Oriental Salad Dressing

The weather does seem to be getting a little better. Well it's warmer, if not quite sunnier at least and salads will soon be on the menu again! 

This recipe is a light oriental salad dressing that can be thrown together in no time. Fantastic with a mixed leaf salad, the dressing also goes great poured over Soba / Buckwheat Noodles. It would also work as dipping sauce served along side Vegetable Spring Rolls, Wontons or Oriental Meatballs. 

Sesame Egg Fried Noodles

Egg fried noodles are a big favourite from the takeaway, but can contain lots of oils and calories. This recipe uses spray oil to keep the calories down, but still retains the traditional taste.f

This dish can easily be padded out with additional veg such as blanched broccoli, asparagus or mange tout to make it go a bit further. You can also add cooked chicken, prawns or ham. 

Chicken & Sweetcorn Soup

Another lighter soup on the menu today. One of the favourites from the takeaway, Chicken & Sweetcorn soup is a delicious simple soup that's a great way to use up left over chicken. Turkey would work well too.

Oriental Dipping Sauce

This oriental sauce is a fantastic accompaniment for Chinese starters. The classic combination of soy, sesame, spring onion and lime work great together.

The sauce is perfect to serve in dipping bowls with Oriental Meatballs, Vegetable Spring Rolls or Wontons.

It would also work well poured over boiled/steamed rice or instant noodles. Alternatively  drizzled over mixed lettuce leaves as a quick Asian salad. 

Wontons

Wontons are a classic Chinese starter that consist of meat or vegetables cooked in filo pastry and served with an Oriental Dipping Sauce.

Following on from the Oriental Meatball recipe previously posted, these wontons use the same Oriental meatball mix, which is added to the filo wrappers and baked in the oven.

These are great served with a dipping, soy or sweet chili sauce.

Oriental Meatballs

The third bout of meatball goodness! We go even further east for these delicious Chinese style meatballs. Ginger, garlic and coriander are the classic Chinese combo that come together in this dish.

Unlike the previous meatballs recipes, these meatballs are done in the oven, not the pan,  facilitating the slightly looser mixture. The meatballs are great served on their own with a little soy, Oriental Dipping Sauce or sweet chili sauce. Alternatively, they go great with a vegetable stir fry with some soy or oyster sauce or simply served with noodles.

Vegetable Spring Rolls

Vegetable spring rolls are a big favourite from the Chinese take away, but as they're deep fried, they come with tones of extra calories. It's actually a pity they deep fry them as the ingredients are surprisingly healthy and low in fat.

In this dish, you can bake or fry the spring rolls in a little spray oil which maintains the taste, but cuts out the extra fats. 

They are a little fiddly for the fist couple, but you'll be surprised how quickly you improve.

Egg Fried Rice

Egg fried rice is a simple delicious dish that is a great accompaniment to almost any Chinese sauce. This version is a lower fat option, but still has an authentic taste.

The dish would work well with either white or brown rice and is a great way to use up any left over rice. You can add additional veg such as sweet corn, sugar snap peas or cooked mushrooms. You can also meat it up by adding cooked chicken, prawns or ham.

Yuk Sung

Yuk sung is a traditional Chinese dish that's usually made with pork mince and fried noodles, served in iceberg lettuce. In this lower fat version, I swap the pork for turkey and fried noodles for brown rice, the result is just as as nice!

We've joked that this dish should be the chief recipe given by the lettuce marketing board! It's crispiness is a great background to the oriental flavours. 

The dish would be great for a Friday night treat and will well and truly banish any idea of ordering a Chinese takeaway.

Soba / Buckwheat Noodles

Noodles are still on the cards when losing weight, soba or buckwheat noodles that is. They cook in no time and are great with oriental dishes and spice. They taste just like regular noodles, but are much healthier and don't have any murky sachets to worry your weight loss.