My friend Amy is living out in China at the moment and has sent me an article about noodles that she has written and had published by Good Food magazine in the Middle East. An interesting insite into the life of noodles and time in China!

So I haven’t posted at all over the last couple of months, the reason being that my website has been a work in progress and in the meanwhile I have been directing people to my last blog entry to give them an idea of what I do and to help them decide if they want to go ahead with a cooking demonstration.

I have aptly named my business ‘Annabel’s Kitchen’.  www.annabelskitchen.co.uk was launched last week through my facebook page. Annabel’s Kitchen on facebook has received just short of 100 ‘likes’ this past week!

In the last couple of months I have given various kinds of lessons and demonstrations.

Recently I was invited into Maidenhill school where I did a demonstration and then cooked with 45 of their pupils during their cultural awareness days. It was a great experience and was something totally different for the pupils. Most of them had not tried Thai food before! I cooked with the pupils over two sessions, just over 20 in each group and with the help of two assistants. I showed them first how to fry prawn crackers, they were totally amazing that this was how you made them and they didn’t just come ready in a bag. They then sampled them with sweet chilli sauce. After that they watched me make a curry paste which I then turned into a curry. The pupils were very suspicious of some of the ingredients that went into the paste and curry, mainly the shrimp paste and fish sauce due to their extremely unusual smell (’unusual’ being an understatement!)

After watching the demonstration they got to work  measuring out ingredients and making their curries with the paste I had made. They were extremely enthusiastic but required a vigilant eye whilst they worked out the difference between all the ingredients they had never used before! I put some rice on to steam whilst running round helping all the groups of cooking students. I sampled their curries and they were all very good, all slightly different, some sweeter, some saltier some more herby flavoured yet totally edible. Were there any disasters!? Just a tin of coconut milk exploding all over the kitchen and a couple of woks of burnt paste, but we remedied that by starting again with a lower temperature. They all sat down and ate their chicken curries with rice, and inspite of their suspicions all thoroughly loved it, with the exception of one vegetarian!

I definately plan to do more work in schools, and in October I’ve been invited to give a demonstration at the regions food technology teachers networking meeting, I look forward to it!

So I went from teaching 45 thirteen year olds one week to giving a demonstration for a group of 8 at a house on the luxury gated complex in Cirencester water park the next. Everything went extremely well and I employed my first assistant to help with the evening. Janine did a fantastic job and I’ll definitely be working with her again.

I’ve also given practical cooking lessons to various people, did a demo and tasting for 16 people from the Cleeve Hill society and had the Stanton Guildhouse host a demonstration and tasting open to members of the public. They plan to host another on October 21st. See Annabel’s Kitchen for more details.

I’ll keep you posted as to what’s coming up next.

 

 

 

Last week a group of 7 gathered at my house for a Thai cooking demonstration and dinner. As they sat around the dining table  nibbling on prawn crackers I demonstrated several dishes whilst they followed what I was cooking on their copies of my recipes.

 I provided them with information on buying their ingredients, all of which are available in Cheltenham. I gave them details of equipment that I find useful, provided tips on techniques to use and shortcuts to take if time is limited. I also answered any questions that they had as we went along.

This culminated in a delicious dinner of all the dishes cooked and a dessert that I had prepared earlier. Here is a copy of the recipes and photos.

 

 

THAI GREEN CURRY PASTE

THAI GREEN CHICKEN CURRY (Keaw Wan Kai)

STEAMED RICE

GREEN PAPAYA SALAD (Som Tam)

THAI STIR FRIED VEGETABLES (Phad Phak)

COCONUT ICE CREAM

SPICED BERRIES

                                                                           

 

 

THAI GREEN CURRY PASTE

 Making your own curry paste produces such a fresh tasting curry as well as lending to a wonderful colour. This is my own version of the recipe as kaffir lime zest; an ingredient used in green curry paste in Thailand is unavailable in the UK.

Makes approx. 200g (8-10 tbsp)

2 tsp coriander seeds

1 tsp cumin seeds

6 big green chillies – deseeded if you do not want the paste to be too spicy

1 stem of lemon grass, finely sliced

5 cm piece of galangal, sliced thinly

5 kaffir lime leaves

30g coriander root and 10cm of stem, roughly chopped

1 tbsp coriander leaves

3 large cloves of garlic, roughly chopped

60G (3) shallots, roughly chopped

2 tsp shrimp paste

1 tsp salt

1 tsp pepper

3 tbsp oil

 

Toast the cumin and coriander seeds in separate batches in a pan. Grind in a pestle and mortar.

Blend chillies, lemongrass, galangal, kaffir lime leaves, coriander root, stem and leaves along with the ground coriander and cumin seeds.

Add the rest of the ingredients and continue to blend until smooth.

 

 

 

THAI GREEN CHICKEN CURRY (Keaw Wan Kai)

 

Thai green curry is one of the most popular dishes in Thailand. This is probably one of the most authentic recipes you will find. It is a slight adaption of a recipe that I learnt whilst at the Blue Elephant cooking school in Bangkok.

Serves 1

1 tbsp vegetable oil

1tbsp green curry paste

½ tsp roasted ground cumin seeds

½ tsp roasted ground coriander seeds

150ml coconut milk

50ml water or stock

70g-100g chicken, sliced finely

2 small Thai aubergines, quartered

10 pea aubergines

2 kaffir lime leaves

3 Thai sweet basil leaves

1 tbsp chopped coriander

1 tsp caster sugar

1 tbsp fish sauce

Heat the oil in a wok until hot. Add the curry paste, cumin and coriander and fry for around 2 minutes until an aroma develops.  Lower the heat and add half of the coconut milk a little at a time. Allow to simmer for 2 minutes, add the chicken and cook until cooked through, and then add the other half of the coconut milk. Gradually add the water/stock until the curry has reached the desired consistency.

Add the green aubergines and the pea aubergines, the sugar, fish sauce, kaffir lime leaves and basil. Simmer for 5 minutes.

Sprinkle with the coriander.

 

 

STEAMED RICE

 

Serves 1

100ml-150ml Thai rice- measured in a measuring jug

100ml-150ml water-equal volume to the rice

 

Wash the rice well in a sieve until the water runs clear.

Place rice and water in a rice cooker and press the ‘cook’ button.

If cooking in a pan, place the rice and water in the pan and bring to the boil. Simmer gently until the water has reduced to the level of the rice. Then place the lid on and cook on the lowest heat for 15-20 minutes or until cooked.

Fluff up with a folk before serving.

 

GREEN PAPAYA SALAD (Som Tam)

 

 

Green papaya salad is a delicious traditional raw salad with mildly spicy, sweet, sour and salty flavours. Green papaya is totally unlike the fruit that we know. The texture of the green papaya is like a white crunchy vegetable.

Serves 1

70g green papaya, peeled and grated into long thin strips

½ -1clove garlic

½ -3 green birds’ eye chillies

30cm yard long beans, broken into 3cm pieces

1 tbsp roasted unsalted peanuts

1 tbsp dried shrimps

3 cherry tomatoes cut in half

2 tbsp palm sugar

1 tbsp fish sauce

1 tbsp lime juice

Pound the garlic and chillies in a pestle and mortar.

Add the dried shrimps and pound until crushed. Add the beans and peanuts and pound.

Add the sugar, fish sauce and lime juice and stir together. Then add the tomatoes and press with a pestle.

Finally add the papaya and stir until well mixed in.

Serve at room temperature.

 

 

THAI STIR FRIED VEGETABLES (Phad Phak)

 

Serves 1

Stir fried vegetables are a great accompaniment to eat alongside all Asian dishes. Or for a healthy meal, eat the dish on its own with steamed rice.

1 tbsp vegetable oil

1 garlic clove, finely sliced

40g baby corn, halved

40g Chinese cabbage, coarsely chopped

50g broccoli florets

40g carrots, julienned

25ml vegetable stock

2 tsp soy sauce

2 tbsp oyster sauce

½ tsp sugar

40g beansprouts

Heat the oil until hot. Add the garlic and fry for a couple of seconds, then immediately  add all the vegetables except the beansprouts, stir fry for 30 seconds to 1minute, or until the vegetables are cooked to your taste.  Add the stock and the sauces and sugar. Mix well. Toss in the beansprouts just before serving.

 

 

 

COCONUT ICE CREAM

 

Serves 4

2 sheets of gelatine

560ml tinned coconut milk

250g caster sugar

Soak the sheets of gelatine in cold water for 15 minutes. Dissolve the sugar in half the coconut milk in a pan over a low heat. When the sugar has dissolved, remove the mixture from the heat and add the gelatine. Mix to allow the gelatine to dissolve.

Stir in the rest of the coconut milk and set aside (put in the fridge once the mixture is cool enough) until the mixture is completely cold.

Freeze in an ice cream machine or put it into a container in the freezer. If making it in the freezer, after an hour of freezing take it out and beat by hand or use a food processor, repeat this process again after another hour, and repeat until it is smooth and evenly frozen.

 

 

SPICED BERRIES

 

Serves 4

400g mixed berries

200g sugar

225ml water

1 cinnamon stick

1 star anise

 

Put the berries into a bowl.

Put the sugar, water, cinnamon stick and star anise into a pan and bring slowly to the boil, stirring until the sugar dissolves. Boil for just 2 minutes.

Cool for 4-5 minutes then pour the hot syrup over the fruit and allow the flavours to infuse for several hours in the fridge.

NB If using frozen berries, pour the boiling syrup straight onto the berries rather than allowing it to cool.

Way back in October I went and heard Ruth Rogers speak at the Cheltenham literature festival. I’ve heard and know of The River Cafe but I’ve never eaten there before, nor did I know of its history, until I went to hear Ruth speak. The story of The River Cafe is intriguing. I was particularly inspired by the fact that Rose Gray and Ruth Rogers set up the River Cafe as friends and with no formal chefs training and twenty-two years later they are still going strong and have gained an outstanding reputation. She spoke particularly on their new book The River Cafe Classic Italian Cookbook, a collection of 200 traditional and regional recipes from their extensive travels through Italy, cooking with friends, chefs and winemakers. Of course I bought the book and got it signed. Whilst signing the book Ruth said to me ‘do you like to cook?’! To which I replied ‘yes, I love to cook’ whilst my head was telling me to add ‘would I be able to come on work experience at The River Cafe?’ but I didn’t pluck up the courage!!

I got home and tried two recipes, the Italian focaccia bread, which was a total success and the Pumpkin Gnocchi, not so much of a success. The pumpkin was so wet that I ended up having to add far more flour than stated in the recipe.  The gnocchi didn’t end up tasting much more than a raw ball of dough. Extremely unappetising. In fact probably one of the worst things I’ve ever made and tasted! But I’m sure with a good pumpkin it would have been delicious.

This Christmas I received an Magimix ice cream machine, a totally brilliant invention and it does not require any freezing of bowls in advance- which is great, because our freezer does not even fit the old ice cream bowl part that I have in.  From turning the machine on it is ready to make ice cream within 5 minutes! Then, once the mixture is in the churn, it is frozen into ice cream within about 20 minutes.

The first batch of ice cream that I have made in the machine is the River Cafe Caramel ice cream found in their Classic Italian book. ( Gelato della caramello) This is apparently the most popular ice cream they make at the River Cafe. It is a bitter caramel ice cream, in fact it tastes rather similar to creme brulee.

For 10

1.75 litres double cream

450ml full-fat milk

20 large free-range eggs

350g caster sugar

For the caramel

300g caster sugar

120ml water

In a large thick-bottomed pan, gently heat the cream and milk to just boiling, then remove from the heat.

Beat the eggs with the sugar for about 5 minutes, until pale, thick and creamy in consistancy. Pour a little of the warm cream and milk micture into the eggs, stir to combine, then add this mixture to the remaining cream and milk. Return the pan to the heat and cook very gently, stirring constantly to cook the eggs but prevent them curdling. When the mixture has thickened and is almost boiling, pour it into a bowl and leave to cool.

To make the caramel, whisk the caster sugar and water in a small thick-bottomed pan over a low heat until the sugar has dissolved. Then turn up the heat slightly and boil until the sugar turns from toffee to almost black caramel- but do not let it burn. Immediately remove from the heat and add the caramel to the cooled custard (carefully, as it does spit imensely!), stirring with a whisk until everything is comnined and is a beautiful dark rich colour. Allow to cool, then pour into an ice cream machine and churn until frozen, or freeze in a container, stirring occasionally to break up the ice crystals as it freezes.

I thought I would post the recipes for various quick and easy meals I’ve been cooking whilst unpacking boxes, painting and filling holes in walls etc. I have to admit that it still looks like we moved in yesterday and when people call by they look amongst the boxes and say ‘ Oh it’s looking great!’. Filly our dog has just added to the list of chores by attacking the door frame to the utility room in an attempt to escape. It looks like a job for a carpenter. Her other antics have included climbing on the dining table and stealing three pork pies, to which she is highly allergic. As well as chasing the neighbours cat and she’s also showing a keen interest in their chickens!

The first two recipes are adapted from recipes I saw in this months Olive magazine (actually they are so adapted you probably wouldn’t recognise the recipe if you had the magazine, but that is where the inspiration came from – i guess I could call them my own recipes!) and the Pad Thai is a noodle dish we learnt in Thailand.

Linguine with green and black olives and feta cheese

Serves 2

Olive oil

Garlic 2 cloves sliced

Small onion 1 chopped

Chopped tomatoes 1 x 400g can

Tomato puree 2 tsp

Linguine 200g

Pitted green and black olives approx 12-15 halved

Feta cheese 2 tbsp cubed

Flat-leaf parsley a small bunch, chopped

Heat 2 tbs oil in a medium pan and add the onion and garlic. Cook gently for 2 minutes, without allowing them to brown. Add the tomatoes and tomato puree and season (including seasoning of 1 tsp of sugar to counteract the sourness of the tinned tomatoes). Bring to the boil and simmer for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile cook the linguine according to packet instructions. Drain well. Stir in the olives and parsley and heat through for 1 minutes. Add the feta to the sauce just before serving.

Toss the pasta with the sauce and serve.

Tip: I bought a pack of marinated olives and feta all together instead of buying them all separately

 

Roasted root vegetable and green lentil soup

Serves 4

Chantenay carrots 250g halved lengthways

 Potatos 2 peeled and cut into small chunks

Onion 1 cut into thin wedges

Olive oil

Dried chilli flakes a pinch

Ground cumin 2 tsp

Green lentils 200g

Vegetable stock 1.5 litres

Parsley a small bunch, chopped

Heat the oven to 190 degrees. Arrange all the vegetables in a single layer in a large roasting tin. Drizzle over 2 tbsp oil and spronkle over the chilli flakes, cumin and some salt and pepper. Toss the veg to coat in the oil and roast for 30-40 minutes until tender.

Meanwhile put the lentils and stock in a large saucepan and bring to the boil. Cover and simmer for 15-20 minutes, until the lentils are tender. Stir in the roasted vegetables and parsley and serve with crusty bread.

 

Pad Thai

Serves 1

70g rice noodles

2 tbsp vegetable oil

1 large egg

3 prawns, deveined and headless but with tail attached

1 1/2 tbsp fish sauce

1 1/2 tbsp sugar

1 1/2 tbsp lemon juice

1 tbsp yellow bean curd, finely diced

1 tbsp ground dried shrimp ( soak in cold water for 5 minutes, drain and pound in a pestle and mortar)

1 tbsp ground roasted peanuts

1 stem spring onion, cut into 2 cm pieces

30g bean sprouts

Soak the rice noodles in hot water until soft, approx 10 minutes. Careful they don’t get too soft.

Heat the oil in a wok until hot, then break the egg into the oil and scramble it.

Add the prawns and noodles, stir-fry for 15 seconds.

Add the fish sauce, sugar and lemon juice. Stir-fry for a further 15 seconds.

Add the dried shrimps, peanuts and beancurd. Stir-fry for another 15 seconds.

The toss in the spring onion and bean sprouts. Mix and remove from the heat.

Garnish with a lemon wedge and sprinkle with coriander leaves.

On Wednesday whilst I did the DIY Mark took over in the kitchen! He served up a delicious meal of crispy belly pork, chunky chips, red cabbage and carrots. I’ll let him take it from here!…………

As we have just moved into our new house, I did the typical bloke thing and went to B&Q to buy all the things a typical “Man needs”, the spirit level, drill, all the attachments (you can never have too many attachments for a drill), plenty of paint and some wall plugs and screws to match. Annabel has done a sterling job of making use of them all, as everyone in my family seems to think I am about as useful at DIY as Pete Docherty is at being sober. So I was banished to the kitchen to prepare a feast for the hungry workers.

I have always had a passion for chunky chips. So much so that I even asked the chef at a local restaurant, just how did he get his chunky chips so crunchy…. He lied as all I was left with after using his recipe, was raw starch, drenched in cooking oil. But I was now determined to find out how you make chunky chips, crunchy on the outside and soft and fluffy in the middle. People beware, if you want the chunky chips with a crispy outer shell and a soft fluffy centre, you need to put some effort in. So here comes the recipe:

What you will need

1 large potato per person (I’m still experimenting with the best variety, but please do post if you have an insight.)

About 4 litres of vegetable oil (you can use less if you are using a pan, fill one third full)

A deep fat fryer and a large pan.

A colander

Two baking trays

Some kitchen roll

Method

Firstly peel the potatoes and then wash to remove any excess dirt.

Cut the chips so that they are about three quarters of an inch thick. Try to ensure that they are of similar thickness, so that they will cook evenly.

Place the chips into a ban of cold water and bring to the boil. Boil the chips for about 8 minutes

Meanwhile just as the chips are finishing boiling, fill your sink with ice cold water (please clean the sink first.)

Drain the chips with the colander and put immediately into the iced cold water

Heat the oil using your deep fat fryer or pan (you will need a thermometer if using a pan) to 160 degrees.

Place the enough chips into the frying basket so that they only cover the bottom of the basket, or if using a pan, the base of the pan.

Fry for 3-4 minutes. The chips will not be golden brown but that’s ok. Remove and place on a baking tray lined with kitchen roll.

Complete this until all the chips have been done once.

Repeat the process again. (This is the secret).

Turn the oil up to 190 degrees, and then fry a batch of the chips for about 3-4 minutes again. This will turn the chips golden brown, crispy on the outside and fluffy in the middle. Repeat with the remainder of the chips.

Season with salt, but no vinegar as this will make them soggy.

They key to getting the crispiness is the boiling, iced cold water and three times frying. It takes some time, but believe me your DIY professionals will love them. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did.

My friend Jess is expecting a baby girl in March. We decided on an afternoon tea party for her baby shower. Which included cooking for various specialist food requirements…the whole family bar one being vegetarian and one also being gluten free! However the selection of cakes I got together were still tasty and I’d say the one that was gluten free was probably the best!

I received The Hummingbird bakery cookbook for Christmas from a friend so I tried out their chocolate cupcakes with American cream cheese frosting. I wish I’d had a camera because they looked gorgeous and Christmassy, but you have to have an exceptionally sweet tooth to like them! Also my untouched Christmas cake made an appearance ( which remained untouched! and then got taken to the in-laws who love their fruit cake!)  along with the gluten free Italian hazelnut cake. I’ll include the recipe for the hazelnut cake below as people are often after something delicious to cook for gluten free eaters or celiacs. This is an exceptionally light cake. It’s from Rachel Allen’s Bake book.

ITALIAN HAZELNUT CAKE

200g (7oz) hazelnuts (skin on)

1tsp baking powder

1tsp ground cinnamon

100g butter, softened

5 eggs separated

175g (6oz) caster sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

Pinch of salt

You will need 20cm (8in) diameter spring-form/loose-bottomed tin

1) Preheat the oven to 170 degrees (Gas mark 3). Butter and line the sides and base of the cake tin with greaseproof paper.

2) Grind the hazelnuts with the baking powder and ground cinnamon in a food processor until fine. Add the butter and combine.

3) Place the egg yolks in the bowl of an electric food mixer or use a hand-held electric beater. Add the sugar and whisk until the mixture becomes slightly ‘moussey’ and the mix holds a trail when you lift the beater. Add the hazelnut mixture and the vanilla extract and whisk until combined.

4) Whisk the egg whites and salt together in a large, spotlessly clean bowl until stiff peaks form, then gently fold into the nut mixture in three stages so as not to deflate the whites.

5) Pour the mixture into the prepared tin, smooth the surface an bake in the oven for 55-70 minutes or until the cake feels firm and a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean. The mixture is quite delicate so don’t be tempted to open the oven until close to the end of the cooking time.

6) Allow to cool in the tin for 15 minutes. then very gently ease the sides of the cake out of the tin using a palette knife. Remove the base after another 15 minutes and leave to cook before cutting into slices.

I created this dish on Wednesday last week. I made it up so there are no specific measurements but it is not essential to have everything exact. I included a layer of roasted butternut squash and instead of using white sauce I used layers of seasoned creme fraiche. The tomato sauce was made by sweating the usual trio of veg (onion, celery and carrot) with an added mixture of roasted vegetables with tomatoes and herbs.

Ingredients

Fresh lasagne sheets ( I bought 1 pack)

Onion-approx 3

Carrot-approx 2

Celery-approx 2 sticks

Aubergine-1

Courgette-1

Red pepper-1

Yellow pepper-1

sage-approx 1 tbs

thyme-approx 1 tbs

Olive oil-couple of tablespoons

Rosemary-1sprig

Creme fraiche- 500mls

1 tin tomatoes

Cheddar

Mozzarella

Butternut squash-1

Ground coriander-about 1tbs

Chili flakes-about 1tsp

Preheat oven to 200 degrees

First peel and chop the butternut squash in pieces. Rub then with olive oil and sprinkle with the coriander and chili flakes then season and place into the oven. Then chop the aubergine, courgette, 1 onion and the peppers and sprinkle with oil, season and add the very finely chopped rosemary. Add to the oven also. Leave for about 30 mins.

Whilst the vegetables are roasting make the tomato sauce. Sweat the carrot, onion and celery until completely soft. Then add the tinned tomatoes, the roasted vegetables (not the squash) and the chopped herbs. At this point you could add a glug of red wine but I didn’t have any. Simmer for 5 minutes or until reduced slightly. Season

Assemble the lasagne. Lightly oil the baking dish ( I made 2 smaller ones, one for the freezer), then place a layer of pasta sheets on the base on the dish. Follow this with a layer of the tomato sauce and place the butternut squash as a layer on top of that. (It is useful to crush the pieces of squash with a folk as they can be bulky). Then top with creme fraiche sauce followed with a layer of pasta. Repeat the process and finish with a sheet of pasta covered with creme fraiche sauce,  torn pieces of mozzarella and grated cheddar. Bake at 180 degrees for about 30 minutes.

I decided to try a quick recipe from this months Olive magazine on Thursday night this week. I love Puy lentils but the others weren’t too sure. They were more than pleasantly surprised.

I would recommend making sure the sausages are entirely browned all over before braising which is not all that easy as they always fall to the same side. I held them with tongs to do this otherwise the areas that don’t get browned don’t look particularly appetising!

Serves 4

Cooking time 30 mins

8 Pork sausages

Oil

1 large onion chopped

70g pack cubetti di pancetta ( I didn’t have this, so I used back bacon chopped into small pieces)

200g Puy lentils

1 glass red wine

400ml chicken stock

Brown the sausages all over in a little oil, in a large wide pan with a lid. Remove, then add the onion and bacon and cook untill onions are really browned and softened. Add the lentils and stir. Add the wine and reduce a little, then add the stock, season and add back the sausages. Put on a lid and simmer gently for 20-25 minutes until lentils and sausages are cooked through. Add a splash of water if needed or remove the lid for the last 5 minutes if there’s too much liquid.

I served this with steamed purple sprouting broccoli, mini sauteed potatoes and home made spiced cranberry chutney.

I had my brother in-law, his girlfriend and a friend of mine over for dinner last night. I decided to cook Chinese ribs and used an old Chinese cookbook of my mums. The instructions were in Chinese but there was an English translation. We thought they tasted very authentic. Having just had some for lunch today Mark and I thought that the flavour had developed more and it had a slight taste of blackbean sauce. However there isn’t a blackbean insight in the recipe! You are supposed to reduce the sauce down completely so its thick and sticks to the ribs, which worked well last time I made the dish, but this time cooking it in a mass volume, (Mark was worried there wasn’t going to be enough food and told me I should probably cook a chicken too!) I thought the meat would be falling off the ribs by the time the sauce had thickened. So instead I thickened it with cornflour, which worked just as well. There are probably enough ribs left to eat everyday for the rest of the week!!

The recipe is as follows and is in US measurements as this is what the Chinese used:

The book is Chinese cooking favorite home dishes

Ingredients:

6006 spareribs ( I got baby back ribs from my butcher)

2 stalks of spring onions

3 slices ginger root

2 tablespoons white wine

1/4 cup soy sauce

1/2 tablespoon sugar

2 star anise

1 1/2 cups water

Chop the rips into 6cm pieces- a meat cleaver is good for this.

Heat 3 tablespoons of oil in a wok and fry the ribs until fragrant. Add all the ingredients and bring to the boil. (I held back half the spring onions to add at the end for some colour) Reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes until the ribs are tender. Increase heat to medium and cook until the liquid is almost absorbed. Or thicken with cornflour. Remove from heat.

Roast the ribs at 235 degrees for 10 minutes. ( I did not do this as they were nice as they were)

You can freeze these and then defrost before roasting in the oven to reheat.