Chicken & dried fungus stir-fry: Serves 2 Ingredients: 100g mixed dried fungus (shiitake; porcini; enoki etc.

) 20ml peanut oil 1 thumb ginger, roughly chopped 3 whole cloves garlic 3 dried chillies 2 chicken breasts, sliced into strips 40ml corn flour 1 handful bean sprouts 2 spring onions, sliced on the diagonal soy sauce, to taste sesame oil, to taste 1 handful coriander, chopped 40ml peanuts, toasted and roughly chopped Method: Cover the dried mushrooms with water and soak for about 15-20 minutes, or until softened. Heat the oil in a wok and fry the ginger, garlic and chilli until browned (to infuse the oil) and then discard using a slotted spoon. Coat the chicken strips with the corn flour (add a little more if necessary) and fry in batches until golden and crisp. Return all the chicken to the wok and add the bean sprouts and spring onions. Stir-fry for a few minutes, but take care not to wilt the spring onion too much. Season with the soy sauce and sesame oil and stir in the coriander. Garnish with the nuts and serve immediately with egg fried rice.

Black bean chicken: Ingredients: Marinade: 6 chicken breasts, sliced into strips 40ml corn flour 200ml honey 1 thumb ginger, crushed 4 garlic cloves, crushed 100ml soy sauce 50ml peanut oil Handful coriander, chopped Stir-fry: Peanut oil, for frying Dried chillies, to taste 100ml black beans, finely chopped 1 red onion, thinly sliced 2 Leeks, thinly sliced 2 Red peppers, thinly sliced 30ml sesame seeds, toasted 5 spring onions, thinly sliced Method: Mix all the ingredients for the marinade and let it stand for 15-20 minutes. Heat the oil in a wok with the drained chillies until fragrant, then strain out the chillies. Start off by frying the black beans then add the onions, leeks and peppers. Fry until softened and remove from the pan, into a bowl. Return the pan to the heat with some oil and start frying the chicken in batches in order to brown it nicely. When the chicken is half-cooked, add the stir-fry ingredients, sesame seeds and spring onions and heat through until done. Serve with egg-fried rice.

Egg fried rice: Ingredients: 500g cooked rice For the omelettes: 8 eggs 10ml soy sauce 1 thumb ginger, finely chopped 1 carrot, diced 1 red pepper, diced 4 cloves garlic, crushed 1 bunch spring onions. finely chopped Sesame oil, to taste Soy sauce, to taste 1 big handful coriander, roughly chopped Method: Beat the eggs and soy sauce together. Heat a little oil in a non-stick frying pan and pour a little of the egg mixture in the pan to create a thin pancake. Once cooked, remove the pancake from the pan and set aside. Repeat the process until you have used all the mixture. Roll up the pancakes and slice into 1cm strips. Keep aside. Gently fry the ginger and carrot until softened. Add the peppers and garlic and fry a few seconds more. Add the spring onions, followed by the rice and toss with 2 wooden spoons. Add the remaining ingredients and heat through. Serve with an Asian stir-fry.

Basic chicken Stock Ingredients: 500g chicken bones (approximately 1 chicken carcass / bones from 5-6 breasts) 3 onions, peeled and cut into quarters 3 large carrots, peeled and cut into rings 3 stalks celery, cut diagonally into strips 2 tsp peppercorns (black or white) a few parsley stalks 2 litres cold water 1 tsp salt Method: Put all your ingredients into a suitably sized pot. Bring to the boil and then turn down to a very gentle simmer immediately! While its gently simmering and extracting all the beautiful flavours, spoon off the fat and foamy scum that float to the top. This will prevent your stock from becoming bitter. Resist all temptations to boil the stock! It will become bitter and unpleasant. Leave it to simmer for as long as possible and for a minimum of 1 hour. Strain your stock through a sieve and leave it to cool to room temperature before refrigerating or freezing.

***To create a Chinese chicken broth, add star anise, sliced ginger and a whole garlic bulb to the pot. Season towards the end with soy sauce and sesame oil. Garnish the broth with finely chopped carrots, leeks, celery, ginger sticks and dried fungus.

Chicken filling for dumplings: Ingredients: 1 kg minced chicken Juice and zest of 1 lemon 1 handful chopped fresh dill 1 handful chopped fresh coriander 1 handful chopped fresh parsley 6 cloves crushed garlic 1 bunch spring onions, finely chopped 10ml soy sauce 5ml sesame oil Salt and pepper, to taste Dumpling wrappers Method: Mix all the ingredients for the filling together and fry a little patty in a small pan to check the seasoning. Roll little balls with the filling and enclose them in your dumpling wrappers. Poach in a suitable stock until the dumplings start to rise to the top.

Green bean stir-fry: Serves 4 Ingredients: 20ml peanut oil 1 thumb ginger, cut into matchsticks 400g green beans, tops removed dried chillies, to taste 5 cloves garlic, crushed soy sauce, to taste sesame oil, to taste 40ml sesame seeds, toasted Method: Heat the oil in a medium-sized wok and fry the ginger until fragrant. Add the green beans and chillies and stir-fry for a few minutes until the beans have softened, but are still firm. Add the garlic and season with the soy sauce and sesame oil. Stir in the sesame seeds and serve.

Seaweed salad: Serves 8 Ingredients: 1 packet (80g) dried seaweed 2 carrots, diced 1 cucumber, cubed For the dressing: 5 cloves garlic, crushed 1 thumb ginger, crushed 40ml soy sauce 20ml black rice vinegar 5ml fish sauce 2 tsp brown sugar 1 handful coriander, chopped Method: Rinse the seaweed a few times until the water runs clear from it, then soak for 15-20 minutes, or until softened. In a pestle and mortar, crush the garlic and ginger together and add the remaining ingredients. Adjust the seasoning to taste. Mix the dressing through the seaweed along with the carrot and cucumber and allow to stand for at least 10 minutes before serving. This salad is even better the next day!

Chinese fruit soup: Ingredients: Jelly: 1 tin condensed milk 1L water Almond essence 25ml gelatine Sugar syrup: 250ml sugar 500ml water Almond essence Fruit: Red grapes Melon, cut into squares Method: Mix the condensed milk with the water and heat gently until warm. Add the gelatine and almond essence and stir until dissolved. Pour into an oven tray and refrigerate until set. Heat the sugar and water together in a saucepan until the sugar has dissolved. Reduce slightly, add the essence and cool in the freezer. When the jelly is set, cut into even squares. Arrange with the fruit on a platter and pour the sugar syrup over it. Serve immediately.

Moroccan Carrot and cumin salad

Ingredients 500g carrots peeled and cut into half lengthwise and 3cm wide tsp paprika tsp ground ginger -1 tsp freshly roasted ground cumin 2 tbsp chopped flat leaf (Italian) parsley 2 tbsp chopped coriander/cilantro 1 tbsp chopped garlic 1 small pickled lemon or the rind of 1 lemon 2 tbsp olive oil salt to taste Dressing cup orange juice cup olive oil 1 tsp freshly ground cumin salt to taste Method Heat the oil in a frying pan over medium heat Gently add the carrots and saut for 3-4 min Add the garlic, cumin, paprika, ginger and saut for another 2 minutes Season with salt to taste Remove from the heat and add the parsley, coriander and lemon Allow to stand for 2 hours for flavours to develop Whisk up the dressing and serve over the chilled salad