Cucumber, onion and coriander salad

As per request...
If temperatures where you live are set to hit the high twenties this weekend as well, this might just be the perfect accompaniment the the mandatory BBQ you are planning.
It's a simplified version of Yotam Ottolenghi's. It's easy and quick to make so give it a try!

3 tablespoons vinegar
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 teaspoons sugar (I used palm)
2 teaspoons toasted peanut oil (the original calls for sesame)
One small red onion, halved and finely sliced (use a mandolin, if you have one)
One large cucumber, halved and finely sliced at an angle
One small bunch of coriander, roughly chopped (haters, use mint instead)
One clove of garlic
Thumbsized piece of ginger
Salt and pepper to taste

1. Mix the dressing and add the sliced onion. Leave it to stand and mellow for at least an hour.
2. Smash your garlic and ginger with a big pinch of salt to paste in a pestle and mortar or put it through a fine microplane grater. Mix this with the prepared dressing, sliced cucumber and coriander. Season to taste. All done!

Stir-fry of beef with broccoli

This is a very basic template that I often use when doing a Chinese inspired stir fry dish. By template I mean that the specific ingredients can be substituted to taste, seasonality and whatever you have on hand. I love using vegetables that keep a bit of crunch (pak choi, chinese kale, etc.). Otherwise you can use whatever you fancy.

Ingredients for two to three people:
ca. 200 gr. good beef, thinly sliced (steak cuts tend to be good for this)
1 tblsp oyster sauce
1 tblsp soy sauce
a generous pinch of sugar or palm sugar
pepper to taste
Groundnut or vegetable oil to fry
two cloves garlic, finely chopped
3 cm piece of ginger, finely chopped
fresh chili to taste, finely chopped
1 head of broccoli, florets split if they are big, stem parts chopped to equal sized pieces
one glass of water on standby
1 small red onion, cut into wedges
a generous splash of Shaoshing rice wine or dry sherry
1/2 tsp of corn or potato starch dissolved in a little bit of cold water

1. Marinade your meat in a mixture of the oyster, soy, sugar and pepper. Leave it for at least 20 minutes.
2. Heat your wok or frying pan on high. Put in a tablespoon or two of oil and add your beef evenly. Let it sit for a minute or two to brown and then turn over. Take out of the pan and set aside.
3. Wipe out your pan if necessary. Heat it back up and add more oil if desired. Add the garlic, ginger and chili and fry until fragrant (Only a minute or so). Add the broccoli and stir fry for two minutes. Add a splash of water and cover the pan to allow the vegetables to steam for about three minutes.
4. Remove the lid and add back in the beef, the onion and the Shaoshing rice wine. After the wine has cooked off you can add more water if needed for the sauce.
5. Add the dissolved starch at the very end and it will only need a couple of moment to thicken the sauce. Check the seasonings and add more soy or pepper if necessary.
Serve with rice or noodles.

Asian Rice

My recipe today is not really photogenic... It's not very spectacular either. But it's a little trick I learned a couple of months ago that takes virtually no time at all and makes such a difference!

I love doing stir fries during the week. They take virtually no time at all and have tons of flavor, even if you only stick with the basics of chili, ginger and garlic with your chosen ingredients. This method of rice preparation has completely won over my taste buds with any kind of Asian inspired main dish... Give it a try and you won't be disappointed!

For two portions of rice (don't worry, it's so easy to multiply...)

ingredients:
one clove of garlic, finely chopped
one cm of fresh ginger, (peeled, if so desired and) finely chopped
a little bit of oil
one cup of long grain rice of choice (I use basmati), rinsed until the water runs clear and drained
one cup of stock (your choice, I like the chicken)

1. Heat the oil in a pan over moderate heat. Add your garlic and ginger. Let them fry for a couple of minutes but make sure that the garlic doesn't turn brown. You don't want the bitter taste.
2. Add your rice and slowly mix the whole thing. Like with the first step of risotto, you want every kernel coated.
3. Add your stock and let it come to the boil. Lower the heat, put a lid on it and let it simmer for ten minutes.
4. Take the lid off, let the remaining fluid evaporate and fluff the rice up with a fork.

Enjoy with your stir fry of choice...

Five Spice Chicken

I love having a wide selection of spices at home... you never know what you want to cook for dinner.
In my opinion the best place to buy these, is a local Asian store of choice. Yes, the presentation may not be as neat as you're used to. But you will find that you are able to get two or three times the amount of the desired product for the same price. (At least this is true for Switzerland.)

If you are put off by the packaging, which in most cases will be little plastic bags, why not make the (modest) investment of buying smallish jam jars or something of the sort. They look good, you can easily see what spices are in them and you will be able to use them for years.

The traditional Chinese five spice powder combines cinnamon, Szechuan pepper, star anise, cloves and fennel seeds. Three of these are most often used in Western cooking for sweet concoctions around Christmas. But I was curious to experiment with it.

This dish came together after a short research on the internet.

Chinese five spice chicken for one

1 Tsp of five spice powder
1 clove of garlic, crushed
1 piece of ginger (the size of your thumb), finely chopped
some finely chopped chili to taste
1 Tbsp or to taste of soy sauce
1/2 Tsp brown sugar
1 Tsp red wine vinegar
some olive oil
1 leg of chicken

1. Mix all of the ingredients from the five spice powder to the vinegar. Then add enough olive oil for it to form a loose paste, sort of like pesto. You should be able to spread it onto the chicken easily but it's not supposed to be too runny either.
2. Put it onto you chicken and let it marinate for at least twenty minutes.
3. Preheat your oven to 180-200° and roast your chicken for about an hour. I like to turn it over half way.

This was really serves simply with some plain rice and a good squeeze of lime juice.