Pak Choi with garlic and oyster sauce

This is one of our favourite accompaniments when we cook chinese, or even Thai, food. When I made it most recently for Valentines day, I had no more oyster sauce left, so used dark soy instead. It still tastes delicious, but I must admit, I prefer the depth that the oyster suace brings. THis dish is really simple and takes just minutes to cook.

INGREDIENTS

• 1 large pak choi, leaves separated and washed, then cut into strips horizontal across the base (this sounds particular, but the base is thicker and takes longer to cook than the leaves - which I leave in bigger strips)
• soy sauce or oyster sauce - good glug
• black pepper
• 2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped

METHOD

• heat some oil in a pan (not olive!)
• when hot add the garlic and, almost straight away to prevent it burning, the pak choi
• stir fry for a minute or so and add the black pepper and the oyster/soy sauce, stirring to coat evenly
• SERVE!

And that really is it. Yummy! I don't have a picture, but you can see it in the picture I posted for Steamed fish with ginger and spring onions.

Steamed fish with Ginger and Spring onions

Our Main course for Valentines Day this year. As we were having a meat dish for a starter, I fancied something quite light and 'clean' tasting for the main. I am a stickler for balance in a menu!

INGREDIENTS

• 2 filltes of a firm white fish such as Basa, Cod, Haddock or Sea Bass - I used Basa
• 1 inch of ginger finely chopped
• a couple of spring onions, sliced into fine strips
• juice of 1/2 a lime
• pinch of sugar
• good pinch of salt

METHOD

• Put fillets into a steamer and season with the salt and sugar.
• Sprinkle the fillets with the ginger and steam for 2 mins or until just cooked (Depends on thickness of your fillets - mine only needed 3 mins total)
• just before the fillets are just cooked, top with the spring onion and let steam for a futher min - you don't want the spring onion to wilt too much.

*I served this with some Jasmine rice and Pak choi with garlic and soy sauce

Asian style seared fillet of beef salad with chilli and crushed peanuts

This is the starter I made for Valentine's day this year. I had an idea of what I wanted to achieve based on various recipes....one from the Martha Stewart website, another from a Ken Hom cookery book and another from Rick Steins South East Asian Odyssey cookbook, but I didn't have all the ingredients to hand for any one recipe. So this is what I came up with...sorry, no exact measurments! You can find the Main course I served here.

INGREDIENTS for Beef

• piece of beef fillet (about the size of your palm), sliced very thinly
• good glug of sesame oil
• couple good pinches of five spice powder
• 3 large cloves of garlic, finely chopped
• good glug of dark soy sauce
• Inch of ginger, not peeled, finely chopped
• tsp of sugar
• tsp of fresh coarsly ground pepper
• 1 red chilli, finely chopped
• pinch of salt

FOR THE SALAD and dressing

• Mixed salad leaves - I used a mixture of Watercress, rocket, spinach and basil
• dessert spoon of red wine vinegar
• couple tsps of sesame oil
• salt and freshly ground pepper

FOR THE TOPPING

• Handful of crushed peanuts
• a couple of spring onions, sliced into thin strips

METHOD

• mix all the ingredients in a bowl and leave to marinate for around 20 mins
• heat a wok until almost smoking, then add some vegetable oil to the wok and flash fry the beef - seriously, no more than 20 secs. If you have bought good quality beef this is the perfect amount of time
• remove beef from the pan and set aside
• mix ingredients for dressing, taste as you go and adjust amounts until you get the right balance of flavours
• put salad leaves in a bowl and drizzle in dressing, mixing to coat well
• Put salad on a plate, top with the beef, then dress with the spring onion slices and the crushed peanuts

Enjoy!