Spicy Orange Chicken Noodles

This is really very tasty and although it looks like a fairly substantial list of ingredients it’s quick to put together. You could even omit the marinating step altogether if you were really short of time.

I’ve used shirataki noodles: often heralded as wonder noodles due to the fact that they have virtually no calories (they are made from the root of an Asian plant called konjac so may also be called konjaku or konnyaku) they are in fact reasonably common in Japanese cuisine and although the chicken has more of a Sichuan Chinese flavour I thought they may go together quite well. You could however use egg noodles or serve this over rice.

If you do get hold of shirataki noodles it is likely they will be pre-packaged in liquid. The best way to prepare them, in my experience, is to rinse well under warm-hot water for a good 5 minutes, drain them well then dry roast by tipping them into a dry wok over a high heat and stirfry for a minute or two. You’ll know they’re ready when they seem to go a bit squeaky. Then simply set them aside until you’re ready to add them back into the stirfry.

Spicy Orange Chicken Noodles
Serves 2

275g chicken breast fillets, cut into ½ cm thick bite-sized slices
2 tbsp ginger, shredded
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
2 tbsp Shaoxing wine (or dry sherry)
2 tsp light soy sauce
1½ tsp potato flour (or corn flour)
½ tsp sugar
¼ tsp ground white pepper
½ tsp toasted & ground Sichuan pepper
4 tbsp water or chicken or veg stock
2 tsp rice vinegar
1 tbsp groundnut oil
2 small-medium carrots, peeled and sliced on the diagonal
½ red pepper, deseeded and sliced into thin strips
2 spring onions, finely sliced
zest of 1 orange (use a citrus zester rather than, say, a microplane)
1 tsp chili bean sauce
1 medium ripe tomato, cut into thin wedges
½ tsp salt
200g shirataki noodles

In a medium bowl mix together the chicken slices, soy sauce, 1 teaspoon of the potato flour, sugar, white pepper, ground Sichuan pepper, half the Shaoxing and half the ginger. Marinate in the fridge for about 30 minutes.

In a small bowl, combine the water or stock, rice vinegar, the remaining 1 tablespoon of Shaoxing, and the remaining ½ teaspoon cornstarch.

Heat a wok over high heat and add the oil, swirling to coat the bottom. Add the red pepper and carrots and stirfry for a few minutes until tender but still slightly crisp.

Add the remaining 1 tablespoon ginger & the garlic and stir-fry for 10 seconds, just until the ginger is fragrant.

Push the ginger, garlic, carrot and pepper to the sides of the wok. Carefully add the chicken, spreading it as evenly in one layer in the wok as possible, and allow it to sear for 1 minute without stirring.

Add the orange zest and chili bean sauce. Stir-fry for 1 minute, until the chicken is lightly brown but not yet cooked through.

Add the tomatoes and stir-fry for about 30 seconds more.

Throw in the noodles and mix in.

Give the rice vinegar mixture a stir and add it to the wok along with the salt and most of the spring onion (reserve a little). Stir-fry for another minute, or until the chicken is cooked through. Transfer to a plate and serve with the remaining spring onion sprinkled over.

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Stir-fried Pork with Mushrooms

Borne out of the fact that we had Enoki mushrooms in the fridge to use up this is a very simple pork stir-fry that makes for an excellent mid-week dinner.

The ingredient list may seem quite long but really it is easy to throw together. If you wanted to you could make this simpler cutting the mushrooms down to just one type or even leaving the vegetables out altogether and just having pork alone.

The chilli oil is also purely optional but I am a big fan so think it really adds to the taste.


Pork & Mushroom Stir-fry
serves 2

For the Marinade

1 tsp sugar
½ tsp salt
½ tbsp light soy sauce
½ tbsp potato flour mixed with 1 tbsp water
For the pork & mushrooms

225g pork fillet, sliced into strips ½in x 1 ½ in
1 tbsp oil, divided
2-3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 spring onions, finely chopped, including greens (reserve)
80g enoki mushrooms, bottom stumpy bit removed
75g shitake mushrooms, sliced
6 baby corn, sliced on a steep angle
pinch white pepper
1 green chilli, finely chopped
chilli oil with sediment
For the Sauce

125ml stock
1 tbsp Shaoxing wine (or rice wine or sherry)
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp grated orange zest
1 tsp sesame seeds
½ tsp sesame oil

Mix the marinade ingredients together in a bowl and add the pork strips. Stir well to coat thoroughly and set aside for 15 minutes while you prepare everything else.

Mix the sauce ingredients in a separate bowl and set aside.

Heat a wok over a fairly high heat and add the oil. Stir-fry the garlic, spring onions and chilli until aromatic (be careful not to burn).

Throw in the pork and stir fry until it has lost its pinkness before tossing in the babycorn. Cook for a few minutes more then add the mushrooms and stir-fry for a couple of minutes.

Add the sauce ingredients and stir all together then let it bubble for a few minutes.

Serve over plain rice with a couple of splashes of chilli oil if you like and the spring onion greens sprinkled over.

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Thai Pork Stirfry with Basil & Chillies

This is a Thai recipe that is supposed to be made with pork mince - however I had already bought some pork loin to make tried and trusted Pork with Beans & Green Peppercorns when I decided to ring the changes and remembered that I’d made notes from various recipes for a spicy pork with basil.

It was only on closer inspection that I remembered that it needed mince, not pork bits! Oh well - to be honest I decided that I’d still give it a go, with a bit of a spin. But then, as it happens, I found David Thompson’s recipe - again, with mince, BUT, and this is quite important, he states: “I find a rather coarse mince yields the best result – ideally done by hand”. So essentially, that is what I did.

Really this should be made with fresh Thai basil if you can get it. Even in London, with Chinatown really not far away at all, I find this a bit of a mission. That said, on my most recent trip I did for once see loads of it: everywhere I turned it seemed. But typically I had nothing in mind - and we would soon be away for a while so it seemed a bit of a waste to get it on the off-chance and have it stagnate in the fridge.

I do have a little jar of Thai basil so what I’ve decided to do here is use a little of that with some fresh Italian basil as well but do alter the recipe to fit with what you have. Using just Italian basil isn't ideal but it will do. Similarly I didn’t have any bird’s eye chillies (I really wasn’t very well prepared was I?) so instead used a long yet fairly thin red one, about 4-5 in long.

I think that when made properly with mince and holy basil this dish is called Pad Krapow Moo, using Thai basil will make it Pad Horapa Moo. In any case we’re basically talking street food here.

I saw a pic online of someone serving this with a fried egg on top which is apparently authentic so did that too. And in case you are interested (and again, I think) - fried egg = kai dao.

Serve over jasmine rice and squeeze a lime wedge over the whole with perhaps a drizzle of sriacha if you’re so inclined.. I’ve not had other versions of this but this, I have to say, was absolutely amazing. Although next time I would probably add a little more chilli.


Thai Pork Stirfry with Basil & Chillies
serves 2

3-4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 long medium hot chilli (or 4 bird's eye chillies), finely sliced
3-4 tbsp groundnut or rapeseed oil
2 eggs
200-225g finely chopped pork loin
100 g green beans cut into ½ cm pieces
2 tbsp fish sauce
1 tsp dark soy sauce
1-2 tsp oyster sauce (to taste)
large pinch sugar
pinch of white pepper
4 tbsp water
1 tsp preserved Thai basil (in a jar)
a large handful of fresh basil leaves, torn
lime, to serve
sriracha, to serve (optional)

Heat a wok over a high heat until about to smoke, then turn down the heat and add 2 tablespoons of oil.

Crack in the eggs (separately) and fry gently, shuffling the egg to prevent it from sticking, until it has cooked to your preference. Carefully lift out and place on a warm plate while you cook the next egg. Keep the eggs, warm, to one side.

Add another tablespoon or two of oil to the wok and hot, fry the garlic and chillies for a moment, but don't let them colour.

Add the pork and continue to stir-fry for a minute until it is just cooked. Add the beans and stir fry for another minute or so.

Season to taste with the fish sauce, soy, oyster sauce, pepper and sugar but be careful not to make it too salty. Add the water and simmer for a moment.

Stir in both basils and as soon as the Italian basil has wilted remove the wok from the heat.

Divide between two plates, serving with mounds of steamed jasmine rice, perch a fried egg on top of each with the lime wedges and sriracha on the table to add to taste.

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Bulgogi Beef with Bean Sprouts & Chilli Chive Dressing

Sunday's dinner was adapted from Beyond Kimchee’s guest recipe on Rasa Malaysia’s blog.  Originally I was going to use a bulgogi marinade I picked up in Chinatown a week or so ago but on Friday my friend Linda & I checked out a new Turkish / Meditereanean supermarket on the edge of the North Circular & I managed to grab some Asian pears so decided to make the marinade from scratch after all.  

The other major changes were that I used mung bean sprouts rather than soya bean (which I’m not sure I’ve seen in supermarkets here), so the cooking time for them was reduced, and for convenience sake I used dashi instead of the anchovy & kelp stock.

I served this with a little bit of kimchi on the side as suggested but also with stir-fried flowering chives (with some pancetta as I had half a packet in the fridge and the saltiness & rendered fat go well with the garlicky chives):

So, a bit of a mishmash then in terms of asian cooking but very tasty all the same - the chive dressing in particular is delicious and would be great as a condiment with all sorts of things.

Bulgogi Beef with bean sprouts and chive dressing
Serves 2
250g soy bean sprouts
5g sachet dashi seasoning
150g sushi rice  
150g beef mince
Chive dressing
3 tbsp chopped Chinese chives (you could use normal chives or spring onion - make sure you use the green parts if the latter)
4 tsp Korean chili powder or flakes
¼ green chili seeded and chopped
¼ red chili seeded and chopped
1 small clove of garlic, minced
3 tbsp soy sauce (light if possible)
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp roasted sesame seeds
pinch of freshly ground black pepper
Bulgogi marinade
4 tsp soy sauce
1 tsp sugar
¼ asian pear (or normal pear or apple if not available) pureed - I put the chopped up pear in my grinder and pureed it
1 tsp mirin (or rice wine)
1 small clove garlic, pureed with the pear
¼  tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp roasted sesame seeds

Soak the rice in the water for 30 minutes, drain & set aside.

While the rice is soaking, mix all the marinade together in a small bowl and then mix the mince. Set aside.
Mix all the dressing ingredients in a bowl and set aside.

Meanwhile place bean sprouts in a pot with the dashi and 200ml of water. Cover with a lid and cook over a medium heat until it starts to steam.  Reduce the heat to low & continue to cook (still covered) for about 3 minutes.  Drain the bean sprouts and reserve the broth.

Add the reserved broth to the rice in a heavy bottom pan (I would normally use my rice cooker but was unsure what setting to use as I don’t normally soak rice), cover, bring to the boil then reduce heat to very low and cook for about 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, cook the beef mixture in a pan until browned.

Place the cooked rice in a big individual bowl, top with the beef and then bean sprouts, and top with the chive dressing (about 1½ tbsp per person - or more to taste).  Mix everything up a la bibimbap!

Stirfried Chinese chives with pancetta
50g pancetta cubes
100g chinese chives cut into 5cm lengths
Schezuan pepper oil / groundnut oil

Cut the pancetta cubes into even smaller morsels & stirfry them in a drop or two of schezuan oil until the fat starts to render but they haven’t gone too crispy (less than a minute) .

Throw in the flowering chives and stirfry until tender: a few minutes.  You can check for seasoning but personally I don’t think it needs any.

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