Elizabethan mince

“Elizabethan” mince, aka “Lizzie” mince

This was my absolute favorite meal growing up.  It is really, really good and very easy to make, although it does need to simmer for a while. My mother got the recipe from a Good Housekeeping (or similar) magazine back in the early seventies but cannot remember the author.  Does anyone know?  In any event what we do know is that the original was not called Elizabethan mince.  This was a name I came up with apparently, aged 6.  Weird child.  We ate a great deal of mince growing up. 

You will need

A packet of extra lean beef mince

1 large onion roughly chopped 

2 cloves of garlic finely chopped or squished in a pestle and mortar

2 carrots peeled with your vegetable peeler and cut into sugar cubed sized chunks 

1 stick of celery peeled and sugar cube

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1 tablespoon of tomato puree

A heaped tablespoon of medium heat curry paste (patak’s works well for me)

A tin of plum tomatoes drained of their juice and quartered (reserve the juice)

A tub of greek yoghurt about 300mls or so

Olive oil

Salt and freshly ground pepper

And to serve (The accompaniments are an integral part of this dish; if you have never had cooked cucumber before you are in for a treat)

Fusilli pasta cooked al dente

Half a cucumber deseeded with a teaspoon and cut into 2 inch batons and fried in butter  over quite a high heat until ever so slightly golden

A heaped tablespoon of flaked almonds toasted in a dry non stick frying pan (do not wander off when you are doing this, they burn if you do)

Method

Heat the oven to 160

Fry the carrots, onion and celery in olive oil (in a heavy pan that has a lid) over a gentle heat until soft.  This will take at least 20 minutes.

Now stir in the mince and brown it.

Add the curry paste, ginger and garlic and cook, stirring, for a minute or so, until the raw, almost vinegary, smell from the paste has evaporated.

Tip in the yoghurt and tomato puree and bring it to simmering point.  Then lightly stir in the chopped tomatoes being careful not to break them up.  Put a lid on and cook in the oven for an hour.  Halfway through the cooking time check to make sure things have not got too dry (although it should be fairly dry) and if so add some of the reserved tomato juice to loosen things up a bit.

Serve on top of the fusilli with the cucumber and almonds strewn on top.  Some chopped coriander would be nice if you have some although coriander was not part of the dish when I was growing up. 

Freeze the rest of the sauce in individual portions for another time. 

My brother tells me this is also good with buttered nan bread, brinjal pickle and a bag of watercress.

Thai turkey (or beef) in lettuce cups

Deeply savoury ground turkey (or beef) with my three of my favourite ingredients; chilli, garlic and lime served in iceberg lettuce cups.  Extraordinarily messy and thus perfect for the solitary diner.

It is based on an idea by Nigella Lawson in her book ‘Forever Summer’.  I have fiddled with it a bit to include grated carrot and extra crunch in the form of water chestnuts. 

This does not freeze, or for that matter reheat, very well.

1/2 packet of turkey (or beef) mince (wrap the other half of the packet in cling-film and freeze although I suppose if you are particularly peckish you could just use the whole lot – you do not need to change the quantities of the other ingredients)

1 carrot coarsely grated

Half a bunch of spring onions chopped (green bits too)

Handful of coriander chopped

1 red chilli chopped

2 garlic cloves finely sliced

Zest and juice of a lime

1 tablespoon of fish sauce

A sprinkle of caster sugar (optional)

1 tin of water chestnuts sliced

1 iceberg lettuce separated into individual leaves (don’t worry if you tear them in the process – it is only you eating them after all and it  matters not at all if sauce dribbles down your chin)

Method

Heat the oil in a pan, add the chilli and stir fry for a minute over a moderate heat.. Then wack up the heat and add the carrot and turkey (or beef) mince, breaking the mince up with a wooden spoon as it cooks.  You will have to be brave here.  You want the mince almost to catch slightly and become crisp in parts.  It is weird though.  Sometimes I get the crispness sometimes not. Don’t worry if it is a ‘not crispy’ occasion it will still taste good.

Add the  garlic and cook for a minute stirring all the while then splosh in the fish sauce, lime juice and zest and sugar and watch it boil up and reduce slightly. Mix in the water chestnuts and stir until they are heated through.

Add the coriander and spring onion and remove from the heat.

Mound the mince into a bowl and place the bowl on a plate with a pile of lettuce cups.

To eat, spoon the mince into a cup, roll up and shovel into your mouth.  You will make a terrible mess.

Pan fried gnocchi with goats' cheese and a working girl sauce

A recipe for Sharon.

Who is a vegetarian.

Pan-fried (I know, I know.  As opposed to what?  Tupperware box fried?) gnocchi with goats' cheese and a working girl sauce.

This recipe is based on a dish I have eaten many times at a little restaurant in London called Koha.

I am not going to suggest you make your own gnocchi.  I tried it once.  The dough morphed into something with the adhesive qualities of freshly laid tarmacadam.  I had gobbets of the stuff all over my hands and couldn't get them off.  I resorted to flinging my arms about wildly, in the manner of someone alarmed by a wasp.  There are still little bits of uncooked gnocchi dough on my kitchen ceiling.

You will need

Half a packet of gnocchi made by someone else
A cup of sticky tomato sauce (see my recipe for meatballs in tomato sauce for the method)
A scant dessertspoon of roughly chopped capers (or some toasted pinenuts if even the thought of a caper makes you go all funny)
A small handful of shrivelled black olives (absolutely not the ones packed in brine) roughly chopped
A handful of shredded basil
A handful of cubed soft goats cheese.
Olive oil

Method

Heat the sauce with the capers and olives.

Cook the gnocchi in briskly boiling salted water until they start to bob to the surface then drain.

Heat up enough olive oil in your non-stick frying pan to barely cover the bottom of the pan. Throw in the gnocchi and toss them around so they coated in the oil. Spread them out into a single layer.  Fry until the underbelly of each one has turned golden, flip over (the gnocchi, not you) and fry the other side. This little exercise will take 5-8 minutes. Do not fiddle.  If you start poking around the gnocchi will turn all anti-establishment on you and stick to the non-stick pan.

Remove to a warm bowl.  Top with the sauce, goats' cheese, basil and pinenuts ( if you have gone that route) and you are done.

I have called the sauce 'working girl sauce' as it is loosely modelled on spaghetti alla puttanesca (literally 'whore's style spaghetti' in Italian).  

More vegetarian recipes will follow!

Blaming the tools

Kitchen equipment - the bit you never read in a cookbook right?

So I don't need to worry about typos in this post. 

I am assuming you have a fridge/freezer.  If you only have a fridge then some of my ideas will not really work for you.  I freeze quite a bit because it is tricky cooking things like chilli or Bolognese sauce for one.

I am also assuming you have a stove. 

A shed load (literally) of single portion ‘clip it’ plastic storage boxes.

A sharp chef’s knife.  I use Wusthof knives.  They are not dishwasher safe so I lovingly clean them in hot soapy water each night.  You may regard this as an annoying waste of time and want to stab me with one of my own knives for mentioning it in which case make sure you get a knife that will stand up to dishwasher abuse.  It MUST be sharp though and not serrated.  I sharpen my knives every time I use them.  Preparing food with a dull blade is utterly miserable.  Perhaps that is why so many people hate cooking?  Too much time spent gnawing away with a knife that wouldn’t cut through shower gel.

Hence you will need a knife sharpener

A vegetable peeler

2 chopping boards 

A cheese grater

A large non-stick sauté pan with lid (go for the best quality you can afford on this one)

A small non-stick frying pan (I have a cheap one from a supermarket that is just dandy)

A non-stick milk pan (you may see a theme emerging.  Whilst I do not mind washing my knives by hand I do not feel quite the same about pans)

A large heavy roasting tin (preferably with a rack and dishwasher safe)

A large non stick baking sheet (again dishwasher safe and the type with little sides)

A large pot for cooking pasta

A couple of lidded saucepans

A couple of small lasagna style dishes

A cast-iron lidded casserole (you might need to put this on a birthday wish list - bit of a spenny treat)

A large pyrex salad bowl (we will use this for all sorts of things)

A small mixing bowl (the kind your granny used to cook Christmas puddings in)

A large pestle and mortar

A hand held blender (called the wand of death in my family)

Kitchen tongs

A garlic press (although I tend to use my pestle and mortar as I have yet to find a garlic press that works well enough to warrant the cleaning)

A food processor would be nice but is not essential.

Scales if you want some (I use them to weigh pasta so that I don’t cook too much and therefore eat too much) but we are not going to be fussy about quantities.  Up to you.

Words on the larder

Basic store cupboard

Although my larder looks like a spoilt child’s toy box you really do not need a bulging store cupboard.  I have tiny bottles of truffle oil, Japanese hot pepper, shrimp paste, tamarind, black rice, jars of embalmed anchovies, five types of dried chilli, six types of vinegar and so on (and on).   You see, whenever someone asks me what I would like for my birthday or Christmas I always answer food or kitchen equipment (mainly knives) but then I am obsessed.  Horribly so.  I sincerely hope you are not as bad as me or if you are that you have a far speedier metabolism.

Extra virgin olive oil

Bog standard olive oil

Groundnut oil (or vegetable oil if you are allergic in which case I hardly need to tell you do I?)

Balsamic vinegar (the cheap stuff is just fine – we will be cooking with it)

White wine vinegar

Soy sauce

Fish sauce

Ketchup

Mayonnaise

Tabasco

Worcestershire sauce

Chicken and beef stock cubes as well as some marigold stock powder (I am assuming you do not want to fill up your single person’s freezer with stock although good for you if you do)

Black pepper (lots and in a grinder)

Malden sea salt

Pouring sea salt (I suggest you ask for a couple of salt pigs for your birthday.  Sorry, I can’t help myself)

Caster sugar

Uncle Ben’s long grain rice (I know it is expensive but it really is the best.  However  I suggest you do not buy the boil in the bag variety – it pushes the price even higher)

Risotto rice  

Pasta – I currently have spaghetti, fusilli and conchiglie in my larder

Tinned chopped tomatoes

Tomato puree

Black olives (the shriveled type not the one packed in brine which are curiously plastic and quite vile)

Cashews, pecans, pine nuts

Tinned or bottled anchovies

Capers (you hate them right?  Tough – buy them anyway. Along with the anchovies.)

Anchovies (see above)

Bay leaves

Dried oregano

Cayenne

Ground cumin

Ground coriander

Chilli powder

Ground cinnamon

Paprika (smoked and sweet)

Nutmeg (the whole variety. You can grate it on your cheese grater.  No need to invest in a fancy doodad)

Plain flour

Smooth Dijon mustard

Runny honey

In the fridge I always have

Unsalted butter

A strong cheddar

Eggs

A small pot of cream (single or double)

Carrots

Celery

Smoked streaky bacon

Chillies

Lemons and limes

As well as copious quantities of strong white onions and garlic and a large ziplock bag of homemade breadcrumbs in the freezer (Just blitz up a stale white loaf in the food processor or buy some panko breadcrumbs). Oh, and some white pittas (they freeze well)

I grow basil, coriander, dill, flat leaf parsley and thyme in window boxes.  I also have a little bay tree by the front door. However, I quite understand that you may not even have a window ledge (a lot of the modern buildings going up around me don’t seem to have them) in which case then you are going to have to buy your fresh herbs as and when.  In my experience only basil works as an indoor plant.  

That should do it for the time being

'Confit' of duck - my way

The traditional way of cooking confit of duck is, of course, to slowly poach the meat in a pan of duck fat.  A great way of doing it on high days and holidays (the tins of fat are rather expensive to my mind) however I like to eat crispy duck more often than that.

This is confit of duck my way.  And bloody marvellous it is too.  Really crisp tasty skin and meltingly tender flesh.  Food does not get much better than this.

Unless you are cooking this dish (to eat) on a weekend and have the luxury of pottering around the flat and can keep tabs on things it is important to remember to do the initial poaching the night before you want to eat.  

I tend to put the ducks legs on and leave them to simmer whilst I prepare and demolish another meal.  If I have it on by 7 I can turn the heat off as I head to bed. The fowl limbs will cool in their cooking liquor overnight.  I remove them from their tepid bath and pop them in the fridge in the morning.

Ducks legs (however many you fancy; I tend to do 2 at a time)

A  couple of sticks of celery chopped in half

1 large carrot cut in half lengthways

1 large onion, un-peeled and cut in half across the equator

2 bay leaves

4 or 5 peppercorns

Put your ducks legs (a phrase which always makes me snicker) into a large saucepan.

Add the remaining ingredients and cover with cold water.

Bring to the boil and then turn to the lowest heat setting.  Gently poach for 3 hours with the lid on, checking from time to time to make sure the pan does not run dry.

Allow to cool in the cooking liquor.  When cool carefully lift out the legs.  I use a large slotted spoon (although I have often resorted to hands).  The legs will feel very fragile indeed but all is ok.  Nurse them gingerly onto a plate and put uncovered into the fridge.  They will keep quite happily for a couple of days.

Half an hour before you are ready to eat turn the oven to 200, remove the legs from the fridge and transfer them to a greased baking sheet.  If you are feeling particularly idle line the sheet with greaseproof paper.  No washing up you see. Cook the legs for 20 minutes or  longer until the skin is lovely and crispy.

Things to do with your ducks legs

serve with choy sum anointed with oyster sauce

as part of a warm salad; alongside dry fried black pudding, rocket and sticky balsamic drizzle

place atop a piping hot stew of puy lentils, bacon, onion and parsley

shred into a warm soft tortilla with cucumber and spring onion sticks and sweet chilli sauce

Something for the weekend

Bolognese Sauce - a large amount to freeze.  Make this on a weekend.  If it is going to be good it will need to simmer a long time.

Now pasta is a tricky one.  Well it is for me anyway.  Take spaghetti for instance.  I always cook too much.  I measure out the ‘recommended serving‘   I then, without fail, scoff and add three more strands, then another two and then another ten more. And then another five on top of that.  I just can’t quite believe that the initial piddling amount will feed me.  I then ladle over a literally staggering amount of Bolognese until my bowl resembles Mount Etna and then bless my volcano with a snow field of parmesan and a whole bag of basil (well it never keeps once the bag is open does it?) Now, despite being barely able to lift the plate, (oh the shame) I eat it.  All.

I say again, pasta is a tricky one for the solitary diner.

I need to trust those ‘recommended servings’ I really do.  

Additionally so many recipes are of the ragu variety.  It is far too easy when one has a cast iron pot of rich tangy sauce to get a tad carried away when serving oneself.  This is why I have started to cook a huge vat of the stuff to freeze in individual portions.  The time investment is worth it.  I promise.

For the sauce you will need

2 packs of beef mince (supermarkets often often have a deal on multiple packs and it is shame for the solitary diner to miss out on these things)

4 large onions chopped

6 cloves of garlic chopped or squished in a pestle and mortar

4 tins of chopped tomatoes

2 generous tablespoons of tomato puree

1 pack of of smoked (it absolutely must be smoked) streaky bacon finely sliced

4 sticks of celery peeled with your vegetable peeler and then sliced into thin crescents

4 large carrots again peeled with your vegetable peeler and chopped into slightly smaller than a dolly mixture sized cubes (thank you Nigel Slater for the size description!)

A tub of chicken livers (feel free to omit these if your gag reflex has just been initiated although it really does make a (positive) difference) icky grisly bits removed and the rest minced up with your chef’s knife - do this last because it makes a gobby mess of the chopping board

4 bay leaves

A third of a bottle of red wine if you have any kicking around, otherwise 4 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar

Olive oil

A dessertspoon of caster sugar

Method

Take your large cast iron casserole or the largest cooking vessel you have and place over a medium heat with enough olive oil to cover the base of the pan.

Throw in the onions, celery and bacon.  Stir with a wooden spoon and sweat down (slightly repulsive sounding phrase which just means soften without  browning) for about 20 minutes, stirring from time to time to stop things sticking.  This is when you put the television on in the kitchen, pull up a stool and have a glass of wine.  You could also put a load of washing on I suppose or sort your receipts.  Whatever, it takes much longer to soften vegetables than you think.

Once you think the vegetables are soft enough tip in the beef and garlic and muddle it all around so that everything is all mixed up.  Now you need to brown the meat so keep stirring until there are no pink bits left. 

Now chuck in the wine or balsamic vinegar and turn the heat up.  Boil off the liquid until things start to smell good and savory and not vinegary anymore and put in the tomatoes, swilling out the tomato cans with water from the tap and adding the resulting liquid as you go.  You want the contents of the pan to be barely covered by liquid. Add the chicken livers, puree, bay-leaf and the sugar.

Now turn the heat down as low as it will go and put the lid on.  You could also put the casserole in the oven at 160.  You want to cook this for as long as you can.  We are looking for 2 to 3 hours. Check it from time to time to make sure it is not dry and sticking (add more water if you need to) and taste for seasoning.

When it looks dark and rich and smells deep and tangy; basically when you drool when you lift the lid turn the heat off and let the whole thing cool down.  You can usually leave it overnight without risking tummy troubles.  When it is stone cold decant into individual clip boxes and freeze.

Things to do with your ragu

Put it on spaghetti.  Obvious.

Lasagna for one

In addition to an individual tub of Bolognese sauce you will need:

1/2 pint milk (not skimmed milk)

1 level tablespoon of plain flour

1 desert-spoon of butter 

A glug of olive oil

A sturdy grating of nutmeg

1 bay-leaf

3 or 4 peppercorns

A decent handful of grated mature cheddar

2 lasagna sheets

Method

Pre-heat the oven to 180.

Put the milk, bay-leaf, peppercorns and onion and carrot in a non stick pan and heat until the milk just boils.  Remove from the heat and leave to infuse for at least 10 minutes whilst you get on with defrosting the Bolognese sauce, changing into your comfies and feeding the cat.

Sieve the infused milk into a jug, chuck the debris and clean the pan.

Now melt the knob of butter with a glug of olive oil in your non-stick saucepan over a medium heat.  Once the butter has melted  stir in the level tablespoon of plain flour and cook, stirring, until you start to see the fat ooze out of the mush.  

Take the pan off the heat and, whisking frantically (or not, depending on the day you have had} incorporate the milk until smooth. Do not panic if you get lumps.  They normally vanish if you continue to whisk.  If not just put the sauce through the sieve. Cook over a low heat for 2 or 3 minutes until the mixture is ‘plopping’ nicely (you will know it when you see it).   Remove from the heat and add the grated cheese and as much nutmeg as you fancy.

Put half of the Bolognese sauce in the lasagna dish and top with a sheet of lasagna.  The lasagna sheet does not have to fill the dish. In fact,  I think it is better if it doesn’t and there is a nice bit of space around your saucy mattress for cheese sauce to slither into and get all gooey.

Put in the other half of the Bolognese and plonk on the second lasagna sheet.  Smother the lot with the cheese sauce and bake in the oven at 180 for half an hour or until things are bubbling and toasty. Good with a hunk of bread and a plain green salad made from butter-head, or what we, in my family, call ‘old fashioned’ lettuce. 

Incidentally, if you are bored one weekend you could make up 4 portions of milk sauce (béchamel) by (I state the obvious here) quadrupling the ingredients above and freezing the result in individual portions. It freezes surprisingly well. Leave out the cheese though.  

Other ideas:

Add a splash of cream to the ragu and serve with cooked pappardelle pasta. Make yourself a thinly sliced tomato and red onion salad to go with it.

Put into a lasagna dish and top with thinly sliced potato and dots of butter.  Bake covered at 180 for half an hour then remove the foil for another 10 minutes or so to crisp up.  Have it with a bag of rocket.

Put into a baked potato.  Decorate with grated cheddar cheese and grill until crispy.  Don’t bother with any vegetables but tell your mother you had broccoli if she calls.

A thoroughly modern meatball

Turkey and parmesan meatballs with rich tomato sauce – a thoroughly modern meatball made from low fat turkey mince which, for ease, I tend to bake in the oven rather than fry.  Don’t let me stop you from getting out the frying pan though.

You will have plenty leftover to freeze for another day

You will need:

For the meatballs

1 packet of turkey or chicken mince

3 tablespoons of grated parmesan

3 tablespoons of breadcrumbs (from your bag in the freezer - we can talk about that later)

A large handful of finely chopped flat leaf parsley

1 medium onion finely chopped

3 garlic cloves finely chopped or squished in a pestle and mortar

A dash of Worcestershire sauce

A glug of olive oil

2 beaten eggs

Salt and pepper

For the tomato sauce

2 tins of chopped tomatoes

A pinch of dried oregano

2 bay-leaves

1 chopped chilli - you choose the variety but I am particularly fond of scotch bonnets. I love their distinctive, almost floral, flavor. They are on the fiery side though.  

1 level dessertspoon of caster sugar

3 chopped or squashed (in a pestle and mortar or garlic press) garlic cloves

A squirt (about 2 teaspoons) of tomato puree

A generous tablespoon of balsamic vinegar

Salt and pepper

Meal ideas

Serve the meatballs and spicy tomato sauce with:

A liberal strewing of fresh basil and some brown bread and butter

Brown basmati rice, sour cream and rocket

Spaghetti

Broccoli (if you can get the tender-stem variety that is actually tender then so much the better. Bit of a challenge this.) 

Also good served with a plain, undressed green salad made from floppy old fashioned lettuce

Heat the oven to 190

For your balls;

Fry the chopped onion gently in a tablespoon of oil and a knob of butter until soft and golden brown but not caramelized. Leave to cool for a few minutes whilst you measure the rest of the ingredients into a large bowl.

Mix the cooled onions with the remainder of the meatball ingredients.  I find a large pyrex salad bowl a useful piece of equipment here. Pop the bowl of mix in the fridge for an hour or so to firm up if you have the time although it will not be a disaster if you don’t.

Oil your large roasting tin.

Form ping pong ball sized meatballs and line up them on the roasting tin.

Bake in the oven until lightly browned – about half an hour.  You do not really need to fiddle with them during this time.  In fact, if you do you may end up with mashed balls.  As it were.

Remove the meatballs from the oven and set aside.

Whilst the meatballs are doing their thing you can be getting on with the sauce;

Begin by frying the garlic for about 30 seconds in a couple of tablespoons of olive oil.  Then add your balsamic and stand back as it sizzles and boils and spits alarmingly.  Add in the rest of the ingredients along with a splash of hot water from the kettle. Turn the heat down low and let everything simmer away until the sauce is reduced by about half and is lovely and sticky. The longer the better but it will take at least half an hour.  Taste and season with more salt and pepper if necessary.

When you are ready to eat count out as many meatballs as you think you can (or should) eat and heat them gently in half of the tomato sauce.  The rest of the meatballs and sauce can be frozen (separately) ready for one of those days when you come home from work and wrench open the fridge door without even removing your coat. 

On such a day simply pop the meatballs and the sauce in the microwave on defrost whilst you get changed and then warm things up properly in a non stick saucepan.  Serve with a warm crusty baguette and a bunch of rocket.  Alternatively you could put the balls and the sauce in a small lasagna dish, cover the lot with grated cheddar and bake in the oven at 180 until the top is all crispy and brown and the tomato sauce is bubbling.

More things to do with your spare balls.

Heat them up in a decent chicken stock with plenty of chopped parsley and some vermicelli pasta.  You could throw in some spinach leaves at the last minute if you like.

Re-heat them in the oven and then stuff them into toasted white pitta with a good handful of soft lettuce, a couple of  slivers of red onion and an obscene slathering of mayonnaise.

Take them to work to be eaten cold with a couple of tomatoes and flakes of malden sea salt.  Your co-workers will complain about the smell of garlic but do you care?

Chicken 'satay' pittas

On my last day of college there was a party.  The sort where you wore an outfit that would be forever regretted, tried to get boy or girl wonder to finally notice you and generally behaved badly. The party was held outside and  there were assorted food stands where one could exchange a token for something edible.  My favorite (to the point that I started bartering drink tokens for food - sad but true) was a curious dish of bean-sprouts, shredded chicken and satay sauce served on a french baguette.  It was fantastically sticky and salty and sweet and crunchy and I just loved it.

It has taken a while but I think this recipe gets pretty close to the original. I have substituted pitta bread as I think it somehow makes it more of a meal rather than a sandwich.  I don’t know why.

1 chicken breast

1 small bag of bean-sprouts

3 tablespoons smooth peanut butter

2 squashed and chopped garlic cloves

1  tablespoon of sweet chilli sauce

1 tablespoon lime juice

1 tablespoon light soy sauce

[water]

2 spring onions (or more if you fancy) sliced lengthways into matchsticks

Some coriander if you have some but it is not essential

Method

Poach the chicken breast  as follows;

Place in a saucepan. Cover with water and  bring to the boil.   Reduce the heat and gently simmer for 5 minutes.  Turn off the heat and leave in the hot water for further 20 minutes.  Remove from the cooking water and shred.  

Fry the garlic until fragrant  then add the beansprouts.  Stir things around in a flamboyant fashion for a a minute or so. You want the beansprouts to retain their crunch whilst losing a bit of their rigid primness.  So keep fishing one out and doing a crunch test. Be careful not to overcook them.  Limp and slimy; an overcooked beansprout is a deeply unsettling thing. Remove from the heat and mix with the still warm shredded chicken.

For the satay sauce - mix the remaining ingredients, except the onions and the coriander, together in a pan over a low heat.  It will thicken alarmingly. Add water until you have a consistency you are happy with. Not exactly challenging stuff.

Stuff the chicken/beansprout mixture into a toasted pitta with the spring onions and ladle on the satay sauce.  Sprinkle with  coriander if you have it.

Good with an icy cold beer.