Posts tagged noodles

Udon Chicken Noodles

July 1, 2020 Comments Off read Poultry, Vegetables and Salads

his was a really quick dinner! I rarely ever cook noodles but with 7 nights of guaranteed meals to experiment with lately without the interruption of that 2019 fad we called socialising, I’ve more time to test!

My fiancee said his stomach was happy after this meal so I think job done! One note for next time was perhaps to make a sticker glaze…

The recipe below is how I cooked it…I’ve listed a second option for a sticky glaze below that which is taken from this recipe (Sticky Soy and Sesame Pork) which would also work well with udon instead of rice.

If you want to make this vegetarian/vegan – toss in some tofu and mushrooms!

Serves 2 hungry people (or 2 with leftovers)

300g chicken breast diced (or 2 chicken breasts)
400g ready to eat udon noodles
1 red pepper, cubed
Handful green beans, chopped in half
Bunch spring onions (about 6), chopped
1 red chilli (I used birds eye), chopped
1 large knob ginger, chopped (the more ginger, the better if you’re a fan)
2 garlic cloves, chopped
2 tbsp soy sauce
2 tsp sesame oil
1 tbsp runny honey
Handful coriander, chopped

Marinade the chicken in a large bowl with the ginger, garlic, chilli, soy, 1 tsp sesame oil and the honey and leave for about 30 minutes.
Heat a tsp of oil on a medium high heat in a large frying pan and gently fry the pepper and green beans for about 8 minutes until beginning to soften.
Next, add the chicken and its marinade and cook until the chicken is just cooked but don’t let it overcook or it’ll dry out. It doesn’t take long!
Meanwhile while the chicken is cooking, put the noodles into a bowl and pour over some boiling water to loosen the strands. Gently mix until the noodles come apart. Drain well and drizzle with the other tsp of sesame oil to keep them from sticking.
Once the chicken is a a few minutes away from being ready, add the spring onion and cook for the final few minutes.
Add the noodles and stir everything well making sure to coat them in the juices – add a splash more soy if needed.
Remove from the heat, sprinkle over the coriander and serve! You can even toss in some salted peanuts if you like.

Sticky Glaze option

1 heaped tsp cornflour
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp runny honey
1 tsp sesame oil
1/2 tsp rice wine vinegar

Marinade the chicken as above.
Combine the cornflour with about 2 tbsp cold water in a mug. Add the rest of the ingredients for the glaze and stir.
Cook the recipe above up to completing stage 5.
At this stage, add the sticky glaze and stir quickly well. If it gets too thick, add a splash of cold water and stir until smooth.
Add the noodles and coat everything well. Loosen with a touch of cold water or soy if needed.

Sprinkle over your coriander!

Crispy Asian Beef

January 7, 2016 Comments Off read Meat

f you’re intending on sticking to or continuing to stick to a healthy diet this month after the indulgences of Christmas then I recommend Asian food as a good go to. It packs a reliant punch on flavour without compromising on health and nutrition. Not to mention that this is a really quick recipe and can be served out in about 20 minutes.

As a passionate cook and appreciator of food I have always been the type to savour my meals either for flavour or appreciation for the time and effort spent creating it – either by myself or more importantly a fellow cook. However, I can’t help but notice that many of us eat too fast. Not only does this encourage us to be unappreciative of the food, time and effort that has gone into making it but you cannot appreciate and savour the flavours. Sticking to the topic of nutrition and health this month, on a nutritional side the faster you eat the more chance you have of overeating. Eating slowly allows your stomach to register satiety at the right time. It also helps improve your digestion. Hand in hand with this I also recommend chewing your mouthfuls more to aid speed and digestion. Just putting down your fork (or chopsticks) after eat mouthful to enjoy, talk to your dinner friends and take your time is such a great habit to get into.

That said, a great way to get into this habit if using chopsticks! Not only is it fun and authentic but if you’re anything like me and still learning you can’t help but eat slowly…if at all. So obviously have a fork ready to hand to prevent starvation.

NOTE: Quite without meaning to I’ve created a gluten free meal using my stash of ‘Clearspring Gluten Free Brown Rice Noodles’. Asain food is a great go-to is your are gluten free. As I say, it packs a punch on flavour without compromising nutritional requirements.

Serves 2

250g beef mince
1 thumb size knob ginger, finely shredded
1 large garlic clove, crushed
1/2 red chilli (hotter the better here)
1 star anise
1 tbsp sunflower oil
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp sesame oil
1tsp fish sauce
Bunch coriander, chopped
Bunch basil, chopped
4 spring onions, chopped
100g ‘Clear Spring’ ‘Gluten free brown rice noodles’
1 tsp sesame oil
Juice 1 lime
Serve: I recommend a nice lime juice covered fresh crispy salad e.g. Cos lettuce, grated carrot, bean sprouts, cucumber etc

Submerge and soak the noodles in boiling water for at least 10 minutes. Set aside kept warm until ready to serve.
Heat the sunflower oil in a frying pan or wok on a high heat. Add the beef mince and use a spatula to break up the pieces into chunks. then add the star anise. Fry on a high heat for about 5 minutes until the mixture begins to brown well and crisp up. Keep an eye on it moving the mince around continuously.
After about 5 minutes when well browned add in the ginger, garlic and red chilli and continue to fry on a high heat until the meat is really browned and crispy as below.
After about 5-10 minutes add the soy sauce, sesame oil and fish sauce and stir to combine. Cook until really dark and crispy to your liking.
Remove from the heat and stir in the chopped spring onions, coriander and basil
Drain the noodles and squeeze over the lime juice and add the sesame oil
Serve the noodles in warm bowls and top with your crispy beef piece and a lovely crunchy fresh salad.

Tofu, Mushroom and Seaweed Kale

September 8, 2015 Comments Off read Vegetables and Salads

vegan dish was a palatable challenge for me I’ll admit. In a world where butter dominates the foundations of my recipes like culinary cement; I was skeptical. No butter? You heard correctly…no butter? However, with a goodie bag of Japanese inspired ingredients from Clearspring, whose vast array of cultural delicacies regularly glare at me temptingly from their own region of the supermarket, I thought I’d experiment and I can safely say that butter wasn’t missed here!? With the divergence in diets and intolerances infiltrating our British habits in what is perhaps a foodie fad or otherwise, I thought I’d better jump on the diary and meat free band wagon and see if soya and tofu could satisfy my taste buds. With fish and vegetables dominating my diet already I was keen to see what the removal of dairy would have to offer. I enjoyed this meal twice this week which is surely enough said. One evening using nutty pearl barely and the other using some of Clearspring’s gluten free brown noodles. Both delicious and fresh.

Gluten, diary, meat and nut free I think this one deserves the intolerance crown.

Serves 2

1 box mushrooms (250g). Mixed such as shitake, oyster or chestnut
1 small handful dried mixed wild mushrooms, soaked in boiling water for 15minutes then chopped roughly
1 garlic clove, crushed
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tbsp sunflower oil
80g pearl barely/80-100g brown rice noodles
200g kale
100g peas
4 spring onions, sliced
1 tbsp Clearspring seaweed flakes OR Welshman’s caviar
1 tbsp Soy sauce
Handful of coriander leaves, chopped
100g cubed tofu (optional)
1 tbsp black sesame seeds (optional)

Start by either soaking your noodles in hot water for 30 minutes covered or simmering your pearl barely for 25-30 minutes in hot water under tender. Drain well and drizzle with the sesame oil and keep warm.
Heat a frying pan over a medium heat. Gently soften the sliced spring onions for about 5-8 minutes until just beginning to brown and season. Once softened, place in a bowl and set aside keeping warm if you can. These will be combined with the cooked kale later.
Heat the same frying pan again until hot. Add the sunflower oil. Chop the mushrooms roughly into hearty chunks and gently fry for about 10-15 minutes with plenty of salt and pepper to cook and crisp up the mushrooms. They will release a little moisture so keep frying to evaporate this off and brown and crisp them up slightly.
Meanwhile, cook your kale in a pan of boiling water for 1-2 minutes. Add the peas and bring back to the boil. Once boiling remove from the heat and drain well allowing all the moisture to drain.
Tip back in the pan, add 1 tbsp soy sauce and the seaweed flakes. Add the reserved spring onions and mix. Place the lid back on a keep warm while you finish the mushrooms.
When the mushrooms are ready, crisp and delicious add the garlic and allow to cook for a few more minutes. Then turn up the heat and add the chopped rehydrated dried mushrooms, the noodles or pearl barely and fry for 1-2 minutes to reheat and combine the flavours.
Optional here, add some cubed tofu and heat through and scatter with the coriander.
Serve the mushrooms on top of the kale and garnish with black sesame seeds if you like

Fish, Asian Noodles, Crispy Ginger

February 2, 2014 Comments Off read Seafood

I adore this Asian-flavoured dressing! Its originally from ‘Jamie At Home’ (with a little adaptation) to dress his winter roast squash and duck salad which I must admit is one of my foodie downfalls. I just cannot CANNOT resist seconds, thirds and usually fourths. Much of its moreish teasing comes from this powerful killer dressing. Here I used it to coat some warm and obligingly absorbant noodles, mixed with some crunchy peanuts for texture and topped with a hearty piece of moist fish and crispy ginger strips. Shamefully I devoured mine with a fork. However- after a recent outing for a sushi lunch, I must admit my chop stick skills are progressing. Slowly.

Serves 2

Dressing

1-2 large limes
Extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp brown sugar
1 red chilli, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, grated/finely crushed
Bunch coriander
2 spring onions
Large knob of ginger

Fish and noodles

2 seabass fillets (or anything white fish e.g. seabream, cod, haddock)
2 dried noodles nests/ rice noodles
6 raw king prawns
Handful of mange tout
Handful roasted salted peanuts
Knob ginger
Sunflower oil for frying

Start with the ginger so it has time to dry out as much as possible before frying. Finely slice the ginger into thin strips or matchsticks. Dry out between two sheets of kitchen roll and set aside.
Make the dressing. Squeeze the lime juice and zest of 1 lime into a jam jar. Add just under the same amount of extra virgin olive oil. Add the sesame oil, soy, sugar, chilli and garlic. Grate in the ginger and finely chop the green tops of the spring onions and add these. Add a small handful of chopped coriander leaves and then place the lid on the jar and shake to mix. Adjust the taste to your liking, adding more soy for seasoning and more lime for that kick.
Chop the remaining spring onions and coriander and set aside in a bowl with the peanuts to garnish later.
For the crispy ginger, heat a shallow layer of sunflower oil in a pan. Shallow fry the ginger for about 30 seconds or so until golden brown. Spoon out onto kitchen to drain and season with salt. Leave aside to crisp.
Bring a saucepan of light stock to the simmer and get a frying pan over a highish heat. Simmer and cook the noodles for about 5 minutes throwing in your mange tout towards the end.
Meanwhile, cook your seasoned sea bass fillets, skin side down, for about 3 minutes until a crispy skin forms. Turn for the remaining minute to cook through and add the prawns and cook, for a matter of a minute, until pink.
Once the noodle are cooked drain them quickly while retaining a little of the starchy cooking water and return to the pan. Add the dressing and mix until it is coated and absorbed.
Add a handful of the coriander, peanut and spring onion mix, saving a handful for the top.
Spoon the noodles into large bowls, top with the fish and prawns. Scatter with the remaining peanuts, coriander and spring onion garnish and top with the crispy ginger.