Category: Simple Suppers

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.





Shepherds Pie

January 13, 2016



Nowadays we use mince in our shepherds pies, however back in Victorian times they would always use up their leftover roast meat as a frugal way of living. It must have been some treat back then as it still has a certain endurance about it every time I eat it. The same with a cottage pie also, which if some of you aren’t aware, that is used with beef mince or in this case would have been leftover from your roast the previous day.
 I love doing this and creating different recipes with the leftover meat than just putting it cold into a sandwich for lunch the next day. 
  This way definitely gives more flavour I feel to the dish, a deeper earthier taste. Plus it brings a coarse texture that can be more appealing to others also. Plus it’s less fatty. 
This meat was taken from just a fore leg of Lamb, a bit like a large shank that I managed to buy and I got two huge parts of the leg for only £8! Down from £21! What a bargain!
  So you see my readers, not always is a roast an expensive dinner, it’s looking for that bargain first and it’s also what you manage to get out of it. 


Shepherds pie

(Using leftover Roast Lamb)





Ingredients: (Serves 4 approximately )
Mash: 
  • Roughly 6 floury potatoes such as Maris piper, wilma or marfona peeled and cut into even size chunks.
  • 100 ml double cream 
  • a good size knob of unsalted butter
  • Salt and pepper to season
Meat mixture:
  • 1 tbsp rapeseed oil
  • approximately 400g leftover Roast Lamb meat coarsely chopped
  • 1 large onion diced
  • 1/2 leek sliced thinly
  • 1 carrot finely diced
  • 1/2 celery stick finely chopped 
  • 1 clove of garlic finely chopped
  • a small sprig of thyme
  • Any gravy/juices/stock saved from the joint, use for a sauce
  • 1 tbsp tomato puree
  • a good splash of red wine such as a cabernet sauvignon/merlot or Cotes du Rhone
  • a few splashes of Worcester sauce
  • a few grinds of cracked black pepper
  • Salt if needed or if too strong tasting, use a pinch of caster sugar to even out.

Method:
 * Boil potatoes in a pan of boiling water until tender. Drain and mash the potatoes adding the ingredients to it. Set aside.
  • preheat oven to 190c 
  • In a hot frying pan pop in your rapeseed oil and fry off your onion for about 2-3 minutes. Then add your celery and carrot and fry off for another minute.
  • Add in your leeks to the mixture, fry of for a further minute and then add in your garlic and thyme.
  • Add your chopped meat, gravy/juices,tomato puree, Worcester sauce, wine, pepper stir and leave to simmer for 20 minutes.
  • Taste as you go along and you can add more wine or water as you wish if it becomes dry.
  • When the mixture is reduced down to a gravy like sauce and the meat is tender again pop into a pie dish, top with your mash and roughen the mash with a fork.
  • Then place into the oven for another 20 minutes or when the topping is golden brown and bubbling at the edges. 

*  Serve on its own or with some green vegetables and a glass of red. 







Orzo with bacon, broad beans and peas

August 18, 2015

I actually wrote this Recipe for my column ” Quick bite” in the Leicester mercury about 6 weeks ago when Broad Beans and peas were at the peak of their season but Ive decided to share this now still as I love this dish and regular make it. 

  Peas are still around at the moment ( August ) and you should still find some Broad beans as they sometimes can go on till September. If for some reason you can’t get them now, Courgettes will be a good substitute.


 Here is what I wrote before:

Broad beans and Peas are in the height of their season at the moment so I wanted to show you a different way of cooking these lovely pulses.
  Broad beans and peas as baby first pickings, like I had, should be enjoyed for their flavour so you shouldn’t by any means over cook them. Im growing both in my kitchen Garden, so if you are too, this is even more fantastic.
  Ive teamed them up in this recipe with Orzo which is a great little pasta shape, sometimes confused for being a grain almost like rice.  I use this quite a lot in cooking as its light, very quick to prepare and most things will go with it. Plus, it’s great to have as a salad the next day for lunch. 
  Ive also teamed these seasonal beauties with some added bacon, one for colour and the saltiness it gives will bounce off the sweetness of the peas.
  I also find that this dish is very refreshing so you won’t feel heavy after it.
  So if you’re unsure of a way to cook broad beans and you’re not quite sure wether you like them, have an abundance of fresh peas or even if you have a packet of orzo in your cupboard gathering dust, do this recipe now.






Orzo with bacon, broad beans and peas:
Ingredients:
(Serves 2 approximately for a light lunch)
  • 3 handfuls of Orzo ( you won’t need a lot, it goes a long way )
  •   2 cloves of garlic finely chopped
  •   2 rashers of bacon thinly sliced
  •   2-3 spring onions chopped
  •   8-10 seasonal (British) Broad beans podded (I double podded half )
  •   A good handful of seasonal (British) fresh peas podded
  •   Small amount of Chicken stock (100-150ml) just to taste
  •   Small handful of flat leaf parsley chopped
  •   Pea shoots to finish if you have them and even you can use Broad bean shoots in this too
  •   A good few turns on the pepper mill for some Cracked Black pepper to season
Method:
  • Cook Orzo to packet instructions ( normally only takes 5-6 minutes )
  • Fry off the Bacon for a couple of minutes till its starts to crisp and turn a golden colour.
  • Add your Garlic and Spring onions, cook and stir for about another minute.
  • Pop in your fresh broad beans and peas and cook for a bout a minute or two, not allowing your garlic to burn.
  • Add your chicken stock, stir, reduce down after a minute or two and then add your parsley and seasoning.


*  Make a final stir, taste, add your shoots if you have them, serve and dive in there.

Chinese pork lettuce cups

July 17, 2015



I thought I’d share with you another recipe from my column that I did a couple of months back. This dish has been in my life for a long time and I always make these for many different occasions.  I even make them for just a snack, they are that moorish!

  So, I think the earliest memory of me having a version of this dish, must have been when I was only about 4 years old. But back then, they would wrap it all up in a large lettuce leaf. It is quite a retro dish for these days but I have come up with a version that I feel never dates or fails.

  The sauce is something I have been having for years with these, noodle soups and Chinese dumplings so I thought I’d share that with you too. When you drizzle that sauce on top, it will give it a real kick.
  I love serving these little cups when entertaining, they always look great served up on trays for people and they always seem to get an “ooh” when they come round. You can also use this recipe for a starter one night, a light Lunch or even on a Chinese banquet as my “Chinese nights” always seem to end up as! 
  They are very quick to prepare and they don’t break the bank to buy the ingredients either. 
  Lately I’ve being seeing a lot of Pork mince reduced so if you aren’t sure what to do with it, buy it and fear no longer.



Chinese pork lettuce cups:







Ingredients:
–   1 tbsp of Rapeseed oil or you can use, sunflower or groundnut oil
  • Pork mince 35og will make about 12 cups
  • Half a green chilli chopped finely
  • 4 Spring onions, half of pork mix, half for garnishing
  • 1 tsp Chinese five spice blend ( I use Spice Kitchen )
  • 1 tbsp of Light soy sauce ( Mine is from Wang Fung Hong in Leicester )
  • 2 cloves of garlic finely chopped
  • small grating of fresh Ginger (about a small thumbnail amount)
  • 2 Little Gem lettuces
  • For the garnish: Thinly sliced cucumber 
                                      Thinly sliced Spring onion
                                      Thinly sliced carrot (julienned)
                                     Handful of fresh chopped coriander
                                      Red chilli chopped finely

                                                                           

Hot Sauce:
  • 2 tbsp of Sriracha sauce ( Mine is from Wang Fung Hong)
  • 1 tbsp of malt vinegar
  • 1 tbsp Tomato ketchup
  •  1 tbsp light soy sauce 
  • sprinkle of chilli flakes ( put more if you want it hotter )
  • sprinkle of caster sugar
N.B If you find the sauce is too tangy, sometimes I add 1/2 tbsp Oyster sauce to this also.




Method:
  • In a wok or a frying pan start to fry off the spring onion, garlic, chilli and ginger for only a minute.
  • Add your pork mince and stir for a couple of minutes breaking up all clumps of the meat.
  • As your pork mince is starting to turn brown, add in your Chinese five spice and again, stir for a couple of minutes
  • Add in your soy sauce, stir and when your Pork is cooked, turn your heat down just to keep warm.
*  Assemble your Pork mince into the lettuce cups, garnish and serve with your sauce.







Sweet Potato, Kale and Bacon Hash topped with Poached Egg

March 11, 2015




Ive always loved Kale and its different varieties, have done for years.  Love all greens really, but with the curly Kale option, I find it is so easy to just throw into any dish to give you that extra green oomph for your vitamins in a day. I eat it that much, maybe I should think of putting it on my growing list for my Kitchen Garden this year? 

  Recently I threw together a dish of “odd’s and sod’s” that were in my fridge and made a sublime little supper for myself.   The recipe did of course, suprisingly involve Kale but in a rather different way…with Bacon and Egg. 
  I am always going to cook this recipe from now on as it is so quick, it uses things up and theres hardly any ingredients to it. You can tweak a few things but these ingredients work through being sweet, yet salty, all manners of different tastes.  
  
  If you are going to try this recipe, You must go and buy some Sriracha sauce first. I have been using it in my Asian cooking for years and it is my favourite Hot sauce.  I drizzle it on a lot of foods including Hot spicy noodle broths. It seems now a lot of major sauce brands are trying a version them selves. I’ll never change my brand though. 
So Here is my simple Supper, or maybe even a Brunch recipe? An easy dish for an occasion? With an optional Hot sauce.



Sweet Potato, Kale and Bacon Hash topped with Poached Egg:

Ingredients:
(For 1 approximately)

–  1 Tbsp of Rapeseed oil
–  1/2 Tbsp of Maple syrup
–  1 large Garlic Clove finely diced
–  1/2 Red Onion sliced finely
–  1 Sweet potato diced roughly
–  1-2 rashers of Bacon chopped
–  couple of small Handfuls of Curly Kale
–  1 egg for poaching
–  2 tbsp of White wine vinegar for the poaching
–  To finish, some Sriracha Hot Chilli sauce for on top if required. 
  (I buy mine from Wang Fung Hong in Leicester)

Method: 

*  Boil the Sweet potato until soft.

*  Take out the Sweet potato with a slotted spoon and place onto kitchen paper on a plate.Leaving the water in the saucepan for your Kale.

*  Fry off the Bacon in a frying pan, then after a minute or two add the onions.

*  Pop in the Kale to the saucepan to cook for about 2 minutes.

*  Add the drained Sweet potato to the frying pan mix and add the garlic.

* Pop in the maple syrup to make the sweet potato caramelise and the bacon taste wonderful.

*  Drain the Kale on kitchen paper. Add to the Hash mix.

*  Poach your egg.

*  And Serve… Adding the Sriracha sauce if you wish.