RECIPES: The Blue Dragon Challenge | Easy Blue Dragon Thai & Chinese Meals

We are guilty of being lazy cooks the majority of the time, we hold our hands up to it. With little spare time during the week, it’s far easier for me to knock up my healthy, yet slightly dull stir-fry, than to contemplate anything more challenging.

As for Ade, well, his signature dishes are an omelette and his ‘chicken and bacon surprise’ – the surprise being that he’s in the kitchen in the first place. Cooking doesn’t actually take a lot more time and effort with these Blue Dragon recipe kits and sauces and they certainly add a pretty authentic flavour. Maybe it’s about time that we ditch some of those indulgent takeaways…

Pimp up your stir-fry

BBQ Slow Cooked Short Rib Stir-Fry With Red Peppers
Serves 2. Takes 4 ½ hours
TIP: If you don’t have a slow cooker, just cook in the oven for 4 hours on 150c (fan oven) or 170c (non-fan) or Gas Mark 3
So, it was the weekend and we had a little bit of extra time on our hands for this slow cooked short rib stir-fry. Slow cookers are amazing, we’d never think of digging ours out for a humble dish like this but we will be from now on. Plus, two short ribs set us back just £3, so very economical too. This was actually less faff than what I usually do as I didn’t have to grate ginger and chop garlic.

Ingredients:
● 1 packet of Blue Dragon Season & Stir Chinese BBQ
● 2 beef short ribs (readily available at meat counters in supermarkets)
● Four spring onions, chopped
● One red pepper, sliced
● A handful of baby corn, sliced in half
● 3 Blue Dragon Fine Egg Noodle Nests
● Sesame oil

Method:
1) Make sure that your short ribs are at room temperature and not fresh out the fridge to ensure tenderness when cooking.
2) Place them in your slow cooker or oven, sprinkle the seasoning pouch ensuring you cover the entire rib.
3) Add a few sliced spring onions to the meat and cook on high for four hours.
4) Meanwhile, slice the peppers and baby corn.
5) Once the meat is ready (you’ll know because the bone will be totally exposed), remove it and slice.
6) Boil the noodles for four minutes
7) Add a glug of sesame oil to a wok or large pan and cook the vegetables and spring onion for about five minutes (save a handful of spring onions for later though.)
8) Place the drained noodles in the wok or pan, along with the sliced beef and the sachet of the Blue Dragon sauce.
9) Serve with a scattering of the leftover spring onion, beautiful John Lewis fusion bowls optional.

Mid-week comfort food

Thai Green Chicken & Vegetable Curry With Steamed Jasmine Rice
Serves 2. Takes ½ an hour.
TIP: Vegetarians, skip the chicken and replace with more veg.
I am pretty fussy when it comes to a Thai green curry, it is one of my all-time favourite dishes, I haven’t tried a kit like this for a long time for this very reason. I love how this Blue Dragon one is so adjustable, you can take away a chilli or two if you don’t like it too hot and add fish sauce and palm sugar if you like. I also popped in a few extra Kaffir lime leaves because for me, that is where the real flavour comes in. We added broccoli, purely because we have been lacking nutrition in our diet recently, this is purely optional.

Ingredients:
● 1 Blue Dragon Thai Green Curry 3 Step Kit
● 4 small chicken thigh fillets
● Handful of tenderstem broccoli
● Handful of green beans
● ½ a tin of bamboo shoots
● 3 baby aubergines, sliced (or pea aubergine if you can get your hands on them)
● Vegetable oil
● Blue Dragon Fish Sauce
● Palm sugar (use demerara or caster sugar if you don’t have any)
● Three Kaffir lime leaves (readily available dried in many supermarkets)
● Blue Dragon Mini Coconut Milk (optional)
● 300g Thai Fragrant Rice
To serve:
● Spicy Thai crackers and Blue Dragon Sweet Chilli Dipping Sauce

Wok and roll

Method:
1) Slice the chicken thighs into bite-sized chunks and fry in a little vegetable oil for 5 minutes.
2) Add the Blue Dragon paste sachet and gently cook for a minute to release the flavours
3) Add the coconut milk sachet and the can of the extra coconut milk then bring up to the boil. We added extra as we included so much veg and it helped to make a wetter curry, but it’s up to you.
4) Add the sachet of dry ingredients, sliced aubergine, bamboo shoots, broccoli, green beans and lime leaves and simmer for twenty minutes to create a thicker sauce, if you prefer a thinner consistency, cook for ten minutes.
5) Meanwhile, cook 300g of Thai fragrant rice for ten minutes and then leave to steam for another 5 minute. We used our Jamie Oliver Really Good Rice Pot for the first time, if you have one, follow this video.
6) Season with a dash of fish sauce and palm sugar/demerera/caster sugar to taste and serve.

Bubble and his new favourite toy – a Blue Dragon

bluedragon.co.uk

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This post is an entry to the Foodies100 Chinese New Year recipe challenge sponsored by Blue Dragon. The range of Blue Dragon products is available in all major supermarkets at an RRP from £0.69. To find out more, visit www.bluedragon.co.uk