Spicy Thai Red Chicken Curry

I went to Thailand late last year, and it was possibly one of the hardest places I have been in terms of eating. Hardly anyone understood my translation card which made it near impossible to eat anything - I lived on steamed veggies and rice for 2 and a bit weeks (apart from in Koh Tao where we found the best little restaurant who labelled everything GF!).

So, I decided to adapt a well known classic Thai dish, Chicken Red Thai Curry into something that us coeliacs can eat - and my god was it good! 

I cheated a bit and didn't make my own paste, but Waitrose Red Thai Curry Paste is a great alternative to those of you, who like me don't get in from work until late! 

Ingredients: 

3 tbsp of rapeseed oil 

3 large chicken breasts, diced 

1x Waitrose Cooks Ingredients Red Thai Curry Paste (100g)

1 large white onion, diced

3 spring onions, sliced length ways

1 green chili sliced 

1/2 red pepper, sliced

1/2 yellow pepper, sliced

3 cloves garlic, crushed

1/2 lemon zest and juice

1 tbsp gluten free tamari (soy sauce)

1 handful of fresh Thai basil 

1x can of coconut milk (400g)

Crushed black pepper to taste 

Method:

1. In a large pan heat the rapeseed oil and then add the diced white onion and sweat (you don't want them to brown)

2. Add the diced chicken and brown

3. Add the whole jar of the Red Thai Curry Paste and your crushed garlic cloves and sliced green chili and cook off for 2 mins 

4. Roughly chop a handful of Thai basil and add to the pot along with the spring onion

5. Add in the coconut milk and simmer, then squeeze the half lemon and add the zest 

6. Season to taste with the soy and black pepper

7. cover the pot with a lid and simmer for approx 10-12 mins, while you are doing this you might want to start your plain white rice. 

8. You want the veggies to be really crispy, so these are added with 3 mins to go until finished. 

Serve how you wish, with a sprinkling of sprint onion and Thai basil to garnish - it really is delicious and would make a fantastic valentines meal for your loved one. 

Thank me later 

T :) x

Healthy Kale Chips

Now, I'm not sure about you but when I was little I used to HATE greens. My Nan used to pile high my plate with 'curly kale' and I would gag at the thought of eating it. 

Now you'll find it has become one of those 'superfoods' that's splashed everywhere as a miracle food that assists in weight loss and all things magical - I'm not sure the magical part is correct, but it is full of Vitimin K, C, A, B6 and E - the list goes on! 

I had half a bag of kale left in the fridge this weekend, that was going out of date and wasn't enough for a portion with dinner - so I made Kale Chips. 

My boyfriend pulled a face when I said 'hey would you like some Kale chips?' and turned his nose up and then continued to eat half of the bowl once he'd tried them!! 

These are simply roasted with a drizzle of olive oil, Chinese 5 spice, pink Himalayan salt and fresh ground pepper.  You need to ensure that the leaves are dry before you add the oil - otherwise you run the risk of the leaves going soggy - and that's not what you want! 

Rub the oil, five spice, salt and pepper into the leaves and place on grease proof paper. put into the oven for 7 mins at 180 degrees - but don't open the door!


They actually taste like crispy Chinese seaweed from the takeaway - just without being deep fried and a while lot less greasy!


Don't worry - you'll thank me after you've tried them! You can also prepare these the night before and keep them in an airtight container and take them to work as a healthy snack. 

T :) x

Chinese Take Away - Made at Home

Takeaways. A nightmare for those with allergies and auto immune conditions like me.

But, you can just as easily make it at home…and it doesn’t take forever to prep!

My free from sticky salmon with egg fried rice and Chinese stir-fried vegetables was a hit – why not try it for yourself?

Sticky Salmon

Ingredients:

Tamari (2 tbsp)

Thumb size piece of ginger – grated

half 1 red chilli

half 1 green chilli

Chinese 5 Spice  (1 tsp)

Clear Honey -(1 tbsp)

Garlic cloves, minced (2 cloves)

2 Salmon fillets

Method:

In a small bowl, mix together all the ingredients with a fork to ensure they are all combined.

Make small tinfoil parcels for your salmon fillets, and marinate the fillets for at least 30 mins in the fridge.

Bake in the oven for 25 mins (in the parcel)

The last 5 mins, uncover so the salmon can caramelise.

Egg Fried Rice

Ingredients:

Cold precooked long grain white rice (300g)

Generous glug if vegetable oil

3 spring onions, sliced

half 1 white onion

Fresh ground pepper to taste

Tamari (1 tsp)

3 eggs whisked

2 handfuls of frozen peas (defrosted)

Method:

Heat the oil in a wok until smoking hot

Quickly fry the onion and spring onions, no more than 1 minute

Add the pre cooked rice and coat with the oil

Push the rice to one side, and add the egg – whisk with a chopstick or end of a wooden spoon (works just as well) – mix in with the rest of the rice and add the defrosted peas

Add pepper to taste and mix in the tamari before serving.

Chinese Stir Fried Vegetables

Ingredients:

2 Bok Choi

Half Broccoli (pre cooked for 4 mins)

small piece of ginger grated

2 garlic cloves

vegetable oil to coat pan

tamari (a few drops)

half red chili chopped finely

half green chili chopped  finely

Method:

Heat the oil in a wok until smoking hot

add the ginger, garlic and chopped chili’s

add your Bok Choi and cook in the oil for 6 mins until the stalks are almost transparent

add the broccoli and the tamari

and Voila….plate up and it’s ready to devour.

No preservatives, no monosotium glutomate (MSG), totally gluten free and yummy for those days when you crave a takeaway but want to be good.

 T x

Celia Lager and Gallo Recipe Review

    

Imagine the scene, a little cottage in Whitstable, Kent on the coldest weekend of the year so far, tucking into piping hot marinated chicken wings followed by a deliciously silky mushroom risotto, both made with a secret ingredient, Celia Lager.

Gluten Free Lager brand Celia (who also own the renowned Gluten Free restaurant Vozars in Brixon) and Gallo have joined forces to form a great collection of recipes using their products to create taste explosions.

I was lucky enough to get the chance to try these recipes out for myself found them extremely easy to follow. All the recipes include Celia lager (both light and dark) and make the dishes extra special. I don’t always cook at home and it was a nice chance to be in the kitchen in charge of the dinner.

The marinated chicken wings with honey and chilli were lovely, and came out sticky and golden – of course the magic ingredient being a whole bottle of Celia Original and left to marinate overnight. For a main course, I decided to try the mushroom risotto, where I used two types of mushroom for an intense flavour – oyster and button mushrooms. Again the magic ingredient along with stock was to use a whole bottle of Celia Original before the chicken stock was added to the rice. It makes the rice silky smooth and creamy without any cream being added at all.

The fabulous cookbook full of great little recipes is set to launch next year. In the meantime though, why not try Celia original in your risotto? 

:) T x

Dragons' Den and Attitudes towards Coeliac Disease

So, Following on from Sunday’s airing of Dragons' Den what did we all think about what Nick Jenkins had to say about substitute products that are gluten free in relation to the Rule of Crumb pitch?

Do you agree that if you are Coeliac you should just eat eggs and avocado for breakfast, or just avoid foods with gluten in them? Or would you prefer to sometimes sink your teeth into a bacon gluten free sandwich? I know which one I would prefer!

I am not saying that all substitute products are amazing; we all know they aren't and sometimes contain more sugar and fat than those products that are non-gluten free. What I am saying is that actually, sometimes it’s nice to not feel different when everyone else around you is eating something you can’t have.  

I take the example from when I was at university. We would go out all night on a Monday and then be hung over all day on the Tuesday; everyone else would have the obligatory 2 for Tuesday’s hangover pizza. Me…I couldn't have it. I had to ensure that I had a frozen Dietary Specials pizza in the freezer so I wasn't left out. 

This is no sob story…I just got on with it but what I took from what Nick Jenkins had to say was that actually those small proportion of us that are Coeliac don’t matter (as he surmised we are less than 1% of the population). Actually Nick, diagnosis of Coeliac Disease has risen in the last ten years nearly 10 fold because of raised awareness and better testing facilities. I would love for you to have gone through what I went through as a 16 year old girl and tell me that your comments on Sunday’s show didn't offend you.

I hate being different. I have hated being the ‘awkward one’ or the ‘different’ one since I was 16. It’s not my fault…I don’t mean to be difficult. I try to eat as many products that are naturally gluten free as possible, but as we all know that is hard as even the products you’d think don’t have gluten in..do. When I was diagnosed I ate nothing but fish, meat, fruit and vegetables. I cannot begin to tell you how ill I became and lost near a quarter of my bodyweight.

I think the message that you sent out on Sunday night’s programme is negative and you clearly have a warped perception of what Coeliac disease is, just because you choose not to eat gluten.

Unfortunately Nick, some of us don’t have a choice in what we eat.