Perfect fried eggs with no oil.

Guilt free eggs - no oil or fat for cooking with and soooo simple.


You will need:

• A good non-stick frying pan with a solid base. 
• A pan lid - not necessarily the same size as the frying pan but definitely not larger. (A see through one is best but not essential)
• Kitchen roll
• A silicon, nylon or plastic fish slice

• Place the base on a heat source, I always prefer gas, but at university you have to make do with what you have in your flat/house.   
• Let the pan get very hot, put your hand above the base of it, without actually touching, to gauge how hot it is.  When it is ready it would be a good idea to turn the heat down a little.
• Break your egg into the pan and as it starts to cook, wet a piece of kitchen roll with cold water, squeeze gently so that it doesn't drip but retain a lot of the moisture.  Scrunch it up and place it next to the egg in the pan.  I tend to use two pieces rather than one as it works more quickly.
• Cover both the egg and the wet kitchen roll with the pan lid.  In seconds you will have a beautifully cooked egg with the white set, and a runny yolk.

Another word about Garlic

I posted instructions on how to use garlic Here but I just wanted to pass on some information I have been given.

Whilst garlic adds a lot of flavour to many dishes, it does tend to have anti social side effects.  I am led to  believe by a knowledgeable source however, that if you cut the clove in half lengthwise and remove the centre fibre, which is sometimes green it will remove most of the pungent garlic odour  which hangs around for ages after eating it.
I have tried this but I can't vouch for the veracity of the statement as one cannot smell it on oneself, and as a general rule it tends not to be noticeable on another person if you also have consumed .

Chicken Veronique

This is so easy but sounds very luxurious.  It will impress your friends without breaking the bank and you won't break a sweat over it.

• 2 chicken breasts
• 1 oz butter
• 1 tsp oil
• 3 medium mushrooms sliced
• 2 or 3 shallots or one small onion, chopped
• 50 mls dry white wine if you have it or 50 mls chicken stock
• Medium carton of cream
• ½ teaspoon tarragon
• Approx 12 seedless green grapes
• Pinch of salt
• Black pepper

• Heat the butter and oil together in a frying pan. (If you are using something like flora you will not need the oil.  Butter burns very quickly so the oil is needed to prevent it burning.)
• Add the mushrooms and cook over a medium heat for 2 minutes, then remove from the pan and reserve.
• Add the chicken breasts, cook them over a medium heat for around 15 minutes, turning two to three times.
• After the chicken has been in the pan for around 5 minutes add the onions,  tarragon and wine or chicken stock (made with a stock cube and water if you don't have ready made stock,  but don't use the whole stock cube for 50mls of stock.  It is best to make the stock according to the packet instructions and just take out the 50mls which you need.)  The liquid in the pan will reduce which is desirable but ensure that it doesn't all disappear thereby allowing the chicken to burn, add a little more liquid if you need to.
• After 15 - 20 minutes return the mushrooms to the pan and add the cream.  Bring to the boil for a few minutes until the cream thickens.
• Add the grapes to the pan and stir in salt and pepper to your taste but do be careful, if you have used a stock cube taste the sauce before adding salt to check how salty it already tastes.  Leave over a low light for about a minute 30 t0 60 seconds just to heat the grapes through, they do not need to be cooked.

I usually serve this with rice.

Curries

I have said elsewhere on here that curries don't need to be hot to be good, and I mentioned that on another site earlier today which made me think about a couple of things to do with curries.  Curry is about the combination of spices to provide flavour.  Different spices give a dish unique flavours and it is possible to pick out the spices by taste.  Some spices you will like and there will be others that perhaps you don't care for so much, personally I can live without turmeric.


In previous recipes I have offered a way of cooking dried spices to prepare your curry but you can also use fresh ones or a mixture of fresh and dried.  


I like to purée fresh chillis with garlic cloves, ginger and some dried or powdered spices like cumin or coriander with a little oil to make a paste.  The chillies and the ginger are going to be the ingredients which provide the most kick so the amount of those which you use will determine how hot your finished curry will be.   You can make quite a large batch and then pop enough for a single use into a used, clean yoghurt pot, wrap in cling film and keep in the freezer until you are ready for it.  


Slice your onions and cook in a little oil with the curry paste and diced meat until the onions are soft and all are coated with the paste then continue with your chosen recipe.   I have two preferences but there are many other variations.  I either make a tomato based sauce using either fresh, skinned tomatoes, or tinned tomatoes with the stalk end removed, or a creamy sauce using either coconut milk or yoghurt.  Yoghurt is much less expensive than coconut milk but doesn't have the same rich creamy flavour.  If cooking with yoghurt always mix a little of the yoghurt in a cup with a spoonful of cornflour to stabilise the mixture and stop it from curdling when it heats up.

• Curry paste
• Onion
• Other vegetables to your taste
• Your choice of meat
• Approx 1 tablespoon of oil
• Either 1 can of tomatoes, 1 can of coconut milk or 1 pot of plain yoghurt
• Flour or cornflour to thicken

• Slice the onion and any other vegetables
• Cut the meat into cubes or strips
• Heat the oil in a large pan or wok
• Add meat and brown on all sides 
• Add onion/vegetables and curry paste
• Stir until onion is softened and all ingredients are coated with curry paste
• Stir in 1 spoon of flour (cornflour if you are using yoghurt) and coat the ingredients in the pan with it, cook for around a minute
• Remove from the heat and add either tomatoes, coconut milk or yoghurt (if using yoghurt mix a little of it in a cup with a teaspoon of cornflour - I know you may well have already added cornflour to the pan but I like to be sure)
• Return the pan to the heat and bring back to a boil then turn the heat right down and simmer.  The sauce may be too thick but you can let it down with some boiling water from the kettle until it is the desired consistency.
• Put a lid on the pan and cook gently until the meat is tender.

If you used yoghurt you may like to add about a teaspoon of tomato ketchup to the mixture and stir well before putting the lid on and leaving to cook.