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Thursday, 30 June 2011

Chocolate Almond Creme Fraiche Cake

I like to experiment with substitutes for butter when baking cakes, mainly to be less lardy but also because it makes baking a little bit more interesting. Usually, I go for oil, mashed bananas or other pureed fruit, but when I found myself with some creme fraiche to use up, I figured it'd be worth a shot.

I've not used creme fraiche in a cake before apart from this Raspberry Clafoutis, which was quite light in texture.

This Chocolate Almond Creme Fraiche Cake on the other hand, turned out a little different than expected.

Actually, that's probably a bit misleading - I didn't really know what to expect. The texture of it seemed to be light and dense at the same time. Sounds strange I know, but it's the only way I can describe it! It tasted fluffy and wasn't overly sweet, but one small slice felt quite heavy after eating. And that's saying something, as I normally eat at least two pieces of cake in a row ;-)

Having said that, I originally cut the cake into 6 slices before eating one, when really, I should have cut it into 8...

Chocolate Almond Creme Fraiche Cake
For a 7" sandwich tin (8 slices):

100g plain flour
75g sugar
50g ground almonds
2 tbsp cocoa powder
1/2 tsp baking powder
Pinch of salt
2 eggs, lightly beaten
100g creme fraiche
100g banana, mashed
1 tsp vanilla essence
25g flaked almonds

1) Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C.
2) Sift the flour into a large bowl with the sugar, ground almonds, cocoa, baking powder and salt.
3) In another bowl, carefully beat the eggs with the creme fraiche, banana and vanilla. Pour into the flour mixture and fold well.
4) Transfer to a lined sandwich tin, then scatter over the flaked almonds evenly.
5) Bake for 25-30 minutes until you can pull a toothpick out clean.

More Hungry Jenny cakes here!

Other butter free baking recipes that might take your fancy.
Continue reading this post..

Monday, 27 June 2011

The Mess of Sloppy Jens

I've never really understood Sloppy Joes - a burger with a mound of minced beef in tomato sauce? Yes, I know it's called 'sloppy' for a reason, but are you supposed to be able to pick it up and eat like an actual burger? Or do you use a knife and fork to cut pieces of bun to scoop up the beefy slop?

So I thought I'd make a Sloppy Jen...
...ah, I couldn't help it alright!

Quite simply, I thought that spooning the mince filling into a grilled pitta pocket would create a nice sturdy base to eat it. But you know what?

It's still a mess to eat! With pitta bread being rather thin, it's not strong enough to hold all that meaty filling. Grilling the pitta a bit longer than usual to make it stronger does not seem to do the trick either - the sauce still weakens the bread and makes it flimsier!

Then when you pick it up, the filling starts to slop out at the sides and there's nothing you can do about it - you just have to go with it. I probably tried to pack too much filling into the pitta as well to be honest.

So get yourself some napkins, because you will make a mess.

Sloppy Jens
Fills 6 pittas:

300g lean beef mince
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp paprika
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tbsp honey
100g red onion, chopped
150g can of chopped tomatoes
3 fresh tomatoes, chopped
1 tbsp tomato puree
100g butterbeans
6 wholemeal pitta breads

1) Mix the soy sauce, paprika, oil and honey in a bowl with the mince. Leave to marinate for at least 15 minutes.
2) Fry the onions for a minute, then add the marinated mince to brown.
3) Add all the tomatoes, puree and butterbeans, then turn down to simmer for about 10 minutes until nice and hot.
4) Slice the pitta breads lengthways to create an opening. Pop in the toaster or grill for a minute on each side.
5) Carefully spoon the beef mixture into the pitta pockets and serve with salad.

More BEEFY recipes.
Continue reading this post..

Friday, 24 June 2011

Friday Pie Day: Cherry Berry Pies

Hello, cheeky chappy.

This week's pie was borne out of a random idea to use up some flavoured yogurt.

Yes, crazy simple and oh-so-simple. Those are the best kind of pies.

Although these are cupcake-sized pies, there is not too much faff involved with the individual pastry placement at all. The pastry is an oat and oil based one, so you don't really need to worry too much about 'kneading' this into a dough beforehand.

As long as you have mixed it together well enough, with no dry patches in sight, you can just use a spoon (or clean hands!) to press the mixture into each cupcake hole. I also lined the cupcake holes with squares of greaseproof paper first to make the pies easier to remove after baking.

The yogurt I used was simply a couple of those individual pots you can buy as a multipack. In this case, I went with black cherry flavour because I like the dark pink colour, and then just got some blackcurrants to match. It's all about the accessorising you know.

Cherry Berry Pies
Makes 10-12:

50g blackcurrants (fresh or frozen)
1 tbsp cornflour
200g black cherry yogurt
Juice of 1 lemon
1 tsp vanilla essence

150g plain flour
100g rolled oats
25g ground almonds
75ml grapeseed oil

1) Preheat the oven to 220 degrees C. Sift the flour into a large bowl with the oats and almonds. Pour in the oil and mix well until all the mixture is wet.
2) Use rough squares of greaseproof paper to individually line each hole in a cupcake tray. Press the mixture on the bottom and up the sides of the 10-12 holes (depending on how thick you want the crust).
3) Bake for about 10 minutes, then leave to cool.
4) Coat the berries with the cornflour in a bowl. Add the yogurt, lemon juice and vanilla, mixing well.
5) Spoon the mixture into the cooled crusts, then return to the oven at a reduced temperature of 180 degrees, for about 20 minutes until set.

To test if they're done, give them a little shake - the filling shouldn't wobble!

Pie out.

Read my other Friday Pie Day adventures.
Continue reading this post..

Thursday, 23 June 2011

Hanging Out With M&M

So hey, it was Father's Day last weekend, so naturally, I decided to go all out, and took my dad to M&M World, to hang out with the coolest sweets in town...

Not sure my dad quite got my excitable idea to copy cool Blue's pose...

Alright, so I'm kidding (a bit).

I was in London with my family, and we were walking off a big lunch we'd just had in Chinatown. In times like this, we often end up wandering aimlessly around Covent Garden, Leicester Square or Oxford Street.

This time around, we found ourselves stumbling across the new M&M's store in Leicester Square, which literally only opened about a week ago.

It was the most bizarre experience ever - four screaming floors of colourful M&M hysteria, endless streams of overpriced merchandise of every item you can think of, kids bouncing off the walls, and all-singing, all-dancing staff swinging around to top it all off. Oh, and loads of actual M&M sweets too.

I have to admit - I was so blinded and confused by the whole experience that I kept forgetting to take photos. Wish I'd taken more now, just to show you how crazy the place is!

We only made it around two floors, before realising that there is alot of the same thing around, and you need alot of energy to just take yourself around the whole place. Kids and tourists should love it. A local family with two 'grown-up' children? Hm, probably not so much.

DespiteWe realised when we finally stepped back outside into the cold, rainy reality of London that we'd still managed to wander around the place for about an hour!


Think it made my dad enjoy his Father's Day that little bit more though, after his car ride with cool Blue at least :-)

Continue reading this post..

Tuesday, 21 June 2011

Chocolate Minted Salmon Pasta

I love eating pasta but don't tend to make it alot at home - I never really know what sort of dish to make.

So when I was given a bag of chocolate pasta as a gift, it took me a while to work out what to do with it..!

My gut reaction was to couple it with beef in some way. I'm not sure why - just picturing lovely pink medium-rare steak slivers nestled in chocolate pasta sounds rather divine.

But I'm not that great at doing steak, despite being a bit of a beefy eater, and figured I'd probably mess it up. I still wanted something bright though against the dark pasta, so I decided to go with pink salmon instead. Yes, there is a crazy logic to how recipes emerge from Hungry Jenny land.

What with this being a special kind of pasta, I didn't want to just do a simple cream sauce either, but struggled to think of what savoury flavours would go well with chocolate.

Then it hit me - mint. It's a good friend to chocolate, and no stranger to salmon either. So surely that could all work together?

Why yes, I'm glad to say it does!

The chocolate pasta is indeed chocolately, but not in an overly sweet way. It holds it own and doesn't taste like thick slabs of chocolate which I thought it might do. To continue the chocolate theme, I also grilled the salmon in some lemon-fused cocoa powder, chopping it roughly in with some soft greens.  The minty creme fraiche sauce is simple but is all you need to bring this dish together - with a sneaky bit of chocolate pasta water too if you like ;-)

Chocolate Minted Salmon Pasta
Serves 2:

150g chocolate pasta
2 salmon fillets
1 tsp cocoa powder
Juice of 1 lemon
150g marrowfat peas
100g spinach
2 tbsp creme fraiche
1 tbsp fresh mint

1) Gently bring the pasta to boil, then leave to simmer on a low heat for about 15 minutes until al dente. Drain, reserving some of the chocolate pasta water.
2) Mix half the lemon juice in a bowl with the cocoa powder. Brush the mixture over the salmon fillets.
3) Stick the fillets under the grill for 8-10 minutes until done - use a fork to see if the edge flakes easily. Leave to rest.
4) Meanwhile, gently heat the peas and spinach in a pan. Add the creme fraiche and mint, stirring well. Pour in some of the reserved pasta water if you wish.
5) Add the cooked pasta and squeeze in the remaining lemon juice.
6) Roughly chop the grilled salmon into large chunks and nestle into the pasta before serving.

Have you tried chocolate pasta before?
Continue reading this post..

Friday, 17 June 2011

Friday Pie Day: The Truly Garlic Mushroom Potato Pie

Hold your breath.
This is truly a honker.

Now I don't eat garlic alot - but only because it's just one of those ingredients that I never think to use (I'm more of a ginger girl to be honest). So when I do remember to use it, I simply have to go all out.

Ok, so I haven't gone completely vampire-phobic and used a whole bulb in this week's pie or anything, but there's 4 cloves in there - which to me feels pretty wafty.

This garlic-fuelled pie is veggie friendly, with mushrooms, green beans and spring onions. That might not sound like a lot but the mushrooms I bought at the market the either day were HUGE! I should have taken a photo of them, but naturally, this occured to me only after I chopped them up.

There's garlic in the sake splashed creamy sauce, the veggies are fried in garlic, and the potato topping is mashed in, well, more garlic.

So be warned, only eat this in the company of those who will accept your garlic breath...

Garlic Mushroom Potato Pie
Serves 4 (8" pie dish):

300g creme fraiche
75ml sake (sherry or rice vinegar could be used instead)
25ml olive oil
450g potatoes, chopped
Pinch of salt
4 garlic cloves, crushed
Juice of 1 lemon (plus some grated zest if desired)
400g large closed cup mushrooms, quartered
200g fine beans, chopped
4 spring onions, chopped

1) Preheat the oven to 190 degrees C. Mix the creme fraiche, sake, oil and a quarter of the garlic in a bowl and set aside.
2) Bring the chopped potatoes to boil in a pan of lightly salted water. Turn down to a low heat and simmer for 15 minutes until just cooked. Drain.
3) Add half the lemon juice and half of the remaining garlic to the potatoes. Mash well and keep warm.
4) Meanwhile, fry the mushrooms in the remaining garlic for a couple of minutes. Add the beans and onions, tossing well. Squeeze over the remaining lemon juice.
5) Stir in the creme fraiche mixture and turn down to simmer for 5 minutes. Transfer to a ovenproof dish.
6) Spoon the mash on top, scattering over some lemon zest if you like. Bake for half an hour until the top is crisp.

Pie out.

Read my other Friday Pie-Day adventures.

Other vegetarian recipes you might like.
Continue reading this post..

Wednesday, 15 June 2011

Say NO to Takeaway: Tuck into Some Thai Turkey Spring Rolls Instead!

Spring rolls can be greasy. Very greasy. I've never been into the deep frying thing. Or even the shallow frying thing to be honest. But you can get away from all of that lardiness if you simply turn to baking them instead of course.

They will still come out lovely and crisp - but minus the fatty grease sliding off them. And even though you are baking them, they still only take about 15-20 minutes in the oven.

A word of advice - make more of these than you intend to eat, because you will want to eat more than you plan to...

Thai Turkey Spring Rolls
Makes 8:

1 tbsp fish sauce
1 tsp garlic, finely chopped
Half tsp grated ginger
125g turkey, minced
75g carrot, grated
1 spring onion, finely chopped
2 tbsp fresh coriander, finely chopped
4 large sheets of filo pastry (approx 24 x 25cm)
Some olive oil
2 tbsp sesame seeds

1) Mix the fish sauce, garlic and ginger in a small bowl with the turkey.
2) Throw into a hot work, tossing quickly for a few minutes to brown.
3) Add the carrot and onion, frying for another minute. Take off the heat and stir in the coriander. Allow to cool.
4) Take out a filo sheet, using a piece of clingfilm to cover the rest.
5) Cut into 4 squares, then place 2 on top of each other, brushing each layer very lightly with olive oil.
6) Spoon some filling onto one edge of the square, fold the sides over and roll up to close in the filling. Repeat for the other square, then the remaining 3 filo sheets.
7) Brush a little more oil onto the top of each and sprinkle on some sesame seeds.
8) Transfer to a baking try and bake at 190 degrees C for 15-20 minutes until golden.

If you liked this, you might want to try making these other takeaway alternatives too.
Continue reading this post..

Monday, 13 June 2011

Peanut Butter Berry Cake

Peanut butter and berries? Hm, it might sound odd to some I suppose.

But there was a purely logical route to the making of this cake.

Alot of my baking tends to be berry based (such an easy way to experiment with different flavours and sweetness). I also tend to have random cravings for peanut butter...

So naturally, I wondered what it might taste like to marry the two together - I don't know why I hadn't thought of trying this out sooner!

There's a generous amount of peanut butter in this cake, and I couldn't help but couple it with mashed banana too.  As I was mixing it all though, I wondered whether the peanut butter flavour would come through enough, what with all the banana in there, which can be overpowering in a cake sometimes.

The solution? Peanuts.

What with this being a last minute thought, I had to just use what I had in the house, which was a packet of salted ones. Despite wondering whether this would destroy the sweetness of the cake, I quickly scattered them on top anyway.

I was thinking that I'd have to suggest using unsalted peanuts in this recipe but after tasting it, I'd say go for salted! The saltiness of the peanuts against the sweet berries inside actually works strangely well...

Peanut Butter Berry Cake
For an 8" round sandwich tin (6-8 slices):

4 tbsp peanut butter
50ml grapeseed oil
1 small banana (100g), mashed
150g self raising flour
100g ground almonds
75g sugar
1/2 tbsp baking powder
100g blackberries (fresh or frozen)
50g peanuts, salted or unsalted, up to you!

1) Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C. Mix the peanut butter with the oil and mashed banana.
2) In another bowl, sift in the flour with the almonds, sugar and baking powder. Fold in the berries.
3) Add the peanut butter mixture to the flour mixture. Transfer into a lined sandwich tin, using a knife to level it over. Scatter the peanuts on top.
4) Bake for half an hour until nice and golden.

Other butter free baking recipes that might take your fancy.

More Hungry Jenny cakes here!
Continue reading this post..

Friday, 10 June 2011

Friday Pie Day: Lazyboy Rolls

I was chatting to my boss the other day about my baking patterns (as you do), and she asked me how I manage to make a different pie every week for Friday Pie Day.

To be honest, it depends on what I'm doing that week. If I have alot of time to think about it, then my brain starts going into elaborate pie-thinking mode and I make unusual things like these Mini Chilli Con Carne Pies, then others like this Painful Pumpkin Pie which just go horribly wrong.

If, on the other hand, I am really pushed for time, I pull out something like this - Lazyboy Rolls.


Or in other words - effortless sausage rolls.

No, of course I don't mean the party packs you get from the supermarket (which I'm not knocking by the way!).

I'm talking prebought puff pastry, some porky mincemeat - and a bit of mustard to boot. Prebought puff pastry for obvious reasons, of course. No faffing around trying to make your own. And mincemeat because then you don't even have to worry about de-skinning some sausages and getting your hands dirty.

So even if you can't be bothered, you can still have a Friday Pie Day.

Lazyboy Rolls
Makes 12:

100g puff pastry
100g lean pork mince
1 tbsp wholegrain mustard
1 egg, beaten

1) Preheat the oven to 220 degrees C.
2) Roll out the pastry onto a floured surface into a large rectangle. Cut in half lengthways.
3) In a bowl, mix the pork and mustard. Spoon half the mixture along the length of a pastry strip. Brush the long edge with some beaten egg, then roll the pastry over to seal. Repeat with the remaining mince and other pastry strip.
4) Cut each roll into 6 small rolls, and cut two slits through the top of each. Brush with more egg wash.
5) Transfer to a baking tray and bake for 15 minutes. Turn the heat down to 180 and bake for another 15 minutes.

Roll them out the oven. And eat.

Pie out.

Read my other Friday Pie-Day adventures.
Continue reading this post..

Thursday, 9 June 2011

Hungry Jenny Faux Pas: Strawberry Flat Cake

Hm, Strawberry Flat Cake?

So what's that, like a bit of a twist on flatbread? Or a type of funky cookie?

Well, no.

Put simply, this was another case of I'll-just-make-it-up-as-I-go-along. Yes, I know - despite many, many Hungry-Jenny-Faux-Pas incidents, I will never learn not to mess with the science of baking.

In this case, I was trying to go butter and sugar free, with the use of yogurt, oil and honey instead - clearly the wrong proportions though. What came out was a cake that was still soft and moist on the inside (thank you for your co-operation, strawberries), but quite tough and dry on the outside. And of course, a bit flat.

I can't dress this one up folks - it's just another cake gone slightly wrong. Now that's a song I haven't sung before, right?

Fancy a laugh at my other Hungry-Jenny-Faux-Pas?
Continue reading this post..

Tuesday, 7 June 2011

How to Stir Fry Tofu (without it breaking into mush)

Tofu is not exactly the most sexiest of foods is it? It has a strange wibbly texture, can be a little bland, and looks suspiciously like lard.

Now I'll openly admit that I've always been a bit nervous to cook with tofu. The tendency for tofu to break down like jelly on a grate is probably what puts alot of people off trying to cook with it at home.

However, after a recent tofu mishap (the image of which I don't want to pain your vision with), I wondered whether there was a particular way of stir frying the damn stuff without it breaking.

And you know what? There is. And it's easy.

I found this article on the HubPages site which details a 'dry-fry and marinate' method. Basically, you dry out the tofu first, fry it in a pan without any oil, then sit it in your chosen marinade, before then adding to your stir fry.

The method might sound a bit long-winded, and in a way, I guess it is because it adds to your prep time, but it's not exactly a laborious mission:

1) Sit tofu chunks on kitchen towel with another sheet on top. Leave to dry out for half an hour, or just gently press down to get the water out.
2) Heat a non-stick pan and dry fry the tofu pieces gently. Use a spatula to press down on the pieces slightly to squeeze the remaining water out. It will make a lovely squeaking noise! Flip them occasionally to make sure they brown evenly.
3) Remove from the heat and sit in your chosen marinade.
4) Now they're ready to chuck into your stir fry, and boom, there you'll have chunky, flavoursome tofu to go.

It's worth pointing out here that there are a few types of tofu, the first two of which are in dire need of this method. There's 'silken' tofu, which is generally quite soft and undrained, so the most delicate variety. You can also get firm tofu, which, despite its name, still contains some water, so the dry-and-marinate method works for this too. Finally, you can get dry tofu, which is the firmest version, and kinda rubbery in texture (sounds yum, doesn't it?).

Now I guess it depends on where you live, but I can usually only get hold of silken tofu - probably the least co-operative of the tofu brothers in a stir fry, but it's possible to make it work. Honest. Try it.

Mango Tofu Stir Fry
Serves 2:

200g firm/silken tofu, cubed
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp garam masala
1 tbsp honey
1 orange pepper, chopped
2 tomatoes, diced
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp ginger
200g mango, cubed
A little veggie oil
Steamed rice to serve

1) Sit the cubed tofu on a kitchen towel with another sheet on top. Leave to dry out for half an hour, or just gently press down to get the water out. In a bowl, mix the soy sauce, garam masala and honey, and set aside.
2) Dry fry the tofu pieces in a hot, non-stick pan, using a spatula to press down slightly to squeeze the remaining water out. Flip them occasionally to make sure they brown evenly.
3) Remove from the heat and sit in the soy sauce mixture for at least 15 minutes.
4) In a hot wok, add the oil and fry the pepper and tomatoes for a couple of minutes - then add the turmeric and ginger, tossing well for a minute.
5) Add the tofu pieces and continue to stir fry gently for another couple of minutes.
6) Take off the heat and mix in the mango to warm through. Serve with steamed rice.

I'll admit, my attempt does still looks a bit funny, but at least the pieces are intact, which is the main thing! Have a go...
Continue reading this post..

Friday, 3 June 2011

Friday Pie-Day: Blue Cheese and Bacon Tarts

Would it be wrong to start this post by saying that I don't like blue cheese?

Well, the truth is that I cannot lie to you. Blue cheese is rank.

So why of all pies did I decide to make a tart of blue cheese?

Well it was purely incidental for the following reasons:

1) I was randomly given a block of blue cheese
2) I had some leftover filo pastry to use up
3) I found a recipe that uses both of the above

Although I own a few recipe books, I very rarely use them - I prefer to just flick through them for inspiration. In this case, I was looking through Cookery School, which was sent to me to review.

When I saw a recipe for Blue Cheese and Baon Tarts, I thought, hm, probably not something I'd make out of choice, but I've got the ingredients so let's give it a go...

Now I've not a big cheese baker, so I'm sure it was just the error of my ways, but for some reason, the cheese just would not set! I had preheated the oven high, and followed the recipe exactly, but the filling refused to set inside.

So what's that all about?

Eventually, it kind of set on top but it was still a bit gooey underneath - I'm pretty sure it's not supposed to all spill out as you cut into it...

Ordinarily, with such a disaster, I wouldn't post the recipe (or I would at least tweak it so you can avoid repeating my mistakes!). But since this was from a recipe book, I've posted it anyway - to me, there didn't seem anything odd about it when reading through, but surely I can't have messed up that bad from following the instructions?

Then again, I don't have a good track record of following recipes correctly anyway..!

Blue Cheese and Bacon Tarts with Baby Gem Leaves
Serves 4:

For the tarts:
20 sheets of filo pastry (13 x 13cm)
25g unsalted butter, melted
1 tbsp olive oil
4 rashers back bacon, cut into lardons
1 egg
150ml double cream
80g British blue cheese, crumbled into pieces
8 spring onions, trimmed and thinly sliced on an angle (I only used 2!)
Salt and pepper

For the baby gem dressing:
3 tbsp rapeseed oil
1 tbsp white wine vinegar
1 tsp Dijon mustard
1/2 tsp sugar
Leaves from 2 baby gem lettuces

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C
1) Brush a sheet of filo pastry with a little melted butter and lay it over the outside of an upturned 6cm tart tin (or muffin tray!). Repeat with 4 more sheets of pastry, laying each one at a slight angle. Then repeat to make 3 more pastry cases.
2) Place the upturned tin/tray in the oven for 10 minutes. Remove and set aside to cool.
3) Add the olive oil to a hot pan. Fry the bacon lardons until crisp and set aside.
4) Crack the egg into a bowl and whisk in the cream. Add the cooked bacon, cheese and spring onions, and season. Ladle the mixture into the pastry cases.
5) Return the filled pastry cases to the oven for 10-12 minutes until just cooked.
6) To make the dressing, mix together the oil, vinegar, mustard, sugar, plus salt and pepper in a bowl.
7) Add the lettuce leaves and toss well.
8) Serve each tart on a plate with the dressed lettuce leaves on the side.

Recipe extracted from 'Cookery School', brought to you by Channel 4 with recipes by Richard Corrigan. (Penguin HB, £20)

Pie out.

Read my other Friday Pie Day adventures.
Continue reading this post..

Thursday, 2 June 2011

Say NO to Takeaway: Make a Prawn and Pineapple Fried Rice Dish Instead!

Fried rice is surely one of the simplest dishes that you can blag, if you're trying to cook up a speedy takeaway alternative.

If you have leftover rice to use up, then all the better.

By using rice that's already cooked and cooled, you will find it alot easier to stir fry up. It will dance and combine lovingly with your ingredients like a proper stir fry should.

Making rice there and then to use is absolutely fine of course, but you'll find that it may stick a bit when you transfer it to your wok to fry with the rest of your ingredients. If you at least leave the rice to sit out after cooking to cool a while, then you should be alright!

There are also two ways of adding the egg - you can either cook the egg first, take out the wok and add back in at the end.

The other way is to stir fry all of your ingredients, add the rice, and then pour the beaten egg over to cook through that way. So you get lovely egg-soaked fried rice.

I prefer the first method, simply because I like to keep the egg pieces in tact!

When I'm being lazy, I usually just splash a bit of soy sauce over whatever fried rice dish I'm making - and seriously, this is all you need sometimes. But with this Prawn and Pineapple Fried Rice, I mixed the soy with some fish sauce and ginger to make it a bit more special :-)

Prawn and Pineapple Fried Rice
Serves 2:

150g prawns
100g pineapple, chopped
2 spring onions, chopped
1 red pepper, chopped
4 eggs, beaten with a pinch of salt
4 tsp soy sauce
3 tsp fish sauce
1 tsp ginger, grated
1 tsp garlic, finely chopped
A little veggie oil
150g cooked, cooled rice
To cook rice: Wash the rice, then add to a pan with 150ml hot water. Bring to the boil, then cover and leave to simmer for 20 minutes. Take off the heat for 5 minutes before fluffing through with a fork.

1) Mix the soy, fish sauce, ginger and garlic in a small bowl. Set aside.
2) Add the oil to a hot wok. Pour in the beaten egg to cook through for a few minutes. Remove from the wok and set aside.
3) Quickly add the prawns to the heated wok with the soy fish mixture. Toss for a few minutes, then add the pepper and spring onions. Gently stir in the pineapple.
4) Finally, add the cooked rice and egg to mix through.

If you liked this, you might want to try making these other takeaway alternatives too.
Continue reading this post..
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