It’s a nice greeting at this time of year, to be wished a prosperous year. As Chinese is pretty much up there in MGG’s top three (chicken chow mein rotates with mussels and chicken pie as her fave) then there is a big demand for Chinese food here. Being close to Leicester, we’re really well supplied for more unusual Indian ingredients, but less so on Chinese. So, these are my fave online sources, as my trips to Hong Kong seem to have dried up for now:

* Wing Yip – I associate these with some really huge supermarkets I’ve seen around the country, and it certainly has everything I think you might need, and then some. I mean, get all the ingredients, and then some paper lanterns as well! Site is a bit hard to navigate though, and for most of these things I may as well go to Sainsbury’s.

* The Asian Cookshop – this is probably my preferred site, as we cook from a wide variety of Asian cuisines, and this covers everything from Chinese to Sri Lankan and Japanese, even Filipino. It covers dried and fresh food, so you can get things like banana leaves and dumpling wrappers.

* Canton Tea Co – you’ll need some good tea and this a good source for a wide variety, with a number that are Great Taste gold award winners. What ever takes your fancy is probably here: black, green, white and flowering. To me, jasmine tea is still the best thing to go with Chinese.

I wish we were nearer to somewhere authentic with a dragon dance, and proper food, so we’ll be busy doing our own. Here’s hoping it’s a prosperous year ahead for all.

Photo by Paolo Camera on Flickr.

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Of course, there are days when you can slow roast a whole hog, make your own puff pastry, make stock from scratch, and everyone will be happy. And then there’s a Tuesday night when everyone screams in at different times, ravenously hungry and desperate to eat. Right now. Where would you turn for inspiration? Here’s a few to consider having to hand, not to mention a well stocked larder.

Prepped! Gorgeous Food with the Slog by Vanessa Kimbell – Sounds perfect for most of us, particular as one reviewer has already described it as a multi-tasking masterpiece for time-short foodies. If you’ve ever wondered what goes into writing a cookery book then you can follow Vanessa’s story through her blog, as well as get a taste for some of the recipes. The book is out today so can be whisked to you quickly to save dinnertime!

The 30 Minute Cook by Nigel Slater – showing there are no real new ideas, Nigel Slater’s book pre-dates Jamie’s by quite some years, and is one of the first cookery books I owned. I love his writing and his recipes, and this is a great book for very quick meal ideas, and the all important larder guide for rustling up tasty stuff quickly. Scallops and bacon is simple, quick and delicious, and the lemon roast chicken comfort food in a flash.

Leon: Naturally Fast Food – I’ve written many times about Leon being one of my fave places to stop in for lunch when I’m in London (and I really wish they’d expand to round here). And half of this book is about dishes that can be prepped up, cooked and served in just 20 minutes, so 10 minutes less whinging to put up with. The other half covers the other type of cooking, lovely slow cooked dishes for when you can everyone sat round the table together. Great recipes too!

Ching’s Fast Food: 110 Quick and Healthy Chinese Favourites by Ching-He Huang – quicker than waiting for the local Chinese to deliver, and probably somewhat healthier. Quick, tasty and a change from beans on toast!

Real Food, Real Fast by Sam Stern – love this, written by Sam and his mum! Meals on the table from 5 minutes through to 30 minutes. No idea if 5 minutes is more exciting than buttered toast, but there are some nights when that’s a fabulous meal. Toasted sourdough with great butter, I rest my case. But Sam’s book may have more interesting ideas to go at!

I guess we all need more time, and sometimes it just feels like such hard work. Having some inspiration like these writers have put together may just help take the graft out of the every day.

Fabulous shot of extended family at dinner from the Kheel Center, Cornell University.

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Room service.

Generally, if you’re on your own, there is no more depressing evening meal than room service. Few dishes benefit from the long haul journey from kitchen to room, so it’s never going to be the best meal you ever eat. I have no problem in eating out alone, but sometimes you don’t want the fuss.

Which is why in Hong Kong recently I ended up in two different food courts, both of which turned out great dinners, and fantastic people watching. And a very different experience to every food court I’ve crossed here. The one at the Trafford Centre comes to mind, which involved bypassing great food choices and taking out yet another mortgage, all for the privilege of a bad meal.

Not so either of these two, even if one is a rather petite version of a food court:

Less food court, more corridor

As you can see, this is a long, thin food court, which is in the basement of SOGO. Along here I could have chosen everything from sushi through noodle dishes, but I was in the mood for dim sum. Pretty pleased at being able to order without pointing, this was my order:

One reasonable dinner bill for one

In case you can’t spot from this, I was getting a portion of xiao long bao (Shanghai soup dumplings) and char sui pork buns, with a glass of iced lemon tea.

What you get for HK$35

Freshly steamed, great tasting, and about £3.50. I think even the golden arches would have been a similar price, and nowhere near as good.

Of course, my other favourite feature of the food courts in Asia is the plastic food displays. Which does give you a great fall back if you don’t speak the language (although please learn at least please and thank you, goes a long way). And interesting to see how the plastic version compares to the real thing. Here’s the spot the difference for my second dinner:

The plastic version

The real thing

Looked recognisable to me, and was very tasty. It was an expensive night though, as this was the best part of £6. So, if you’re in Hong Kong anytime soon, then these two food courts, at SOGO and City Super are definitely worth a stop by, whether you’re on your own or not. City Super has the better scenery, as it looks out over the harbour, but also gets super busy.

Is there anywhere in the UK like this? Perhaps I should write a guide, or travel hopefully to find one! Great to know if you’ve come across one though.

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Selected by Neals Yard to reflect some of the best in British Cheese

I’m off on a trip for the day job to China, which I’m really looking forward to. Love Chinese food and hoping to get some time out to try and get to eat some.

But there does come a point in a trip where I do suddenly crave a taste of home. On a trip to Japan, even though I’d been living on the most amazing sushi most of the week, I had a very memorable meal of chicken pie and chips washed down with half a pint of Guinness. And it was delicious.

So I do always tend to pack some tastes of home. But the one thing that is difficult to carry, but something I always end up wanting, is proper British cheese. I crave a proper piece of a decent Cheddar. If I could have it in a sandwich with some Branston I’d be even happier. Or a piece of Sparkenhoe Red Leicester with some crackers and butter.

I don’t think that the Chinese have a particularly long or big tradition of cheese making, so not sure there’ll be loads of local cheese tempting me. So if you fancy sending me an emergency parcel then let me know! Anyof the great boxes from Pong would probably do the trick, thanks! And if you hear news of any unpleasantness at Shanghai airport involving impounding cheese…well, temptation is a strong thing!

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Here’s kind of the start to finish:

Vanilla Brulee Crumble with Sour Cherries

Asparagus & black truffle risotto at Scala

Fast food at White Spot, Pacific Place

Flossy pork rolls for Dr T

A Virgin Redhead to see me on the way home

Going to Birmingham next week, perhaps more chance of Chinese food on that trip!

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Green shoots are coming!

And in the kitchen all sorts of things change for me. I know that it’s Spring when I start reaching for Bill Granger cookbooks and put away Delia’s Winter Collection. I start craving different things to eat, lots of South East Asian, lots of lighter stuff. What else might be going on?

1. The casserole might be heading back into the cupboard, and the wok might be heading out more permanently. Quick, easy and full of fresh flavours!

2. The grow your own foodies will be busy prepping their fruit and veg plots, as well as working out what seeds to order in. I am really keen on Seeds of Italy, and there are some really unusual varieties of tomatoes and basil, as well as things like spelt and garlic chives. I told Dr T he should be chitting potatoes, but his hearing is not so good and he went a bit pale. If you’re not great with seeds, then order in seedlings ready to go in the ground. I like Sarah Raven and Thompson and Morgan, and I won’t tell your more green fingered friends if you don’t!

3. The pancake loving foodie will be dusting off their crepe pan ready for Shrove Tuesday. The less well co-ordinated will be looking at their ceiling and worrying. The really inept amongst us might choose an electric crepe maker!

4. The globe trotting foodie will be lured around the world to track down a huge variety of flavours. They were probably in San Francisco yesterday at the Crab Festival, and next weekend they could be at Menton in the South of France for the Lemon Festival. And you could head anywhere with a Chinatown next weekend ready for Chinese New Year.

5. Those of us with just Oyster cards will be enjoying a Parisian experience in W1, by heading to Pierre Herme’s instore patisserie at Selfridges for some truly magnificent macaroons. These are exquisite looking, and taste as good as they look. If you want to try recreating them, his book is only avaiable in French through Amazon France, although I can recommend a read of the experiences over on the He Eats blog. I particularly want to give the Salted Caramel and Apple ones a go.

So, even if more snow comes, just hang on in there, the Spring is on it’s way along with all the bounty that will bring.

Interesting shot of shoots by sciondriver over on Flickr.

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How to make Valentine's Day not suck

Is there anyone, with the exception of card and lingerie manufacturers, who really loves Valentine’s Day? My particular pet hate is “special” menus for the evening, having being scarred by a Chinese restaurant experience in my earlier years. The pudding of perpetual delight was nothing close to its billing!

I would think most food lovers would skip eating out that night, even without a special menu, as restaurants are going to be packed with people who don’t eat out any other day of the year. In a similar vein, there’ll be a whole raft of gifts for alleged food lovers that most of us would not give cupboard space to, let alone let them cross our palates. So, I’m going to do my best to sort out the good from the bad and tasteless, depending on the kind of foodie you’re going to be buying for.

If you really can’t be bothered to put much effort into it, then I would just order some really good champagne in and retreat for the weekend. If you’re a bloke and want top brownie points, then do that and order roses from The Real Flower Company, they are the most beautiful arrangements ever. Do not, in my experience, order from Next or M&S to be delivered on the day. They’ll be dead before Tuesday and she’ll be ringing for a replacement.

More ideas to follow, to try and ensure a Valentine’s Day of great taste, not one that sucks!

Fabulous shot by Sister72 over on Flickr.

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Have a go to recreate your own dim sum banquet!

I love dim sum, and trips to London always tend to include finding somewhere to indulge in great dim sum. This week was New World on Gerrard Place, which is fantastic for that full-on traditional dim sum experience with trollies madly dashing around the room.

Then there are great modern versions of dim sum, with Yauatcha being my favourite, for both the dim sum and the macaroons. And for quick dim sum whilst shopping there is always Ping Pong, which is great for good food in a hurry, and great cocktails too. But to attempt it at home? Where do you begin?

Channel 4 have got a small selection, which all look tasty and good, and I also like Asian Online Recipes has a more comprehensive selection. You’re going to need to stock up on things like soy sauce and Chinese flavourings and spices, as well as more unusual ingredients like won ton wrappers. The Asian Cookshop is a great online source for not just Chinese ingredients but also Thai, Japanese and Indian.

If you’re the visual type, then there are plenty of videos over on You Tube. There’s a great one for steamed buns, which is one of my favourite dim sum recipes. You could create a whole banquet working through all of these videos, and it may make some of the tricky moments easier to follow. I looked at Amazon, and there aren’t huge numbers of books devoted just to the subject of dim sum. I like the look of Dim Sum Made Easy by Lucille Liang, and also the authentic looking Chinese Snacks by Huang Su-Huei.

To be honest, if I had won ton wrappers in this weekend, I would spend all weekend trying out these recipes and techniques. If I’m going to be snowed in, I may as well use the time to good use! And there’s something about filling the kitchen with more exotic scents that fills the day with warmth. Go ahead, change the air around you!

Fabulous picture of a great dim sum spread by Looks Like Amy on Flickr.

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