Chinese Crispy Chilli Beef

This is most definitely going to become one of your favourite Homemade Take-a-way/Restaurant dishes.

For more years than I can remember I've not only ordered this in Chinese Restaurants, but have been making this recipe at home too.

I have been wanting to share this with you all since this blog was launched but there has been a major problem causing the delay.

As good as this Chinese Crispy Chilli Beef may be, it appears to be camera shy!!!!!  It's true, I just cannot obtain a good enough photo.

As a firm believer that recipes should always be accompanied by a photograph I have been unable to deliver this one to you, for now at least.

Well enough's enough, Heaven is waiting and won't delay for a photograph so I've taken the plunge and decided to share one of my favourite all time Chinese Dishes regardless.

Now if you too are familiar with this dish, you then of course need no reminder just how delicious it looks.

Forget "Come Dine with Me" today I say "Come Feast with me".

Fancy a bit of a feast?  Serve Chinese Crispy Chilli Beef with some other Chinese dishes (recipes here) too and feel like you've just created your very own Chinese Reataurant Buffet.

PHOTO TO FOLLOW

ONCE THE DISH GETS OVER BEING CAMERA SHY

Chinese Crispy Chilli Beef - Serves 2-3 as a main meal or more when sharing several dishes

Approx 250g beef fillet (or cut of your choice)

2 eggs, beaten

1/2 teaspoon salt

5 tablespoon corn flour

2 teaspoon 5 spice powder

Oil for deep frying

For the sauce:-

1 Carrot, peeled and cut into fine batons (imagine shredded)

A bunch of spring onions, finely chopped

2 cloves of garlic, crushed & minced

1" piece of ginger, grated

2 Red chillies, deseeded and finely chopped (leave seeds in if brave)

4 tablespoons Caster sugar

3 tablespoons Rice vinegar

2 tablespoons Light soy sauce

Corn flour paste (1 tablespoon corn flour, mixed with 2 tablespoons cold water)

Cut the beef into very thin long strips and dust with a little cornflour,  shake off excess.

Make up the batter by placing corn flour in a medium bowl with the salt and five spice powder, make a well in the centre and add the beaten eggs. Mix well to form a smooth, lump free batter than mix in the beef strips and stir well to coat beef.

Get your oil nice and hot to 190 whilst preparing ingredients for sauce.

Using tongs, pick up strips of the beef from the bowl and drop individually into the hot oil, cook in batches for approx 4-5 minutes until golden brown and crispy.

Drain on kitchen paper and keep warm whilst making the sauce.

In a wok or saute pan heat 1 tbs of vegetable (or groundnut) oil. Add carrot and stir fry for a couple of minutes. Then add the spring onions, garlic, ginger and chillies. Stir fry again for a couple of minutes and add the rest of the ingredients.Once the sauce is quite thick, quickly add the beef and stir well to coat in the sauce. Serve immediately.

NOTE: Once the beef is cooked you can store in refrigerator for 2 days, or freeze. Simply stir fry (defrosted if frozen) beef in a wok for 30 seconds or until re-crisp and heated through.  Set aside and keep warm whilst preparing the sauce.  Once sauce ready,   add beef back and stir well.  Serve immediately.

Chicken Masala Curry

This Chicken Masala Curry may not be exactly what you might expect with a BIR Curry, it's better.  No previously made base curry sauce here.  It's cooked from scratch with fresh ingredients and is one of the best Curries we've had in a long time.  Plus it's gets better and better each day.  Make a few batches of this in advance if you want, it freezes well to.  What more could you want?

But you'll have to try it for yourself to find out just how good it is.

Curries, whichever Country they originate from, are loved in this house.  Whether it's just the two of us or we have guests, we just love em, how about you?

This is a Masala Chicken Curry due to the spice mixture used.  I always roast and grind my own spices, then store in small quantities in little individual spice jars.  That way, there is always a fresh supply on hand.

Ready for the most amazing home cooked Curry?  Then simply follow the recipe below.

Chicken Masala Curry (Serves 2-3)

* You can add more, but you can’t take away!!

Ingredients:-

200g Chicken Breast (chopped into chunks)

2 tablespoon Oil

1 x Onion (finely hopped)

2 x small Green Chilli (seeds removed and finely chopped)

1 teaspoon Ginger-Garlic Paste

2 x Roma Tomato, or 1 x large tom (skin/s removed and chopped)

3 tablespoon Natural Yoghurt

1 x Bay leaf

¼ teaspoon hot Red Chili Powder (or more depending how hot yours is *)

1 teaspoon Coriander Powder

½ teaspoon Turmeric Powder

½ teaspoon Garam Masala Powder

1 teaspoon Tandoori Paste (homemade or store bought)

Salt and ground black pepper to taste *

250ml Chicken stock

125ml approx, Water (to adjust consistency of gravy to your requirements if necessary)

2 tablespoon chopped Cilantro (optional to garnish)

Marinade:-

¼  teaspoon Red Chili Powder

½ teaspoon Turmeric Powder

1 teaspoon Ginger-Garlic Paste

1 tablespoon Lemon Juice

½ teaspoon Salt

* You can add more, but you can’t take away!!

Put all marinade ingredients into a bowl, mix well to combine.  Add  Chicken pieces, stir well to coat all the chicken pieces.  Put to one side and marinade minimum 30 minutes (if time allows, marinade in fridge overnight).

Heat oil in a heavy pan (wok or Karahi) add onion and fry for 1 minute, add ginger-garlic paste and chopped green chili, mix well and continue frying until onion becomes transparent.

Add all the spice powders, tandoori paste and Bay leaf, stir well and cook for 5 minutes on medium heat.  Now add tomato, yoghurt and salt/pepper, stir and cook until tomato becomes tender and oil comes to top.

Add marinated chicken and give good stir, cook for 5-7 minutes on a medium low heat.  Add the Chicken stock and cook until chicken becomes tender and cooked, stir in intervals.  If required add more some/all of the water.

Taste and adjust salt/spices if required.  Remove/discard bay leaf and Serve immediately with rice/side dishes of your choice.

Sticky Whiskey BBQ Ribs

Does anybody out there not like Ribs?  Seriously, everybody I know loves them in one form or other.  Plus it seems, the stickier and messier, the better!

These ribs are just so incredibly addictive you will possibly NOT want to share them. Actually that's a damn good idea.  There's always someone that eats too quickly, thereby tucking into more than their fair share. In a crowd there's the typical row over whose had the most and then arguments over who can take the last one.

Share, don't share, it's your choice.  But may I suggest making extra batches if you do intend to share.  If, and it's a big IF, there are any leftover they freeze well for another day, bonus.  Could they even tempt vegetarians to convert?

Tuck into these Sticky Ribs and you'll soon realise it's the only recipe for ribs you may need.  You'll have to try them for me to prove it to you though.

You can thank me later.  Enjoy

PS Bibs essential (excuse the pun!).

Ready to tuck into Sticky Whiskey BBQ Ribs?

Sticky Whiskey BBQ Ribs Recipe (Serves 3-4)

Ribs and Spice Mix:-

2 racks pork ribs

1½ teaspoons paprika

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon ground black pepper

½ teaspoon garlic powder

½ teaspoon onion powder

¼ teaspoon dried thyme

¼ teaspoon celery salt

¼ teaspoon ground cayenne pepper

Whiskey BBQ Sauce:-

4 tablespoons of your favourite whiskey

80ml Tomato Sauce (Ketchup)

2 tablespoons Brown Sauce (i.e Daddies)

6 tablespoons Molasses

2-3 teaspoons Liquid Smoke

Instructions:-

Preheat oven to 150c (130 fan)

Separate ribs and place them (in a single layer) into a double foil lined roasting dish.

Place all spice mix ingredients into a small bowl and mix well.

Sprinkle half of the spice mixture all over the ribs.  Turn ribs and sprinkle over remainder of mix.  Give all ribs a good massage to work in the spices and lay out in a single layer again.

Sprinkle 2 tablespoons of water over the ribs and place into oven.  Roast  for 2 hours or until tender.  Checking them and turning occasionally, adding a little more water if becoming dry.

Meanwhile make the Whiskey BBQ Sauce.  Place all ingredients into a bowl and mix well to combine.  Set aside for later.

Once ribs are tender, remove from oven and Pour approximately 6-8 tablespoons of the BBQ sauce all over ribs.  Turn and mix well to coat all ribs evenly with the sauce.

Place back into oven uncovered for 10 minutes.  Remove and toss again for 10 minutes.  Remove, toss again and cover for a further 10 minutes or until very sticky, but not dry.

Serve immediately with side dishes of your choice.

NOTE: - Once cooked, ribs can be cooled and reheated in microwave for 1 minute.  Or, can be frozen for another day.  Defrost thoroughly before reheating.

Boil remaining BBQ in a small pan, reduce and simmer for 2-3 minutes.  Remove from heat and leave to cool.  Serve as a dipping sauce with other dishes.

Sauce will keep in a suitable container in the fridge for 2-3 weeks.

Thai Red Curry with Braised Duck Recipe (Kaeng Phed Ped Yang)

Thai Red Curry with Braised Duck Recipe (Kaeng Phed Ped Yang)

Thai Red curry, along  with Green are both very popular throughout the globe. Yellow curry is also a great option, a lot milder on the heat though.

It's common place for Thai Red Curry to be served with Beef or chicken, but have you tried it with Duck?

It's makes a pleasing change and certainly surprises guests when served for a dinner party.

Ready for a change?

Thai Red Curry with Braised Duck Recipe (Kaeng Phed Ped Yang)

Thai Red Curry with Braised Duck Recipe (Kaeng Phed Ped Yang) - Serves 2

Ingredients:-

1 x large duck breast

1 x 400g coconut milk

1 tablespoon red curry paste (or to taste)

½ tablespoons Thai fish sauce (or to taste)

1 tablespoon palm sugar

3 kaffir lime leaves

½ fresh Pineapple (cut into bite-sized pieces)

1 x handful Thai basil leaves (reserve some for garnish)

Preparation:-

Prepare the duck for braising by scoring the skin. You want your cuts to be just deep enough to cut through the fat, but not enough to slice the meat.

Begin with a cold frying pan.  Add duck, skin side down then turn on heat to medium-high, DO NOT add any oil to the pan, cook until the skin is golden brown. Turn the duck over and sear the other side quickly. We will be poaching the duck in the next step, so it’s OK if it’s not cooked all the way through, we just want to give the duck a lovely brown colour and help seal in the juices.

Remove duck and place on kitchen paper to drain, set aside. Also, set aside pan containing duck fat and see note below.

Pour the coconut cream into a wok or sauce pan and simmer for 2 minutes, stirring constantly until the coconut oil begins to separate.

Add the curry paste, fish sauce, palm sugar kaffir lime leaves. Simmer for 2 more minutes.

Bring to a boil. Then add the coconut milk.  Add the duck, flesh side down and braise in the sauce until cooked to your liking.

Remove duck, loosely cover with foil and let it rest for a few minutes.

Taste curry sauce and adjust seasonings to taste.

Add the pineapple and simmer for 2 minutes. Then add the Thai sweet basil leaves.

Slice the duck (skin can be removed first if preferred).

Add the duck slices to pan, simmer for 1 minute then serve immediately with additional Thai basil leaves.

NOTE – Once cooled, pour duck fat into a container and refrigerate or freeze for other recipes.  I usually keep this for roast potatoes.

Thai Red Curry with Braised Duck Recipe (Kaeng Phed Ped Yang)

Char Siu Pork (Chinese BBQ Pork)

Char Siu has to be one of my favourite ways to enjoy a pork dish. I'm not a big fan of pork in general, for me it needs lots of added flavour and has to be cooked to perfection.

Char Siu is a popular BBQ pork dish is Chinese restaurants and over the years I've tasted this is many restaurants. Some good and some should simply not be on the menu.

Just look around the internet and you'll find varying recipes in addition to varying cooking methods.

The method I insist on provides you with a delicious, moist and perfectly cooked Char Siu.

Don't just take my word for it. Try this recipe and follow the cooking method exactly and you won't be disappointed.

Char Siu Pork (Chinese BBQ Pork)

Approx 750g pork tenderloin

3 tbsp soy sauce

2 tbsp shaoxing rice wine, sake or dry sherry

4 tbsp hoisin sauce

1 tbsp brown sugar

1 tbsp runny honey

1 tsp Chinese five spice powder

1 tsp ginger powder

1 tsp garlic powder

dash red food colouring (optional, but gives an authentic & beautiful colour

Combine all marinade ingredients and put into a plastic freezer type bag

Clean pork tenderloin by removing sinews etc, prick all over with a metal skewer and add pork to marinade in bag. Tie knot in top and massage marinade well into pork.

Leave in fridge overnight, massaging occasionally

Preheat oven to 200c (conventional). Half fill a deep roasting tin with water and place a wire rack on top.

Remove pork from marinate (reserve marinate and set aside for later) and place on wire rack over the water.

Roast for 15 minutes, remove and baste with marinate. Lower oven temperature to 180c then roast a further 10 minutes.

Remove and baste with honey/water mixture. Roast a further 10 minutes

Let it rest and slice thinly

Meanwhile, pour marinade into a small heavy saucepan and bring to a boil, simmer 2 minutes and taste.  I usually add honey or sugar.  One adjusted to your liking serve with pork

Homemade Peking Duck and Duck Sauce Recipe

LUVA DUCK?

Two days prep and cooking, but damn it's worth the effort and wait.

A Chinese restaurant favorite and rightly so.  I could eat this for breakfast, lunch and dinner, could you?

Don't forget, this coming weekend is Chinese New Year.  There's no better way to kick off your Chinese feast than with Peking Duck.

For the Peking Duck:-

1.4kg (approx) Oven ready duck

Sea salt flakes

4 tsps Chinese five spice powder (click for recipe) or store bought

4 Whole star anise

2 Cinnamon sticks (halved)

2 tbls Runny honey

For the Duck Sauce:-

3 tbls Hoisin sauce

1 tbls Granulated sugar

3 tbls Water

Prepare the duck – Remove the back bone and flatten the duck.  Cut in half to provide 2 x separate duck halves.

Using a chef’s torch, burn off any stray hairs.  Or remove them with tweezers.

Pour boiling water over each portion and leave to cool.  Pat dry with kitchen paper to remove any excess moisture.

Place both portions (skin side up) onto a rack over a tray.  Place uncovered in the fridge overnight to dry out the duck skin.  Or if space, hang over a tray in a cook place.

Cooking the duck – Preheat oven to 150c.  Meanwhile.  Pierce the skin in several places (do not cut through the flesh) Rub plenty of sea salt and half of the Chinese spice five seasoning all over the skin sides.  Message well and push well into the skin.

Place the duck halves skin side down onto the rack over a roasting try.  Rub the remaining Chinese five spice onto the insides of the duck halves.  Lay on the Star Anise and Cinnamon sticks.

Place in the oven for 2 hours.  Draining off excess fat in try occasionally.

After 2 hours turn over and place skin side up and ½ hour or until meat is tender.

Remove from the oven and turn on the grill to highest setting.  Pour approx 1 tablespoon runny honey over each of the portions and brush all over to evenly distribute.

Place under grill until skin is crisped but not burnt.

Remove and leave to cool slightly before shredding with two forks.

Whilst Duck is cooling make the Sauce – Place all ingredients into a small saucepan and bring to a boil.  Taste and add more sugar if necessary.  If too thick add a little more water.  Remove from heat and pour into a small serving bowl.

Serve with sliced cucumber, sliced spring onions and duck pancakes with the sauce.

TIP: This can all be made ahead and simply warmed through before serving.  The duck and sauce freeze well too.

 Happy feasting.

Spicy Mango Chutney

Tongue Dancing Chutney

Nothing better than that eh?

Being an Indian food lover it's par for the course to also enjoy all the related pickles & relishes etc; especially Mango Chutney.  A Chutney I had always store bought until early last year when I realised I always complained there were too many lumps of Mango and not enough sauce/juice so decided to started experimenting until I came up with a recipe I was happy with.

Juicy, full of flavour and spicy too, can't get better than that can it?

Be prepared for your tongue to dance with delight once you've tried it.  Not only fab with a pickle try or additional condiment to curries, but amazing with cheese & biscuits and cold meat platters too.

So not only is this very versatile, it's cheaper than store bought and seems to last forever in the fridge too. Also makes a beautiful foodie gift when presented in a pretty jar.

Enjoy and please do let me have your thoughts if you make it too.

Spicy Mango Chutney

2 Ripe fresh mango (peeled and cut into small cubes)

250ml White wine vinegar

800gms White granulated sugar

2 tsps Ground ginger

2 tsps Garlic powder

2 tsps hot chilli powder (more or less to taste see tip below)

2 tsps Sea salt

6 Cardamon pods (seeds only)

1/2 tsp Black pepper corns

1/2 tsp Whole cloves

Mix a small amount of the vinegar (approx 1 tablespoon) with the ginger, garlic and chilli powder to make a paste.

Place the remaining vinegar in a heavy pan.  Add the sugar and bring to the boil, continue to boil until the sugar has completely dissolved.

Grind the peppercorns and cloves and add to the pan with the salt, cardamon seeds and the paste.  Mix well and the mango cubes.

Reduce the heat and cook uncovered until the mango is soft.  Break up some of the cubes to avoid a very lumpy chutney and continue to cook until thickened.

Leave to cool slightly and pour into clean jars.  Keep refrigerated.

Tip once made this will be very spicy but mellows slightly on standing.  (best made a day before consuming)

All photographs are copyright of Tasteometer.