Vegan Recipes: Blood Orange, Soy Yoghurt, Granola & Pomegranate Molasses

Pomegranate Molasses. Where would I have been without this ingredient during Veganuary? Down in the dumps for sure. I used it in practically everything, from dressings, marinades, dipping sauces and just as a drizzle. We were entering blood orange season when I started being vegan so it was perfect timing to combine two great tasting things.

Serves 1

1 blood orange, skin removed and sliced across into rounds
1 tsp pomegranate molasses
150g soy yoghurt
Small handful of granola

1. Place yoghurt in bowl, drizzle with pomegranate molasses.
2. Top with oranges and granola, plan your summer holidays.

Next up: Miso - a vegan's best friend.

Vegan Recipes: Avocado and Spicy Beans on Toast

Back in January I did a Mrs Carter and went vegan for 22 days, albeit without the fur coat. Calling this challenging would be putting this lightly - it was fairly traumatic and there's no way I'm doing it again. I did however, discover a lot of new ingredients and recipes which I'd use again. I found myself experimenting more in the kitchen but finding eating out and socialising a right pain. Lessons learnt - drop your existing meat-eating friends and stock up with the latest superfood a la Gwyneth if you're going to put yourself through this.

I missed eggs tremendously throughout this period, especially at breakfast. Nothing beats a creamy, runny egg yolk and it's a mistake to think there could be a substitute. The creamy nature of an egg yolk did for some reason get me thinking of avocados, and their substantive wholesomeness. Pair that with spicy beans on toast and things are certainly looking up.

Sous Vide Recipes: Dill & Garlic "Cantonese Style" Haddock

One of my favourite ways to eat fish is steamed - a classic Chinese technique that I believe brings out the best flavour and texture of fish whilst keeping it juicy. I am also very partial to Cantonese Style Steamed Sea Bass which is usually understood as a whole steamed sea bass bathed in a soy sauce and Shaoxing Rice Wine sauce, topped with ginger and spring onion then doused with sizzling oil.

For me, fish cooked sous vide brings the same advantages as steaming: and my next Sous Vide Supreme recipe had to be a variation on a theme. Going sustainable with haddock and playing with dill and garlic.

Ode to Cantonese Style Steamed Sea Bass

Sous Vide Recipes: Whole Beetroot with Ginger, Pumpkin Seeds & Sesame Oil

Last Friday's conversation with a colleague:

"Hey, do you want some beetroot?" There was loads of beetroot.

Me: "OK, what will I do with all of it?"

"Sous Vide it." I'll think about that, chef.

My adventures with beetroot were limited up to now. Just an addition to salad, sometimes grated to make a dip. So the suggestion to sous vide it by @itsachefslife sent my imagination sailing. I had made a quiet decision that I preferred sous vide-ing food items which don't have their own oils or fats such as fish, lean meat, vegetables and fruit. The controlled slow poaching seals in the little juices they have and concentrates them. With conventional cooking things like duck legs or pork bellies hold their own, they have enough jelly to keep self-basting. But with our beets, sous vide turns their deep fuchsia flesh into some kind of wonderful.

Sous Vide Recipes: Sambal Salmon with Lime & Thai Basil

After a long hard slog of a year to move into the food industry full time, it's time for a blog post. It's been emotional and exciting but so far so good and there's no looking back. Experimenting with cool foodie gadgets comes with the territory and this week I've been testing out the Sous Vide Supreme, darling of the slow cooking and poaching world.

My mind got thinking to Chinese and South East Asian cooking techniques that sous vide could easily replicate and enhance. Poached, steamed and slow braised dishes would all be wonderful and plunging a bag into a machine that claimed to cook food to perfection whilst I twiddle my thumbs was extremely welcome.

I decided on an easy classic with a twist for my maiden sous vide adventure: juicy salmon smothered in a spicy Malaysian sambal lined with lime slices and plenty of Thai Basil.

Fish Head Rice Noodle Soup 鱼头米饭

Lately I've been hit by desperate cravings for homely noodle soups. I'd like to think my desperation would make me unfussy, that hunger trumps putting myself through inconvenience. Wouldn't it just be fine to make up some soup through stock cubes, toss in noodles and fillings? Nope, that's not how us noodle lovers roll. I of course had to make everything from scratch and traipse around London for the "right" ingredients. But then I wouldn't have discovered some very interesting details about one of my childhood favourites, Fish Head Rice Noodle Soup.

Pan Chai

Pan Chai opened in April this year to one of the world's retail meccas: Harrod's in Knightsbridge. The latest in the Mango Tree restaurant group, its menu bears similar characteristics to predecessors Awana and Mango Tree itself. We perch on booths in the famous Harrod's food hall underneath a wavy green "awning" and dive into the dishes.

Food Photography Tips with David Griffen

In the latest September installment of Social Media Week London 2012 I attended a fun and informative workshop run by food photographer David Griffen and Great British Chefs providing food bloggers with tips for improving our food photo techniques. It was held at the immense and delightful Google London offices (yes the rumours are true, it's a working-playground in there) with food provided by Michelin-starred Pascal Aussignac of Club Gascon fame.

Fabulous food photo tips & advice, delicious food and all in the company of fun people: for me these are ingredients of a great evening. Here are just some nuggets of wisdom which David shared with us:

1. Don't be afraid to get in real close: even if the context of the food isn't in the photo, it's lovely to capture the detailed textures.

Roquefort, Caramelised Onion & Sweet Potato Tart by Pascal Aussignac

Hungry Ghost Supper

August marks the 7th Month in the Chinese Lunar calendar where the Gates of Hell open and Hungry Ghosts roam the mortal world, seeking a place to feed their empty bellies. There are multiple rituals that accompany this Chinese tradition of seeking "approval" from dieties and spirits of the former living. It is in a sense a Chinese "All Souls Month" as joss-sticks are lit, prayer paper is burnt in remembrance of loved ones no longer with us. A large part of the occasion involves offering food to appease finicky ghosts.

That's where we come in. Two Hungry Girls were invited by our talented friends at Platform 65 to host a never-seen-before pop-up at a beautiful Marylebone townhouse for the Hungry Ghost Festival. A script regaling stories of Gods, Ghosts and Ancestors was performed by Cui & Ming, who also took guests on a tour around the house explaining the traditions and superstitions of this feast.

Two Hungry Girls

Just several months ago I'd returned from my epic adventures in Beijing & China where I'd eaten the most mind-blowing food.  My foodie core had been shaken. I looked at my heritage and childhood culture with new eyes and decided upon my return to the UK I was on a mission to bring creative Chinese cuisine to London. And thankfully I'm not alone.

Five Spice & Sichuan Peppercorn Roast Duck

Panda Panda: Deptford Banh Mi

Have I mentioned Vietnamese has infiltrated Deptford? This little outlet has been around for a while but having this good a Banh Mi close to work is well worth the plug.

Baozi Inn

Sigh. And that is saying something when one starts a blog post with a sigh. I did so much want Baozi Inn to help me recreate some of those Beijing highlights I had been fortunate to experience last year but alas. For a second I wondered if that was an unrealistic expectation though when somewhere says it serves real “Beijing Street Food” then they’ve talked the talk. Now wok the wok, I say.

Le Gia: The Growing Vietnamese Scene in Deptford

No need to list reasons why one would not venture into Deptford for well, anything. Unless of course one worked round the corner in Greenwich and was offered the chance of a lunch adventure to the local Vietnamese by a foodie colleague. Whilst Deptford is generally an adventure black hole it is strangely home to some quality and destination Vietnamese restaurants, the best known one in the area being Café East.

Colleague S seemed to have uncovered a little gem. Le Gia was very no-frills, harshly stark in fact and we were the only customers at that lunchtime service. Only. Which could have been slightly eerie but S AKA Tomatoes and Radio Wire and I were not once short of food stories to exchange. I always appreciate a spirited companion that is game for good food no matter the surroundings.

Though we were provided with what looked like an ample menu, we still lunged forward at Beef Pho Bo each and Beef Summer Rolls. Yes this was very one-track minded but S here needed an iron shot after giving blood the day before. And when it was this good, gimme that iron!

Dumplings 饺子 & Hotpot 火锅: My kinda comfort food

What do you usually crave for when English skies send down the most annoying feathery raindrops, the type that doesn't stop you in your tracks but frizzes up the hairdo you worked so hard at getting right? This week I've had serious craving for hotpot huoguo 火锅 and my favourite thing to cook in them, home-made dumplings jiaozi 饺子.

Transit: Sichuan in Beijing that was so so fine

I cast my memory back to my "send off" meal I had in Beijing early this year. Almost an impossible gig to select a place which gives you the final flavour snapshots of an incredible journey. So I let my expectations down thinking that it was just hopeless to expect too much. And then, by some lovely workings of the universe I wasn't let down at all.

Beijing Memories: A Restaurant with No Name over the Houhai Lake

One of my favourite regional Chinese foods is Yunnanese. Why? Because it has the most unique and beguiling marriage of Chinese peppery spice and sweet, tangy, fruitiness. No wonder as the province borders Myanmar, Laos and Vietnam. Chinese "fusion" has been going on for a long, long time.

Two noodles I could eat all the time: Mee Pok & Chilly Pan Mee

Malaysian food-sickness. No, I mean Malaysian food-homesickness. Homesick for Malaysian food. Oh darnnit, I just want these two types of noodles!

Supperclub Challenge for Social Media Week London 2012: Craft Cakes meets Hungry Female

What a whirlwind week. I arrived back in the UK to find myself with only four days to plan for a Supperclub challenge hosted by the Great British Chefs in line with Social Media Week London 2012. The challenge was simple: host a supperclub or dinner party to raise money for Action Against Hunger's Love Food Give Food fundraising campaign. We needed to make at least two dishes from their suggested recipe list, blog about them and of course rally the troops to donate some dough.

I could only face such an undertaking with someone whom I knew was a maestro in the kitchen, who came in the form of Leigh Koh Peart, founder and owner of Craft Cakes. A talented and creative pastry chef hailing from (neighbour!) Singapore, we instantly agreed that we summon our South East Asian repertoires to bring a twist to the suggested recipes. 

The Menu

We are gluttons for punishment (pun intended). All we actually needed to do was produce a three course menu, using at least two recipes from the list. Our final menu was, erm, rather more elaborate...

Aperitifs

Lychee Sangria & Nibbles

Menu

Tea-Soaked Eggs

Cucumber & Wood Ear Fungus Salad

Lemongrass Pork Skewers

Grilled Honey Soy Chicken Wings

Steamed Tofu topped with Crunchy Shallots
Asparagus & Prawns

Fish & Asian Bouillabaisse Sauce

served with Steamed Rice & Condiments

Dessert

Green Tea Profiteroles

Tea & Coffee

Malaysian Munching: Village Park for THAT Nasi Lemak

Remember when Madam Kwan's first arrived on the scene in KL? And how Nasi Bojari was the dish to have? Mainly because of that gorgeous chicken leg accompanied by the tasty mixed rice, sambal and acar combo. Come to think of it was a sorta version of Nasi Lemak. Well that heyday is well and truly over but have no fear because if there was ever a reinvention of the chicken leg, then Village Park in Damansara Uptown has done a Madonna.