The Home Cookin' Thread W/ Recipes

[DieselDaisy]

I have a quick and easy recipe to elevate instant dried chicken noodles (what the yanks call ramen), a fairly bland convenience food, into premium chow mein. You need this or something similar,

Oyster sauces, light soy sauce, lime (optional), onions/scallions, ginger, garlic and vegetable or peanut oil

Prep: boil kettle and put wok on highest heat. Finely dice onions, fresh root ginger and garlic

1/ stir fry onions/ginger/garlic for about a forty seconds to a minute; remove from heat

2/ place dried noodles on top of onions, etc; pour boiling water until noodles are around 2/3's covered (less than they usually say on the packet). Add a table spoon of oyster sauce and contents of noodle sachet to water - do not worry about stirring it in at this stage.

3/ Place back on heat and boil. After about a minute, turn noodles over, and then start stirring (you can always add water if required, if the noodles are still dry and require more cooking time).

4/ Remove from heat. Add table spoon of soy and a squirt of lime (optional). Stir again. Serve

You can always adapt this by adding mushrooms and prawns (towards the end of the cooking time) or bell peppers (at the beginning).

 

[AxlsFavoriteRose]

35 minutes ago, DieselDaisy said:

I have a quick and easy recipe to elevate instant dried chicken noodles (what the yanks call ramen), a fairly bland convenience food, into premium chow mein. You need this or something similar,

Oyster sauces, light soy sauce, lime (optional), onions/scallions, ginger, garlic and vegetable or peanut oil

Prep: boil kettle and put wok on highest heat. Finely dice onions, fresh root ginger and garlic

1/ stir fry onions/ginger/garlic for about a forty seconds to a minute; remove from heat

2/ place dried noodles on top of onions, etc; pour boiling water until noodles are around 2/3's covered (less than they usually say on the packet). Add a table spoon of oyster sauce and contents of noodle sachet to water - do not worry about stirring it in at this stage.

3/ Place back on heat and boil. After about a minute, turn noodles over, and then start stirring (you can always add water if required, if the noodles are still dry and require more cooking time).

4/ Remove from heat. Add table spoon of soy and a squirt of lime (optional). Stir again. Serve

You can always adapt this by adding mushrooms and prawns (towards the end of the cooking time) or bell peppers (at the beginning).

 

very ingenious! i like to do something with Top Ramen ( am thinking it's basically the same as your Batchelor's Super Noodles. ) i make a very simple teriyaki sauce (recipe below ) and toss the noodles with it. there's usually some left so i put it on the baked chicken thighs i cook to serve along side the teriyaki noodles. i don't use the flavor packet. if you have the time and the patience you could cut the chicken in small pieces, stir fry it and add it to the noodles. i have thought of doing that with beef or pork but haven't tried it yet

 

Teriyaki sauce

yields approximately 1/2 cup ( this can also be doubled if you want more )

1⁄4 cup soy sauce

1cup water

1⁄2teaspoon ground ginger

1⁄4teaspoon garlic powder

5tablespoons packed brown sugar

1 -2tablespoon honey

2tablespoons cornstarch

1⁄4cup cold water

On Sale Near You

 

DIRECTIONS

Mix all but cornstarch and 1/4c water in a sauce pan and begin heating.

Mix cornstarch and cold water in a cup and dissolve. Add to sauce in pan.

Heat until sauce thickens to desired thickness.

Add water to thin if you over-thick it :).

 

for the noodles i just cook as directed omitting the sauce packet.

Edited October 22, 2016 by AxlsFavoriteRose

[Snake-Pit]

@DieselDaisy

I cheat and go to my local Wing Yip.

http://www.wingyip.com/

This is what Chinese takeaway/take out places use

£22.95 before tax.

 

I buy this

 

£1.65

makes like 30 currys.

Same product inside... 

 

So yeah, boil up some diced chicken, then boil this up, add garden peas, onions, mushrooms and chicken to sauce, stir and let it all cook for like 5-10 minutes: Chinese Chicken Curry...

 

 

 

Put rice into saucepan, add a splash of oil, heat and stir for like a minute to gently cook rice; add in egg if you want for egg fried rice, and stir making sure it doesn't burn, not for long, no longer than a minute. Add water, boil rice for as long as the direction on packaging tells you to.

 Egg (or whatever, maybe Chicken) Fried Rice.

Edited October 22, 2016 by Snake-Pit

[DieselDaisy]

If you want to dispense with the noodle's sachet or have some odd flavour (some of these instant noodles have some disgusting flavours), merely get a knorr chicken stock cube and crumble a bit off it - not the whole thing or it will be too salty.

[janrichmond]

What's a dutch oven?

[PappyTron]

2 hours ago, janrichmond said:

What's a dutch oven?

I'll answer before Len or Dazey, for reasons they know full well. A Dutch Oven is basically a large clay or steel pot that you place directly onto hot embers in order to cook.

[janrichmond]

50 minutes ago, PappyTron said:

I'll answer before Len or Dazey, for reasons they know full well. A Dutch Oven is basically a large clay or steel pot that you place directly onto hot embers in order to cook.

So you can use it on a gas or electric cooker? Like a stew pot or large pan?

[DieselDaisy]

I think it is just a casserole dish.

[janrichmond]

1 minute ago, DieselDaisy said:

I think it is just a casserole dish.

That's what was trying to say, lol

[DieselDaisy]

The Americans have all sorts of strange words for things which I discover every day. My favourite is a teeter-totter (for a seesaw). I must admit, that is a more splendid word than our own. They also - and this is pertinent for cooking - use a measurement system involving 'cups'. Basically this messes up (for a non-American) every recipe written by an American in human history. I've researched the conversation, of cups into table spoons and so forth, but I'm never entirely certain I have exactitude here. 

[PappyTron]

12 minutes ago, janrichmond said:

So you can use it on a gas or electric cooker? Like a stew pot or large pan?

You should be able to yes.

[PappyTron]

1 minute ago, DieselDaisy said:

The Americans have all sorts of strange words for things which I discover every day. My favourite is a teeter-totter (for a seesaw). I must admit, that is a more splendid word than our own. They also - and this is pertinent for cooking - use a measurement system involving 'cups'. Basically this messes up (for a non-American) every recipe written by an American in human history. I've researched the conversation, of cups into table spoons and so forth, but I'm never entirely certain I have exactitude here. 

[Snake-Pit]

Be sure to use the right spoon when cooking up drugs.

[AxlsFavoriteRose]

6 hours ago, Snake-Pit said:

add garden peas

are these fresh green peas? i love fresh green peas! my ex sister-in-law, who heard me rave about how much better fresh taste than the frozen kind. anyway she got a bunch from a produce stand by Half Moon Bay which is just a few scant miles to the sea and where i usually purchase them from. she and her husband own the produce business that i worked for and yet she said the fresh peas tasted like the frozen ones...WRONG!

the only problem for me is i tend to eat almost half the ones i shuck 

but yeah they are MUCH better than the frozen type IMO anyway ( and everyone i serve them to, excluding the evil ex sis in law  )

[Whiskey Rose]

2 hours ago, janrichmond said:

So you can use it on a gas or electric cooker? Like a stew pot or large pan?

It's basically a very heavy pot that can be used both on the stovetop and in the oven.

[AxlsFavoriteRose]

2 hours ago, janrichmond said:

So you can use it on a gas or electric cooker? Like a stew pot or large pan?

this is the exact one i use

i use it to brown the meat in then add other ingredients to make everything like stew, chicken and dumplings, pot roasts, spaghetti sauce, homemade beans with ham and sometimes sausages, soups, gumbo...so many times really! also you can use it i the oven up to 400 degrees 

from what you wrote i'd guess it's closest to a stew pot and i have no reason why

[Snake-Pit]

2 hours ago, AxlsFavoriteRose said:

are these fresh green peas? i love fresh green peas! my ex sister-in-law, who heard me rave about how much better fresh taste than the frozen kind. anyway she got a bunch from a produce stand by Half Moon Bay which is just a few scant miles to the sea and where i usually purchase them from. she and her husband own the produce business that i worked for and yet she said the fresh peas tasted like the frozen ones...WRONG!

the only problem for me is i tend to eat almost half the ones i shuck 

but yeah they are MUCH better than the frozen type IMO anyway ( and everyone i serve them to, excluding the evil ex sis in law  )

They're not minted.

I never buy minted peas, was raised to add my own mint to peas if I ever wanted minted peas... I don't really do minted peas... Sounds good with lamb.

 

Shepherd's pie;.

Minced lamb - boil/defat the minced lamb.

Big potatoes - boil a pot of potatoes so they're ready for mashing; drain water once they're ready, add milk and butter to the potatoes, mash to the potatoes, add an egg yolk (yellow bit) and stir into the mashed potato.

Take the now defatted minced lamb... Layer it/spread it all over the bottom of deep oven tray. add chicken stock. Add peas, chopped carrot, sweetcorn, chopped onion (if you want onion too)... I do, it's good to have as much variety of fruit and vegetables in your daily diet as you possibly can, so I add it.. Distribute your veg' over the minced lamb/layer of meat so it becomes layer number two (sort of)... but really, just spread it over the layer of meat in the deep tray.

Spread your mashed potato evenly over the whole thing, place in an oven at like gas mark 5 until it's top layer starts to turn golden. 

This is Shepard's Pie, changing the key ingredient from minced lamb to minced beef turns this dish into Cottage Pie.

Edited October 23, 2016 by Snake-Pit

[AxlsFavoriteRose]

thanks! i have been wanting to make this for a while now. and you included a recipe for it  

[Snake-Pit]

16 minutes ago, AxlsFavoriteRose said:

thanks! i have been wanting to make this for a while now. and you included a recipe for it  

It's cool, just make sure your mashed potato layer/top layer isn't smooth, so, idk, score the top layer with a fork a couple of times/make tracks along the your top layer of mashed potato before putting it into the oven. You could also pipe the mashed potato on instead if you have a piping device, but importantly; you don't want a smooth surface. So spread it all evenly, but don't spread it flat and smooth, spread it flat, then run a fork along the top of it to give it grooves/tracks in the mashed potato.. Then commit to oven.

Edited October 23, 2016 by Snake-Pit

[Snake-Pit]

I buy frozen garden peas @AxlsFavoriteRose

I know a pea's a pea but I do go all out and get this resealable brand of frozen garden pea.

 

[AxlsFavoriteRose]

3 minutes ago, Snake-Pit said:

 

I buy frozen garden peas @AxlsFavoriteRose

I know a pea's a pea but I do go all out and get this resealable brand of frozen garden pea.

 

frozen peas are what i use 85% of the year @Snake-Pit and that's what i buy, but the fresh ones are heavenly IMO. 

but in a casserole like Shepherd's Pie i doubt even i would notice the difference between the the two!

[Gracii Guns]

We've just been approved to rent our new house (yay!). We'll be paying more in rent, so our beloved Shit Faced Mondays ^TM won't happen as often. (Other sacrifices will be made too). We will have a garden with lots of fruit and veg which we have agreed to keep growing. I can't remember them all, but there are certainly apples, rhubarb, courgette and tomatoes. I'm looking to become as self sufficient as possible. Does anyone have any super grow-your-own veg tips, for a small garden? How about those grow-in-the-bag potatoes? We have a green house and a conservatory too. 

[DieselDaisy]

1 hour ago, Gracii Guns said:

We've just been approved to rent our new house (yay!). We'll be paying more in rent, so our beloved Shit Faced Mondays ^TM won't happen as often. (Other sacrifices will be made too). We will have a garden with lots of fruit and veg which we have agreed to keep growing. I can't remember them all, but there are certainly apples, rhubarb, courgette and tomatoes. I'm looking to become as self sufficient as possible. Does anyone have any super grow-your-own veg tips, for a small garden? How about those grow-in-the-bag potatoes? We have a green house and a conservatory too. 

Seriously though I do that, albeit I've led it slide a bit these last few years (because of the English cricket season) and now just grow herbs. You can grow cherry tomato plants in a pot on your window - the light will create a natural lighthouse effect. You can buy smaller varieties like tomb thumb lettuce if you do not want this gigantic allotment. I think the best success I had was with beans, green beans, broad beans, peas, etc. They are manageable and you get a good yield. I grew purple sprouting Broccoli, not realising that it takes two years, and caterpillars love it. Every day I would knock a load of caterpillar eggs off - I didn't want to use pesticide as it rather defeats the purpose of being green and organic.

[Gracii Guns]

The Good Life- they were living the dream, weren't they? 

Thanks for the advice on the veg. Didn't realise that broccoli takes two years to grow. I love broccoli though so might try to plant it straight away and look forward to it. 

[AxlsFavoriteRose]

6 hours ago, Gracii Guns said:

We've just been approved to rent our new house (yay!). We'll be paying more in rent, so our beloved Shit Faced Mondays ^TM won't happen as often. (Other sacrifices will be made too). We will have a garden with lots of fruit and veg which we have agreed to keep growing. I can't remember them all, but there are certainly apples, rhubarb, courgette and tomatoes. I'm looking to become as self sufficient as possible. Does anyone have any super grow-your-own veg tips, for a small garden? How about those grow-in-the-bag potatoes? We have a green house and a conservatory too. 

yay! just one question....what exactly is shit faced Monday? 

oh and sorry i have no advice, i have the brownest of thumbs