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Wednesday, 31 March 2010

Gyoza!

Gyoza have to be one of my favourite foods in the whole world. One of the best things about these little dumplings is that they're super easy to make! My recipe comes from the rather glorious Wagamama cookbook which you can buy here. I've had mine for years now and I wouldn't be without it.
If you can't wait for your copy to arrive, here's the how-to for these tasty Japanese morsels.
(This recipe is for 'ebi gyoza' which are prawn dumplings but you can easily substitute the prawns for veggies like carrots, cabbage, onions and celery or even minced chicken)

You will need:
150g cooked peeled prawns
140g canned water chestnuts, drained
2 spring onions, trimmed
110g fresh spinach leaves
10g cornflour
1 tsp oyster sauce
1 tsp light soy sauce
1 tsp sesame oil
1 packed gyoza skins (you can get these from Chinese supermarkets)
pinches of salt, sugar and white pepper















1. Blitz the prawns, water chestnuts and spring onions in a blender until minced.
2. Wilt the spinach in a colander by pouring over boiling water. Leave to cool and then squeeze until free of excess water.
3. Finely chop the spinach and stir into the prawn mixture, along with the cornflour, salt, sugar, white pepper, oyster sauce, soy sauce and sesame oil.
















4. Put a spoonful of the mixture in the centre of each gyoza skin. Moisten one edge with water then fold into a half moon shape. Press down to form a neat crescent.




















(Now at this point I usually freeze them in batches so that I have them ready whenever I want them - but if you're eating them now, read on...)

5. Heat a large frying pan on medium for 1-2 minutes, until hot and smoking, add 1 tbsp vegetable oil.
6. Put 3 or 4 dumplings in the pan and gently saute for 2 minutes on low, until starting to brown.
7. Take the pan off the heat, add 3 tbsp water and cover immediately with the lid/foil. Return to the heat for 1 minute then remove and leave for another 2 minutes. This should have steamed them nicely.
8. Dip in soy sauce and enjoy!



Tuesday, 30 March 2010

The Peace of Paper

Just wanted to share some illustrations I've been doing with you guys. These were commissioned by the Lit & Phil library in Newcastle-upon-Tyne for an anthology and schools' pack produced by their creative writing group - The New Creatives. The group comprises of university students and refugees who work together to write about their thoughts and experiences - truly fascinating stuff.








Tuesday, 23 March 2010

Jules Verne

Have you guys seen this??


Simply beautiful work by the supremely talented Jim Tierney via Faceout books. Now, I am ashamed to say that I have never read anything by Jules Verne, but these stunning covers have inspired me to dig them out! I just wish they weren't concept pieces and that you could actually buy them. They'd be on my shelf so fast...

SP out.
Tuesday, 16 March 2010

Sushi Cat!

Love sushi? Love procrastination? Well look no further! Sushi Cat is here! Help kitty get fatter and fatter to find the object of his affection. Super kawaii.









































Monday, 15 March 2010

For Print Only









Those who know me personally will know that I'm a sucker for a beautiful piece of print. If you're the same way then check out FPO (For Print Only).

http://www.underconsideration.com/fpo/

A behind the scenes look at stunning print jobs from around the world, with the added bonus that the job spec is included alongside a plethora of pretty pictures! Eye candy combined with general design geekery. Joy.

Welcome to ScarletPyjamas...

Aloha,

Scarlet Pyjamas is many things to me. It's my creative outlet where I sell my wares. It is my online persona. It's a way for me to share the things that inspire me. Maybe someone out there will read it. Maybe it'll just be for me. Either way, it's going to be pretty exciting.

SP
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