Most people don’t realise that pork belly is incredibly easy to cook. You can season it with all sorts of different things but when it comes down to it, it’s all about the crispy crackling and tender meat. The rice I serve with the pork belly is inspired by the salty, sweet and fresh flavours of Thailand. It’s best to use rice that has been cooked and cooled in the fridge for a stir fry, it won’t clump together in the pan the way freshly cooked rice would.

Serves 4
2kg pork belly
1 tablespoon of Sichuan peppercorns, crushed
Sea salt

For the rice:
300g of leftover basmati rice, cooked and cooled
6 large spring onions, finely sliced on the diagonal
A generous handful of coriander, roughly chopped
1 large red chilli, finely chopped
1 large thumb sized piece of ginger, finely sliced
3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
200g of green beans or tenderstem brocolli
2 teaspoons of caster sugar
3 tablespoons of fish sauce
1 tablespoon of soy sauce

Preheat the oven to 160˚C.

Pat the pork belly completely dry with kitchen paper and then rub with sea salt and peppercorns all over.

Place on a wire wrack set over a roasting dish. Place in the oven to cook for 3 hours.

Turn the heat to 220˚C and cook for a further 15 minutes until the crackling is crispy.

Remove from the oven and allow to rest while you prepare the rice. When you are ready, using a bread knife, cut through the crispy skin in 1cm slices.

Heat the oil in a large wok until just about smoking. Add in the ginger, garlic, spring onions and chilli and fry for about 30 seconds until aromatic.

Add in the green beans or broccoli and fry for 2 minutes. Add in the rice and stir through. Season with the fish sauce, caster sugar and soy sauce and fry for a further 3 minutes.

Toss through the coriander and serve alongside slices of the pork belly.

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This is a nice fast dish that can be cooked in the time it takes to make the rice! It’s really important to taste a dish like this, if you feel it’s missing something, add more soy sauce, more honey, or more spice from the curry paste. Cooking is all about making it taste right for you!

Serves 4
2 rib eye steaks, sliced thinly
2 tablespoons of red curry paste
2 cloves of garlic, finely minced
1 thumbsized piece of ginger, finely minced
1 teaspoon of sesame oil
2 tablespoons of rapeseed oil
1 red onion, finely sliced
2 large pak choy, roughly sliced
1 tablespoon of dark soy sauce
1 tablespoon of honey
400ml of coconut milk240g of basmati rice
800ml of water
A handful of salted peanuts, roughly chopped

Place the rice in a pot with the full quantity of water and place over a medium heat, and simmer for about 10-12 minutes until the water has evaporated. Remove from the heat and allow to sit with the lid on until you are ready to serve.

While the rice is cooking, combine the sliced beef with 1 tablespoon of red curry paste, half the garlic and ginger and the sesame oil.

Place a wok over a high heat with 1 tablespoon of rapeseed oil and then stir fry the beef rapidly in two batches for about 3 minutes until just cooked.  Remove to a plate and set aside.

Place the wok back on the heat with a little extra oil and stir fry the onions with the remaining curry paste, for 2 mins, then add in the remaining garlic and ginger with the sliced pak choy. Stir fry until just tender.

Add in the coconut milk, soy sauce, and honey and bring to the boil. Taste it and once you’re happy with the balance of flavours, serve.

Fluff up the rice with a fork and then serve alongside the beef. Top with a little sprinkling of chopped peanuts.

The post Nutty Thai Red Beef Curry first appeared on Donal Skehan | EAT LIVE GO.

I absolutely love Asian flavours which was what prompted me to start growing my own pak choy, a really easy-to-grow Asian vegetable. Here I’ve tossed it with green beans in a fantastic Japanese sesame dressing, which is nutty, aromatic and full of flavour. The duck is roasted in the oven, coated in a dark soy-sauce marinade, sprinkled with a little five-spice powder and then popped under the grill to crisp up the skin.

Serves 4
4 duck breasts
6 tablespoons of honey
2 tablespoons of soy sauce
2 garlic cloves, finely minced
4 teaspoons of five spice powder

For the salad:
200g of green beans
4 x baby pak choy quartered
50g of toasted sesame seeds
1 tablespoon of honey
1 tablespoon of dark soy sauce
1 tablespoon of rice wine
1 tablespoon of sunflower oil

Preheat the oven to 200°C (400°F), Gas mark 6. In a roasting tin, whisk together 4 tablespoons of honey, soy sauce and garlic. Toss the duck in the marinade, turn skin side up and sprinkle with the five-spice powder.

Cook in the oven for about 15 minutes or until cooked all the way through. Baste the duck with the juices halfway through the cooking period. When the duck is cooked, preheat the grill to high. Then, drizzle with 2 tablespoons of honey and place the tray under the hot grill for 1-2 minutes to caramelise and crisp the skin.

Allow to rest for 5 minutes before cutting into thin slices and serving with a drizzle of the juices. While the duck is cooking, whizz together the sesame seeds, honey, soy sauce, rice wine and sunflower oil until smooth. Top and tail the green beans and blanch in a pot of boiling water for 2 minutes.

Remove and drop in ice-cold water. Drain and place in a bowl with the pak choy. Pour in the dressing and toss until combined. Serve the duck with the pak choy salad alongside.

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A lot of Chinese dishes can be heavy going but this spicy Sichuan chicken salad, is light, bright and crisp. To get the best aromatic flavour out of the Sichuan peppercorns, toast them in a hot oven for a few minutes, allow them to cool and grind in a pestle and mortar.

Serves 2
2 chicken breasts
1 tablespoon of soy sauce
1 small thumb sized piece of ginger, grated
1 clove of garlic, minced
1 tablespoon of sunflower oil
4-5 spring onions, sliced finely
1 stick of celery, sliced finely
5 shitake mushrooms, stalks removed and sliced finely
½ cucumber, sliced finely
1 large carrot, sliced finely
1 teaspoon of soy sauce
½ teaspoon of sesame oil
2 teaspoons of lime juice
1 teaspoon of honey
½ teaspoon of ground roasted Sichuan peppercorns
½ teaspoon of sea salt
½ teaspoon of dried chilli flakes

Toss the chicken in a bowl with the soy sauce, ginger and garlic.

Heat the oil over a medium high heat in a large frying pan and add both chicken breasts.  Cook for 3-4 minutes either side or until cooked through.

Remove the chicken from the pan, slice thinly and set aside.

Place the chicken slices in a large mixing bowl and toss together with the rest of the ingredients, until everything is evenly coated.

Serve the salad in delicious high piles and sprinkle with a little extra Sichuan pepper and sea salt.

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I absolutely love Bok Choy, and although a completely foreign vegetable, it takes extremely well to growing in my vegetable garden! There are so many ways to make the best of this great vegetable, and for me, more often than not, it ends up as a regular ingredient to a quick and tasty stir fry, with lots of other fresh veggies. This braised Bok Choy recipe is a fantastic way to enjoy it, making it a perfect side dish to any main Chinese meal.

Serves 2
4 bok choy, sliced in quarters
1 tablespoon of sunflower oil
1 clove of garlic, sliced thinly
A thumb sized piece of ginger, sliced thinly
1 teaspoon of sugar
1 teaspoons of sesame oil
1 teaspoon of soy sauce
1 tablespoon of oyster sauce

Heat a wok over a high heat, add the oil to coat.  Add the garlic and ginger and stir fry for 30 seconds.

Add the bok choy and stir fry for 1 minute.  Sprinkle over the sugar, and pour in 60ml of water, toss everything to combine.

Bring the wok to the boil, reduce the heat and simmer covered for 3 minutes or until the bok choy is tender.

Finally add the sesame oil and oyster sauce, stir it through until everything is coated and serve straight away.

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One thing I love about Chinese cooking is the fantastic spices that are used, I remember first coming across star anise and thinking it was one of the coolest spices I had ever seen and that was before I had even tasted it! If you haven’t used it before, don’t be put off, it’s really easy to use, just bash it in a pestle and mortar until you have a fine aromatic powder. The combination of ingredients in this recipe makes a wonderfully sticky and delicious dish.

Serves 2
1 teaspoon of dark soy sauce
3 tablespoons of honey
1 teaspoon of rice wine
3 garlic cloves, finely minced
1 teaspoon of ground star anise
2 large duck breasts

In a bowl, mix together the soy sauce, honey, rice wine, garlic and star anise. Toss the duck breasts in the marinade until completely coated, cover and place in the fridge to marinade for at least 2 hours, or overnight if you have the time.

Place the duck on an oven tray and cook for about 25 minutes at 200oC/Gas Mark 6 or until cooked all the way through.  Make sure to baste the breasts with the juices during the cooking time.

When the duck is cooked, place the tray under a hot grill to caramelise the duck skin for 1-2 minutes. Cut into thin slices and serve with a drizzle of the juices.

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This is the recipe we were given along with the press release and Ken actually demonstrated the dish for us. I can tell you it is absolutely delicious and you should definitely give it a go. It follows through from what he mentioned about using different ingredients to build layers of flavours and many different notes.

Serves 2
200g of beef, sliced in strips
25ml of rapeseed oil
2 teaspoons of ginger, finely chopped
2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
Zest of one orange
1 teaspoon of birds eye chillies, chopped
25g of black beans
75g of spring onions, chopped in 1 inch shanks
50g diced onion
75g diced red peppers
75g diced green peppers
45ml oyster sauce
40g of Chee Hou sauce
2 teaspoons of sugar
200ml water
20ml sesame oil
1 teaspoon of cornflour

Heat the wok over a high heat and add oil to coat.  Quickly stir fry the meat and when it is cooked through, remove from the pan and set aside.

Heat the oil in the wok and add the ginger and garlic.  Stir fry over a high heat until it becomes golden and toasted.

Add the orange zest and fry until it releases fragrant citrus notes.

Then fry the chilli, black beans and chopped onions for 20 seconds.

Add the spring onions and peppers and fry lightly until tender.

Add the the Chee Hou sauce, oyster sauce, water and sugar and stir through.  Then add the meat and toss until it is coated with all the sauce and vegetables.

Finish with the sesame oil and thicken with the cornflour.

Serve with noodles or rice.

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You can add as many other ingredients to the salad as you want, beansprouts, or snow peas all work great in this. I used fillet steak here, but as this can be quite expensive, other cuts will work just as nicely, try sirloin or a good quality shoulder steak. This recipe can also be made ahead of time, marinade the meat in the fridge, prepare the veg beforehand and only toss with the dressing when you are ready to eat.

Serves 4
4 x 120g fillet steak
1 cucumber, thinly sliced
2 carrots, thinly sliced
6 spring onions, finely sliced on the diagonal
1 red pepper, thinly sliced
Small handful of chopped coriander to serve

For the marinade and dressing:
1 chilli, deseeded and minced
1 thumb sized piece of ginger, finely minced
2 cloves of garlic, finely minced
Juice of 1 lime
1 teaspoon of sesame oil
1 teaspoon of thai fish sauce
1 tablespoon of soy sauce
3 tablespoons of sunflower oil

Place the steaks on a plate.

Mix all the ingredients for dressing/marinade together and pour 1/4 of the mixture over the steaks.

Toss all the veg together in salad bowl and set aside.

Heat a large griddle pan and fry the steaks for 3-5 minutes on either side depending on their size.

Remove the steaks and allow to rest on a chopping board for a few minutes.

Add the dressing to the salad and toss to combine.

Slice the steak thinly, sprinkle with a little chopped coriander and serve with the zingy salad.

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I make this salad to go, if you want to do the same, keep the dressing separate and add it when you are ready to eat.

Serves 4
4 chicken breasts
4 tablespoons of teriyaki sauce
2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1 small Chinese cabbage, finely chopped in shreds
A large handful of sugar snap peas, finely sliced
2 red peppers, sliced finely
1 red onion, sliced finely
1 tablespoon of sunflower oil

For the dressing:
3 tablespoons of sunflower oil
1 tablespoon of teriyaki sauce
Juice of 1 lime
1 clove of garlic, finely minced
½ a thumbsized piece of ginger, finely minced

Combine the teriyaki sauce and garlic in a bowl and add the chicken breasts.

Toss to combine, cover and then place in fridge while you chop the salad ingredients

Heat a griddle pan over a medium heat with a little oil and fry the chicken breasts for 4-5 minutes either side or until hey are cooked through.  Remove the breasts from the pan set on a chopping board to cool.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the ingredients for the salad dressing.

Add the Chinese cabbage, red peppers, red onion and snow peas to the bowl.  Toss until the vegetables are nicely coated with the dressing.

Serve the salad in large deep dishes and sprinkle with a little shredded coriander.

Slice the chicken thinly and arrange on top of the vegetables.

Serve straight away.

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With just a few simple ingredients this is an easy dish to create and is really tasty.

Serves 2 portions
1 head of brocolli chopped into florets
2 duck breasts
1 teaspoon of sesame oil
2 tablespoons of sesame seeds
5 tablespoons of soya sauce
3 tablespoons of honey

In a small bowl, mix the soya sauce, sesame oil and the honey until combined.

Place two duck breasts in a small roasting tray and brush over half the soya honey marinade. Place in the oven at 200°C for 25-30 minutes. In the last 10 minutes of the cooking time brush over the rest of the soya honey marinade, sprinkle with half the sesame seeds and finish cooking.

When the duck is ready, remove from the roasting tray and allow to rest on a chopping board. Keep the roasting tray which should still be full of tasty duck flavours as this makes a great dressing for the broccoli, try to spoon off as much fat as possible. While the duck is cooking steam the broccoli for 4-5 minutes and remove from the heat.

Tumble the broccoli florets into the roasting tray and toss gently until they are completely coated. Slice the duck thinly and serve with the broccoli.  Sprinkle over some extra sesame seeds and enjoy!

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The trick to making the cookies is timing, so prepare everything you need before you stick them in the oven. You have to mould the hot little discs as soon as they come out of the oven, so I would suggest you use a pair of gloves or some kitchen paper. I don’t have asbestos hands so when I first made these I was hopping around the place from the heat of moulding them with my bare hands. NOT FUN! The technique of molding is fairly simple, you fold the disc in half, and then fold it in half again over the rim of a glass. Sound easy? It is!

Makes about 20 cookies
4 large egg whites.
2 teaspoons of vanilla extract.
6 tablespoons of sunflower oil.
175g of all purpose white flour.
375g of granulated sugar.
1 ½ teaspoon of cornflour
½ teaspoon of salt.
6 teaspoons of water.

Preheat the oven to 150˚C/Gas 2/300˚F and grease a wide baking sheet.

Write and cut out your own customised fortunes on little strips of paper about 10cm by 1cm and set aside.

Using a whisk, beat the egg whites in a large bowl with the oil, and vanilla extract. Beat them until they become thick, but not stiff. Sieve in the flour and cornflour. Add the sugar, salt and water and mix through the egg whites. Combine thoroughly until you have no lumps and bumps!

Place 4 level tablespoon of the mix evenly spaced on the baking sheet. I find working with four discs at a time to be the easiest. Distribute the mix evenly by tilting the tray until you get a nice wide disc around 10cm in diameter.

Bake in the oven for 10-15 minutes, or until the cookies go a light golden brown colour around the edges. Working quickly- remove one disc from the baking sheet, place the fortune in the center and gently fold in half. Bend the two ends of the disc over the rim of a glass and hold in position for 20 seconds until it cools.

Repeat the process until you get through all the cookie mix.

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