Tag: sesame

King Prawn Noodles

Wok fried egg noodle, King Prawns, vegetables and a delicious light sesame honey sauce.

A very quick and easy recipe for some very delicious noodles – Wok fried in minutes with a light sweet and savoury sauce.

This dish can easily be adapted, swapping the prawns for diced cooked chicken or using Tofu for vegetarians. You can also experiment with different vegetables – green beans, mushrooms and Chinese green vegetables all work well too.

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Serves two

Preparation 10 minutes, cooking less than 10 minutes.

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Method and ingredients

For the sauce:

2 dessert spoons sesame seeds

2 dessert spoons light soy sauce

1 dessert spoon dark soy sauce

1 dessert spoon Shaoxing rice wine

1 dessert spoon white vinegar (or rice vinegar)

1 dessert spoon honey

1 dessert spoon oyster sauce

2 tsps. sesame oil

Method: Mix well in a bowl and set aside ready to add to wok.

 

For the main dish:

2 nests medium thick egg noodles

500ml chicken stock – to cook noodles in

2 tbsp. wok oil – to fry dish

1 tbsp. vegetable oil – to cook prawns

10-12 large raw King prawns – shells removed

6 cloves garlic – peel, crush and chop

Thumb root ginger – peel, cut into matchsticks

2 large red chillies – removes stalks and seeds, finely chop

1 medium/large white onion – peel, pull layers apart and dice into large chunks

1/2 red bell pepper – dice (same size as onion)

1 stick celery – diced

1 carrot – cut into thin batons

Method: The first step is to cook the prawns and the noodles so they are ready to add to the wok.

To cook the prawns heat 1 tbsp. vegetable oil in the wok until smoking hot and add the prawns. Stir fry for 60-90 seconds then remove prawns and place on absorbent paper – you want to just cook the prawns and no more, remove them the second they turn from grey to white/pink as they will finish cooking in final dish.

Cook the noodles as per packet instructions but use chicken stock instead of water, this will add extra flavour to the noodles. Once cooked drain and set aside ready to add to the wok.

Wipe the wok clean then add 2 tbsp. of wok oil and heat until smoking hot – keep hob on max setting. Add the garlic, ginger and chilli and stir fry for 30-60 seconds. Add the onion, pepper, celery and carrot and stir fry for a further 90 seconds, you want these to retain crunch for texture.

Add the cooked noodles, followed by the prawns, stir well and fry until warmed through (should take 30-60 seconds). Add the sauce to the dish and stir well until combined, stir fry for 45-60 seconds until dish is steaming hot. Remove from the heat and serve straight away in a nice noodle bowl, chopsticks entirely optional 🙂

 

 

Ferret Chef2 Comments

Prawn and Blue Swimming Crab Salad with Korean Chilli dressing

Salad with cold water prawns, chunks of blue swimming crab and a Korean style sesame and chilli dressing.

The summer season is finally here in Edinburgh after a long, cold, dark winter and with it comes salad season. I love nothing more than a good fresh salad on a warm summers day, in fact I have been dreaming about one all winter – there is something about a summer’s day that just says “salad”, or maybe its just me!

With this salad of cold water prawns, blue swimming crab meat, eggs, romaine lettuce, cucumber, tomatoes, red chilli, yellow bell pepper and red onion, the twist comes with the dressing which transforms the salad to something really special. The dressing is made from sesame seeds, sesame oil, dark soy sauce, honey, vinegar and the essential Korean ingredient – gochujang chilli paste.

I always find it hard to put into words exactly how my food tastes, but one thing I can say for sure is that the dressing transforms an ordinary salad into a truly exotic and fun dish.

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Serves two as main dish or four as a starter

Ingredients and method

The salad

120-150g crab meat – I used blue swimming crab

125-150g cold water prawns – pre cooked, shell and head removed

1 romaine lettuce – wash, dry and roughly shred

4 large round tomatoes – cut into eighths 

10-15 cm cucumber – cut into medium thick slices

4 pre boiled eggs – see method

1 red onion – thinly slice

1 yellow bell pepper –  cut into small pieces or dice

1 large red chilli – thing slice, keep seeds in for spice (optional)

Method: To boil the eggs – bring a medium-sized sauce pan to the boil then carefully add the eggs one at a time into the water, take care not to drop them in too quickly or they will crack (remove and discard if they crack). Reduce heat so pan is gently boiling and cook for 10 minutes.

After this remove eggs and place them in a bowl of cold water to stop them cooking. Once cooled remove from water and set aside. To remove the shells take the egg and tap the egg against the worktop until it starts to crack, turn the egg and continue to tap so that you crack the egg all the way round (imagine a line round egg and follow it). Once you have cracked the egg all the way round the shell you should be able to gently pull the shell and membrane away from the egg.

Assemble the ingredients, layering them in a large salad bowl ready for the dressing.

For the Korean dressing

1 heaped dessert spoon gochujang chilli paste

1 dessert spoon dark soy sauce

1 dessert spoon clear honey

1 dessert spoon vinegar

1 heaped dessert spoon sesame seeds

2 teaspoons sesame oil

Method: Add all the ingredients in a bowl and mix well until combined. Cover and set aside at room temperature for 45-60 mins, to allow flavours to develop. Before serving mix well again, then drizzle over the salad, then mix well so it coats everything. Serve immediately and enjoy!

 

 

 

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Korean Cucumber Salad with Sesame Dressing

A cucumber salad with spring onion, red onion, red chilli, herbs and a sesame dressing.

This salad is the perfect accompaniment to any Korean dish, especially for people like me that love Korean food but don’t like kimchi. Adding some tofu, grilled chicken or prawns can transform this side dish into a great starter.

The salad is made from cucumber which is deseeded, peeled and cut into crescents. The cucumber is then dried on absorbent paper to remove any excess water and so it takes up the flavour from the dressing. Sliced red onion, red chilli, spring onions along with a mixture of mint and coriander make up the salad.

The dressing makes the salad come alive – it is made from dark soy, honey, vinegar, sesame seed, sesame oil and the magic ingredient gochujang.

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Serves two as a side dish or starter

Preparation time 10 minutes

Ingredients

For the salad:

15cm length of Cucumber – deseed, peel, cut into crescents

1 red bird eye chilli – thinly slice

4 spring onions – thinly sliced

1 red onion – slice into thin strips

Handful of fresh coriander leaf – roughly chopped

Handful of fresh mint leaf – bruise, thinly slice

Method: Dry the cucumber crescents on absorbent paper for a few minutes. Add the salad to a bowl and mix well with your hands. Set aside.

For the dressing:

1 dessert spoon Gochujang chilli paste

1 dessert spoon Dark soy sauce

1 dessert spoon clear honey

3 teaspoons vinegar

2 teaspoons sesame seeds

1 teaspoon sesame oil

Method: Mix the dressing well in a bowl until combined. Set aside at room temperature until ready to serve. When serving drizzle over the salad then mix well with a spoon or your hands. serve and enjoy!

 

 This salad works well with my recipes below:

Korean King Prawn Chilli noodles

Korean beef skewers

Korean crispy Sesame chicken with fried chilli noodles

Sesame chicken

 

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Korean beef skewers

A really quick and easy recipe for knock out Korean beef skewers.

 

The beef is knocked flat with a rolling-pin, then thinly sliced. This is added to a marinade made from ginger, garlic, dark soy, vinegar, shaoxing, sesame, honey and gochujan chilli paste.  Left a few hours in a fridge then the beef is skewered, before being cooked quickly over a hot skillet.

In this recipe I used fajita steak, however any steak cut such as sirloin or rump would work just as well. I served this as part of a main meal along with some coconut rice and a cucumber salad (recipe below), however it also works brilliantly as a starter.

You can make a tasty dipping sauce by pouring the marinade into a saucepan and cooking it through the boil.

 

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Serves two as a starter or part of a main meal

Preparation time 20 minutes (plus 3 hrs marinading time)

Cooking time approx 5 minutes

Beef Skewers

2 steaks (fajita, frying, sirloin or rump) – flatten with rolling-pin/mallet, thinly sliced

Bulb of garlic – crush and finely chop

Thumb of ginger – cut into thin match sticks

2 dessert spoons dark soy sauce

1 dessert spoon vinegar

1 desert spoon sesame oil

Dash shaoxing wine

2 teaspoons sesame seeds

1 dessert spoon honey

2 dessert spoons gochujan paste

Vegetable oil  (to lightly bush grill)

You need a skillet grill pan and bamboo skewers for this recipe.

Mix marinade in a bowl then add the thinly sliced steak. Stir then cover in a fridge for at least three hours or overnight. Remove 30 minutes before cooking.

Get cooking!

  1. Start by skewering the beef. Try to get several skewer folds as you do this instead of simply one in one out.
  2. Heat the skillet pan over a high heat until smoking hot, then lightly brush with oil.
  3. Add the skewers across the grill from right to left, spacing out slightly so that all the skewers have room on the grill and are not lifted off by its neighbour – this helps to evenly cook them.
  4. On a hot grill the skewers will cook very quickly and need at most 90 seconds on each side, even less for very thinly sliced beef. Make sure you turn them in the same order for even cooking.
  5. Once cooked on both sides remove skewers in same order placed on grill and transfer to a plate to rest for 2 minutes before serving.
  6. If you wish transfer the remaining marinade into a saucepan and heat through until it bubbles away to kill any bacteria. This makes an excellent dipping sauce along.

Cucumber salad

15cm cucumber – deseed, peel and cut into crescents

2 long red chillies – thinly sliced

3 spring onions – thinly sliced

2 tbsp chopped fresh coriander leaf

2 tbsp chopped peanuts

Mix ingredients in a bowl, keep the coriander and peanuts separate to add as a last-minute garnish.

For the salad dressing:

1 dessert spoon gochujang chilli paste

1 dessert spoon dark soy sauce

1 dessert spoon honey

3 teaspoons rice vinegar

1 teaspoon sesame seeds

1 teaspoon sesame oil

Mix the dressing well in a separate bowl, drizzle over salad before serving.

 

Korean beef skewers

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Korean crispy Sesame chicken with fried chilli noodles

My take on Sesame chicken – Korean style.

Chicken marinated for 2-3 hours in dark soy sauce and sesame then coated in corn flour just before being deep fried. I used a chicken supreme breast with bone in to give extra juicy flavour, although you could use diced breast, wings, thighs or drumsticks if you wish. Don’t be concerned by the dark colour of the fried chicken, its not overdone, the dark soy colours the crispy corn flour coating.

Noodles are stir fried along with vegetables, ginger, garlic, gochujan (Korean fermented chilli paste) , honey, vinegar and dark soy sauce – they are so tasty they would be a great meal by themselves.

A rich sesame sauce completes the dish, made from Tahini, peanuts, gochujan, dark soy, sesame oil, garlic and vinegar. This is warmed through in a separate sauce pan then poured over the crispy fried chicken.

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Serves two people

Preparation 30 minutes (plus 2-3hrs marinating time)

Cooking time 10-15 minutes

Ingredients

For the fried chicken:

2 chicken breasts, bone in (I used chicken supreme cut- see above notes)

4 desert spoons sesame seeds

2 desert spoons sesame oil

2 desert spoons dark soy sauce

Vegetable oil to deep fry (approx 180०c)

Approx 75g corn flour (enough in a bowl to coat chicken) 

Use a food bag, put all the ingredients in and massage them into the chicken. Tie the bag and marinate in fridge for 2-3 hours or overnight. Remove from fridge at least 20 minutes before cooking to bring chicken to room temperature.

For the stir fried noodles:

1 tablespoon wok oil

6 trimmed broccoli spears

8 trimmed green beans (cut into 3-4cm lengths)

1 carrot (cut into thin matchsticks)

1 red chilli (thinly sliced)

6 baby corn (thinly sliced)

1 red onion (cut into thin strips) 

2 portions of cooked medium thick egg noodles

Handful of peanuts

Thumb of ginger (cut into very fine matchsticks)

2 teaspoon sesame seeds

1 desert spoon gochujan

1 desert spoon honey

1 desert spoon vinegar

2 desert spoons dark soy sauce

4 cloves garlic (crush, finely chop)

Place all of the chopped vegetables in a bowl ready to fry. In a separate bowl make the noodle flavour mixture – mix the ginger, sesame seeds, gochujan, honey, vinegar and garlic. Stir well until combined.

For the sesame sauce:

4 desert spoons Tahini paste

4 desert spoons peanuts

1 desert spoon gochujan

2 desert spoons dark soy sauce

1 desert spoon sesame oil

3 cloves garlic

1 desert spoon vinegar

Add all the ingredients to a mini blender and whizz into a smooth sauce ready to be heat through just before serving.

 

Get cooking!

You need a wok, pan for deep frying and a small saucepan to heat the sesame sauce.

  1. Start by pre heating the oil to around 180०c. Remove the chicken from the bag and roll in the cornflour ensuring the chicken is well coated. Place carefully in the oil and deep fry for 6-8 minutes until chicken turns dark brown and floats in the oil. Remove and sit on a plate with absorbent paper.
  2. Add a tablespoon of wok oil to the wok and heat on maximum hob setting until smoking hot. Add the bowl of vegetables and stir fry for 1 minute, keeping hob at maximum setting. Next add the noodle flavour mixture and stir fry for a further minute. Next add the noodles and stir through so the noodles are coated in the sauce. Stir fry for a further minute until piping hot.
  3. In a separate saucepan heat the sesame sauce through to the boil, stirring to make sure the sauce does not burn on the pan bottom.
  4. Place the noodles on serving plates, place chicken on top then pour the sesame sauce over the chicken.
  5. Serve and enjoy!

Ferret Chef5 Comments