Chow Mein

Since I've had coeliac disease, I've spent the past few years trying to master my favourite dishes. I find that Chinese is the most rewarding because I really do miss a good chippy tea! My new favourite is chow mein, and I've even got my noodle-hating fiancé (I know, what's wrong with him?) addicted too!

Egg noodles are one of the hardest things to replicate gluten free and I don't think I've ever seen a decent alternative. Rice noodles are too bland, in my opinion. However, gluten free tagliatele works pretty well, and that's what I've used in the recipe below.

You can use any meat or vegetables to make this really simple dish. I think I might need to open my own chippy soon!

If you're following a FODMAP diet, this is a low FODMAP dish too!

Chow Mein

Serves 2

2 chicken breasts or quick-frying steak
4 spring onions, sliced into thin strips
150g thinly sliced mushrooms
1 thinly sliced green, yellow or red pepper
Garlic oil
4 tbsp tamari/gluten free soy sauce
2 tbsp oyster sauce
2 tbs rice vinegar
150g cooked gluten free tagliatelle/spaghetti/rice noodles
Salt & pepper to taste
Optional: chicken/beef/vegetable stock, extra soy sauce, chilli flakes (if you want a bit of spice!)

Thinly slice meat into strips and marinate in chilli flakes (if using), tamari, oyster sauce and rice vinegar. Place in fridge for at least half an hour (I tend to do this in the morning and leave all day).

Cook pasta/noodles according to instructions.

Heat a couple of teaspoons of garlic oil in a wok and add meat/vegetables. Cook for a few minutes til brown/softened and add the rest of the vegetables, coating in the sauce. Cook until meat and vegetables are tender and add the cooked noodles. Add a little more soy sauce. I like this quite dry, but if you want more sauce you could add some stock while the meat and vegetables are cooking.

If you're a vegetarian, simply omit the meat and instead marinate the vegetables, adding more peppers and mushrooms to compensate. You could add any veg to this dish, but ones you can slice thinly work best.

Caramel Macchiato Cupcakes

Caramel Macchiatos are my favourite drink in Starbucks. So much so that on my last visit, I bought a bottle of the caramel drizzle sauce they use on top so that I can make my own imitation versions at home. However,  I've yet to master the milk frother on my coffee machine, as it turns out more like bath foam rather than the silky, thick stuff you can stand your spoon up in at Starbucks. As such, a little drizzle of caramel sauce just sinks to the bottom. Woe.

Anyway, I digress. Because of my homemade latte failure, I've been squirting on the sauce on just about anything else - pancakes, ice cream, my mouth.. and decided to have a play around with a cake recipe based on my favourite drink. It worked quite well! I think a marshmallow creme might work better to imitate the milky foam, rather than buttercream, maybe I'll try that next time!

Caramel Macchiato Cupcakes 

Makes 8 large cakes

125g of margarine
125g caster sugar
125g Doves Farm gluten free self-raising flour
2 eggs
2 tsp of coffee mixed with a tbsp of boiling water, left to cool
2 tsp caramel flavoured syrup (I used this)

Buttercream

150g Icing sugar
50g butter
splash of milk

Caramel Sauce to drizzle over cupcakes

Preheat oven to 190 degrees.

Cream butter and sugar together in a bowl using an electric whisk until light and fluffy. Add eggs and 25g of flour and whisk until combined. Add the rest of the flour, the coffee and the caramel syrup and whisk together for a couple more minutes. Evenly spoon mixture into cupcake cases and bake for 20-25 minutes until a cocktail stick inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean.

Leave to cool and make the buttercream. Spread a thin layer over the top of the cakes, and then drizzle some caramel sauce over each cake.

Spanish Tortilla

I love tapas. I love tapas because lots of them are gluten free, or easy to adapt so they are. One of our favourite restaurants is La Tasca because they have a fantastic gluten free menu and they also serve gluten free beer! Anyway, I digress. One of my favourite tapas dishes is tortilla, and up until Saturday I had never tried to make this myself. I had a look on the internet for a good recipe, but I wasn't sure which one would be nicest, so I asked my lovely Spanish friend, Patricia, who very kindly gave me her recipe and allowed me to share it on my blog. Her recipe mainly uses potato and egg and this in itself is tasty enough, however as Patricia says below, you can add anything you like. For mine I added onions, garlic and sliced chorizo (that's chor-ee-tho, not chor-eet-zo!) and for a first attempt I was really pleased with how it turned out. It was gorgeous and did breakfast for myself and my boyfriend for two days. I'll definitely be making this again soon!

Spanish Potato Omelette (Tortilla de patata)

2 medium-sized potatoes or 4 small ones (type depends on taste, I like to use baking spuds because I like them getting a bit crumbly, but choose waxy ones if you prefer a firmer potato)
4 eggs
Olive oil
Salt and pepper
You can add practically anything you want to this basic recipe: cheese, peas, tomato, peppers, onion, herbs, diced chorizo... I like to add a bit of dried powdered garlic and onion for flavour, but I prefer my tortilla plain and simple, they way it's eaten in most tapas bars in Spain.

Peel and slice the potatoes, not too thinly. Rinse under the tap and put them in a microwavable dish (ideally one of those contraptions with a basket that allows you to steam in the microwave).

Drizzle some oil over the sliced potatoes (approx. 2 tbsp), sprinkle a pinch of salt and cook at 100% for 5 minutes.

Remove, stir, cook for 5 min more. Prod the potatoes with a spatula or wooden spoon to make sure that they are done. Cook for another couple of minutes if necessary. The potatoes need to be cooked before the next step, as they will cook only very briefly as part of the tortilla.

In another bowl, whisk the eggs with salt and pepper to taste. Add the cooked potato slices, stir well so that all the potato is well covered in egg.

With regards to the frying pan, I use a 20 cm one. It's easier to make a tortilla that is small in diameter; if you use a larger pan you risk breaking it when you flip it over. Don't worry if the tortilla looks very thick, it will cook slowly so there will be no undercooked egg in the middle.

Put the frying pan over a high heat and add a slosh of olive oil to it. When it's hot, pour the egg-potato mixture in it, and lower the heat to medium-low. With your spatula/wooden spoon, gently stir the potatoes, letting the uncooked egg flow down to the bottom of the pan and set. Keep doing this for a couple of minutes, until there is little liquid egg left.

Now, the crucial bit: flipping the tortilla. Put a large plate over the frying pan, then place your open hand on it, and with your other hand grab the frying pan handle and flip the whole thing over. You'll have a half-cooked tortilla on your plate, with the top looking golden and done, the bottom a bit soggy. Quickly slide the tortilla back into the frying pan, pushing it with your spatula if you need. Cook for some 5-10 minutes over a low heat, to avoid the bottom getting burned or the inside undercooked.

This tortilla can be eaten warm, freshly made, although many people prefer it the next day (some prefer it cold, but it can be reheated in the microwave).

Pumpkin Spice Scones

Here's a lovely recipe for some scones that are perfect to have with a cup of tea on a cold wintry day like today! I like mine warmed up in the oven, topped with butter and cream cheese - yum! Canned pumpkin can be found in most supermarkets these days. I've seen it in Aldi and in the American section in Tesco. This recipe makes 8 scones. I've stored mine in a ziplock bag in the freezer. They can be put straight in the oven without defrosting.

Pumpkin Spice Scones with Maple Glaze

250g self-raising flour (gluten free of course)
70g light muscovado sugar
1/2 tsp of ground ginger
1/2 tsp of ground cinnamon
100g cold butter
50g raisins (optional, you could use a different fruit or nuts, or chocolate chips)
100ml milk
1/2 can of pumpkin
1 tsp vanilla extract

Glaze: 100g icing sugar and enough maple syrup to make a thin drizzly icing!

Preheat oven to 200 degrees and line a baking sheet with greaseproof paper.

In a large bowl, mix the dry ingredients - flour, sugar and spices. Chop the butter up and add to the bowl, mixing it loosely with your fingertips until it forms a crumbly texture then add your raisins/nuts if using them. In another bowl, mix the pumpkin, milk and vanilla extract and add to the flour mixture. Stir just until the mixture comes together. Tip the mixture out onto a clean, floured surface and pat into a circular shape, around an inch or so thick. Cut the circle into 8 triangles and carefully place onto the baking sheet with enough room to spread slightly (they do hold their shape fairly well though). Bake in the oven for 20 minutes or so.

Make up the mixture for the glaze and put in a ziplock bag. When the scones are cool, snip the edge of the bag and drizzle the glaze over the top. (Or use a piping bag if you're fancy)

Best enjoyed slightly warm with butter!

Chinese Supermarkets

Although I love all food, if I had to choose one cuisine, I'd say Chinese would be right up there. I really miss 'proper' chippy meals, even though they're full of MSG and other bad stuff! I've perfected fried rice, salt and pepper potatoes etc, recipes for which can be found here but there are other meals I really enjoy too.

I'm lucky that I live near Liverpool, which has its own Chinatown and a couple of big Chinese supermarkets. These places are great for fresh ingredients and everything you could possibly need to create your own Chinese banquet - right down to the plates to eat it from. I've also learnt that they're also great for coeliacs. You need quite a bit of time to wander round looking at everything to find things that are gluten free, but just take a look at the small selection below to see what I found today.

I won't lie, I was in there close to an hour today. Most of the products are imported and the ingredients are sometimes difficult to read or non-existent in English (obviously I avoided those, just in case)

I was made up to find Black Bean and Hoisin sauces that state 'gluten free' on them! The salt and pepper seasoning is gorgeous, we use that often for chicken wings and potatoes. I've also had the packet noodles before. They're not really that much like Supernoodles as they're made with rice so have a different texture, but they certainly do the job when you need a quick snack. These also state that they are gluten free on the packet. I picked up the cookies on a whim and found they were also safe. They're made from mung bean powder and almond flour. They have an 'interesting' chalky texture which might not appeal to everyone, but I quite liked them! 

If you have any Chinese supermarkets nearby, I would highly recommend taking a bit of time to go and see what you can find - I'm sure there's lots to be discovered. Do let me know if you find any gluten free sui mai!

We're going to have a little banquet on Saturday night. I think I'll make duck pancakes with hoisin sauce, fried rice, chicken in black bean sauce, prawn crackers and salt & pepper potatoes - can't wait!