Pork Chop Suey- a great family meal

Pork Chop Suey:

Pork chop suey is a great family favourite, or you can serve it up in fancy bowls for guests. Either way it will become a favourite dish. If you like your food spicy you can always add a bit of heat with freshly chopped chillies.

To Prepare:

Allow 25 minutes to prepare and cook – it’s best to chop everything before you start cooking.

We both grew up eating our Mum’s different versions of chop suey and with good reason. It’s versatile, kid friendly and can expand with the addition of more veggies or noodles if you have unexpected mouths to feed. Serve with either soft or crispy noodles or rice. Any leftovers are great served on toast or in a jaffle or baked potato.

500g lean pork mince

Spray oil or 1 tablespoon oil

2 cloves garlic, chopped finely

2cm fresh ginger, grated or 1 teaspoon Garden Gourmet ginger

1 large brown onion, diced

3 sticks celery, sliced

2 carrots, diced

¼ Chinese cabbage (wombok) or ordinary cabbage, shredded

½ cup frozen peas

1 x 227g can water chestnuts, drained

1/3 cup oyster sauce (gluten free if required)

3 tablespoons of soy sauce (gluten free if required)

2 tablespoons sweet chilli sauce (gluten free if required)

2 teaspoons cornflour (from corn gluten free if required)

1 cup chicken stock (gluten free if required)

1 handful beanshoots

1 Pkt of Chow Mein noodles (or rice noodles) prepared according to directions on pack or 1 packet Chang's fried noodles or rice

Put a saucepan of water on to boil for noodle preparation according to packet. Combine cornflour, oyster, soy, sweet chilli sauces in a jug, mix until smooth, add stock, stir. Spray a wok or frypan with oil, fry mince, onion and garlic until brown over high heat. Add carrots and celery fry over medium heat until soft. Add cabbage, water chestnuts, peas and stir through the sauces and stock mixture. Add beanshoots. Serve with your choice of rice or noodles or simply sprinkle with packaged fried noodles.

Chilli Garlic Prawns- a real crowd pleaser

Chilli Garlic prawns

These often appear on our snick snack plates, they make great finger food. The trick is to keep a bag of green prawns in the freezer they defrost in no time.

Allow 5 minutes preparation and 5 minutes to cook

1 kg green prawns, peeled

1/4 cup olive oil

4 cloves garlic, finely chopped

2 teaspoons ground peppercorns

1 teaspoon salt

2-3 fresh birdseye chilli's, finely chopped, with or without seeds (much of the heat is in the seeds) – don’t rub your eyes after chopping!

Optional glug of whisky or brandy, say 2 tablespoons

Mix everything but prawns together in a jar. Next choose your cooking method -

if it’s stir-fry pour marinade over prawns and allow to sit for 10 minutes before stir frying on high heat. (Turn on the extractor so you don’t choke on the chilli fumes!) You could add some green veggies to bulk out the dish (maybe broccoli or bok choy), pour on a little more marinate, heat and serve with some steamed rice or noodles.

If it’s Bbq or pan fry – pour sauce over prawns and Bbq over high heat. The prawns will be pink and curl up when they’re done.

If your prawns have their shells on, you can pour the marinade over them and bake in a very hot oven for 5 minutes. This way everyone gets to suck the spicy bits off the outside and shell their own prawns – saving you lots of work! Genius.

They are absolutely delicious!.