Chocolate Tiffin Recipe (no bake)

I first discovered chocolate tiffin at a Costa Coffee cafe in the UK and fell in love with it instantly. I've made this a few times and think I've finally found the perfect balance of ingredients.

This recipe serves around 10 depending on how big you cut the squares (the bigger the better in my opinion).

It's really simple and requires no baking, just a cook-top and a fridge (or log fire and cold box if you happen to be camping).

Ingredients:

125g butter (or hard margarine) cut into small chunks

3 heap tbsp cocoa powder

3 heap tbsp golden syrup (I like to add an extra squeeze for good luck)

2 tbsp caster sugar

200g broken digestive biscuits (ideally you want mainly small chunks with some crumbs)

2 handfuls sultanas or raisins

200g of your favourite chocolate for topping

You'll also need; a saucepan, small-medium size baking tray lined with either grease-proof paper or cling film and a medium size bowl.

Recipe:

Melt the butter, syrup, sugar and cocoa powder over a low-medium heat, stirring regularly until smooth, taking care not to burn the mixture.

Once smooth, remove from the heat, add broken biscuits and sultanas (or raisins) and mix until the biscuits are well covered.

Spoon the mixture into your lined baking tray and press down to flatten, you can make the tiffin as thick as you like, it doesn't have to fill the tin completely.

Allow the mixture to cool a little now while you melt your chocolate, you can either do this in a microwave (spurts of 30 seconds at a time, stirring in between to ensure the chocolate doesn't burn) or over a bain-marie as shown in my Mars Bar Cornflake Cake recipe.

Now simply pour the melted chocolate over the mixture and pop it in the fridge for 1-2 hours. 

Then cut the tiffin into chunks and eat!

This photo is a last minute addition - I've just had a piece and yep... Best recipe yet! Delicious!

If you like this recipe, why not check out my new recipe for Jaffa Cake Cupcakes!

Chicken Teriyaki: simple and delicious!

The first meal I made in my mini kitchen (that wasn't soup from a can or cereal) was chicken teriyaki. It's so simple to make and absolutely delicious!

The below recipe serves 2.

Ingredients
1 large chicken breast
2 Tbsp Vegetable oil
One small onion cut into medium sized pieces
1 Yellow pepper cut into medium sized pieces
Handful of mushrooms
Pinch of salt
Pinch of pepper

For the sauce:
2 Tbsp sake
4 Tbsp soy sauce
4 Tbsp mirin
4 Tbsp sugar
grated ginger


Recipe
Mix the sake, soy sauce, mirin, sugar and ginger in a bowl. Cut the chicken into strips or pieces and poke with a fork.
Place the chicken in the sauce and mix well so the chicken is fully covered, marinade for 15-30 minutes (or longer if you have the time although it doesn't need much more than an hour).
Once marinated, heat half the oil in a frying pan and place the chicken strips (or pieces) in the frying pan, fry until they begin to cook. Then pour the sauce into the frying pan and cook thoroughly on a medium to low heat.

In a separate frying pan (or good saucepan - which is what I used) heat the remaining oil and add the onions. Once the onions have started to brown add the yellow pepper and mushrooms, the pinch of salt and pepper and fry for 3-4 minutes (until they begin to soften).

All that's left to do now is serve and enjoy!

As stated above the recipe, follow these guidelines for 2 people, increase measurements accordingly.

You could just as easily make this with pork or turkey depending on your preference and it's so versatile it can be served with rice, noodles, vegetables (like I did) or salad. 

I really hope you enjoy this as much as I did!

I'm back...

Well that lasted little over a month!

I decided, although I had other projects to work on, I couldn't abandon Polygarble, I missed her too much.

As you'll be aware (I rambled on about it enough) I've recently relocated to Australia, I'm currently living in a little studio apartment in the Sydney suburb of Potts Point. 

It's taken a while to settle in and has felt very much like an extended holiday up to now with lots of visits to restaurants and cafes and I have decided its about time I cooked for myself again (plus I'm swiftly running out of money).

I'm a great believer that you can cook a really tasty meal in whatever kitchen you have available to you. In my mini kitchen I currently have an electric cooktop (2 burner) and a microwave oven.

Over the coming months I'll be experimenting with a variety of recipes, which I'll share with you, these may be particularly useful for (but are definitely not limited to) travellers and holidaymakers staying in self catering apartments, short stay hostels and those using camping equipment. They'll be tasty but super simple so wont be time consuming. 

I hope I can inspire you to whip up a storm in your mini kitchen.