dragon fruit; no

 

How to ruin a perfectly good fruit salad

 

Step 1; Cut up some wonderful seasonal fruit

Step 2; Add dragon fruit

Hey Bingo; You’re done

 

Words cannot do justice to how deeply I mistrust the dragon fruit. I will give this a go, but do bear in mind every time I even have to type 'dragon fruit' a little bit of me dies inside, and I need to go have a lie down.

A more pointless waste of space on the fruit laden tables of the market I've yet to witness. Give me the heady aromas of a durian over this piece of scentless nonsense and you'll see how desperate a situation we have found ourselves in here. I'll even take a slice of almost equally pointless star fruit before engaging in a lump of this nonsense.

I've taken to a declaration of me being highly allergic to the fruit now, to the point where, if challenged, I will claim to carry a little medical pack not unlike an insulin survival kit. Only my syringe and small penfill vial is charged with orange juice or coconut water or just anything far more palatable for that matter.

Papaya and avocado salad

Vinaigrette for 12 salads
½ cup brown sugar
1 cup water
Large pinch salt
2 tsp red pepper flakes
½ cup lemon juice
½ cup rapeseed oil

Mix sugar, water and salt for five minutes. Add pepper flakes and lemon juice.  Add oil, and check for taste, it may need more lemon juice and salt

For each salad
⅓ large avocado cut into large chunks or slices
¾ cup ripe papaya chunks or slices
2 tblsp shredded basil
2 tblsp shredded mint
1 cup greens, tatsoi and mizuna
Little salt and pepper

Toss the greens with a little salt and pepper and a good splash of vinaigrette.  Place on a plate. Toss the avocado, papaya, both herbs with the rest of the vinaigrette. Scatter the fruit on top of the greens.

If the fruits are too ripe do not dress them but place them on top of the dressed greens and drizzle vinaigrette on them.


 

shaukeiwan market and some fu yung

 

Living a stone's throw from Bowrington Road market, I'm quite spoiled really when it comes to my local food shopping. Jam-packed with the full collection fish, meat, bbq, fruit and vegetables; there's little need to venture any further for what's best on offer in my neighbourhood.

 

Though I can find pretty much anything you’re looking for here, with the main attraction being the seafood, I do love a trip east to Shaukeiwan for a different look and feel.

 

Not quite on the way home in the evening (Bowrington Road is the place to pick up a cheeky late evening char siu fan) but easily worth the trek if nothing else but to top up the fruit bowl and vegetable drawer.

 

Absolutely essential for a dose of the real Hong Kong; Skip the supermarket and hit up the wet market. You'll save a ton of money on food while getting the best quality meat and produce the city has to offer.

 

Fu yung with market vegetables

 

Serves 2

 

As I understand it, Fu Yung means 'pretty face' in Chinese; it is a sort of scrambled egg omelette. You can also add cooked meats or prawns or toasted nuts to this dish, but don't be greedy and add too much or there won't be enough egg to bind with the other ingredients.

 

2 tsp olive oil

1 spring onion, finely sliced

50g carrots, cut into 2.5 cm strips

125g fresh beansprouts

50g Chinese flowering chives, cut into 2.5cm lengths

pinch of coarse sea salt

1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper

4 eggs, lightly beaten

 

Heat the oil in a nonstick pan over a high heat, until piping hot, swirling the oil around the pan. Add the spring onion and carrots and stir-fry for a few seconds.

 

Toss in the beansprouts, Chinese chives, salt and pepper and stir. Pour in the eggs and scramble them with the vegetables over a medium to high heat.

 

As the eggs start to set, fold the fu yung over in the middle, move it back into the centre of the pan and continue cooking over a medium to high heat for two minutes. Serve immediately.

 

crispy chicken strips, what's not to love

The best thing ever when it comes to fried chicken is its crispy crust and the countless additions you can add to this in order to achieve ultimate savoury variety. The other bit is the fat, and how we normally crank up a pan of vegetable oil for a job like this. Instead, try the oil butter combination as follows for that extra lift of flavour, well worth doing. Seasoning at the end is crucial too, salt being the essential norm, but a quick flash of lemon juice immediately before devouring adds a little something special.

 

Zaatar crusted chicken strips

 

Serves 4

400g chicken strips

seasoned flour (with a good pinch each of zaatar, celery salt, cayenne pepper, paprika and white pepper)

2 small eggs, beaten

100g butter

50ml pure olive oil

 

Roll the chicken in the flour and shake off any excess. Coat thoroughly with the egg and lay on a cooling rack for a minute or so. Dip again into the flour and once more into the beaten egg. Return to the rack and finally dip into the flour. Set aside on the rack until ready to cook. This seemingly excessive dipping and flouring will provide a really good crust, however messy it sounds.

 

Using a shallow pan, melt together the butter and olive oil on a medium heat until the fat starts to crackle and fizzle - drop in a small piece of bread, and if it sizzles and browns nicely, the temperature should be about fine.

 

Slide the chicken into the pan and gently shallow-fry (the depth should be no more than 2-3cm) for 3-5 minutes, turning halfway through, until golden brown and crusted all over. Remove from the pan and lay on a double fold of kitchen paper. Sprinkle with salt and a squeeze of lemon and serve without delay.

 

So long as the temperature of the frying oil and butter mixture doesn't get to the point where it burns, you might like to strain the fat into a small bowl and keep in the fridge for further finger licking frying moments.

more prawns, in a warming sukiyaki kind of a way

Sukiyaki, traditionally being a Japanese winter time soup like stew served hot pot style, gets a Hong Kong Typhoon Sunday makeover with the fast approaching Severe Typhoon Usagi well on her way. Again, mucking around with a bit of tradition, we'd normally expect to see thinly sliced beef slowly cooked or simmered at the table, with the vegetables in a rich mixture of soy sauce, sugar, and mirin. But prawns are all the rage this week, and adaptation is just the thing right now.

The thing is, noodles do on the odd occasion play a part in a sukiyaki, much to my relief, but the tendency to dunk the ingredients in raw beaten egg is there for the traditionalists, your call on that one really.

Prawn sukiyaki

Serves 4

1 litre fresh chicken stock
2 tblsp hoisin sauce
2 tblsp oyster sauce
1 tblsp fish sauce
1 x 10g sachet instant miso soup
2" ginger, peeled and finely sliced
200g rice noodles
100g enoki mushrooms
1 green chilli de-seeded and finely chopped
300g peeled, raw king prawns
200g asparagus, trimmed and cut into 2" pieces
100g mange tout or snap peas, shredded
200g beansprouts

For the garnish
1 tsp sesame oil
4 spring onions, shredded
Small bunch coriander
1 lime, cut into 4 wedges

Bring the chicken stock to a simmer in a large pan along with the hoisin, oyster, fish sauce, miso and ginger. Simmer uncovered for 5 minutes.

Cook the noodles according to the packet instructions.

Add the mushrooms and chilli to the broth and continue to simmer for 3 minutes, add the prawns, asparagus and mange tout and simmer for a further 3 minutes. Finally heat through the beansprouts for 1 minute before serving.

Divide the noodles between four large deep bowls and spoon over the soup (making sure that everybody gets an equal amount prawns and vegetables).

Divide the sesame oil between the bowls, scatter over the spring onions and coriander leaves and serve with a wedge of lime.

fried rice in prawns, no egg no pork shocker

Go to, dead easy, pick up the ingredients on the way home from the market for next to nothing, delicious and pretty healthy to boot. This fried rice recipe is an easy knock up at home version of ubiquitous staple, always a very popular dish. This one doesn't include eggs or pork on purpose; instead its all about the prawns and vegetables.

Prawn fried rice
 
Serves 4 with plenty other dishes. Or on its own. You do what you want.

1 tblsp olive oil
500g fresh prawns, peeled and de-veined
50g shiitake or button mushrooms, halved
1 courgette, thinly sliced
1 small carrot, thinly sliced
50g green beans, cut into 2.5cm pieces
a handful of corn kernels
500g hot steamed rice
2 tsp shoyu sauce
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 spring onion, thinly sliced, to serve

Heat the oil in a wok or a big non stick sauté pan and stir-fry the prawns for barely a minute over a high heat.

Remove and set aside. Add the mushrooms, courgette, carrot, green beans and corn and stir-fry for a couple of minutes. Stir in the hot rice and shoyu sauce, season with pepper and mix thoroughly.

Return the prawns to the pan and stir-fry the rice mixture for a couple of minutes. Serve sprinkled with the spring onions.

 

the home style chicken curry

You can't really go wrong cooking this curry unless you leave the pot on the stove and go on off to Sri Lanka on holiday expecting to be ticking away nicely upon return. I've found this always best with pieces of thigh meat, still on the bone; if it has to be boneless, again thigh meat will yield better results. Adding the ginger toward the end is a sweet and unique step that does nothing less than to enhance the flavour. I have cooked variations of this this recipe a thousand times - and it just keeps getting better. I brought back some incredible garam masala from my latest visit to the Indian Ocean, with 22 different spices, and most of them still whole. This mixture crushed just before use releases the most incredible headspace of aromas and flavours; something similar is well worth seeking out where possible.

 

Home style chicken curry

 

Serves 4

 

3 tsp vegetable oil
1 bay leaf
4 green cardamom, 2.5cm cinnamon stick, 10-12 black peppercorns, 1 tsp cumin seeds and 2 cloves all pounded together with a pestle and mortar
250g onions, finely sliced
½ tsp garlic, minced to a paste
½ tsp red chilli powder
1 tsp coriander powder
½ tsp turmeric powder
salt to taste
100g tomatoes, roughly chopped
1 tsp tomato paste
600g chicken, cut into 2.5cm chunks
½ tsp garam masala
2 tsp coriander leaves, chopped
1 tsp ginger, finely chopped

 

Heat the oil in a pan, add the bay leaf and pounded spices, and stir until the spices crackle and they change colour. Add the onions and sauté until golden brown, then add the garlic paste. Stir continuously and keep scraping the bottom of the pan to avoid the mix getting burnt.

 

Add the powdered spices, but not the garam masala. Mix quickly without letting the spices get burnt at the bottom.

 

Add salt, the tomatoes and the paste and cook on slow heat, stirring slowly. As the tomatoes melt to form a sauce, add the chicken and cook on a slow heat for 20-25 minutes until the chicken is almost cooked.

 

Sprinkle on the garam masala and simmer to finish cooking. Add coriander and sprinkle over ginger.

daal in the lanka

Every time I attempt to make this incredibly simple and fragrant Sri Lankan dish, I make it ever so slightly differently. Not because I'm in the pursuit of fancy, it just happens like that. Every time Nalaka makes it, it's exactly the same, which is brilliant. Sometimes I put ground chilli in, sometimes green and red chillies. Occasionally some crispy fried garlic shavings, maybe some mint and coriander too. Great with rice, great as a replacement to rice, great on its own, better the way he does it.

Daal, the way Nalaka makes it, I think

Serves 2

200g yellow split peas
1 small onion
6 garlic cloves
2 small, hot green chillies

2 tsp cinnamon bits
1 tsp ground turmeric

2 tsp curry powder
salt and black pepper

12 curry leaves

1 rampa leaf (pandan)

200ml thin coconut milk

200ml thick coconut milk

 

Rinse the split peas in cold water. Peel and finely slice the onion. Peel and cut the garlic in half, chop the chillies into little strips.

Put the peas, onion, chilli, garlic, cinnamon, turmeric, curry powder, leaves, salt and black pepper in with the peas and cover with the thin coconut milk. Bring to the boil, cover with a lid then simmer for 15-20 minutes until the pulses are softening.

 

To finish, add the thicker coconut milk and bring back to a faster simmer with the lid off, cooking until all the milk has absorbed.

 

You can always peel and finely slice more garlic, cook till golden and lightly crisp in a shallow pan with oil, then stir into the daal with a handful of chopped coriander leaves. Nalaka doesn't, so there we have it.