Easy White Sugar Cake

I know I know!!! Its been a while but in my defence it has been super busy lack of staff amongst other things!!

So Ive been mucking about in preperation for Chinese New Year, I hate the usual dessert idea of banana fritters so after extensive research (google) came up with this!

Take

1 cup rice flour

1/2 cup sugar

2 cups water

5 tsp dried yeast

Chuck the rice flour sugar and water in a pan and continuously stir on a medium heat for around 10 mins until it starts to thicken up.

Allow to cool for about 20 mins then lob in the yeast and give it another mix.

Set aside for an hour or so until it starts to bubble and double in size.

To cook

Pour mix into a steaming pan lined with parchment and cover.

Steam for around 20 mins.

Let it cool before cutting it up. If you are impatient like me it just sticks to your knife!!!

How to make Chip Shop Curry Sauce

Everyone loves a bit of chip shop curry sauce right?? If im honest I've "borrowed" this recipe. I didnt think.it would work but how wrong was I?? Its wicked and super easy!!

So

Obviously depends on how much you want to make but all you need is....

2 cups boiling water
4 table spoons of curry powder
1 vegetable stock cube
A good splodge of mango chutney
Cornflour to thicken

Add the curry powder, stock cube and mango chutney to the water. Let it cook for a bit. (5 mins) at this point give it a taste and decide if you need more curry or mango.

Add a dash of water to your cornflour and lob it in the sauce. Thicken untill it's sauce like.

Sorted

Ps thanks Kay!!

How to make Curry Powder

OK so its been a while since my last post but things have been super busy lately!!

No excuse I know so I thought I'd give you this little gem!!!

Shop bought powders are fine but can sometimes be lacking in flavour or can be a little too spicy so...

Basic ingredients are

2 tablespoons ground cumin

2 tablespoons ground coriander

1/2 teaspoon ginger

1/2 teaspoon mustard seed

1 tablespoon tumeric

and depending on how hot you want it 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper.

Works great as a rub too

Enjoy

BBQ Pork Belly and Asian Noodle Salad

It's been a while since my last post and with all the heat we have been having lately I thought i'd give you this little number!!

It's a nice, light little lunch packed with plenty of flavour.

For the Pork

I would normally slow cook a whole belly, but I cook for around 90 so get your butcher to cut a few 6oz slices.

Lay your Pork slices in a roasting tin and smother with your favourite BBQ sauce or knock up your own. I do 2 parts ketchup to 1 part brown sauce, some mixed herbs and a Tbs honey.

Cover with foil and whack it in a pre heated oven on around 150c. We need it to slow cook so the fat melts into the meat making it really tender. A 1 1/2 inch slice should be done in about an hour.

While all that's going on, fill a bowl with just boiled water and chuck some rice noodles in. Leave them to soak for around 10 minutes then run the cold tap over them to stop the cooking process.

For the Salad you need

2 Sliced peppers
3 Cloves chopped garlic
2 Sliced onions
3 chopped Spring onions
2 Chopped chilli (more if you like spice)
2 Pak Choi
1 small bunch Coriander
1 bag Salad leaves
Soy sauce
Tbs sugar
2 Tbs Sesame oil (veg oil will do)

Heat 2 Tbs oil in a wok and chuck in your peppers garlic sliced onions and chilli.

When they start to soften add the spring onion and Pak Choi. Now's the time to lob in your sugar and a few dashes of soy sauce. Check.for seasoning and allow to cool.

Mix all the cooked ingredients with the chilled drained noodles and chuck in your salad leaves and coriander.

Dress your plate with the noodle salad and Pork, drizzling some of the Porks cooking sauce around the outside.

Sorted

Tomato and Mango Chicken

Well its the school holidays and for me that means one thing, the company I work for let me loose in other peoples kitchens!!

Today I was covering a work mate and he had Tomato and Mango Chicken on the menu.

Unfortunately I didn't take a picture but believe me when I say it looked pretty good.

This recipe is really quick and easy and tastes great....

So

Mix together

3 parts tomato ketchup
2 parts mango chutney
1 part cream

It should look like 80's classic prawn cocktail sauce, smack this over your chosen cut of chicken and bang it in a pre heated oven.

It comes out looking like a shiny tandoori because of the sugar in the ketchup.

How To Make Salt and Pepper Ice Cream

So what started out as a twitter joke with the amazing @DigitalBlonde I wanted to see what this would actually taste like, and I have to say its brilliant!!!

For the base of the ice cream

8 egg yolks
6 tbl spoons caster sugar
1 table spoon rock salt
1 table spoon cracked black pepper
500ml whole milk

In a pan heat your milk to just under boiling point.

While this is heating up, chuck your sugar and eggs together in a seperate bowl and whisk.

Pour your hot milk into the bowl with your egg mix and whisk continually.

Return the mix to the pan and gently heat while continuing to stir.

The mix will thicken and make a custard.

Let the custard cool before adding your salt and pepper. This is really important because if the mix is warm the salt will dissolve.

I tried a batch using normal salt but wanted to get salty crunchy bits.

Now lob it in your ice cream machine.

Done!

I served mine with some summer berries.

How to make Popcorn Pannacotta

As you know I like taking a dish and putting my own spin on things and it doesn't stop at dessert!!

This dish is far easier than it sounds but tastes great!

It does take a bit of time but well worth the effort!

So I popped my own sweet popcorn on the stove.

Get the deepest pan you have and chuck in your popcorn kernels so they cover the bottom. Now glug some oil in so they are just covered and sprinkle with sugar.

On a medium heat start to warm the pan shaking every now and then, when the first one pops get your lid on straight away and keep shaking until the popping stops.

First job done, now Pannacotta.

You need
1 litre cream
Sugar to taste
6 sheets gelatin
Popcorn

Take a litre of cream and gently warm through with some of that popcorn you made. Keep tasting until the popcorn flavour comes through and add sugar if you need it.

While thats infusing chuck your gelatin in cold water as per packet instructions.

After 5 minutes drain off the gelatin and squeeze all the water out.
Add this to your infused cream, stir in and then pass through a seive to remove the popcorn.

Pour into moulds and fridge until set.

Job done!!

I served mine with salted caramel sauce and some left over popcorn!

How to make perfect rice

I've been asked alot lately how to cook rice and if it matters what brand of rice is best to buy.

This method is so simple it even makes supemarket own brand rice brilliant.

First warm a good glug of oil in a sauce pan.

Then measure out 1 cup of rice and chuck it in. Keep stirring it so all the grains are coated. Cook the rice until it starts talking to you ( you will know what I mean when it happens, its like a sizzle ).

Then lob in 2 cups of hot water and bring to the boil.

When its boiled for a minute bang the lid on, turn the heat off and leave it. Never take off the lid until atleast 20 mins has gone.

Serve immediately or cool it down ( refresh ) with cold running water if you are going to use it for fried rice.

Because this method absorbs all the water you can muck about with flavours and use stock instead.

Never heat rice more than twice, so if you have made fried rice don't reheat the left overs. You could be very ill!!!

Piri Piri Pork

Ok so to try and help warm everyone up I knocked up this Piri Piri Pork dish.

A favourite flavour of mine and one I can't recall unleashing on the boys yet, but it went down a storm!!

The pork steaks themselves are just dusted with cajun spice and oven roasted on 185c for around 25 mins.

Piri Piri Sauce

I used
6 good sized red chillis
6 cloves of garlic
Drizzle of oil
Can chopped tomatoes
Some veg stock powder
Sugar

First roast off the chilli and garlic until they start to char round the edges and chuck them in a food blender.

Lob in your chopped tomatoes then add your stock powder to taste.

At this point slowly add some sugar and keep tasting. The sugar rounds off the flavour of the chilli and brings your tomato to life!!

Have a go!!

I served mine with new potatoes and a sweetcorn puree.

Easy Melba Toast

OK so Melba toast is a notorious pain in the bum but my way is so much easier and looks better.

Normally you would toast your bread then cut the crusts off slice it in half so you have 2 really thin slices rub the now untoasted sides on the work surface to smooth it out then grill again! How much hassle is that?

My way

Preheat oven to 100c

Toast your bread

With a rolling pin flatten to your desired thickness

Cut crusts off and cut into triangles

Whack them in the oven until dried out ( about 15 mins ).

Job done!!

Quick and Easy Mince Pies

Right then everyone loves a mince pie to get them feeling festive so here's a quick and easy recipe for an amazing home made pie.

225g plain flour
125g butter
1 egg
2 table spoons caster sugar, I infuse mine with vanilla pods ( chuck some sugar over a couple of pods in an airtight container )
Mince meat.

In a blender whack in your dry ingredients then when its like bread crumbs crack your egg in.
It will be really soft so bang it in the fridge for half an hour.
When chilled roll out to about 5ml thick. Cut into circles and line your greased tin. Fill with mince meat and pop a pastry lid on with your left over mix. Cook on 180c till golden. No need to egg wash because of the butter content. Go get festive!!

Gulab Jamun

OK so we are having an indian special night on Friday but I wanted to post the recipe for this amazing pud!! Its basically a doughnut in syrup.

So the recipe

1 cup plain flour
2 cups milk powder
1 knob melted butter
Splash of milk
1 cup sugar
1 cup water

All you need to do is mix the dry ingredients and the butter then slowly add some milk until it gets to a dough you can shape. Roll in to small balls a bit smaller than ping pong balls, chuck them in a deep fat fryer about 170c until golden then let them cool. Whilst they are cooling put your sugar and water in a pan and boil until it becomes a syrup ( about 10 mins ) when cooled to room temp glug it over your little doughnuts cover and leave for 30 mins. Job done. Try it!!!

Tuscan Style Sausage Pasta

So for lunch today we had Tuscan style sausage pasta, here's my way of doing it.

you will need

Pork sausage meat
Diced onion
Cajun spice
Veg stock
Chopped tomato
Sugar
Penne pasta

OK so fry your sausage meat like its mince beef. Chuck in your onions Cajun spice and veg stock. Then your chopped tomatoes season to taste, chopped tomatoes can taste tinny but chucking in a bit of sugar takes that away. Lob in your penne  pasta. Job done! I whacked on some garlic bread with mine. See my previous bread recipe and brush with garlic butter. Enjoy!!

Thai Style Beef Salad

So today's lunch was Thai style beef salad, sometimes the simple ingredients make the best dishes. All we have to do is think about how they get on the plate. For this I used beef strips lemon grass ginger chilli and garlic, a touch of soy and a bit of beef stock plus the salad. Cherry tomatoes red and yellow for colour bean sprouts beet shoots and the cucumber I sliced into ribbons just for a bit of difference. Not hard but looked very chefy and went down really well. Try it!!!

Chicken Biryani

Today's lunch was chicken biryani with home made naan and mango raita. Not bad eh!! Here's how I did it.

For the biryani

Sliced onion
Chilli
Garlic
Chicken ( I use diced leg and thigh, better flavour and breast can be dry )
Chicken stock
Salt and black pepper
Water
Curry powder
Dry rice

In a pan fry your onion chilli and garlic, get them nice and brown chuck in your chicken, when its nearly cooked give it a good whack of curry powder ( I know its cheating and I do use proper spices but its Monday and I've got £4 a day! ) its really important at this point to cook your spice for a good 5-10 mins this is called cooking out, basically it won't taste powdery. Now lob your rice in and if your using stock powder now's the time for that too. Stir it until its all coated then add your water/stock like your making risotto, a little at a time until the rice is cooked and you get the consistency you want. Done, I roasted some peppers and threw them on top last minute for a bit of decoration.

Naan bread my way

So I used my bread recipe and added some caraway seeds.

500g flour
7g yeast
300ml warm water
100ml oil ( sounds a lot but really helps the naan )
Pinch salt
Pinch sugar
25g caraway seeds

Mix the dry ingredients and slowly add the water and oil knead until  its a nice firm dough, leave to prove until double the size. Squash it back then shape into small balls, flatten them with a rolling pin into a naan shape. Lightly oil a frying pan ( I use a pastry brush ) and throw in your dough, brown on both sides brush with butter and eat with your amazing biryani!! Enjoy!

Cheeky Chicken Chasseur

OK so tomorrows lunch is chicken chasseur a bit of a classic and not exactly my normal menu choice but thought it would be a good idea to see what I can do with it. So the idea is to get whole chicken legs and half them so we have a drum and thigh each, I just think it looks nicer on the plate. I'm going to slow roast them on about 100c with sliced mushrooms diced banana shallots tarragon and white wine. I'm not expecting the chicken to colour much so I'm going to drain the juice and use that for the sauce. Once drained whack the heat to full and crisp the chicken, stick some chopped tomatoes in the juice kept from the chicken and reduce on the hob. Heap some rice in a bowl arrange the chicken drum and thigh on the rice then pour some sauce over. Lovely

Chocolate Cake

OK so everyone loves chocolate cake right? The trouble is that when you add cocoa powder it can become dry. Here is my recipe and method.

So

500g butter/Marge
500g sugar
500g self raising flour
8 eggs
75g cocoa powder
100ml oil

 Beat the life out of the butter sugar eggs and cocoa powder for a good 5 mins, gently old in the flour, if you mix it too hard it will ruin the gluten and the cake won't work. Chuck in your oil, pour your mix into your chosen cake tin or muffin cases and cook on 150c for 30 mins, depending on how deep your cake is. Check it by poking a skewer in the middle if it comes out clean its done. I top mine with a ganache. Basically melt chocolate in a bowl over hot water then lob in some cream until it gets to a sauce, when it cools it thickens. This is also great for making chocolate truffles just roll the cooled mix into balls and coat with anything you fancy. I use vermicelli cocoa powder and coconut.

Home Made Cereal

Ive been making this cereal for a while now and to be honest its a lot tastier and healthier than most of the others available. It takes 15 minutes to make and lasts a good 2 weeks in an air tight container. So the basic mix is half honey to porridge oats. For small quantities its easier to use cups. So 2 cups oats 1 cup honey I use just sultanas in mine due to certain allergies but you can use any dried fruit and nut combo you want. In a pan put all your ingredients over a low heat and mix until they are coated and start to clump together. Transfer to a baking tray and cook in the oven for 10 mins on 160c. Take out and leave to cool completely, this will crisp up the cereal. Decant into an air tight container and job done. Perfect winter fuel, try it!

Halloween!!!

Everyone that has children will know that the pumpkin is the second most fun part of Halloween after trick or treating but what do you do with the seeds and flesh you've scooped out? I either make spiced pumpkin soup (ideal for when you get back from trick or treating) or risotto. To give mine a twist I roast my pumpkin seeds in the oven and sprinkle them over the risotto, this gives a different texture to your meal and a nice nutty flavour. And if you're stuck for a pudding try toffee apple crumble,

For the topping

200g flour

100g butter

50g sugar

Rub the 3 ingredients together until its like bread crumbs

Filling

1 can condensed milk

4 good size cooking apples

Boil your unopened can of milk in a pan for 2 hours, and let it cool completely, slice your apples and chuck them in your dish, normally I would sprinkle with sugar but the can of milk has now turned to toffee so just spoon it over your apples then cover with your crumble topping. Stick it in the oven on 160c for about 45 mins. 

Enjoy!!

Chinese!!!

Had a bit of a lazy Saturday dinner, Chinese take away. Having said that it wouldn't be complete without salt and pepper chips. Very fattening and very spicy but amazing with noodles.

So

Get a large pan and fry chopped garlic onion and chilli, depending how hot you like it, I use 2 birds eye chilli's. Throw your cooked chips in straight from the fryer/oven. Give them a shake until they are completely coated in the spicy oil the just before you serve sprinkle over some granulated sugar.

Perfect!!