocolli Risotto

A simple risotto, made with chickpeas, turmeric rice (Basmati), a quarter of a head of brocolli (diced), and one julienned red onion.

The rice was boiled for 12 minutes in water, a pinch of salt, a little olive oil, and two pinches of turmeric powder. Drained, and set aside.

The chickpeas were soaked overnight, and then boiled for twenty minutes or so until tender. Then they were fried in a little butter along with the red onion, for fifteen minutes.

After that, the diced brocolli was added to the pan, and cooked for about another ten minutes.

The rice and the chickpeas, brocolli and red onion were decanted to a bowl, and stirred together. Served with a little sweet chilli sauce. Can be eaten hot or cold.

Chilli Chicken and Red Onion Salad

Roast chicken pieces soused in a sweet red chilli sauce, along with julienned red onion.

Served on a bed of green and purple lettuce. Simple and delicious!

Casseroled Chicken with Red and Green Peppers

Two chicken thighs, casseroled on a drizzle of sunflower oil, a bed of thinly sliced potato, a layer of mange tout, and another of sliced red and green peppers. Plus one finely diced garlic clove, and a de-seeded and diced red chilli.

Add 100mls of cold chicken stock and a light dressing of sweet red chilli sauce. Shake some sea salt onto the skin of the the chicken thighs.

Place the casserole dish on the middle shelf of an oven preheated to 190 deg C, and cook for 55 minutes (check progress halfway). 45 minutes under glass, and without the lid for the final ten minutes. This allows the skin to brown and become deliciously crispy.

Flaked Salmon in a Sweet Chilli Sauce

A fillet of red salmon steamed for twenty minutes, then de-skinned, and then flaked with a fork.

Mixed together with a third of a cup of long grain rice, cooked for fifteen minutes in boiling salted water, and then drained.

Served with sweet red chilli sauce, and some black pepper.

King Prawn with Thai Black Rice

Vietnamese king prawns served in a sweet chilli sauce, with Long grain rice and Thai black rice.

A handful of black rice was cooked for twenty minutes, and then drained, which removes a lot of the pigment in the grains. Added back to the pot, along with a third of a cup of long grain white rice. Cooked for another ten to fifteen minutes.

The grey uncooked prawns were blanched in freshly boiled water for two to three minutes until they became pink.

The rice was drained and added to a wok with a little sunflower oil. Stir-fried for a couple of minutes, after which the king prawns were added. Stir-fry for another couple of minutes, adding the sweet chilli sauce. Serve with a little dark soy. Delicious!

Unsmoked Gammon with Winter Vegetables

Boiled potato, steamed carrots and Brussels Sprouts. The main ingredient was unsmoked slices of gammon (carved from a roasted joint the previous day), served with a gravy made with chopped green peppers and onion. The gravy could be blended if you prefer.

Boil the potatoes for twenty minutes and steam the carrots for the same amount of time. The sprouts take less time - ten minutes should be enough.

The peppers and onion were cooked in a vegetable stock and some onion gravy granules (Bisto brand). Add the slices of gammon after about fifteen or twenty minutes. Cook under glass for another fifteen or twenty minutes. A small dash of sweet chilli sauce was added in the last five minutes. Not necessary, but I like the edge of heat it gives.

Spicy Chicken Enchilladas

Made with the remains of a Chicken Parmigiana, made a couple of days earlier on the hob  Made with one small chopped leek, one onion, chicken meat from three chicken drumsticks, a 390g pack of chopped tomato with basil and oregano from Sainsbury's, grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese (about 100g), two garlic cloves, some chicken stock, and a little olive oil.

To recap on the creation of the salsa, I started the leek and onion off in the pan with a drizzle of olive oil, and removed the meat from the drumsticks, stirring the vegetables occasionally. Then I added the chicken and some hot water, and added the chicken stock. I turned up the heat, and added the chopped tomatoes. I added half of the grated cheese (you can use mozarella instead if you prefer), and stirred it into the sauce. Cook for twenty minutes under glass at a low heat once it comes to the boil. Stir occasionally.

To create a salsa for the spicy enchilladas, I added a couple of chopped green chillies, with all of the pith and seeds removed, and a dessert spoonful of sweet chilli sauce. Plus some finely chopped white onion. Stirred together cold. I dampened two garlic flavoured wraps and left them to stand for two minutes, and then spooned in the spicy sauce. The enchilladas were rolled, and placed in a roasting dish which had been brushed with some sunflower oil. The surface of the wraps was also brushed with oil.

Finally, grate about 150 g of cheddar cheese on top of the enchilladas, and grind some black pepper on to the cheese. Cover the dish with aluminium foil, and wait until your oven has reached 190 deg C. Place above the middle of the oven, and cook for 50 minutes. Remove the aluminium foil during the final five minutes.

Serve with a side-salad of chopped tomatoes, yoghurt or sour cream, and Romaine lettuce. 

Pork Marinade and Noodle Soup

Pork loin strips, marinaded in a mixture of oyster, soy, and sweet chilli sauce for a couple of days in the fridge. Cook for fifteen minutes in the sauce at a medium heat, till the sauce begins to thicken  through evaporation.

Serve with noodles in a chili soup. The noodles were prepared in boiling water, along with the soup powder, and the hob was turned down. I covered the pan while I was cooking the pork strips, and allowed the noodles to absorb most of the water in the pan. Stir and separate the noodles every few minutes until they are just the way you like them.

The pork strips can also be prepared under the grill. Quick and delicious!

Stir-Fried Beef with Peppers, Onion and Mushrooms

Beef, chilli, ginger, sesame oil, yellow pepper, roasted red pepper, mushroom, cabbage,onion, courgette,

Thin strips of cubed beef, stir-fried in a teaspoonful of sesame oil, for about ten minutes or so until browned (high heat at first, then turn the heat down).

All the vegetables were cut into thin strips, and drizzled with sunflower oil, and stirred together. Allow to stand for fifteen minutes, stirring occasionally.

Once the beef is properly cooked and browned, turn up the heat and add the vegetables. Stir together and cook for between seven and eight minutes at a medium heat stirring often. In the final minute add a dessert spoonful of sweet chilli sauce and stir in well.

Serve on a spiral of dark soy sauce.

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.

Chicken in a Black Bean Sauce

Chicken, Basmati rice, sliced green pepper, spring onion and pak choi leaves, plus black bean and sweet chilli sauces. 

The chopped pieces of chicken breast were fried slowly, until golden brown, earlier in the day and stored in the fridge. The basmati rice was cooked in boiling water in the bottom half of a steamer (ten minutes). The vegetables were steamed in the upper tier for seven minutes. The chicken pieces were reheated in a wok, and coated with two spoonfuls of black bean sauce. Cooked for ten to fifteen minutes at a medium heat, part of the time under glass. 

Serve as shown, with a little sweet chilli sauce. Leaves a wonderful smell in the kitchen for a couple of hours!

Chicken in a Black Bean Sauce

Chicken and Rice Noodles

Gluten free rice noodles, with green pepper, onion, celery, pak choi, garlic, green chilli, sezchuan pepper, rice wine, sunflower oil, nam pla fish sauce, steamed chicken, soy sauce, sweet chilli sauce. 

The vegetables were prepared first, as the frozen chicken drumsticks were steamed. The flesh was stripped from the drumsticks, and both the chicken and the vegetables were added to the wok at the same time. Cooked at a middle to high heat for about seven minutes (not as hot as in a traditional Chinese kitchen). 

The noodles were cooked in boiling water, for ten minutes, without further heat.  Drained and added to a plate with a spiral of dark soy sauce. The chicken and vegetables were added on top of the noodles, and drizzled with a sweet chilli sauce. 

Chicken and Rice Noodles

Pork Belly Stir-Fry

I bought some pork belly strips from the supermarket, which I cooked in the preheated oven, in an open roasting dish for 45-50 minutes at 180 deg. C. Cooled and left in the fridge overnight. 

I cut up three of the strips into squares the next day, and put the squares into the wok first, with some sunflower oil. Cooked for five minutes, before adding the mix of vegetables - bean sprouts, mushroom, two kinds of cabbage, yellow and green pepper strips, thin-cut strips of carrot, onion, two kinds of cabbage and some cashew nuts.

Cook for five minutes at a medium heat, stirring frequently. Rather than add chopped fresh chilli, I drizzled some sweet chilli sauce in to the wok a minute before the end of the cooking process. Simple and quick to prepare. 

Pork Belly Stir-Fry