Oriental feast!

Sunday morning car boot, I pace up and down the rows of cars not really getting into the spirit of the early morning treasure hunt. I dip in here and there pretending to have a rummage when boom, a cute little 8-piece set of rice bowls, rice spoons and soy dishes catch my eye. I'm officially the worst haggler so leave the tough work to my boyfriend, and by the end of the morning I'm the owner of a lovely little set destined to be showcased at a dinner party. Best get practising then with these little numbers... 

Ingredients (serves 2):
For the pickled cucumber...

1/2 cucumber

1/2 inch of ginger, cut into batons

1 tbsp rice vinegar
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp sesame seeds

For the chicken teriyaki...200g chicken thigh fillets, cut into chunks
1 tbsp sesame oil
1 leek, sliced into 1/2 inch pieces
3 tbsp teriyaki sauce
1 tsp sugar

For the crispy pan fried sea bass...

2 fillets of seabass

1 tbsp olive oil

1 tsp fish sauce

1 tsp honey

1 red chilli, thinly sliced

1 inch of ginger cut into batons

1 garlic, sliced thinly

1 tsp chopped coriander stalks

Sprinkling of coriander leaves to serve

Stage one: the pickled cucumber

1. Peel and halve the cucumber lengthways, then scoop out the seeds in the middle.

2. Cut the halves of cucumber into 1cm semi circles.

3. Place the the cucumber in a bowl along with the rice vinegar, soy sauce, sugar and ginger and leave to pickle for 30 (or until you've finished the rest!)
4. When you're ready to serve the rest, sprinkle with the sesame seeds.

Stage two: the chicken teriyaki

1. Pan fry the chicken in the oil until the chicken starts to turn golden.

2. Add the leeks and cook until softened.

3. Throw in the teriyaki sauce and sugar and you're done.

Stage three: the crispy pan fried sea bass

1. Get your rice on the go, to make the perfect rice - see step 5 here.
2. Next, heat 1 tbsp of oil in a frying pan and score the skin of the sea bass fillets 3 times, and place into the frying pan skin side down and fry for 5 minutes, then for 30 seconds on the flesh side, then remove from the heat and cover.

3. In the same pan, turn up the heat and add the remaining oil, cabbage, most of the chilli, ginger, garlic and spring onions that were cut length ways, fry for 3-5 minutes.

4. Now add the soy sauce, fish sauce and honey and fry for a minute.
5. Remove the veg from the pan leaving behind the sauce and continue to simmer until reduced to a syrup like sauce, and then pour a little over the veg, placing the sea bass on top.
6. Once the rice is cooked, if you fancy making a rice tower, find a small bowl and line with cling film. Then if you have any sushi vinegar (or rice vinegar) coat the cling film with it and put the remaining tsp of sushi vinegar in the rice. This gives it a lovely glossy sheen and slight sweetness. The rice then is placed in the bowl and turned upside down on the plate, and then remove the bowl and voilà!
7. Finally, decorate your rice with a sprinkling of sesame seeds, the spring onion discs, a couple of slices of chilli and coriander. 

Enjoy!

Yelly-fi-felly-food-belly x