Mango noodle salad with sesame & ginger

I love this salad; it’s crunchy, spicy, tasty and healthy! Perfect on it’s own or make it as a BBQ side to go with soy and honey marinated chicken, salmon or tofu. Try and keep a portion to have for the next day, it’s a great one to have for lunch.

Ingredients

• 200g brown rice noodles 

• 100g red cabbage, thinly sliced

• 1 carrot, julienned for spiralised

• 1/2 pepper, cut into thin strips

• 1 small or 1/2 large spring onion, chopped finely

• 1 red birds eye chilli, chopped finely

• 1 handful of salted peanuts, chopped

• 2 tbsp toasted sesame seeds & handful of coriander leaves, optional

  Dressing

• 3 tbsp rapeseed oil

• 1 tbsp sesame oil

• 1 slice or 5g fresh ginger grated

• 1/2 garlic clove, grated

• 3 tsp honey

• Juice of 1 lime

Method

• First cook your noodles as per the pack instructions - I soaked mine in boiling water for 15 mins (a few minutes longer than the instructions) - then drain and drizzle with sesame oil to stop them sticking.

• Chop your veggies and put to one side in a large bowl.

• Next mix your dressing ingredients well in a jar or shaker.

• Add the noodles to the veggies and pour over about 3/4 of the dressing, mix well.

• Serve in bowls and sprinkle over the peanuts and the other toppings if you’re using them.

• Add more dressing if needed.

Tip

• If you make this to take to work or eat for lunch over a few days, keep each component separated: noodles drizzled with a little sesame oil to stop them sticking; chopped veggies; dressing; peanuts and sesame; and coriander leaves. Mix together just before serving or in the morning if you’re packing lunch for later.

Miso sesame stir fry

I’m always trying to create the perfect stir fry and it’s fair to say I’ve had many a fail! The main problems have been over-cooked veggies and not enough sauce! I think stir fries can be a little tricky to get right as it’s all about the prep and timing. You really have to think about how to get everything cooked at the same time. So the key to a good stir fry is mise en place: all your ingredients out in front of you ready to go. That includes part cooking any veggies that will take too long to fry. This recipe is my version of a stir fry as I’ve cooked the veggies and tofu separately from the sauce and just drizzled it over in the bowls. But if you prefer to add the sauce to the veggies etc at the end and gently warm through, you can do that too.

Ingredients

Serves 4

• 280g firm tofu (this is the packet size of Tofoo, you can adjust a bit), chopped in cubes or 1 chicken breast, salted chopped into small slices

• 3 spring onions, 1cm diagonal slices

• 3 small carrots, chopped into thin batons

• 1/2 head of broccoli, florets separated and then cut each one into 3-4 thin slices

• 350g jasmine rice

• 3-4 tbsp sesame seeds

• Groundnut or rapeseed oil

Miso & sesame sauce

• 1 thumb ginger, grated

• 1 large garlic clove, grated

• 2 tbsp white miso

• 4 tbsp tahini

• 2 tbsp honey, start with 1.5 and add the rest if you want it sweeter

• 4 tbsp rice vinegar

• 2 tbsp sesame oil

• 2 tbsp sunflower oil

• Approx 4-6 tbsp water

Method

• First, prep! Chop all the veggies and whichever protein you’re using.

• Mix all the sauce ingredients together apart from the water (I had to use a hand blender as my tahini had separated and was quite lumpy). Add the water gradually to get a consistency of runny honey, set aside.

• Rinse the rice well and cook as per the instructions and leave in the pan with the lid on once ready.

• Steam the carrots and broccoli for 4-5 minutes so they are part cooked with a little crunch.

• Dry toast the sesame seeds in a small frying pan and tip into a bowl to cool. Then heat a little groundnut or rapeseed oil in the same pan and pour a good drizzle of groundnut or rapeseed oil into a wok and put on a med-high heat.

• Once the oil is hot in both pans add the tofu or chicken to the little pan and the veggies to the wok. I prefer to separate them as I find the ingredients start to steam rather than brown if the pan is too crowded, but you could cook the tofu or meat in the wok first and then set aside in a warm lidded bowl if you want to use one pan.

• Keep the veggies on a high heat and keep stirring so they brown on different sides. Same goes for the tofu and both should should take about 5 minutes to cook through and colour. If you’re using meat it may take a couple of minutes more - a meat thermometer is the safest way to check.

• Turn off both pans and tip the tofu or meat into the veggies. Briefly warm the sauce in the small pan, but don’t leave it for long, it just needs a couple of minutes.

• Serve adding the rice, then veggies, then protein. Drizzle over the sauce using a tablespoon and sprinkle over the sesame seeds to finish.

Tip

• Choose 3 types of veggie and one protein when doing a stir fry or you’ll end up with too many ingredients and probably an over cooked soggy mess!

• You can choose whichever brand of tofu you prefer, I like Tofoo as it’s firm and tastier than some other brands.