Mushroom and cashew nut stir fry

 

It might look like a long list of ingredients - but it's incredibly quick, easy and tasty as soon as you have got yourself organised.

Chop all veg in advance, heat the oil to hot and off you go.

Peanut (or other veg) oil

Spring onion

Crushed garlic

grated ginger

Sweet chili sauce

Courgette

Broccoli

Mushroom

Pak choi

Tomato ketchup

Soy sauce

Cornflour, slaked in water

Wok noodles

Cashew nuts

Beansprouts

1.  Heat peanut oil in a wok, add chopped spring onion and stir fry quickly.

2.  Add other chopped veg, ginger, and garlic - stir fry a little longer - add a dash of water to steam fry until veg are less raw.

3.  Stir in sweet chili sauce and a splodge of tomato ketchup.

4.  Stir fry a bit longer, then add soy sauce, a little more water and cornflour to start the sauce.

5.  Add cooked noodles, cashew nuts and the pak choi leaves, stir fry again add beansprouts.

6.  When everything is heated through you are ready.

7.  Serve, scoff, seconds

"Satay" chicken thighs, stir fry veg and rice

It's been the worst of times here at Kitchen Fairies HQ, so I've been "off air" for a good few weeks.  I'm not saying I'm back - but I am trying to put together a decent nutritious meal together for us every evening.

Tonight, headed for a thai/satay inspired roast chicken thigh thingy - with some stir fried veg and rice.

It is firmly on the "do again" list - though I think I was a bit tame on the chilli tonight.

So ....


Peanut butter
Soy sauce
Chinese rice wine
Chilli sauce
Crushed garlic
Tomato ketchup
Vegetarian oyster sauce

Chicken thighs

Jasmine thai rice

Groundnut oil
Leeks
Crushed garlic
red pepper
Pak Choi
beansprouts
Soy sauce
Chinese rice wine

1.  Mix together the marinade ingredients ... peanut butter, sauces, garlic etc.
2.  Put the chicken thighs in an oven dish and smother with the marinade.  Cover with foil and leave for 30 minutes.
3.  Roast at 180 for about an hour.
4.  Chop veg for stir frying.
5.  Put the rice on - 1 part rice, 2 parts water - pinch of salt.  Bring to the boil, turn the heat right down and slam lid on.  Now LEAVE for 15 minutes.  If everything else is not quite finished, simply turn the heat off and let it sit there in its own steam - do NOT open the lid.
6.  Stir fry the veg and flavourings in groundnuts oil for about 8 minutes,
7.  Serve, scoff ... the chicken thighs will have created their own delicious sauce.

Edmame and cashew nut chow mein

 Ringing the changes with a bit of oriental influence.  Dead easy, once you've done the chopping, grating and crushing.  A little bit of lots of ingredients and, ta dah ....

Cashew nuts
Peanut oil
Spring onion
Garlic
Ginger
Chili flakes
Carrot
Red pepper
Brocolli
Mushrooms
Soy sauce
Rice wine
Rice wine vinegar
Edemame beans
Beansprouts
Cooked rice noodles

 1.  Roast the cashew nuts for a few minutes, set aside.
2.  Chop veg into quite small bite sized pieces - they need to cook quickly, and at about the same rate.
3.  In a wok stir fry spring onion, crushed garlic and finely grated ginger.
4.  Add other vegetables and keep stir frying, sprinkle in chili flakes.
5.  After 5 minutes add soy sauce, rice wine and wine vinegar to steam is a little and coat the veg, you might want to add a little water too, it helps the steaming.
6.  Keep tossing veg about for a minuute or so, then add edamame beans, beansprouts and noodles.  Toss about until it's all heated through.
7.  Top with cashew nuts.
8.  Serve, scoff.

(Gluten free and vegan if you use gf/vegan soy sauce)

Tofu bibimbap

We are spoilt at Todmorden market - we can venture way beyond our Yorkshire borders for some tasty dinners.  Today, I had a scout around t'interweb, and after reading a number of recipes thought I would create my version of a bibimbap ... big bowl of rice, topped with a protein source with assorted raw, pickled and cooked vegetables with a chili sauce ...ingredients are mostly available from the market - Oriental foods, The Mediterranean Pantry, a couple of vegetable stalls ... but I had to go to a local supermarket for the beansprouts!

Tofu
Jasmine rice
Peanut oil
Korean red chili pasta - gochujang
Soy sauce
Rice vinegar
Sesame oil
Sugar
Agave syrup
Sesame seeds
Garlic
Ginger
Radish
Carrots
Cucumber
Green beans
Cavolo nero
Mushrooms
Bean sprouts
Spring onions

Basically you cook all the ingredients separately, give each person a bowl of rice topped with pan fried tofu and a fried egg, and they choose which of the other bits they want, add some sauce, and stir it all together.  I started with putting the tofu in salted water, then pickled the radish and carrot, then chopped the rest of the veg ... put the rice on, steamed the cavolo nero and green beans, fried the tofu, made the sauce, and stir fried the veg - one at a time - keeping them hot in the oven while I finished the tofu.  Finally fry the eggs .. and begin the assembly.

The tofu:-

Soak in salted water for 15 minutes to tighten up the edges.  Slice into fork sized slices - return to the salted water to firm up further.  Fry in hot peanut oil, in batches, do not over crowd the pan, until crispy on both sides.  Keep warm in the oven.

The sauce:-

Mix 3 tbsp gochujang with 1 tbsp soy sauce, 2 tbsp water, 1 tsp (to taste) agave syrup and 1 tsp sesame oil.

The pickled veg:-

Prepare carrot and radish batons.  Heat together 2 tsp sugar, 1/2 cup rice vinegar and 1 cup water.  Put veg into pickling liquid, swish about and take off the heat.  After 10 minutes drain and chill.

The stir fried veg, one at a time, keep warm in the oven:-

Mushrooms, sesame seeds, garlic, soy sauce, sesame oil
Cavolo nero, sesame seeds, garlic, ginger, soy sauce
Green beans, garlic, tiny splash soy sauce
Beansprouts, soy sauce, tiny splash sesame oil

The raw bits, chop finely:-

Cucumber
Spring onions
Sesame seeds

On your marks - go ....

Chinese tonight: chicken satay, straw mushrooms and beansprouts in oyster sauce and red pepper and cashew stir fry

A little trip into a chinese supermarket gave me the idea, but you can get most of the flavourings from Oriental Foods and me in Todmorden market.

Rice
Chicken - legs in this instance
Peanut butter
Sweet chilli sauce
Shaoshin rice wine
Rice wine vinegar
Chilli
Peanut oil
Spring onions
Garlic
Ginger
Straw mushrooms
Oyster sauce
Soya sauce
Red pepper
Chinese vegetable (or pak choi)
Cashew nuts
Beansprouts
Cornflour

1.  Cook the rice
2.  In an oven dish mix peanut butter with a dash of peanut oil, sweet chilli sauce, chilli and soya sauce.  Coat the chicken in the marinade and cook in the oven for about 30 minutes.
3.  In 2 woks, fry chopped spring onion, garlic and ginger.
4.  For the cashew nut mixture add red pepper, chilli flakes, soya sauce, rice wine vinegar, rice vinegar and stir fry.  Add the chopped vegetable and stir fry again.  Add a little water to create the steam.  Finish by adding slaked cornflour to thicken the sauce and the cashew nuts.
5.  For the mushroom mixture add a tin of straw mushrooms, a tablespoon of oyster sauce and a tiny splash of water, heat through then add beansprouts.  Finish by thickenning the sauce (if required) with a little slaked cornflour.
6.  Serve, scoff ...

This went down very well, but the chicken legs were fiddly, so next time I'll use diced thigh meat on a skewer.

Prawny stir fry with noodles

An interesting day all round.  Victim may have the opportunity of an adventure of a lifetime, but we can't say much yet.  A mate has had an amazing invite to an International trade thingymajig... but not allowed to say anything about that either!  There was a traffic jam on the way to the pool, so swimming training was stalled for the day (only 160 lengths this week.. smug grin).  Then, we were going to go out for dinner, but couldn't decide where to go - and came to the conclusion that it is usually quite disappointing, so opted for a nice spicy prawny treat  instead.  Victim didn't say much - but I think that is mostly down to me insisting on a Corrie overdose rather than a reaction to the dinner - cos it was all eaten.

So, prawny stir fry with noodles:-

Serves 2:  Takes:  about 20ish mins - start to finish - 10 mins cooking time: Approx calories per serving:  395  approx price per serving: £1.90

Ingredients (indicative, not exhaustive - use veg you have available, amounts approximate to say the least)

1 tbsp peanut oil
Vegetables: spring onions, orange pepper, carrot, courgette, mushrooms, green beans, radish, beansprouts
handful of prawns
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 tsp ginger puree
1 finely chopped chili
1 tbsp tomato puree
2 tbsp rice wine
2 "cakes" of dried noodles
pinch of sesame seeds

Method:

1. Chop veg, and mince garlic and ginger, finely chop chili.
2. Put water on for noodles, heat peanut oil in large frying pan/wok
3. When the oil is hot chuck all veg in and toss around a bit.  Add garlic, ginger, chili and toss around a bit more.
4. After a couple of minutes add tomato puree, soy sauce and a splash of rice wine - and about half a cup of water.
5. When noodle water boils chuck noodles into it - and chuck prawns into veg (if you are using frozen prawns thaw them out in boiling water first - boil kettle pour onto frozen prawns, swirl about, leave for 30 seconds or so, check they are soft - then chuck into veg).
6. Chuck veg about happily, and a minute or so later add beansprouts.
7. Drain noodles and add to stir fry.
8. Toss energetically, sprinkle on sesame seeds, and more soy sauce if you think it needs it.
9. Scoff

Thai chicken curry

A few days ago we had a trip to Rusholme to stock up on spices, and found a BIG bag of Thai curry paste.  So we had to try it.  Lovely.

So, tonight, I was going to make a veggie Thai curry,  but victim suggested prawn.  I didn't fancy prawns, so we ended up with chicken and assorted vegetables.  It was delicious.  Victim declared it too hot for me, and had some creme fraiche.  Wuss!  I could feel the heat, but scoffed the lot.

I have decided to try to be a tiny bit more official with recipes, separating out the ingredients and methods, let me know if you prefer this - or hate it!


Serves 4:  Approx 30 minutes prep time:  Approx: 395 calories per portion:  Approx:  £1.35 per portion


Ingredients:

1/2 tbsp peanut oil
2 skinless chicken breasts
1 tbsp curry paste
1 crushed garlic clove
Vegetables eg. spring onions, orange pepper, small asian aubergine/courgette things, green beans, string beans, mushrooms, beansprouts
Tin coconut milk

Method:

1. Fry bite sized pieces of chicken breast in peanut oil for a few seconds.  Use a wok or decent sized shallow pan so that you can get everything in.
2. Add curry paste and garlic.
3. Add chopped vegetables, except beansprouts, turn over a few times and then add a cup of water.
4. Simmer for a bit, add coconut milk, simmer some more until vegetables are a bit soft and chicken is cooked through.
5. Stir in big handfuls of beansprouts and turn over in sauce for a minute 'til they are heated through.
6. Serve over thai jasmine rice.