The Sugar Bar

I watch cooking shows as I plough through lunch. That’s quite intense. Eating as I watch others cook and eat. I suppose it’s equivalent to having a meal with others but you know, it does seem a little odd considering that’s become a daily habit. One cannot live without Channel 260 – UKTV food.

I thought I could pull a Ready Steady Cook. Got really panicky about trying to get the chicken to cook through so I suppose I failed in handling kitchen pressure. This recipe has been adapted from one I got off the popular cooking TV show and I really like it. Very yummy and filling. Looks good too. Although I’ll need to work on timing it better as I was really confused as to how long I’d been cooking each side of the chicken for.

Well then, for the first time really I’m not gonna chat on more than 3 paragraphs as I’m in the middle of a banging party to celebrate Anna’s end of exams. I’m outta here.

Enjoy, my friends.

Stuffed Prosciutto-Wrapped Chicken Breast & Tomato Sauce
Ingredients

1 chicken breast, butterflied
4 strips prosciutto
1 vine tomato, deseeded and chopped
1 medium-sized mushroom, sliced and sautéed
1 tbs chopped chives
1/4 tsp garlic flakes
salt and pepper, for seasoning
olive oil, for frying

For the tomato sauce:
2 tbs tomato purée
2 tbs hot water
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
a few shakes of dried basil

Lay the prosciutto slices side-by-side, slightly overlapping, on a chopping board and place the butterflied chicken breast on top. Pile your stuffing into the middle of the chicken breast and pressing it down together, fold the chicken breast over and then tightly wrap it by rolling it in the prosciutto away from you until you the chicken ends up sitting surface facing up and the ends of the prosciutto all neatly folded up at the bottom.

Heat the olive oil in a frying pan. Cook the chicken breast 5 minutes each side on medium heat. Be really careful here as you want to make sure it goes a lovely golden brown and cooks through completely. Remove from heat once cooked through.

For the tomato sauce, heat the ingredients together in a saucepan. Ladle onto a plate. Slice chicken breast in half and serve on tomato sauce.

Egg Fried Rice, Chow Fun, Chahan; all pretty much the same thing. But not one of the three can in any way categorize the best fried rice dish that my mum makes. It’s too good to really put a name to it and I’m glad enough to simply know its taste. Mum’s tip is to use leftover cooked rice from the night before. This sounds as though it can’t be as fresh but the best thing about leftover cooked rice is that it has more of a bite to it then freshly cooked or steamed rice which has the danger of becoming way too moist and tender for frying.

If you don’t usually have a lot of rice lying around, it’s perfectly fine to prepare the rice right before frying. Just make sure to let it steam out some of its moisture. It’s about a month before I’ll be back home for mum’s cooking, so for now it’s me, myself and I cooking for me, myself and I. And yes, my version of fried rice which I must admit isn’t amazing but good enough for a meal in minutes.

Back in primary school, the stall dishing out fried rice was the most popular. Egg fried rice cooked with garden peas, carrots and dried salted fish — every one’s favourite pick-me-up after a boring maths class or strenous physical education class. The salted fish was key for great flavour and the egg fried to perfection — some bits mashed up into the rice and some left as large bits you could sink your teeth into. The egg was flavoured before cooking with the rice but sometimes came off as a little too greasy and salty.

My version is slightly healthier than my primary school fare. Probably not as good. But the cool thing about chahan is you can pretty much vary the ingredients most of the time and tweak it here and there to suit your tastebuds. As long as you know the basics, you’re sorted. This recipe is so simple and quick. For a more Chinese twist, you can use hwa tiao jiu instead of sake.

This recipe is good for 1.

Chahan with Shiitake Mushrooms, Greens & Chives
Ingredients

1/4 cup white rice
1/2 cup water
1 egg, beaten
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1 1/2 tbs chives, chopped
1 tbs sake
1 tsp soy sauce
1/2 tsp toasted sesame seed oil
1/3 cup shiitake mushrooms, sliced
handful of pea shoots/salad leaves
salt & pepper, for seasoning
olive oil, for cooking

Cook the rice in 1/2 cup of water in a saucepan.
As it cooks, heat some oil in a hot frying pan. Add the garlic and fry till golden brown. Add the mushrooms and sesame oil to flavour. Lower heat.

Mix the egg into the cooked rice (this should be warm and not hot as you don’t want the egg to cook just yet). Add to the frying pan. Turn up heat and let the rice mixture start to sputter and cook, making sure to toss them about in the frying pan. Add the salad leaves of choice and half of the chopped chives.

When the egg has more or less started firming up as it fries, add the sake and soy sauce; then season to taste. Fry until the rice has lost most of its liquid. Serve on a plate and garnish with the last of the chives.

Thank God it’s Friday.

Not that it makes much of a difference, since (why?) we’re on holiday and officially worry-free from exams. This weekend, Hans and I are the only ones left in the house; so begins our crazy marathon of baking and cooking, feasting and merry-making (no innuendos there). Not only do we deserve this because of the hard work we’ve put in, but after a “WE’VE BEEN BROKEN INTO” scare, it’s only natural to need comfort food.

Have no fear. We weren’t broken into but both the front door and the porch door were foolishly left ajar and coming home to that was a bit of a shock. What a miracle we weren’t since we don’t live on one of the safest roads in Selly Oak.

Comfort food this was with that lovely sweet sauce. It is a rather thick sauce so you don’t need much for a serving of soba. Don’t expect it to be a very green tea-ish sauce either as this is made not with sencha but with green tea cooking sprinkles. I didn’t do much with the mushrooms as shiitake on their own have a very distinctive flavour.

Right then. Hans and I have to get back to what’s cooking in the oven.

Here serves 2.

Garlic Shiitake & Gari Soba with Sweet Green Tea Sauce
Ingredients

2 serving buckwheat soba
4 medium-sized fresh Japanese shiitake mushrooms
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
1 tbs gari (ginger pickle), for garnishing
olive oil, for cooking
few drops of toasted sesame seed oil

For the sweet green tea sauce:
2 tbs Japanese shoyu
1 tsp ground almonds
1 tsp rice vinegar
1 tsp sake
1 tsp honey
1 tsp brown sugar
1/2 tsp green tea cooking sprinkles
2 tsp hot water
white sesame seeds, for garnishing

The noodles take about 5-7min to cook so get started on your sauce first.
Whisk all the ingredients together, except for the green tea cooking sprinkles and hot water. Then in a heavy-based saucepan, heat the mixture and stir slowly on low heat. In a small bowl, mix together the green tea sprinkles with hot water and let it sit for about a minute. Add this to the saucepan and leave it to reduce a little for 2-3min. Then cut the heat and set aside.

Cook the soba noodles.

In a frying pan, fry the garlic till nearly golden brown. Then sautée the mushrooms. When cooked, add a few drops of sesame oil. Stir and then set aside.

When the soba is ready, drain the water and run some cold water over it to stop the cooking and keep the noodles cold. Place noodles in bowl. Place gari pickles on top, followed by garlic fried shiitake mushrooms. Drizzle about 2 tbs of sweet sauce over it and garnish with sesame seeds.