Fujian seafood fried rice

A luxury twist on comfort food. Without being a total stereotype, I used to live off fried rice. It honestly was my bread and butter, especially whenever I went over to Grandma's house. No 'ma-ma chow fan' (Grandma's fried rice...boy was it a special fried rice) = unhappy, spoilt child. Especially if my Grandma would make my brother's favourite tomato beef. Yes yes, he's the prodigal son...but Grandma, I would still like your fried rice. We would dollop a load of ketchup in the rice (blasphemous) and although it looked odd, it was glorious. Little gems of vegetables, char siu pork and prawns - every little grain cooked to perfection and with the perfect aroma of ginger, spring onion and garlic wafting through from her tiny alley kitchen. If I had one last dish with my Grandma, it would be this one for sure. Will definitely put a post in for her exact recipe once I get it from her, but in the meantime, this is a brilliant (and slightly more exotic) version of fried rice.

The first time I had this was in a restaurant in London. I think it was one of those family clan gatherings and my Uncle shouted out for some Fookin rice. Ahem, what's that Uncle? No need to swear...but it's memorable Chinese name (Fukien..pronounced fookin...originally from Fujian province) all came handy when I wanted to recreate my version at home. The base is a simple egg fried rice, however it has a 'wet' gravy sort of seafood topping made from prawns, scallops and vegetables. No need for my tommy K to dollop in then I suppose. Substitue whatever veggies you want from there - and if you don't have dried scallops patiently waiting in the freezer for these kinds of moments...no worries - you can add fresh scallops or just increase your prawn quantities. There are so many variations of this dish I found, but for me I just worked with what I had available lurking in the cupboards and the Co-op round the corner. A complete meal in one, no need for any other dishes to accompany it if you don't want to. 

Crispy chilli pork 'takeaway'

Shorter daylight hours coupled with my new addiction to Orange is the New Black (yes, I'm so late to the game) meant I rushed this post to catch the last bit of sunlight. So much so, that I was up on the roof shooting this just before sundown - so apologies for a rather shoddy photo as it doesnt do this meal justice. This is one of my favourite meals to do - I just wish I knew if this dish had a name. Pork fillet is an underused cut, and I'm not really sure why - it's so easy to use and pretty cheap too. Lean and quick to cook, this was a great excuse to whip up at 5:30 with the sunlight quickly fading. It's a go to dish for me when I've got friends over - a balance of sweet and salt with a hum of chilli lightly tingling your lips. It's slightly reminiscent to a sweet and sour pork shoddy takeaway, but way way better and less sticky and sweet. Cornflour seems to be the chinese cook's best friend - its great to use as a coating for a crispy finish but also a marinade and helps keep meat protected when frying at a high heat. Flexible enough that it's easy to make for one, and just as easy to make for a large group you can change the quantities how you wish. Keep this to flash frying, as its technically cooked twice over - the quicker and hotter your wok, the crispier you can keep the pork for the best texture.

As much as I love takeaways, Chinese takeaways seems to be quite low on my list - it's so hard to find a good one which doesn't obliterate any traditional cooking methods or flavours (lest we not forget the copious amounts of MSG a lot of places use). Just as Americans have admitted to having 'American Chinese' take out as a category of its own, the British are see Chinese takeaways as a bit of a guilty pleasure gorge, with a limited range of what constitutes as good takeaway here. Don't get me wrong, there are the few which go against this (I personally love the Good earth and Dragon palace in earls court), but when I was in my local Sainsbury's I saw a hideous jar of 'Chinese shop chip sauce' which made me feel more than queasy to say the least. This recipe is super quick and super tasty. Time to get your wok on.

Chilli fish balls and dirty noodle heaven: wok to table in my new Tefal range

Gruelling work at the gym and feeble attempts to do a press up call for reward. Probably, no, definitely not the most logical choice in terms of health but it's hard gym sessions like I've had this week which warrant a little comfort food. (Come the colder weather I'll be inserting this as the latest excuse.)

I'm currently preparing for a supper club next week - which always means a little trip to Queensway or Chinatown (in this case both) to get the best ingredients. And as much as I want to resist, the first fridge always seems to have an array of fishballs. It comes before the vegetable section, so I can only assume it's a staple that I must buy...even when it's not on the menu for next week. Another justification I think is if there is an emoji available, then it must be eaten on a regular meal. I recently read of one fanatic who ate for a week only emoji food icons...dedication. 

My recent trip to Hong Kong definitely did not reach the dumpling and fishball quota, much to my dismay. The street hawkers have the best ones, with the lure of the spicy curry sauce smells that they're slathered in. Dirty and wicked in the best way. 

If you've never had these little bouncy balls of wonder, you really need to change that situation immediately and order some. Be it fried, chopped up, boiled or barbecued - you just have to get them into the belly as soon as possible. 

 

This post is the inauguration of my new Tefal ingenio range I've been kindly given from Tefal. A perfect little kitchen set, this stacks a wok, sauté pan, two saucepans and two frying pans neatly in the space of a cluttered cupboard. How? Detachable handles, which make it easy to pop into the dishwasher, from hob to oven and even then to the table. Having recently fallen amateur cooking idiot recently by heating a ceramic oven dish on the hob (and consequently leading to the dish smashing across the kitchen alongside scraps of Moroccan lamb making an escape for the door), I'm definitely a big fan of hob to oven cookware, which is definitely tricky to come by when you have an electric (and temperamental) hob. 

Perfect for stir frying, the pan heated up in no time, a common gripe with electric hobs and asian cooking which needs a hot pan quick. 

Had I not eaten the wok full of noodles in five seconds flat, the range also has Tupperware lids for the pans- so another handy quick win for leftovers. 

A nifty way to keep your cupboards uncluttered, I would highly recommend this set if you need some new cookware thrills.