Ginger Garlic Paste

I always have 3 basic staples in my chiller and this is one of them. If you cook a lot of Asian food, it’s well worth keeping a jar of this ginger garlic paste at the ready. It saves you from having to chop everything up every single time and it can make a tasty dish just added to stir fried meat or vegetables. The other two staples are Dried Chilli Oil and Magic Noodle Sauce, which is useful for much more than just noodles. But you’re going to have to wait a little for that one.

(makes 400g, about 12 Tbsp)

• 150g garlic, peeled weight
• 150g old ginger root, peeled weight
• 100ml peanut or other vegetable oil

Crush and lightly chop the garlic and ginger.

Put garlic, ginger and oil into a blender and process to a fine paste. Try not to have the mix heat up too much in the process.

NOTE:          Your paste will be quite dry in appearance, with no visible oil on the top. It will keep in a glass jar in the chiller for a week or more.

BONUS RECIPE : Ginger Chicken

• 200g of any boneless part of a chicken
• 1/2 Tbsp soy sauce
• 1 Tbsp Rice Wine
• 1 Tbsp ginger garlic paste
• 1 Tbsp oil
• salt & pepper to taste
• chopped spring onion

Marinate the chicken in the soy suce, rice wine and ginger garlic paste for about half an hour.
Heat the oil in a wok and stir fry the chicken in the smoking hot oil.
Serve with chopped spring onion. Done.