Stir-fried Chicken with Peppers, Basil and Rosemary [#229]

Or, to give it its Japanese name, Tori to piman no itame ni. This recipe, from Harumi, is a perfect example of why I do the challenge - I would NEVER have chosen it, as the combination of chicken marinated in onion, soy, basil, rosemary and red wine sounded, frankly, a bizarre mix of Asian and Western. But, let me tell you, it was exceedingly delicious. The flavours worked like a dream, and the tender chicken with the crunchy peppers was yummy. We served this with steamed rice, and Ching-Hue's steam pak choi. (Recipe to follow). If this recipe sounds like your cup of tea, send me your email and I'll post it to you - it is so very good, I want you all to try it.

Gyoza [#224]

These are so addictive, aren't they? Little dumplings of minced pork and prawns, flavoured with garlic, spring onion, ginger, chives, sesame oil and sake, wrapped in wanton pastry skins, which are then fried in a little oil and, finally, steamed. Dipped in a mixture of soy, chilli and sake (or rice vinegar if you have it), they are irresistible, and we polished off 16 of them between the two of us! Another successful dish from Harumi Kurihara, the Japanese Delia. We balanced it out with a super-healthy stir-fry of sprouted mung and edamame beans, pak choi and red pepper. As for the question of what to drink with them, Hubby couldn't get any Japanese beer, but we had some excellent St. Peter's Organic Ale from Suffolk, which he said was very similar to the beers he had in Japan.

Yakisoba [#212]

As an occasional visitor to Wagamama, I thought I knew what Yakisoba was - a big pile of noodles fried with chicken or tofu or prawns with some veg, sesame seeds and quite a bit of oil. A nice dish, but nothing at all like Harumi Kurihara's version, the first from her book for this challenge. Rather, what she does is to fry cooked egg noodles in a flat 'pancake' on both sides in a little oil until crisp. This is then served with a saucy stirfry on the top of pork and pak choi, with mushrooms added in my case. The sauce is made from chicken stock, soy sauce, hoisin or oyster sauce, sesame oil and rice wine, lightly thickened with cornflour. It was unexpected, with really interesting textures and quite delicate flavours. As Harumi is generally hailed as the Japanese 'Delia', I am sure this is more authentic than the Wagamama version!

The Kitchen Diaries Challenge 2010 - the books being used

Well, I loved last year's challenge so much. Cooking from Nigel Slater's 'Kitchen Diaries' was a marvellous experience, and one that forced me to look at new recipes, techniques and ingredients. It was the perfect book to chose, being seasonal and extremely varied. Finding another single book to match the experience in 2010 was impossible. So, this year, I have chosen 12 books instead. Every month, I will cook at least one recipe from each of these books - 12 a month, and 144 in total for the year - at least - I might cook more!

So which books have I chosen?

I focused on everyday cooking, but to stretch myself and increase my knowledge, I have also selected some books from other cuisines - Japanese, Indian, etc. Here they are! (with links to them at Amazon)

1. 'Tender' - Nigel Slater (well, I couldn't abandon Nigel altogether, could I!)
2. 'Harumi's Japanese Cooking' - Harumi Kurihara
3. 'China Modern' - Ching-He Huang
4. 'Home Cook' - Alastair Hendy
5. 'Everyday' - Bill Granger
6. 'Indian Everyday' -Anjum Anand
7. 'Favourite Food at Home' - Rachel Allen
8. 'Off the Shelf' - Donna Hay
9. 'Marcella Cucina' - Marcella Hazan
10. 'Fish' - Mitch Tonks
11. 'In the Mood for Food' - Jo Pratt
12. 'Top 200 Low Fat Recipes' - Judith Wills

This list is a blend of my favourite authors (Slater, Hendy, Granger, Allen, Pratt), the challenging (Tonks, Hazan), the exotic (Kurihara, Anand, Huang) and the healthy (Hay and Wills). Together, they will give me loads of choice for everyday cooking, and the more challenging stuff at the weekend, along with the realistic and healthy. Some are old friends and may even be out of print now, although Amazon seemed to have them all in stock one way or another, along with the new and relatively untested.

I hope you enjoy hearing about them as much as I know I will enjoy cooking from them!