Asparagus & Broccoli Salad

I've been living in up in Calgary and I'm about to go visit a friend in the little town of Medicine Hat! I've been eating out most evenings so I decided to make a massive salad for lunch to increase my veggie intake. Canadian food can be quite fatty and meaty and so this salad was a nice green change. Canadians are massive fans of raw broccoli in Salads, but I like to give it a light steam to make it easier to digest...

Asparagus & Broccoli Salad

10 sticks of Asparagus

a handful of broccoli

mixed salad leaves (I bought a might of baby spinach and "spring leaves")

a handful of cherry tomatoes cut in half

2 tbl toasted sesame seeds

3-4 tbl cooked brown rice (or couscous/burghul/quinoa) - i had brown rice left over from a previous meal

2 small spring onions sliced finely

2 eggs soft boiled

chop the broccoli into small pieces, steam for 2 minutes, add the asparagus and steam for another minute then plunge them into cold water to stop the cooking process

The easiest way to cook a soft boiled egg is start with your eggs at room temperature. Put the eggs into a saucepan of cold water and gently bring to a boil. Simmer the eggs for 3 minutes and then quickly drain the hot water and plunge the eggs into cold water to stop the cooking process.

Then assemble your salad!

I made a dressing out of 1 tsp mayonnaise, 1 tsp dijon & 2 tsp balsamic vinegar

Welcome to Canada....

This past week I have been visiting a friend in Calgary, Alberta Canada. I've been having a really great time going hiking in the Rockies near Banff, dabbling in a little rock climbing and of course tasting some local cuisine. As an Australian in north America the abundance of chain restaurants, ribs, wings and burgers is all a little confronting and the fact that my 88 cent/pound banana is from Ecuador is difficult to reconcile. It would be really easy to get up on my high horse and carry on about what's wrong with the food in this country. But the thing is, some of the most inspiring food blogs I have read are written by people in the US and Canada. Clearly this country has a lot to teach me. It has dawned on me that the prevalence of the American diet (ribs, wings, burgers etc) is the exact thing that has inspired people here to pull away and make positive changes to how they eat. I think that in Australia we are a bit behind in this regard. I am sure "things Canada taught me" will become a running theme in my blog, but for today I am just going to include a few highlights.

Exhibit A of this positive approach to food is the way Canadians can't get enough of nuts in salad, I found a bunch of these "salad boosters" in the supermarket that contain unusual combinations of nuts and grains that seem like an awesome idea. The majority of bars, cafes and restaurants seems to have at least one salad on the menu with walnuts or toasted pumpkin seeds, it's excellent! Also, these people love kale... I had some purple Kale cooked in a foil pocket on the BBQ at a friends place - I am totally converted!

Alberta is beef country, in fact the local indigenous people used to survive on a diet of bison and berries. I've been told that in Calgary the snow begins to fall some time in August and doesn't stop until May, this doesn't leave much room for locally sourcing your food - unless you are happy to eat dried berries and beef jerky for 8 months of the year... I've eaten asparagus from Ecuador and organic strawberries from USA (both of which have tasted considerably better than the same produce in Australia), I fell pangs of guilt and find it difficult to comprehend how the majority of north Americans eat food that has been transported such great distances and is still somehow affordable. On the flip side I have felt much less guilt about eating as much beef as I want, because it's local and environmentally sustainable for this kind of landscape (unfortunately for me 3 days of beef is my limit and I'm currently taking a break from beef).

Before I hit my beef limit I had this Mexican Beef burger at the Rose & Crown in Banff and it was pretty delicious. It was modest in size and was topped with jalapenos, cheese, tomato, pickle, lettuce, mustard and guacamole, even better you get to choose your side - I chose sauteed seasonal vegetables. In Australia if you don't want chips, you have to ask to swap it with salad or vegetables. I'm not a fan of hot chips because I don't enjoy them enough to justify the calorie intact, a rich chocolate cake on the other hand - totally worth it... But I digress. 

Two things that Canada is not known for is great coffee and great bread - but I didn't have to search very hard to find them. Wild flower bakery in Banff was a great find, their beer and rye bread was almost up to German standards (there was a reason why i gained 16kg living in Germany for a year) and the double espresso was perfect. Speaking of espresso, I just wrote this blog while sipping on one from The Roasterie in Kensington, Calgary, which doesn't have a website, but several reviews proclaiming it the best coffee in Calgary with a warning "watch out for the crazies, the kids and the hippies" love it! you can always find your people, you just have to be open and keep looking until you find them!

One final note, during my travels I am reading a copy of Michael Pollans book "In defense of food", which is an America focused book about what people should be eating and why. It's relevance to myfood journey in Canada cannot be understated. It's excellent. I love Michael Pollans writing and his book, "The Omnivores Dilemma" about the ethics and origins of our food has changed my perspective on what I eat.

Couscous Salad

I just got back from camping down near Margaret River. Before we headed off I made a big couscous salad, it's one of my favourites and very versatile. I make it in a saucepan as a kind of one pot wonder, it allows you to brown the nuts/cumin seeds and then the residual heat of the saucepan makes sure the couscous cooks properly.

CousCous Salad

1 cup instant couscous

1 cup hot water

small handful of pine nuts (or slivered/flaked almonds)

1 tbl sultanas

1 tsp cumin seeds

1 tbl olive oil

3 sundried tomatoes

fresh parsley, mint and/or basil

boil the kettle

In a saucepan, add oil, cumin seeds and nuts, on a medium heat until the nuts start to partially brown

then add sultanas, very soon they will swell up

when this happens immediately add 1 cup of hot water

be careful the sultanas burn is you leave them too long

once the water boils, add 1 cup of instant couscous, give one quick stir, take it off the heat and cover with the lid.

After 3-4 minutes, take off the lid, quickly fluff up the couscous, then replace the lid

fluffing at this stage is important otherwise the couscous sticks to itself and is all lumpy

After 5-6 minutes,  take off the lid, again fluff up the couscous, taste a few grains to check if they are cooked. It should be done, but if not, replace the lid and wait a few more minutes. 

add some extra tasty things like...

sundried tomatoes, fresh herns

1 tbl finely diced onion

I made a garden salad too. If you don't have it with a garden salad, you can add deseeded cucumber/tomato, diced red capsicum and celery.

Fetta is also a really nice addition

This couscous goes really well with grilled haloumi, roasted vegetables, roast lamb and many other things...

Little Lebanon Cafe

I recently moved to Perth, it's a large, isolated city, which thanks to the mining boom now one of the most expensive cities in the world - but at it’s heart, it remains a big country town "cashed up bogans" is a common term used to describe the people of Perth… I moved from Adelaide, which despite its sleepy, static, affordable and conservative nature, has amazing food on every corner. Perth not so much. I think the fact that there is sooo much money here, substandard businesses survive, I have eaten at some seriously shitty restaurant’s lately - many of which have rave reviews on urbane spoon, I guess some people just don't know any better. Instead of complaining about the bad ones, I've decided to share the good ones, starting with the little gem called the “Little Lebanon Café” at 200 Main St in Osborne Park.

We walked in through the front, which was full of young people drinking tea and smoking shisha. It was a Monday and the enormous restaurant was at about 50% capacity, which I thought was pretty impressive for a cold winters night. Everything on the menu is Halal and although they don't provide alcohol, they are b.y.o. licenced and we were told with a smile that a bottle shop was just two doors up the street.

Service wasn't lightening speed, but it was nice to not feel rushed. I felt like they would have been happy for us to sit and talk all night if we wanted to.

Vegetarian Sambousik (spinach and fetta)

Entree was vegetarian sambousik pastries, served with some pickled vegetables and tomato - it was incredible and one of the highlights. The baby spinach had only just wilted and the spinach flavour was really fresh. It was simple and delicious.

Fattoush

A serve of fattoush salad showered in yummy sumac dressing

 

Chicken Platter

For mains we had a chicken platter - two skewers of tender marinated chicken cooked over charcoal with salad, fried onions, hommus, garlic sauce, pita and rice. The rice was to die for, I think it was cooked in come kind of lamb broth with lots of cinnamon... serious highlight. The flavour and texture combination of the whole meal was just ace. The flavour and texture combination of the whole meal was just ace.

Lahm Mashwi

we also got a serve of the lamb skewers, which were... a little dry but still tasty.

I finished it off with a piece of turkish delight with pistachios in it... but I ate it too quickly to take a photo. We will return!

A Tasty Tuna Sandwich

It's lunchtime on Sunday, the fridge is a little bare, but with a little effort and the help of a well stocked pantry (you'd think I believed the apocalypse was imminent), I manage to put together a pretty nice sandwich. It's based on the classic flavour combination of dill (from the pickle), tuna and mayonnaise. If I had fresh dill I would use it, but unfortunately it is not very popular in Australia and typically hard to find.

The main point I'm trying to make in this post is that I think you should always make an effort, even if it's just to make a sandwich, you owe it to the food and to the people who grew, caught, made, killed or transported it for you. Food is so central to our lives and so often we consume it without even thinking... This was quick, easy and delicious!

A Tasty Tuna Sandwich - enough filling for two

1 x 95gm tin tuna 

(for what it's worth I buy SAFCOL responsibly fished tuna)

1/2 tsp dijon mustard

chopped parsley

about 1- 2 tsp finely diced white onion

1 tsp capers

2 tsp mayonnaise

1 diced polski ogorki dill cucumber pickle (I buy "always fresh")

I added a little grated carrot, sliced cucumber and diced red capsicum

then put it all together between two slices of grainy bread, which I toasted because it was a little stale making it crunchy and delicious!

Lamb Rogan Josh Curry

It's the weekend and I've cooked up a huge batch of lamb curry. I start the curry on the stove top and finish it in a low oven for several hours using a Le Creuset cast iron casserole pot. That way you can walk away and not worry about it burning at the bottom, plus a lack of frequent stirring means it doesn't end up a shredded meat mush. I'm sure this recipe would work really well in a slow cooker too.

A large amount of my curry is destined for the freezer, which is why I don't add extra vegetables. If you choose to make a smaller version, with no intention of freezing it, I'd recommend adding some vegetables such as potatoes in the last hour of cooking or in the final 15 minutes add some beans, broccoli and cauliflower.

I often cook stews and curry's using chump lamb chops, they stew really well, have a strong flavour and are, you know, cheap. I prefer the leg chops, which my butcher calls "target chops" because the have a little round bone in the center. They are really meaty, not as fatty as the shoulder chops and plus have all that marrow goodness! I don't cut them up, instead I take a more osso bucco approach - if you cook them long enough the meat will all fall apart anyway.

The base for the curry is Mangal rogan josh curry powder, if this troubles you, have a read of my Dahl recipe for my justification for not making it entirely from scratch.

Preheat your oven to 150 degrees

Lamb Rogan Josh

20 green cardamon pods

10 whole cloves

2 cinnamon sticks
4 tbl Mangal brand rogan josh curry powder
1 tbl coriander seeds

1 tbl cumin seeds

3 onions diced

2.5 cm knob of ginger diced

3 cloves purple garlic diced

2 kg of leg/sirloin lamb chops

2 tins tomatoes

dry roast the cumin and coriander seeds then grind in mortar and pestle

Brown all chops in a pan with a little oil. Be careful not to over crowd the pan, I used two to speed up the process

while you are browning the chops, dice the onion, garlic and ginger

Set the browned chops aside, add a little more oil and onions to the casserole dish. Even with the extra oil, the base of my casserole dish was pretty dry at this point and the browned meat bits were sticking and at risk of starting to burn. I didn't want to waste the brown meaty goodness in the extra fry pan either, so I added about 1/4 cup of water to the fry pan and scraped up the good stuff, then pored that water into the casserole dish and did the same again.

fry onions for about 2 minutes, then add garlic, ginger, cardamon, cinnamon and cloves until the onions are translucent

add the remaining spices (cumin, coriander & mangal curry powder) fry for another couple of minutes. Then add two tins of tomatoes. I don't like it to have too much tomato so I make up the rest of the liquid with water - about 800 ml

Allow it to heat up to a gentle simmer, then layer in the chops, gently pushing them down as you go. Again wait for it to start simmering then transfer it into a 150 degree oven.

I cooked mine for 4 hours, which is long I know but I think it is totally worth it, the meat was falling apart and the flavours well developed. If your oven is reliable, you could just check on it every hour, or even less, it only needs to have the chops pushed down every now and then. My oven is not reliable, so I checked every 1/2 an hour for the first 2 hours, then after I was convinced the temperature was steady I left it for the next two and it came out like this...

I stirred it a bit take out the cinnamon sticks and had a moderate attempt at removing the cardamon pods and pulled out the odd stringy bit of fat. A little bit of gentle stirring broke up the meat perfectly - and now I'm swimming in lamb curry! I also tasted it to check if it needed salt or a tsp of sugar - sometimes the tomato flavour is too acidic and needs some sugar to balance, but this time it was fine without.

I served it with dahl, diced capsicum, cucumber, coriander, greek yogurt, papadums and brown rice. i know I should have taken a photo... blogger regret, a lesson learned for next time!

Delicious Dahl

I have made dahl from scratch many times, dry roasting the whole spices separately and pounding them in a mortar and pestle, but I don't think I've ever got the spice ratios quite right. Plus and perhaps more importantly, spices need to be fresh and a great curry has many different spices in it. I don't cook with spices every day and over time the ones in my cupboard become stale and the cost of replacing them isn't cheap. Plus I am convinced that the majority of spices we get in Australia are already quite old.

Having said that I do try to always have a handful of whole spices on hand, which are

coriander seeds

cumin seeds

fennel seeds

cinnamon sticks

green cardamon pods

cloves

star anise

I haven't had much luck with store bought Indian curry pastes, they often contain a bunch of e numbers and quite dense. Recently, thanks to Udeni a Sri Lankan PhD candidate I used to share an office with, I have discovered the joys of using authentic curry powders. It's easier, I think they are fresher, far cheaper, much faster and I don't think you sacrifice on taste. I do usually add additional whole spices to give it an extra kick - but this isn't essential. I have had a lot of luck with Mangal brand curry powders, many of them don't have added salt or any e-number additives. Mangal have a few different "dahl" blends (boxes that say dahl and tell you to add lentils), I just take a leap of faith and pick one, it has lead to a few different batches of dahl and I have not been disappointed yet.

I think the trick to any good curry is figuring out what else to put in besides the curry powder/meat//vegetables/lentils, for example a thai green curry is not the same without kaffir lime leaves and with regards to dahl, the importance of fresh curry leaves cannot by stressed enough. Buy a tree and grow them yourself if you have to. If you buy a big bag and don't use them all, they store in the freezer just fine (this goes for kaffir lime leaves too). 

Dahl, put simply is a lentil curry, it's made in many countries, many different ways. Some are tomato based others use coconut milk. I use coconut milk. I think there is a difference between cheap and good quality coconut milk, in both its texture and its flavour, so I suggest you don't choose the cheap stuff. I use mung dahl lentils, these are usually in Asian grocery stores but  if you have any trouble, red lentils are a fine substitute. You can use ghee instead of vegetable oil, it definitely achieves a richer flavour, but... it's butter and probably not as good for you. So I tend to just use oil.

The following recipe is pretty close to what my Aunt Shamim taught me, it makes heaps of dahl and keeps brilliantly in the freezer.

Shamim's Dahl

 400gm Mung Dahl (about 2 cups)

3 tbl Mangal Brand Dahl Curry Powder

vegetable oil

2 onions diced

4 cloves garlic minced

2 cm knob ginger grated

10 cardamon pods

~30 curry leaves

2 sticks lemon grass (hard outer removed, sliced into 5 cm pieces)

Juice of one lemon/vinegar

small tin (80ml) coconut milk

fresh coriander to serve

dry roasted the following ingredients individually in a dry fry pan and pound in mortar and pestle

1 tbl cumin seeds
2 tsp coriander seeds
1 tsp fennel seeds
2 tbl shredded coconut

  

In a saucepan bring the lentils to boil in 4 cups of water, turn it down to a simmer and skim off the foam as it forms. Make sure you stir it regularly and check it isn't sticking at the bottom-add more water if it does. They cook in about 10 minutes, when cooked they swell up and go very soft and mushy.

In a deep fry pan or large saucepan fry diced onion and garlic until translucent

add cardamon pods and ginger, fry for a minute or so, then add the rest of the dried spices. Fry for 2-4 more minutes

add curry leaves and coconut fry for another minute

add coconut milk and lemon grass

give it a few minutes to let the flavours develop

add the cooked lentils, bring to simmer, add the juice of one lemon and you're done

So you've made this big effort, don't stop now! My method is to have 2-3 currys in the freezer at a time, get them out of the containers, cut off a block of each curry and heat them up in the microwave. Usually I don't eat the dahl (or any indian curry) the day I make it. Making it the day before does seem to make a big difference, in flavour and also in the effort made serving it...

try serving your curry with a combination of...

Rice (white/brown/jasmine/basmati)

Papadums cooked in the microwave or pita bread/chapatis/naan browned in a dry fry pan or Parathas (pictured below, bought raw and frozen in asian grocery, put in fry pan on medium heat while still frozen-no oil required- turn frequently until brown)

A salad with tomato, cucumber, red capsicum, mint, coriander, lemon juice and onion (red or spring onion)

chutney (I love spicy mango)

Natural yogurt mixed with 1/4 clove of minced garlic, a little salt and mint
other steamed vegetables, cabbage and dahl are a good combination

good luck!

Masala Chai Tea

Masala chai tea is incredibly popular these days. Our obsession for this humble little Indian beverage probably comes from our love of cinnamon. I think Seinfeld said it best...

"Cinnamon. It should be on tables in restaurants along with salt and pepper. Anytime someone says, 'Ooh, this is so good - what's in this?' the answer invariably comes back, 'cinnamon'. Cinnamon. Again and again."

If you type into google, 'health benefits of...' cinnamon is the fourth suggestion (after ginger, green tea and honey). In the majority of coffee shops your chai will be made from a syrup or powder base, which is okay, but it's often not spicy enough for my taste. This post details a more traditional recipe, it's easy, less expensive and the use of whole spices have much greater health benefits.

This is just one of many different methods, I have read recipes that say to dry roast the spices before, but I haven't tried that. The spices and their ratios are to my taste, I suggest if you don't care for aniseed flavours skip the fennel and star anise and add a couple more cardamon pods.

Masala Chai Tea serves 1

1/2 tsp Fennel seeds

2 whole Star anise

1 Cinnamon stick

6 cloves

3 green cardamon pods

optional extras

slice of ginger

pepper corns

put all spices into pan add 1/2 cup water, bring to boil then simmer for 5-10 minutes

add

1 tsp black tea (or a tea bag)

1 cup of milk

2 tsp brown sugar or honey

allow the milk to warm up but not boil.

strain and serve, add extra sugar/honey to taste.

Low fat milk is pretty awful in this, so I suggest full fat. It will take more sugar than your normal cup of tea because the spices are so strong, I usually have about 3 tsp in my cup. It's not a diet drink by any stretch of the imagination, but it's still pretty great!

Thai-inspired beef noodle stir-fry

Its stir-fry madness… well not quite, it’s just a quick, simple and healthy way to cook, so I make them often.  

Some tips for making a successful stir-fry

• Do all your prep before you start cooking - everything chopped and your sauce made

• Cut each vegetable into the same, even size – not necessarily all the same as each other, just the same as its own kind. 
• Get your timing right in terms of when you add the vegetables during in the cooking process to ensure everything is cooked evenly. This is pretty impossible to teach and something you learn through trial and error, but the recipe below gives a step by step example.  
• I like everything to be a little crunchy so my hot tip is to take it off the heat before it finishes cooking, it will continue to cook after you turn it off, especially if you have a big thick scanpan wok like mine. 
• Develop the repertoire of a few different flavour combinations so it doesn’t get boring. 
• Little things like roasted peanuts, cashews, sesame seeds, thai basil, coriander, spring onions, diced omelette and fresh chilli are all good additions to the typical veggie, meat/tofu combination
• Garlic and/or ginger are your friends
• Less is more in terms of the variety of vegetables you put in. Aim to make your food-rainbow with the smallest number of vegetables as possible.

• Keep in mind the interplay of their different textures when cutting them up, for example, I no longer put finely shredded cabbage and finely shredded carrot in the same stir-fry because it ends up as this big sloppy cabbage/carrot hairball. Instead I cut one chucky and the other fine.

There is no judgement here. I don’t think that everyone should cook exactly like me, I like to take my time because I enjoy it. My super busy ex-housemate Anna used to make a stir-fry using those bags of pre-chopped veggies and store bought sauce, which I think is great if you can’t be arsed buying all the individual components. If this is how you cook, good for you, its about a million times better for you than take away. Perhaps next time you do it, also buy some unsalted roasted cashews and a bunch of coriander and add them at the end. I’m hoping for this blog to inspire not preach. I believe that if we eat satisfying, nutritious food it leads to less cravings and binge eating, which is better for all of us.

This sauce is pretty light and low sodium, increase the quantities if you like a strong sauce. The recipe cooked enough for 3 medium sized portions

Sauce

2 tsp fish sauce

2 tsp oyster sauce

1 small fresh chilli diced

2 tbl soy sauce

Juice of one lemon/lime

Stir fry

¼ cup cashews

360gm of rump steak cut into thin strips (90 degrees to grain of the muscle)

1 onion coarsely chopped

3x20cm sticks celery cut into sticks

½ a red capsicum diced

2 garlic cloves diced

Big handful of cabbage cut into chunks

1 carrot julienned

Coriander to garnish

90 gm dry Soba noodles par cooked and drained

In a wok dry roast ¼ cup cashews (this is a fairly small portion of nuts because I’d snacked on many nuts already that day – I suggest going for ½ a cup if you want a cashew in every bite!)

Add 1 tbl vegetable oil and 1/3 of the beef, you are aiming to brown the meat, which is why I suggest to not overcrowd the pan, but you don’t want to cook it through completely. I gave mine about 1 minute each side.

Meat tip: I try to always have my meat at room temperature before cooking it – because it cooks more evenly and is often turns out more tender.

Continue cooking the meat in batches and set aside with the cashews

Next add 1 coarsely chopped onion. My wok was quite hot at this stage, which is important, but I added about 2 tbl water with the onion to improve the heat transfer between the onions and the wok (as opposed to adding more oil) and also liberating the brown meaty bits from the pan. 

Fry for 1 minute, add celery

Fry for another minute or so, then add red capsicum and garlic

Fry for another minute or so, then add cabbage, fry for another minute.

Then add carrots, sauce, cooked beef, par cooked soba and cashews.

Allow everything to heat through then turn off the heat and sprinkle with a little chopped coriander.

Calling it Thai is a stretch, especially because of the use of soba noodles. But I like to use them because they are really good for you, filling and tasty. Also in terms of a maintaining a balanced diet I often let myself down by over doing it with my portions of pasta and rice. So this way the carbohydrates are already portioned out for me. 

Left overs update: I just had some for lunch today with a runny fried egg on top… yuummmm.

Pumpkin stir-fry with soba noodles and sugar snap peas

I have been growing sugar snap peas in my veggie patch and the plants are finally starting to produce! Snow peas and sugar snap peas go really well with Japanese flavours and given that I had some left over pumpkin from the roast veggie dinner, I thought I'd celebrate my little sugar snaps by making a pumpkin stir-fry. I've never made a pumpkin stir-fry before, but I've seen it in magazines and thought it would be worth a try. I used to cram as many veggies as possible into my stir-fry's and sometimes still do, but most of the time I stick to a more simple combination of veggies, because it usually results in a better flavour/texture combination. I'm pretty stoked with my first try, you will probably notice over time, my "Japanese"  recipes are all a variation on the same theme... but they do tend to come out consistently good. 

Firstly make up the stir-fry sauce

1 tsp dried bonito (omit if you want to make it vego)

1 tsp miso paste

1 tbl mirin

2 tbl soy sauce

1 tsp finely grated ginger

dash of sesame oil

Toast 1 tbl sesame seeds in dry wok and cut up your vegetables...

Pumpkin cut into ~1 cm cubes

sugar snap peas

1/2 a red onion cut in thick chunks

¼ of a red capsicum sliced thinly

  

In a saucepan boil ~70gm of dried soba noodles for ~3 minutes (fully cooked takes 5 min)

 drain and rinse them with cold water to stop them cooking and sprinkle with a little sesame oil to stop them from sticking to each other

add onions to a hot wok and keep stirring for ~1 min, then add diced pumpkin, stir and cover, but keep checking it doesn't burn and keep frequently stirring it. The lid helps speed up the cooking time 

just after I added the pumpkin

I tried to cut the pumpkin into even sizes, but I'm never that precise... After frying the pumpkin for about 5 minutes it was starting to brown nicely so I took out one of the smallest and one of the largest pieces of pumpkin and tasted them to check how cooked they were... 

mushy pumpkin seems like the worst outcome in this recipe

the slightly bigger piece was just underdone and the smallest piece was cooked... but the exact timing will vary on your wok and cooking element - mine is a shitty electric stove.

At this point I added the sugar snaps, capsicum, stir-fry sauce and the par cooked soba noodles, stirring frequently for another 2-3 minutes to make sure the sauce doesn't burn

if your wok is really hot, you can add 1-2 tbl water to prevent it from burning

lastly sprinkle on the toasted sesame seeds... (if you have spring onions sprinkle some of them on too)

it was yum!