As I’ve said previously, I’ve been invited to join a team of bloggers by Worldfoods to try out a range of their products and take part in a weekly cooking challenge.

Well, the hamper of goodies arrived this week – was expecting a box of sauce bottles and it was an actual hamper, with a small wok, apron and cleaver thrown in. Very pleasantly surprised – as you can see from the pic above.

I’m not usually a user of cook-in sauces as they tend to be a bit gloopy and I prefer to control what goes into my dinner myself. But I’m not averse tocutting the odd corner (if it’s good enough for Delia…). And these sauces look like they’re free of anything artificial so that’s a good start in my book.

The Worldfoods peeps are running some competitions on their facebook page so if you like the look of this, head on over there and like them.

Challenge 1 – Pad Thai

I have to admit I’ve not eaten pad Thai before so I wasn’t sure what to expect. By coincidence, my better half was at a university do today and a Thai friend brought some in to try – so she’s given me the inside track on how our version compares with the original.

I didn’t get in from work until 8 so welcomed the prospect of a 10 minute tea. We used cooked prawns which made things a bit quicker.

First we made a quick one-egg omelette in the wok then put it aside to cool, as per the instructions on the bottle. Next the rice noodles went on to boil for about three minutes while I got some oil heated in the wok. I keep a bottle of Nigella’s wok oil (see below) in the cupboard for getting quick flavour into stir fries.

I fried cooked prawns quickly then added the Pad Thai sauce – about two-thirds of a bottle for two people I guessed. Doesn’t say how many a bottle serves on the label so did it by eye. Bring this all to the boil then in goes the cooked noodles and a good handful of beansprouts. This gets a good stir until the sauce has coated everything and it’s pretty dry. The instructions call for chives next (I had spring onions so that’s what I used).

A few moments later it’s on the plate. We garnished with the finely sliced omelette, lime wedges and peanuts.

The end result was very tasty indeed – fresh flavours, good spice and nice mix of textures thanks to the omelette and peanuts. Love nuts in a stir fry and often add cashews. I’m told it compared very favourably with the authentic sweet chilli and tamarind version that was tried earlier in the day!

I’m sure there’s other uses I could put this sauce too – any thoughts for alternative, gratefully received!

Nigella’s wok oil:

450ml sunflower or other vegetable oil, plus 50ml toasted sesame oil, 4 sliced cloves of garlic, a 6cm piece of ginger sliced, and strain into a bottle after 48 hours’ steeping

Challenge 2 - Ayam Percik

I’m falling behind already – very busy with work at the moment. Even though it’s taking me a while to write things up, having the sauces in the cupboard has been a real help to knock up something exciting for a mid week tea.

I’m reliably informed by the chaps at Worldfoods that “Ayam Percik, a popular Malaysian dish of barbecued chicken in a spicy marinade, from Kelantan, in Malaysia. It is traditionally cooked over a wood fire and eaten with white rice.”

Seems like summer came and went already so opted for the griddle pan rather than BBQ in Welsh rain.

The marinade is quite spicy on its own and as I tend to keep to medium chilli heat to keep everyone happy I took some advice from the facebook group to cool it down. I used a small carton of coconut milk and added marinade to it until it tasted right – turned out to be half a bottle.

Some chicken thighs (always better on the bone for curries imho) went into the marinade for about an hour.

I started them off on a smoking-hot griddle pan to get a bit of charing on the skin, transferred them to an oven dish and spooned over some leftover marinade. I gave them about 20 mins in a hot oven, basting them in the marinade three or four times. This kept the chicken lovely and moist and meant there was a bit of sauce for the rice I served it with.

Challenge 3 – Tom Yum Soup

They say a bad workman always blames his tools. So I’m not going to criticise the paste – but we weren’t fans, I’m afraid.

It’s a very easy process to stir-fry a few red peppers and add some cooked prawns to about half a jar of the Tom Yum paste. After a few minutes I added about half a tin of coconut milk. Let it cook out for a few minutes. I stir-fried some squid we had in the fridge in a separate pan which I added at the end too.

One of the major pluses I’m finding with these challenges is just how quick they are. Most are 10-20 minutes and because I know there’s only good things gone into the sauces and they can be used very flexibly it still feels look cooking from scratch.

I’m a big fan of hot and sour soups – even the thought of a  Vietnamese Pho triggers major cravings – but this was just too harshly hot and very salty. I went back and added more coconut milk which took the heat down but I couldn’t get the other flavours to balance.

So one to chalk up to experience, this time. But I’m a very big fan of Nasi Goreng…

Challenge 4 – Nasi Goreng

So on to the national dish of Indonesia – nasi goreng. Literally ‘fried rice’ if Wikipedia is to be believed.

Fried rice is a favourite of mine so I was really looking forward to this one. I’ve made it twice already because it’s so quick and tasty, always with leftover rice. If not, you’ll need to cook some before starting.

As with many of these dishes, start by making a quick wok omelette and putting it aside to cool – it goes on shredded when serving up.

Next warm some oil and add about half a jar of the paste. Now redecorate the kitchen and change your shirt – it spits like hell. I see now why an apron was included in our hampers. Or maybe my wok was too hot.

Once it’s calmed down a bit and cooked out for a minute or two, toss in some cooked chicken and prawns. I’ve also used peppers and mushrooms to get  a bit of veg involved too. Once that’s all good and coated and before it starts to stick, in goes the rice for a quick warm through then out onto the place to be reunited with the omelette.

There’s a good chilli flavour and a building heat to this that doesn’t overpower any of the ingredients. It’s a very simple, fresh and well-spiced meal.

I loved it and we went back and finished the jar within the week. Certainly one I’ll be buying for a quick after-work storecupboard meal.

After posting this May at Worldfoods dropped me a line to suggest the fried noodle version Mie Goreng and to share a recipe - looks bloody lovely. Will have to pick up another jar of the paste to try this out.

Challenge 5 – Satay

Don’t know about you, but if someone says ‘satay’ to me I think of gloopy peanut sauce. So I was surprised to see that the base for the satay challenge this week is a lemongrass and turmeric marinade. I’m sure someone will explain it to me!

The challenge came with a suggestion of getting together and barbecuing. Lovely idea but the Welsh weather had other ideas – and so on a cold Monday night I opted for the griddle pan option. It’s the closest I get to an indoor barbie.

I think if you bought this sauce with a Chinese takeaway idea of satay in your mind you’d be a bit puzzled – I wasn’t really sure what to expect as a marinaded some chicken fillets in about half a bottle of the sauce.

I spent a quick half hour updating the blog while it was in the fridge then skewered the chicken and cooked them on a screamingly hot griddle for about 10 minutes to char them a bit. The chicken bits were quite big so I gave them 10mins in a hot oven too to make sure they were cooked.

I was very pleasantly surprised by the result. Much lighter than I was expecting, very fragrant with lovely thai spice and a nice citrus kick to the flavour from the lemongrass. Rather bizarrely I ate them with a sweet-chilli mayo potato salad – seemed like a good idea at the time and I think I liked it!

I was cooking for one so the leftovers went into a big mixed salad tonight and were just as tasty second time round – would have made good sandwiches too.

The more I try these, the more I’m warming to the idea of using the occasional pre-prepared sauce or paste. Not necessarily because it’s quicker, but more because I don’t know much about Thai or Indonesian cuisine and having a ready-made base means being able to cook something new with ingredients that I usually have in the house anyway. It’s making me want to learn more and take on the challenge of trying to recreate some of these flavours from scratch when I can find a bit more time to experiment.