It’s is also amazingly healthy and Fussy Foodie friendly.

Rick Stein’s Hainanese Chicken Rice (Khao Man Gai) – Recipe adapted from Rick Stein’s Far Eastern Odyssey

Rick Stein says: “This chicken rice, like babi guling, the slow-roasted pig from Bali, is a dish I would cross continents for. It appears in various forms all over the Far East, especially Malaysia and Singapore. There are people who wouldn’t let a day go by without a plate of chicken rice, and I can perfectly understand why. It’s the moistness of the chicken that gets to you”

Ingredients for Hainanese Chicken Rice:

• 1 x 1.5kg free-range chicken
• Freshly ground white pepper
• 25g peeled ginger, thickly sliced
• 15g garlic cloves
• 6 spring onions, trimmed
• Ginger and chilli dipping sauce (see recipe below)
• ½ cucumber, peeled, halved lengthways and sliced
• Handful of roughly chopped fresh coriander

For the rice:

• 1 tbsp vegetable oil
• 350g Thai jasmine rice, rinsed
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• 1 pandan leaf, tied into a knot (optional) ( I use a couple of kaffir lime leaf’s as easier to find)

For the chilli sauce (Fussy Foodie style):

• A teaspoon of dried chilli flakes
• Salt and pepper
• Half a lime juiced
• Small glove of garlic (crushed)
• 1/2 tsp of grated fresh ginger
• Squeeze of Agave Nectar

This is my sugar and wheat free version of the chili sauce:

In a small bowl mix all the ingredients and taste for seasoning you may need to adjust with more lime or salt, for your taste.

Steamed Chicken Rick Stein Style Preparation:

1. Remove any fat from the cavity of the chicken and set aside. Season the chicken inside and out with salt and white pepper. Lightly bruise the ginger, garlic and 4 of the spring onions with a rolling pin and push inside the cavity. Set aside for 1 hour (I am not a big planner, so tend to just get the chicken in the pan at this stage).
2. Bring 4–5 litre of water (enough to cover the chicken) to the boil in a large, deep pan in which the chicken will fit snugly. If the pan is too large, the amount of water needed to cover the bird will produce a watery stock. Immerse the chicken in the water, bring almost back to the boil and leave to simmer very gently for 15 minutes. Turn off the heat (yes turn it off), cover and leave for 30 minutes, then remove the chicken, cover and set it aside. Skim the fat from the stock and boil until reduced to 1.2 litres.


Chicken Ready for Steaming

3. For the rice, heat the vegetable oil in a medium-sized pan over a medium heat. Add the reserved chicken fat and leave for 2–3 minutes until melted. Remove from the heat, and lift out and discard any bits. You should be left with about 3 tablespoons fat. (This bit is not for me). Add the rice and stir-fry for a couple of minutes to coat the grains. Add 600ml of the hot chicken stock and bring back to the boil. Add the sesame oil and half teaspoon salt. Stir once, add the pandan leaf if using, cover, lower the heat and leave to cook for 10 minutes. Turn off the heat and leave to sit, still covered, for 10 more minutes, while you remove the chicken from the bones and cut it up into small pieces. Halve the remaining spring onions and thinly shred them lengthways.
4. Divide the ginger and chilli sauce between dipping bowls.
5. Spoon some of the cooked rice onto each plate, top with the cooked chicken and garnish with the cucumber. Reheat the remaining chicken stock and season to taste. Ladle into small soup bowls and sprinkle in the coriander and the shredded spring onion. Place a plate of chicken rice, a wedge of lime ( I love lime my little addition), dipping sauce and a bowl of soup in front of each person, and tuck in.

Steamed Chicken Rick Stein Style is my favorite recipe so far from Rick Stein Far Eastern Odyssey – give it a try love to know what you think.

Raw oat bar ingredients – makes two small bars:

• Cup of oats
• Tsp of almond butter or other nut butter
• 1/2 tsp of cinnamon
• 1 tsp ginger powder or raw ginger (finely chopped)
• 2 tbsp of nuts ( I used hazelnuts)
• 4 pieces of tinned pineapple and a tbsp of  juice
• Agave nectar squeeze optional (1 tsp)

Place the oats, nuts, cinnamon, and ginger  into a food processor and blitz until broken up. Add your nut butter, agave nectar (optional) and pineapple pieces to the food processor and blitz again. Slowly add the pineapple juice to mixture and keep blending until the mixture starts to combine. It should be a dry dough like texture so that you can mould it into a bar shape.

Once the mixture is ready, remove from the food processor and mould into a bar shape – pop in the fridge for a few mins to chill. That’s it the raw oat bar is ready to rock and roll.

This raw oat bar recipe is very flexible, I wanted to make a bar with no dried fruit, but you could use soaked dates instead of the pineapple, milk instead of the juice, banana instead of pineapple and all sorts of seed/nut combination. Give it a try and let me know you raw oat bar version and what you think.

Vegan Indian Pancakes – Ingredients:

Pancakes: (makes 2 pancakes)

• 3 tbsps gram (chickpea) flour
• Sparkling water
• 1 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1/3 onion, finely chopped
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 1/2 chilli, finely chopped
• Salt
• 1 tbsp oil (I used olive oil)

Filling: (serves 2)

• 2/3 onion, roughly chopped
• 1/2 tin of beans of your choice (I used black eye beans)
• 1/2 grated carrot
• 1 tomato, roughly chopped
• 1/2 pepper, roughly chopped
• 1 tbsp tomato puree
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 1 tsp mild curry powder
• Squeeze of lime
• 2 tbsps fresh coriander, roughly chopped
• Salt
• 1 tbsp oil (I used olive oil)

Vegan Indian Pancakes – Recipe:

Begin by chopping the onion, tomatoes, pepper, chilli and coriander and grating the carrot so they are ready to use and set aside.

To make the filling:

In a frying pan, heat a tbsp of olive oil on full heat, add the mild curry powder, cumin seeds and onion and fry until the onion softens.

Next turn the heat to half heat, add the beans and cook through for 2 – 3 minutes (if the mixture begins to stick, add a splash of water).

After the 2 -3  minutes, add the grated carrot, chopped tomato, chopped pepper and tomato puree and season with salt. Cover and leave to cook, stirring occasionally, whilst you make the pancakes.

To make the pancakes:

Add the flour, chopped onion, chilli, cumin seeds, cayenne pepper and salt into a mixing bowl. Gradually pour in the sparkling water, using a whisk to combine the mixture. Add enough sparkling water until your mixture resembles a batter.

Add the olive oil to a small frying pan and place over a high heat on the hob. When the oil is hot, carefully pour the excess into a separate container and set aside for later use.

Pour 1 ladel of pancake mixture into the frying pan and circle the mixture round to coat the whole pan. Put the pan on the heat to cook, look out for the mixture bubbling upwards (this will take approx. 1 – 2 minutes).

Once the mixture begins to bubble, use a fork to carefully edge the pancake away from the surface of the pan and flip the pancake over.

Cook for 2 minutes. When the pancake is cooked to your liking, place on a plate and repeat the process above until you have enough pancakes / all the mixture is used. Remember to add oil to the pan and drain any excess before cooking a new pancake.

To serve:

Place 1 pancake on a plate, cover half the pancake with the bean filling. Sprinkle with chopped fresh coriander and squeeze over some fresh lime juice. Fold the pancake over and serve.

Vegan Indian Pancakes would be delicious served with a fresh No Salad Dressing salad, some Lime Pickle, poppadums and a yogurt & cucumber dip. These Vegan Indian Pancakes are a quick to make and satisfyingly tasty dish.

Ombar are made in five different flavours – Cashew & Coconut, Banana & Hempseed, Acai, Goji & Lucuma and Cranberry. 

The main ingredients within each bar are cacao mass, agave nectar, cacao butter and coconut cream with each bar then having their individual flavours added be it acai, banana, hempseed, cranberry.

The bars are produced at low temperatures to preserve the natural goodness of the ingredients, and each bar is enriched with superfood powder for a powerful punch of anti-oxidants in each bite.

Ombars are made by Mood Foods and are available online through their website, or through a number of wholefood and health food outlets including Planet Organic, Revital Health, Fresh and Wild and many more, check out the Mood Foods website for details.

Sugar Free Granola -try sprinkled over yogurt

I think I have cracked it with a simple but effective formula for sugar free granola. The great thing is it’s really easy to scale up the ingredients so you can make as much or as little as you like.

Sugar free granola ingredients (makes 3-4 portions):

• Oats 100g
• Dried fruit, nuts and seeds 100g (I recommend 50g fruit, 25g nuts, 25g seeds)*
• Rapeseed oil 1 tbsp
• Agave nectar 3 tbsp

* I used dried apricots and nectarines, brazil and hazelnuts and a mixed seed pack but you can get creative and use whatever fruit, nut and seed combo you fancy!

Sugar free granola recipe

Roughly chop the nuts and fruits and mix with the seeds and oats in a large bowl. Gradually stir in the agave nectar and rapeseed oil and spread onto greaseproof paper on a baking tray.

Bake in a pre-heated oven at 150C for 15 minutes, remove from the oven and give it a shake and a stir. Break it up or clump it together as required, then bake for a further 10-15 minutes. Once cool store in an airtight container.

That’s it my sugar free granola, great on yogurt and added to cereals.

Vanilla Booja Booja is made of just pure water from reverse osmosis, agave nectar (diabetic friendly syrup from the agave cactus. Contains 74% fructose with low GI. Raw), Cashew nuts, Vanilla Oil 0.1%

I really can’t say anything more about Vanilla Booja Booja, other than grab a spoon and dive in – divine! You can buy all the Booja Booja varieties at: www.goodnessdirect.co.uk

Chicken Korma with a twist

I discovered this dairy free chicken korma recipe somewhat by accident (as many of the best discoveries are). I had a carton of longlife soya milk in the cupboard and decided to try cooking with it, for a change. Well, I was pleasantly surprised and it passed the true test when my ‘anti-soya milk’ husband went back for seconds!

Dairy Free Chicken Korma Recipe (serves 4):

Ingredients

• Chicken breast fillets x3 (or approx 350g) cut into thin strips
• Soya milk approx 300mL (I used Alpro Original long-life)
• Garlic 1 clove finely chopped
• Ginger 1inch piece finely chopped
• Courgette 1 medium, chopped
• Okra 10-15, sliced
• Turmeric 2 tsp
• Cinammon 1 tsp
• Cumin 1tsp
• Ground coriander 1/2 tsp
• Cashew nuts - large handful (optional)

Start by stir-frying the garlic, ginger and vegetables in a little oil until slightly browned. Remove from the pan and keep aside.

Now heat a little more oil and fry the chicken with the spices until cooked right through.

Return the veggies to the pan together with enough soya milk to just about cover it. Throw in a big handful of cashews and bring to a simmer.

Cover and simmer for about half an hour whilst you sort out some wholegrain rice.

Love to know what you think about my dairy free chicken korma and any of your own experiences of cooking with soya milk.

Pefkect Granola contains – Jumbo Oats, Golden Linseeds, Pumpkin Seeds, Sunflower Seeds, Almonds, Brazil Nuts, Pecan Nuts, agave nectar  and Cold Pressed Rapeseed Oil.

Now at £4.99 a pop Perfekt Granola is a bit pricey however it’s pretty tasty and you can  make it last longer using a few spoonfuls spice up some of the usual breakfast cereal suspects. I had my Perfekt Granola this morning with some puffed oats, a few extra seeds with a splash of oatly and I have to say the taste was pretty special, so look out for the special box next time you need some cereal.

Rude Health’s new addition

The range of oat-based cereals, mueslis and granolas on the supermarket shelves has boomed in recent years, much to the delight of the health-concious foodie!

You might already have come across their Early Bird muesli range but now Rude Health are leading the way in the wholesome cereal market with the launch of puffed oats.  

Oats are a fantastic start to the day as they have a low glycaemic index, meaning that they will help to stabilise blood sugar and keep you full for longer. They also provide beta-glucan, a type of soluble fibre that helps to lower cholesterol.

Puffed oats are available in Waitrose from the end of July (£1.60 per box). You will also find a range of other Rude Health cereals including organic and raisin-free muesli and a new puffed wheat cereal. Let us know what you think and if you find puffed oats available in any other shops.

Sugar free courgette chutney recipe (makes 1-2 jars):

Ingredients

• 1 large courgette, chopped
• 1 red apple, peeled and chopped
• 1 stick celery, chopped
• 1 large handful mixed raisins and sultanas
• 50mL cider vinegar
• 1tsp ground ginger
• 1 clove garlic, finely chopped
• 1/2 tsp coriander seeds, crushed
• 2 tbsp agave nectar (or you could use honey)
• salt and pepper

Simply add all ingredients to a pan and simmer for around 45 minutes or until thickened. Taste along the way and add seasoning / agave nectar to taste. Store in an airtight container in the fridge – lovely courgette chutney done!