A Delicious Casserole Recipe the whole Family will enjoy

My Delicious Red Wine Casserole Recipe is a winner for the whole family to enjoy. And it’s got plenty of vegetables in it too, with a rich red wine gravy sauce.

You can have a tasty dinner in 3 hours, with a 30 minutes preparation time and a 2.5 hour cooking time. Easy to do and leave in the oven while you do something else! It is a very handy recipe to have when you have to help your children with homework this Autumn.

I will do my ingredients list as if you were serving 4 people. I do this meal for my son and I, and it then reheats well the next day when stored in a fridge once it has cooled from the original cooking. I do it in a Pyrex Casserole Dish with a lid, and it can then be cooked and stored easily.

Ingredients

Vegetables
4 Carrots (1 Medium Carrot per person) – finely diced is best.
2 or 3 Large White Onions (at least half a large onion per person) – finely diced or small pieces.
1 Tin of Chopped Tomatoes 400g (Make sure to add some warm water to the tin, add this in to the dish in order to create your liquid for your stock).
(Optional) Mushrooms – Small Washed Button Mushrooms are best.

Accompaniment / Side

Long Grain Rice prepared per person.
1 Tin of New Potatoes 600g (serves 4 people) This can be added to the Casserole and they will cook during the time frame.
500g Mashed Potato prepared during the final half an hour of cooking.

Meat / Vegetarian Alternative

300g – 500g of Casserole Meat of your Choice – I use Beef or Chicken or Quorn – all of which go really well with the Red Wine Sauce.
Plain Flour for Coating the Meat (Contains: Wheat)

Sauce
Tesco Red Wine Stock Pot – 1 for a 4 person Casserole. (Contains: Sulphites)

Tesco Stock Pot Red Wine Packaging 4 x 28g

Method

1. Start by preparing your meat, it will require 2 hours or up to 2.5 hours of cooking time. Mix your cut up raw meat with some plain flour in a bowl. You want bite size pieces and all coated in flour. Then you want to fry these off in a tiny bit of oil until sealed but not overcooked, you don’t want the meat to go dry.

2. Next you need to prepare your vegetables. Dice and Fry your Onions after you finish with the Meat/Veg Option. Dice with a knife or throw them all into a food processor to chop them up, it won’t matter to the end result, but you don’t want too big pieces. Don’t cook the Carrots, there is so need, you just want to chop and add them to the casserole dish, they will cook in the stock.

3. Speaking of Stock, that is your next thing, pop your chopped tomatoes in the dish, add water to the tin, and then add that to your dish. You need to add the stock pot, mix thoroughly.

4. Add the rest of whatever you have, vegetables, fried onions, sealed meat, mix together in the stock and then pop the lid on. Preheat your oven and cook at 160 degrees (fan oven) for 2 hours. Check and stir the casserole at that point and then pop it back in the oven for another 30 minutes. (You can do your mashed potato or rice during this half an hour if you didn’t add potatoes to the dish).

5. Be careful when you remove it from the oven as it will be very hot. Serve in bowls with your chosen accompaniment, and enjoy!

Thank you for reading this Recipe post today, I hope you will give this one a go if you can find the stock pots. I love Tesco own products and I love to shout about something if it’s an excellent product, and these most definitely are! They are affordable and allow you to make something that is both delicious and healthy. Please let me know in the comments below if you do this recipe and how it turns out! I hope you like it!

Have a wonderful day!

✩ Sabrina ✩

Sweet Treats Week – Day 5 – Sabrina’s Customisable Cookies

Welcome to Sweet Treats Week on Severn Wishes. This half term I wanted to share my top 5 baking treats with you all, hopefully you’ve got some time this week to make them with me! I cannot believe this is Day 5 already! I hope you’ve had as much fun baking these as I have!

Check out my Instagram and Facebook page for more food pictures, videos and future recipe ideas too!

Day 5 is Sabrina’s Customisable Cookies!

And the great thing with these is that you can literally add anything into them… I like mine to have chocolate chips. But you could put tiny marshmallows in them or different kinds of chocolate confectionery. Just follow my basic recipe and then add in whatever you feel like! This is a great one to get the children involved in too and perhaps they could each make two or three cookies just for them!

My recipe will make between 12 and 16 cookies with a prep time of 20 minutes and a fridge time of 3 hours. When you bake they take as little as 15 minutes and only a five minute cool time, so before you know it you could have cookies to enjoy as a mid afternoon snack today!

What You Will Need

A Flat Oven Tray or two
Baking Paper or Parchment
A Large Mixing Bowl for the main mixture
Small Mixing Bowls if your children are doing their own
A Wooden Spoon
A Tablespoon or Ice Cream Scoop
A Sieve
A Cooling Rack
Something To Store The Cookies In After They Are Cooled

Ingredients to make the Cookies

100g Light Brown Sugar
75g Caster Sugar
100g Butter / Dairy Free Spread (Melted)
1 Teaspoon of Salt
1 Egg
1 Teaspoon Vanilla Essence
1 Teaspoon Baking Powder
220g Plain Flour

Additional Ingredients

100g of Chocolate Chips

You can use other colourful confectionery like Smarties, M&Ms, Chocolate Chips of different sorts or even chop up your favourite chocolate bars and use those. (Get an adult to do this chopping up). You can use as much or as little as you want.

Step 1. Mixing Sugar and Butter and Salt

Method Steps

1. In a Large Bowl start by mixing the melted butter with the sugar and salt. You should have a thick brown liquid when it’s mixed enough.

2. Next you need to add the egg and once again mix thoroughly.

3. Make sure you sieve the flour and baking powder into the mixture and stir gently to combine as you do so. Once it’s all mixed in you can add your chocolate chips. If you’re doing different cookies you can now transfer some of the mix into smaller bowls and add the various confectionery. If your mixture is looking dry add one tablespoon of water at a time until it becomes more like cookie dough.

4. Place cling film over each bowl you have and let them cool in the refrigerator for up to 3 hours. TOP TIP While you wait you could play a game!

5. Then coming up to the end of the 3rd hour you can preheat your oven to 180’c and place some baking parchment onto a flat tray ready for your cookies.

6. In order to make your cookies the same size either use a tablespoon or an ice cream scoop to get a measurement out of the bowl. You want to make heaped almost ball shape but press them lightly to the baking paper. TOP TIP Leave at least 4 cm between each cookie! You may need 2 trays!

7. Bake the cookies but stay close by and keep an eye on them! I always have to rotate my tray half way! They will take between 12 and 15 minutes in a fan assisted oven, and you need to let them cool on a rack before you tuck in!

Step 6. Ready to Bake

TOP COOKIE TIPS

Don’t over handle your cookie dough!
Mix in your chosen confectionery into the dough but don’t over mix it.
When laying the cookies on the tray leave them heaped, they will flatten on their own.
Bake your cookies straight from the fridge for best results.
Keep an eye on them so they don’t over bake, it’s a fine line!

Cookies Freshly Baked and Cooling Down on the Rack

Thank you for joining me for Sweet Treats Week! I do hope you have enjoyed it and if you do make any of my bakes then please let me know how they turn out!

If you make any of my recipes be sure to tag me on social media, leave me a comment here on my blog. Any questions about a recipe please don’t hesitate to ask them! If you recreate this recipe somewhere else please credit me for it and name me and my blog, or even better link back to this original post too! Thanks everyone!

 Sabrina 

Sweet Treats Week – Day 3 – Sabrina’s Rocky Road

Welcome to Sweet Treats Week on Severn Wishes. This half term I wanted to share my top 5 baking treats with you all, hopefully you’ve got some time this week to make them with me! Check out my Instagram for more food pictures and recipe ideas too!

Day 3 is Sabrina’s No Bake Needed Rocky Road

Definitely one that the kids can get involved in, and this tray bake requires zero baking! You just need an adult to do some melting and chopping! This recipe will make 24 delicious squares of Rocky Road and you can do a custom set of ingredients to suit your family too!

Start by gathering all of your favourite things and a giant bowl to mix them! You’ll need chocolate for melting which will be the glue to hold all of the other ingredients together! You also need a deep tray to squash it all down into before you refrigerate it too!

The best thing about Rocky Road is that it’s totally customisable to your family and you can’t really get it wrong! Plus it’s fun for everyone! There’s only one danger with Rocky Road! Just don’t go eating all the singular ingredients while you’re making it!

I love to put things in mine you don’t usually find in a supermarket style tray bake, sometimes you find Nuts and I don’t put any of those in, some also contain fruit, which is a personal preference to whether or not you add this in. I will outline all the measurements below, and you can make your selection of your favourites.

Step 6.

What You Will Need

A Large Mixing Bowl – the bigger the better!
A Wooden Spoon or Two
A Saucepan (to do the melting part)
A Spatula
A Sharp Knife
Tea Towel and Rolling Pin (Or something to smash the biscuits with)
Baking Parchment to line your tray
A Large Tray that will still fit in your Fridge minimum of 1.5 inches deep

Ingredients

Mini Marshmallows 50g to 60g
Maltesers or Honeycomb Shards 50g to 60g
White Chocolate Chips 30g to 40g
Biscuits 150-200 grams (You can use a mixture of biscuits like I do, Digestive, Shortbread and Ginger are my faves, Ginger give a nice taste!)

Milk Chocolate (for the melting) 250 grams
Dark Chocolate (for the melting) 120 grams
Butter (for the melting) 140 grams
Golden Syrup (for the melting) 4 tablespoons

Additional Ingredients to Personalise your version of Rocky Road

Your “Special Ingredient” can be anything, between January and April I tend to use Mini Eggs or other Easter related Mini Chocolate Eggs etc. I just cut some of them up for going inside the bake. Other things that go well and add colour are Smarties, Aero Bubbles anything that sort of size etc.

Use around 70g to 100g of your chosen ingredient and remember to save around 30g of it for the topping!

You can also add any of the following things that all go brilliantly with this type of non-bake recipe – Cherries / Cranberries / Nuts / Raisins etc…

You will need 50 grams of your chosen one/s and make sure you then increase the depth of your tray by half an inch / 2 cm if you decide to include more than one of these ingredients. You could also choose to remove say, the white chocolate from my main list, and add in Raisins instead, just keep the ratio the same…

The customization is all down to you and your family! Go crazy! Have fun!

Method

1. Measure out and then Crush the Biscuits into mixed bite size pieces and add them to a large bowl.

2. Next, gather all your additional ingredients as outlined above, measured correctly and add these to your large bowl. The aim is to then mix all these dry ingredients together so they are evenly distributed.

3. Melt the Milk and Dark Choc with the Syrup and Butter until Smooth. Set 150ml of this melted chocolate mixture to one side in a jug to cool a little (you need this for the top of the mixture).

4. Add your melted mixture from the saucepan to your large bowl, coating all of the dry ingredients, keep mixing it quickly but carefully. You need to cover all of them in a light chocolate covering before it cools down too much.

Step 5.

5. Transfer from the bowl to the tray making sure the parchment is already lined inside it and smooth the rocky road out as flat as possible, push it down gently using a wooden spoon. Then pour the remaining melted chocolate (from the jug) over the mixture and smooth that all over the top with a spoon or a spatula, you need to try and coat most of the mix if not all of it, TOP TIP don’t forget to coat up to the corners!

6. Finally add your chosen Chocolate Decorations like Mini Eggs. Push them down a little so that they stick to the melted chocolate. Score the pieces of size you want to cut once it’s solid, using a knife (adult part only). Then put the whole tray in the fridge to set for a couple of hours.

7. To serve it, gently remove the paper from the baking tray, lay flat and cut the Rocky Road where you scored into it earlier, do this using a knife that has been run under hot water (another adult only part). Remember to put the pieces into a seal-able tin or tub afterwards to make sure it stays fresh. Once set and cut you just store it at room temperature, for the best results eat it within 3 days.

Step 2.

Thanks very much for joining me for this recipe on Sweet Treats Week!
I do hope to see you here again tomorrow! See my social media for some videos while I am baking these as well! Including versions and what I use to make my bakes dairy free too!

If you make any of my recipes be sure to tag me on social media, leave me a comment here on my blog. Any questions about a recipe please don’t hesitate to ask them! If you recreate this recipe somewhere else please credit me for it and name me and my blog, or even better link back to this original post too! Thanks everyone!

 Sabrina 

Sweet Treats Week – Day 1 – Sabrina’s Extra Special Chocolate Brownies

Welcome to Sweet Treats Week on Severn Wishes. This half term I wanted to share my top 5 baking treats with you all, hopefully you’ve got some time this week to make them with me! Check out my Instagram for more food pictures and recipe ideas too!

Sabrina’s Chocolate Brownies

Day 1 is Sabrina’s Extra Special Chocolate Brownies

Brownies can be tricky, but if you follow my recipe one step at a time you should be able to recreate my incredible triple chocolate brownies! Since needing to go dairy free I’ve even made these brownies free from dairy by substituting the butter for a dairy free spread and then I swapped the triple chocolate chips for only dairy free chocolates, and they still taste incredible! So do whichever version you would prefer, the difference in butter doesn’t change the end result.

My recipe will make around 20 brownies once you cut them after they have cooled. They are quite rich which is nice because they will last longer! They will last around 3 days in a sealed container, the best way to keep them is to store them at room temperature. TOP TIP Reheat a square or two for between 10 and 20 seconds in the microwave and serve them with ice cream! Yum!

Sabrina’s Triple Chocolate Style Brownies (A.)

What You Will Need

A Glass Dish or Baking Tray measuring approx 26cm x 20cm (8 x 10″)
Baking Paper or Parchment
A Saucepan
A Large Mixing Bowl
A Wooden Spoon
A Metal Spoon
A Whisk – Manual or Mechanical
A Sieve
A Knife
A Cooling Rack
Something To Store Them Inside After They Are Cooled

Step 5. Once Smooth Add Your Chocolates To The Mix!

Ingredients

3 Free Range Eggs (Fresh is best for baking)
175g Plain Chocolate (for melting) (You can use dairy free chocolate too)
175g Butter (or Dairy Free Spread)
200g Caster Sugar
75g Plain Flour
50g Cocoa Powder

Additional Flavours or Additional Chocolates… There Are Endless Possibilities! What Would You Do? Here are my favourites…

Brownie Variations

A. Triple Chocolate Brownies require 75g of White Chocolate Chips and 75g of Milk Chocolate Chips (or use different varieties of dairy free chocolates). Add these at Step 5.
B. Chocolate Orange Brownies require 100g of Chocolate that is Orange Flavoured, dairy free choc orange bars from Asda are fab or a few broken segments of a Terry’s Chocolate Orange are best! Put these pieces in the mixture at Step 5 instead of chocolate chips.
C. Mint Chocolate Brownies require 75g of Chocolate that is Mint flavoured, with such a strong flavour of chocolate it can be used as part of the melted part at the start of the bake. For a more Minty flavour later on you could add some Aero Mint Chocolate Balls when the brownie is almost cooked! Push them into the top of the brownie before the top is solid leaving just a little sticking out so they don’t melt and or burn!

Sabrina’s Chocolate Orange Brownies (B.)

Method Steps

1. First you need to place your butter and plain chocolate into a saucepan. Break the chocolate into small bits so it melts faster. Only melt on a low heat slowly. Keep stirring the melting mixture frequently until it is smooth with no lumps left. TOP TIP I only have my hob one setting 1 or 2 for melting, you don’t want to burn the mixture! I don’t like melting chocolate in a microwave, it’s too easily burnt!

2. Set the melted chocolate mixture to one side and allow it to cool. You can now preheat your oven to 180’c, 160’c for a Fan Assisted or 350F or Gas Mark 4. Cut a piece of baking parchment for your tray and push it inside.

3. In a large bowl break the 3 Eggs, make sure no shell falls in. Using a wooden spoon mix them up, add the Caster Sugar gradually while stirring. You then need to Whisk them both up together until they are combined and smooth with a light and creamy colour.

4. Using a Large Metal Spoon, you now fold in the cooled melted chocolate and butter mixture, one spoonful at a time. Keep stirring it through the creamy mixture, keep going one spoon at a time until all of the smooth thick liquids are combined into one large one. It should be a lot and not lumpy. TOP TIP If the chocolate mixture is still hot it instantly cooks the eggs and you end up with a curdled concoction! Make sure its cool, lukewarm is best, and stick to my one spoon at a time method!

5. Finally you need to Sieve the Cocoa Powder and the Plain Flour into your liquid, again you do this gradually, shaking a little into the bowl and mixing it through until it disappears. Repeat until all the dry ingredients are in the bowl and the mixture should now be a thick pour-able liquid. Add your chocolate chips or buttons or other bits now! Mix them in thoroughly.

6. Pour the mixture entirely into your tray with the parchment inside it. The mixture should sit just over half way inside giving it a little room to rise up slightly. Add any toppings like chocolate chips now, or part way through if they are not bake stable. Shake the tray from side to side before pushing it into the oven, so the bake is level.

7. Bake it with the correct setting for your oven, you’re looking for an even bake with the slightly crisp topping, it should change colour, it should be soft but cooked in the centre. On average this bake takes between 20 and 30 minutes, depending upon tray used and oven type. Just keep an eye on it, take it out and stick a knife into it. When the knife comes out almost clean, pull the tray out. Leave it on top of your oven for ten minutes, try the knife again. Remember if you hit a melted chocolate chip you may think it’s not cooked when it is! For this reason don’t be tempted to over cook it! They should be soft with the additional chocolates melted inside when you cut it!

Remember to wobble the tray so the mixture goes flat!

Thank you very much for joining me for Sweet Treats Week! I hope to see you again tomorrow!

If you make any of my recipes be sure to tag me on social media, leave me a comment here on my blog. Any questions don’t hesitate to ask them! If you recreate this recipe somewhere else please credit me for it and name me and my blog or even better link back to this original post! Thanks everyone!

Sabrina

Sabrina’s Chocolate Orange Brownies (B.)

Sabrina’s Dairy Free Vegetable Nuggets

How To Make Delicious Dairy Free Vegetable Nuggets For All The Family To Enjoy!

Today I will be showing you how to make tasty, nutritious and dairy free vegetable nuggets that contain four different vegetables.
They are great fun for your children to eat as finger food and your older children can dip them in the sauce if they choose.
This recipe is ideal for weaning and beyond.

Veggie Nugget (broken so you can see the soft inside)



Ingredients for Sabrina’s Veggie Nuggets

3 Tablespoons of Tomato Ketchup
1 Tablespoon of Reduced Salt Soy Sauce
1 Tablespoon of Mixed Herbs
1 Large Egg (Beaten)
160 grams of Breadcrumbs (approx) roughly 4 slices of bread – I always use the 2 end bits if I have them!
6 Medium Carrots – Grated and Squeezed
2 Courgettes – Grated and Squeezed
100 grams of Swede Cooked First, then Diced Finely using a Chopper
1 Large White Onion Diced Finely
50 grams of Dairy Free Alternative to Italian Style Hard Cheese
Plain Flour (6 tablespoons approx) spread this onto a small plate ready for rolling…




Method

To make the sauce combine tomato ketchup and soy sauce together. Double the amount if you are preparing these nuggets for people to dip into the sauce straight after cooking them. Use half of the sauce for the vegetables mixture and leave half for the dip.

Once you have prepared all of the vegetable ingredients as directed above, you will need to ensure the mixture of vegetables isn’t too wet. Take a handful of the grated and chopped veg and place it between a few paper towels, a muslin cloth or a clean tea towel. Squeeze and press it in the cloth to squeeze out as much liquid as possible. Do this with all of the grated veg.

Get a large mixing bowl and crack the egg into it. Add the herbs and stir until combined. Next add some of the tomato dip. Next add the squeezed vegetables, then lastly add the hard cheese (or alternative) and the breadcrumbs, stir it all thoroughly. You don’t want lots of the same type of veg in each ball, try and mix it so you get a variant of all the ingredients. (I do my breadcrumbs in a small food mixer).

Place the flour onto a small plate ready to roll your nuggets in.

To make a nugget take a small handful of the combined mixture and roll between your palms. Top Tip! Do this with wet hands so it doesn’t stick to you! Roll them out into oval shapes, and then once happy you can roll each one in flour to coat it.

Have a large frying pan ready on your cooker with some oil getting hot. You should place the nuggets down gently so as not to break them or splash the oil. Fry each one until lightly browned all over. Top Tip! Use a pair of tongs to adjust them while frying to make sure you do all of the sides. Keep topping up the oil after every few nuggets.


Once they are cooked set the nuggets to one side on a piece of kitchen roll so as to drain any excess oil from them and let them cool a little, and then serve them while they’re still warm in a large bowl with the remainder of the tomato dip. They are great for a children’s party or a finger food family night in.

Squeezing the Veg so as to remove as much moisture as possible.
Veggie Nugget Mixture Ready For Mixing and Rolling

Vegetable Nuggets are ideal for children who are weaning at around 10 months and older, when they are learning to hold and bite into foods.
They are great for getting your children to eat vegetables.
The tomato dip provides a fun element for older children.
The leftovers can be frozen, defrost over night and re-fry them to give them a crunchy outside again.

My Recipe made me approximately 24 Nuggets.

Once you have rolled your nuggets between your palms you can get ready to fry them… My Top Tip is to have some done so you can fry one set while you make the next set…

Frying Tips

When frying the Nuggets take care and turn them frequently so that they cook evenly on all sides. You also need to maintain the oil so that they sit in a few millimetres at all times to avoid sticking to the pan.

Finished Veggie Nuggets

These Nuggets are great, and rather tasty too, that is providing you like the Veg I have chosen. You can substitute the Courgette for Mushrooms if you prefer those! And you can also do these without being dairy free by using a regular cheese like Parmesan if you wish.

Thank you for visiting, I hope you have enjoyed reading about this recipe, if you decide to give it a go then please leave me a comment with how it went afterwards… Check out my other recipes on the category list!

✩ Sabrina ✩

How to make Chinese Food from Scratch at Home for this Chinese New Year

Happy Chinese New Year!
新年快乐

A great way to enjoy some tasty Chinese style cuisine this week is to do it yourself. To celebrate Chinese New Year I thought that I would share my own recipes with you all. Many people think it’s a complicated type of cuisine to make but if you’re good at following step by step recipe guides like mine, then you can create my delicious dishes in your own kitchen!

In today’s blog post I’m going to outline some of my own tips and tricks, as well as share my own recipes on how to make some flavoursome Chinese meals. Follow my instructions as much as you can, and substitute the meats for other meat or fish or a vegetarian alternative where I indicate you can with this symbol ⇕ . You can decide which of the sauces you’d rather make too, I will show you a few.

Why not give some cooking a go this Chinese New Year week! I’ve worked out that you can make 4 of my dishes for 4 people, plus a bowl of Sabrina’s Special Egg Fried Rice, for around £6.50 per person. That’s a heck of a lot cheaper than ordering in! On average a dish from a Chinese Takeaway comes in at around £7.00 in most parts of the UK. You can have 3 dishes and a rice for the same price! All you have to do though is cook it!

SHOPPING LIST

Stir Fry Pork ⇕ 500g is £2.75 at Tesco
Stir Fry Beef ⇕ 375g is £3.50 at Tesco
Chicken Fillets ⇕ 500g £4.00 at Tesco
Rice Wine Vinegar – £1.99 for 150ml
Reduced Salt Soy Sauce 65p for Tesco own brand or £1.30 for Amoy
Egg Noodles – Range from 80p to £1.40 – You need 150g for 2 people
Rice Noodles – Range from 90p to £1.80 – You need 300g for 4 people
Spring Onions – 55p for 100g at Tesco
Peas – Petit Pois Frozen at Tesco for £1.60 for 1kg
6 Free Range Eggs – Medium are 85p at Tesco
4 Peppers 2 Red 1 Green 1 Yellow 55p each at Tesco
2 White Onions – 85p per kg at Tesco
Carrots 59p per kg at Tesco
Jasmine Rice – Thai Jasmine Rice 1kg £2.00 at Tesco
Chinese 5 Spice Jar 85p at Tesco
Cornflour​ £1.30 at Tesco
Sunflower Oil 500ml 80p at Tesco
Seasame Oil – 250ml £1.80 at Tesco
Sweet Chilli Sauce – don’t have this at home buy supermarket own
Tomato Sauce – don’t have this at home buy supermarket own
Garlic – if you don’t have this at home buy supermarket own or jar
Ginger – fresh or jar or paste all work the same
Chilli – fresh or jar of flakes is fine but fresh taste better
Black Bean Sauce – Various Brands and Sizes Available

Remember that for some of these items you will have leftover amounts of them that you can use the next time that you cook Chinese food, such as the Petit Pois, the Rice Wine Vinegar, the Cornflour and the Soy Sauce.

Optional Extras

Bean Sprouts for the Stir Fry & Chow Mein Dish – 300g for 50p Tesco
White Cabbage are 79p each in Tesco
Water Chestnuts 225g Tin at Tesco for £1.10
Button Mushrooms – 90p for 200g at Tesco

I have worked out that your shopping list will cost between £27 and £30 depending on supermarket offers and whether or not you pick those offers or brands versus own brand. I shopped at Tesco but prices are similar else where when I looked online. For 4 people this equals approximately £6.50/£7.00 each, that is for the 4 people to have 3 Chinese Dishes and Rice.

TIME TO COOK

How To Make The Crispy Meat Element of the Dishes.

One of the most delicious parts of Chinese food is crispy strips of meat seasoned with Chinese spices. You can pick up a jar of Chinese 5 Spice for less than £1 in most supermarkets, and because it’s so strong in flavour it goes a long way.

Options for this type of meal are…
Crispy Beef in Sweet Chilli Sauce
Crispy Pork in Sweet and Sticky Sauce

Ingredients

Meat In Strips (your choice from Shopping List) Cut It If Not Already
5 Tablespoons of Cornflour
3 Tablespoons of Chinese 5 Spice

How To Prepare

You need a small saucepan that you pour oil in to until it is around an inch deep. You need to heat this on a hob until it’s very hot before you place meat inside to fry. The Meat Strips take around four minutes to cook through depending upon their thickness, so always test one piece before you do the remainder. You will also need several pieces of kitchen roll/towel to place your fried goods upon to drain and soak up any excess oil.

In bowl number one you need to place the cornflour and Chinese 5 Spice, mix it using a spoon. You need to coat each piece of meat in this mixture, by adding meat slowly a few at a time, once coated place them into the hot oil and time them frying. Remove them from the saucepan using a spoon or spatula with holes so as to drain the oil. Dry the strips on some towel until they are ready to mix with your chosen sauce.

A great way to use up those Takeaway Sauces you get given is to use them like I did to make a Chinese Sauce. See my image below…

How To Make Chinese Sauces

Here are my recipes for some sauces and stir fry meals I love to make. They are easy to follow and take around half an hour to prepare and cook.

There is one sauce that I always buy because it is more expensive to try and make it, that is black bean sauce. You can pick this up in most supermarkets for between 35p to £1.50. Packets or Jars depending upon if it’s for a one off dish or for several if you wish to make it again. Black Bean Sauce is the Perfect accompaniment with Chicken.

Chicken in Black Bean Sauce
Serve this with chunky chopped Onions, ribbons of Carrots and sliced Green Peppers.

Crispy Meat in Sweet Chilli Sauce
Serve with Carrot Ribbons, Onions and a chopped Chilli Pepper.
2 Tablespoons of Soy Sauce
2 Tablespoons of Tomato Sauce
4 Tablespoons of Sweet Chilli Sauce
4 Tablespoons of Rice Wine Vinegar

Crispy Meat in Sweet and Sticky Sauce
Serve with fried peppers and onions.
1 Tablespoon of Garlic
2 Tablespoons of Soy Sauce
3 Tablespoons of Tomato Sauce
3 Tablespoons of Sweet Chilli Sauce
4 Tablespoons of Rice Wine Vinegar

Chicken Chow Mein Sauce with Onions
1 Tablespoon of Garlic
1 Tablespoon of Ginger
3 Tablespoons of Soy Sauce
2 Tablespoons of Sesame Oil
5 Tablespoons of Boiling Water
1/2 A White Onion Chopped Chunky & Fried
Add other Veg as Optional Extras

Add the Chow Mein Sauce to pre-cooked Rice Noodles or Thin Egg Noodles and your already fried and seasoned meat. If you want a richer flavour then marinate the chicken in soy sauce for an hour prior to frying it.

Homemade Sweet Chilli Sauce
Crispy Beef in Sweet Chilli Sauce
As Delicious As It Looks!

Sabrina’s Delicious Stir Fry

You need 2 pans. Once prepared fry all your Vegetables together in a little oil. In the other pan, take some of the garlic, ginger and spices and add them to season your main element while you cook it, don’t forget to season with pepper and salt.
Once everything is cooked combine the main and the vegetables. Add your noodles and a splash of boiling water to the pan. Stir fry until cooked, serve immediately.

Meat / Fish / Vegetable of your choice (Main Element)
Shallots OR White Onion
2 Tablespoons of Ginger
2 Tablespoons of Garlic
2 Peppers – 1 Yellow & 1 Red – Sliced Long Ways
1 Tablespoon of Chinese 5 Spice – Season Chosen Main
Noodles of your choice
Add Spring Onions too if you like Onion as much as I do for a pop of colour!

Fry all these tasty vegetables together to begin your Stir Fry.
Soy and Chilli Chicken Stir Fry with Onion, Yellow Pepper & Egg Noodles.

How To Make Sabrina’s Special Egg Fried Rice

Egg Fried Rice is relatively easy to make and is a great accompaniment to lots of Chinese dishes. You can partially cook this dish too to save time! Cook the rice either on the hob or preferably in a Rice Cooker if you have one. Then you’re ready to begin.

Ingredients

Jasmine Rice – 300g – 400g Cooked
2 Tablespoons of Oil
2 Tablespoons of Soy Sauce
1 Teaspoon of Garlic
Peas or Petit Pois – 1 Small Cup – 150g approximately
Spring Onions – 4 to 6 Chopped Up – 100g plus
Scrambled Eggs – 3 Medium Eggs season with Salt, Pepper & Soy Sauce to your tastes

Method

In a large frying pan add oil soy sauce and garlic, then fry the Spring Onions and Peas together. Add the Eggs (previously whisked in a small bowl) and scramble together using a wooden spoon on a high heat. Turn the heat down and add the cooked rice. Mix thoroughly and add any more seasoning to taste. Fry until hot and all flavours are combined. Serve in a large bowl so people can help themselves and scatter some fresh spring onion on top.

The Final Dishes

Your final options for the Chinese Dishes are…

Main Dish 1. Crispy Pork with Sweet Sticky Sauce & Stir Fry Vegetables
Main Dish 2. Chicken in Black Bean Sauce with Vegetables
Main Dish 3. Chicken Chow Mein with Rice Noodles
Main Dish 4. Crispy Beef with Sweet Chilli Sauce & Stir Fry Vegetables
Main Dish 5. Soy and Chilli Chicken Stir Fry with Egg Noodles
Side Dish. Sabrina’s Special Egg Fried Rice
Side Dish. Stir Fry Vegetables

Thank you for joining me on Severn Wishes, I hope you enjoyed this lengthy food post! Let me know in my comments or tag me on social media if you make any of my recipes!

✩ Sabrina ✩