With the weather turning cold and dark fast, I created the following dish to warm up the belly without adding too much winter bulk.

(For 2 people, cooking time about 20 minutes)

What you need:

For the Jersey Royal Potatoes-
500g of washed Jersey Royal Potatoes
3g of dried Oregano
2 heaped tablespoons of Concentrated Chicken Stock
2 heaped tablespoons of Concentrated Vegetable Stock
3 litres of filtered Boiled Water
2 teaspoons of Extra Virgin Olive oil

For the Avocado Chicken-
2 chicken breasts
1 peeled, cored, quartered and sliced Avocado
1 teaspoon of Extra Virgin Olive oil

For the Autumn Vegetable Jus-
4 peeled and sliced Figs
1 peeled and sliced Carrot
250g sliced Chestnut Mushrooms
150ml Chardonnay
1 sliced (lengthways) Continental Spring Onion

This recipe is very simple to make and takes little time to cook once everything has been prepared.

Jersey Royal Potatoes
Place all the ingredients (excluding the Olive Oil) for the Jersey Royal Potatoes in a large saucepan and keep to the boil for 20 minutes.
Sieve and place back in the saucepan.
Add the Extra Virgin Olive Oil and lightly fry the potatoes under low heat turning until the Potatoes turn a light brown colour.

Avocado Chicken
In a frying pan, mobilise the Extra Virgin Olive Oil under low heat until the oil moves around freely.
Place the Avocado first and then the chicken breasts on top so that the chicken does not touch the frying pan and cover with a saucepan lid.
Turn the Avocado and the chicken after 10 minutes, add 5 tablespoons of the Royal Jersey Potato water and cover again for another 10 minutes.

Autumn Vegetable Jus
Place all the ingredients into a medium sized saucepan and cook under high heat and stir constantly until the Jus thickens.

Serve and enjoy!

Here are some tips on the best way to use garlic.

SIZE
A peeled garlic’s flavour becomes more concentrated the more surface area there is. So a minced clove can be as or even more intense in flavour as a peeled but unchopped garlic.

Here are some uses for different sizes of garlic

Minced garlic – To add towards the end of cooking to enrich flavour. Also can be used for marinating.

Finely chopped garlic – Less intense than minced garlic. Used towards end of cooking to enrich flavour and for marinating.

Chopped garlic – Use towards the beginning of wok frying to flavour the oil or for use in a lot of oil for longer frying times without burning.

Whole cloves – Use for flavouring oil at beginning of cooking or in a lot of oil.

Whole or halved unpeeled garlic – Use for roasting on the same baking tray as food to be scented with garlic or inside a carcass (eg in a chicken) to flavour. Halved garlic can also be used to flavour a little oil in a wok and removed before adding ingredients.

HOW TO PEEL GARLIC
One of the most common time consuming things is usually the peeling of garlic. As I’m a speed chopper my personal method is to chop the top and tail off which releases each clove and then I position each clove and slice through a side of the skin to easily peel away. My method wastes a little of the garlic but I can get through a whole garlic in less than 20 seconds.

Another popular method is to position the garlic on a hard surface and then crush it with a chopping board or a side of a meat cleaver with the force of a palm. Any unpeeled cloves can then be quickly peeled.

Another method is to wash the garlic and peel by hand under running water.

The slowest method is to try to peel only by hand while the garlic is dry.

1 tablespoon of sea salt
3 chopped bird’s eye chillis
1 tablespoon of sesame oil
1 chopped garlic

In a hot wok filled with enough peanut oil to submerge the marinated chicken, pop in the whole lot.
After 1-2 minutes until the chicken is cooked, remove the chicken,chilli and garlic and drain on kitchen roll/oil drain.
Serve.

Stir for about 5 minutes or until the beef is cooked through and then serve into large lettuce leaves (The rounder the leaf the better).

Put the chicken in a hot wok with enough peanut oil to virtually deep fry the chicken. Carefully place the chicken into the hot oil and remove once the coating has turned brown. Place the chicken on some kitchen roll or oil drain.

In another hot wok put the following ingredients in and stir together:

1 tablespoons of sesame oil
1 tablespoon of rice wine
1 teaspoon of Worcestershire sauce
2 teaspoons of Tabasco sauce
1 teaspoon of malt vinegar
1 teaspoon of soy sauce
1 tablespoon of brown sugar
1 sliced bird’s eye chilli

Slice up 1 sweet orange pepper and 1 spring onion and add to the sauce. As the sauce begins to simmer add the chicken and stir for another minute then serve immediately.

At first it seems like a lot of ingredients but it’s actually quite simple to make.

1 knorr chicken stockpot pot thing
4 tablespoons of tom yum paste
200g of sliced button mushrooms
400g of King Prawns deshelled and gutted
1 teaspoon of finely chopped lemon grass
1 chopped spring onion
3 chopped birds eye chillis (or more if you like it really hot)
1 tablespoon of lime concentrate
4 tablespoons of fermented fish sauce
1 teaspoon of sugar

Bring to the boil and then simmer for about 5 minutes. Stir throughout and you’ll be left with a great tasting soup to entice your tastebuds!

The Chicken:
Thinly slice a rolled out chicken thigh fillet (slice horizontally so the chicken is in flat slabs)
soak in a marinade of
2 tablespoons of soy sauce (kikoman C00039)
1 tablespoon of sugar
1 teaspoon of extra hot chilli flakes
1 teaspoon of sesame seeds
1 teaspoon of sesame oil

Marinade as long as possible then weave onto a skewer and grill/barbecue until cooked through.

The Sauce:
In a saucepan mix up 4 tablespoons of peanut butter with 2 teaspoons of sesame oil, 1 teaspoon of soy sauce (kikoman C00039) and 1 teaspoon of sugar. Heat gently and stir together.

Add the hot sauce onto the the chicken to finish or leave it as a dip on the side.

Stir fry for another 2 minutes or until the chicken is cooked.

1 handful of chinese mushrooms (rehydrated dried mushrooms or fresh)
1 tablespoon of finely chopped ginger
2 cloves of finely chopped garlic
1 tablespoon of soy sauce (kikoman C00039)
1 tablespoon of rice wine
200g of pork chop strips

Stir fry for about 2-3 minutes and your done!

You can finish with a sprinkle of chopped spring onion and some chopped dough sticks (available from Chinese bakeries)

In a wok heat up 2 tablespoons of peanut oil and then pop in 2 tablespoons of soy sauce (kikoman C00039), strips of ginger (as much as you like according to taste) and 1 chopped spring onion.

When the fish changes colour and is white throughout, drain and serve onto a warmed plate. Add the hot ginger mix on top of the fish.

Very simple and very delicious!

Prepare the following mix:

2 tablespoons of curry powder mixed into 2 teaspoons of sesame oil
50g of shrimps (peeled and gutted)
50g of sliced Char Siu pork
50g of sliced chicken thigh fillet
1 finely chopped garlic clove
2 fresh birds eye chili peppers
1 finely sliced sweet orange pepper
1 tablespoon of soy sauce (Kikoman C00039)

Heat up a wok with 2 tablespoons of peanut oil and throw in 2 large beaten eggs.
Add the mix and stir for 2 minutes.
Add the noodles and drizzle a further 1 tablespoon of soy sauce (Kikoman C00039) on top.
Stir fry for another minute making sure the mix has infiltrated the noodles. Add more sesame oil if not.

Serve and enjoy a classic

50g of cooked Chicken Breast, thinly sliced
2 tablespoons of soy sauce (Kikoman C00039)
2 tablespoons of Cornflour
100ml. Cold Water
1 tablespoon of Sesame Oil
2 Tablespoons of Peanut Oil
1 Teaspoon of Salt
1 Teaspoon of Black pepper
1 tub of Knorr Chicken Stock Pot
285g of tinned sweetcorn (naturally sweet)

Simmer for 1 minute then take it off the heat and add 1 egg white.

Stir quickly as the egg white solidifies in the soup. That’s it! You can garnish with some chopped spring onion if you like too.

Put the following into the pot (if you’re worried about biting down on any ingredients then just pop them into a teabag/stock bag) and start boiling:

300ml of soy sauce (Kikoman C00039)
300ml of soy sauce (Kikoman C00036)
150ml of Chinese rice wine
150ml of sugar
1 teaspoon of fennel seeds
3 whole star anise
1 teaspoon of roasted Szechuan peppercorn
1 cinnamon stick
1 litre of water

Once the mix is boiling just add the whole chicken and simmer with the lid on. Turn the chicken every 10 minutes and baste. After a total of about 50 minutes, leave the chicken to settle by taking off the gas/heat and leave for another 30 minutes to an hour.

Carefully remove the chicken from the pot and drain in a colander or equivalent. Serve the chicken thickly sliced with bone and drizzle with soy sauce (C00039) and a little sesame oil.

HO FUN WOK
Heat up 2 tablespoons of peanut oil until really hot.
Put 2 packs of fresh Ho Fun in and separate with a bladed spatula.
Heat for about 30 seconds and then introduce a tablespoon of oyster sauce – this will help separate the noodles from each other and give a shiny texture

EVERYTHING ELSE WOK
Heat up 2 tablespoons of peanut oil until really hot.
Throw in a handful of beansprouts followed after 30seconds by some pak choi and some soy sauce.
After a minute throw in a sliced birds eye chilli and a finely chopped garlic.

Pop the contents of EVERYTHING ELSE WOK into the HO FUN WOK and stir.

Heat up 2 tablespoons of sesame oil in the EVERYTHING ELSE WOK followed shortly by 1 chopped spring onion and 2 tablespoons of oyster sauce. Put the EVERYTHING ELSE WOK into the HO FUN WOK, stir and serve.

To make a wet version just substitute water instead of sesame oil at the last stage.

The Random Veg:
1 cup pre shredded carrots

Sauce:
80ml of rice wine vinegar.
2 teaspoons of sugar
2 teaspoons of soy sauce (Kikoman C00039)
1 clove of finely chopped garlic
1 finely chopped birdseye chilli

In a bowl, mix together all of the ingredients for the sauce.

Remove all of the fat from the meat and cut it into thin strips.
Coat the beef with a generous dusting of cornstarch and press into the beef so it sticks with your hands or a teatowel.
Add the peanut oil to the wok and heat until hot. Make sure to add enough oil so that the beef will be virtually deep fried. (Alternatively use a deep fat fryer)
Carefully drop the beef in the wok and allow to fry for about 5 minutes or until it browns.
Drain beef on some kitchen paper/drain rack.

In another wok (or using the same wok without the oil) use a tablespoon of peanut oil and heat until hot.
Add the carrots and stir for about 2 minutes. Add the beef and then the rest of the sauce ingredients.
Stir together and serve immediately.

The beef coating now softens a little with the introduction of the sauce and you may have noticed that because you are using topside beef you don’t actually need to shred the beef at all. Once cooked the nature of topside makes the beef stringy when cooked in the pressure of the cornstarch coating.

In a takeaway the beef is usually part cooked and stored in a freezer/fridge as and when you order it. It is then refried in the deep fat and the sauce & carrots are added on top to slowly soften the beef by the time you get home/it gets delivered.

Sometimes it’s served with gravy or a soy gravy (just gravy with soy added) instead.

Steam Rice and then fry up eggs in a wok using plenty of peanut oil. split the egg apart with a pummeling action using 2 bladed end spatulas. When rice is ready pour over egg and continue pummeling action. When egg is well mixed into the rice add the crab and the salted butter. The rice should taste relatively plain so not to have too much flavour to clash with the main mix but add some soy to taste.

Autumn Mix:
1 Courgette sliced
2 Pak Choi halved
2 Baby Green Leaf halved
3 Birds eye chillis
200g Beansprouts
1 Sweet Orange Pepper thinly sliced
1 breast of free range chicken sliced
Oyster Sauce
Soy Sauce (Kikkoman C00044)

Whilst doing the above using another wok heat up a couple of tablespoons of peanut oil until very hot. Pour all mix ingredients apart from the sauces & chicken into the pan. Allow to sit for about 2-3 minutes to allow the steam to reduce the size of the leafy bits. Begin stirring and add then make a well in the middle. Place Chicken in the well and stir regularly.
Add oyster and soy sauce to taste.

Serve the rice onto the plates first and then place the mixture in the middle.

It should look a little like this http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pi…0&id=749386194

8 tablespoons of white wine vinegar
2 cloves of finely chopped or blended garlic
8 teaspoons of sesame oil
16 tablespoons of strong soy sauce (Kikoman C00044)
8 tablespoons of finely chopped or blended black beans
4 tablespoons of honey
2 finely chopped or blended birds eye chillis
1 teaspoon of black pepper

You’ll have to whisk for a while or use a processor. You can add msg for extra flavour but I never use the stuff.

Noodle wok:
Soak some dry egg noodles in hot water until it’s soft.
Heat wok with a couple of tablespoons of oil until it’s very hot (the oil will move around the wok very easily).
Throw in a handful of beansprouts and let sit for about 30 seconds.
Throw in the softened noodles and fry for a further minute or 2. (If you want the noodles crispy then put the noodles in

first and in a lot of oil)
Add soy sauce to taste

Everything else wok:
Slice up Cabbage, Carrot,Peas,Water chestnut and green pepper and pop into the other hot wok.
After the cabbage has softened up add some sliced chicken thigh fillet or thawed frozen chicken (with added water if you

want it super tender like some takeaways serve it)
Add oyster sauce to taste.

Add the contents of the woks together and mix together.

CHINESE HOME VERSION
You need 2 woks for this. One for the noodles and one for everything else:

Noodle wok:
Soak some dried egg noodles in boiled chicken stock water until it’s soft.
Heat wok with a tablespoon of peanut oil until it’s very hot (the oil will move around the wok very easily).
Throw in a handful of beansprouts and let sit for about 30 seconds.
Throw in the softened noodles and fry for a further minute or 2.
Add soy sauce to taste (I recommend Kikoman C00044)

Everything else wok:
Slice up
a courgette
2 pak choi
2 baby green leaf
3 birds eye chillis (mix red and green for nice visuals),
4 mushrooms
1 Sweet Orange Pepper

add also

1 teaspoom of soy sauce (Kikoman C00036)
1 tablespoon of oyster sauce

and pop into the other hot wok.

After about 3 minutes add some sliced free range chicken breast.
Cook for a further minute and then add 1/2 of a finely chopped garlic into the mix.

Mix the 2 woks together and add oyster sauce to taste if required.

Add into a mixing bowl with:

1 tablespoon of cornflour
1 teaspoon of Sesame oil
1 teaspoon of dark Soy sauce (I recommend Kikoman C000039)

Mix in really well and rechop anything that’s too big (you could alternatively pop everything into a processor with a coarse blade)

Toast 10 slices of bread in a toaster or grill and then spread the mixture onto each slice (If you have made too much mixture then toast more bread) The mixture should stay on if you lift the bread, if not then try spreading it in harder or use less mix.

Get a jar of sesame seeds and evenly coat all your mixture bits on the toast. Press it a little if they do not stick easily (and use a little more sesame oil to act as a glue if this does not work).

Heat up half a litre of peanut oil in a deep fat fryer and dunk the toast in when the oil is hot. The hot oil should seal the mixture and sesame seeds in.
It is ready when the sesame seeds change colour to a dark brown colour.

Drain on some kitchen roll/ clean teatowel/ oil drainer

You can make the mixture in bulk and freeze for a later date to fry. You can also make up the toast and freeze for frying later too. That is common practice in Takeaways and restaurants. The thing to look out for when buying from a restaurant or takeaway is the amount of mixture included. It is often disguised by the amount of sesame seeds.

Heat up the wok with a little peanut oil.

Add the following to the oil:
2 tablespoons of chopped black beans
2 chopped cloves of garlic
1 tablespoon of ginger

Fry for about a minute and then add the following:

1 teaspoon of salt
1 chopped spring onion
2 teaspoons of soy sauce (I recommend Kikoman C00036)
150ml water
The marinated prawns without excess soy sauce. (you can use the excess for making egg fried rice)

Add 1 teaspoon cornflour mixed with 1 teaspoon water slowly until the sauce thickens

If you prefer it a little sweeter then add sugar to taste.

The first is a cheat method where you buy the sauce in a jar/can from a Chinese supermarket like Wing Yip. You can even find this in mainstream supermarkets these days although they usually stock duff brands.

Heat up the wok with a little peanut oil.
Heat up the sauce.
Add chopped Beef (why not treat yourself to some fillet beef)
Done

The second method is to prepare the sauce from scratch.

Prepare the beef by slicing into strips and then soaking in a tablespoon of Soy sauce (I recommend Kikoman C00039)

Heat up the wok with a little peanut oil.

Add the following to the oil:
2 teaspoons of sesame oil
2 tablespoons of chopped black beans
2 chopped cloves of garlic
1 tablespoon of ginger

Fry for about a minute and then add the following:

1 teaspoon of salt
1 chopped spring onion
2 teaspoons of soy sauce (I recommend Kikoman C00036)
150ml water
The marinated beef

Add 1 teaspoon cornflour mixed with 1 teaspoon water slowly until the sauce thickens

If you prefer it a little sweeter then add sugar to taste.

Add the following:
Garam masala powder
Termeric powder
Sugar
Water
Oil
Sweet and sour sauce

Experiment with different quantities of the above and you will have the unique taste of chinese curry. I’ve only ever made it in bulk and by taste so I don’t know the quantities scaled down.

I don’t really understand the novelty of it though as I don’t really like it myself.

The first is to cheat and use Veetee Rice (long grain).
Break an egg or 2 into a hot wok with 2 tablespoons of decent peanut oil. As the egg begins to cook turn it over as if frying and egg in a frying pan.
As it begins to solidify, begin to break it up into pieces with a spatula.
Add the long grain Veetee Rice and break that into pieces and then squash with a spatula.
Mix in with the egg properly and as the rice begins to soften add some quality soy sauce.

Taste it and if it needs more salt then add more soy. I recommend using Kikoman c00039.

The second is to boil the rice in a rice cooker (Use Thai fragrant rice).
Once the rice is finished in the cooker, begin to fry your egg in the hot wok.
Turn the egg and continue to cook so it solidifies.
Immediately add the rice and beat it with a spatula so that the egg mixes into the rice.
Add soy sauce to taste.

The third is to cook the rice in a saucepan (Use Thai fragrant rice and a good quality pan with lid).
Wash the rice once.
Add 1.5 cups of water per 1 cup of raw rice into the saucepan.
Put the lid on and bring to the boil. (If you pan is rubbish then seal lid with a wet teatowel)
Hot simmer for 12 further minutes.
Turn off the heat (move to another hob on electric)
Allow to rest for 30 minutes with the lid on (YOU HAVE TO KEEP THE LID ON THROUGHOUT OR IT WILL NOT WORK!)

Fry the egg in a wok and turn it over to cook both sides.
Begin to fry your egg in the hot wok.
Turn the egg and continue to cook so it solidifies.
Immediately add the rice and beat it with a spatula so that the egg mixes into the rice.
Add soy sauce to taste.

If you try all 3 of these methods and your rice is rubbish then asses why that could be. It could be poor equipment, poor rice (do not use quick cook rice) or even poor egg (I like using duck egg)

Hope that helps you on your way to cooking perfect egg fried rice. It should taste better than restaurant or takeaway egg fried rice which is usually prepared early in the day or even a few days before with unsold boiled rice (common cost saving, always only buy steamed/boiled rice eating out) .

Crush 2 chillis in a pestle & mortar and add salt in the mix.

Prepare the prawn by skinning out the prawn form the shell and then remove the black spine which is the prawn gut.

Dip the naked prawn into some oil and then the pestle & mortar mix and put the shell back on.

Cut 2 or more chillis into small pellets.

Heat up some oil and then pop the prawns and chillis and salt in.

Finish with some lime.

3 oranges (grate the zest and include)
2 tablespoons of vinegar
1 chopped pineapple or 1 mango
1 lime
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon tomato puree
1 tablespoon cornflour
1/4 litre of pineapple juice
1/4 litre of water

Bring to boil then simmer. Keep tasting until the flavour is to your satisfaction. Thicken further with cornflour if required.

To make the chicken Hong Kong Style:

cube or strip cut chicken breast fillet or thigh fillet
dip cuts into egg white and place onto surface full of plain flour
Pour a generous dusting of flour over the chicken and use a clean teatowel to press flour to the chicken. (If you find this hard then use cornstarch instead)

Deep fry in peanut oil (peanut oil is healthy like olive oil but not as good. Don’t ever use olive oil for high temp cooking as it burns too easily).

Remove chicken when flour coating turns greyish brown and bubbles.

Add to sauce and add diced onion, peppers and courgettes.

If you prefer the big chicken balls then cube chicken

Make a batter by mixing a whole whisked egg with 100g of self raising flour. Allow to settle for about 5 mins and then dip chicken into mixture.

Deep fry in peanut oil (it’s a lot more expensive than veg oil but it’s worth it for your health and flavour)

I personally prefer making a beer batter for my chicken. I just mix some beer with some self raising flour (no egg involved).

frozen boneless whole aromatic duck (comes in 2 halves) £6
frozen pancake skins 17 packs of 10 (£3)
Spring Onion (60p)
Cucumber (80p)
Amoy Hoi Sin Sauce glass jar (£2)
Amoy Plum Sauce glass jar (£2)

Total £14.40 approx

Less than half price considering that you won’t use up the sauce and skins.

It’s really easy to make once you got the above. Bung the frozen Duck in the oven on a rack if you got one (to drain the oil) at 190-200c and leave for 35 mins.
Prepare the cucumber and spring onion by slicing in strips.
Get the steamer going with some water and with about 5 mins to go on the Duck being ready bung in the pancake skins.
Serve the hoisin and plum sauce into bowls.
When the duck is ready use a fork and a spoon to shred the hell out of the duck.
When everything else is ready, serve up your items and have fun making up your wraps!

Autumn Snowflake Stir Fry for 2

It’s quite an easy dish to make and takes less than 30 minutes to make.

Snowflake Rice:
2 cups of boiled rice
2 duck eggs
Soy sauce (Kikkoman C00039)
Tablespoon butter (Jersey Salted butter used in this recipe)

Autumn Mix:
1 Courgette sliced
2 Pak Choi halved
2 Baby Green Leaf halved
3 Birds eye chillis
200g Beansprouts
1 Sweet Orange Pepper thinly sliced
1 breast of chicken sliced
Oyster Sauce
Soy Sauce (Kikkoman C00044)

Steam Rice and then fry up eggs in a wok/large frying pan using plenty of peanut oil. split the egg apart with a pummeling action using 2 bladed end spatulas. When rice is ready pour over egg and continue pummeling action. When egg is well mixed into the rice add soy to taste and the salted butter. The rice should taste relatively plain so not to have too much flavour to clash with the main mix.

Whilst doing the above using another wok/frying pan heat up a couple of tablespoons of peanut oil until very hot. Pour all mix ingredients apart from the sauces & chicken into the pan. Allow to sit for about 2-3 minutes to allow the steam to reduce the size of the leafy bits. Begin stirring and add then make a well in the middle. Place Chicken in the well and stir regularly.
Add sauce to taste.

Serve and enjoy!

Autumn Snowflake Stir Fry from above