egg-fried rice with pork and vegetables

Fried rice is a great dish to have in your repertoire. You can easily turn all sorts of left overs into another meal. Once you've mastered the basic principles you can vary the vegetables, seasoning and chosen protein with ease. Following this method the key to success is cutting your veg up to a suitably small size so that it cooks quickly, preparing everything before you get started and keeping your wok on full heat while you're cooking. 

Ingredients Serves 2-3

200g (uncooked) long grain rice

3 eggs, beaten

1 1/2 cups of cooked meat - I used the left overs from my slow-cooked crispy chinese pork belly

1 stick of celery, finely sliced

3 small carrots, halved lengthways then finely sliced

1 red pepper, finely sliced

1 cup of frozen peas

3 cloves of garlic, sliced

small piece of ginger, finely sliced

2 green chillies, chopped (optional)

2 spring onions, sliced

1 tbsp vegetable oil

Soy sauce/fish sauce/chilli oil or whatever you fancy to serve

1. Cook the rice: Use what ever method you like but this always works for me. Boil the kettle. Put the rice in a saucepan then add the freshly boiled water to the rice so that it comes to a centimetre above the rice. Put the lid on the pan then boil rapidly on a high heat for exactly 5 minutes. Once the time has passed, turn off the heat then leave the rice until you're ready to use it. Don't lift the lid and make sure you leave it for at least 10 minutes as it needs to finish cooking.
2. Stir-fry: Make sure you've got everything to hand now as things are going to move pretty fast. The key to success here is being ready to go. Put a large wok on the highest heat you have and get it smoking hot. Add the oil then swirl it around to coat the lower third of the wok. Add the beaten egg swirl around then once it is bubbling round the edges start to stir it around.
3. Add the meat, ginger, garlic and chilli if using. Stir for a couple of minutes until the garlic starts to go crispy and brown round the edges. 
4. Add the remaining vegetables then continue to keep things moving for a couple more minutes and the vegetables are starting to cook through then add in the rice. Continue to cook and stir for another 3-5 minutes until everything is cooked through and well combined. Add the chopped spring onions then serve. Add some soy sauce or chilli oil if you want some extra flavour. 

chicken soup

What better way to use a great homemade stock than with this delicious and simple chicken soup. You can use any kind of noodle or pasta in it but I chose to use my homemade kluski, they're great. My sister has a similar version on her blog. Check it out here.

Ingredients
1 litre chicken stock
approx 500g chicken meat (use left overs from your roast, making the stock or raw pieces of your choosing)
2 carrots finely sliced in batons
fresh dill
lemon
salt and pepper
1/2 portion of kluski dough

1. Put the stock in a saucepan and heat over a gentle flame. If you're using raw chicken add it now and poach until cooked through then shred or slice in to small pieces and return to the stock.
2. Add the carrot and and kluski into the stock and heat for a further 5 minutes until all the little noodles have risen to the surface.
3. Check the seasoning and adjust to your taste, add the dill and a good squeeze of lemon juice then serve.

goulash & kluski (homemade egg noodles)

If you're looking for something warming and tasty for your dinner this week you really should try out this recipe for goulash. I don't own a slow cooker but I'm sure you could easily make the soup/stew in it and add the noodles just before eating. It is well worth making your own egg noodles to go with this dish. They're really easy and have a lovely light texture that is perfect with the goulash. You could also add these egg noodles to any other soup or stew, they'd be particularly good in a chicken noodle soup (I'll post a recipe soon).





Ingredients

400 g stewing beef cut into bite sized pieces
2 medium-sized onions, finely chopped
2 tbsp oil

3 tbsp Hungarian Paprika (I didn’t have any so put together my own mix of 2 tbsp regular paprika, 1 tbsp sweet smoked paprika plus 1 tsp hot smoked paprika because I like a bit of a kick in my food)
1/2 tsp caraway seeds
2 cloves of garlic, minced, crushed or finely chopped
500ml beef stock
500ml water
1 green pepper, de-seeded and diced
1 red pepper, de-seeded and diced
1 x 400g tin of chopped tomatoes
1-2 carrots, peeled and diced
3 medium potatoes peeled and cut into chunks
salt and pepper to taste
Extra 1 tbsp. paprika

1 portion homemade egg noodles

1. Heat a heavy based saucepan over a medium high heat and add 2 tbsp oil. Saute the onions until they are translucent. Add the beef and colour on all sides.
2. Chuck in the paprika, caraway and garlic. Stir thoroughly so all the meat is well covered. The base of your sauce pan might get a bit gunked up at this stage. Don’t panic, just make sure it isn’t burning.
3. Next add the carrots and pepers, give them a good stir then add the tinned, chopped tomatoes. Give everything another good stir and break up the sticky bits from the bottom of the pan with your spoon.
4. Add the beef stock and water and continue to heat until just boiling. Now turn the heat down as low as you can, cover the pan and leave to cook for around an hour until the beef is completely cooked and almost falling apart.
5. Next add the potatoes and continue to simmer until they are soft and cooked through.
6. Season to taste and stir through the extra tbsp. of paprika.
7. You can serve the goulash as it is now with a dollop of sour cream or crème fraiche and some crusty bread or you can add some homemade egg noodles.

greek fish - ryba po grecku

This is definitely one of my most favourite Polish dishes. As far as I know any actual connections of this recipe with Greece are minimal and long ago forgotten. It is most often served at Christmas eve as part of Wigilia but my family happily eat this any time of year. Personally I prefer to eat it at room temperature with some crusty bread and a fresh green salad, some chopped tomatoes and maybe some proper potato salad on the side. I would probably want this as my last meal. It's awesome.

Ingredients Makes approx 4 servings

600g skinless, white fish fillets such as tilapia, haddock, pollock etc.
Salt and pepper
50g plain flour
2 tbsp oil for frying

Vegetables
2 tbsps oil
2 large peeled carrots
1 stick of celery
2 onions, finely sliced
2 allspice berries (optional)
5 or 6 bay leaves
4 tablespoons tomato puree (or more to taste)
Squeeze of lemon juice
Salt and pepper

1. Preheat a wide frying pan over a medium heat.
2. Season the flour generously with salt and pepper and put on a plate. Cut the fish in to bite size pieces and dredge in the flour.
3. Add the oil to the pan then carefully add the dredged fish. Don't over crowd the pan, you may need to do this in batches depending on the size of your pan.
4. Once the fish is golden brown on both sides, remove from the pan and drain on paper towel. Set to one side while you prepare the vegetables.
5. Either using a box grater or a food processor, coarsely grate the carrot and celery.
6. Heat a large frying pan, add the oil then saute the carrots, celery and onion, stirring frequently, until they have completely collapsed. If the pan is getting too dry before the veg has completely softened, add a little water to help it along. The longer you take to do this stage, the sweeter the resulting vegetables will be.
7. Add the allspice, bay leaves and tomato puree. Stir thoroughly and simmer until all the vegetables are tender and the liquid has evapourated. 
8. Remove the bay leaf and allspice, then season with salt, pepper and the lemon juice.
9. On a large plate or other serving dish, cover the bottom of with a generous layer of the vegetable mixture. 
10. Place the fried fish pieces on top then cover with the remaining vegetable mixture.
11. Garnish with some chopped, fresh parsley.
12. You can serve immediately and it will taste great, however I prefer to leave it for at least a couple of hours to allow the flavours to mix together.