Chinese Fried Chicken in a Sweet & Sour Sauce

Simple, easy, tasty Chinese!

1) Cut 5 chicken fillets into strips. Marinade in:

2 eggs

2 tsp sugar

1 tsp pepper

4 tbsp cornflour or potato flour

1 tsp five spice

1 tsp chilli powder

Mix well and let rest in fridge for a few hours.

Heat about an inch of sunflower oil in a frying pan. Before frying the chicken, dip each piece in cornflour again, to coat. Fry till golden. When the chicken is done, remove from pan and place on a plate covered with kitchen paper to drain off the excess fat.

2) Make sweet and sour sauce from:

Tomato paste

Worcestershire sauce

OK Sauce

+ 50/50 Rice Vinegar and Sugar

(I didn't have OK sauce, so I made mine from Tomato Paste, Worcestershire sauce, Teriyaki sauce, Soya Sauce, Sweet Chilli Sauce + 50/50 sugar and vinegar. Just taste as you go and you will get the right balance)

3) Stir fry:

Bell Pepper

Onion

Pineapple Chunks

4) Add the sauce, then the fried chicken and stir till heated through. 

Serve with rice or noodles.

You can also use prawns or pork, in place of chicken.

Home made pizza with crispy base - every time!

There are a few tricks to guarantee a crispy base. Here are my tips:

1: when you have rolled/stretched out your base and placed it on a baking tray/pizza stone, pat some cornmeal into the dough.
2: Let the dough rise for 20 minutes before loading on the toppings
3: If you are using a tomato sauce, put this on top of the toppings rather than on the base.
I tend to prefer a white pizza myself, which means you either sprinkle olive oil (infused or not) onto the base or, as they do in Hungary, you spread sour cream on the base.
4: Cook your pizza on high heat - I cook at 220C
5: Place the pizza at the base of the oven at first, to ensure a crispy base. When base has firmed up and starting to crisp, move pizza to the middle of the oven to finish off

Sweet Potato Corn Cakes

Yesterday, we had spare ribs with a side of sweet potato and corn cakes for dinner. The corn cakes were so easy to make and very tasty. This is how:


1 large sweet potato

2 handfuls sweetcorn (from a can)

1 handful chopped, fresh cilantro

chopped spring onions

2 large eggs, lightly beaten

135g cornmeal
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
130ml milk

Olive Oil

Boil 1 large, peeled sweet potato cut into cubes. When tender, mash the potato and add the sweetcorn, cilantro and spring onions. Stir in the eggs followed by all the dry ingredients. When mixed well, add the milk and mix again.
Fry in a frying pan with olive oil, like pancakes. Serve with ribs or chicken or anything else you fancy!

The next apprentice?

My 8 week old daughter, Olivia, is learning to think like a champion! Is she "The Donald"s next apprentice??

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies - no bake!

I hate baking.
Unless it all can be mixed up in bowl or it is fail proof. I don't like the science, you have to be so exact with your measurements in baking. I cook by the "a dash of this and a sprinkle of that" method, which sooooo does not work for baking.
However... I do have some recipes that I swear by as they are SERIOUSLY easy to make, I never get them wrong (even when I add or subtract a little of whatever I fancy...) and they taste DELICIOUS! (see bottom of page for my favourite, easy treats)

My most recent discovery are the "no bake chocolate peanut butter cookies. Yummm... All the ingredients are mixed up in a pot (takes about 5 minutes), then spooned onto a baking sheet. Then you make a cup of tea and wait for those babies to cool and harden. Hardly a lot of work. We could even pretend it's healthy because it contains a lot of oats. But I'm not sure that would fly...

image source

Ingredients

• 2 cups sugar
• 4 tablespoons cocoa
• a pinch of salt
• 1 stick/113g butter
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 cup peanut butter (coarse is best)
• 1 tablespoon vanilla
• 3 cups oatmeal
• Waxed paper

Directions

In a heavy saucepan bring to a boil, the sugar, salt, cocoa, butter and milk. Let boil for 3 minutes then add peanut butter, vanilla and oatmeal. On a sheet of waxed paper, drop mixture by the teaspoonfuls, until cooled and hardened.

Other favourite, lazy-baker desserts:
Brownies
Blondies
Sweet and Salty Crunch Nut Bars
Salted Caramel Chocolate Pretzel Bark
Cherry Pie
Peanut Butter Cups
Apple Spice Cake

Slow roast pork tortillas

Another easy peasy dinner full of flavour - providing you are organised enough to set off the hours it takes to slow roast the pork!

Ingredients:

Slices of pork shoulder 

Dry rub spices & herbs

1 can pineapple chunks or slices

1 bunch fresh coriander, chopped

Sour cream or creme fraiche

Tortilla wraps

Hot sauce

Method:

Make a dry rub from salt, pepper, smoky paprika powder, garlic powder, oregano, brown sugar, thyme and chilli powder.

Place slices of pork shoulder in a casserole dish. Drizzle a little olive oil over the meat, then add the dry rub and massage well into the meat.

Cover dish with tin foil and cook for 4 hours at 125C/250F. Halfway through the cooking, I add a can of drained pineapple chunks, which I sprinkle over the meat before it goes back in the oven.

When finished, chop up the pork and place in a bowl along with the pineapple, drizzled with some of the roasting liquid to keep meat moist.

Heat tortillas and assemble with the pork/pineapple combo, sour cream and sprinkle with fresh, chopped coriander. Drizzle with optional hot sauce, roll up and enjoy!

Sweet, sticky chilli beef

I like to use skirt steak for this. Skirt steak is cheap and full of flavour, but it needs some work to tenderize, which is why it's perfect for any steak dinner where you have time to marinate the meat.
We had this dish in a local restaurant a few weeks back and, after begging the chef to tell me how he made this, I swear it'll be a regular feature on our dinner table.

I can only tell you approximate measurements, as I cook by the "a dash of this and that" method, so I suggest you add to taste...

Ingredients:
500g Skirt steak (or other steak you prefer)
Soya sauce ( 1 cup?)
Sweet chilli sauce (I use at least 1/2 bottle)
Salt (I use Maldon)
Pepper
A bunch of fresh coriander, chopped
A pinch of dried chilli flakes

Method:
Marinate skirt steak in soya sauce, either over night in the fridge or 4 hrs in room temperature.
Remove steak from marinade and slice into fine slices, against the grain. Reserve marinade.
Brown the meat in a frying pan, then add the soya sauce (marinade) and all the other ingredients. Cook until the sauce has gone thick and sticky, covering each slice.
Serve on its own as a snack or with noodles or rice as a main course.

Good luck and bon appetite!

Fluffy American Pancakes

I have now made a range of American Pancakes, trying to figure out which recipe I like the best, and this is the one I am sticking with. My breakfast favourite is the banana or sweet potato pancakes - they are delicious and nutritious too!
Yesterday, whilst my baby Olivia was asleep, I had a bit of a cupboard organising session where I took stock of my spices, baking ingredients etc. Those days always end up with some creative concoction. In a jar, I mixed together the little bit of chopped hazelnuts I had in a bag, the pralines I made for the truffles before Christmas, and the cinnamon sugar I had mixed up in another bag. Considering it was pancake day yesterday (shrove Tuesday), I  made a pancake batter as below, with self raising flour (whoooop, they turned out super-fluffy), olive oil in place of butter and a couple of tbsp of my hazelnut/praline/cinnamon sugar mixture. Served with caramel sauce. YUM.

I never really thought about how creative you can get with pancakes, but there you go. Experimenting is so much fun. Be flexible with the ingredients. For example, for dinner, we had spare ribs with sweet potato and corn cakes (click to see recipe). Next, I will try and make savoury pancakes after being inspired by my friend Amy, who added stir fry with pork to hers.

Ingredients

135g/4¾oz plain flour (or self raising flour for extra fluffy pancakes. Still add the baking powder, though!)
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
2 tbsp caster sugar (or vanilla sugar, if you please)
130ml/4½fl oz milk
1 large egg, lightly beaten
2 tbsp melted butter (allowed to cool slightly) or olive oil, plus extra for cooking

Optional extra fillings:
1 or 2 Bananas, mashed with a fork
Bacon bits - fry these till crispy and add to batter along with the mashed banana or on their own
Mashed sweet potatoes (great way to use up leftovers!) + 1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 can pumpkin puree
1/3 cup cream cheese (mix in with the wet ingredients)
Chopped nuts or praline
Blueberries
Raspberries
Chocolate chips
Raisins and lemon

To serve:
Maple syrup
Golden syrup
Butter
Honey
Honey butter (home made butter mixed with honey)
Nutella
Caramel Sauce

Preparation method

Sift the flour, baking powder, salt and caster sugar into a large bowl. In a separate bowl or jug, lightly whisk together the milk and egg, then whisk in the melted butter.

Pour the milk mixture into the flour mixture and, using a fork, beat until you have a smooth batter. Any lumps will soon disappear with a little mixing. Add the optional extras and mix till incorporated. Let the batter stand for a few minutes.

Heat a non-stick frying pan over a medium heat and add a knob of butter. When it's melted, add a ladle of batter (or two if your frying pan is big enough to cook two pancakes at the same time). It will seem very thick but this is how it should be. Wait until the top of the pancake begins to bubble, then turn it over and cook until both sides are golden brown.

Repeat until all the batter is used up. You can keep the pancakes warm in a low oven, but they taste best fresh out the pan.

Serve with lashings of maple syrup or any of the other serving suggestions above (as suitable to your filling).

Gift idea: Photo Diary

I got one of these for Rik a couple of years ago, and they are great! Really good quality and guaranteed to put a smile on your face every day. Make one for your loved one with pictures of the two of you, or make one for your mother with a picture of your kids. They make a great, original gift and are affordable too.

PhotoBox does really good ones, that's where I got mine from. Vistaprint  does another version though I haven't seen this one.