Jerk Me a Chicken

Ok since being pulled off Google Adsense I haven't had any drive to post anymore, but I am going to share a few recipes I have tried and have loved! This roast chicken recipe, which I don't think really is jerk anymore since I have adapted it slightly from BBC good food site [here]

Ingredients

12 chicken thighs, bone in

1 bunch of spring onions, diced finely

thumb size ginger piece, diced finely

3 garlic clove, diced finely

1/2 tsp of dried thyme

2 Tbsp of soy sauce

2 Tbsp of veg oil

3 Tbsp of brown sugar

1 Tbsp of All spice

Some tropicana tropical juice

dash of worchester sauce

Method

Combine all ingredients and marinade overnight.

Set the oven to 180C and roast for 45 minutes turning over chicken half way through.

Ta daaaa and there you have it the best chicken marinade! I cooked this up for the bf and he said he was dreaming about the chicken for 3 days! lol!

Fluffy Pancakes and Bacon Bacon

For this post I will let the pictures do the talking. 

I was feeling for pancakes and bacon for 2 weeks now ever since my friend posted a picture of them on her instagram. 

For this recipe I found it from the all recipes site [here]

But I will write it down again word for word here so as to save y'all that extra click ;D

Ingredients (Serves 4)

180ml milk (I used semi skimmed)

2 Tbsp Vinegar

125g Plain Flour

2 Tbsp of Caster Sugar

1 tsp Baking Powder

1/2 tsp Bicarbonate of Soda

1/2 tsp Salt

1 Eg

30g Butter, melted

Oil

Method

1. Combine milk with vinegar in a medium bowl and set aside for 5 minutes to 'sour'.
2. Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, bicarb and salt in a large mixing bowl. Whisk egg and butter into soured milk. Pour the flour mixture into the wet ingredients and whisk until lumps are gone.
3. Heat a large frying pan over medium heat, and lightly coat with oil. Pour 4 tablespoons (60ml) of batter onto the pan, and cook until bubbles appear on the surface. Flip, and cook until browned on the other side.

This recipe gave me 6 pancakes!

Now... Pictures speak words... Hush now...

 

 I absolutely love this recipe! I will no longer buy store bought pancakes again, these taste much better! They are extremely soft and fluffy on the inside and even have a slightly crisp exterior when they are straight from the pan. My one tip I can give from my life of making pancakes is that you don't want your pan on the highest heat! This will burn the pancake quicker than it will cook it.

I dressed my pancakes with crispy bacon and golden syrup. She is cat walk fit!

Vietnamese Chicken Noodle Salad

So, ever since I went to the Vietnamese restaurant, Salvation in Noodles, I have had an urge to make this dish I had there. It was a noodle salad, which was so refreshing yet simple to make. So with this whole weekend to myself, I thought hey why not try it now, if it turns out nice, I've got my pack lunch sorted for the rest of the week! 

Ingredients

Chicken thighs. 

Pho Noodles. 

4 Tablespoons of Soy Sauce.

1 Tablespoon of Sesame oil. 

2 Cloves of Garlic.

Salt. 

Carrots. 

Cucumber. 

Mint.

Coriander. 

Fish Sauce. 

Water. 

Castor Sugar. 

Chilli Pepper.

Lime. 

Directions

1. I used 600g of boneless and skinless thighs, marinated with a pinch of salt, 4 tablespoons of soy sauce, 1 tablespoon of sesame oil and 2 crushed garlic cloves. I marinated them for around 3 hours. I don't know exactly how much of the marinated chicken I would be using but this kind of stuff always comes in handy for a quick snack and a nibble :).

 2. After marinating. Heat a wok to medium heat and add around 2 tablespoons of olive oil in. Add the chicken thighs. Heat on one side for around 4 minutes, turn over and do the other side. Make sure the chicken is cooked before taking the chicken off the heat.

3. Once the chicken is done, cut into strips. 

 4. In a pot, boil some water and add in your pho noodles, I used half of the packet below. 

Boil until tender (around 5 minutes).

 5. Take the noodles off the heat and strain out the water, run the noodles under cold water and set aside. 

6. Cut into strips, cucumber, carrots and chilli. Take the ends off the bean sprouts. Pull the leaves off the mint and coriander. It took me ages to do this step! Chopping veggies especially carrots is no joke! You will appreciate fully the job of a chef once you have done this step!

7. You want to set out your dish like the picture below, so not all the ingredients you have prepared will go into this single bowl! You will have plenty left over to make more!

 8. For the sauce topping you want to mix the fish sauce, caster sugar, water and squeezed lime juice together. This sauce is called nouc mam and it is to your taste, so play around with the ingredients till you find your nouc spot!

I found that a table spoon of fish sauce to almost 10 times more water worked for me! Sugar wise i think i added 5 teaspons. 

Again you won't need all of your mixture to top your noodles, it is plenty to save for the next helping and more.

9. Mix together and enjoy!

Tteokbokki (Spicy Stir-fried Rice Cakes)

Carrying on with the Korean flex, today I tried making Tteokbokki! Tteokbokki is a Korean spicy rice cake dish and as I have figured out this month, Korean recipes are great for Vegetarians! Minus the bbq meats of course (and fried chicken!) 

The recipe I will be using and adapting slightly is from the blog called Korean Bapsang. I will link her recipe [here] 

Ingredients

600g of tteokbokki tteok (see bag below)

1. Some rice cake. I used mama's own recipe! Supporting mama since day one! But you can buy from any Asian grocery store.

 1 medium carrot.

4 oz of Green Cabbage.

1-2 Green Onions.

8 Dried Anchovies.

1 Sheet of Dried Dashima.

3 Tablespoons of Korean Red Chilli Pepper Paste (Gochujang, 고추장)

1-3 Teaspoons of Korean Red Chilli Pepper Flakes (Gochugaru, 고추가루)- Option for extra heat. 

1. 1 Tablespoon of Soysauce
2. 1 Tablespoon of Sugar
3. 1 Tablespoon of Cornsyrup
4. 2 Cloves of Garlic
5. 1 Teaspoon of Sesame Oil
6. 1 Teaspoon of Sesame Seeds (optional)

 Directions

1. Make anchovy broth by bringing to boil 4 cups of water with the anchovies and dried dashima. Boil on high heat for 10 minutes. Once done remove the anchovies and dashima from the stock. 

2. Soak the rice cakes for 20 minutes if hardened or refrigerated. 

3. Chop the carrots, green onions, fish cake and green cabbage. 

4. Stir in the red chili pepper paste, red chili pepper flakes, soy sauce, corn syrup, sugar, garlic (minced) into the anchovy made broth. Bring to boil over high heat until the red paste disappears. 

5. Add the rice cakes and boil until rice cake is softened, this takes about 8-10 minutes. Stir frequently so that the rice cakes do not stick to the bottom of the pan. 

6. Add in all the vegetables and fish cake and continue to boil for a further 6 minutes, stirring constantly. 

 Messy cooks make the best cook ok! So put your elbow in to ruin that stove! :)

7. Add the sesame oil and optional sesame seeds right before taking the pot off the heat. 

8. Serve immediately. 

I love a hot hot straight off the hob dish! Ish!

I added an extra hard boiled egg to mine just to make my dish a lil heartier. 

It was very nice and I would make it again, though whenever I make this tteokbokki recipe it doesn't quite turn out as nice as the one eaten at a restaurant!

I actually started writing this post months ago while I cut out meat for a month but only just snapped out of my lazy blogger mode to complete it now. I was successful in my month of being a pescetarian though! And that first bite of chicken was just a delight! :)) 

호떡 Always On That Korean Flex! Its Hotteok Time!

This weekend my flatmate had gone away for the whole weekend! So all this means for me is to... THROW A PARTY.. OH YEA.. well.. that would have been the younger version of me, the old lady winter version is to make use of every public room of the flat. 

I had a nice hour long bath, walked around naked in the hallway, went to the toilet with the door open and of course lets make use of the kitchen! A recipe that required alot of time, and what is longer than proofing bread!

This recipe is a Korean street food recipe. It is called Hotteok and is a Korean sweet pancake filled with sugar, cinnamon and nuts. 

Today I tried out the recipe from [ZenKimchi]

Ingredients

(Makes 8 small pancakes.)

• ¼ cup lukewarm water
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 teaspoon active-dry yeast
• 1 cup flour
• ¾ cup glutinous rice flour
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ½ cup milk
• 3 tablespoons canola or vegetable oil

filling:

• ¼ cup brown sugar
• ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 2 tablespoons finely chopped walnuts or peanuts (I used pecan nuts)

I bought my glutinous rice flour, which is also called sweet rice flour, from the Korean supermarket at Tottenham Court Road. Everything in there sure is expensive, this bag of sweet rice flour cost £4.99!

 Recipe

1. Stir together the lukewarm water, one tablespoon of sugar, and active-dry yeast in a small bowl until the sugar and yeast dissolve.  Let it sit for 10 minutes, during which time it will start to bubble and foam.

 One of my joys of life is watching Mr Yeast do its thang. If I had a kid I would want Mr Yeast to be it!

2. Combine the flour, glutinous rice flour, salt and remaining tablespoon of sugar in a large bowl.  Add the yeast-sugar mixture and the milk.

3. Using your hands, bring the dough together into a sticky ball.  Knead it a couple of times, for about two or three minutes.  The dough will be sticky, but it should still come off your hands and stay together.  Cover with plastic and place in a warm spot for 3 hours. (I stuck mine in the oven, after putting it on and then turning it off) 

 4. 3 hours later, in Mr Yeast time, this is twenty years and he is all grown up now! 

 4. Knead the dough a couple times until it becomes more elastic, but keep in mind that it will never become a smooth, elastic ball of dough.

5. Combine the sugar, cinnamon, and nuts in a small bowl. (I crushed my nuts into small pieces by locking them in a sandwich bag and bashing a spoon on them)

6. Heat the oil in a large pan on medium-high heat.  Make sure your pan is hot before you start — your pancake should sizzle when it hits the pan or it won’t form a good crisp crust.  Oil your hands and pinch off a piece of dough, about 2-3 tablespoons.  Knead it into a smooth ball and then stretch it out into a loose circle, creating a depression in the middle.  Fill the depression with the sugar mixture, about a tablespoon worth.

7. Drop the flattened ball of dough into the pan.  The oil should be hot enough to sizzle.  Smooth some oil on your spatula and press down on the ball of dough, flattening it further.

8. Fry the pancakes until golden-brown, about 3 minutes on each side.  Remove from the pan and let them drain on a paper towels or a wire rack.  Serve warm.

I didn't have to oil my hands as it said in the recipe. 

  Sizzle sizzle. 

 It was very hard not to eat one of the pancakes before taking a picture of it! But I wanted to show you guys all 8 pancakes that I could make from these ingredients. 

So what is my verdict? It was actually very disappointing! It was a bit too greasey for me, and I didn't like how it went together with the sticky dough. I've never tried the real hotteok before, but from this I don't think it would be my cup of tea, I will stick with my PG Tips, thank you. 

Coconut Tapioca Pudding Recipe 椰汁西米露

Winter is soon approaching, Autumn is sprinkling those golden leaves across the pavements.. It's about time for some warm pud to warm myself up! This is what lead me to make this sweet pudding.

 Sorry this post is going to be as short as I hope Winter will be! My hands and fingers are hell ass freezing! I'm ready to dive into that hot pudding bath!

My recipe is adapted from [Yi Reservation]

Ingredients

• 1/2 Cup Tapioca Pearls
• 2.5 Cup Water
• 1 Cup of Taro Cubed
• 1 Can of Coconut Milk
• 1/2 Cup of Rock Sugar (Can alter according to taste)
  

 Directions

1. Bring 2.5 Cups of water to boil in a pan, add the tapioca pearls to the boiling water and cook over low heat, constantly stirring the mixture so that the pearls do not stick to the pan. 

 Cook for 10 minutes then take off the heat and cover for a further 15 minutes. 

You see them opaque hard bits, they should all disappear when the tapioca pearls are fully cooked, that's when they turn soft. I can think of metaphor here, but hey I will leave that for the creative minds out there :)

2. Cut taro into 1cm cubes. In another pot, bring 2 cups of water to boil and add the cubed taro pieces. This will need cooking for around 10 minutes until the taro pieces are all soft. Drain when done.

I cut up a bit too much taro at first as I miscalculated my cup! I actually only used half of what's in the above pic!

3. In a fresh pan pour in all of the coconut milk and add sugar, bring to a simmer until all the sugar has melted. 

 Please don't be like me and put in a huge rock of sugar. If you've seen rock sugar melt, watching grass grow and paint dry ain't nothing!

4. Ok, now for the fun part! Combine all the coconut mixture, taro and tapioca pearls together in a pot and stir! 

5. Depending on how thick/thin your soup is you can add in water to get it to the consistency you like. 

6. Get your favourite blanket and film and sip away! 

This is a very simple recipe to make! I don't think you can really go wrong. Classic pudding which can be eaten hot or cold, though right now in this weather I do prefer it hot! 

I'm meeting my friends this weekend and I have been put in charge of making the dessert, so I will be whipping up this dish, I wonder how my non Chinese friends will like this pudding! We shall see soon! dun dun dunnnn.... TO BE CONTINUED... 

叉燒包 Steamed Char Sui Bao (Mama's) Recipe (BBQ Pork Buns)

Special edition recipe post today, featuring mama Aoki :)

What better chef to learn from than your own mama? And my mama certainly knows how to cook! She is the best cook I know! Everytime I bring in lunch to work, I always get compliments from my work colleagues about how good my food smells- Well what can I say, I have been well taught- only from mama's best! <3

This BBQ pork bun recipe has been developed alot and this recipe I am posting today is her most recent rendition of it!

Ingredients

• 1/2 pint of water
• 1/2 pint of milk (skimmed)
• 5 Big Tbsp of Coffee Mate (roughly 50g)
  
• 7g (x2) Sachets of Easy Bake Yeast
  
• 5 Tbsp granulated sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 bag (1kg) + 1 bowl of Bapao wheat flour (normal Chinese rice bowl)
• 2 Tbsp Oil 
• 2 Tbsp Soft Sponge Flour
  

Directions

1. Mix together 1/2 pint of milk, (my mama used skimmed milk cause shes a health buff, but any milk will do!) 1/2 pint of water and heat up on the pan until it is warm. 

2. Pour into a container with a lid and add in 2 Tbsp of granulated sugar and the 14g of yeast and shake up. 

 This was the container we used to shake up the yeast mixture, leave this to the side. 

3. In a large bowl add together the wheat flour, coffee mate, 3 tbsp of sugar and 2 tbsp of oil and stir together. 

4. By this point your yeast mixture should have nicely frothed up in your container. 

Pour this yeast mixture into the flour mixture. 

5. Stir and knead the combined ingredients together until it forms a dough.

 6. Cover the dough with a damp cloth and leave in a warm place for a hour. 

We left ours in the oven heated up then switched off. 

7. While you are waiting for Mr Yeast to do its thang, go ahead and make the filling!

We went with the traditional Char Sui meat here, the filling is mainly of onions and char sui. I'm not going to write the recipe on that here as I am much too lazy, but if you do need any help with it, please feel free to drop a comment!

 8. 1 hour later... POOF... Mr Yeast, like the tooth fairy of the baking world, made magic in my kitchen!

Drop me food instead of money! Oh yeah!

 9. Add 2 tbsp of soft sponge flour and knead the dough for a bit. 

10. Cover back up and leave for another 15 minutes in a warm place to rest again. 

11. 15 minutes later, now we are ready to get folding the little buns together. Get your table set up! 

 12.  Pull a piece of dough that can fit into your fingertips off. Roll this up into a ball and squash out till it turns into a circle, you may use a rolling pin for this, make sure the inner part is a bit thicker than the outer part of the dough. 

13. Pleat the dough circle and fill with a tablespoon of the filling. 

 14. Squish the ends together. 

15. Repeat till all the dough is used. 

16. Get the steamer ready by boiling the water till it is ready to steam. 

17. Steam the buns for around 15 minutes. 

18. Eat away! 

 My mum wraps bao so beautifully, you can tell which ones are the one's she's wrapped against mine easily! My bun looks like the ugly little duckling! At least the duckling taste nice still huh!

We easily made over 30 buns with this recipe, and we even had a tower steamer, yes one heavy piece of machinery to steam buns in batches!

I am lucky now I have traveled back to my home in London, I have a bunch of these bao's in my freezer ready to steam when I am looking for a quick snack! They take 20 minutes to steam from frozen. Have 2 or 3 buns in the morning and this will make a great breakfast! Coupled with an English tea of course! Delicious! 

Make sure you pinch your buns tightly or they will expand and open like this!

 I can't leave this post without the all important close off rip off inspection!

 It was sooo fluffy and soft!! My mum said that this has been her best developed recipe yet! And me being a sucker for bao's, i'm enticed by every bao that is put on my plate. This recipe is defo one of her top 2! The other one was batch no 359?? I have lost count how many fixes she does to the recipe!

Little bit of interesting information for you all to end the post. My mum told me that her buns are not as white as the one's you would see in the restaurant as the one's that are sold have ammonium added in them, this makes the bao's whiter and fluffier. But seeing as ammonium is bad for you and causes cancer, lets stick to mama's home cooked version :)