Beef Chow Mein with Broccoli and Oyster Sauce

Every few months, I crave this dish.  It can be made with raw sliced steak (i like skirt) or leftover cooked beef.  Trust me, I've tried both!

The ingredients are easily found, light and dark soy, oyster sauce and Shaoshing wine. 

Today's recipe evolved from one I came across in a magazine around Lunar New Year several years ago.  As usual, I fiddled with it and ended up here.  Oyster sauce, broccoli and beef are a marriage in culinary heaven and the carrots bring a natural sweetness to the flavour party.

Miso Salmon with Kale and Ginger Brown Rice

We have a favourite treat of salmon fillets marinated in white miso, sake, soy and sesame oil.  The salmon is grilled (it's ok if the miso 'catches' slightly).  To serve, there's cooked short grain brown rice with diced onion, ginger and kale.

Vietnamese Beef Carpaccio (Bò Tái Chanh)

 A fiery, fragrant Vietnamese take on carpaccio — paper-thin slices of raw beef “cooked” at the table by lime juice and layered with herbs, peanuts, shallots, chilli and fish sauce. It’s the kind of dish you eat once and instantly crave again: bright, fresh, crunchy, aromatic.

Thai Red Curry Duck with Pineapple

I'm completely serious, this is a firm favourite here in Britland and totally achievable.

We have some cheats, err I mean tricks up our sleeve.  Firstly, tinned pineapple (in juice) is ok but frozen pineapple is brilliant.  An unexpected Covid discovery that stayed.  There's Asian marinated duck (already prepped and offered vacuum sealed in a box with hoisin and pancakes).  The duck only needs 40 minutes roasting.  Finally some Thai aromats seal the curry deal.

Kimchi and Bacon Fried Rice

This idea piqued my interest so I tried it.  Good, then I fiddlled a bit..or quite a lot actually.  Now, we have this treat..

Lots of flavour, plenty of umami and something a little different that works.

(I genuinely wasn't sure how bacon and kimchi would 'marry' together and was happily proved wrong over their union).

In brief, fry sliced smoked streaky bacon, add garlic, ginger and chilli. Kimchi next, mushroom and spinach.  Raise the heat, stir in cooked, cooled rice and add kimchi juice.

Happy Days! (A friend likes to say)

Umami Rich Chicken Noodles in Soup

This favourite comfort food is both tasty and elegant.

A few simple ingredients yield a soupy bowl of joy.

Add some chilli oil if you have a healthy addiction for it (I do).

We have finely sliced chicken with chopped rehydrated mushrooms, then some greenery (savoy cabbage and or spinach) plus canned bamboo shoots for the noodle topping.

Lamb sausage red curry noodles

 This very simple recipe blends few ingredients into a taste explosion 💥 

A bold fusion of Mediterranean and Thai flavours. The fatty meatiness of the lamb combines with the red curry spice festival to rock your taste buds and the softness of the coconut milk sooths the heat from the chillies.

This dish is proof that few ingredients can come together to create a great meal and that technique isn't always necessary if you get flavour combinations right.

And it is ready in under 10 minutes ⌛

Thai Green Chicken Curry Fried Rice

Post 100, this needed to be something close to my furtive culinary heart.

We have courgette, red pepper and chicken in this fried rice.

A quirky dish, I didn't see in Thailand, rather in the New York Thai restaurants.  For this encounter, there is much gratitude.

Of course, an urge to recreate followed and here we are.

Sichuan Pepper Beef

Fiery sliced beef coated in Sichuan pepper and chilli, seared hot for a numbing, aromatic punch. Easy, bold and perfect with rice or bao.

Introduction

A classic of Sichuan cooking: thin slices of beef seared fast, tossed in a fragrant mix of chilli and Sichuan pepper for that famous málà effect – spicy heat + tongue-tingling citrus numbness. Paired with a crunchy fresh salad to reset the palate. ⚡️🔥

Chinese Chicken and Mushrooms

This simple dish came via a Chinese friend of a friend.  Of course, I proudly tweaked it.

Canned bamboo shoots are always fine and I've unashamedly self-appraised the shredded spring onion garnish as rather pretty.

Hot and Sour Soup

This Vegan favourite is also great for cold and flu season. There's heat from lots of black pepper and sour from Black Rice Vinegar.

Pictured here with a drizzle of sesame oil.

It's quick too, easy for a working from home lunch.

Nam Prik

 🔥 NAM PRIK – THE THAI-LAO SAUCE PEOPLE CARRY LIKE HOLY FIRE

Nam Prik literally means chilli water.

You can steal a Thai person’s heart, affection or motorbike — but steal their nam prik and it’s WAR. This is not a condiment, it’s ancestral fire, portable umami lightning, carried everywhere from street markets to the office to temple picnics. I've even seen them bring it along to traditional French restaurants.

Thais call it nam prik, Lao call it jeow — but the idea is the same:

Thai Shrimp Pineapple Fried Rice

Recreated and perfected from travels.

There's also Thai basil in here for good measure (never a chore, only a blessing).  Pineapple appears a little shy in the picture although I can assure you it's in there.  Dried shrimp paste also ramps up the umami.

Sri Lanka Inspired Coconut Chicken Curry

 🔥 No plane ticket — just peppers, coconut and fun in your kitchen.

Today I cooked a Sri Lanka–inspired chicken curry. Not claiming authenticity — this is my personal interpretation, shaped by what I love: bold garlic, fresh chilli heat, roasted peppers and silky coconut.

Mango Chicken Stir Fry

Sweet, sour and spicy.  Three magical words that truly belong together on a plate.

I wish the London terrace (and weather) would facilitate a mango tree.  However, reality has kicked in and frozen mango also happens to be rather good.  (Thank-you, Covid for that discovery).

My Dan Dan Noodles

We're off to Chengdu (China) with this Sichuan favourite.

Gosh, this dish took years to get even vaguely close to the sichuan restaurant. Yes, it was worth the effort.  The 'not quite what I was aiming for' bowls of noodles were still tasty.

Then, I promptly added pan roasted mini munchkin squash.  That worked, adding a sweet element alongside the firey heat.

There are 3 elements to the dish, a meat topping, sauce and noodles.  There's a handy cheat though.

Bang Bang Cauliflower and Tofu

This bang bang cauliflower and tofu is a cold noodle salad (good for climate change when we have 20 degree Celsius weather during Cauliflower season).  I roasted a few inner cauliflower leaves too (they were nice and crunchy).

Easy Pork Bao Buns

Easy because?  They aren't yeasted, baking powder gives the rise.