Coconut Lychees

Lychees were on special offer in Sainsbury's the other day, so I bought a packet. I'd forgotten how much I enjoy fresh lychees – this recipe is just very simple to showcase the delicate and fragrant flavour of the fruit.

Serves 2

½ syn for the entire recipe

300g fresh lychees

1 tub Müllerlight coconut and vanilla yogurt

Peel the lychees and remove the stones. Divide between two glasses and spoon the yogurt over. 

 

Ramen Noodle Soup

This is loosely based on a traditional Japanese recipe – I struggled big time to find a recipe on line that used plain ramen noodles rather than those already flavoured with a soup mix, so I made my own recipe up, based on what I had in the fridge as well as some information I found on Wikipedia. 

 

Serves 2

Syn Free on Extra Easy

ca 100 g plain ramen noodles (the packet was 250g and I used 1/3.)

2 small pork steaks, all fat removed, grilled and thinly sliced

knob of ginger, cut into julienne strips

½ savoy cabbage, finely shredded

handful fresh coriander leaves, chopped

soy sauce to taste

Sauté the ginger in Fry Light for a few minutes, then add 1 litre of water, the cabbage and soy sauce to taste. Simmer for 5, add the noodles and continue to cook for a few more minutes until the noodles are tender. Add the coriander leaves, taste and re-adjust the seasoning if necessary. 

 

Beef Larb with Baby Sweetcorn and Spinach

Larb – the traditional dish of Laos – is one of my all time favourite comfort foods. It also has to be one of the quickest and easiest dinners ever. There are as many versions of this dish as there are cooks, so feel free to experiment with your own ingredients.

I used sambal oelek in this recipe for laziness, but you can substitute with a chopped fresh chilli or even chilli flakes. You may wish to vary the amount of chilli used to suit your own taste as we like our food spicy. I used a combination of iceberg lettuce and watercress to serve, but any lettuce or salad leaves will do. 

 

Serves 2

Syn Free on Extra Easy

250g extra lean minced beef

150g baby sweetcorn

100g spinach

2 tbsp dark soy sauce

1 tbsp sweetener

2 tbsp sambal oelek

1 tbsp rice wine vinegar

shredded lettuce to serve

Sauté the beef with the baby sweetcorn until cooked through. Add the soy sauce, sweetener, vinegar and sambal oelek. Stir well to mix, then add the spinach. Simmer gently until the spinach has wilted. Serve over shredded lettuce. 

 

Oriental-Style Coleslaw with Chinese-Style Pork

As plans changed today, I was left with no food for this evening, so Joe came to my rescue again – this time in the form of Chinese-style pork. What to serve with it? Hmmm, what's in the fridge....?

This is what I came up with:

Serves 3

Syn Free on Extra Easy

½ red cabbage

1 small onion

2 carrots

small knob ginger

½ pineapple

80g edamame beans

juice of 2 limes

2 tbsp sweetener

2 tbsp soy sauce

3 Joe's Chinese-style pork steaks 

 

Finely slice the cabbage and onion. Peel and cut the carrots and ginger into julienne strips. Peel the pineapple and cut into matchstick sized sticks. Mix the cabbage, carrots, onion, ginger and pineapple with the beans. In a small bowl, combine the soy sauce, sweetener and lime juice. Pour over the salad and mix well.

Meanwhile grill the pork steaks on medium high for 8-10 minutes until cooked through. Serve with the salad. 

 

Char Siu (Chinese BBQ Pork)

Traditionally you would use a large piece of pork such a belly and cook this slowly in the oven to make it really sticky. This is a much simplified version using thin pork escalopes and sweetener rather than sugar, and is ready in a flash.

Serves 2

1 ½ Syns on Extra Easy

2 pork escalopes

½ tsp five spice powder

2 tbsp sweetener

2 tbsp Chinese cooking wine

1 tbsp Hoi Sin sauce

1 tbsp sweet chilli sauce

1 tbsp dark soy sauce

pkt stir fried vegetables to serve

Mix together all the ingredients except the pork and the vegetables. Marinate the pork steaks for 3 hour or more. Drain the meat (reserve the marinade) and grill (or BBQ) on a very high heat for a few minutes each side until cooked through and nicely brown and sticky. Stir fry the vegetables, adding the reserved marinade. As the sauce has been in contact with raw meat, ensure it is cooked properly before serving. 

 

Soba Noodle Bowl with Prawns

If I had to choose one particular world cuisine as my favourite, it has to be South East Asian. I love the combinations of flavours and textures, and how they use such fresh ingredients. This is an adaptation of a recipe I found on line, which I changed somewhat in order to fit it into the Slimming World plan and according to ingredients I had and wanted to use. It is such a quick and easy meal, and very tasty. 

 

Serves 2

Syn Free on Extra Easy

125g cooked king prawns

85g soba noodles

1 carrot

1 bunch spring onions

1 small knob ginger

80g edamame beans

¼ cup dark soy sauce

¼ cup rice wine vinegar

¼ cup sweetener

Cut each prawn in three. Cook the noodles according to the packet instructions and drain. Cut the carrot, spring onions and ginger into julienne strips. Heat the soy sauce, vinegar and sweetener with ¼ cup of water in a pan. Add all the other ingredients and stir until heated through. Serve in noodle bowls with chopsticks. 

 

Turkey Laap

Also spelt lapr ot larb, the national dish of Laos has as many variations of the recipe as there are of stews in the UK. Every chef has their favourite, and this is mine. I really like the combination of sweet, sour, hot and salty, and love the fresh taste of the crunchy lettuce. You can of course use lettuce of your choice, but a crunchy one is best. Laap can be made with turkey, beef, pork chicken or even fish, but for this one I have chosen to use turkey. Be careful when you chose turkey mince though, as it isn't always easy to spot the difference between breast and leg mince, the latter being much higher in fat content. 

 

Serves 2

Syn Free on Extra Easy

400g lean turkey mince

2 onions

2 romaine lettuce hearts

2 tbsp soy sauce

2 tbsp rice wine vinegar

2 tbsp sweetener

1 red chilli, chopped

chopped coriander

Shred the lettuce hearts and place on two plates

Spray a frying pan with Fry Light.

Finely dice the onions.

Sauté the onions with the turkey mince, breaking the meat up as you go along. 

 

Fry for a few minutes until the meat is slightly browned and the onion soft.

Add the soy sauce, vinegar, sweetener and chilli. Stir well to combine.

Add the chopped coriander and serve on top of the lettuce.

Enjoy! 

Fugeddaboutit Pork AKA Slow Cooked Aromatic Pork

This is one of those dishes that you need to start early in the day, but once you get it in the oven, you can forget about it (hence the name). The meat is meltingly tender, fragrant rather than spicy and extremely tasty.

Serves 4

Syn Free on Extra easy

1 pork joint

5 large garlic cloves, peeled and grated

knob fresh ginger, ca 5cm, grated

2 tsp chilli flakes

2 tsp ground ginger

1 tbsp sweetener

½ tbsp sea salt

1 tbsp soy sauce

2 star anise

2 tsp fennel seeds

½ cinnamon stick

8 cloves

1 tsp black peppercorns

Heat the oven to 230°C. With a sharp knife, make several cuts in the surface of the pork.

First whizz together the star anise, fennel seeds, cinnamon stick, cloves and peppercorns in a spice grinder. Place in a bowl with all the other ingredients (except the pork of course) and mix to a paste.

Rub the paste all over the pork and place, uncovered in the oven. Bake for 30 minutes, then cover the pork with foil and turn the heat down to 120°C and bake for 5-6 hours.

Remove the pork from the oven, scrape off any loose spice paste and carve. Serve with potatoes, vegetables and gravy. 

Hoi Sin Duck with Fried Red Rice

Serves 2

3½ Syns on Extra Easy

2 duck breasts, skin and fat removed and thinly sliced

1 tbsp plum sauce

1 tbsp dark soy sauce

1 red onion, chopped

½ pkt baby sweetcorn, chopped

½ pkt bean sprouts, cooked

½ orange pepper, chopped

4 white asparagus, sliced

½ courgette, sliced

4 shallots, sliced

handful cooked peas

2 sticks lemongrass, minced

knob ginger, minced

2 cloves garlic, minced

4 tbsp hoi sin sauce

extra soy sauce, optional

couple of handfuls cooked red rice

Marinate the duck in the plum and soy sauces for at least 30 minutes. Stir fry in a little Fry Light with the onion, shallots, ginger and pepper for a few minutes until the duck is cooked. Add the other vegetables with the lemongrass, ginger and garlic. Stir for a few more minutes, making sure it doesn't stick to the bottom of the pan. Add the hoi sin sauce, rice and extra soy sauce if using. Stir until it is heated through.