Zhoodles

Help Save 6Music

2010-03-05T14:31:00.002Z

We have just launched the Earmuff Campaign to help save 6 Music.

http://www.helpsave6music.com

We don't want to hear anything else when preparing a Sunday lunch or doing boring DIY jobs. What about you?

Take part, take photos of you and your friends with your hands over your ears!!

LETS DO IT!!!!

Make your own! Homemade Pizza for Two

2010-02-08T23:24:00.023Z

How to make pizza? During the current recession climate, everyone's watching their pennies and we are no exception. So we decided to have a homemade romantic evening together.
Ingredients for pizza base
400g Strong white flour
A packet of Fast Action yeast
250ml luke warm water to help the yeast
A couple grinds of salt
A drop of olive oil
A drop of milk

Toppings
Be creative, pick whatever takes you fancy and put them on the pizza. Enjoy your own creation! This is whatwe did.

100ml Tomato sauce (I bought a small tub of Tesco Bolognese sauce)
2 gloves of garlic, sliced (optional)
1 chilli, chopped (optional)

Mozzarella and Avocado Pizza
Mozzarella cheese
5 cherry tomatos
A handful of spinach
Half avocado, stoned and sliced
3 slices of parma hams

Spicy Veggie Pizza
Grated cheddar cheese, or of your choice
1 red chilli, sliced
Half an onion, quartered
Half a red pepper, diced
4 mushrooms, sliced
A quarter of a courgette, sliced

Step 1
Mix the flour, yeast and salt well. Gradually add the luke warm water and bring the mixture together. As it starts to bind, add a drop of oil and milk. Continue to bind until the outside is smooth.

If it's too slack, wet, add a bit more flour; if it's too dry, hard, add a bit more water.

Step 2
Cover the inside bowl and surface of dough with olive oil, to stop crust from forming when the dough starts to raise. Place the bowl in a warm part of the kitchen to help yeast action. (I put it on the shelf directly above a radiator) Leave for 2 to 3 hours to rise.

Step 3
The dough should have doubled in size. Poke the surface to let out some of the air. Transfer the dough to a floured surface and start kneading for a couple of minutes.

Cut the dough in two. Roll it flat (about 1-1.5cm thick) with a rolling pin (It doesn't really matter what shape it is, I think that's the beauty of homemade food) and place on a pizza tin, or just on a piece of foil. Leave it to rest until you sort out the toppings.

Step 4
Heating up the tomato sauce with garlic and chilli is optional. You can just spread a thin layer of tomato sauce straight on the pizza base.

Heat a pan with a teaspoon of olive oil, after one minute put in the chopped garlic and chilli. Stir it a bit and add the tomato sauce until it just starts to bubble. Leave it aside to cool.

Spread a thin layer of the sauce on the pizza base. Make sure you don't put too much, or it'll go soggy.

Step 5
Pre-heat the oven at 180 degree.
Now do your magic and place toppings on the pizza base in the style you like.

Step 6
Place the two pizzas in the oven and cook for 10-14 minutes.

Enjoy your homemade romance with a glass of good wine!

The Perfect Wine for Pizza

Where Italy comes to Australia from Premium Vineyards with a Wine for Pizza!

Totoiseshell Bay Shiraz/Barbera - South East Australia @ £5.99 per bottle

This is an intensely fruity wine, bursting with brambly Shiraz fruit, spice and herb notes. Barbera adds structure and freshness to the blend, which has soft tannins and a long clean finish.

When the sun goes down, let the wine warm you so you will settle down and sip some sunshine and pleasure with you Pizza!

Valentine’s Day Recipe - Love Fish (For two)

2010-01-30T23:01:00.009Z

The name says it all. A special Valentine's Day recipe brought to you by Alastair from Dorje's Wine.

Start the Ceremony for helping the Chef prepare the feast with Distant Land Marlborough Sauvignon from New Zealand.

Ingredients
2 x 10 oz. Salmon steaks
1 tbsp Good olive oil
Mr. Lingham chilli sauce (or other chilli sauce)
2 cloves finely chopped garlic
2cm finely chopped ginger
Juice from one lemon
1 large handful of fresh coriander
6 tomatoes
1 bulb of Fennel, peeled and quartered
6 oz. Broccoli chopped into bite size florets
1 Red pepper chopped into chunks (to add some sweetness)
½ bottle Dry Sherry
1 Banana
Tomato Ketchup
Salt and black pepper to season

Step 1
Pre-heat the oven to 180°C.
Pour the olive oil onto the salmon steaks and coat the salmon with Mr Lingham chilli sauce. Add the garlic, ginger and lemon juice to the salmon and mix well. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Step 2
Place the salmon steaks in a baking tray on a good bed of fresh coriander.
Place tomatoes, quartered fennel, chopped broccoli and red pepper around the salmon steaks. Pour the Sherry on to mix.

Step 3
Chop bananas and place on top of the salmon steaks.
Splash good dash of tomato ketchup over the bananas and salmon steaks.

Step 4
Seal with foil and bake for 1 hour or until the vegetables are cooked.

Serve on a bed of Wild Rice.

Enjoy with a glass of orgasmic Arrogant Frog, Lily Pad Pink Sparkling Rosé!

Compliment from Alastair at http://www.dorjes.co.uk/

How to make Brownies

2009-01-05T23:38:00.006Z

Alright, I haven't posted for while. Been busy with other stuff. I nearly consigned this blog to the graveyard like many other blogs out there and then the girlfriend made 'Brownies' on a random spur of the moment. Inspired 100% by Nigella Lawson.

The brownie recipe starts in this clip about 8 minutes in...

and continues with this clip

It's well worth the hassle - they taste absolutely divine. Not one for the New Year's diet mind.

Ingredients
375g Milk Chocolate
300g Butter
225g Plain Flour
6 Large Eggs
1 tbsp Vanilla Extract
1 tsp Salt
500g Caster Sugar

Step 1
In a saucepan melt the butter and chocolate over relatively low heat stirring occasionally. Once it has all melted take off the heat.

Step 2
In a separate bowl beat the 6 eggs, vanilla, sugar and salt until well combined.

Step 3
Add the mixed ingredients from step 2 to the saucepan and mix well with the melted chocolate and butter (do not heat). Then add the flour and continue to stir until a smooth consistency.

Step 4
Pre-heat the oven to 180°C. In a suitable baking tray lined with non-stick baking paper pour the mixture. Place the baking tray in the oven and bake for 25 minutes.

Enjoy.

Dorjes Goes E-Commerce

2008-11-27T12:19:00.000Z

For a long time now Dorje's have been the voice of expertise in the Midlands (England) for excellent wines. If its fine quality wine you're after then Dorje's is the place to go.

Run by Alistair and Jayne MacBrayne it is host to the finest quality wines from around the globe. Each wine on the exclusive wine list has been hand selected by Ali and Jayne themselves. Only the best will do.

Recently I've helped to get their website www.dorjes.co.uk online so now you can get access to the delights of that winelist.

To celebrate this they have also put on some fantastic offers at really competitive prices.

I'm Jayne's son and designed the site aswell.

www.dorjes.co.uk
www.illoma.com

ps - their new blog has just recently kicked off too at http://dorjes.blogspot.com. Soon to be given a make over.

Restaurant Review: Mulan, Leeds, UK

2008-05-05T21:44:00.010+01:00

Its location on the 1st floor next door to the Crown Buffet is perhaps a little more exclusive than you imagine they would prefer. Being that once you have scaled the flight of stairs you are faced with a bell you must ring to enter only heightens the expectations you have for the delights found inside and the feeling that you are experiencing something new. Having only been open for 2-3 months very few people outside the Chinese population of Leeds know about this place. This is confirmed to me from the fact that I'm the only western face in the room.

Mulan is an extension to the oriental food academy(http://www.academyoforientalcuisine.co.uk/) that has been running here since 1995. Providing NVQ's for budding chefs and ensuring licensing laws are adhered for all who attend this establishment they really have been bringing about quality in a corner of the industry which may have been falling short in the past.

Where this restaurant really sets itself apart though is in its promise of freshly made dragging noodles on the menu. A quiet word with those on the front and they will happily open the display window to the kitchen for the chef to do a quick demonstration of the preparation of noodles. The speed at which a lump of dough is transformed into 4 different recognisable shapes of noodles is incredible and its here that you realise the ingenuity and the skills required to truly master oriental cuisine.

My partner and I ordered Beef la mian (swinging noodles) and Chicken dao xiao mian (flat knife noodles). Both dishes came as soupy dishes, a reflection of the Northern Chinese cuisine this food originates from. The flavours were complementary mostly of the meat accompanying the dishes but the real treat was the noodles themselves. It's a refreshing change to the standard dry stuff us Brits are used to. Its almost like having your eyes opened for the first time tasting freshly made noodles. Moreish is an understatement.

What Mulan really offers is an experience that you can't find elsewhere in Leeds. It's the combination of the delicious food, the personal service, the visual expertise of the chefs on hand and the insight into Northern Chinese food. One thing is for sure is that I'm going back to try another flavour of noodles.

Lamb Kebabs on Pearl Barley Broth

2008-05-04T13:04:00.005+01:00

This dish is inspired by a recipe found in May '08 Runners World (UK) magazine by Michel Roux Jr. A protein rich broth ideal for an after-race meal. Helps replenish depleted stores of carbohydrates and salts.

If you happen to be wondering why I'm so bothered about running all of a sudden its cos I'm down to run the Berlin Marathon. Follow my training at my Tumble log http://runberlin2008.tumblr.com.

Ingredients
For the kebabs
325g lamg leg steaks (diced)
Cumin powder
Salt
Chilli flakes (or chilli powder)

For the broth
Half a leek (sliced)
5 chestnut mushrooms (quartered)
60g pearl barley
chicken stock (300ml)
olive oil
garlic (clove, finely chopped)
white pepper

Step 1
Heat oil in a pan and cook the garlic, leek and mushrooms until softened. Then add the chicken stock and pearl barley. Bring to the boil and simmer for 30 minutes or until barley is tender. Season with white pepper.

Step 2
Heat the oven to 190°C. Thread the diced lamb onto skewers place on a baking tray and sprinkle with salt, chilli flakes and olive oil. Cover generously with cumin powder.

Step 3
Cook the kebabs in the oven for 10-15mins. Serve with broth.

How to make Chilli Oil

2008-04-05T19:20:00.012+01:00

Homemade chilli oil is an essential ingredient for any cupboard. Everyone knows a chilli addictive. I live with one. Once you've made batch of oil split between containers and give them out to friends and family. A sure fire way to make get on that Xmas card list.

Ingredients
125g Crushed Extra Hot Red Chillies
250ml Sesame Oil
1 tsp Salt
1 1/2 tsp Szechuan Pepper Corn Powder

Step 1
In a small pan heat all the oil on high for 5-10 minutes.

Step 2
Meanwhile, mix the crushed chilli flakes, salt and szechuan pepper corn powder in a large heatproof bowl. Mix well.

Step 3
When the oil is very hot (smoking gently) pour over the crushed chillies slowly mixing all the time. Make sure that you add the oil small amounts at time. It should take you about 1-2 minutes to pour the oil, as you do the chillies will start turning a darker colour as the hot sesame oil cooks the chillies in the heatproof bowl.

Step 4
Leave to cool, then store in a jar/bowl and keep in a cool cupboard/larder.

Fried Tomatoes with Egg

2008-03-30T20:33:00.005+01:00

This is a very basic but delicious vegetarian recipe. Quick, sweet and often cooked as an accompanying dish with other servings.

Ingredients
4 tomatoes (each chopped into 8 segments)
4 large eggs (whisked together)
1 tsp of white granulated sugar
1/2 tsp of chicken powder
salt (to taste)
olive oil (splash of)

Step 1
Heat the olive oil in a small frying pan until hot and add the tomatoes. Heat the tomatoes for 2 minutes then sprinkle over the sugar and continue to fry for a further 3 minutes. Set aside.

Step 2
Heat another splash of olive in the frying pan and add the whisked eggs. Keep turning the eggs until they start to solidify.

Step 3
Add the tomatoes set aside earlier to the eggs. Mix well. Add salt to taste. Add chicken powder. Stir well and serve.

Belly Pork Hot Pot

2008-03-21T15:12:00.007Z

Mmm just thinking about writing this up is making my mouth water. I only had this a couple of days ago and I want it again...now. Seriously, if I had to name my top ten all time favourite dishes this would definitely make it. Its the way the fat on the pork simply melts in your mouth.

Enough! Back to the recipe.

Ingredients
Pork Belly (cut into 1 inch chunks/cubes)
2 green chillies (chopped)
2 tbsp dark soy sauce
2 tbsp light soy sauce
2 tsp white or brown sugar
olive oil
1 tsp finely chopped ginger
1 star aniseed
1 bay leaf
2 carrots cut into chunks
2 leeks sliced
recently boiled water (about 1 pint and a half)

Step 1
On a hot hob, in a flameproof casserole dish, heat a splash of olive oil until hot. Add the ginger, stir, quickly followed by the chilli and fry for a further 20 seconds. Then add the belly pork. Fry until the pork starts to brown (2 minutes or so).

Step 2
When the pork has browned add the sugar, light and dark soy sauce and stir contents so that the pork is covered. Then add water from the recently boiled kettle. The water should cover the pork by roughly an inch (2.5cm). Add the star aniseed and the bay leaf. Bring back to the boil, turn the hob down, then place the lid leaving a gap on the casserole dish and simmer for 1 hour.

Step 3
Add the carrots to the pot and simmer for 20 minutes. Then add the leeks and simmer for a further 10 minutes.

Serve with rice. Deeeeeeeeeeeeeeeelishous!!!

TOP TIP: the star aniseed is very important in this recipe as its adds a very distinctive flavour. You can usually pick them up from a Chinese supermarket. Well worth buying and they'll last you for ages.

Simple Sausage Casserole

2008-02-19T22:42:00.007Z

A straight forward recipe to make a delicious sausage casserole using ingredients most of us have in the cupboard/fridge.

Ingredients
2 cloves of garlic (chopped)
1 green chilli (chopped)
6 pork sausages (ensure that the percentage of meat is at least 70%)
1 red pepper (sliced)
7 cherry tomatoes
a handful of mushrooms (sliced)
a heaped spoonful of wholegrain mustard
a splash of worcestershire sauce
an oxo cube
recently boiled water (about 2-3 cups)
1-2 tbsp olive oil

Step 1
In a cast iron casserole dish heat the olive oil on the stove. When the oil is hot fry the garlic and chilli until the garlic starts to change colour. Then add the sausages and fry until lightly browned.

Step 2
Add the pepper, cherry tomatoes and mushrooms to the casserole dish and continue to fry until softened. Turn the oven on at 180°C to heat up.

Step 3
Boil the kettle. Whilst the kettle is heating up stir in the mustard and sprinkle the oxo cube over the sausages. When the water has boiled pour over the sausages until it is about 1 to 1.5 inches deep. Splash the worcestershire sauce over everything and stir.

Step 4
Put the lid on the casserole dish and place the dish in the oven and cokk for 1 hour.

Serve with vegetables of your choice.

Tom Yum Tiger Prawns

2008-02-16T18:18:00.006Z

Tom Yum paste is traditionally used as a base for a spicy, thin Thai soup. We found we had some left (about a teaspoon's worth) and decided to experiment with using it in a stir fry.

Ingredients
20 Tiger Prawns (with the skins but without heads)
1 carrot (thinly sliced)
1 leek (1 to 2cm chunks)
1 tsp finely chopped garlic
1 tsp finely chopped ginger
1 green chilli (chopped)
75g green beans (halved)
1 tsp Tom Yum paste
1/4 cup water
2 tsps dark soy sauce
2-3 portions of vermicelli
olive oil (splash of)

Step 1
Cook the vermicelli and set aside.

Step 2
Heat the olive oil in a large wok/frying pan. Fry the garlic, chilli and ginger until the garlic just starts to turn brown (less than 30 seconds). Then add the rest of the vegetables (green beans, carrots & leeks) and continue to fry for another 3-4 minutes.

Step 3
Add the prawns and 1/4 cup of water (if the prawns are frozen there is no need to add the extra water). Fry the prawns until they are pink all over and then add the Tom Yum paste. If the pan seems a little dry at this point add some more water, if not don't worry. Stir the paste in thoroughly.

Step 4
Once all ingredients are cooked through take the vermicelli noodles set aside earlier and add to the wok. Mix noodles in thoroughly and add the dark soy sauce.

Serve.

Spicy Stuffed Aubergines with Yakitori Pork Chops

2008-01-23T20:57:00.000Z

Ingredients
2 pork chops
4 tbsp Yakitori sauce (Japanese)
1 aubergine (eggplant) - see Step 2 for preparations
1 courgette (diced)
a handful of (100g) mushrooms (chopped)
1 yellow pepper (diced)
1 green chilli (chopped)
1 clove of garlic (chopped)
Half a tin of chopped tomoatoes (200g)
1 tbsp chilli bean paste (optional)
olive oil
salt & pepper

Step 1
Marinate the pork chops in the Yakitori sauce. If you can't find Yakitori sauce the simply mix some dark soy with brown sugar and use that instead. Leave in the fridge to marinate for a while.

Step 2
Heat the oven to 180°C. Slice the aubergine in half longways. Scoop out the flesh to leave the skin. Set the flesh aside for step 3. Rub olive oil, salt and pepper into the skin of the aubergine. Place them on a baking tray and pop them in the oven for 15-20 minutes until soft.

Step 3
Dice the aubergine, mushrooms, courgette and pepper. In a large frying pan fry the garlic and chilli until the garlic starts to turn brown. Then add the vegetables, chopped tomatoes and chilli bean paste (optional) and continue to cook for 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

Step 4
Remove the aubergine skins from the over and spoon the vegetables into the skins. Place the stuffed skins back in the oven.

Step 5
Fry the marinated pork chops for 3-4 minutes each side. When they are done serve with the stuffed aubergines.

In Japan Yakitori sauce is traditionally used with poultry, in particular chicken. We stumbled upon the fact that it tastes great with pork simply because we didn't know that you're supposed to use it with chicken. Try it, you might like it.

How to make a professional latte with instant coffee granules.

2008-01-05T23:57:00.000Z

Top recipe for a frothy latte coffee that you can make at home without any fancy percolator or whatnot. Unless you count one of those cheapy electric coffee whisks as fancy.

You will need;
A microwave
A Cheapy electric coffee whisk

Ingredients (for one mug);
1 tsp coffee granules (any will do)
1tsp sugar (optional)
1 part water
2 parts milk

Step 1
Boil the kettle

Step 2
Place in the mug which you will be drinking out of the sugar and coffee granules an sugar and a splash of milk. With a teaspoon mix until you have a dark brown paste.

Step 3
In another mug pour in the rest of the milk and microwave on full power for 1 minute 20 seconds (roughly).

Step 4
When the kettle boils fill the mug which you will be drinking out of 1/3 full. Stir.

Step 5
When the microwave got ping take out the milks and whisk using the electric whisk for about a minute or so making sure that you slowly lift the whisk out of the mug, whilst on, to create a foam on top of the milk. Then pour the milk slowly into the other mug. Stir again and serve.

Deep Fried Aubergines and Noodles

2007-11-24T00:09:00.000Z

This is the perfect vegetarian recipe to use with the homemade noodles below.

Ingredients
Large handful of homemade noodles
1 aubergine (eggplant) chopped into large (3cm square) chunks
water (enough to just cover the noodles.)
3 spring onions chopped
Vegetable oil for deep frying.

Seasoning:
Light soy sauce (3 tsp)
Dark soy sauce (3 tsp)
chinese vinegar (1 tsp)
sugar (1 tsp)
chicken powder (1 tsp)
salt & pepper (to taste)
chilli powder (1 tsp or less)
sesame oil (1 tsp)

Step 1
In a small pan (or deep fat fryer) heat the vegetable oil until hot. Then deep fry the aubergine chunks until lightly browned. Its best to do them in batches and setting them aside when done on some kitchen towel to soak up some of the oil.

Step 2
In a small bowl mix all the seasoning together and add the spring onions. Set aside to marinate for a short while.

Step 3
In a large pan or wok heat the water until boiling then add the noodles. Boil for 2 minutes. Then add the aubergine, boil for a further 3 minutes.

Step 4
When the noodles are cooked add in the marinade mix together and serve immediately.

Homemade Noodles

2007-11-23T00:18:00.000Z

Here's a little recipe to help you make noodles from scratch. By just adding an egg in at the start you can use this same recipe to make pasta. But today we make noodles.
Ingredients
1kg plain flour
water
salt & pepper

Step 1
In a suitably large bowl put most of the bag of flour into it. Save some for dusting the table and dough later on. Season the flour with salt and pepper. Then start adding water bit by bit and mixing and kneading the flour and water together. Keep adding the water but stop just before it turns sticky then. Carry on kneading the dough in the bowl and add a sprinkle more flour. The ideal ball of dough will be quite dry.

Step 2
Dust a dry, flat table with flour and place the ball of dough on it. Carry on kneading the dough for another 3-5 minutes. When you are happy with the dough you can get your rolling pin out and start flattening it. As you are rolling the dough keep turning it over and changing your direction. When it starts getting thinner you can stretch the dough by hand making sure not to rip it. Your aim is to make a 'roughly' squarish flat dough about 1-2mm thick.

Step 3
Dust the dough again on BOTH sides with flour. This will help you later when you're separating the noodles. Then carefully lift the dough and fold it on top of each other in a concertina effect. Making each fold about 10-15cm wide. Carry on until the dough is stacked neatly.

Step 4
Take a sharp knife, place a chopping board underneath the dough and start cutting 1cm strips from the dough perpendicular to the fold. Every ten or so slices lift the noodles and shake them through your fingers to separate them. Its at this point that you will be glad of dusting both sides of the flat dough earlier. If you don't dust well enough its a complete nightmare separating the noodles - trust me. Anyway, carry on cutting noodles until they are all completely separated.

Voila. Homemade noodles ready for cooking. Recipe to follow. If you have too many to cook in one sitting don't worry. Simply spread the out on a plate and place freeze them. They'll keep for a while.

Saag Paneer

2007-10-24T15:34:00.000+01:00

Great idea Anna, am jumping on the bandwagon of posting a recipe for Chris's birthday (although a day late!)

My additon to this ever increasing list of fabulous food-tasticness is a traditional punjabi dish with spinach (or Palak) and can be made with paneer and/or potatoes.

I have no idea of quantities I'm afraid so these are rough guidelines. I just normally wing it and taste and smell as I go along!!

This will feed about 4-6 people.

What you need:

Ghee (enough to coat the bottom of the pan and the cover the onions)
1 tsp mustard seeds
2 medium size onions finally chopped
Garlic
Fresh Ginger & Fresh green chilli (can be finely chopped with a hand blender)
Salt
Cumin seeds (jeera)
Whole corriandar seeds (Dhania - these will needs to be crushed in a pestle and mortar style)
Turmaric (haldi)
half tin of tinned tomotoes (pureed)
Loads of spinach chopped. If you're buying from the supermarket in bags then you'll need about 8 bags. If buying fresh then you'll need about 5 bunches if quite big.
Paneer - some supermarkets stock this now
or potatoes
Fresh corriander
Masala

And this is how you do it....

In a large pan, heat the ghee. Once hot add the mustard seeds, cumin, ground corriander and garlic. This will release the flavour of the spices. let them sizzle for a few seconds and then add in the finely chopped onions. The onions are the important bit. The onions need to slow cook for about 20 mins or until they're a red/brown in colour (but not burnt!)

Once they turned red/brown in colour, add the finely chopped ginger, chilli and salt and turmaric (haldi) and then the pureed tomotoes. Cook the tomatoes for about 10 mins on a low heat to cook through and once it's in a paste add the spinach. Cover and cook for about half an hour or until it breaks down nicely, and then add the paneer and/or potatoes then cook for a further 20 mins or unitl the potatoes are cooked.

At the end, add about 1/2 - 1 tspn of masala to taste and some fresh chopped corriandar.

Serve with chappatti (roti) and rice.

Yum yum.

Scrambled Eggs done properly

2007-10-23T14:20:00.000+01:00

As a kid, eating wobbly, rubbery scrambled eggs was all I knew. As a grown-up I've learnt how to make them properly and now I'm telling the world! You too will want them cooked this divine way instead of fried or poached on a Saturday or Sunday morning.

Ingredients
Free range eggs (1-2 per person)
Butter
Chives or spring onions, chopped
Salt and pepper

Method
Whisk your eggs in a bowl with a fork. Put a saucepan (not too small, you don't want the egg half-way up the sides) over a gentle heat and melt some butter. As soon as it's all melted add in the chives or spring onions and let them soften for a short while. Then add in the eggs. You will need stir the eggs regularly to ensure they don't stick and the uncooked egg gets the heat from the bottom of the pan.

Get your bread/crumpets/muffins in the toaster!

As the egg cooks and the mixture will become more solid make sure you stir it so the consistency is as even as possible. When you think it's nearly ready take it off the heat so it is still runny. Yes, before it's ready - this is necessary! You will see steam still coming off it and this means that the egg is continuing to cook in its own heat, which is what you want.

Add salt and pepper to taste. You should be able to 'pour' the eggs from the pan onto your toast. Serve with some lovely sausages from the butcher (or tomatos if you're a veggie).

I'm salivating just writing this. And it's only Tuesday - can i wait til the weekend?

P.S. This is dedicated to Chris who's been nagging me to do this for ages and since it's his 30th birthday I thought it would be an easier present to sort out than the stripper I know he really wanted. Happy birthday Chris.

Thai Green Monk Fish Curry

2007-09-27T21:02:00.000+01:00

Monk fish is an ideal fish for most types of curry as its tougher than most supermarket bought fish. In many cases it can just be substituted for chicken to varying success. The fish itself does not have an overbearing flavour so it tends to absorb the taste from the dish.

Ingredients:
1 Monkfish skinned and cubed
1 red pepper
1 green pepper
100g mange tout (halved)
2 tbsp thai green curry paste
1 can of coconut milk
1 bay leaf
1 tbsp fish sauce
1 small chilli (chopped) (optional)
bunch of coriander (roughly chopped)
1-2 tbsp olive oil

1) Heat the olive oil in a large frying pan until hot. Add in the chopped chilli and fry for a minute. Then add in the rest of the vegetables and fry for a further 3-5 mins until they have softened.

2) Add in all the thai green curry paste, stir thoroughly. Then add the coconut milk, bay leaf and fish sauce. Bring the sauce to the boil.

3) When it reaches boiling point add in the monk fish turn down the heat and simmer for ten minutes or until the fish is cooked. Remove the bay leaf and serve with rice or noodles (or as in our case both).

Cumin Minced Lamb in Pitta

2007-09-02T19:32:00.000+01:00

This dish takes about 10 minutes to cook after preparation and will serve four, although we gobbled this lot between us. It is one of Shanshan's favourite street foods in China.

Ingredients:
500g minced lamb
4 sticks of celery (sliced into 0.5cm slices)
4 pitta breads
pinch of szechuan pepper corn (use normal pepper corns if you don't have these)
2 tbsp of olive oil
2 tsp of cumin powder
1 tsp of hot chilli oil or hot chilli powder
salt (to taste)
1 tbps light soy sauce

1) Heat half the olive oil in a large frying pan or wok. When hot fry all the minced lamb until browned. Then drain the excessive liquid and set aside (placing the lamb on kitchen paper on a plate will do the job)

2) Heat the other half of the olive oil in the same pan and add the sechuan pepper corns, fry for 10 seconds then add the celery and fry until softened. Then add the minced lamb you set aside earlier, mix well then add the cumin powder, soy sauce chilli oil (or powder) and salt and continue to mix. Add water if the dish is too dry.

3) Toast the pittas for a minute each, slice in half and open up. In the pocket of the pittas fill stuff with the dish. Serve.

Marinated Pork Satay

2007-08-30T20:53:00.000+01:00

Right then here we go with the first recipe. This was one of the dishes that inspired this blog. Its a recipe for two. I hope you enjoy.

Ingredients:
2 pork steaks (sliced into strips)
100g of green beans (halved in length)
1 green pepper (sliced)
7 cherry tomatoes (halved)
1 clove of garlic (chopped)
2 pinches of Muer (Wood ear)
1 tbsp satay sauce
1 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tsp knorr chicken powder
1 tbsp olive oil

For the marinade:
1 tsp corn flour
1 tsp light soy sauce
1 tsp dark soy sauce
1 tsp sesame oil

1) Mix the marinade ingredients together and pour over the pork strips. They will need to marinate for at least 10 minutes. To prepare the muer place in a bowl of recently boiled water for 10 minutes.

2) When the pork has been marinated for long enough, heat half the olive oil in a pan and fry the pork strips for 5 minutes. Once cooked through remove pork from pan and set aside.

3) Using the same pan heat the rest of the oil, when hot add the garlic and cook for 30 seconds. Then add the tomatoes, beans and pepper. Fry for 3-5 mins until the vegetables lose some of their firmness.

4) Drain the muer and add to the pan with the pork. Add the satay sauce, soy sauce and the chicken powder and stir thoroughly. If the dish looks a bit dry add some water but not too much.

5) Serve immediately with rice.

Welcome to Zhoodles

2007-08-24T09:38:00.000+01:00

Zhoodles is a food blog. It has been put together simply to share with you some recipes and to help you understand how to cobble together some pretty decent food with a small amount of information. No doubt, if you've found this blog already you'll already be fairly accomplished in the kitchen and won't need much direction around the pots and pans yourself. We're not here professing to be experts, but as a huge fan of food and in particular the food my girlfriend (Shanshan Zhu) cooks I feel almost a sense of guilt as I gorge myself greedily. Which quickly passes and then I realise that these dishes would be readily welcomed on any table across the country/world. So after much consideration I'm delivering the blog.

None of these recipes will be taken directly out of cookbooks, but that's not to say that some of the recipes on here won't be in cookbooks. We'll never knowingly steal a recipe and publish it here....
But if we do we'll make sure that we acknowledge the creator and post links etc.

And finally. We won't be posting every day but we'll (hopefully) be posting quality recipes for you to enjoy. I'll do my best to get photos but no promises, I know what I'm like when the food hits the table.

In the meantime get yourself off to http://www.dorjes.co.uk/ and order a bottle of Fragolino before the summer ends. Its perfect for this Indian Summer we're all praying for.

Take care
Chris