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chinese new year recipes

Noodles and take-away alternatives. If you'd like more recipes please have a look at our recipe index!

Veg Box Stir‐Fry
Stir-Fried Cabbage with Cashews
Sweet and Sour Chicken

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Veg Box Stir-Fry

This is a great recipe to help you clear out the veg drawer. It's also a healthy recipe to kick‐start the New Year. Serves 2.

• 1 large carrot
• 1 leek or onion
• 1/2 head of broccoli or 1/4 cauliflower
• 1/4 head of cabbage, kale or spinach
• 1 mug of frozen peas
• 100g noodles (try our brown rice or spinach noodles – both are lovely!)
• 2‐3cm pieces of fresh ginger root
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp tamari or soy sauce
• 1 tbsp sesame oil


Optional extras:


• Shreds of leftover chicken, beef, pork or a handful of cooked prawns
• 1/2 mango or 1/4 fresh pineapple
• 1 tbsp sesame seeds
• 1/2 tsp Sichuan peppercorns
• Handful of fresh basil or coriander

Speed is the key, so get your ingredients prepped first. Peel your carrot and cut into batons (about 1/2 ‐1cm thick x 4cm long but don't measure them - this is a rough estimate). Finely chop your onion or leek (use only white and light green parts). Trim your broccoli or cauliflower into florets. Chop your cabbage into fine, thin ribbons. Put your peas in a mug. Measure out your noodles and get a pan of water ready to cook them in. Peel and finely chop or grate your ginger.

Get any extras you plan on using out (mango or pineapple peeled and cubed, sesame seeds lightly toasted, peppercorns crushed in pestle and mortar or ground in a mill, herbs roughly chopped).

Heat the olive oil in a wok and once it's hot add carrots, ginger and onion or leek and cook for 3 minutes. Toss in the broccoli; cook for 1 minute.

Start your noodles at this point (they'll take 4‐5 minutes) and add the frozen peas to cook along with them.

Add the cabbage and any extras (apart from the herbs) while the noodles cook. Once the noodles and peas are done, drain and toss into the pan along with the tamari/soy sauce & sesame oil. Fold them in, plate up and top with fresh herbs, if using.

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Stir-Fried Cabbage with Cashews

Very simple and delicious! Serve this oriental style dish on a bed of rice noodles.

• 1 small red chilli
• 125 g french beans, trimmed
• 225 g savoy cabbage
• 1 large or 2 small carrots
• 2 tablespoons sunflower oil
• 100 g cashew nuts
• 2 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed


For the sauce:


• 2 tablespoons light soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon lime juice
• 1 tablespoon dry sherry
• 3 tablespoons water
• Pepper
• 1.5 cm freshly grated root ginger

Mix the ingredients for the sauce together in a bowl. Chop the chillies and de-seed if desired. Halve the beans; cut the carrot into batons. Heat the oil and add the cashews, stir frying until golden. Remove them once done and then drain. Next, heat the oil again and stir-fry the garlic, chilli and ginger. These only need to be cooked for about 30 seconds before adding the beans. Cook these for around 3 minutes. Add the cabbage and carrot ands stir-fry for 3 minutes until the vegetables have wilted. Finally, pour in the sauce and lower the heat. Cook for another minutes and then add the nuts. Stir this in and then serve.

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Sweet and Sour Chicken

Just like a take‐away, but made with organic ingredients. Serves 4

• 500ml sunflower oil
• 2 boneless chicken thighs
• 1 tbsp sake or a dry white wine
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• 3 tbsp plain white flour, sifted
• 1 medium egg, lightly beaten
• 1 large carrot
• 1 large onion
• 1 leek
• 2 red peppers, quartered and deseeded
• 1 small or 1/2 large pineapple
• 1 tbsp cornflour
  
  Sweet and Sour Sauce
  
  
• 2 tsp cornflour
• 100ml water
• 4 tbsp soft brown sugar
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 6 tbsp rice or white wine vinegar
• 2 tbsp tomato ketchup
• Long grain white rice (to serve)

Fill a deep pot with oil and place it over low heat. Cut the chicken into 2.5cm cubes and place in a bowl. Mix sake or wine with soy sauce; set aside. To make batter for the chicken, sift plain white flour into a medium‐sized bowl, drop egg into centre and beat until the mixture is smooth. Set aside.

Peel the carrot, cut into long, 1cm thick, horizontal panels. Slice at a diagonal into 2.5cm pieces. Slice leek into 2cm pieces. Cut the onion, pepper and pineapple into 2.5cm pieces.

Prepare sauce by placing 2 tsp cornflour in a small saucepan. Mix in the water, sugar, soy sauce, vinegar and ketchup and set over a low heat. Simmer gently until it has thickened, stirring, which should take about 3 minutes.

Meanwhile, remove chicken from marinade. Place on a plate, dust with 1 tbsp cornflour then coat in batter. Fry the batter‐coated chicken, a few pieces at a time, until golden, about 3 minutes. Cut one piece open to check that it's cooked through.

Return all the cooked chicken to the oil for a further 2 minutes, while you heat 2 tbsp sunflower oil in a nonstick frying pan or a wok for the veg. Once sizzling hot, add onion and carrot, stir‐fry briskly for a few minutes, then add pineapple, leek and red peppers, followed by the sauce. Bring the sauce up to a boil and as soon as it is bubbling, mix in the chicken As soon as it's coated in the sauce, serve with rice.

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