the takeaway secret

fairymoneysaver

I thought I would let you know what I have made recently.

Southern Fried Chicken - I have made this 3 times. As someone suggested it is nicer with Chinese 5 spice added. I also made it using chicken breast pieces which the kids loved, I just fried these, the legs went in the oven when I made them. Not quite KFC but nicer than the packet mixes you can buy.

Lamb Sheesh Kebab - Lovely, and the pitta salad was spot on!

Beef Chow Mein - we have had this twice, it is very nice but I feel missing something? Will still make it again though.

Chocolate Chip Cookies - Delicious, I have just bought a wire cooling tray just for these. It doesnt say how thick to roll the dough so a bit of trial and error here. I think 3" diameter pieces is about right before they go in the oven.

Going to try the sweet and sour chicken balls this week

Clutterfree

Had Chicken Chow Mein with Egg Fried Rice tonight. It was nice although not quite the same as our take-away.

bargainbird

KFC went down well, but will oven for longer next time
Lamb Doner tonight with hm pittas onion salad

That chicken chow mein looks lovely.

Someone mentioned the other day the s/s sauce was not quite right.. ours tasted like a "northern Chinese sauce" IYKWIM, but down here "south" it's more vinergary Does that make sense ?

dogstarheaven

Clutterfree wrote: »

Had Chicken Chow Mein with Egg Fried Rice tonight. It was nice although not quite the same as our take-away.

not having the recipe/or the book, i can only go on my own experiences making chow mein and that is you need Beansprouts (50p per bag from supermarket, enough for 3/4 portions), sliced onion and a couple of spring onions sliced into 2" lengths. Did you use a small dash of sesame oil to finish off at the end of the cooking process? that gives it a nice flavour to a lot of chinese t/away dishes. If you're struggling for more flavour then i'd suggest finely diced fresh garlic and ginger whilst you finished cooking the meat, that's what i'd do for my dish.

hope this helps:D

Clutterfree

dogstarheaven wrote: »

not having the recipe/or the book, i can only go on my own experiences making chow mein and that is you need Beansprouts (50p per bag from supermarket, enough for 3/4 portions), sliced onion and a couple of spring onions sliced into 2" lengths. Did you use a small dash of sesame oil to finish off at the end of the cooking process? that gives it a nice flavour to a lot of chinese t/away dishes. If you're struggling for more flavour then i'd suggest finely diced fresh garlic and ginger whilst you finished cooking the meat, that's what i'd do for my dish.

hope this helps:D

Thanks. It had all of those things in it except the spring onions.
It was lovely but not EXACTLY like my Chinese take-away makes it.

hex2

The Pitta Breads are well worth the effort. No instructions to roll them out in the book? I wasn't brave enough to leave them as balls and bake so I rolled them out a la Delia

Garlic Powder was in the village co-op! Onion powder more problematic - I have onion salt from Sainsbugs so will experiment, but also 28p worth of dried onions that surely can be blitzed into powder?

bargainbird

onion powder is at mr T's

vixtress

ive been lurking on this thread since it started and i bought the book a few weeks ago.
i made the donner tonight and i just had to post to say OMG its fab!!
i think i put a bit much black pepper in but i cant believe how authentic it tastes!
i used a big tsp of onion salt instead of onion powder and salt and it is fine.
:beer: thanks to original poster

vix

WillowMuse

Must say a big thank you to the op for recommending this book, got everything I needed yesterday and took the plunge and made the lamb kebab tonight.

Wow... just like the kebab shop but less grease :T:T
Couldn't believe how fast it disappeared off my DS's plate either:rotfl:
He has ordered the Southern fried chicken next so will let you know how it turns out;)
Thanks again op:beer:

anguk

I made the Sweet & Sour Chicken Balls with Egg Fried Rice tonight, absolutely lovely and will definitely become a regular in our house. It was nicer than the takeaway because the batter was thin and crispy instead of thick & stodgy (that may just be my takeaway). Next time I think I'll reduce the amount of sugar in the sauce though as it was a little too sweet.