It's been a looonnng time!

Wow! without realising, it's been more than a year since I last posted! So what has been happening since then? Well, I got a new job, I moved to another location, and I have been baking as well! I also *hopefully, with lots of fingers crossed* have sat my last written exam for now. So lots of exciting things, and it's been a bit of a rollercoster ride.

So to end a long hiatus, let's have a review rather than something I cooked recently ( which has been mostly stirfries, which I personally enjoy but not sure if it can fit into 'exciting eats'. It's also been more than a year since I had a meal at this place, so I think it sort of fits the post!

It's a restaurant I discovered when I was still at my old job, thanks to a friend of mine who was eating there almost every evening for a few months! It's a no fuss restaurant, more like a cafe. I find the food delicious, non pretentious and just some good old filling grub. It's a place where you go for the food rather than the atmosphere. The service is basic, friendly but not over the top.

On this occasion, I had it as a takeaway instead. I was busy packing my stuff (yes, it was among my last meals in Birmingham, where I was based until September last year). I had a 'mixed meat rice' dish- roasted chicken and duck with steamed rice. It was SO GOOD (in fact, I wish I have a plateful now). You can sort of see some steamed chinese cabbage underneath the pile of meat. It was comforting and really satisfying- gave me the energy to continue packing my things afterwards. The meat was tender, well cooked, and the duck was oh so juicy!

I often call the place 'dodgy lane' restaurant, not because it's actually in a dodgy area (far from it, it's smacked in the middle of Chinatown), but because it's along one of the smaller lanes in Chinatown, places where people don't venture to unless they know what they're looking for. Despite being back to Brum a few times since I left, I have not had the chance to go back to this beloved cafe. Only because I'm usually there to meet a big group of friends, and the cafe doesn't really have the capacity to take large groups.

Prices are reasonable (I think the dish above was about £7), and portions are generous. I would definitely recommend this place for a good, wholesome Chinese meal!

Peach Garden
34 Ladywell Walk, Birmingham
B5 4RX

Disclaimer: This entry is not a sponsored post, and is entirely based on my personal tastebuds. I have not received any monetary or non-monetary payment to write this post. 

Spicy aubergine with tomatoes

I got the inspiration for this dish from the BBC Good food website. It's again a simple dish to prepare, as I'm pretty busy at work lately, I always go for dishes with minimal effort, but maximum flavour.

This dish is not 'chilli hot'. I used a pinch of crushed chilli flakes to give a bit of heat, but it wasn't too much to overpower the flavours of the other spices.

Spicy aubergine, with bread

I used plum tomatoes in this dish which I much prefer than normal cherry tomatoes. They are a lot sweeter and more flavourful. The aubergine was juicy in this dish, and I used the bread to mop up the sauces. I had some leftovers the next day for lunch; it tasted even better!

Simmering in the pot

Ingredients
(serves 2 as a side dish)

1 aubergine, sliced into about 1/2 cm slices and lengthwise
150 grammes of plum tomatoes, sliced into halves
3 cloves of garlic, sliced thinly
a handful of parsley
1 tablespoon of vegetable oil
1 teaspoon of cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon of ground cumin (and an extra pinch)
1 teaspoon of turmeric ( and an extra pinch)
1 teaspoon of whole coriander
1 teaspoon of mustard seeds
1 teaspoon of chili flakes
salt to taste

Method

• Brush the aubergine with oil, and season with salt, a pinch of cumin and a pinch of turmeric. Grill for about 20 minutes until tender. Set aside.
• Heat the oil in a small saucepan to medium high, and add the mustard and coriander seeds. Let the seeds heat slowly in the pan to infuse the oil with its flavours.
• Add the garlic pieces and when it starts to brown, add the tomatoes. 
• Add the grilled aubergine and the remainder of the spices and the chilli flakes.
• Stir well and cook for 2-3 minutes, until the tomatoes soften. If it gets to dry, add about 2-3 tablespoons of water.
• Add the parsley, season and serve.

Creamy tagliatelle with mushrooms

This was the first time I used fresh pasta! I'd say in terms of flavour, I did not taste much of a difference. It does cook much quicker though, only about 2 minutes in boiling water. I haven't had tagliatelle for some time now although it ranks pretty high on the list of my favourite pasta. 

Creamy tagliatelle

I had this for dinner some time ago, I was craving for a creamy dish, and wanted something simple and quick after work. This did the trick.

Cooking the mushrooms and asparagus. Note the pasta on the left ready to go :)

 

With the chopped parsley

Ingredients

(Serves 2 as a main)

200 grammes of fresh tagliatelle
75 grammes of button mushrooms, sliced
75 grammes of asparagus, sliced at an angle
1 brown onion, chopped
a splash of single cream
3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1 tablespoon of vegetable oil
salt and pepper to taste
a handful of parsley, roughly chopped

Method

• Heat the oil in a deep saucepan. Add the onions and sweat until soft.
• Add the garlic and the mushrooms. Cook for about 2-3 minutes until almost done. 
• Add the asparagus and cook for another 2 minutes or until tender. At the same time, cook the tagliatelle in a pot of boiling water according to the instructions on the packet.
• Remove the saucepan from the heat and let it cool slightly. Drain the pasta, and add it to the saucepan with the asparagus and mushrooms.
• Add the cream, and season to taste. Stir in the chopped parsley and serve. I added only a little cream as I didn't want the sauce to be too heavy. If you prefer a thicker sauce, add more cream.

Malaysian Food: Bugis Street Birmingham

I had dinner at Bugis Street a few weeks ago. The restaurant is part of Copthorne Hotel, however, non guests of the hotel are also welcome. Although it advertises itself as Singaporean food, the chef is actually Malaysian and so are a few of the members of the staff. Quite a lot of the food served here is also distinctly Malaysian. However as I have not been to Singapore myself, it is possible that similar dishes are available in Singapore. I've been here a few times before and I wish I found out about it earlier! I've only had good experience here so far, so it seems fit that I should blog about it.

I ordered a Fried Hokkien Mee. This is actually a Southern Malaysian dish, if you order a Hokkien Mee when you're in the Northern States where I'm from, you'll get noodles in a prawn-flavoured broth instead.

This was really good! Fried Hokkien mee is essentially yellow egg noodles stir fried with an assortment of fresh ingredients in a sauce made of dark soya sauce. Bugis Street's version had some seafood (prawns and squid) and some thin slices of pork. The 'wok hei' was strong, lending a very good smoky flavour to the dish. It also had some small crunchy pieces of fried pork lard- warning, this is very unhealthy, but really delicious in this dish.

Fried Hokkien Mee

My dining companion Z ordered the Seafood Laksa. Again, if you order Laksa in different states in Malaysia, you will find that each state has their own version of laksa. Laksa is typically noodles (sometimes yellow egg noodles, rice vermicelli or rice noodles) in a broth. Where I'm from, the Laksa is rice noodles served in a piquant fish based stock and sliced bird eyes chillies.

Bugis Street's version is more like Kari Laksa (translated to Laksa in curry); yellow egg noodles served in a bowl of curry topped with seafood and a hard boiled egg cut into half. This dish again didn't disappoint. The curry was absolutely drinkable, it wasn't too spicy, it was creamy and had a slight tang to it.

Seafood Laksa

Overall dinner was absolutely delicious! The portions were good-sized, and the price of both the dishes were in the region of 7-8 pounds. Good value, and I have to say, pretty authentic. I would say go for the dishes under the 'Singaporean/Malaysian Specialities' section, as these tend to be pretty authentic. 

Bugis Street

The Copthorne Hotel 

Paradise Circus, Birmingham B3 3HJ, England

Disclaimer: This entry was not a sponsored post, and is entirely based on my personal tastebuds. I have not received any monetary or non-monetary payment to write this post. 

Spinach, ricotta and chorizo filo pie

Remember an earlier post, when I said I was excited to have my dinner? I was waiting for this to cook in the oven! :) I love the combination of spinach and ricotta, I feel like it's a match made in food heaven :) The addition of chorizo made this into a non vegetarian dish, but feel free to omit it, and add a teaspoon of paprika instead (to bring smokiness) to the dish.

Fresh out of the oven! Crunchy bits at the top :)

Pastry obviously makes most things better :) But I tasted the filling before covering it with the filo and it was yummy! I could have eaten the filling just like that :)

I believe this is sort of a mediterranean inspired dish, and I've seen a few similar around. I've seen recipes which add pine nuts and raisins. I might try that in the future.

The pie was enough to last me quite a few meals. I even had it for breakfast the 3rd day. Make sure you keep it in the fridge though, especially during the summer.

Look at those flaky layers! This was the first slice, of quite a few :)

So here's the recipe for this! Hope you'll enjoy it as much as I did :)

Spinach, ricotta and chorizo filo pie
(Serve 4-5 as a main)

Ingredients

300 grammes of frozen spinach
1 large red onion, sliced
100 grammes of chorizo, roughly chopped
250 grammes of ricotta
200 grammes of filo pastry, at room temperature
1 teaspoon of cumin
1/2 teaspoon of nutmeg
1 teaspoon of cayenne pepper
juice of 1 lemon
salt and pepper to taste
1 tablespoon of vegetable/olive oil
10 grammes of butter

Method

1. Heat the oven to 185C (fan assisted)
2. First we prepare the filling. Heat the oil in a pan, and add the red onion. Cook for 3-4 minutes, or until softened.
3. Add the chopped chorizo, and cook on medium heat. The oil from the chorizo will slowly release as the chorizo cooks, and this will add flavour to the spinach.
4. Add the spinach and cook for another 1-2 minutes.
5. Add the cumin, nutmeg, cayenne pepper, lemon juice and salt and pepper to taste. Stir well. 
6. Remove for heat and let it cool down for about 5-10 minutes. Afterwards add the ricotta. You might want to taste again at this stage to check on the seasoning.
7. Melt the butter. Brush the pie tin with some melted butter. 
8. Put 2 layers of the filo pastry on the pie tin. My pie tin's diameter is about 25 cm.
9. Spoon the filling into the pie tin. Cover with the remaining filo sheets.I made some the sheets scrunched up a bit for a bit of artistic edge
10. Brush the top with the remaining melted butter
11. Bake in the per heated oven for 30-45 minutes, until golden brown.

And here's another picture, as I enjoyed this so much :)

Fried prawns with an Asian chilli dip

I had a craving for deep fried food the other day. I had a late lunch, so I only got hungry at about 8, 9pm. So I wasn't really in the mood to go out and buy some fried chicken at the local kebab shop. So I fried some prawns instead :)

Deep fried prawns

I had some seasoned flour from home that I used for this dish. However, you can produce the same results by using cold water, self raising flour and salt and pepper to taste. Cold water (some use sparkling water) produces a crunchy batter. If you use sparkling water, the batter is even lighter. The recipe below is based on what I actually did.

To make the dip, I didn't really have a specific recipe, I just put in the sauce as I went along :) That really is the way I often cook.

The prawns with the dip

Fried prawns with an Asian chilli dip
(Serves 1-2 as a min)

Ingredients

250 grammes of raw prawns
Seasoned flour ( I added some chilli flakes for an extra kick)
1 egg white

For the dip
2 tablespoons of nam pla (fish sauce)
1 red chilli, finely chopped
1 tablespoon of red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon of honey
2 tablespoons of soya sauce to taste

Method

• Dip the prawns in the egg white, and then coat with the seasoned flour. Deep fry in hot oil until cooked. Set aside
• Reuse 1 tablespoon from the oil that was used to cook the prawns. Heat the oil in a pan, and add the chopped chilli.
• Mix the other ingredients in a bowl until well combined, and pour into the pan. 
• Heat the sauce for 2-3 minutes, till slightly reduced.
• Serve with the prawns

Always try your sauce, and season accordingly. Bear in mind that the fish sauce can be quite salty, so you would want to go easy on the soya sauce. 

I didn't use coriander as I didn't have any, but serving the dip with some finely chopped coriander would bring the dip to the next level. The next time I cook this, I'd definitely add the coriander :)

When I was eating this, I had a big grin on my face. The crunch of the prawns really hit the spot. Yummss :D I was a happy girl indeed!

Easy creamy pasta with tzatziki

I had this for dinner earlier this week. It's really a quick and easy dish, perfect for mid week dinner after a busy day at work.

I actually got the inspiration for this dish from the BBC Good Food website. I've used tzatziki as a pasta sauce before, yes it's a cheat as I use shop bought tzatziki, but doesn't mean it's any less delicious :) Tzarziki is a Greek yogurt sauce, with finely chopped cucumbers. It gives this dish a lovely tang and slight crunch from the cucumbers.

Rigatoni with tzatziki

Easy creamy pasta with tzatziki
(Serves 1 as a medium-large main)

Ingredients

75 grammes of rigatoni
1 tub of tzatziki (about 200 grammes)
1 large handful of frozen peas, cooked in boiling water for 1-2 minutes
About 50 grammes of cooking chorizo, sliced into 1/2 cm pieces
1 tablespoon of oil (I used vegetable oil, but olive oil would work fine too)

Method

1. Cook the rigatoni according to the instructions on the packet. Mine took about 10 minutes to cook.
2. While the pasta is cooking, we make the sauce. Heat the oil in a pan, and add the chorizo. Cook on medium heat. The chorizo will cook slowly, while releasing its oils. The oils gave a smoky flavour to this dish.
3. Then add the peas. Leave the heat on for about 1-2 minutes. 
4. Turn off the heat and add the cooked rigatoni. Reserve some of the cooking water.
5. Pour the tzatziki into the pan, and add a little of the pasta cooking water if the sauce looks too thick for your liking.
6. Serve!