Honey Chilli Chicken

This is a quick and easy Chinese dish.

Ingredients:
1.5kg chicken, chopped into bite size pieces
flour
salt
oil for deep-frying
1 inch piece of root ginger, peeled and grated
30ml honey
10ml cornflour
85ml water
15ml Chinese chilli sauce
Juice of 1 lemon
10ml soy sauce
6 spring onions chopped

Method:
Coat the chicken pieces with flour that has been seasoned with salt.
Deep-fry the chicken in batches until golden brown.
Reduce the heat and cook for about 5 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through.
Remove from the oil and drain on absorbent kitchen paper.
Pour off excess oil, leaving about 15ml oil in the pan.
Add ginger and saute gently for about 1 minute.
Combine the cornflour, water, chilli sauce, lemon juice and soy sauce and add to the pan.
Stir until sauce boils and thickens.
Add the chicken to the sauce and stir for three minutes until the chicken is heated through and completely coated with sauce.
Add the spring onions, cooking for a further minute.
Serve with rice or noodles.

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Braaied Langoustines in Garlic & Parsley Marinade

Langoustines, when you can get them, are delicious.

Quick and easy on the braai or barbecue.

Ingredients:
100ml olive oil
50ml white wine vinegar
4 garlic cloves, crushed to a paste with the edge of a knife
small bunch parsley, leaves only, finely chopped
salt and freshly ground black pepper
24 langoustines, or tiger prawns, de-veined, cleaned, heads and shells removed (reserve the shells)

Method:
In a bowl, mix together the oil, white wine vinegar, garlic and parsley in a bowl.
Season, to taste, with salt and freshly ground black pepper.
Add the langoustines and reserved langoustine shells to the marinade mixture, cover and chill in the fridge for at least an hour.
Meanwhile, light the barbecue 30 minutes before you want to eat.
Soak 12 wooden skewers in water for 30 minutes, then shake off any excess water.
When the braai coals are ash-white and the langoustines have marinated, thread three langoustines onto each skewer and place onto the braai.
Cook, turning regularly and basting with the remaining marinade mixture, until pink and completely cooked through, then serve.

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Fat Rascals

These are like cookies, but fruity.

Great on their own or served with butter, clotted cream and strawberry jam.

Ingredients:
150g plain flour
150g self-raising flour
5ml baking powder
65g lard, diced
65g unsalted butter, diced
90g caster sugar
1 orange, zest only
1 lemon, zest only
1 tsp ground cinnamon
2ml freshly grated nutmeg
50g currants
50g raisins
50g sultanas
50ml double cream
2 free-range eggs, beaten
50g glacé cherries
50g blanched almonds
butter, clotted cream and strawberry jam to serve.

Method:
Preheat the oven to 200C (400F, Gas 6).
Line a baking tray with greaseproof paper.
Sieve the flours into a bowl and stir in the baking powder.
Add the diced lard and butter and rub into the flour using your fingers until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.
Add the sugar, orange zest, lemon zest, cinnamon, nutmeg and dried fruit and mix until well combined.
Stir in the cream and half of the beaten egg until the mixtures comes together as a dough.
Cut the dough into six pieces, shape into large rounds, 2cm deep and place onto the prepared baking tray.
Brush the remaining beaten egg over the top of the 'rascals' and top with the glacé cherries and blanched almonds.
Bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes, or until golden-brown.
Remove from the oven and set aside to cool slightly.
Serve warm with butter, clotted cream and jam.

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Double Gloucester Cheese Topped Scones

These are a great brunch treat.

Ingredients:
250g self raising flour
5ml dry mustard powder
2ml cayenne pepper
pinch salt
50g butter
100g extra mature Cheddar cheese, finely grated
1 egg, beaten
50-60ml milk
milk to glaze
Double Gloucester cheese, small amount grated to sprinkle on top of each scone.

Method:
Preheat the oven to 200C.
Sift flour, mustard, cayenne and salt into a bowl.
Rub in the butter until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.
Stir in the Cheddar cheese and egg, then enough milk to form a soft dough.
Turn onto a floured surface, pat into a round and roll gently to 3.5cm thickness.
Cut into rounds with a biscuit cutter.
Place on a greased and floured baking sheet.
Brush with milk and sprinkle with Double Gloucester cheese.
Bake in preheated oven for about 15 minutes.
Put on a wire rack to cool.

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Goan Beef Curry

The only area of India you will find beef is in Goa.

The Goan cuisine was influenced by the Portuguese who went there for the spice trade.

The curries from the area are noted for the use of garlic and vinegar common to Portuguese cuisine.

This is quite a hot curry -

If you don't like it too hot use the lesser quantities shown for

green chillies and dried red chilli flakes.

Ingredients:
5 garlic cloves
45-60ml vegetable oil for frying
2 red onions, peeled and finely chopped
2 large tomatoes or 4 small tomatoes, finely chopped
4 green chillies (use 2 for less heat), finely chopped
30ml finely chopped fresh coriander leaves
12-15 peppercorns
30ml vinegar
15ml (use 5ml for less heat) dried red chilli flakes
1 inch piece fresh root ginger, peeled and grated
2-3ml cumin seeds
2-3ml turmeric
1kg stewing beef cit into 1 inch cubes
250ml water
salt to taste

Method:
Vigorously boil the garlic cloves in about a half a cup of water for 4-5 minutes, then remove and drain on absorbent paper. When cool, remove the skins - they should just pop off.
Heat the vegetable oil in a large pan and stir-fry the garlic (I leave the cloves whole, but you can chop them or make them into a paste if you prefer), onions, tomatoes, green chillies and coriander leaves for 5 minutes.
Pound the peppercorns in a pestle and mortar with about half of the vinegar until the pepper is finely ground.
Add to the pan the peppercorns and vinegar mixture, dried red chilli flakes, ginger, cumin seeds and turmeric and stir-fry for 2-3 minutes until the fragrance starts to come from the spices.
Add the meat and stir until it is coated with the curry mixture and browned. then add the water and mix well.
Cook on a slow simmer until the meat is tender, seasoning with salt to taste in the last 10 minutes of cooking.

Serve with rice,

sliced bananas - these will help to reduce the heat -

desiccated coconut, cucumber and mint raita and -

my favourite with a hot curry - apricot jam.

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Lobster Braai with Lime Chilli and Coriander Butter

We can't get Crayfish here in the UK

like the one's we caught on the Natal coast,

so we have to make do with Lobster.

They are great on the Braai or Barbecue.

Live lobsters can be killed humanely

by putting them in a plastic bag in the freezer for half an hour,

then piercing them between the eyes with a sharp knife.

Ingredients:
20-30ml chopped fresh coriander
1 garlic clove, chopped
1 lime, zest only
½ lime, juice only
1 red chilli, finely chopped
75g butter, softened
2 live lobsters, about ½kg each

Method:
Light the braai 30 minutes before you want to eat.
Meanwhile, in a bowl, mix together the chopped coriander, garlic, lime zest, lime juice and red chilli.
Beat in the softened butter until well combined.
Once the lobsters have been killed, cut each in half lengthways.
Discard the matter in the head section.
Remove and discard the sac behind the eyes.
Remove any green liver and the roe in the body section and discard.
Remove the claws, crack them and set aside.
When the flames have died down and the coals are ash-white, place the lobster claws onto the grill and braai for 5-6 minutes on each side, or until the claw meat is completely cooked through.
After turning the claws over to cook on the second side, add the lobster halves, cut-sides down, to the grill.
Braai the lobster halves for 3-4 minutes, then turn them over and continue to cook for a further 2-3 minutes, or until the lobster meat is cooked through. When the lobsters are cooked through, spoon the lime, chilli and coriander butter over the lobster meat.

NB: The lobster meat is cooked through when the flesh is firm and opaque and the shells have turned from dark blue to bright red.

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Blueberry Pancakes

It's a special day for my husband and I today

and I was after having something a bit special for breakfast,

so we had Blueberry Pancakes....

Yum yum!

Ingredients:
200g self-raising flour
1 tsp baking powder
Pinch of Salt
1 egg
300ml milk
knob butter
150g blueberries
sunflower oil or a little butter for cooking
maple syrup to serve

Method:
Mix together the flour, baking powder and a pinch of salt in a large bowl.
Beat the egg with the milk.
Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients and whisk in the milk to make a thick smooth batter.
Beat in the melted butter, and gently stir in half the blueberries.
Heat a teaspoon of oil or small knob of butter in a large non-stick frying pan.
Drop a large tablespoonful of the batter per pancake into the pan to make pancakes about 7cm across.
Make two or three pancakes at a time.
Cook for about 3 minutes over a medium heat until small bubbles appear on the surface of each pancake, then turn and cook another 2-3 minutes until golden.
Cover with kitchen paper to keep warm while you use up the rest of the batter.
Serve with golden syrup and the rest of the blueberries.

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