Gung hai fat choi

Happy Chinese New Year.  Even with the limited kitchen I love a good excuse for a food related celebration, so I managed this - szechuan noodle stir fry and steamed sea bream. OK - I cheated and bought the stir fry sauce, but cut me some slack, I've not got a kitchen.  The presentation is poor, the flavours were delicious.

Coconut oil
Spring onion
Mushrooms
Red pepper
Green beans
Water chestnuts
Szechaun stir fry sauce

Garlic
Ginger
Chili
Soy sauce
mirin
Sea bream

1. Chop the vegetables into stir fry sized pieces.
2.  Finely chop garlic, ginger and chilli and place in a microwavable bowl.  Add 2 tbsp soy sauce and about the same of mirin.  Put the fish into the marinade, making sure all sides have been flavoured.  Put cling film on the top, pierce, to let out the steam.
3.  Heat the "wok" (or 8 in 1 cooking thing for us) and melt coconut oil.
4.  Put the vegetables in to the "wok" and start stir frying, adding half a cup of water helps it steam cook at the same time.
5.  Nuke the fish for 4 minutes.
6.  Add the stir fry sauce to the vegetables, stir through, make sure it's all hot - you may wish to add a little more water.
7.  By now the fish has been nuked and stood for a couple of minutes - nuke it again for 4 minutes.
8.  Add the noodles to the vegetables, and stir in.  Heat through for a minute or so.
9.  Put the noodles into a dish, and the fish on top.
10.  Serve, scoff ... slightly smugly congratulate yourself for doing better than just take-away 6 full weeks into kitchen renovations.

Cashew nut stir fry

Fancied a change, and using ingredients available from me at The Mediterranean Pantry, the veg stalls outside and Oriental foods inside ... ta dah - cashew stir fry from Todmorden market! The end result was so good even the meat freak had thirds, and this was completely vegan.

Rice (basmati because that is what I had, should really have been jasmine or something)
Coconut oil (fries well at a high temperature)
Spring onion
Garlic
Ginger
Chili flakes
Red pepper
Green beans
Carrots
Courgette
Tomato ketchup
Soy sauce
Chinese rice wine
Oyster sauce (vegan)
Cornflour
Chashew nuts
Sesame seeds
Toasted sesame oil.

1.  Prepare all the veg - peel etc and chop into even sized pieces.  The list above is what I used because that's what we had - I would have added beansprouts, pak choi, bamboo shoots, water chestnuts, lotus root if I had had any, but this was an English interpretation.
2.  Cook rice by your preferred method - I use abrorption ie.  cover rice in pan with 1 inch of water, bring to the boil, slam on lid, turn heat right down and leave ... but you could also bung it in the microwave.
3.  In a wok/deep frying pan - melt the coconut oil, heat quite high, then add onions, garlic and ginger.  Toss about a bit, then add the rest of the veg and the chili flakes, toss about a bit.  Add wet seasonings and about half a cup of water, simmer for a few minutes.
4.  Slake corflour in water, add to veg, stir in.  Throw in cashew nuts, stir.
5.  Serve, sprinkle with sesame seeds and drizzle lightly with sesame oil.

Hot spicy prawns, vegetable stir fry ... more Chinese New Year deliciousness

 Gung Hay Fat Choi ... more Happy Chinese New Year.  Loving it!

I am not practised in chinese cooking, but I do give it a go now and again.  I was proud of tonight's dishes.  The spring rolls were from a chinese supermarket - they should be fried (deep fried or shallow fried is less important) and not baked for good tasty crispiness.

Dip in sweet chili sauce.

Jasmine rice - cooked according to packet instructions.

Spicy prawns

Spring onions
Garlic
Chili Flakes
Peanut oil

Stir fry spring onions in peanut oil.
Add prawns and spices, toss about for a couple of minutes.

Vegetable stir fry

Peanut oil
Spring onion
Celery
Red pepper
Carrots
Courgette
Mushrooms
Garlic
Ginger
Chili flakes
Chinese 5 spice
Chinese rice wine
Rice vinegar
Tomato ketchup
Light soy sauce
Pak choi
Beansprouts
Toasted sesame oil

1.  Prepare all veg and cut into bite sized pieces.
2.  Heat peanut oil in wok.
3.  Add spring onions, then hard veg, then spices, tossing all the time.
4.  Splosh in wine and vinegar - then tomato ketchup and soy sauce to taste.
5.  Just before serving toss in pak choi leaves, beans sprouts and a tiny hint of sesame oil.

I preferred this to the noodles earlier in the week, but both were delicious.

Spicy beef stir fry with noodles

A stir fry is not the best thing to make when you have a hurty hand as there is too much chopping involved, and vigorous stirring and flipping can be a challenge - but I managed.

I used peanut oil, cos I had some, but any neutral flavoured vegetable oil would be fine, avoid olive oil.



1 tbsp peanut oil
about 100g steak - in bite sized strips
1 small leek
Fresh ginger, grated
1 clove garlic, crushed
Chili flakes
1/2 red pepper, in strips
1/2 Kholrabi, peeled and chopped into strips
Small handful green beans
4 mushrooms
Chinese rice wine
Chinese rice wine vinegar
Soy sauce
Sweet chili sauce
1/2 tbsp cornflour
1 cup water
Beansprouts
Shredded chinese leaf
1 nest noodles
1 tbsp sesame seeds
1 tsp sesame oil

1.  Heat wok, add peanut oil.  Sear beef in hot oil.
2.  After a couple of minutes flipping meat about add chopped leek, garlic, ginger and chili. (set smoke alarm off)
3.  When leek is slightly softened, chuck in harder veg - beans, kholrabi and pepper.
4.  Splash in chinese rice wine, chinese rice wine vinegar and soy sauce. Keep stirring around for a couple of minutes, add sliced mushrooms.
5. Add water, and boil quickly.
6.  Slake cornflour in water and stir in quickly to thicken sauce.
7.  Chuck in cooked, drained noodles, beansprouts and shredded cabbage.
8. Sprinkle sesame seeds on top, scoff.

Prawn fried rice

Cooked rice.  Stir fried onion, mushroom, red pepper and celery in peanut oil with garlic, ginger and chili.  Added cooked rice and defrosted prawns.  Stirred some more.  Chucked in handful of frozen peas.  Stirred some more.  Poured in 2 beaten eggs, in a layer so that it set.  Did not stir - let the egg set.  Added soy sauce and rice wine.  After a couple of minutes stirred it all round so that everything mixes in - but not too vigourously, so that some of the bits of egg were recognisable.  Serve, scoff.  Victim approved.