So yesterday my daughter came home from work with 2 big bunches of freshly picked wild garlic. Her chef at work said to her, “Chinese like to stir fry them” so he picked me 2 big bunches. The gal said he don’t think us Chinese do more than just stir fry! Grrrrrrr…………………

How wrong is he! I am going to do this post and will update all that I have done with wild garlic slowly. I told the gal to remind him that I, little old me, not a chef, never attended a cooking/baking class in my life but I can cook/make all his western wild garlic usage of pasta, pesto, soup, infused oil, risotto, salads dressings, pickled and the like. I can also make Chinese bao, dumplings, pancakes, noodles, curries, crisps, Chinese flower rolls, spring rolls, egg drop soup……endless! So do not annoy me.

Today I made a few things……………….

Beancurd crisps

A few years ago one of my girls introduced me to these type of ‘crisps’ and I have spent hundreds £ buying them. However the standard seemed to be slowly dropping over the years. All I get nowadays is a lot of saltiness and nothing else. On one of my trip back to UK from Malaysia I carried so many in my hand luggage, I was prepared to be on newspaper – woman eating beancurd crips at airport because could not bring on board! I am now quite organised and competent in making them. Here are pics with TIPs

Next wantons

• I wanted to add in the fresh wild garlic and this is how I did it.

Garlic Butter

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I love prawn toasties. However they often tip a tad onto the oily side. My daughter is a big fan of prawns. Even my husband, who termed them as scavengers/cockroaches of the sea, loves prawn toasties. So I have to think of a way of frying them yet not too oily. This is how I have done it.

Prawns paste recipe – 500g prawns. Add 1 tablespoon of cornflour. Include salt & pepper to taste. Use 1 tsp of sesame oil (optional) or you can use shallots/garlic oil. Add in half cup water more or less slowly till combine into a paste. TIP – I added more prawns after my paste is done. I like to have that ‘surprising’ prawn bite texture, so I do not blend them too finely. It is entirely up to you.

TIP – Melt a 50/50 measure of butter/oil. To fry, place a tablespoon of the butter and oil mix onto a non stick pan. Place the bread paste side down and leave it for 2 minutes on medium heat. Press down with a flat wide spatula. Then flip over for a minute before removing. Repeat with all the slices using a tablespoon of the butter and oil mix each time. It is that simple.

Before serving place into air fryer and on max heat, heat for 5 minutes. Remove, slice as you wish and serve. This removes more oil and crisp them up to perfection. Goes very nice with beer! Enjoy!

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I wanted to cook crab meat fried rice for awhile now. Luckily on my trip back to Devon a fortnight ago I managed to get some live crabs. Some were cooked chilly crabs immediately and eat with Man-tao bun and some I steamed and picked the meat and freeze.

It is extremely satisfying for me to do everything from scratch as I know I am eating real crab meat and not mixed with the fake ‘crabsticks’. Devon crabs are wonderful.

A guide to how I fry my butter crabby rice with TIPs.

Firstly gets everything ready. Use as much crab meat as you like. Don’t forget the brown meat as that’s where the taste is! I used 3 eggs, 2 chillies, a bulb of garlic, same size ginger as garlic bulb, 2 banana shallots, half bowl of green peas, 2 stalks of spring onions and a lot of love thrown in. Seasoning was only salt and pepper freshly ground. No condiments and no sauces, just crabs.

TIP – First add in half the eggs and let them set a bit before adding rice and the rest of the beaten eggs. This ensures that your fried rice get some nice bits of set eggs and some colour to the rice.

TIP – Only add the red chillies and spring onions at the last minute before serving as cooking them will make them soft, soggy and lose the fresh taste. (in my opinion)

TIP – I boiled my rice last night and let dry in the fridge and I make sure I separate each grains before using.

TIP – The seasoning I used was only salt and pepper as I wanted to taste the crab. There is a hint of ginger at the back; is what I like with my seafood. Although I would prefer a whiter rice, my Devon eggs yolks were extremely red! Next cometh the most difficult part. Plating.

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Banana Muffins

Notes

Please refer to recipe in the post below as I am just lazy. Remember muffins are very forgiving. Just give it a go. 

The weather in UK has suddenly dropped to a low single digit this morning. My area was just 3*C So I decided to turn the oven on. Kinda a frugal wife style of two birds one stone.

As I was mixing up the ingredients, dry and wet it suddenly dawned on me that it is not that much different from making cekodok pisang! Being of a curious nature; I do know curiosity kills the cat, I spent a happy afternoon researching. I found some interesting read on who invented the muffin —-> here As for who and when was the first recorded jemput-jemput pisang or cekodok pisang, no one knows.

Normally when I make muffins I have only 1 rule. Separate the dry and wet ingredients! Then mix lightly with gentle touch and do not overmix them. Your muffins will turn out all right then. Needless to say if you are hankering for a cakey bite, muffins are the easiest to make. The batter will be slightly thicker than cekodok pisang.

If you do want to make a simple cekodok pisang there is a not too shabby recipe here

In this bake my Dry ingredients are 2 cups of cake flour, 1 tsp baking soda, 1 tsp baking powder, 1 tsp cinnamon powder and generous pinch of salt.

My Wet ingredients are 3 – 4 large bananas meshed, 100g of melted butter, 100g of muscovado sugar, 1 tsp vanilla essence, 1 tsp vanilla bean, 1 large egg and 2 – 3 tbsp of milk.

Optional ingredients are of course, chocolate chips, dried fruits nuts but today I just top with a cross section slice of banana for non other reason than aesthetic only and maybe also because I like the taste.

TIP – Do not worry about how fine to mash you banana because it is rather nice to have a bite and finds some bits of banananananananana

Update – 17th October – I forgot to say bake in a 180C oven for 30 minutes. Do the skewer test please.

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72 Hours Sousvide Beef Ribs @ 55°C

Ingredients

• Beef ribs
• Smoked garlic
• Black garlic
• Liquid smoke (just few drops)

Instructions

• After vacuumed sealed you can keep in fridge or freeze them until you are ready to use. Defrost in the fridge for a couple of days before Sousvide.
• I left mine in the fridge for a week or so then Sousvide all together.
• After done you can freeze them and again you can defrost in the fridge a couple of days then out in room temperature a few hours before using. You can use hot water to reheat them, pan sear them with butter etc.
• I have 2 bags in freezer and will update this when I cook them.

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Beef Stroganoff

Ingredients

• 1 kg beef (I used ribeye, because I could and because I preferred it)
• 1 tbsp Butter
• 2 large Onions
• half bulb Garlic
• 200 to 300 g Chestnuts Mushrooms
• 2 tbsp Dijon whole grains mustard
• Beef stock
• 2 tbsp Sour cream
• 1 – 2 tbsp Brandy
• Parsley
• Freshly ground salt & Pepper

Instructions

Preparing the beef

• Slice your beef and then seasoned with salt & pepper.
• Heat some oil till hot and pan fry your beef strips quickly. Remove and set aside.

Preparing the Sauce

• Heat your pot and melt the butter.
• Add in the onions, Djion mustard (I prefer wholegrains) and mushrooms until soft.
• Add in your beef stock and bring to boil.
• I add in my brandy now or you could flambé the beef earlier on when you were frying them. However I like to taste just a bit of the brandy.
• Finally add in the beef and season. Bring to boil and serve.
• Serve with rice, bread, pasta or couscous and if you are on a diet with mix salads.

Notes

Note – if you want a richer sauce, you can add extra sour cream or crème fraiche or a big dollop of double cream for that ‘creamy’ yumminess. 

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Pea and Ham Hock soup

Ingredients

• 2 nos Ham Hocks
• 1 kg Peas
• 2 to 3 white Onions
• 3 to 4 cloves Garlic
• 3 nos Potatoes cubed
• Butter
• Salt & Pepper (optional)
• Double cream

Instructions

• First cut off some ham meat from the ham-hocks. Slice thinly is better.
• Then put the bones, fats, half the onions and garlic (your choice of amount) and simmer for a good hour for nice stock. You can use the stock now or save to make the soup another day.
• In a pot, fry some onions, garlic and cubed potatoes with a lump of butter.
• Add your pre prepared stock in and bring to boil. Simmer for a bit till the potatoes are soft then add in the green peas. Save some green peas for garnishing.
• Bring to boil then turn off heat immediately.
• Blend the soup and add in most of the sliced ham saving some again for garnishing.
• Serve drizzle with double cream and crusty bread or toasts.

Notes

Note – It is such a simple soup but taste good. Once you have made this you will not go back to the packet or tins if possible. kekekekeke

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Cheese and Bacon muffins

Ingredients

Dry Ingredients

• 250 g Self raising flour
• 1 tsp Double action baking powder
• Scant tsp Salt
• Pinch Turmeric or paprika
• Pinch Pepper
• 200 g Grated strong cheese (I like a mix of matured cheddar and parmesan
• 5 to 6 slices Streaky bacon pan fry till crispy and chopped finely

Wet Ingredients

• 2 eggs Beaten well
• 200 ml Full cream milk
• 100 ml Melted butter

Instructions

• First get the bacon fried, chopped and ready.
• Next grate the cheeses
• Then add both the bacon and cheeses to the flours, spices, salt, baking powder aka dry ingredients and gives everything a good mix. Set aside
• Then in another bowl beat the eggs well and add in the milk and butter. Sometimes I lessen the milk and mix some double cream, It is entirely up to you. Instead of butter you can use any unflavoured oil too.
• Make a well in the centre of your dry ingredients and pout in your wet ingredients. Now gives it all a gentle mix, emphasizing on the word GENTLE. Overmix will give you HARD balls – kekekekeke
• Scope mixture into 12 butter brushed muffins tins. Only put the muffins into the paper cases when baked and cooled. OR if you have waxed muffin boxes, you can use them. This is because they stick to the paper cases.
• Preheat oven to 180C for fan assisted oven and 200C for convectional oven and bake for about 25 minutes checking to see top is nicely golden. Make a note on your cookbook your time.

Notes

TIP – It is ok to have some flours not mixed in. Do not worry. It is better to undermix rather than overmix.

TIP – You can add chives, spring onions, green peas but make sure these are dry, like do not use peas from frozen. Do not add too much and go overboard.

TIP – If your bacon is very salty type do not use salt. 

TIP – A happy boy is one who sees a square of bacon on top of these muffins so adjust your bacon accordingly. 

Firstly lets deal with the bacon – Place on pan, covered with another pan and into hot oven to crisps up. I used tin foil because no washing up. You can also fry them but that will mean more washing up! hahahahahahaha

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Guidance on how to make with pictorial today.

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