Cold Asian Noodle Salad with Chicken and Cucumbers

This salad is perfect for a hot day, 

Sweet, sour, and a little spicy. 

The recipe called for wide rice noodles but personally I prefer vermicelli style noodle. 

Also, make it even easier and use a store bought Rotisserie Chicken, 

Just rip the meat off the chicken then you can make soup or stock with the remains, 

The stock freezes well, for later use

For the hot sauce, I like to use Sriracha Sauce but take your pick of your favourite

To Feed 6 people 

You will need

500 gms rice noodles 

1 red capsicum chopped into small chunks

The meat of a whole cooked chicken shredded

4 Lebanese cucumbers thinly sliced

1/3 cup fresh basil leaves torn

1/3 cup coriander leaves torn

1/3 cup mint leaves torn

For the Dressing

1/4 cup fish sauce

1/4 cup fresh lime juice

1/4 cup runny honey

1/4 cup soy sauce

1 tablespoon (or more) of your favourite hot sauce

Prepare noodles as per packet instructions

Drain, transfer to a large bowl of iced water

Drain then pat dry

To the noodles add chicken,  cucumbers, basil, coriander and mint

Whisk the fish sauce, lime juice, honey, soy sauce

Season with hot sauce  to taste

Pour over noodle salad and toss to combine

Serve when needed

It will keep up to a day in the fridge

It's delicious and perfect for a hot summer day

Chicken Pad Thai

I am always looking for tasty easy recipes that all the family will eat
This Pad Thai recipe was very popular
Add more or less chilli, depending on the tender mouths

200 gms Rice Stick noodles

1/4 cup sweet chilli sauce

2 tbs fish sauce

2 tbs  brown sugar

2 tbs dry sherry

1/4 cup lime juice

2 tbs vegetable oil

500 gms Chicken breast finely sliced

3 spring onions

1 tsp garlic minced

1 cup bean shoots

1/4 cup unsalted cashew nuts

1 red chilli 

1 lime cut into wedges to serve

Place noodles into a large bowl,

Cover with boiling water and stand until soft, according to packet instructions.

Drain thoroughly. 

Meanwhile combine sweet chilli sauce, fish sauce, brown sugar, dry sherry and lime juice in a jug. 

Heat a large non-stick frying pan. 

Add a little oil and cook the chicken strips in batches 

until lightly browned, adding more oil as needed.

Remove from pan and set aside.

Heat the remainder of the oil and stir-fry spring onions and garlic for 1 minute.

Add drained noodles and stir until well combined. 

Add sauce mixture toss until well combined. 

Return chicken to pan with bean shoots and cook until heated through. 

Spoon into serving bowls, top with chopped nuts, coriander leaves and slices of chilli (optional)

Serve with lime wedges, extra coriander and nuts. 

Beef and Noodle Salad - Vietnamese Style

We have a new BBQ and already it has been well used
A beautiful piece of Scotch Filet was cooked up in the weekend and of course
there were leftovers
Also we have the garden
In fact to prove how fresh our cabbage is
It still has little slugs living in it

In amongst that Wilderness, there are loads of Cabbages and Kale

To be honest, I’m not that wrapped in Kale but it amazing what butter and garlic will do
I digress
So back to the Beef. 
We had mint, coriander  and chilies in the Fridge
A Vietnamese Beef Salad came to mind
What I love about this style of salads is the flavour, the freshness the crispness
All the food groups almost

If you wish to start from Fresh
This will feed 4-5

600 gms scotch Filet
A little oil
Sea salt and ground black pepper

Dressing
3 spring onions chopped
1 red chilli deseeded and chopped
2 cloves garlic chopped finely
6 tablespoons lime juice
6 tablespoons fish sauce
4 tablespoons soft brown sugar. I used coconut sugar
2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
2 tablespoons grated ginger

Rice or wheat noodle 50 gms per person

Cook  noodles according to manufacturers instruction
Drain, run under cold water and set aside
At this stage with kitchen scissors, cut the noodle into pieces easy to pick up

Salad
2 carrots grated
1/2 small cabbage
1/2 telegraph cucumber de-seeded and finely sliced
1/2 yellow pepper sliced
1/2 red pepper sliced
Handful of coriander leaves roughly chopped
Handful mint Leaves roughly chopped

Rub beef with a little oil and season well with salt and pepper
Cook to desired doneness
Preferably rare (not blue )
Slice across the grain and set aside
To make dressing
Place all ingredients in a jar with a screw top lid
Shake well


To Assemble
Place all vege into a large bowl
Place cooked and drained noodles on top
Then the beef
Drizzle the dressing over

Then get your hands in and toss it all well
That's the fun bit

Done
Serve
Just what the Doctor ordered...Fresh, Crisp, Delicious

Chicken Asian Style - Indonesian Flavours Delicious

I was having some friends around for dinner. I was looking for a delicious not too heavy first course. I came across this idea for an Indonesian Style Chicken Salad.
Well that was a huge success so I must share it. It is based on a recipe from Martha Schulman
It would make a wonderful lunch as well

I decided to use a mixture of chicken legs and breasts. My favourite way to poach chicken is the way taught by Jacques Pepin
Basically you develop a lovely full of flavour stock
Add the chicken to the boiling stock, bring back to the boil, simmer for a few minutes, then turn it off and left the chicken sit in the beautiful stock, till it has totally cooled
The chicken is so moist and tasty.
It is the only way, in my opinion.
As the dish was Asian, I decided to poach it in an Asian Flavoured Stock 
So simple. In  this case I used a chicken stock powder as a base.
This worked well, but if you have homemade chicken stock or maybe some stock from the supermarket please use that

Take
Rice bran oil  - 1 tablespoon
Shallot  -1 chopped
Coriander stalks handful
Kaffir lime - 2 leaves
Kaffir lime zest  - 2 tablespoons, Use ordinary limes if Kaffir not available
Chili flakes  - 1/2 tsp
Fish sauce - 1 - 2 tablespoons
Chicken stock powder - 2 tablespoons dissolved in water or chicken stock
Freshly Ground Black Pepper
Grated ginger 1 tablespoon
In a stockpot, over medium heat place the rice bran oil
Add the shallot, sauté till soft, don't brown
Add coriander stalks, kaffir lime leaves, zest
Bring to the boil and simmer for 30 minutes
Strain
You now, have a wonderful, flavourful stock to poach the chicken

Bring the stock back to the boil
Add  4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts simmer for 5 minutes
Turn heat off
Cover and leave to sit in the stock, till cooled to room temperature
Shred about, should get about 4 cups shredded chicken, to the left of the bowl is the Peanut dressing

These quantities serve 4 for dinner, 6 for Lunch or as a first course

For the Salad
Shredded Chicken from 4 chicken breast as above 
Sea Salt
Freshly ground pepper (optional)
1 bunch spring onions, white part and green, thinly sliced
1 carrot grated
¼ cup slivered fresh mint leaves
¼ cup chopped cilantro
1 small red bell pepper, cut in thin strips
1 serrano pepper, finely chopped seeded if desired
2 cups mung bean sprouts or sunflower sprouts
1 Cos lettuce heart, leaves separated, washed and dried¼ cup chopped roasted peanuts
For the Dressing
    ¼ cup freshly squeezed lime juice
    2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh ginger
    1 garlic clove, minced or shallots
    1 tablespoon Southeast Asian fish sauce
    Pinch of cayenne
    2 tablespoons crunchy or smooth natural peanut butter (more to taste)
    ⅓ cup buttermilk
   
Preparation
Place the chicken in a large bowl, and season with salt and pepper. 
Add the white part of the scallions, the mint, cilantro,
red pepper, minced chile pepper and sprouts.
Toss together.

The Dressing
Combine the lime juice, ginger, garlic, fish sauce and
cayenne. 
Stir together.
Add the peanut butter, and combine well. 
Whisk in the buttermilk. 
Taste and adjust seasonings.
Line a platter with the lettuce leaves. 
Toss the chicken mixture with the dressing, and arrange over the lettuce.

Sprinkle the peanuts and the spring onion greens over the top,
and serve.

Table set ready to go

Taking on Jamie - # Four - Green Tea Salmon with Coconut Rice

Back trying to compete with Jamie on the 15 minute Meals
So we didn't do quite so well this time on the timing
The coconut rice took a lot longer to cook nearly 20 minutes, so that stuffed that up

Plus the wine was flowing so maybe not quite as co-ordinated as could be

 Mind you a great dish, nevertheless. Thank you Jamie

Salmon Steaks seasoned with S & P and Green Tea
Sitting on a bed of Coconut Citrusy Rice
Garnished with some fresh chili and coriander leaves

Served with a side of Green Vege with a Spicy Miso Sauce
It really was delightful and, there was enough left over for lunch for 1, the next day
You can buy the Miso and Green Tea from the supermarket...so no specialty shopping necessary

For 4 people
4 Salmon Steaks Skin on
Sea salt & freshly ground black pepper
2 teabags of green tea
Little olive oil

1 can coconut milk
Same amount of Basmati Rice
1 can boiling water
1/2 lemon end cut off so it can stand on its base

Miso Sauce
2 x Packets Miso into blender
1/2 chili chopped
1/2 bunch Coriander stalks and all break them up
1 tablespoon Honey
Thumb size piece of ginger, peeled and chopped
Juice 1/2 lemon
2-3 tbs soy sauce
Splash hot water

Vege You can work out the amounts required
Asparagus if in season or
I used Green Beans
Tender stem Broccoli
Snow peas
Garnish 
Finelt sliced Chili
Coriander leaves and may some lemon wedges

So, with the 15 minute cooking programme, you do need to do some prep
Have all of your ingredients ready to go on the bench
Jug of water boiling
Pans, hot on the stove

Also when making the sauce, pays to chop the chili and ginger before adding to the blender
or they will take ages to blend down


Season salmon with S & P and Green Tea
Pat down well into fish
Into med hot pan with a little oil
Skin side down
Turn heat down to medium
Cook for about 4-5 minutes
This will help to crisp up the skin

Meanwhile
Start Rice
Place Coconut milk into hot pan. 
Fill the empty can with rice
Add to pan, then
Fill can with Boiling water
Good pinch Salt
Stir
Push 1/2 lemon end off into rice
Cover and simmer 10 minutes (if you are lucky)

Now onto the Miso sauce
Put all the ingredients into a blender and whiz.
This will take at least a minute to blend properly

Make sure you have a pot of salted boiling water ready on the stove for the vege

Meanwhile back to the Fish
Turn Fish when nearly cooked
and the skin crispy
Remove  from pan, take skin off the filets and
Put skin. back into hot pan on soft side about 30 secs
for final crisping,



Put all of the vege into the boiling water stalks down first
Squash down with a lid and cook for about 3 -4 minutes

Drain Vege
Pour Miso dressing on platter
Add Vege on top

When Rice is cooked take the cooked lemon out with tongs
and squeeze over the top over the rice
Mix
Taste and check seasoning. It will probably need more salt

Onto a serving dish
Put Flaked Salmon on top
Garnish with chili and coriander leaves and broken up crispy skin
And there's a customer waiting already

Yum but as you can see it took a lot longer. The rice just wasn't ready in time. I could blame the wine as well but if the rice had been ready. I reckon it would have taken 20 minutes

Here's a little movie 28 minutes condensed to 1 minute.
It's very funny We've popped it on youtube  Had trouble loading it on here, so here is the link

http://youtu.be/cyghxxDIf2I

Copy it and paste in into search bar and have a laugh

Taking On Jamie -Dish 3 - Sizzling Beef

So back on track, Taking On Jamie.
An Asian style dish. Great flavours and we did this one in just over 15 minutes
As usual I got everything ready. All utensils and ingredients lined up and Pans on stove
Plus a jug of boiling water ready to cook the Noodles
Be aware All this preparation actually adds 5 minutes or so to the time
But we did well I think

My Grandson Joseph loved it, in fact it has been requested for Grandma's Dinner next week

For 4 people

Handful cashews
Same amount of sesame seeds
2 pieces Sirloin steak, fat removed for speed
Salt and Pepper
2 tablespoons 5 spice powder
Sesame oil

250 gms mushrooms, broken up

Egg noodles, 4 nests
1 red chili chopped
Thumb size piece of peeled ginger, chopped
1/2 bunch coriander


100 gms fresh prawns peeled and tailed
2 cloves garlic peeled and fine chopped

Bean sprouts

3 Heaped tablespoons Hoisin Sauce
2 tablespoons Soy Sauce

Juice of a lime

Crunchy Lettuce leaves
Couple of Radishes
Some slices of cucumber
Coriander leaves for garnish

So
Everybody ready
Get Set
Go
Add a little Sesame oil to a hot pan
Add nuts and seeds and toss around and let toast for 2-3 minutes

Place steak on board
Season S & P and 5 spice  both sides
Rub around the board to pick up any spare seasoning

Little Sesame oil into another hot pan
Add steak

2 minutes
Turn
Break up mushrooms and add to steak pan
Shake
Cook another 2 minutes and remove steak from pan and set aside

Remove nuts and set aside

Meanwhile lets get onto the Noodles
First make the base for the noodles
Add the chili, ginger and coriander to the food processor and whiz
till makes a nice paste
Add noodles to a pot and cover with boiling water

Simmer for 2-3 minutes till they are soft

Take steaks out, leave mushrooms to continue cooking

In the pan you used for the nuts
Add a little more Sesame Oil
Add blitzed sauce
Shake about

Throw in the Prawns
Add couple cloves chopped garlic for added flavour

Toss
Add Bean sprouts
Mix
Then the real Asian flavour
Add
Hoisin sauce 
Soy sauce

Toss around

Squeeze over Juice of the lime
Pick off some Coriander leaves from your garnish and add

Drag the noodles out of the water and place into sauce
Toss well

Distribute into serving bowls
Now just add the crunchy salad ingredients

Sprinkle mushrooms on top

Slice the steak and add
Pop the toasted nuts on top
Have some lime wedges and chopped chilli for people to add
There ya go 

Here's Jamie's Version Mine looking pretty good I reckon

Golden Noodle Cake with Prawns and Bok Choy

I was watching Chef Ming Tsai this morning and he and his Mother made a delicious Noodle Cake.
Brought back to mind a recipe that I posted quite some time ago have a look here
I also was reading Ruth Daniel's Presto Pasta Night site and was also inspired by a blog from The Beet Reporter .
So 3 recipes to inspire me. I think this should go in this weeks Presto Pasta Night

I have decided this winter, instead of just eating everything wonderful, not caring about calories, just eat everything I love... I would put a bit of thought into how fattening my food is.
I have found a great App on the Ipad called My Net Diary and when you make a project out of your eating habits...its great fun to know how much you actually can eat. without going over the top.

So of course Asian Food is generally healthy and reasonably Lo Cal
My portion of the lunch, netted 470 cals.
Cheap too.
If you want to make this Gluten Free, use Rice noodles and Tamari Soy Sauce.

So to get this delicious lunch for two people you will need
200 gm pkt of Udon Noodles
2 tsps rice bran oil


300 gms raw prawns peeled and deveined
1 tablespoon chopped garlic
1 tablespoon minced ginger
Zest and juice of a lime (2 tablespoons)
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tsp rice bran oil

1 tsp rice bran oil
100 gms Bok Choy
1 tsp Sesame Oil
Fresh Coriander for garnish

Pre-heat oven to 210C
Marinade prawns in soy sauce, lime juice, garlic and ginger
Have a flat baking dish heating up in the oven.
When the temp is reached
Lift prawns out of marinade and
quickly throw them onto the hot tray
and back into the oven for 6 minutes

Heat Rice bran oil 
Place noodles into oil in the shape of a cake
Cook till golden, one side about 4-5 minutes
Flip and cook the other side

Meanwhile while the prawns and the cake are cooking are cooking
In another pan you will cook the Bok Choy

Add rice bran oil, heat quickly
then chopped Bok Choy
Throw in the drained marinade from the Prawns

Add a little water
Toss well and cook for about 3 minutes till the Bok Choy is wilted
Drizzle a little Sesame Oil to give that authentic Asian Flavour

To serve
Place cake on the plate
Cover with Bok Choy
And smother with the Prawns.
Asian Heaven

Rick Stein's Far Eastern Odyssey- Get your Jaded Taste Buds Moving

One of the many things I really like about Rick Stein, is not just his food, but his Cookbooks.He in line with my Food Hero Writers, i.e. Elizabeth David, Julia Child,  MJK Fisher, Nigella Lawson. Nigel Slater, to name but a few. They don't just pop a recipe and couple of pretty photos of the food. They write about where they tasted it, how they created it... maybe a little story, lots of things to inspire you. One's  mouth waters and all you want to do is make it.
Yesterday I realised I had the ingredients to make Vietnamese Spring Rolls again. Sorry Rick, I made a lot changes but they were delicious anyway.
I do cook a lot of high cal food on the boat. This is frequently dictated by the amount of fresh vege, still fresh!
As we are only 4 days out, we still have a lot  of crispy vege and also the coriander is still looking good.
Herbs are the worst to keep fresh. I have found, by completely drying them on a paper towel, popping them in a small snaplock plastic bag and letting the air out, a la Tupperware burping, they seem to last well.

So on to the Spring Rolls
This made 6 rolls

You will need
Rice Noodles
Rice paper rounds
Then
Marinate 12 prawns in
2 cloves garlic finely chopped
2.5 cms ginger grated
1 whole chili finely chopped
Zest and juice of 1/2 a lemon
1 tbs fish sauce
A little pinch salt
2 tbs rice bran oil


Leave them for about an hour

Meanwhile next stage
3 cms cucumber remove seeds and slice into julienne strips
1/2  carrot grated
2 tablespoons crunchy lettuce
1 spriung onion sliced 

Leaves and chopped stalks of handful coriander

Remove prawns from marinade and cook in pan on medium heat
Cook about 2-3 minutes one side
Flip and leave about another minute
Remove, set aside

Add marinade to pan and cook for a couple of minutes, reserve

Take a handful rice noodles
Cook for around 4 minutes, in boiling salted water
Drain, rinse, add cooked marinade and set aside.

Now you are ready to assemble.
In a flat bowl of water
Place a rice paper round
Soak about 30 seconds till soft
On a wet paper towel
Lay out the rice paper
At the top end
Add 2 pieces cucumber
Some carrot
Some lettuce
Coriander and spring onions

Break up 2 prawns
Lay on top
Then  some marinated noodles
Roll top of noodle over once, turn in sides and continue to roll till, you have a nice cigar shaped roll.

A couple of times I put too much filling in, so I double wrapped.

With the flavoured noodles.
It is not necessary to have a dipping sauce.
Next time, I will make one and post the recipe at a later date.
There were left over vege and noodles
Don't waste
Made a great little salad entree

Hey, don't forget, just a couple of more days of the competition left. Just make a comment on my blog or on my Facebook page and courtesy of the good people at Perfect Italiano you can win the lovely prize pictured below.