Box of delights ‘The best value home delivery meal we have had since lockdown’

NOSH NIGHT IN

HEY, if you are the person who emailed me a recommendation to try Nosh Night In and you are reading this, thank you. I would have done this by email except I can’t find your original message. Nor, not very funnily-enough, could I find the message ordering the food. On Friday, as hunger floated through our house like the ghost of restaurants past, I couldn’t even find the online menu, the order receipt, the delivery time or remember the actual name of who I had ordered from.

Not a clue either about what kind of food was (fingers-crossed) on its way. Or whether coming hot or cold.

This vagueness seemed to irritate my family almost as much as transferring money to a stranger who wasn’t apparently a recognised mainstream business annoyed my bank. Scam warning, the bank shouted gleefully. It will never arrive, it gloated. You’re on your own now, it ultimately crowed. Pfff. As if you are ever anything else with a bank.

This all did, nonetheless, highlight the strange new world we live in – where transferring dosh for nosh to complete strangers, hoping they will turn up while having no clue as to the quality of said food, is becoming the norm. And all because upmarket restaurants are either still locked-down or all ordered-up or run annoying website systems demanding log-ins at pre-ordained times (9am on a Sunday say) which then generate immediate sold-out signs.

Nosh Night In? We’ve gone a bit Terra Incognita here, wandered off the usual culinary map. In fact, the missing email mystery will be solved only days later when I realise I actually ordered the whole thing by text. Crikey, how cool am I?

And, yes, the food arrives. On time. Though as I’m not actually at home then it falls upon my son to report on a very nice lady who waited at a distance while he unpacked it all in the kitchen and then returned her tray. Timing won’t matter anyway. It just requires to be gently heated. And then there are nice, warm, cheery instructions.

And those wrappings – portending a sense of quality, injecting a mood of anticipation. Lush brown paper abounding, quality corrugated cardboard cartons here, there and everywhere while grease-proof squares

WE HAVE always celebrated Father’s Day at our favourite Chinese restaurant, the Loon Fung in Warriston Crescent, Edinburgh. Four generations of us all squeezed together round the biggest table – chopsticks at the ready. The revolving “lazy Susan” is continuously replenished with delicious dim sum, exquisite spare-ribs and sticky dumplings, crispy Peking duck wrapped in steaming pancakes smeared with sweet jammy hoisin sauce and spring onions.

Not this year!

It’s a lot simpler and easier than you may think to recreate some of the simpler Chinese classics at home. My favourite Chinese cookery writer has always been Ken Hom. His recipes recreate the key flavours we are familiar with and, for the most part, you don’t need to buy lots of different ingredients. Soya sauce, hoisin sauce, black beans and sesame oil are easily available. Garlic, chillies and spring onions are in everybody’s fridge.

This recipe for steamed hake is adapted from Ken Hom’s first book, Chinese Cookery, which was £5.25 when I bought it in 1984.

Buy the freshest piece of thick white fish and remember to remove any bones. To steam I set up a saucepan with one-third water, a sieve balanced on it and a plate nestled in the sieve to lay the fish. 500g thick flesh white fish such as hake or cod

1 teaspoon sea salt

3 inches fresh ginger, peeled and sliced into fine matchsticks 4 spring onions, chopped into fine slices

2 garlic cloves, peeled and finely sliced 1 tablespoon light soya sauce 1 tablespoon corn oil or groundnut oil

1 tablespoon sesame oil

Wash the fish in cold water and pat dry to get rid of any stale liquids. Rub with the sea salt, cover, and set aside in the fridge for half an hour. This flavours the fish, firms the flesh, and extracts excess water.

Set up the wok or pot with simmering water, the sieve, and the plate. Rinse the fish and pat it dry. Place it on the plate.

Sprinkle with half of the ginger. Cover with foil and steam gently for 10-15 minutes depending on the thickness of the fish.

The fish is cooked when it has turned opaque and a skewer will slide easily into the thickest part. Be careful not to over-cook.

Carefully remove the fish on to a warmed serving plate.

Sprinkle with the remaining ginger and spring onions.

Splash with the light soya sauce, just enough to season it.

Warm the two oils in a small saucepan and saute until the oil is flavoured and the garlic is just starting to

colour. Pour over the fish.