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One of my most favorite things to do after enjoying a great meal out, is to recreate it from memory! Normally it doesn't exactly go to plan, but this one really worked out and it's now a classic here in the mood food kitchen. I have a terrible habit when I eat in a restaurant that when I find my favorite dish, I tend to stick to it and order the dish over and over again! I know variety is the spice of life and all that but when it tastes so good I'd feel like I was missing out if I didn't order it.

This is an adaptation of a classic dish on the menu at the Wagamama chain of eateries, I think the original recipe includes shrimp, chicken and squid but this is more of a vegetarian version. The eggs added add the end of recipe gives a great texture to the noodles!

Mood Food Yaki Soba

1. 4oz of Ramen Noodles
2. 1/2 Cup of Oyster Sauce
3. 1/3 Cup of Water
   
4. 1 Tablespoon of Salt
5. 1 Tablespoon of Sugar
6. 1/2 Head of Broccoli Finely chopped
7. 1 cup of finely chopped Chinese Cabbage
8. 5 Baby Corn finely sliced
   
9. 1 Small Onion sliced into half moons
10. 5 Spring Onions finely sliced length ways
11. 2 Cloves of Garlic finely chopped
12. 1 Red Pepper finely chopped
13. 2 Eggs lightly beaten

Serve in a big bowl and enjoy! You can garnish the dish with thinly sliced pickled ginger but that's optional.

I was interviewed earlier this year for a blogging feature in Irish Tatler and a few weeks after I was offered the chance to become a regular contributor. This is the recipe I wrote for the October issue!

Asian Chicken Salad with Chilli, Ginger and Lime Dressing

Packed with tasty ingredients, this recipe is perfect for entertaining. You can prepare all the ingredients separately, stick them in the fridge and assemble the salad when your guests arrive. Don’t be afraid to add other vegetables here, peppers, cucumber, spring onions and bean sprouts are all tasty additions.

Serves 4
Marinade:
2 tablespoon of soy sauce
Juice of ½ lime
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
½ red chilli, finely chopped
½ thumb sized piece of ginger minced

Dressing:
3 tablespoons of sunflower oil
1 tablespoon of soy sauce
1 tablespoon of smooth peanut butter
Juice of ½ lime
2 teaspoons of honey
1 teaspoon of sesame oil
1 clove of garlic, finely chopped
½ red chilli, finely chopped
½ thumb sized piece of ginger minced

4 chicken breasts, sliced thinly into strips
1 Chinese cabbage, slice thinly
3 carrots, sliced thinly
1 red onion, sliced thinly
100g of sugar snap peas, sliced thinly
100g of chopped peanuts to serve
A handful of chopped coriander to serve

Add the chicken strips to a mixing bowl with the marinade ingredients and mix through. Cover and place in the fridge while you prepare the salad and dressing.
In a small bowl add all the ingredients for the dressing and whisk to combine.
Place the Chinese cabbage, carrots, red onion, and sugar snap peas in a large salad bowl. Add half the dressing and combine until all the vegetables are well coated.
Fry the chicken strips until golden brown and cooked through. Approximately 2 minutes either side.
Serve the salad in individual bowls topped with the chicken, a sprinkling of chopped peanuts, a little chopped coriander and a extra drizzle of the dressing.

We (Industry) just started our radio tour for our brand new single, "Burn" which is due for release on the 21st of August, so we have been travelling all over Ireland visiting all the radio stations. It is quite hard going, early mornings and late nights, but after the last single going to number 1, it's well worth it! The one thing I have been finding difficult is eating on the road. Unless you plan ahead you are at the mercy of petrol stations at the side of the road where the choice ranges from a hot deli counter to plastic wrapped sambos- not really my cup of tea!

My quick solution is to make my own healthy salads, and somehow I got roped into making one each for the other three! Now I say roped, but really I offered and totally enjoy making them, plus I have this thing for praise... Anyway, this is the favourite salad so far and I can see why, it's pretty darn tasty if I do say so myself! Try it out, give it a whirl, let me know how you get on!

Asian Teriyaki Chicken Salad

I make this salad to go, if you want to do the same, keep the dressing separate and add it when you are ready to eat.

Serves 4
4 chicken breasts
4 tablespoons of teriyaki sauce
2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1 small Chinese cabbage, finely chopped in shreds
A large handful of sugar snap peas, finely sliced
2 red peppers, sliced finely
1 red onion, sliced finely
1 tablespoon of sunflower oil

For the dressing:
3 tablespoons of sunflower oil
1 tablespoon of teriyaki sauce
Juice of 1 lime
1 clove of garlic, finely minced
½ a thumbsized piece of ginger, finely minced

Combine the teriyaki sauce and garlic in a bowl and add the chicken breasts.
Toss to combine, cover and then place in fridge while you chop the salad ingredients
Heat a griddle pan over a medium heat with a little oil and fry the chicken breasts for 4-5 minutes either side or until hey are cooked through. Remove the breasts from the pan set on a chopping board to cool.
In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the ingredients for the salad dressing.
Add the Chinese cabbage, red peppers, red onion and snow peas to the bowl. Toss until the vegetables are nicely coated with the dressing.
Serve the salad in large deep dishes and sprinkle with a little shredded coriander.
Slice the chicken thinly and arrange on top of the vegetables.
Serve straight away.

I have some big news! We are upping sticks and moving to a new kitchen next week, so we have our serious planning hats on at the moment. It's always so exciting when you get a new kitchen and of course a place to stay, although for me one is most definitely secondary to the other. There are a few things I look forward to most when it comes to moving into a kitchen, first and foremost a good storecupboard, jam packed with all those handy essentials which make a meal, and the second, kitchen gadgets! I've been getting lots and lots of advice on twitter and facebook about your "new kitchen essentials" with the one over ruling suggestion being a Kitchen Aid mixer, which I do not already have. We've decided that the best thing to do is get settled, see what we need, beyond what we already have, and plan a shopping list! I'll keep you posted on the big move but for now here's a recipe for today!

Zingy Quick and Tasty Stir-Fry
Stir-fries are a brilliant way of getting lots of veggies into your diet without compromising on taste.
This one is full of zingy flavours and healthy, tasty veg. Don’t be put off by Chinese cabbage — it’s a great standby vegetable which will last quite a while in the fridge and works well in stirfries such as this one or eaten raw in a crunchy Asian salad.

Serves four
250g noodles of your choice
2 tbsps soy sauce
1 tsp honey
Juice of 1 lime
1 red pepper, thinly sliced
2 carrots, grated or sliced in thin matchsticks
½ head Chinese cabbage, roughly shredded
1 red onion, sliced into thin half moons
2 cloves garlic, finely minced
1 red chilli, finely chopped

Cook the noodles according to the instructions on the packet, drain and set aside.
Whisk together the soy sauce, honey and lime juice in the bottom of a large bowl. Add in the chopped veggies, except for the onion, garlic and chillies, and toss until everything is combined.
Heat the oil in a wok or large frying pan until it’s very hot, add the onion, chilli and garlic and stir-fry for about 40 seconds.
Add in the veggies and stir fry until they are tender. You can check this by taking a bite.
Then add the noodles and toss in with all the veggies until combined, then fry for a further minute.
Serve straight away or allow to cool then pop in a lunchbox for the next day.

As you might have guessed, if you are a regular reader of the blog, I have a major thing for zingy Asian food! It all started when I was a lot younger, when my grandmother bought me a simple Chinese cookbook. At that stage I had already worked my way through most of the cookbooks in our house but had never tried to cook any sort of Asian food. Ingredients like ginger, lemongrass, coconut milk, and the rather peculiar looking star anise were all foreign to me, as a curious youngster. I took it upon myself to become immersed in this little book, being brave and cooking the most strange sounding dishes first, in order to get a taste for the vast landscape of this cuisine. From fortune cookies to spring rolls, from Thai green curry to sushi, I really gave everything a go and even though they may not have all turned out quite to plan, the process in itself was totally enjoyable and left me with a fascination for Asian culture and recipes.

I have still never been anywhere in Asia and it is my absolute dream to travel, eat and photograph my way across the continent, well maybe that's a little ambitious, maybe just the main places to start with. I don't know when it's going to happen, but it will, and when it does I want to be ready for it so, I'm putting together a hit list of places to visit, people to see, and food to eat. If you have any good suggestions for recipes, stunning places to visit, interesting stories, photos or all of the above, let me know in the comment section or drop me a mail.

Mini Aromatic Duck Salad
This a slightly adapted version of one of my favourite recipes from my cookbook. It's fairly similar, the only difference really being that, I serve the salad in mouthful portions on baby gem lettuce leaves here. Apart from the duck don't be too concerned about the salad ingredients, anything goes here really, things like bean sprouts, shredded Chinese cabbage, finely sliced snow peas are all perfect also. You can get amazing aromatic duck breasts in the frozen section at good Chinese supermarkets, which only require roasting time in the oven for delicious results.

Serves 4
2 aromatic duck breasts, cooked and shredded
2 carrots, thinly sliced
6 spring onions, thinly sliced on the diagonal
1 red pepper, thinly sliced
Baby gem lettuce leaves, to serve

Dressing:
3 tablespoons of sunflower oil
Juice of 1/2 lime
1 teaspoon of fish sauce
1 tablespoon soy sauce

Add all the ingredients for the dressing to a bowl and whisk to combine.
Add the duck, carrots, spring onions, and red pepper to the bowl and toss with the dressing to combine.
Arrange baby gem lettuce leaves on a serving platter and add spoonfuls of the duck salad to them.
Serve straight away, or refrigerate the duck salad and assemble when required.

This is my recipe contribution to December's edition of Irish Tatler, and it also just so happens to be one of my favourite recipes of all time forever and ever the end! It is also one of my favourite recipes from my cookbook which may I remind you would make a lovely christmas present for a loved one! Ok shameless plugs aside, this is such a wonderful dish and it's super easy to prepare, stick the duck in the oven slice the vegetables, make the dressing and you're done! Couldn't be easier!

Open Aromatic Duck Salad

This is basically an adaptation of the classic aromatic duck and pancake dish which is available at most Chinese restaurants. It’s one of my favourite dishes and is so simple to produce. The tender crispy duck goes well with the fresh raw vegetables and tangy Asian dressing.

Serves 2
1 crispy half duck portion (available pre-cooked at most supermarkets)
2 large carrots, thinly sliced
½ cucumber, thinly sliced
½ Chinese cabbage, finely shredded
Bunch of spring onions, thinly sliced

For the dressing:
Juice of ½ lime
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 thumb-sized piece of ginger, peeled and finely chopped
2 tablespoons of rice wine vinegar
2 tablespoons of oyster sauce
1 teaspoon of sesame oil

Before you start, put the duck in a roasting tin (you can stick the breast on a wire wrack, this way the fat will drip) and place in the oven for approximately 20 minutes at 200°C/400°F/Gas Mark 6 or until heated through.
In a large mixing bowl mix the ingredients for the dressing. Add the carrot, cucumber, cabbage and spring onions, and toss to combine.
Take the duck out of the oven, slice thinly and add to the salad. Serve straightaway.

Photo credit: Jocasta Clarke

Back in the land of the living, I flew home on Sunday morning after a late night bus across Sweden which left me totally wrecked! The big news this week is that I'm heading over to London to appear on Good Food Channel's "Market Kitchen" and I am so excited! I hope they will let me take a few shots behind the scenes so I can post them here on the blog. So while I'm gearing up for my UK tv debut (hehehe couldn't wait to say that!) here is a recipe which is perfect for everyone who probably headed back to work today, it's a super lunchbox filler from the book and I hope you like it!

Tahini Noodle Toss

This little recipe came about after I ate at the California Pizza Kitchen in America; they served a really tasty crisp salad, with this rich and tasty peanut dressing. I recreated it from taste, adapted it and recently discovered it goes perfectly with noodles. This is another great little lunch box filler as it can be served hot and cold. Tahini is a creamy, yet smoky paste made from sesame seeds and is similar to peanut butter, which you can also use as a substitute. I sometimes add finely shredded raw Chinese cabbage to these noodles for extra crunch. I love this recipe because you basically combine all the wet and dry ingredients just before serving.

Serves 2
250g/9oz wholewheat noodles
4 spring onions, finely sliced
1 large garlic clove, finely chopped
1 chilli, deseeded and finely chopped
4 tablespoons of tahini paste
1 tablespoon of sunflower oil
1 tablespoon of soya sauce
1 tablespoon of oyster sauce
1 tablespoon of rice wine vinegar
1 teaspoon of sesame oil
A good handful of bean sprouts
Toasted sesame seeds
A small handful of coriander, freshly chopped

Cook the noodles according to the instructions on the packet, rinse in cold water and set aside.
In a small saucepan, fry the garlic and chilli for about 30 seconds, then add the soya sauce, oyster sauce, rice wine vinegar, sesame oil and tahini paste.
Cook over a medium heat until the mixture comes to the boil and, when it does, reduce the heat and simmer for 3 minutes.
In a large mixing bowl, add the noodles and bean sprouts, toss together with the tahini sauce until mixed through.
Serve in hearty bowls and top with toasted sesame seeds, freshly chopped coriander and thinly sliced spring onions. Time to get those chopsticks out!

If you follow me on twitter, you will probably be sick of me talking about it, but we (Industry) are currently on tour with JLS for their tour dates in Ireland. It makes a stark contrast to all the cooking I have been doing lately! The one question I have been asked the most since the book came out is which I prefer, the singing or the cooking, and to be honest after Saturday night, when we performed in Dublin's o2 arena, the singing gives the cooking a good run for its money! Though I think I will always have that hunger for performing on stage, it is just one of the most amazing feelings to stand in front of a crowd that size and sing! All the excitement and nerves aside, I have been managing to eat really well despite the lack of time, and these noodles are just one of the dishes which have kept the band well fed the last few days.

Crunchy Peanut Satay Noodles
I am a huge fan of Asian flavours, and I absolutely love exploring Asian supermarkets to find new weird and wonderful ingredients. Noodles are one of my favourite things to buy there, and there are so many varieties to choose from thin rice vermicelli to the thick chunky udon noodles I use in this dish. You can use whatever noodles you can get your hands on for this recipe, and don't be afraid to experiment with the veggies, just use what you have, Chinese cabbage, carrot, or bok choy all work really nicely here. The beauty of this recipe is that it is just basically combining all these fantastic flavours with noodles and fresh veg which gives it that extra crunch factor!

Serves 2
400g of udon noodles
1/2 cucumber, sliced thinly
1 red pepper, sliced thinly
5 spring onions, sliced finely diagonally
A handful of salted peanuts, roughly chopped

For the peanut sauce:
1 tablespoon of sunflower oil
1 clove of garlic, finely minced
1 small thumb sized piece of ginger, finely minced
1 small chilli, deseeded and finely chopped
200ml coconut milk
3 tablespoons of soy sauce
Juice of 1 lime
3 tablespoons of crunchy peanut butter

Cook the noodles according to the instructions on the pack, rinse under cold water, drain and set aside.
Heat the oil in a small sauce pot, add the garlic, chilli and ginger and fry for about 30-40 seconds stirring continuously.
Add in the coconut milk, lime juice, peanut butter and soy sauce. Bring to the boil, stirring to melt the peanut butter, then reduce the heat and simmer for 2-3 minutes.
Add the cooked noodles to a large mixing bowl and add in the spring onions, red pepper, and cucumber. Pour in the peanut sauce and toss all the ingredients together until combined.
Serve with a sprinkle of chopped peanuts and some extra sliced spring onion.