food

This page exists purely as a food album for all the best recipes I’ve tried. Don’t get me wrong, I think that I’m a good cook and I can create a dish within a general cuisine without issue. What I can’t do is cook existing dishes from memory — I can improv pretty well, but sometimes I just want a Pad See Ew or a Soondubu Jigae and I need a recipe to follow.

I’ve definitely started to lean on recipes more since moving to The Netherlands because I don’t have easy access to all the foods I typically love to eat. In doing so, I’ve discovered some seriously delicious recipes well worth sharing. All recipes used are linked on their corresponding photos if you want to give them a try!

she cooks!

tried and tested

Ginger Spring Onion Steamed Chicken 

Easy: Yes
Quick: Ehhh, not the quickest
Technical: Some light navigation around a DIY steamer. A meat thermometer also goes a long way with this recipe
Niche Ingredients: Sambal, the other ingredients are pantry staples for me

Review: If you’re the sort of person where food needs to look good in order for you to try it, you need to grow up. While not the most visually appealing (when does steamed chicken actually look good?), this dish is baaaaanging and healed me right up when I was feeling run down.

Beef & Pepper Stir Fry

Easy: Yes
Quick: Yes
Technical: Nay
Niche Ingredients: Shaoxing Wine / White Pepper (both are worth having in your pantry for most asian recipes)

Review: This was a random find on a night we needed a quick dinner and what a win. We used hot peppers and bell peppers for this (and added some broc for nutrients). You can easily adjust for spice in this recipe but we like it hawt. Quick, warming, easy – an instant add to the recipe book.

Spanish Tortilla with Chorizo

Easy: Not the easiest
Quick: Not really
Technical: Yes, getting those potatoes crispy + not overcooking your egg or losing structure? Phew
Niche Ingredients: Nay, but does ask for a lot of olive oil (y in esta economia?)

Review: We had just gone to a tapas bar for dinner with friends and left with a craving for more Tortilla. This was something I ate a lot at uni (bought the premade ones from Morrisons soz) but had never tried to make before. It was tough, it took longer than I was willing to give, but it was sure tasty. 

Soondubu Jigae (Korean Soft Tofu Stew)

Easy: Yes
Quick: Yes
Technical: Nay
Niche Ingredients: Kimchi, Gochugaru, Anchovy Stock/Dashi

Review: A recipe I make at least once a month because I love me a Korean stew. Now, I make a lot of adjustments to this recipe (pork > beef, anchovy stock > dashi, replace mushrooms with extra tofu) and as you can see, it does not look like the pictures from the original recipe. It is still damn good! This recipe feeds me for 4 days and I serve with a small bowl of rice and Kimchi. I simply love this recipe.