Posts Tagged ‘Easy Recipes’

How To Cook Chicken Fillets

December 8th, 2009

Chicken is one of those meats, unlike beef, that needs to be cooked thoroughly to avoid food poisoning. It needs to be handled separately prior to cooking to keep it away from other foods and you should not use the same chopping board or knife to prepare the rest of your ingredients.
When we come onto how to cook chicken fillets, the timing depends on your method of cooking and the size of your fillet. If you are roasting the fillets they will need 15-20 minutes, if you are grilling they will only need 10 minutes and if you are stir frying the fillets once cut into strips they will only take 5-7 minutes. Larger fillets will take a bit longer to cook. Roasted fillets will keep their moisture better if you wrap them in a foil packet.

To test that the fillet is cooked through you need to prick the meat with a skewer and if the juices run clear it is done. Make sure you get right to the middle of the fattest part of the fillet. Alternatively you can slice the fillet in half to check the meat is white and not still pink.

Chicken fillets on their own will be a bit bland so here are a few easy recipes for you to consider.

Breaded Chicken
The easiest way to dress up your chicken fillets is to cover them in breadcrumbs. First dip them in seasoned flour, then in beaten egg, then in breadcrumbs (bought or fresh), then back in the egg and back for a final coating of breadcrumbs. Roast them on a lightly oiled baking sheet and turn half way through the cooking time. You could then serve them with any number of bought dips and a salad.

Grilled Chicken With Spiced Butter
Deseed and finely chop a small green chilli. Mix it along with 4 tbsp of chopped coriander and 75g of softened butter in a bowl and season. Take four chicken fillets and make three of four 5mm deep slashes on each side. Spread half the butter on one side of the chicken and sprinkle with 1 tbsp of lemon juice. Grill, butter side up on a moderate heat for 7 minutes. Turn the fillets over and spread with the remaining butter and another 1 tbsp of lemon juice and grill for another 7 minutes until cooked through. Serve topped with a coriander sprig and seasonal vegetables and spoon over any butter that has collected in the grill tray. If chilli is not your cup of tea, replace it with 2 crushed garlic cloves.

Baked Chicken Fillets With Pesto
Make a pocket in each chicken fillet by cutting a deep horizontal slice. For four chicken fillets, mix together 125g of low fat soft cheese with 2 tbsp of pesto and season. Divide the mixture between each chicken pocket leaving 4 tsp spare. Wrap each fillet in a slice of ham, place 1 tsp of the left over mixture on top and loosely make a foil parcel out of each one.  Bake at 400°F for 25-30 minutes and then serve with baked potatoes and a side salad.

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Posted in Cooking, How To Cook

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Three Delicious Pork Chop Recipes

October 31st, 2009

Many people enjoy cooking pork chops as they are one of the easiest meals to prepare. You don’t have to be an experienced chef and have a wealth of ingredients to make a mouth watering dish. Whenever cooking chops you should make sure the meat stays tender, don’t let it go so hard that your friends and family will have difficulty chewing! The following three grilled pork chop recipes are simple to make yet give a delicious taste.

1. Hawaiian Pork Chops

The combination of pineapple and pork is something that everyone should experience. If you have a sweet tooth then this recipe is just for you.

For the ingredients you will require - six pork chops, one can of pineapple slices, half cup of soy sauce, a third of a cup vegetable oil, quarter of an onion, two cloves of garlic, and one tablespoon of brown sugar.

First take the can of pineapple and add a quarter of a cup of the juice into a bowl along with the soy sauce, the brown sugar, minced onion, minced garlic and the vegetable oil. Take the chops and place them in a sealable bag or container then pour in the mixture that you have just made. Now place this in the fridge for around two hours. Heat up the grill and then take out the chops and place under. You should cook them for around twenty minutes turning and basting them as you go. Once cooked, top them with some pieces of pineapple.

2. Garlic Honey Pork Chops

Of the three pork chop recipes this one can provide you with a quick meal if you make the marinade the night before. The combination of garlic and honey really brings out the flavor of the meat.

For the ingredients you will require - four boneless pork chops, quarter cup of honey, quarter cup of lemon juice, two tablespoons of soy sauce, two cloves of garlic and one tablespoon of cooking sherry.

To make the marinade you need to take the lemon juice, honey, sherry, soy sauce, and garlic and mix them all together. Place the chops in a container or sealable bag and let them marinade in the fridge for a few hours or overnight. When you are ready to cook the chops you should preheat the grill, add the chops, and cook on a medium heat for between fifteen to twenty minutes. Once they are done you can take the marinade sauce and pour over the meal.

3. Spicy Pork Chops

These are ideal for people that enjoy a fully flavored dish that leaves a lasting taste in the mouth. They are great for cold winter evenings.

Ingredients required - four thick pork chops, one tablespoon of brown sugar, two teaspoons of chilli powder, quarter teaspoon of salt, quarter teaspoon of cumin, and a quarter teaspoon of black pepper.

First of all you need to mix together all the dry ingredients. Take this blend of spices and rub it into all the surfaces of the pork chops. Then let them stand for around twenty to thirty minutes. Preheat the grill then place under and cook on a medium heat for around ten minutes. Why not serve up accompanied by one of the best sweet potato recipes and enjoy?

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Posted in Easy Recipes, Pork Recipes

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Cheesy Mince Recipe

March 6th, 2009

This recipe is from BBC Easy Cook Magazine (BBCEC).

Serves 4 | Prep 10 mins | Cook 35 mins
1 onion, finely chopped
1 clove of garlic, crushed
1 carrot, diced
1 celery stick, diced
2 tbsp olive oil
450g minced lamb
2 tbsp sundried tomato paste
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
300ml beef stock
2 tsp cornflour

(1) Fry the onion, garlic, carrot and celery in the oil for 6 minutes.  Stir in the lamb and cook for 4 minutes until browned, then add the tomato paste and Worcestershire sauce. (BBCEC)

Nice and easy.  Chop everything, chuck it in a big pan.  Double it all up and freeze the extra for an easy meal in the future.  I actually use beef mince as I can’t get hold of lamb mince here in Spain without buying an expensive leg and getting the butcher to mince it for me!

(2) Stir in the beef stock and simmer for 35 minutes until very tender.  Season well.  Mix the cornflour with 2tsp cold water to a paste, stir into the mince and cook for 1 minute. (BBCEC)

I just use an Oxo cube to make my beef stock.  I have also never needed the cornflour to thicken the sauce as it always been perfect after the simmering.

(3) Serve with a jacket potato, topped with grated cheddar cheese. (BBCEC)

TASTE ON TRIAL

This really is the easiest, tastiest mince recipe ever!!!  Give it a go.

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Posted in Lamb Recipes

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Saucy Macaroni Cheese Recipe

March 6th, 2009

This recipe is from BBCGoodFood.com (BBCGF).

I love macaroni cheese.  It’s my favourite comfort food.  I saw this recipe in the 2009 Good Food Calendar for March.  It looked a bit of a variation on the norm so I thought I would give it a try.

Serves 4 | Prep 20 mins | Cook 15 mins
splash sunflower oil
1 medium onion, halved and sliced into thin wedges
250g macaroni
250g broccoli, cut into long, slender florets
50g butter, softened
50g plain flour
700-850ml milk
100g mature cheddar, grated
50g parmesan, grated
1 rounded tsp Dijon, mustard
handful flat-leaf parlsey, roughly chopped
8 rashers streaky bacon, grilled until crisp

(1) Heat the oil in a frying pan, add the onion and a pinch of salt, then fry over a medium heat for 5-8 mins, stirring occasionally, until golden and crisp.  Drain on on kitchen paper.  Set aside, keep warm. (BBCGF)

OK nice and straightforward - that’s what I like!

(2) While the onion is cooking, tip the macaroni into a pan of boiling water and cook for 6 mins, then add the broccoli and cook for another 4 mins.  Drain, then tip back into the pan. (BBCGF)

I actually cooked my broccoli for the whole 10 minutes as I thought it would be a bit crisp for our taste.

(3) Make the sauce while the macaroni cooks.  Put the butter, flour and 700ml of the milk in a pan then, using a balloon whisk, whisk continuously over a medium heat until thickened and smooth.  Simmer on a low heat for 2 mins.  Combine the cheddar and Parmesan.  Stir the mustard and three quarters of the cheese into the sauce. (BBCGF)

Ooh.  My husband makes cheese sauce using this all-in-one method.  And he makes a lot of cheese sauces - at least one a week for me for my Sunday roast as I don’t do gravy!  I have to say I’m still amazed when it’s not lumpy but not being brave enough myself I used the old fashion roux method (melting the butter, stirring in the flour and then gradually adding the milk).  I substituted the Parmesan (yuk!) for extra cheddar and actually ended up putting in a bit more cheddar still as the sauce wasn’t that tasty when I checked it.  I didn’t bother with the mustard either.

(4) Stir the cheese sauce into the macaroni.  If you want it a bit thinner, add some of the remaining milk and briefly warm through on a low heat.  Season to taste.  Top with a scattering of onions, parsley and the bacon, then serve with the rest of the cheese. (BBCGF)

When I read through the recipe trying to get a feel for how everything was going to come together at the same time I wondered “When do I cook the bacon?”  Then I re-read the ingredients to find the bacon was already cooked.  I thought this was a bit annoying and that they should have had cooking the bacon going on during steps (2) and (3).

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Saucy Macaroni Cheese

Saucy Macaroni Cheese

Oh dear.  My husband’s first comment was “Is this a white sauce?”.  The accompanying screwed up facial expression didn’t help.  I told him that I’d added extra cheese already but I have to admit it could have done with even more.  Then the meal went from bad to worse.  This is one of a handful of meals that he’s left half of.  He did eat all the bacon bits though.  He had had a bad day and wasn’t feeling too well but still … he always eats.  That is when you wish you hadn’t bothered.  As for me, I quite liked it - admittedly it would have been much better with more cheese but the crispy onions and bacon on top were a nice change.

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Posted in Pasta Recipes

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Cheesy Baked Onions Recipe

February 18th, 2009

This recipe is from BBCGoodFood.com (BBCGF).

Serves 4 | Prep 10 mins | Cook 25 mins
4 large onions, peeled
75g ball light mozzarella, roughly chopped
85g cheddar, grated
2 tbsp olives, halved
50g roasted red peppers from a jar, drained and roughly chopped
1 garlic clove, crushed
50g breadcrumbs
leaves from few thyme sprigs

(1) Heat oven to 220C/fan 200C/gas 7. Halve each onion through the middle. Microwave in pairs for 4 mins on High until soft. Remove the middles of the onions, leaving about 3 outer layers in place, like little bowls. (BBCGF)

Heat the oven - fine.  Halve each onion - uh oh - first boo boo.  I halved the first one the wrong way - down from the root end rather than across ways.  I was looking at it wondering how I was going to stick it together with the filling to make it look like the recipe’s picture when it dawned on me I’d screwed it up.  Never mind I had a spare and did the next two the right way.  (I was halving the recipe just for the two of us.)  Right “microwave in pairs” - next boo boo.  I missed the “pairs” bit, so microwaved my two onions for 2 minutes, assuming I should halve the cooking time along with the ingredients.  This is probably wrong in a microwave anyway - who knows?  When we were eating the onions later I thought the larger one was a bit harder - not hard enough to be horrible or anything - but I just thought to myself I’ll microwave these a bit longer next time!  Removing the middles was easy by just jabbing them with a fork.

(2) Whizz the onion middles in a food processor until pulpy. Mix with the mozzarella, half the cheddar, the olives, peppers, garlic, crumbs and most of the thyme, then season well. Spoon the filling into the onion cases and transfer to a baking dish. Sprinkle with the remaining cheddar and thyme, then roast for 15 mins until hot through and golden. (BBCGF)

I’m amazed my food processor is still going.  I used to use it with my Mum about 20 years ago and I stole it from her when I left home and since it’s moved around a few times in England before coming out here to Spain.  Anyway I made the breadcrumbs in it first with a crust I had lying about and then bunged in the onions.  Keep an eye on the onions - they don’t need much whizzing or they’ll turn into a wet paste.  I mixed the rest of the ingredients in other than the olives, which we can’t stand, and the peppers, which we didn’t have in the cupboard.  Ooh and the thyme which we didn’t have either!  So just the cheese and the garlic then - yes!

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Cheesy Baked Onions

Cheesy Baked Onions

I liked the idea of this recipe as an unusual vegetable side dish and it didn’t disappoint.  The onions were nice and squidgy and the filling blended well with the onion cases and was subtly cheesy.  Even without the peppers and the cock up on the time I microwaved the onions for, they were good and we will have them again.  So with peppers and me reading the recipe a bit more carefully they should be super!

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Posted in Vegetarian Recipes

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Tagliatelle with Lime Chicken Recipe

February 16th, 2009

This recipe is from BBCGoodFood.com (BBCGF).

This is an old favourite of mine.  The torn out recipe is so battered I could hardly see where I had found it from in the first place.  I have to say the thought of the “lime” puts me off ever serving this dish to friends or family as I imagine it is an acquired taste, but give it a go, I really love it.

2 large skinless chicken breast fillets
2 tsp sesame oil
1 tbsp dark soy sauce
1 tsp chilli sauce
300g dried tagliatelle
4 spring onions, thickly sliced

For the sauce
300ml chicken or vegetable stock
200ml carton coconut cream
1.5 tsp Thai fish sauce
6 kaffir lime leaves, shredded
1 garlic clove, sliced
pinch of sugar
salt and pepper

For the garnish
Coriander leaves

(1) Cut the chicken into strips and toss with the sesame oil, soy sauce and chilli sauce.  Cover and leave to marinate in a cool place for 1 hour. (BBCGF)

I like to cut the chicken into long, thin strips so they absorb more of the flavours.  I don’t have sesame oil so just went with sunflower instead.  I’ve used both spicy chilli sauce and sweet chilli dipping sauce in this and both work just as well although for the sweet variety I use at least 1 tsp.

(2) Meanwhile, prepare the sauce.  Place all the ingredients in a saucepan, bring to the boil and simmer until reduced by half.  Pass through a fine sieve and keep warm. (BBCGF)

Right, I usually use stock from an Oxo cube as I’ve always used fresh stock in a soup.  I also can’t find coconut cream here in Spain so have to use coconut milk.  This thins the sauce down a bit and takes an age to simmer to half volume but tastes lovely all the same.  When I say an age, it’s a good 20-30 minutes, but keep an eye on it as otherwise it will boil over.  I’ve still got some Thai fish sauce I brought from England but that reminds me I could probably do with a new bottle - note to self, scour the internet for suppliers!  I could do with oyster sauce too I think.  As for the kaffir lime leaves, well I can’t get them either.  These ingredients are a bit of a nightmare aren’t they really?  Instead I take the yest and juice of one lime and bung them in  instead.  The other good thing about this is that I don’t need to sieve any dodgy leaf bits out at the end.

(3) Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil.  Add the pasta and cook until al dente. (BBCGF)

I never cook with salted water as I never remember and we prefer our pasta a bit softer than al dente but it’s up to you.

(4) Meanwhile, heat a wok or large frying pan until hot.  Add the chicken and stir-fry for 4-5 minutes until browned and cooked through.  Add the spring onions, toss well and remove from the heat.

This is nice and easy.  You don’t need any extra oil to cook with as the marinated chicken is quite oily

(5) Drain the pasta and spoon into warmed bowls.  Top with the chicken and spring onion mixture and drizzle over the lime sauce.  Serve at once, garnished with coriander leaves.

My lime sauce is generally sloshed, rather than drizzled as there’s quite a lot of it for two of us, probably due to my coconut cream versus milk issue.

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Tagliatelle with Lime Chicken

Tagliatelle with Lime Chicken

We really love this dish.  It’s like something you would be served in a restaurant but doesn’t take too long to cook and isn’t difficult.  The lime gives it a real tang which brightens up the chicken.

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Posted in Chicken Recipes

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Credit Crunch Friendly Version of Birds Eye Beef Burgers

February 4th, 2009

Well as you can guess this isn’t actually the Birds Eye Beef Burgers recipe.  I used to buy Birds Eye burgers for my 7 year old son who wouldn’t eat any other sort.  But then my local English shop here in the Spanish countryside stopped being able to get hold of them.  We tried other makes but he didn’t like them.  So I looked at the ingredients on an old packet and instead came up with the homemade hamburger recipe detailed below.  The result was that the whole family loves them including my son, the most fussy eating child you could meet.  And the best bit is they cost half the price to make yourself.

Ingredients:
1 slice of white bread
2 large onions
500g beef mince
2 heaped tsp of bovril
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp garlic salt

(1) Tear the slice of bread into smaller chunks and whizz in a food processor until it forms breadcrumbs.

(2) Peel and chop the onions into smaller chunks and add them into the food processor with the breadcrumbs.

(3) Whizz until the onions are finely chopped but not too much that they get pureed.

(4) Add the onion powder, garlic salt and bovril to the mix and then the mince.  Mix the ingredients together very quickly with a spoon to get the mince towards the blades.

(5) Whizz the mixture together quickly stopping to turn the mixture over with a spoon as it will be quite stiff for the food processor.  Stop whizzing as soon as the ingredients are combined.  Do not over whizz.

(6) Flour a work surface and dust your hands.  Take small handfuls of the mixture and pat them into flat burger shapes of about 0.5cm thick.

(7) Heat enough oil in your frying pan to cover the bottom and fry the burgers on both sides until they are cooked through.

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Posted in Beef Recipes

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French Onion Soup Recipe

January 22nd, 2009

This recipe is from BBCGoodFood.com (BBCGF).

Massive Spanish Onions

Look at the size of these onions!  I had to make this as my neighbour had kindly given us two humongous onions at the beginning of the week. I’d used about half of one on the two previous night’s meals but I was never going to get through them otherwise so decided to give this soup a try.

4 large Spanish onions (about 900g) (or one from my neighbour!)
3 tbsp extra virgin rapeseed oil
4 thyme sprigs
2 bay leaves
300ml dry white wine
1 rounded tbsp plain flour
1 tbsp Swiss vegetable bouillon

For the topping
1 garlic clove, crushed
1 tbsp extra virgin rapeseed oil
4 long slices from a baguette
25g Parmesan, coarsely grated
50g gruyere, coarsely grated

(1) Cut the onions in half lengthways, then slice down into very thin slices.  Heat a very large pan, add the oil when hot, stir in the onions, 3 of the thyme sprigs and the bay leaves, then season with a little salt.  It will seem like a lot of onions, but they reduce right down.  Cook over a high heat for 5 mins, stirring often.  The onions shouldn’t brown yet, just start to soften.  Lower the heat, then cook slowly for 35 mins, uncovered, stirring often until the onions have reduced right down and are very soft. (BBCGF)

Cutting the onions, or in my case, THE onion, took forever. Thankfully they weren’t the tear-inducing kind or I think I may have given up although the upside down teaspoon in the mouth trick has worked for me in the past to avoid this. I was a bit dubious about heating the oil very hot as I was sure the onions on the bottom would burn but I did it. Even though the pan was nearly overflowing with onions at the start they did shrink greatly. I kept stirring for the 5 minutes and managed to avoid any burnt bits.

(2) While the onions are cooking, bring the wine to a boil in a small pan, then bubble away for 30 secs.  Remove and leave to cool.  Tip the flour into a small heavy pan and toast over a medium heat for a few mins, stirring occasionally, until light brown in colour.  Set aside. (BBCGF)

OK boiling the wine was fine but toasting the flour made me nervous. I’d toasted some spices a few weeks before and had burnt them so I was more careful this time. I stirred constantly and turned off the heat at the first sign of browning, letting the heat of the pan do the rest.

(3) When the onions are very soft and reduced, turn up the heat so they caramelise, then cook for another 12-15 mins, stirring along the bottom of the pan occasionally to mix in the brown sticky bits.  When the bottom of the pan and all the onions are sticky and a rich brown colour, stir in the flour.  With the heat still high, gradually pour in the wine, again stirring in the bits from the bottom.  Pour in 1.2 litres of cold water.  Stir in the bouillon, then slowly bring everything to the boil.  Skim off any froth from the surface.  Simmer for 15 mins so all the flavours can mingle. (BBCGF)

Uum caramelising - I’ve never had much luck with this either. The only brown sticky bits I got on the bottom of the pan were burnt bits, however the onions did brown after a while so I added the flour then.

1.2 litres of water seemed like a lot and we prefer our soups thicker rather than watery so I only put in 0.75 litres. The resulting soup was quite thick so a bit more water would have been better.

Bouillon - what is this? I went with a vegetable Oxo cube (kindly donated by my in-laws in the UK as I can’t get them here in Spain)!

“Skim off any froth” … how rude, I won’t have any froth on my soup - or so I thought. WRONG - I did, and skimmed it off as told.

(4) While the soup simmers, make the topping.  Heat oven to 200C/fan 180C/gas6.  Mix the garlic and the oil together.  Brush all over the bread slices, then cut each one into cubes.  Scatter over a baking sheet, then bake for 8-10 mins until golden.  Set aside.  Line a baking sheet with baking parchment or a sheet of non-stick silicone.  Remove the leaves from the remaining thyme sprig, then mix with the grated Parmesan.  Scatter and spread over the lined baking sheet into a 13 x 8cm rectangle.  Bake for about 8 mins until melted and turning golden.  Remove, leave to firm up, then snap into jagged pieces. (BBCGF)

Luckily I have a baguette delivered from my Spanish bread van to my door every day so this bit was easy. This amount of garlic and oil though, only covered one side of my baguette slices. I figured this was enough and got it in the oven. I didn’t have any parmesan though as I can’t get past the smell so skipped this bit, preferring to sprinkle grated Cheddar on the end result.

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French Onion Soup

Fabulous. Simon and I both really enjoyed it and were glad there was enough to freeze for next week.

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Posted in Soup Recipes

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Quick Beef Stroganoff Recipe

January 22nd, 2009

This recipe is from www.bbc.co.uk/food (BBCF).

1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 large onion, sliced
500g rump steak
2 tbsp plain flour
2 tbsp paprika, plus extra for sprinkling
250g chestnut mushrooms
200ml beef stock
2 tbsp white wine vinegar
284ml carton soured cream

(1) Heat the butter and oil in a large frying pan. (BBCF)

What butter? There’s no butter listed. I guessed and went with a knob of butter.

(2) Cook the sliced onion for 5 minutes until softened. Meanwhile cut the beef into thin strips. Season the flour with salt, pepper and paprika, then toss in the beef to coat lightly, shaking off any excess. (BBCF)

Before I started the onion I chopped my beef with my now desparately in need of sharpening kitchen scissors. I find scissors so much better than knives for cutting meat, don’t you? Anyway I then tried to tenderise it as I’d not bought one of the most expensive beef cuts and didn’t want to be chewing the meal all night. I mixed 1 tsp of Bicarbonate of Soda with 1 tbsp of water, mixed it with the beef and hoped for the best. I was then another half an hour putting the week’s shopping away before I got back on with the onion so the beef mixture had a while to do its stuff. While my onion was softening I made my seasoned flour - how much paprika? I had to double check that bit! It sounded like rather a lot. I then rinsed the beef from the bicarb mixture and tried to dry it with kitchen towel. However when putting the what I thought was dry beef into the seasoned flour I got a right sticky mess so take note if you wash your meat - don’t do what I did - dry it better! I had no excess flour to shake off as it was all in a big goo so I carried on.

(3) Add the beef  to the pan and cook for 3-4 minutes until starting to brown. (BBCF)

This was fairly easy when I’d unstuck each piece of beef from the goo pile!

(4) Halve the mushrooms, add to the pan and stir fry for a couple of minutes.  Pour in the stock and vinegar, bring to the boil then lower the heat and simmer gently for 5 minutes. (BBCF)

I actually sliced my mushrooms (which I doubt were chestnut) as I prefer mine well cooked. I added the stock (made from an Oxo cube) and vinegar which smelled overpowering at first but didn’t taste of it later.

(5) Stir in the soured cream into the pan and cook gently for 1 minute, without boiling (if the mixture boils it will curdle), then season to taste.  Spoon the stroganoff on to a bed of rice or noodles and sprinkle with a little extra paprika. (BBCF)

I did as instructed here as I’ve had cream curdle on me before so kept the temperature down. It took a while to get the cream mixed in and then I cooked it for the 1 minute. I checked the taste at the end and it didn’t need any more seasoning as it was hot, hot, hot.

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Quick Beef Stroganoff

I’d made some rice to serve with my stroganoff so ladled it on. Simon loved the result despite having said “I hate Stroganoff” when he asked and was told what was for dinner. But then he does like hot, spicy things. The amount of paprika in this dish makes it very powerful - not spicy like a curry - but very peppery - a bit too much so for me.

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Posted in Beef Recipes

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Crispy Prawns With Wasabi Mayo & Sweet Chilli Pepper Dip

January 19th, 2009

As appetizer recipes go this one was pretty good. The recipe is from BBCGoodFood.com (BBCGF).

1 egg
100g potato flour
24 raw tiger prawns, de-veined and tail removed
700ml groundnut oil, for frying

For the Wasabi Mayo:
2 tsp wasabi powder
6 tbsp mayonnaise
2 pinches caster sugar

For the Sweet Chilli Pepper Dip:
1 roasted red pepper from a jar, sliced
5 tbsp sweet chilli sauce
1 tsp lime juice

(1) For the chilli dip, whizz the pepper, sweet chilli sauce and lime juice together in a food processor or blender until smooth. Set aside. (BBCGF)

Right, sweet chilli sauce, I used to have this but lately our local English food shop had been stocking “Tiger Tiger Fine Chilli Sauce”. I had a taste of this and it nearly blew my head off. I added the lime juice and some sugar to sweeten it up but it was still like fire. Then I remembered a dip from one of the summer issues which had yogurt and mayonnaise spiced up with chilli so I added in a heaped tbsp of natural yoghurt left over from last week’s Lamb Rogan Josh and a heaped tbsp of mayonnaise. After mixing this all in together I had a nicely spiced dip so went with it.

(2) To make the mayo, mix the wasabi powder with 1tbsp water to form a paste. Stir in the mayonnaise and sugar, then cover and chill. (BBCGF)

Here was the first hurdle - wasabi powder - what on earth is it and where on earth was I going to get it. Mercadona had just found out what fresh cream was - they were hardly going to have heard of this. So I checked on the internet and found that horseradish was a good alternative which I did have - phew. However, by this time I was happy with my chilli sauce and was losing the will to live so didn’t even bother.

(3) In a bowl, whisk the egg and potato flour together with 4 tbsp very cold water to make a batter. Stir in the prawns. (BBCGF)

Why does every recipe have ingredients you can’t get hold of - potato flour. I ask you. I live in Spain, not London. At least the blurb at the start of the recipe had a hint for this - use half plain flour and half cornflour. That I did but had to guess on the quantities as my scales were playing up. (Note to self: check out some digital kitchen scale reviews and treat yourself!) Moving on, yes we do have eggs and cold water here most of the time - well actually we didn’t have any water the other day when the pipes froze! I then got on with my least favourite cooking job in the world - deshelling and deveining prawns. They smell and they’re slimy and all that goo - yuk. Still I’d only bought 10 given this banquet was only for two of us! At least the prawns here are worth the effort - they’re big and juicy and don’t cost an arm and a leg.

(4) Heat the oil in a deep saucepan until a piece of bread browns in it after about 15 seconds. Line a tray with kitchen paper. Lift the prawns out of the batter and fry, a few at a time, until the batter is golden and prawns pink. Lift onto the kitchen paper to drain, then sprinkle with salt. Serve hot, ready to dunk into the dips. (BBCGF)

So we’re ready to eat. I heat my oil, normal sunflower as there’s no groundnut oil to be found in my cupboard. But then I probably make a mistake. Unable to be bothered to get a bit of bread to test the heat of the oil I guess when it’s ready and start lowering in 4 of my prawns. All looks good - they sizzle away and brown nicely so I rescue them and get the rest cooked. At last we eat them.

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Chinese Crispy Prawns

Uuum, they were yummy. The batter was a bit spongy - I guess this was due to my over zealous frying technique or maybe because it was a few minutes since they’d been fried - who knows. Anyway they were meaty and juicy and the dip worked really well. My favourite starter I think.

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Posted in Starter Recipes

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