Tips to make and fake top takeaways
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Want to make your favourite takeaway recipes at home?
It seems great minds think alike – Eat Well For Less? presenter Chris Bavin, The Medicinal Chef Dale Pinnock and Chinese food aficionado Kwoklyn Wan, have all just released cookbooks that revolve around the idea of making takeaway food at home.
So if you’re looking to cut down on ordering in, save a little cash and maybe boost the nutritional value of your go-to comfort food, these tried and tested ‘fakeaway’ options might be worth your while.
The flexitarian...
Ella Walker tested: healthy baked ‘scampi’ from Fakeaway by Chris Bavin
A cross between coconut shrimp, deep-fried scampi and tempura prawns – a Chinese-fish-and-chip-shop hybrid if you will – they seemed worth a go.
I set up a three-bowl prawn conveyor belt: flour and paprika in one, beaten egg in the second, lemon zest, desiccated coconut and breadcrumbs in the third, and tried (really quite successfully) to not get them all muddled together. After being dunked and coated in each, my ‘scampi’ hit a baking tray and then the oven for 10 minutes. So far, so by the recipe.
After their allotted 10 minutes though, they were all a little soggy on the underside, so I flipped them and gave them another five while whipping up the accompanying tartare sauce (mayo, gherkins, capers, lemon zest – I left out the dill, mainly because I forgot to buy any). A side of peas and wedges later, a bit of chilli sauce, and honestly, they were amazing.
Crunchy and golden with a huge, zingy hit of lemon, they were a doddle to pull together, and all that dunking was rather fun. I’m not saying I’ll never order in again, but if there’s a bag of prawns in the freezer just asking for a crumbing, I’d definitely reconsider.
The vegetarian...
Prudence Wade tested: Udon noodle curry soup from The Veggie Chinese Takeaway Cookbook by Kwoklyn Wan.
It was simple to make, even if it took a lot longer than the half-hour Wan specifies. Total cooking time was closer to an hour, but admittedly a fair amount of this was down to me re-checking the instructions every two seconds (anyone else do this with a new recipe?).
The only criticism I have is that the recipe calls for the sauce to be sieved, which feels like a waste of the carrots, onions and celery which had been bathing in the lovely curry flavours, so I ended up chucking it all in.
Once the curry sauce is made, you fry up some veg, throw in the sauce and some stock and sort your noodles, then you’re good to go.
Even if it took a bit longer than expected, it was easy to make and you can tailor it to however hot you want.
