Zucchini Pho Soup

INGREDIENTS

1. 2 litres good quality  stock 
2. 1 stick of cinnamon (or 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon)
3. 2 star anise
4. 4 whole cloves
5. Thumb sized piece of ginger, peeled and grated
6. 2 cloves of garlic, peeled and minced
7. Zest of 1 lime
8. 2 tablespoons fish sauce 
9. Handful of green beans, cut into small pieces
10. 1 zucchini, spiralized

Garnish

1. Handful of coriander (cilantro), finely chopped
2. Handful of cashews, chopped

DIRECTIONS

1. Place the stock, cinnamon, star anise, cloves, ginger, garlic, lime zest, fish sauce,  in a large pot. Heat on high until the mixture comes to a boil then turn down to simmer for 20 minutes. Remove the cinnamon stick, star anise, and cloves. Add in the sliced beans and cook for a further 2 minutes.
2. Divide the spiralized zucchini and soup among 4 bowls. Garnish with the chopped coriander, and cashews, 

Easy Satay Sauce

INGREDIENTS

• 70g (1/4 cup) crunchy peanut butter
• 125ml (1/2 cup) coconut milk
• 1/2 garlic clove, crushed
• 2 teaspoons kecap manis
• 2 teaspoons fresh lime juice
• 1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon curry powder
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander

Stir in a saucepan 2-3 minutes. Use as a marinade or in stirfries etc

Easy lime and chili buttered chicken

An Original Recipe by Lorraine Elliott/Not Quite Nigella

Preparation time: 5 minutes

Cooking time: 40 minutes

• 1 size 16 or 18 chicken (1.6-1.8kg or 3.5-4lb), cut into pieces
• 50g/1.7ozs. softened butter
• Finely grated zest of 1 lime
• Juice of 1/2 lime
• 1 long red chilli, chopped
• 2-3 cloves garlic, chopped
• 2 tablespoons sweet chilli sauce
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1/2 tablespoon finely grated ginger
• Fresh coriander to serve

Method

Preheat oven to 220C/440F and place the chicken pieces in a baking tray skin side up. Blend the butter, lime zest, lime juice, chilli, garlic, sweet chilli sauce, soy sauce and ginger in a small food processor (or just chop and mix by hand). With hands (latex gloved if you're sensitive to chilli), spread the flavoured butter over the chicken, coating it well. You can do this the night before if you want and just cover the chicken and place it in the fridge. Roast the chicken for 40 minutes, basting halfway through with the juices (take the breast pieces out as soon as they are cooked after around 30 minutes as I find that they dry out otherwise).

Asian flavours

In order to mix and match Asian flavourings it helps to arrange them in flavour families. That makes it easier to work out what to use for the effects we want to produce

Salty (essential for tasty food)
Soy sauce (salty, a bit thin flavoured on its own) oyster sauce (softer and fuller) salt (surprise!!) stock powder

Hot (for depth and balance – don’t need much, or not at all)
Chili/ sweet chili sauce, curry powder or paste (thai curry pastes only need a teaspoon or so to give a bit of zing) pepper

Acidic (cuts down and lightens heavy flavours)
Vinegars (use sparingly, they can be quite strong) lemon or lime juice or sherry or rice wine (neither of which you’re likely to have)

Sweet
Honey, sugar, hoi sin (or Chinese BBQ sauce – a heavier flavor, a bit salty but predominantly sweet)

Coconut Milk (CM)– a category of its own, works to soften down flavours the way you’d use yogurt or sour cream in western cooking, but, of course, coconut flavoured (duh!)

Sesame oil (SO)– such a distinctive flavor, warm and nutty – goes well with Chinese type flavours, would be more cautious combining it with Thai

Spices
Cumin – the authentic taste of general spiciness (is also used in Mexican)
Coriander – I think it goes with everything, but that’s because it’s my favourite
Ginger – sharper and more zingy
Five spice – usually not mixed with the other spices, fragrant and unique
Garlic – a little bit is good added to most things
Lemon grass – fresh lemon flavor without the strong acidity

Possible combinations

A salty, plus an acid plus a spice or 2, either sweet or SO or neither

CM + soy + coriander + some lemon or lime + maybe sweet

CM +hot +salty +spice

Salt +spices

CM +salt +lemon grass +coriander

Salt+ acid +sweet = sweet and sour – add a spice or 2 for flavour variations

Our old classic Chinese = soy +acid +coriander +cumin +SO