Category: Chilli

Singapore stir-fried noodles with king prawns

January 16, 2016
I have a couple of Dishes that I always cook for myself be it every week or at least every other week and this recipe is one of them. I love eating all types of Asian cuisine but this is a great one to do if you don’t want to break the bank balance and order a takeaway.

  You may not have all the store cupboard ingredients in at first, but once you do have them in, you can use them for other recipes I will be doing or have already created, so they won’t go to waste and will last for a long time.

  This dish can be cooked in 10 minutes (15 if you include the prep), it’s a super quick, simple recipe that has lots of flavour in there of you. 
 If you are one of these people that when you order a Chinese takeaway you choose a chow mien dish and then put curry sauce on top of it, well this is the one for you! 

  This recipe can be cooked at any time of year and also is so great for using up any odd bits of vegetables you have in the fridge. Perfect for a Friday or Saturday before you do a shop for the next week ahead. 
 A Frugal takeaway made at home… A “Fake-away” 



Singapore stir-fried noodles with King Prawns:






Ingredients:
( Serves 2 approximately)
  •    A good handful of king prawns ( I normally would say at least 8 per person but I love Prawns!) I tend to buy a 225g frozen packet of raw or cooked ones as they are more economical. Just defrost thoroughly first.
  •  1/2 250g pack of  Singapore noodles ( thin type )( I buy mine from Wang Fung Hong in Leicester)
  •  2 tbsp Rapeseed oil or groundnut oil
  •  2 Cloves of garlic chopped finely
  •  Thumbsize nail amount of fresh Ginger grated or chopped fine
  •  half a red chilli chopped finely
  •  1 small onion sliced
  •  2-3 Chestnut mushrooms or shitake sliced
  •  1 small carrot sliced thinly
  •  1/2 red pepper sliced lengthways 
  •  1/2 yellow pepper sliced lengthways
  •  1/4 celery stick sliced thinly on an angle 
  •  2-3 Chinese leaves sliced or you could use pak choi or even both( Again mine are from Wang Fung Hong in Leicester)
  •  A good handful of Bean sprouts ( Wang Fung Hong as they are in bigger packs )
  •  2-3 spring onions sliced diagonally 
  •  small handful of chopped coriander to finish
(Stir fry sauce):
1 tbsp light soy sauce ( Wang Fung Hong )
1 tbsp oyster sauce ( Wang Fung Hong )
1/4 chicken stock pot
1 tbsp Chinese hot and spicy curry sauce concentrated paste ( Mine was from Wang Fung Hong ) you can use a mild or medium curry powder if you can’t find
pinch of caster sugar 
150 ml of water
Method:
*  Cook noodles to packet instructions and rinse under cold water to cool, if you don’t, they stick.
  •  In a wok add your oil and start to fry off your sliced onion, celery, carrot and mushrooms for a minute or two until starting to colour and soften.
  •  Add your Garlic, ginger and chilli but be careful not to burn, stir and then add in  the sliced peppers, and stir for about another minute.
  •  Then add in your prawns, chinese leaves or pak choi or both and continue to toss the ingredients around the wok.
  •  Start to add in your sauces i.e. soy, oyster, chicken stock and just make a little area by moving the veg away in the wok and pop in your curry paste, using a spoon stirr in the paste, add water and start to coat all the veg.
*  Add in your noodles, stir, add then spring onions and coriander plus if it needs a little extra of any sauces. Serve in a bowl and enjoy.





Indian spiced warm cauliflower and chickpea salad with homemade tortilla chips

July 13, 2015


I won’t be sharing all of my recipes I do for my column and other work on here all of the time but I felt I had to with this one.  It has proven to be very popular, more than I thought.  I had one young lady ask me in my local supermarket about it so I felt I should share it on here also. 
  Before though I wasn’t sure wether people would like this?  I know that sounds strange but just in the fact of it being quite a fusion style dish of Mexico meets India.  However Im so pleased to say I have no worries of that now. 

  So, you may wonder why there are tortilla chips on this dish being an Indian inspired one but the main reason for it is to show how easy you can use up different types of flatbreads you may have that need using up, such as Chapatti’s from the night before or pitta breads. I know for sure whenever I open a pack of tortillas or make homemade chapatti’s, Ive always got some left, hence why I used the tortilla wraps in this one. The young lady that asked me about this recipe, loved this part of the recipe.  You may recall I mentioned about doing this on Rupal Rajani’s show talking about Leftovers on BBC Radio Leicester last year.

  This recipe is a lovely spiced mix and match dish, the idea is to get a bit of each and the flavours will burst in your mouth together. Serve this with your favourite chutneys and pickles.  It is great for a Lunch, a picnic or even watching a film and if you have any left over you can use it again the day after in a wrap, with rice or as a cold salad.



Warm Indian spiced Cauliflower and chickpea salad with homemade Spicy Tortilla chips:




Ingredients:

( Serves 2 people as a sharing dish)

Warm dish:

  • 1/2 small cauliflower ( slice down the florets ) plus use the green part too, adds great flavour
  • 1/2 400g tin of chickpeas drained and rinsed 
  • small red onion sliced
  • Handful of fresh spinach or frozen
  • 1-2 tbsp of Rapeseed oil or any oil of your choice
  • thumbnail size of grated fresh Ginger
  • 2 cloves of garlic
  • 1 thin green indian chilli chopped finely
  •   1 tsp  cumin ( All ground spices from Spice Kitchen)
  •   1 tsp  turmeric 
  •   1 tsp  ground coriander
  •   1 tsp  chilli powder
  •   1 tsp garam masala  

Cold mixed salad:

  • Good handful of fresh Spinach leaves or any leaf of your choice
  •   Chopped fresh tomatoes
  •   Cucumber sliced
  •   Red onion sliced
  •   Carrot thinly sliced 
  •   Radish sliced lengthways
  •   Fresh coriander 
  •   Fresh mint 
  •   Cracked Black pepper to season and a squeeze of lemon
Tortilla Chips:

  • Tortilla wraps cut into triangles
  •   3 tbsp of rapeseed oil
  •   1 tsp Garam masala ( Spice Kitchen )
  •   1 tsp Chilli powder ( Spice Kitchen )
  •   sprinkle of sea salt to season


Method:




Warm Salad:

  • Blanch off your chickpeas and your cauliflower in slated boiling water for about 3-4 minutes.

  • fry your red onion, garlic, ginger and spices for a couple of minutes on a medium heat.

  • Drain your Cauliflower and chickpeas and add to the frying pan. Cook fro another 2 minutes, stirring so all is coated in the lovely spices

  • Add your Spinach to the mix and cook for another minute or two.


Tortilla Chips:

  • Preheat oven to 190c

  • Place all triangles on a baking tray and drizzle with oil

  • Add your spices to it

  • Pop in the oven for approximately 7 minutes or until starting to turn golden brown.

* Assemble all salad together, serve in separate bowls, add your chutneys and pickles and you’re done.




Oriental Quinoa salad with sticky Chicken for BBC Radio Leicester

July 7, 2015
Last week saw temepratures reaching to up to 35 degrees in some parts of the UK,maybe more Im not sure, that was on the Wednesday.  I knew I was on the radio with Ben for BBC Radio Leicester on the Friday so I knew I had to do something light. I did not want to be in and out the oven when the sun is blazing through.  
   So I thought I’d share a recipe that I did last year just by chance one day for lunch. It’s a salad thats just so refreshing and crunchy when the days are hot, very simple to make and lets face it with the words sticky chicken in it, its got to be a winner.

  Its chose to use Quinoa ( pronounced Keen-wah ) as its high in protein but also is a wheat alternative, so it will fill you up but not bloat you. Don’t be afraid of cooking it, its very simple.

  This Salad is a great way of introducing different grains into your children’s diet or even your own.  You can either Pan fry the chicken like I did or even marinate the chicken with the sauces and then pop onto the BBQ.

  You can hear me doing my recipe here with Ben and by the way, If you can’t see much Chicken left on some of the pictures, well, thats Ben’s fault.


Oriental quinoa salad with sticky Chicken:




Ingredients:
(Serves 2 approximately)

Chicken:

–  1 Chicken thigh for 2 people sliced into strips
–  1-2 tbsp the oil of your choice ( I used coconut oil, Lucy Bee )
–  1-2 cloves of Garlic depending on size
–  Thumbnail amount of grated fresh Ginger
–  1/4 Red chilli (without seeds) chopped finely
–  Tbsp light soy sauce ( Mine is from Wang Fung Hong in Leicester )
–  Tbsp Oyster sauce ( Wang Fung Hong )
–  Good pinch of caster sugar
–  good squeeze of lime juice
Salad:

–  A good handful of Quinoa cooked
–  Handful of sugar snap peas thinly sliced lengthways 
–  2 handfuls of bean sprouts
–  1 carrot thinly sliced ( julienned) 
–  1/4 of side of White cabbage thinly sliced
–  3 spring onions chopped
–  3-4 leaves of Pak choi sliced diagonally 
–  6 radishes round or breakfast sliced into thin rounds
–  few leaves of fresh coriander chopped
–  May need an extra spritz of lime to taste


Method:





*  Cook off Quinoa to packet instructions. Then rinse in a sieve under cold water and drain.

*  Slice chicken and fry off in a frying pan on a medium heat. Add Garlic, ginger and chilli and fry off for a couple of minutes.

*  Once Chicken is starting to brown, add your soy stir and cook for a minute or two.

*  Add your oyster sauce, stir and cook for another minute.

*  Sprinkle in your sugar, spritz of lime and let it cook on a low heat for another 3-4 minutes or until nice and brown and sticky.

* Whilst your chicken is cooking away, prepare your salad.

*  Add your cooked quinoa to the salad, add your Chicken, chopped coriander and then toss all together.

*   Taste to see if it needs extra lime or not. Then serve.






Indian Spiced Cauliflower and Kale Fritters for Food Friday on BBC Radio Leicester

March 26, 2015

Often when it comes around for myself to do Food Friday again for BBC Leicester, which is about every month now.   I love to look at what I have already in my Fridge and Cupboards as I want to show people how it is great to tackle a few ingredients and see what you can come up with. I like to show how we can be more frugal by using up things we have and creating something that is quick, easy and has that wow factor.  Other times I have to admit, there maybe a certain recipe I want to cover may it be a particular event or season in the Calendar year.  I have the skills of being a Chef so I obviously want to share that knowledge with our Listeners.

   I had to laugh at Ben’s reaction to when I told him what I had decided to cook.  His response was, “Apparently we are doing something spectacular with a cauliflower!” Which I do believe our little humble cauliflower over the last couple of years has lost its pizzaz. I personally LOVE cauliflower (Has to be British over personal choice mind you).  It is so versatile and I hope to share many other recipes, however it is going out of season, but still widely available.  I won’t tell you what you can do with it as you will just have to listen Here at Ben and Myself chatting about this fantastic Vegetable. 

One thing I need to add is that since I did this recipe for BBC Radio Leicester, I actually feel that they should have been called Patties rather than Fritters as with a Fritter it is more likely to be covered with a Batter, which these are not. 

Indian Spiced Cauliflower and Kale Fritters:




Ingredients:

Makes about 20 fritters

– 1 Whole Cauliflower broke into its florets
– 3 handfuls of Curly Kale chopped
–  1 1/2 sweet potato chopped into 1/3’s if large
–  1 medium onion diced finely
–  3 cloves of Garlic
–  1 tsp of Cumin seeds or ground if have it ( I use Spice Kitchen for all my spices )
–  1 tsp of Ground Coriander
–  1/2 tsp of Turmeric
–  1 tsp of mustard seeds
–  1/2 tsp of chilli powder (hot)
–  1/2 large green chilli diced finely
–  1 Lime 
–  Small handful of flat leaf parsley chopped
–  Plain flour to coat fritters
–  Rapeseed oil 
–  Salt and pepper to season
–  Lime


Method:

*  Boil the Sweet potato until soft, take out of pan and dry onto some kitchen paper.

*  Boil the cauliflower until soft.

*  Fry off the onions and all spices, leave to one side to cool.

*  When the Cauliflower is soft, take out with a slotted spoon, pop onto kitchen paper to dry. Leave water to keep boiling for the Kale to go in.

*  Cook the Kale for a couple of minutes and once again, dry off with kitchen paper and chop down.

*  Into a Bowl mash with a potato masher all the veg and add the onions and spices. Add Salt and Pepper to season.

*  Add the chopped parsley, mix all together and start to make a ball in your hands with mixture, pat into a fritter/Patty shape, dust with plain flour and fry off in a hot pan with rapeseed oil in.

*  Fry for a few minutes each side and serve in a bowl with salads, chutneys and wedges of Lime.

Squid Ink Linguini with Crayfish for BBC Radio leicester’s Food Friday

September 18, 2014



After having a quick chat with Ben Jackson, whom I do Food friday with on BBC Radio Leicester, we decided that our listeners wanted dishes that they could pretty much cook along “Real time” with whilst listening to the programme.  It goes out at 4.40pm every friday which is a great time if you want a fairly early dinner.  Thus, then allowing you more time at your local for a quick vino or Pint! 

  A dish that sprung to my mind was a dish that I cook quite often for myself but I wanted a little twist on it.  I would normally cook this dish with “Normal” Spaghetti or linguini and use Prawns instead of crayfish.  Now of course, you could use any other seafood, I just felt that this added real colour and extra flavour as the Squid ink Linguini does have a subtle flavour that I LOVE and I feel we sometimes forget about Crayfish tails also but they have so much flavour in them. I came up with a great Ravioli dish once which I used Crayfish tails so I will share this with you soon. 

  By the way, I have had some comments on that the linguini does look a little strange, but trust me…If you love pasta and combining Seafood…you are going to LOVE IT!

Hear me and Ben Right Here!

Squid Ink Linguini with Crayfish Tails,Tomato,Chilli and Garlic:

Ingredients:
(Serves 2)

–  Approximately 200 g of Squid ink ( Cuttlefish )Linguini or Spaghetti 
–  A 120 g Pack of Cooked and peeled Crayfish Tails ( About 3/4 of the pack is enough for 2 people)
–  A good “Glug” of Olive Oil
–  2 cloves of Garlic Finely Chopped
–  1/4  Red Chilli Finely Chopped
–  2 Sliced Spring Onions
–  Almost half of a little pot of Fish stock (I used a Knorr pot)
–  A good Splash of Dry White Wine ( I used Sauvignon Blanc) 
–  1 Tbsp of Tomato Puree
–  Approximately 10 Baby Plum Tomatoes chopped into 4
–  A pinch of  Caster Sugar 
–  Cracked Black Pepper
–  A Handful of chopped Fresh Basil and Fresh Flat leaf Parsley

Method:

*  Pop your Pasta into a boiling pan of Salted Water and cook for approximately 10-12 minutes or to packet instructions.

*  In a Frying/Saute Pan, Start to fry off the White ends of the Spring Onions and Chilli in Olive oil.

* Add the Garlic and fry for another minute. 

* Pop in then the White Wine and start to simmer, reducing only slightly.

*  Add the tomato Puree, Tomatoes, Pinch of sugar and cracked Black Pepper. Cook for another minute or 2.

* Add a little splash of water to the sauce. Taste…it may need a little more sugar to sweeten.

*  Put the rest of the Spring onions (Green parts) into the sauce.

*  Drain your Pasta keeping a little of the water and  place the pasta into the sauce. Add the Crayfish and coat all the ingredients around the pasta. 

*  Finally add your chopped herbs when the Crayfish are hot and Serve!