Thai fish cakes recipe for the Sainsbury's Love Your Freezer campaign

Thai Fish cakes with fish from the freezer ...


It's surprising what you can make with ingredients from your freezer, isn't it? Sainsbury's have launched a Love Your Freezer hub to encourage people to get the most of their freezer and help them to make quick and delicious food.

Vietnamese Crispy Coconut Pancakes with Prawns & Fresh Herbs ("Banh Xeo")

Vietnamese Crispy Sizzling Coconut Pancake

Crispy savoury sizzling pancakes...

These golden crispy Bánh Xèo are the perfect base for a savoury filling made up of prawns, red peppers and bean sprouts.  There are no eggs in this batter, which is made from rice flour and coconut milk.  Instead, ground turmeric gives this pancake it's lovely golden colour.

Serve the pancake with lettuce of your choice and fresh herbs like mint and watercress.  Then, eat it with a tangy dipping sauce made from fish sauce and fresh lime juice.   

Vietnamese Crispy Sizzling Coconut Pancake

Japanese-style soba noodles in ginger miso soup recipe

Japanese-style soba noodles in ginger miso soup with shiitake mushrooms, pak choi and leftover roast chicken

Leftover roast chicken and noodles in ginger miso soup
When I was growing up, my mother would make noodle soups all the time.  With four kids in the house, it was the perfect way for her to prepare a quick, easy meal and to use up whatever was available in the fridge.  Small quantities of a variety of vegetables like pak choi or choy sum would be thrown into steaming hot broth, along with any leftover meat that was available at the time. When I eventually left home and had to fend for myself, this was a dish that featured prominently in my weekly meal plan.  With my limited cooking skills, it was a fast, healthy hot meal that well and truly satisfied.

Growing Asparagus Peas (not quite the same as the Asian Winged Bean)...

A bean emerging from its stem is not normally something that one writes home about, but it is the frills on this particular one that makes it rather a unique and peculiar sight.  Unlike ordinary peas or beans, the Asparagus Pea has four sides, and each of these has a delicate and pretty frilled edge.

What is the difference between the Winged Bean and the Asparagus Pea?

Photo courtesy:  Crocus.co.uk - Asparagus Pea

Recently, I have been searching for a bean that I used to often eat in Malaysia - a bean that doesn't look like a regular bean, but has four frilly sides to it.  It is called the Winged Bean or the Four-Angled Bean.  It is a lovely, crunchy bean that is really delicious stir-fried with a spicy chilli, garlic and shrimp paste mix.

After searching for seeds online, I finally stumbled across the Asparagus Pea, which looks identical to the Winged Bean.  So, the question is - is there a difference between the Winged Bean and the Asparagus Pea?

Harvesting and Eating Mizuna

Our Purple Mizuna Harvest

Mizuna is still growing in our garden from the last year.  The plants are now starting to get quite big, so the leaves will picked, sauteed with extra virgin olive oil or as a treat, a small amount of butter.  Add to that, a pinch of sea salt and they are ready to be eaten.  The leaves are wonderfully fragrant, and gloriously purple - and as always, I delight in picking purple vegetables of any kind - purple "Rubi" Pak Choi, purple sprouting broccoli and now the vibrant leaves of the purple "Red Knight" Mizuna.

Growing Mizuna over winter

Mizuna is a vegetable that has overwintered really well.  The variety shown here is Mizuna (Red Knight), and the seeds are from Unwins.

Growing Rubi Pak Choi with purple leaves!

Over the last few months, we have had two varieties of Pak Choi (Pak Choy, Bok Choy) growing in our vegetable patch.  The first is the magnificent looking  Rubi (F1) Pak Choi which has lovely deep purple leaves and pale green stems, and the other is a white stemmed, green leaved Dwarf Bok Choy .

Growing
This year, I decided to grow Rubi Pak Choi during the cooler months.  The seeds were sowed in the late Summer in the UK (September), and then planted out shortly after.

Have you ever seen a purple Pak Choi ...?

Rubi Pak Choi

So, having lived in Asia for many years, I thought that I had seen all the Pak Choi (Bok Choy, Pak Choy) that the world had to offer, until I arrived in the UK, and stumbled across a seed packet with a vegetable resembling a Pak Choi on it, only it had purple coloured leaves.  This really baffled me, since I had never come across a purple Pak Choi before.  It felt a bit like the time I tried to explain to my nephew James who lives in Hong Kong (then twelve), that I had seen someone growing a purple carrot in the UK, to which he snorted in disbelief and asked me if I was sure it wasn't just a rotten one.

Anyhow, to all the people around the world who have grown up eating Pak Choi, whether green or white stemmed, there is now also a purple leaf variety that is a hybrid called Rubi (F1) Pak Choi.  The catch is that you will have to grow it yourself, to be able to taste it, as it is not going to be available at your local supermarket any time soon.

You might also be interested in the full post on Growing Rubi Pak Choi.

Growing Lemongrass in the UK (and cold climates)

Lemongrass growing in a container

So, can you grow lemongrass in colder climates like the UK?  The answer is yes, you can!  A couple of years ago, we embarked upon an experiment to try to grow lemongrass in the UK.  This is the result.

Should I Grow Bitter Melon?

The strong, bitter flavour of the Bitter Melon or Bitter Gourd (Ku Gua, Fu Gua) is almost certainly an acquired taste.  As a child growing up in Malaysia, I can remember avoiding it at all costs, thinking that it was the most horrid vegetable on the planet and one best left for the grown-ups.  And then, a few years ago, I returned to Malaysia as one of those "grown-ups" and whilst at a restaurant, observed with much curiosity how popular bitter gourd dishes were with diners all around me.  I decided to give it another go, and to my surprise, actually really enjoyed the bitter edge that this vegetable had to offer.  Perhaps my taste buds had finally grown up?

Grow Your Own Aromatic Lemongrass for Thai & Malaysian cooking!

Freshly harvested lemongrass and chillis from our garden

A lemongrass plant on first impression looks like wild grass, the kind you might see in an abandoned field that has been overrun by weeds.  But upon closer inspection, each blade of grass is actually attached to a thick bulbous stalk with an aroma that becomes apparent as you attempt to twist it away from its base.  A mellow lemony fragrance subtly infuses the air leaving you with little doubt why those who first discovered this herb of South East Asian origins decided to cultivate and use it so extensively in their cuisine.

Walking through the supermarket the other day, I was astounded at how expensive lemongrass was.  I balked at the prospect of having to pay up to three dollars (that's Australian dollars) per stalk, but luckily I am one of the fortunate few who do not have to, as we have several large clumps of this aromatic grass growing in our garden.

Easy way to propagate Lemongrass so it grows roots!

If you have always wanted to grow lemongrass, then you are going to love this simple method to get your plant started!  It took me just two weeks to get a lemongrass stalk to develop roots like this!

Growing Society Garlic or Chinese Garlic Chives?

Growing in my parents' garden at the moment is an edible plant with garlicky foliage that is pretty tasty when stir-fried.  They were given a clump of the plant a few years ago, and it has been growing in the garden ever since.  For the longest time, we assumed these were Garlic Chives, also called Chinese Chives (or "Gow Choi" in Chinese).

Easy way to grow Spring Onions

A few months ago, I wrote about an easy way to grow spring onions (also called scallions, salad onions or 葱).  Anyhow, a family member who lives in Sydney, Australia read the post and decided to try it out, resulting in great success and these fantastically lush green leaves.  What can I say?  These spring onions grown out of a container in Australia turned out even better than ours did in the UK. 

Delicious Things to Harvest in June!

The month of June was a month of 'green' for us and for the very first time, we were able to continuously harvest and eat our own homegrown vegetables.  Mostly these were green vegetables, which has helped to fulfill my cravings for Chinese cuisine and boost our CVC Index*. As the Summer season begins, temperatures in England have soared (with some days reaching a maximum of 28 °C), and whilst most of our plants have thrived in this heat, the soil has never been drier meaning constant watering has become crucial. In these extra long sunny days when the sun doesn't set until half past nine in the evenings, it has also meant a lot more 'garden' time for us!

Harvest Snow Peas & Look out for Fairies!

Picking Snow peas is one of my secret joys in the garden at the moment. There is something about seeking out these delightful little green pods from behind leaves and stems and then reaching out to snap them off that makes me feel childishly nostalgic.

Or perhaps its the soft lilac pink flowers - so delicate and pretty that they conjure up images of little fairies dancing around our garden playing their own little game of hide and seek. Sometime gardening isn't all about hard work and labour and sowing for produce, there are moments, fleeting as they may be, that are simply about awesome beauty and elegance that the wonder of nature brings. Oh all right! I know they are just peas, but up until recently, I didn't even realise that peas came from pretty little flowers. And you might think that as very odd, but probably rings true for a large number of people who didn't grow up in 'pea-growing' nations.

To grow Snow Peas (Mange Tout or 荷兰豆 pronounced hé lán dòu), you will need to get your hands on some Snow Pea seedlings, plant them in with some good compost, and then, make sure you provide some support for them in the form of canes. Water daily, and in turn they will reward you with a mountain of tasty, crisp green pods.

Our seedlings went into the ground mid April, the same time as our Pak Choi. The plants took about two months before they reached about 5 ft in height, with the first flowers arriving on June 16th. A few days later, my little flower fairies' had disapeared and with a stroke of their magic wands left me a wonderful gift of crunchy green pods.

(L) Snow Peas growing behind Pak Choi in the Chinese wing (R) Look carefully for these crunchy pods

It made me smile.

The pods arrived slowly at first, three or four every few days, but just this last week, we are getting peas almost every day. Yesterday I picked twenty pods and this morning, there were already six new ones. And as the saying goes for peas, the more you pick, the more productive the plants will be, so its best to harvest every day.

So what do you do with the Snow Peas?
For Asian style stir-fries, Snow Peas taste best when they are small, not tiny, but whilst the seeds inside are small and immature. Sometimes you miss a pod that is hidden up the back and by the time you notice it, it will have already turned into a monstrous giant. Whilst still edible, they can be a little stringy so its probably wise to de-string them by snapping the top and then stripping the string down each side.

(L) Caramelised Soy Fried Rice with Cavolo Nero and Snow Peas, all from our garden (R) Sauteed Snow Peas with dried shrimp and garlic

The simplest way to cook Snow Peas, is to sautee them with a little oil, garlic and salt to taste. Once they have turned a glossy green (and you will see this as it happens), you can serve them up. Best eaten with a little crunch, so be kind, do not cook them to death.

You won't always pick enough peas to warrant an individual dish, so why not harvest all the bits and bobs you have in your garden and serve up Fried Rice? I am using "Cavolo Nero" which is a Tuscan dark leafy kale as a substitute for Chinese Brocolli (Kai Lan, Gai Lan) and have thrown in some Snow Peas for added crunch to make a delicious Malaysian style Fried Rice.

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Seeds: Grown from seedlings bought at our local garden centre
Compost: Vegetable Compost (Organic & Peat Free) from New Horizon
Growing: I planted the seedlings outdoors mid April
Harvest: Mid June (so, approximately 8 weeks)
Pests: I did not encounter any. Slugs occasionally ate the leaves at the bottom of the plant, but I wasn't too bothered by this.

Note: After this post was published, we have had Blackfly.

Grow crazy Coriander and add zest to your food!

There is something about the citrusy aromatic flavour of Coriander (Cilantro or 芫茜) that captures the essence of South East Asian cuisine.  Tom Yum soup, Thai green curry and Thai style fried noodles are just some of the dishes that simply do not taste right without a generous amount of chopped up coriander added into them right at the end.

And it is because dishes like these frequent our dinner menu so often, that when I started gardening a few months ago, one of my top priorities was to grow Coriander and lots of it.  Too often had I brought home bunches of it from the market, and within a day or two, the leaves would have turned into a black slime.  I had even tried the "Living Coriander" pot plants found at the supermarket but these had such thin stems and tiny little leaves that they would completely disappear without a trace into my Tom Yum soup, much like a prawn cracker dissolves to nothing on the edge of your tongue.

Grow pretty Chinese veg: Tatsoi and Kale

A bouquet of Kale from the garden

A few months ago, longing for the taste of Chinese vegetables which had now become a distant memory, I decided to sow a mix of Oriental vegetable seeds.   Some of the baby leaves were continuously picked and eaten by us in salads, whilst others were left to grow.

And then finally, over the weekend, we found ourselves face-to-face with a vegetable garden with lots of lovely looking Tatsoi and Kale, all ready for us to devour.  So pretty were they, that I almost wanted to leave them in the ground to have as decorative plants!

Growing Spring Onions for FREE!

Spring onions(also known as scallions, salad onions or 葱) are absolutely essential in Chinese cooking - my mum uses them as a garnish atop almost everything from clear broths to Hainanese white-cut chicken*. I am a little less organised and don't usually have time to garnish my meals, so I tend to slice them up into longer pieces and use them in dishes like stir fried beef with spring onions and ginger.

Recycled Spring Onions growing amidst Coriander in the 'Chinese' wing of our Garden

Anyhow, spring onions are one of those quiet but remarkably generous vegetables that are always having a secret sale for those in the know, and that's the 'buy-one-get-more-free' sale.