36 LIFESTYLE
February 15th 2009 / Student Direct
Student Meals
Can’t Cook, Will Cooks
Gemma Blackman Features Editor Typical student meals are famed for their cheapness and lack of originality… and that’s why we love them. But what is the ultimate student cuisine?
Crispy Pork Belly with Dipping Sauce
Ten: A mix of everything in your fridge/cupboard. This usually comes at the end of a semester when you have to eat all the things that will go off over the holidays, but can also happen on the morning after the night before when it seems too much effort to walk outside for something edible. Not advised wherever possible to avoid.
Nine: Jacket Potato. Stab a potato a few times, chuck it in the microwave for ten minutes, add beans, tuna, cheese or just butter and job done. Its charm is in its simplicity.
Eight: A pint of Guinness. It has been suggested that a pint of Guinness is healthier than most student meals and this is often the argument posed when cracking one open before lunch. But at only 170 calories a pint, why not?
Seven: Last night’s kebab. You know when you wake up the next morning after a heavy night and you can smell a strange odour in your room? You roll over and there on the floor next to the half empty vodka bottle is a half eaten kebab… getting out from under the covers seems a difficult task so the inevitable happens. Never a good idea but when did that ever stop us?
Six: Curry. Some like it hot, some don’t. It’s quick, it’s easy and nine times out of ten it actually resembles a proper meal.
Five:
Beans on toast. This deserves a spot just for its tenacity; after all there aren’t many meals we ate when we were three that we would still enjoy today!
Four: Take away. The appeal lies in the fact that it gets brought to you, requires no effort on your part and doesn’t even leave any washing up afterwards. What more could you want from a student meal?!
Three:
Full English breakfast. This is a meal you can have at any time of day. Sometimes you just need a plate so full of grease you can almost hear your arteries screaming out. How are we expected to eat good food when the bad food tastes so good?!
Two:
Cheese Toastie. It is simple, quick, satisfying and only 314 calories. Okay, so the calories might be a slight drawback but it sure does feel good to be bad, doesn’t it?!
One: Pasta. Any student anywhere knows that when you want something quick, easy, cheap and tasty you buy pasta. Because you can do anything with it; it truly is the best student meal. And the one winning factor: it’s almost impossible to ruin! Next week, we will be working out the top ten things more important than lectures so get your thinking caps on and let us know! Email Features Editor Gemma at gemma_blackman@hotmail.co.uk with your ideas.
Stir Fried Rice
White Tiger INGREDIENTS • Orange vodka
This is a great addition for sharing with others as it makes great finger food. Pork belly is always the cheapest cut of meat but is full of flavour and can last a few days after by using in other dishes.
Will Chiswick
• Lemon juice • Syrup • Chinese rice wine METHOD
INGREDIENTS HELLO FOOD fans and happy Chinese New Year! While it is the year of the tiger this year, I realise that most students can’t afford tiger meat, and there’d no doubt be some moral qualms from certain quarters. However, I love any excuse to get out the wok and add some Chinese flavours to my dishes so this week’s recipes are straight from the Orient, and for those disappointed by the lack of endangered species they get to serve I’ve thrown in a ‘white tiger’ cocktail for good measure. Now, one of the secrets to Chinese cooking is adding five-spice to dishes for that unmistakeable flavour. It can be found at any supermarket next to all the other spices and should be kept in your kitchen to add to any stir fry or Oriental style dish. It isn’t totally necessary to own a wok for stir fries as a strong frying pan will work just as well, you just won’t be able to show off by tossing the contents around without making quite a bit of mess.
1. Mix together the ingredients with some crushed ice.
• Approximately 1kg of belly pork INGREDIENTS
• Salt • Five spice
• Long grain rice
• Soy sauce
• Egg (whisked)
• Ginger
• Peppers
• Chilli sauce
• Spring onion
METHOD 1. With a sharp knife, score the skin of the pork in a criss-cross pattern so that each segment is about a mouthful. Rub in the salt and fivespice with your hands so that it gets into the skin. Place in the fridge for a couple of hours or even better- if you have time- overnight. 2. Take the meat out so that it reaches room temperature; this makes sure that the muscles do not contract too much from the change in temperature, making the meat more tender. Pre-heat the oven to the highest setting. 3. Put the meat in the oven on a rack above a roasting tin and cook on the highest setting for ten minutes. Turn down the heat to 180°c and cook for another hour. 4. Check the skin of the pork to see if it has become crispy. If not, turn the heat back up and cook for a further half an hour. 5. Take out the oven and cover with tin foil while leaving to rest for at least 15 minutes. 6. Finely chop the ginger and add to the soy sauce and chilli for the dip.
• Stir fry beans • Soy sauce METHOD 1. Add one cup of rice to two cups of water and boil in a saucepan until the water has evaporated. 2. Meanwhile, chop the spring onion, peppers, beans and any other vegetables you have to hand quite finely. 3. Heat a little oil in a frying pan or wok and fry on a high heat for five minutes.
The great thing about Chinese cooking is it’s often really simple and can be used to make a quick, tasty dish without any special ingredients. But, if you did want to add some speciality items to your cooking, you’re definitely in the right place for it. Try going into a few of the small Chinese supermarkets in China Town to see if you can get some recipe ideas from wide array of ingredients on offer. I wish you all a happy and prosperous new year, whichever one you celebrate most, but most of all; have fun and go cook yourself!
4. Mix together the soy sauce and fivespice and add to the vegetables before removing and setting aside. 5. Heat some oil in a wok or frying pan and slowly add the egg while stirring to make small bits of egg. 6. Add the rice and mix together for a few minutes so that it is evenly coated with oil. 7. Serve alongside the crispy pork or with some spicy chicken wings for a full course to welcome in the New Year.
professional dancer and she too lived with me on Princess Street. We ended up hooking up with a few guys to form a bit of a drunken posse and we regaled them with our new improved colourful lives, the two things they didn’t believe? That I was called Dee and that Aimee was now a professional dancer. They probably didn’t want to spoil the illusion that they were with an ex-pole dancer and an ex-glamour model. Why spoil the dream! We all had quite a fabulous time and the lure of a dancer was too much for one of our lovely new friends and he seduced the exquisite Deenie. Whispering sweet nothings in her ear, Scott took her dainty little hand and led her across the dance floor and into the disabled toilet and well, you can use your imagination! So there you have it ladies and gentlemen, if you are starting to get weary of the same old routine, inject a bit of spice to your life and create a whole new you! It is a new year after all…
Alice Blue
3. Resist the temptation to make Chinese lanterns and set them off inside
• Five spice
The Blue Belle
GOING OUT on the pull can sometimes be somewhat repetitive so what better way to spice up the old drunken letch than by creating a new persona! This is exactly what myself and Deenie decided to do on Monday night. We are off to Opus, our first night out in a while, so we decided to have a little fun and mix it up a little and so we did what any normal girls do; we created new identities. I myself adopted the name of Dee, an exglamour model who has appeared in the raunchtastic lads mags Zoo and Nuts. I was now a sex columnist for an up and coming website (not too far from the truth really) and I had a swanky pad in Princess Street instead of Salford. The sex industry was a key theme for the night as Deenie, who renamed herself Aimee, was an ex-pole dancer who had worked for the renowned gentleman’s club, Long Legs. These days however, Deenie was a
2. Strain into martini glasses and top with some grapefruit zest.
Poet’s Corner
Queer Queries MISHAL SAEED Poetry Editor
Cannot fight the urge for poetry anymore. Cannot hide my thoughts behind a closed door. Don't want to admit the addiction's gravity. Don't want to accept the stark reality. How long will this organ pump blood in denial? How many snubby words can I keep filed? Till when will I use silence as a tool? Till when will I resist this intelligent fool? Which of us will answer these queer questions? Which of us will deal with these emotional expressions? Who doesn't want to ride the high tide? Who doesn't want the moon to guide? If you would like to contribute a poem to the Poet’s Corner, please email poetry editor Mishal on cherrysaeed@hotmail.co.uk