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Friday 18 December 2015

Updated website

My new food website is now located at www.eatsimplelovefood.wordpress.com - an updated version of this blog. I will be using the new link from now on. Thanks!

Monday 14 December 2015

Recipe: Sweet potato hash browns

Sweet potato hash browns (with crispy bacon and an egg).


Ingredients (serves 2):
- 1 sweet potato (the sweet potato I had was large, but if yours are small, use 2)
- 2 tbsp of corn flour or plain flour
- 2 eggs, beaten
- Oil
- Cooked bacon, to serve (optional)
- 2 poached or fried eggs, to serve (optional)

Method:
1) Peel the sweet potato.
2) Grate the sweet potato, on the large side of a grater.
3) Squeeze out any water coming from the sweet potato, or your hash browns will be soggy. Throw this liquid away.
4) Mix the egg into the sweet potato.
5) Then mix in the cornflour or flour.
6) Add salt and pepper. Mix altogether and shape into flat discs.
7) Heat a large frying pan with about 2 tablespoons of oil on medium heat.
8) Put the sweet potato hash browns down to cook on one side, in batches (depending on how big your pan is). Leave for about 4-5 minutes until crispy.
9) Flip the hash brown over and leave on this side for about 4-5 minutes also.
10) Once cooked, place on a kitchen towel to drain any oil off. Add more sea salt on top of the hash browns.
11) Every time that you make a new batch, add a little bit more oil to the pan, or your hash browns may burn.
12) Serve with the bacon and egg.


Wednesday 25 November 2015

Recipe: Avo toast

Avocado toast with seeds

This is one of my favourite snacks, it is so quick to make and healthy.

Ingredients: (serves 1)
- 1 piece of brown seeded bread
- 1 avocado
- Half a lemon
- 1 small piece of ginger
- A handful of mixed seeds
- Balsamic glaze
- Chillies, chopped (optional)
- Chilly flakes (optional)

Method:
 1) Lightly toast the bread in the toaster.
2) Cut the avocado in half and scoop out the inside. Mash with a fork, until the consistency that you like.

3) Squeeze some of the lemon into the avocado.

4) Grate some ginger into the avocado.

5) Season with salt and pepper and mix together.

6) Spread the avocado onto the toast.

7) Add the balsamic glaze, seeds and chilli on top.



Recipe: Asian Sea bass

Ginger & spring onion sea bass


Ingredients: (serves 2)

- 2 fillets of sea bass, skin on
- 3 spring onions, chopped length ways
- A piece of ginger, chopped into strips
- 2 garlic cloves, chopped
- 1 red and 1 green chilli, chopped (to taste)
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
- 2 tbsp sesame oil
- Sea salt

Method:
1) Score (cut length ways into the skin of the fish) with a sharp knife.

2) Put some oil into a hot pan and add the sea bass, skin down.

3) Fry, skin side down for 5 minutes until crisp on a medium heat.
4) Then, flip the fish and cook for a further 2 minutes.
5) Take the fish out of the pan.
6) Add 2 tbsp oil into the same pan and add the spring onion, garlic, ginger and chillies.

7) Cook for a few minutes, then add the soy sauce and sesame oil.

8) Cover the fish with this sauce and season with a good amount of sea salt on top.


Tuesday 17 November 2015

Recipe: Chicken katsu curry

Easy chicken katsu curry, like at Wagamama


Ingredients: (serves 1)
For the chicken:
- 1 chicken breast
- 1 egg, beaten, poured on a plate
- A plate of plain flour
- A plate of breadcrumbs (preferably Japanese panko breadcrumbs, but if you cannot find them just use the normal breadcrumbs in a packet (eg. the Paxo brand), found in most supermarkets.

For the sauce: (this makes about 2 portions of sauce (I froze the rest).
- 1 tbsp oil
- 1 big onion, chopped
- 6 cloves of garlic, chopped
- 3 carrots, chopped
- 2 tbsp plain flour
- 2 tbsp medium curry powder
- 600ml chicken stock
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
- 3 tbsp brown sugar
- 1 tsp garam masala
- 1 tbsp corn flour, dissolved in a little water

Method:
1) Put the oil in a deep sauce pan, not a frying pan.

2) Once the oil has heated, add the onions and the garlic, Fry for 2 minutes, stirring.

3) Add the carrots. Put the lid on the pan and cook for 10 minutes, on a medium heat until the carrots are cooked.

4) Add the flour and the curry powder and stir in. Cook for a minute.

5) Add the stock in small amounts, mixing a lot as you add it, so there are no lumps.

6) Add the sugar, soy sauce and garam masala. Stir.

7) Place the sauce on the boil for about 10 minutes to reduce.
8) Use a hand blender/ blender to blend the sauce.

9) Place the sauce back on the boil, and slowly add the corn flour, to thicken the sauce. Again, stir quickly as you add it to avoid lumps.

10) Keep the sauce on the boil until it is the thickness that you want. Season with lots of salt and pepper.

Now to make the chicken:
11) Place the chicken breast on a chopping board.

12) Put clingfilm over the chicken and bang down on the chicken. (I only had an alcohol bottle, so you can use whatever you have, like a rolling pin). Press on the chicken until thinner. This will make the chicken moist when cooked.

13) Put the plates of flour, egg and breadcrumbs in this order. First dip the chicken into the flour (on both sides), then the egg (on both sides), then the breadcrumbs (on both sides).
Flour
Egg
Breadcrumbs
Dust the excess breadcrumbs off the chicken.

14) Heat some oil in a frying pan on medium heat and once heated, place the chicken in the pan. Make sure that the heat is not too high when cooking the chicken or the breadcrumbs will burn.
15) Cook on each side for 4 to 5 minutes on medium- high heat. Before you flip the chicken over, you will need to add some more oil to the pan, or the breadcrumbs will burn.
Check the chicken is cooked, by putting a sharp knife into the thickest part of the chicken, and the juices should run clear.

16) Cut the chicken up into slices, and serve with the sauce, rice and salad.

Enjoy x