Sprouting brown rice takes 24 hours and is definitely worth the wait. It is softer in texture and easier to digest than regular brown rice. Sprouting brown rice also maximizes its nutritional value. It's high in fiber, GAB (a stress-reducing amino acid), lysine, Vitamin E, niacin and many other minerals.Price: $19.20
The Domestic Goddess is back, and this time it's instant. Nigella and her style of cooking have earned a special place in our lives, symbolizing all that is best, most pleasurable, most hands-on, and least fussy about good food. But that doesn't mean she wants us to spend hours in the kitchen, slaving over a hot stove.
Featuring fabulous fast foods, ingenious shortcuts, terrific time-saving ideas, effortless entertaining tips, and simple, scrumptious meals, Nigella Express is her solution to eating well when time is short. Here are mouthwatering meals, quick to prepare and easy to follow, that you can conjure up after a day in the office or on a busy weekend, for family or unexpected guests. This is food you can make as you hit the kitchen running, with vital advice on how to keep your pantry stocked, and your freezer and fridge stacked. When time is precious, you canít spend hours shopping, so you need to make life easier by being prepared. Not that these recipes are basic, though they are always simple, but it's important to make every ingredient earn its place, minimizing effort by maximizing taste.
Here too is great food that can be prepared quickly but cooked slowly in the oven, leaving you time to have a bath, a drink, talk to friends, or help the children with their homework, minimum stress for maximum enjoyment.
Nigella Express features a new generation of fast food, never basic, never dull, always doable, quick, and delicious.
Featuring recipes seen on Food Networkís Nigella Express series.
Praise for Nigella Lawson and her cookbooks:
Price: $35.00
Classic Chinese Chow Mein contain hints of garlic and scallion blended with toasted sesame oil, sherry wine, and low-sodium soy sauce tossed with fresh cooked ramen noodles. Keep them on hand when you want a great-tasting meal but don't have the time. Try adding a handful of tofu, chicken, or shrimp. Or add fresh vegetables of your choosing. This meal comes to you in a biodegradable tray that decomposes in the soil with no harm to the earth. It's better for the planet and one small way we can care for our environment together.Price: $21.60
Ready in 1 MinutePrice: $3.19
This versatile rice is well paired with your favorite stir-fry, entree or even soup. Or use with your favorite sauce for a quick snack. To really make your kids smile; add a little butter and soy sauce. Together we bring you this delicious fresh-steamed rice. Keep in your pantry office desk and enjoy restaurant-quality rice anytime, anywhere.Price: $19.20
Every once in a while I get an craving for greasy Chinese food that's different from what you can find at your everyday takeout stand.
Some of you may remember my Caribbean-Chinese party from two years ago. The theme had been inspired by the wee bit of my childhood that was spent in Puerto Rico and the hybrid dishes I remember eating at Chinese restaurants there, like chicharrones de pollo and pineapple shrimp. I had also added some Jamaican influences as well, including jerk chicken wings and a cocktail made with hibiscus tea. It was a fun event, but needless to say, Caribbean-Chinese food never became a steady part of my diet.
Flash forward to 2010. Today I found myself in Crown Heights at De Bamboo Express, one of the two or three Jamaican-Chinese restaurants I know of in the city. Objective: a cheap but filling lunch.
The place is pretty spartan, with a couple of wall-lined counters, a few tables, and enormous menus highlighting their $5 lunch specials. (The one cook in the kitchen appeared to be fully Chinese, not happa. You have to wonder whether he grew up cooking Chinese-Jamaican dishes, or switched over from more straightforward Chinese food.) I picked up a jerk chicken lo mein to go and a lime rickey soda.
The dish was as good as it looks in the photo. The chicken was juicy from being cooked bone-in, and seasoning was just hot enough. I would guess there were some Scotch bonnet or habanero peppers in the marinade, as well as soy sauce and five spice powder. (Eating large pieces of bone-in chicken with a plastic fork tests your dexterity, especially when your roommate's hungry cat perches itself on the adjacent chair, ready to pounce at any sign of weakness.)
Compared to the intensity of the spices on the skin, the white meat seemed a little bland; some duck sauce took care of that. And I absolutely loved the lo mein noodles, springy and chewy and far from the soggy mess that some establishments dole out.
Maybe I need to go back with a few friends (friends who are willing to be dragged to Crown Heights) and make a dinner out of it. Jerk lamb, curry red snapper, hot and sour soup with fried fish. Oh, the possiblities.
De Bamboo Express
772 Flatbush Ave.(btwn Clarkson Ave. and Lenox Rd.)
Brooklyn, NY
718-469-0117
Closest subway: B, Q to Parkside Ave.
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More eating out in New York:
Xi'an Famous Foods
Yun Nan Flavour Snack
Grand Sichuan International - Chelsea
3 Chinese Dishes Worth the Trip into Flushing
