Chicken, sugar-snap peas, sprouting broccoli and basil stir fry.

A very easy dish to cook and doesn't take long either, I would recommend cutting all your vegetables before starting the cooking process.

Ingredients

• 1 tbsp of a Nut oil (or olive oil if you don't have anything else)
• 4 Chicken Breasts
• 4 Spring Onions, sliced
• 1 Red Pepper cut into cubes
• 1 tbsp of Unsalted Peanuts
• 250g of Sugar-snap Peas
• 200g of tender Stem broccoli each one cut into three piece lengths
• 1 small handful of basil
• 1 tbsp of Dark Soy Sauce
• 1 tbsp of Oyster Sauce
• 2 tbsps of Fish Sauce
• 1 tbsp of Fruit Sugar
• 1 pinch of Chilli Powder
• Juice of 1 Lime

Serves 4

Method

Slice the chicken quite thinly and fry for five minutes of a high heat. Add the pepper, peanuts, sugar-snap peas and broccoli. Heat with stirring for 8 to 10 minutes. 

Mix the sauce ingredients together and pour over the stir fry. Add a further 1 tbsp of water and the spring onions. Cook until the sauce has thickened (around five minutes). 

Add the basil, stir and serve with rice.

Sugar-snap Peas

Nepali Venison Curry

The recipe this is based on used goat but after having the most amazing venison curry in the Yak and Yeti in Finsbury Park, London I decided to use that instead. This tastes amazing!

Ingredients

• 450g of diced Venison
• 4 tablespoons of Mustard Oil 
• 5 cloves of Garlic
• 3 Tomatoes
• 1 Red Onion
• 1 three inch piece of Ginger
• 3 to 6 hot chillies
• 235ml/1 cup of Water
• 8 Fenugreek seeds (or there abouts)
• 1 to 2 Star Anise
• 2 Bay leaves
• 1 Cinnamon Stick
• 2 whole dried Chillies
• 1/2 tablespoon of Turmeric
• 1 teaspoon of Asafetida
• 2 teaspoons of ground Cumin
• 2 teaspoons of ground Coriander
• 1/2 tablespoon of Curry Powder
• 1 tablespoon of Salt
• Fresh Coriander for garnish

Serves three to four

Method

Put the venison in a bowl with 2 tbsp of the mustard oil. Add 2 crushed cloves of garlic and 1/2 of the salt. Give a good mix. Cover with clingfilm and leave in the fridge over night.

Take a cast iron griddle/grill pan and heat it up. Cut the tomatoes in half and the red onions into wedges. Place them on the griddle pan along with the sliced ginger, fresh chillies and two more garlic cloves mashed. Heat until they begin to char (8 to 10 minutes). Alternatively, you can put all of the above on a tray under the grill.

Allow to cool slightly then put in a blender with the water. Blend until nice and smooth.

Put the remaining oil in a wok/frying pan and heat over a medium heat. Add the fenugreek, star anise, bay leaves, cinnamon and dried chilles. Cook for a minute or two. Add the venison and fry until all the meat is sealed. Add the turmeric, the rest of the salt, asafetida, cumin, coriander, curry powder and the last mashed garlic clove. Cook for five minutes then add the tomato mixture. Bring to a simmer then transfer to a slow cooker for 8 to 10 hours on low (you could also simmer, covered, for two hours).

Serve with rice and garnished with coriander. 

Beef Mulligatawny Soup

This makes about 2 kg so should keep you in lunches for a bit.

Ingredients

• 1 Onion
• 2 Carrots, chopped
• 1 Apple; peeled, cored and chopped
• 2 tbsp of Olive Oil or Canola Oil
• 1 tbsp of Plain Flour
• 3 tsps of Curry Powder
• 1 to 2 tsp of Hot Chilli Powder
• About 2 litres of Beef Stock
• 400g tin of Tinned Tomatoes
• 250g of cooked Minced Beef
• 100g of cooked rice
• Salt and Pepper

Method

Put the oil in a large pan and sauté the onions with the carrots and the apple until soft.

Stir in the curry powder, flour and chilli powder then stir for one minute.

Stir in the stock, tomatoes and seasoning then bring to a rapid simmer. Reduce the heat to low, cover and simmer for approximately 90 minutes.

Liquidize then add the rice and beef.

Increase the heat and simmer for two to three minutes. 

Check the seasoning and serve.

Curry Powder

Mexican Jerk Chicken

Very simple and easy to make dish. If you want a Russian Roulette feel to it leave some of the peppercorns whole as they pack quite a kick when you eat one! I have used chicken breast for this as the missus is very fussy on her cuts of chicken; if you prefer you can use chicken legs and thighs and cook it on the barbecue. Finishing in the oven to make sure they are cooked through.

Ingredients

• 450g Chicken Breast
• 1 tbsp of Allspice
• 1 tbsp of Black Peppercorns
• 1/2 tsp on Cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp Nutmeg
• 1 tbsp chopped Thyme
• 1 bunch of Spring Onions
• 1 tbsp of a smoked chilli sauce (or more if you like it spicy)
• 1 tbsp Dark Brown Sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 tbsp Soy Sauce
• The juice of 1 Lime

Method

Put everything except the chicken in a food processer and process until quite smooth. 

Cut the chicken into bite sized pieces and place in a freezer/food bag (or bowl). Add the sauce and work it into the chicken. Seal the bag/bowl and leave to stand (preferably overnight but for at least a couple of hours).

Heat a griddle pan and cook until it begins to look quite caramelised and is hot all the way through.

I recommend serviving with some salad and Mexican Patatas Bravas. 

As usual I forgot to take a picture so here is one robbed from the internet
looks pretty similar though!

Mexican Patatas Bravas

Little roast potatoes with chilli sauce. Lovely!

Ingredients

• 500g White Potatoes
• 2 tbsp of Smoked Chilli Sauce
• 2 tbsp Olive Oil
• 3 cloves of Garlic
• Grated Parmesan
• 1 sprig of fresh Rosemary
• Finely chopped Parsley
• Sea Salt
• Black Pepper

Method

Wash and cut the potatoes into bite size pieces (peeling optional). Put them in a bowl and cover with boiling water. Leave for 15 minutes. This is probably a good time to put the oven on (200°C).

Drain the water and remove excess water with kitchen roll. Add the leaves from the rosemary, crushed garlic and finally some salt and pepper to taste. Toss with the oil and put on a baking tray. Cook for about 45 minutes.

Serve covered with a dollop of chilli sauce, some finely chopped parsley and a generous sprinkle of parmesan.

It burns....

Chicken Supreme

I always thought this dish was made with mushrooms but I suppose if all you have to base it on is a memory of a Birdseye microwave meal from the eighties...

Ingredients

• 2 Onions
• 4 cloves of Garlic
• 6 rashers of Bacon
• 3 Chicken Breasts
• 1 Chicken Stock Cube
• 200ml (400ml) of Double Cream
• Black Pepper

Serves 4

Method

Gently fry the sliced onion and the crushed garlic in olive oil until the onion is soft. Remove from the pan and reserve for later.

Cut the bacon into small strips and fry in the same pan you used to cook the onions. Put to one side.

Chop the chicken into bite sized pieces and fry until cooked. 

Add the reserved ingredients and mix it all together. 

Mix the stock cube with 100ml of boiling water and stir into the chicken mixture. Then add the cream evenly coating everything. The original recipe I saw asked for 400ml of cream which is far too much for my tastes so I halved it. Cook until the cream is hot, season with pepper (you shouldn't need salt as the bacon is pretty salty) and then serve with rice.

While there is nothing actually wrong with this we can do better!

Turkey Risotto

Cheap, cheerfull and easy to make. What more do you want..

Ingredients

• 150ml of dry White Wine
• 1 Red Onion
• 2 tbsp of chopped Chives
• 400g of Risotto Rice
• 900ml of Chicken Stock
• 150g of Green Beans or Peas
• 1 tbsp of Olive Oil
• 25g of unsalted Butter
• 200g of Turkey fillets (cooked)
• 50g of grated Parmesan
• Salt and Black Pepper

Serves 6

Method

Bring the stock to a boil and then reduce the heat to give a gentle simmer.

In another pan heat the oil and half of the butter. Chop the onions and then sauté until they have softened. 

Stir in the rice and cook for a couple of minutes. Add the wine and gently stir until it has been absorbed by the rice. Now add a ladle of stock to the rice and gently stir until it has been absorbed. Make sure you move all the rice around so that none sticks to the pan. Repeat with further ladles of stock until you have added half of the stock.

Stir in the chopped or shredded turkey and continue adding the stock a ladle at a time. The rice should look thick and creamy. If you run out of stock before the rice is done use boiling water in the same manner.

With the last ladle of stock add the green beans.

Once that has been absorbed stir in the remaining butter, chives, half of the Parmesan, salt and pepper (to taste).  Serve sprinkled with the remaining Parmesan.

Turkey Risotto with peas.