Hoi sin chicken over ginger sesame vegetables

* 1 chicken thigh

* 2 - 3 tbsp hoi sin sauce

* 1" piece root ginger

* 2 carrots

* Handful sugar snap peas

* 2 small spring onions

* Sesame seed oil

* Soy sauce

* Vegetable oil

* Half cup jasmine rice

* Toasted black sesame seeds

Preheat oven to 180C. Place chicken thigh in a pyrex dish that fits it, smooth on hoi sin sauce with a spoon - under and over. Cover dish with foil, bake for 45mins.

Rinse and set the jasmine rice cooking.

Finely julienne the ginger (taking care to cut against the fibre growth), scrape/peel carrots and julienne too. Top/tail (and de-string) sugar snap peas if desired.

Heat 1 - 2 tsp or so of vegetable oil in a wok. Bring to a medium-hot heat, add ginger, stir fry for 1min or until slightly translucent. Add carrot, cook for 1min or so, then add spring onion and sugar snaps. Stir fry for another 2 - 3mins.

Add 1 tsp sesame seed oil, 3 - 4 tsp soy sauce to the wok. Stir and continue cooking to softness preference.

Lift foil from chicken before end of cooking for crispy skin. Cook for another 15mins as required, checking for cooked-ness before serving.

Serve up jasmine rice, stir fried vegetables and place chicken on top. Spoon over additional hoi sin flavoured cooking juices from the pyrex dish, then sprinkle on toasted sesame seeds.

Tilapia, salsa and cauliflower curry with chapati

Take one frozen portion of mung bean curry soup. Leave defrosting to a simmer, after adding a little extra thin coconut milk and lemon juice.

Pan fry small florets of cauliflower until turning a little golden brown, then stir into curry.

Place one tilapia fillet over curry, and let steam.

In a small bowl, mix up chopped fresh tomato, squeeze of lemon juice, sea salt, torn fresh coriander.

Mix up some sorghum (jawar), millet and tapioca rice flour with water to form a thick dough. Pinch out as thin as you can into a disc, then place the chapati in a frying pan on a medium heat with some grapeseed oil in it. (Smoosh out to further thinness with the back of an oiled spoon, if you wish. It's fun when you realise to oil the spoon.) Cook for a few minutes on either side, 'til both have a bit of golden brown colouring to them.

Serve up cauliflower curry mung bean soup, tilapia, add some salsa and serve alongside chapati. Cucumber, mint and yoghurt raita would also be good.

Turkey basil salad

A light lunch that I had a sampling of for tea, and it works rather nicely.

* 2 - 3 romaine lettuce leaves
* Handful baby spinach leaf
* 6 - 8 slices cucumber
* 1 - 2 tbsp finely sliced red chicory
* 1 heaped tbsp cubed sweet pickled beetroot
* 1 slice roast turkey, cut into short diagonal slithers
* 5 - 6 leaves of fresh basil, finely sliced
* 1 tsp mayonnaise
* 1 tsp lemon juice
* Black pepper

Mix up spinach, lettuce and chicory in a dish, or on a plate (the dish allows for later mixing more readily.) Arrange cucumber, turkey and beetroot over leaves. In a separate bowl mix up mayonnaise, lemon juice, black pepper and basil, then drizzle over salad.

Keeping some notes on food adventures

There are quite a few photos, and (what are to me) nifty food ideas. This place will hopefully collect up a few of them, and provide some inspiration when I'm wondering what to do next.

Now, on with the food findings and photos!