I do love sweet chili sauce, we always have a bottle or two in the cupboard and it’s my secret ingredient to all things savory. There isn’t much that I make that can’t be jazzed up with a little sweet chili sauce, from coleslaw, potato salad, or dips, to bolognese. It’s a wondrous ingredient that’s forever in my heart. However last Costco run I sadly neglected to pick up any and was not relishing living without it. I knew that it’s pretty much sugar, vinegar, and chilies so it really couldn’t be all that hard to make. I had a load of chilies in the fridge which were in desperate need of use. So I thought I would whip up a batch. It was a resounding success and it was cheaper to make than buying  it at Costco.

Ingredients 

2 cups of white sugar

1 cup of water

1 cup of apple vinegar (You can buy this in any Korean Mart)

2-6 red chilies (keep the seeds if you like it hot, take them out if you want it mild)

4 cloves of garlic

1/2 an inch of ginger (or less)

4 tablespoons of cornflour

4 tablespoons of cold water

Salt and pepper to taste

Directions 

1. Put all the ingredients in a blender, except the cornflour and cold water, and blend until smooth.

2. Pour everything into a saucepan and put on a low heat. Meanwhile mix together the cornflour and cold water in a cup to make a paste, then add it to saucepan and stir together.

3. As the sweet chili sauce heats up it will thicken. When it begins to boil you can turn it off. Taste and add more salt, sugar, or vinegar to suit your own tastes. When it cools you can store it in the fridge in an airtight container. It should keep for a few weeks at least.

I do love my kalbi, out of all Korean foods it’s still my favourite. The problem is I just don’t eat it enough. I use it in the winter to make stews, but in the summer other than eating it Korean style I’m always at a bit of a loss. So making kalbi tacos which are all the rage stateside seemed ideal. This is one of the best dinners we have had in a long time and a perfect no hassle meal if you are having friends over.

Ingredients

1 roll of kalbi per person

2 small tortillas per person

1/2 an avocado sliced

Lettuce leaves for serving

Salad

A small wedge of red cabbage

1/2 a cucumber

1 green pepper

1 stick of celery

5 green onions

1 large handful of cilantro (고수)

Dressing 

3 tablespoons of sesame seed oil

2 tablespoons of soy sauce

1 tablespoon of grated fresh ginger

1 tablespoon of lemon juice

1 tablespoon of sesame seeds

1 tablespoon of hot sauce or gochu paste

Directions

1. To make the salad, grate the cucumber then slice the pepper, red cabbage and celery very finely and put in a bowl. Use a pair of scissors to cut the green onions and cilantro and add to the bowl and mix everything together.

2. To make the dressing, put all the ingredients in a bowl and mix together, then pour over the salad.

3. Put a frying pan on medium heat, then add a piece of the kalbi. Cook on one side for about 3 minutes, then flip over and do the other side for another 2-3 minutes until it’s browned on both sides. Be sure to cut the rib pieces off and cook them separately as they will take much longer. When the meat is done, leave to cool while you cook your next piece. When it is cold enough to touch, cut it into strips. it’s much easier if you use a pair of scissors.

4. When everything is done, put it all out and let everyone assemble their own. A bottle of sriracha doesn’t go amiss either, it gives a nice kick for those who like it spicy.

Caprese is one of my absolute favourite salads and flavour combinations. It’s just so fresh and tasty. So how do you improve on this fresh and tastiness, why you throw in some bread and fry it in butter of course. The crunch of the bread is the perfect combination paired with the juicy tomatoes, sweet basil and salty mozzarella.

Ingredients

1 ball of Mozzarella sliced

1 tomato

6 basil leaves

1/2 an avocado

1 fresh baguette

A drizzle of olive oil

A drizzle of balsamic vinegar

A pinch of salt & pepper

A knob of butter

Directions

1. Slice your tomatoes and then put them in a bowl with a little olive oil, a drizzle of balsamic vinegar and and some salt and pepper and leave them to marinate for 5-10 minutes. Doing this turns tomatoes from okay into amazing. Always do this when you make salads!

2. Slice the mozzarella and avocado too, and set aside. Then take your lovely bread and slice it in half. Then build your sandwich, tomatoes, mozzarella, basil, then avocado and press the bread down to make sure it’s sealed.

3. Put the knob of butter in a frying pan and put it on a low heat. Try and keep the butter in the middle then put your sandwich on top of it. Fry for a few minutes making sure it doesn’t burn. After a few minutes flip the sandwich over and do the other side. You may want to add more butter if the pan is a little dry. Cook for another few minutes until the sandwich is golden brown on both sides and the cheese has melted a little in the middle. Then serve and enjoy. I recommend making two as you will definitely want to eat another one!

Coronation chicken, a blast from the past and a sandwich filling invented many years ago to celebrate our dear old queen Lizzy. An old favourite, it’s been years since I’ve eaten this. But after eating all my favourite salads far too often lately I figured I was in need of a change. There are a million ways you can make this that run from quick and easy like mine, to incredibly complex and time consuming. Mine is just a simple version, ain’t nobody got time for hours in the kitchen in this heat. Make a big batch up and throw it into salad, sandwiches, and wraps. Or take it to a barbecue and wow your friends with this tasty classic dish.

Ingredients

2 chicken breasts shredded (or a similar amount of cooked chicken)

10 tablespoons of mayonnaise

2 tablespoons of raisins

1 small handful frozen mango (fresh is fine too, just chop it into chunks)

5 dried apricots

2 teaspoons of curry powder

1 tablespoon of sliced almonds

1/2 a teaspoon of celery salt

1/2 a teaspoon of pepper

Directions

1. Blend your mango to make a purée.   Then stir in the mango purée to the mayonnaise. If you have it then you could use mango chutney which would give you a much better flavour.

2. Add the curry powder to the mayonnaise. It’s really up to you and how strong your curry powder is for how much you use. So keep adding a little at a time until you reach the desired taste. Then add the salt and black pepper.

3. Mix the sauce with your shredded chicken. Then chop the apricots and stir in along with the raisins. Serve in your favourite bread or on a bed of salad.

Oh brownies I do love a brownie, good, bad or even mediocre. I’m even prepared to eat slightly burnt ones that have fallen on the floor. Now don’t get me wrong I love the luxury of an out and out decadent brownie which is stuffed to the brim with melted chocolate and butter like this one. But sometimes my fridge is bare of butter and chocolate. That’s where a box mix fix comes in. I will always pick them up if I see them on sale but rarely seems to happen these days. However I just found out you can make them for virtually nothing at home. If you get your chocolate chips for free on i-herb like I do then you are laughing. Just measure out your ingredients, chuck them in a zip-lock bag and just put add eggs and oil when you are ready to go. I decided to be a little more fancy and store mine in jars because a) I didn’t have any zip-lock bags b) jars are cool and c) I have a lot of jars which I went mad buying after first discovering Pinterest then subsequently never used. It’s suggested to give away these cuties as gifts, I’d probably have to adjust the size of the recipe and not eat them myself but a good idea in theory.

So you may have noticed that my brownie is a little rustic this week, mainly because I dropped it on the floor. Did I have a little cry about this, yes, yes I did. I have made brownies for the past 3 weeks in a row intending to write a post about it but the first one I burnt beyond repair (but still ate), the second one got eaten before a picture was procured and this one was dropped and slightly burnt, but I decided to suck it up and show it to you anyway as we all make mistakes and it doesn’t make me a bad person. It just means that the damn temperature gauge on my oven is broken and I drop things sometimes.

Ingredients

65g of flour

45g of cocoa powder

200g of white sugar

1/4 teaspoon of salt

1/4 teaspoon of baking powder

100g of chocolate chips

1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

2 eggs

1/2 a cup of oil

Directions

1. Weigh out all your dry ingredients and put them in a mixing bowl or store them in a zip-lock bag or jar for later.

2. Preheat your oven to 170 degrees Celsius and line a baking tray with baking paper or skip this if you have decent bake wear.

3. Measure the oil and add the eggs and vanilla extract and whisk. Then add to the dry ingredients and mix until the mixture is combined. No need to over mix here. You can also add in any extras at this point, for ideas see my note at the bottom.  Then pour into your tin and bake for 20-30 minutes (depending on how you like it) or until a tooth pick comes out clean(ish).

When your brownie is done leave to cool for ten minutes before removing from the pan. Under no circumstances drop the brownie on the floor and have a tantrum like I did. It’s seriously not cool past the age of 27.

This is a quick and easy brownie recipe that you can whip up in minutes with minimum effort when you are in the mood for a treat. It’s not the kind of brownie I’d try to make if I wanted to impress other bakers. Don’t get me wrong it’s still yummy just not amazing. You can pimp it up in various ways, add nuts, a couple of spoons of peanut butter, some white chocolate chips, or my latest favourite is to add a teaspoon of the orange extract that I bought on i-Herb. Can’t beat orange and chocolate goodness. You could also use this brownie base for a variety of other desserts like my Chocolate Trifle or Peanut Butter Brownie Cheesecake.

If you are anything like me, then sometimes you get a crazy craving for chocolate. This can strike at any time ,but for me it’s usually late at night. Last night, such a craving occurred. I started ransacking the cupboards looking for anything sweet and chocolate covered, desperately trying to find those unwanted pepperos that I was too good to eat in November. I started to beg the Fat Boyfriend to please go to the shop for me and buy me chocolate. “It’s too late and too cold,” came his reply. Just as I was about to start ripping open the doors on my advent calender and gorge myself on the forbidden goodness, I recalled the brownie in a mug recipe that is always plastered over Pinterest. Its promise of chocolate in 5 minutes was all I needed to get me into the kitchen. Now that I think about it, we learned how to make these little microwaveable puddings back when I was in school, but they have since been long forgotten, until someone had the idea of doing it in a mug and it became cool again. This quick and easy dessert can be made using simple ingredients most of us should have in our cupboards. Now it’s not the best brownie you have ever had, it doesn’t really look too beautiful either, but it will satisfy that sweet tooth, in a nice snack sized amount.

Ingredients 

50g of flour (1/4 cup)

70g of sugar (1/4 cup)

2 tablespoons of cocoa powder

A pinch of salt

60ml of water (1/4 cup)

2 tablespoons of vegetable oil (Not EVOO)

2 drops of vanilla extract

1-2 tablespoons of chocolate chips or butterscotch chips (optional)

Ice cream sprinkles (optional)

Directions

1. Place flour, sugar, cocoa, salt, and in a microwave safe ceramic mug. Stir with a fork or spoon to mix well and break up any clumps.

2. Add the oil, water, and vanilla to the cup and stir until the mixture is smooth and there are no lumps. Then add the chocolate chips or butterscotch chips if using. Then stir again.

3. Place in the microwave and heat on high until the mixture is cooked through, about a 1 minute and 40 seconds for a 1000 watt microwave. My microwave is quite slow so took just over 2 minutes. . If you don’t know the power level on your microwave, start with 60 seconds and increase in 10 or 20 second increments until the brownie is done.If it moves alot when you tilt it, it’s not done yet.

4. Top with sprinkles, cream, or ice-cream if you have some. Although if I had ice-cream, I would have just eaten that instead! Voilà 5 minute brownie in a mug.

A few nights ago I was watching The Great British Bake-off and I was inspired by Becca’s potato focaccia. I already cracked the regular focaccia bread which I make frequently, but I was very intrigued by the idea of having potato in the crust. I adapted my regular recipe and was rather pleased with the results. The bread was thinner than the usual fluffy focaccias I normally turn out, but with 3 potatoes in with the dough this was not surprising, it was also lovely and moist. a nice addition to my repertoire.

Ingredients

500g flour (I use the baksul one with bread on the front)

2 x 8g packets of yeast

2 teaspoons of salt

400ml of warm water

2 tablespoons of olive oil (plus extra for drizzling)

5 potatoes

2 tablespoons of rosemary

Directions

Boil the potatoes until soft, then peel and mash 3 of them. Slice the other two and reserve for the top. Mix the flour, mashed potato, salt, and yeast together in a bowl. Add the water in stages and mix thoroughly with the flour. The dough may seem as though it’s very wet but that’s how it should be. Once all the water is in, you can add the olive oil. Knead the dough for about five minutes until it has become stretchy and elastic. You can either do this with a mixer, on an oiled board or in your hands. Do not add any more flour to the mix. I prefer to knead it in my hands, pulling and stretching it until is is about right. Put the dough in an oiled container, drizzle with olive oil, cover with cling-film, and leave to rise in a warm place for 1 hour.

After the dough has risen, knock the dough back down and move the dough to a second oiled container and leave to rise once again for about 30 minutes. Make the dimples in the bread by using your finger or knuckle.

Top the dough with the slices of potato, then drizzle with olive oil. Sprinkle with the salt and rosemary and bake in the oven at 220 degrees Celsius for about 20 – 30 minutes or until the top is golden brown and the dough has baked through. You may wish to turn the dough around halfway through to produce a more even colour. When the bread is done, allow to cool, then enjoy. Voilà easy and amazing home-made focaccia bread!

I love these babies so much, I had to share them with you. They are insanely easy to make and taste just like a Reese’s peanut butter cup, but bigger! I love peanut butter and chocolate combinations, it’s possibly my favourite sweet pairing. I’m pretty sure I could manage to eat peanut butter cups all day long. However here they are just so pricey and hard to find. It’s easy enough to make them yourself but with the double chocolate layers it can take a while to make them. This way they are made in 10 minutes. The only hard part is waiting 40 minutes for the chocolate to set. I love them so much I already finished the entire pan, and have already bought the ingredients to make a second batch, except next time I’m going to add Nutella too! I shall let you know the results.

Ingredients

200g digestive biscuits (called Digest)

226g of butter (2 sticks)

3/4 of a jar of peanut butter

3/4 of a cup of icing sugar

150g of chocolate (I used 3 dove bars)

4 tablespoons peanut butter

Directions

Line a square tin with a layer of grease proof paper and set aside. Crush the digestive biscuits until they resemble fine crumbs. Melt the butter on the stove then stir in the biscuit crumbs. Stir in the peanut butter and icing sugar until you have a golden paste then pour into the tin, and level off with a knife. Put in the refrigerator to chill while you make the topping.

Melt your chocolate in a glass or metal bowl over a pan of simmering water, then stir in the 4 tablespoons of peanut butter. Pour the melted chocolate on top of the peanut mixture and leave to set in the fridge for 40 minutes to 1 hour. You can lick the bowl to help comfort you during the long wait. Pull the paper out from the tin and cut your delicious treats into slices and devour. Voilà peanut butter bars in an hour all from a quick trip to your local Korean supermarket.

This is a just little something I whipped up last week to use up some avocados and fresh mozzarella I had neglected to use. Yes I know, how on earth could I forget that I possessed two such wonderful ingredients. I have no idea how it happened, I guess it was just a very busy week and I kept putting off using them so I could make something special. With the mozzarella I whipped up a fabulous capressa salad to make use of my lovely basil before it dies but I still had tonnes left. I figured i could make a gourmet grilled cheese and it was poetry on a plate. I will certainly be making these again after my next Costco run.

Makes 1 sandwich

Ingredients

2 slices of bread

1/2 an avocado

4 slices of tomato

4 slices of mozzarella

4 basil leaves

A knob of butter for frying

Directions

Mash the avocado and spread onto one half of the bread, Arrange the mozzarella on top and then add the basil leaves. Top with the tomatoes and another slice of bread. Melt a knob of butter in a frying pan on a low heat and place the sandwich on top. Cook for a couple of minutes until the bottom has browned and the cheese has started to melt. Flip the sandwich over and cook the other side, you may wish to add more butter. When the sandwich is done, remove and devour, whilst giving yourself props for making such a bitching sandwich.

This salad is like summer in a bowl and I can’t get enough of it. It’s just so fresh and tasty and makes your taste buds dance in your mouth. It’s insanely quick and easy and a great way to use some of that watermelon you have in the fridge. Is it just me or are they bigger than ever this year? It’s so good I  have made this salad three times in the last week, in fact I’m eating it right now as I type this post!!! I managed to get a block of real feta up at the foreign food mart in Itaewon for 7,500. Quite a bargain. I think it would also taste great with halloumi cheese too.

Ingredients

1/4 of a watermelon

100g of feta

1/2 a cucumber

10 cherry tomatoes

10-15 mint leaves.

Directions

Chop your water melon into chunks, halve the cherry tomatoes and dice the cucumber. Then put it all into a large bowl. Tear the mint leaves into pieces and add to the salad. Finally crumble in the feta cheese and mix everything together. Voilà the most refreshing salad you are ever likely to eat.