And after this post I shall move on from Christmas, promise. Mostly.

This Christmas I had a makie kind of Christmas. The inspiration came from my sister-in-law, Mrs Sunshine, who had requested a whole bunch of my recipes. Not that you could call them recipes, they're butchered versions of what once was a recipe.

But by the time you've written out a whole pile of what-were-formally-known-as recipes, added a few photos that resemble absolutely nothing of what the food is going to look like (i.e beside a recipe for potatoes roasted in stock there is a shot of the most delicious roast potatoes and the caption 'These look nothing like the stock potatoes, don't you wish you had a recipe for those?), you can say 'Hey I've made a scrap cookbook!'

I know, small things, small brains.

Anyway, I got such a wee kick out of my making-my-present gig I decided to extend it to my Brother-in-Law. I made him a batch of the gooey goodness below, put it in ceramic pot and got the recipe laminated for him. Personally, I think the the laminated part of the present was the best part because, oh my, if you like Asian flavours, you're going to LOVE this.

And now I'm going to share.

Dressing to Die For.
(Not that I am suggesting you should).

If you want to get all flash Harry about it, I believe the technical term is SHOYU DRESSING, as in ‘I’ll shoyu something that tastes so good I will possibly have ruined your taste buds for life’.


You will need:
1/2 cup honey
1 cup soya sauce

3/4 cup water

2 tablespoons chopped ginger

2 tablespoons chopped garlic

2 red chillis

2 cardamon pods

2 star anise

You will need to:

Bring the whole shooting box to the boil. Reduce heat and simmer for ten minutes. Remove from heat. Cool and leave for an hour for flavours to infuse.

You will also need to:

Find something to pour this delicious sauce over. You can do it over any manner of fish, even the raw stuff, if that takes your fancy. I believe bird is partial to it, as is cow and sheep.

You’re welcome.