Step out of your comfort zone this festive season and try something a little different with the delicious oriental flavours from Wing Yip, because traditional roast turkey is so last year.

Chinese cuisine has always been an all-time favourite in the UK, but why should the treats stop at a Saturday night takeaway? Christmas is the perfect time to indulge and celebrate our favourite foods.

With this in mind, this season Wing Yip has created an exclusive recipe to give an oriental twist to a traditional festive dish.

Wing Yip has four superstores located in Birmingham, Cricklewood, Croydon and Manchester which stock more than 4,500 authentic Oriental groceries and products. Its online store www.wingyipstore.co.uk is home to a library of Far Eastern recipes.

Excite and inspire this festive season…

Plum Glazed Ham

Do something different than the traditional Christmas turkey.

Serves 10

Ingredients:

3kg unsmoked boneless gammon or ham joint

2 onions

2 carrots

2 celery stalks

1tsp whole Szechuan peppercorns

1 jar 250ml Wing Yip Plum Sauce

Method:

1. Rinse gammon joint under cold water and place into a large lidded saucepan and completely submerge in cold water.

2. Roughly chop the onions, carrots and celery sticks into 3 or 4 pieces and add to the saucepan along with the peppercorns.

3. Bring to the boil and then gently simmer for 2 hours (around 20 minutes per 500g).

4. If cooking in advance leave the gammon joint to cool completely in the cooking liquid. If cooking straight away, remove the gammon from the cooking liquid and leave to cool for 10-15 minutes. Strain the cooking liquid and reserve for future use.

5. Pre-heat the oven to 200°C and line a large roasting tin with foil.

6. Carefully remove the skin from the joint leaving an even layer of fat. With a small sharp knife, score the fat into a diamond pattern ensuring that you do not score the meat.

7. Place fat side up in the lined baking tray and brush half of the jar of Plum Sauce over the whole gammon. Place into the pre-heated oven for 10-15 minutes or until the glaze has started to brown. Remove the joint from the oven and brush the remaining Plum Sauce over the gammon and return to the oven for a further 10-15 minutes until the glaze has turned brown.

8. Once removed from the oven, loosely cover with foil and leave to rest for at least 15 minutes before carving. Spoon any juices over the gammon before carving.

Note: if you’re serving the gammon cold, once roasted, let the gammon cool completely before carving to ensure that the meat doesn’t dry out.

Christmas Mushroom Pudding

A great vegetarian option for the Christmas dinner table.

Serves 2

 Filling ingredients

1 onion, diced

1tbsp margarine or butter

5 cloves

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 celery stick, diced

100g wild mushrooms, roughly chopped

1tbsp plain flour

50ml red wine

100ml vegetable stock

100g chestnuts, roughly chopped

1tbsp panko breadcrumbs (or make your own using coarsely ground stale white bread)

1/2tbsp five spice powder

2tbsp fresh coriander, chopped

2tbsp fresh thyme, chopped

Salt and pepper

Pastry ingredients

150g self-raising flour

75g vegetarian suet

1tbsp dried coriander

1tsp salt

1/2tsp mustard powder

2tbsp margarine or butter

You’ll also need

Large saucepan

Foil

Greaseproof paper

String

Method

1. Fry the onion in the margarine or butter with the cloves, over a low heat until soft.
2. Add the garlic, celery and mushrooms and continue frying until soft.
3. Remove the cloves, add the flour and stir until absorbed. Cook on a low heat, stirring until the flour has changed colour. Remove from heat and slowly add the red wine followed by the stock. Stir the mixture constantly to ensure the liquid absorbs evenly.
4. Place back over a low heat and cook for a further minute, then add chopped chestnuts, panko breadcrumbs, five spice powder and herbs. Season to taste with salt and pepper, then set the mixture aside.
5. Fill a pan, which is big enough to fit the pudding bowls in, with water until it reaches 3/4 of the way up the side of the bowls.  Put this on to boil.
6. Mix the pastry ingredients together in a bowl and slowly add enough water to make a dough (approximately 200ml).
7. Separate one quarter of the dough for the lids and cover with a damp cloth. Set aside.
8. Grease the inside of the bowls with margarine or butter. Divide the remaining mixture in half and roll out into large discs, big enough to fill the pudding bowls with a small amount to cover the edges.
9. Divide the mushroom mixture between the two bowls. Divide the remaining pastry in two and roll out to make lids.
10. Wet the pastry, which overlaps the top of the bowls and press lids carefully onto the bowls. Trim any excess.
11. Grease two pieces of foil and place each on top of the puddings. Cover each piece with greaseproof paper, tying string around to secure to the bowls.
12. Carefully lower into boiling water and allow to simmer for approximately two hours.
13. Allow to rest for about 10 minutes before serving the puddings.