Spicy Peanut Chicken Stir Fry

As the weather is slowly getting better we are trying to eat more quick, light(ish) dishes. This dish is based on a recipe in this months Delicious. We both really enjoyed it. Next time I may add a bit more chilli to give it a better kick.

I was unable to find skinless peanuts in the shops so set about skinning some red skinned ones. It took for flippin ever and as soon as Hubby came home from work he commented how I should have just blanched them, we live and learn!

Spicy Peanut Chicken Stir Fry
Serves 2

25g of unsalted peanuts or 3 heaped tbsp of crunchy peanut butter
1 garlic clove
1 red chilli, deseeded
2 tsp ginger, grated
3 tbsp coconut milk
1.5 tbsp soy sauce
2 chicken fillets, diced
1 small head of brocolli, cut into florets
2 sheets of noodles
1 tbsp lime juice

1) Blitz the peanuts, garlic, chilli, ginger, coconut milk and soy sauce until you have a paste.

2) In a wok, fry chicken in a small amount of oil for around 5 min until golden. Stir in the peanut paste and cook for a further minute.

3) Add the broccoli to the wok and stir fry for a further 3 min (or until brocolli is tender) Stir in noodles, cook for 2 min. Add lime juice then serve.

Sticky Pork & Purple Sprouting Broccoli Stirfry

This months In The Bag event is to cook with purple sprouting broccoli (PSB). I've eaten this veg in various forms over the last few weeks and tonight wanted to try something a bit different with it.

As Hubby has gone to the local beer festival I wanted to cook something quick, tasty and easy giving me the longest time to watch cheesy Saturday evening tv. This recipe is loosly based on my sticky pork recipe. I meant to add sesame seeds, but totally forgot!

Sticky Pork and Broccoli Stirfry
Serves 1

1 pork steak, sliced into strips
handful of purple sprouting brocolli
1 tbsp rice vinegar
3 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp garlic paste
2 tsp soft dark sugar
1 sheet of noodles

1) Mix rice vinegar, soy sauce, garlic and sugar in shallow bowl. Marinade steak for up to 24 hours.

2) Cook steaks in saute pan (minus the extra marinade) for about 3 min each side until cooked. Remove steaks from pan and allow to rest. Cook noodles then drain. Add broccoli remaining marinade to pan, boil until sticky.

3) Add noodles to broccoli and mix until coated in sauce. Stir in pork. Serve.

Sticky Pork with Noodles

This weekend has been the first weekend since the beginning of December where we have had a free weekend. We popped into Derby to do a few jobs and I got stupidly overexcited when I noticed M&S sold cherry stoners, I've been searching for one for ages...I need to get out more.

We had lunch in a great Irish pub in hidden away down the side of St Peters Church. It's very much typical pub grub, but done really well and great prices. So tonight, after our huge lunch we didn't fancy anything big so decided to try a recipe in this months GFM, I adapted it slightly. It was really delicious and possibly the quickest meal I have ever made.

Sticky Pork with Noodles
Serves 2

2 pork steaks
2 tbsp rice vinegar
6 tbsp soy sauce
2 garlic cloves, crushed
4 tsp soft dark sugar
5 spring onions, thinly sliced
2 sheets of noodles
1 tbsp sesame seeds

1) Mix rice vinegar, soy sauce, garlic and sugar in shallow bowl. Marinade steaks for up to 24 hours.

2) Cook steaks in saute pan (minus the extra marinade) for about 3 min each side until cooked. Remove steaks from pan and allow to rest. Cook noodles then drain. Add remaining marinade to pan, boil until sticky. Stir in sesame seeds.

3) Slice steaks into strips. Mix steak back into marinade and add noodles. Stir until pork and noodles are coated. Serve with spring onions on top.

Sweet and Sour Chicken

Today, work has been busy we wanted a quick and easy tea. I've never made proper sweet & sour chicken before as 1) the list of ingredients scared me and 2) never had all the ingredients. As I was flicking through old cookbooks at the weekend I came across a recipe for sweet & sour in The Nation's Favourite Food. I did adapt the recipe slightly.

I served it with egg fried rice and it was far nicer than I was expecting. Hubby commented as how it was just as good as the takeaway version. This is even quicker to make than ordering one and probably a great deal healthier.

Sweet & Sour Chicken
Serves 2-3

2 tbsp sunflower oil
2 chicken fillets, cut into cubes
1 medium red pepper, cut into 1in pieces
thumb sized piece of ginger, grated
3 cloves of garlic, crushed
5 spring onions, chopped
1 small tin of pineapple chunks, drained
black pepper

Sauce
1 tbsp soft dark brown sugar
2 tbsp rice vinegar
3 tbsp dry sherry
2 tbsp dark soy sauce
175 (6 fl oz) chicken stock
2 tbsp tomato puree
2 tbsp of cornflour mixed with 2 tbsp of water

1) Heat oil in wok, add chicken, peppers, garlic and ginger then fry for 3 min. Add spring onions plus pineapple and stirfry for a further 30 sec.

2) Add all the sauce ingredients, bring to the boil then simmer for 6 min. Season with pepper.

Stir Fry Roast Beef with Hoisin Sauce

Hubbie and I have been away for the weekend with family. Ever so often we all meet up, drink lots of drink, eat lots of food and then all crash out at the house of who ever is hosting the party.
We were planning to have a BBQ, but with the recent weather being the way it is we decided it wasn't the risk and cooked a mahosive hunk of beef. There was still some left over so we brought some back and I made a rather yummy stirfry.

Stir fry roast beef with hoisin sauce
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp dry sherry
2 tsp sesame oil
1 garlic clove, crushed
1 ginger, finely chopped
200g roast beef, thinkly sliced across the grain
1 tbsp sesame seeds
1 tbsp sunflower oil
1 pepper, thinly sliced
140g mushrooms, sliced
3 tbsp hoisin sauce
Rice noodles, as side dish

1) Mix soy sauce, sherry, sesame oil, garlic and ginger in shallow dish. Leave for 5 minutes. You can use fresh sirloin steaks, cut thinly, just marinade for 20 min (or longer)

2) Heat wok, add sesame seeds and toast until golder. Tip onto plate.

3)Heat sunflower oill, add steak anmd marinade. Stir fry for 3-4 min. Remove beef with slotted spoon to leave marinade behind.

4) Toss peppers in marinade for 2 min, then add mushrooms and cook for a further minute.

5) Return beef to wok. Add hoisin. Stirfry for final minute. Sprinkle with sesame seeds.