King Prawns & Pak Choi with Honey, Lime & Soy

Original Recipe:

"Honey, lime & soy king prawns with pak choi" from BBC Goodfood Quick Suppers (Autumn 2011)

Original Ingredients (serves 4):

• 16 large raw king prawns, peeled and deveined
• 1 tbsp dark soy sauce
• 2 tbsp blossom honey
• zest and juice from 1 lime
• 100g or 2 baby pak choi, sliced
• 2 tsp olive oil

My Ingredients (serve 1):

• 190g small raw king prawns
• 1 tbsp dark soy sauce
• 2 tbsp manuka honey
• zest and juice from 1 small lime
• 1 large pak choi, about 230g
• 2 tsp corn oil
• a pinch of salt
• water

My Method:

1. Rinse the prawns and pat with a pinch of salt. Put into fridge for about 15 minutes.
2. Take out the prawns from fridge and pat dry on kitchen paper.
3. Pour dark soy sauce, honey, lime zest and juice into a non-stick pan. Bring to the boil, reduce the heat and simmer over a low heat until reduced by half and syrupy (it took me 3 minutes). Remove from heat & set aside.
4. Wipe the pan with a kitchen paper. Heat over a high heat for 1 min. Add the corn oil and heat for 30 seconds.
5. Add the prawns and stir-fry over a high heat for 15 seconds.
6. Add the syrupy mixture and stir-fry for a further 15 seconds.
7. Add the pak choi and 1 tbsp of water and cover the pan.
8. Allow to cook for 45 seconds or until the leaves are just wilted (don't overcook the pak choi as its water content will make the sauce too runny). Serve immediately

One-line Verdict:

A real quick supper! Honey, lime & soy go really well and gives an oriental hint!

Verdict:

• The original recipe asks to slice & stir-fry the pak choi. As I don't want pak choi to feel too oily, I borrowed a "half-fry-half-steam" method previously learnt from this dish.
• The original ingredients include 2 baby pak choi which on average weigh 50g each. I cannot find (and actually have never seen) any baby pak choi this small. Usually the baby pak choi sold in supermarket weights about 80-120g each.
• I increased the portion size of the recipe to satiate my craving for pak choi but made the amount of honey lime sauce same as original recipe. I found it quite enough.
• I didn't slice the pak choi (okay, I FORGOT), so the part near the root were a bit undercooked.
• Approximate cost of the main ingredients: £4

Sesame Oil Chicken with rice

Do you keep any "emergency meat" in the freezer? My favourite "emergency meat" is chicken, either wings or thighs. As you may or will notice, chicken is a very popular ingredient in my home, as a combined result of several factors:

1. I tend to cook a bit more so the leftovers can be frozen up for lunches on the following day or later. Beef or fish usually becomes too chewy but chicken just tastes as good after re-heat.
2. Hubby is not a big fan of pork. He eats it, sometimes, but only when it's exceptionally well cooked.
3. Chicken is cheaper and more affordable here in UK than pork and beef, especially those parts with bones such as wings or thighs.

I always try to keep a kilo or two of chicken in freezer. So when I am too busy to do grocery shopping or simply too lazy to do so (usually the latter case...), I can quickly de-froze some chicken, chuck it into a saucepan, or even better, a pressure cooker. It doesn't take much time nor effort -- probably just 20% of what I did for Coq au vin -- but it can make a easy peasey cozy homey dinner.

Recipe:

I read from about 6 or 7 recipes from Taiwanese blogs using traditional cooking method (slow cooking in a crock pot). Then I modified and tested to come up with this version using my pressure cooker.

My Ingredients: (serves 4)

• 1kg of chicken (about 12-13 wings)
• A bit of gingers, sliced
• 3 clovers of garlic, diced
• 2 tbsp of sesame oil
• 600g or 4 cups of rice, uncooked
• 4 cups of water
• 1tbsp of Shaoxing wine (紹興酒) (optional)
• salt and soy sauce sauce
• Shiitake mushrooms or dried Chinese mushrooms (optional)

My Method: 

1. Marinate chicken with Shaoxing wine and a pinch of salt for 3 hours, or at least half an hour.
2. Mix rice in water in a small bowl. Put aside.
3. Heat 1 tbsp of sesame oil in a large frying pan and sauté garlic and ginger until brown. Stir in half of the chicken wings over a medium-high heat for 4 minutes.
4. Stir-fry another half of the chicken for 4 minutes.
5. Put all ingredients into the pressure cooker, water and rice first, followed by chicken wings.
6. Cover and lock the pressure cooker. Make sure the pressure setting has been set to "2" (which has a higher cooking temperature at 116C). Cook over high heat until the green mark which indicates the right pressure has been reached.
7. Turn to medium heat and continue to cook for 10 minutes. Turn off the heat and wait until the cooker de-pressurizes itself naturally. Season with soy sauce and sesame oil when served.

One-line Verdict:

For a very lazy night.

Verdict:

• This is a modified version of Sesame oil chicken with rice (麻油雞飯) which is a popular homey dish in Taiwan. To me, it tastes, especially when mushrooms are added, very much like "steamed chicken rice with mushrooms (北菇蒸雞飯)" served in Chinese restaurants in Hong Kong.
• I don't know it has any scientific grounds, but sesame oil chickens are believed to have an ability to nourish the body and keep people warm in cold winter. New mothers in Asia (e.g. Taiwan & Malaysia) are advised to have sesame oil chicken in their diet during the confinement month after childbirth (坐月子). Maybe the high energy content of oil and chickens help speed up blood circulation?
• 600g of rice is actually quite a lot -- usually a small bowl of rice served at home is just about 100-150g.
• This dish is a little bit too oily though. For a healthier version, sometimes I use chicken breast and reduce sesame oil to 1 tbsp.
• Approximate cost of the main ingredients: £3 (isn't it a real bargain? £3 for 4 servings!)

Hong Kong Style Borscht

Recipe:

My personal "Just wing it" recipes... (it's in fact my own version of HK-style Borscht adapted from about 8 different Borscht recipes)

My Ingredients: (serves 4)

• 1kg of beef brisket
• 1 small or half large cabbage
• 1 medium carrot
• 2 celery stalks
• 3 small onions
• 4 medium tomatoes
• 2 heaped tbsp of tomato paste
• 1 dried bay leaf
• water, cooking oil, salt & white pepper

My Method: 

1. Wash and then chop vegetables into large chunks.
2. Parboil beef by placing it in pressure cooker and cover with cold water. Bring to boil over high heat. Continue to boil vigorously for 2 minutes to allow impurities to be released.
3. Dump water and rinse the beef with hot water in sink. Scrub the pressure cooker to remove any residue.
4. Add 1 tbsp of oil into the pressure cooker. Stir fry onions over medium heat for about 5 minutes or until browned. Add all other vegetables and the beef in.
5. Add 1.2 litre of water or until the water level reaches the Max1 (lower maximum) mark inside the pressure cooker. Add bay leaf and tomato paste.
6. Cover and lock the pressure cooker. Make sure the pressure setting has been set to "2" (which has a higher cooking temperature at 116C). Cook over high heat until the green mark which indicates the right pressure has been reached. (about 10 minutes).
7. Turn to medium heat and continue to cook for 10 minutes. Turn off the heat and wait until the cooker de-pressurizes itself naturally (about 10 minutes). Season with salt and pepper before serving.

One-line Verdict:

A super quick and easy way to make a tasty soup in less than 45 minutes.

Verdict:

• Hong Kong style Borscht (港式羅宋湯) is my hubby's favourite so I make it almost every week. I am not an avid fan of soup nor tomato but I think this soup tastes pretty good. It makes a very healthy and refreshing supper when we are carbohydrate-overloaded on that day.
• I use a Fissler Vitavit Comfort Pressure Cooker (6L/22cm). From washing ingredients to serving, it takes about 45 minutes while the actual "over the heat" time is only about 20 minutes. Without a pressure cooker, the soup shall take about 2 hours to make.
• Brisket, with stronger and meatier flavour, indeed tastes better than ordinary casserole beef. However I don't think the difference can justify an extra £4!
• For extra carbohydrates, 2 medium potatoes,1 medium parsnip or 1 small swede can be added but they would make the soup a bit muddy.
• Approximate cost of the main ingredients: £9 (brisket) or £5 (casserole beef)

Brussels Sprouts with Bacon

Original Recipe:

"Brussels Sprouts with Bacon" from Heston Blumenthal at Home.

Original Ingredients:

• 5 smoked bacon rashers, cut into lardons
• 50g unsalted butter
• 400g brussels sprouts

Original Method:

1. Slice the bases from the brussels sprouts and carefully separate the leaves, pulling them off the sprouts.
   
2. Fry the bacon in a frying pan over a medium heat until soft but not coloured. Remove from the pan and drain on kitchen paper. Set aside.
   
3. Melt the butter with the bacon fat in the frying pan over a medium to low heat. When the butter is foaming, add the brussels leaves and stir to coat them. Add 2 tbsp water and cover the pan.
   
4. Allow to cook for 3 to 5 minutes, stir in the bacon and season with salt and pepper.

My Ingredients:

• 200g smoked bacon lardons (Waitrose Essential)
• 25g unsalted butter (President)
• 200g brussels sprouts (loose veg from Waitrose)

My Method: 

• Basically followed the recipe except reducing the cooking time of brussels sprouts from 5 minutes to 3 minutes.

One-line Verdict:

This is an easy recipe which only takes about 30 minutes to yield a very satisfying result.

Verdict:

• Sprouts are not really a very popular vegetable because of the unpleasant boiled-cabbage bitterness. However this is mainly due to overcooking, especially the exterior. The key to this recipe is to separate the leaves of the sprouts instead of to cook them whole. Ideally every leaf can be evenly cooked and sweet.
• Separating the leaves was very laborious, it took me about 20 minutes to separate 10 sprouts. But it really worked and the resulting sprouts were sweet and delicious.
• As what I bought was called lardons, I didn't do any further cutting or dicing -- okay, I simply forgot. However the photo on Heston Blumenthal's book showed neatly diced cubic lardons. If I do this dish again, I'll try to remember to dice the lardons into smaller cubes.
• Approximate cost of the main ingredients: £2.4 (serves 2)

(Additional information) How to choose brussels sprouts?

(from Wholefoods Market)

• Choose firm, small, compact sprouts with a good green color and stem ends that are clean and white.
• When possible, select sprouts of uniform size for uniform cooking. Avoid those with wilted or yellowed leaves or that feel spongy.
• Sooty smudges or small holes in the leaves may be an indication of worms or plant lice.
• Old Brussels sprouts acquire a strong cabbage odor.
• Brussels sprouts are most abundant in autumn through early spring.

Hoisin sauce Chicken Drumsticks

Recipe:

My personal "Just wing it" recipes... (blush blush)

My Ingredients:

• 1kg, about 12 pieces of Chicken drumsticks
• 6 heaped tbsp of Hoisin Sauce (Lee Kum Kee, 李錦記)
• 2 tbsp of water
• Salt & Pepper

My Method: 

1. Marinate the chicken drumsticks with Hoisin sauce, water, salt and pepper. Leave them in fridge for at least 2.5 hours.
2. Pre-heat oven at 180C. Bake for 30 minutes. Rotating midway through baking.

One-line Verdict:

Good for a lazy evening.

Verdict:

• Another variation is: Bake for 15 minutes at 200C. Take the tray out and cover with foil. Return to oven to bake for another 15 minutes. It will result in a crispier exterior.
• Approximate cost of the main ingredients: £5 (serves 4)

Creamy pasta with mushrooms, parmesan & lardons

Original Recipe:

"Creamy Pancetta pasta with mushrooms & parmesan" from Lorraine Pascale's Home Cooking Made Easy. Also on BBC.

Original Ingredients:

• 400g/14oz pappardelle
• 100-200g/3½-7oz cubed pancetta
• 175g/6oz chestnut mushrooms, finely sliced
• 225ml/8fl oz double cream
• 75g/3oz parmesan cheese, grated
• freshly ground black pepper

Original Method:

1. Cook the pappardelle according to the packet instructions.
2. Meanwhile, fry the pancetta in a frying pan over a medium-high heat for about five minutes. When it starts to brown, add the mushrooms and cook for 2-3 minutes, then add the double cream.
3. Once the cream is hot, add the parmesan and stir together well.Once the pasta is ready, drain and return it to the pan. Add the pancetta mixture and stir through well. Season with some pepper (I find it does not usually need salt because of the salty parmesan and pancetta).

My Ingredients:

• 200g fusilli (corkscrew shaped pasta)
• 90g cubic bacon lardons
• 200g chestnut mushrooms, finely sliced
• 110ml double cream
• 38g parmesan cheese, grated
• freshly ground black pepper

My Method: 

• Basically followed the halved recipe but substituting pancetta with bacon lardons, and pappardelle with fusilli. (The only reason for substitution is I already have lardons & fusilli at home).
• I increased the portion of chestnut mushroom as we both love it so much. The original portion just won't be enough!

One-line Verdict:

Super easy and fool-proof. Ideal for mid-week quick dinner.

Verdict:

• Quick, easy and delicious. Very happy as long as I don't think about the calorie and fat intake.
• Approximate cost of the main ingredients: £5 (serves 2)