Gluten Free Bara Brith

Ingredients

300 g Dried mixed fruit
250 g Light muscovado sugar
300 ml Tea x 4 strong tea bags
350 g Gluten-free self raising flour
1 x Egg
1 x Teaspoon cinnamon
1 x Teaspoon ground coriander
1 x Teaspoon ground nutmeg/mace
Pinch of salt




Utencils

Large measuring jug
Kettle
Mixing bowl
Small bowl
Scales
Loaf tin
Loaf tin liner
Wooden spoon
Ladle

Method

1. Put 300ml of boiling water in heatproof jug with 4 tea bags. My preference is Glengettie or Marks and Spencer Extra strong. Leave for 5 minutes.

2. Remove tea bags and stir in sugar until dissolved.

3. Add in dried mixed fruit and stir well.

4. Leave for 24 hours.

5. Pour the now syrupy fruit mixture into a mixing bowl. Add spices and stir well.

6. Put flour into the bowl in three stages mixing well as you go.

7. In another bowl beat the egg thoroughly.

8. Add egg to mixing bowl and mix well.

9. Add mixture to a lined loaf tin.

10. Put in the oven 150c for 80 minutes. Test if its ready by putting a skewer or thin knife into the loaf and its clean when you remove it.

11. When ready leave to cool.

12. When cool transfer to airtight container and leave for 2 days.

13. Serve in slices spread with salted butter and/or a slice of cheddar cheese.

Gluten Free Pastry

 Ingredients

140g or 1.5 cups of gram flour (Besan, chickpea flour) 

110g of butter or 60g butter + 50g lard

0.5 x teaspoon salt

1 x table spoon sugar

0.5 cup  x water

Chinese Takeaway Chicken Curry

Ingredients 

2 x large chicken thighs
1.5 x heads of garlic (heads not cloves!)
1 x onion
1 x pepper (preferably green but can use yellow)
1 x small potato + vegetables, I used a whole cauliflower but could use chinese vegetables like bamboo shoots and water chestnuts or baby corn on the cob
1 x heaped desert spoon cornflour
water
vegetable oil  

Spices
curry powder
chinese 5 spice
white pepper
ground ginger
turmeric
soy sauce
sugar
chicken stock jelly thing  

Utencils
chopping board for meat
chopping board for vegetables
chopping knife
large sauce pan
wooden spoon
collander
heat proof jug
desert spoon
tea spoon
ladle
mug
kettle  

 

Method 

1. Put chicken thighs into a sauce pan with 1 x garlic head cut in half, 1.5 heaped tea spoon of chinese 5 spice and 1.5 tea spoon of ground ginger. 

2. Cover thighs in boiling water from the kettle and bring to the boil. Simmer at a high to medium high heat for 40 minutes. 

3. While the chicken is cooking, chop the garlic and vegetables. Cut the onion long ways so you get strips of onion. 

4. When chicken has finished boiling, drain chicken in collander over the heatproof jug so that the chicken stock is captured. 

5. While the chicken cools, the cover bottom of a large sauce pan with oil. Don't bother to wash pan before hand. 

6. Put 1.5 x tea spoon chinese 5 spice, 1.5 x tea spoon of curry powder, 2 x heaped tea spoons of white pepper, 2 x heaped tea spoons of turmeric, 1 x tea spoon of ground ginger into oil and heat through for a minute or so to release oils in the spices. 

 7. Add in half head of garlic chopped finely or pressed, onion and cook until onion is translucent. 

8. Add in chopped peppers and other vegetables. Make sure the potato is chopped in 1cm cubes. Stir well so spices cover the vegetables. 

 8. Add in water so that it just covers the vegetables. Add in 1.5 x heaped tea spoon of sugar, a ladle full of soy sauce (lots) and a chicken stock jelly. Have heat on medium and leave to simmer. 

9. The chicken should be cool by now, so strip the meat off and add to the vegetables. Top up the level of the pan with the chicken stock saved in the jug. 

10. Taste. If it doesn't quite have the kick of a take way add in a teaspoon of white pepper. Leave to simmer for about 15 minutes. 

11. Check potatoes are cooked. If not cook a bit longer. 

12. Boil the kettle. In a mug put 1.5 heaped tea spoon of corn flour. Add in boiling water quarter of way up mug. Stir water and cornflour swiftly together so there are no lumps. If you do get lumps keep stirring vigorously. 

 13. Add cornflour solution to the pan and stir in well. You will notice that the curry will thicken and  develop a sheen :) 

14. Leave to simmer gently. If you are serving rice now is the time to boil your rice...usually this takes about 10 minutes. 

15. Serve with rice (or/and God forbid, chips!)  

Tip 

- Is freezable. 

- Some pineapple chopped in with the vegetables to further emphasise the sweetness.

Quick Stir Fry

For one person

Ingredients
3 x garlic cloves
big handful of frozen prawns
2 x handful of vegetables (use any of these: okra, broccoli, mangetouts, peas, beansprouts, green peppers, baby sweet corn)
dessert spoon of fennel seeds
dessert spoon of chinese five spice
microwave rice
oil (rapeseed or vegetable)
dark soy sauce
fresh herb like corriander (optional)

Utensils
chopping board
sharp knife
wok
dessert spoon
wooden spatula or wok tool

Method
1. Crush and finely chop garlic.
2. Chop vegetables to different sizes so you get a variety of textures. Use no more than 3 types of vegetable.
3. Cover the bottom of the wok with a layer of oil. Add garlic, chinese five space, fennel seeds and prawns. Now turn up hob to the highest heat.
4. When prawns start to sizzle cook for a further 2 minutes, stirring through.
5. Cover prawns with vegetables in a layer. Do not stir. Leave to steam for 2 minutes.
6. Stir thoroughly.
7. Cover prawns and vegetables with a handful of rice. The beauty of microwave rice is that it is already cooked, you are just heating it up and can use just a handful. DO NOT stir in, leave it to steam across the top of the vegetables and prawns for 2 minutes.
8. Add a generous glug of soy sauce.
9. Stir through.
10. Add fresh chopped corriander if you like.
11. Serve up stir fry.
12. Immediately (before eating) wash the wok and put back on the turned off hob to dry off.

Nana's Welsh Cakes

Ingredients
200 g flour
50g stork SB margarine
50g lard
50g caster sugar
1 x egg
handful of sultanas
teaspoon of ground nutmeg
pinch of salt
+ extra flour for rolling
+ extra sugar if you want to coat the outsides

Utencils
weighing scales
mixing bowl
wooden spoon
griddle/ bake stone/ heavy frying pan
fish slice
rolling pin/ tall straight sided drinking glass
drinking glass

Method
1. Mix flour, sugar, nut meg and salt in a mixing bowl and make sure that they are properly mixed together.
2. Add stork sb and lard. Rub together so the mixture becomes like bread crumbs.
3. Add egg and sultanas to the mixture so that it becomes a dough.
4. Put dough into a freezer bag or small bowl and put in the fridge for at least an hour.
5. Flour the work surface and roll out dough to 1 cm thick. Use a drinking glass as a cutter and cut out the welsh cakes
5. 10 minutes before you start cooking heat bake stone on a medium temperature on the cooker
6. Grease the bake stone with a small amount of lard. Tear a piece of lard wrapping off and and use that as a holder for a small piece of lard. Try not to burn your fingers and just give a light coating.
7.Put no more than 4 welsh cakes on at a time. The aim is to dry them out and make the outsides golden not burnt. If burning slightly, lower the temperature.
8. When cooked, leave to cool or roll in sugar and leave to cool
9. Eat warm, but not too many or you will get a bad belly!

Tips
- easy to freeze

Gluten Free Flatbread

Ingredients
400g Gluten free self raising flour
300ml Natural yoghurt
1 tsp of cumin seeds or fennel seeds or rosemary or thyme.The original recipe had cumin seeds but I have used the others as well. These flatbreads do need herbs or spices otherwise they are tasteless in an unpleasant way.
Extra ingredients
rock salt
lemon juice

Equipment
scales
mixing bowl
teaspoon
frying pan
grill

Method
1. Preheat grill. Put grill pan under grill so heat circulates between heat source and pan.
2. Heat frying pan and toast chosen herb on medium high heat
3. Mix flour, yoghurt and herb together in a mixing bowl until it is a soft dough
4. With floury hands and surface, divide dough into 8 small balls.
5. Squash balls flat into a round approx 0.5cm. Don't try and roll flat with a roller, its tricky with gluten free flour. If you are going to add salt and lemon juice do it now when breads are flat. Squeeze lemon juice over bread and them sprinkle them over with the rock salt.
6. Put flatbread onto grill pan grill and heat for 3-5 minutes on each side. Keep an eye on them to make sure they don't over cook.
7. This doesn't happen everytime, but ideally the flatbread will puff up like a pitta bread. If you have preheated the grill with the grill pan in it, this is more likely to happen.
8. If you eat them stright away they will be soft(ish). If you let them cool they will go hard, a bit more like a cracker.

Cauliflower Prawn Risotto

(for one portion)

Ingredients
3 x garlic cloves
1/4 cauliflower (finely chopped)
1 x big mushroom
6 x big prawns or equivalent (frozen or fresh)
1 x chichen stockpot
oil
rosemary
black pepper

Utensils
chopping knife
chopping board
saucepan
jug
wooden spoon
timer

1. Melt chicken stock pot in 300ml (1/3 pint) of hot water
2. Crush garlic cloves, slice mushroom and add to a oil in a saucepan on medium high heat.
3. Cook through for a few mintues until the mushrooms start to absorb the oil and garlic
4. Add prawns and cook through for 3 minutes turning halfway through
5. Add finely chopped cauliflower and stir through thorughly.
6. Add chicken stock. Turn heat up to highest and boil for 4 minutes until all liquid is absorbed.
7. Serve with spring onion, black pepper and parmasan cheese if you like...I did and it was yum

Tip
As per a rice rissotto this recipe can be made in a variety of ways
Easy to freeze