Twixmas recipes for when you’re bored of Christmas leftovers

From a hearty root vegetable udon to a fun upgrade for your bread and butter pudding, these recipes will keep you going through Twixmas

This udon is a great way to use up leftover festive vegetables like carrot and squash (Anton Rodriguez)

Are you wondering what to do with all your Christmas leftovers? These three recipes from some of IndyEats’ favourite chefs will help clear out the fridge – and let you experiment with new flavours.

Kenchinjiru udon

By: Shuko Oda, head chef at Koya

“There seems to be a version of ‘hearty root vegetables in broth’ in every culture, and when your heart is set on eating it, there’s really nothing else that can replace it. Here’s a version that appears on our specials boards when the days are icy cold, to warm your heart and body. At the restaurants, we like to cook the vegetables until tender and crumbly.”

Serves: 2

Ingredients:

380g udon noodles

600ml dashi

2 dried shiitake mushrooms

1 tbsp roasted sesame oil

½ carrot

50g daikon

120g kabocha (squash)

1 sheet (40g) of fried tofu (also known as usu-age, this can be bought from most Japanese or Chinese supermarkets)

½ leek

½ tablespoon of soy sauce

½ tablespoon of sake

Spring onion (optional)

Method:

Soak the dried shiitake mushrooms in 200ml of water overnight. When you are ready to cook, take the shiitake out, cut them into quarters and keep both the shiitake water and shiitake for later.

In the meantime, peel and dice the carrot, daikon, kabocha and leek into bite-sized pieces.

Place the fried tofu in a colander and pour over boiling water from the kettle to drain the excess oil before slicing it into 1cm strips.

In a medium saucepan, heat up the roasted sesame oil and fry the carrots, daikon and kabocha for 5 minutes. Then add the fried tofu, shiitake and leek and fry it for another 5 minutes. This is a good moment to start cooking the udon, complete instructions are on your other card. To finish off your vegetables, add the dashi, water from shiitake, soy sauce and sake and simmer until the vegetables are tender.

Once the udon have been cooked as per the instructions, divide into bowls and pour the dashi and vegetables over. You can garnish with spring onion if you like.

Itadakimasu!

To drink

Yves Cuilleron Les Vignes d'a Cote Viognier 2021

Viognier is the perfect grape to pair with squash with its fuller body and gorgeously long finish. Buy now

Turkey green curry

Turn leftover turkey into a delicious and flavourful curry (Saiphin Moore/Rosa’s Thai)

By: Saiphin Moore, founder of Rosa’s Thai

Serves: 4

Ingredients:

500g leftover turkey, cut into bite-sized pieces

1 tbsp vegetable oil

3 tbsp green curry paste

400ml coconut milk

1 tbsp palm sugar

2 tbsp fish sauce

3 lime leaves, torn

100g pea aubergines (available online or from Thai supermarkets)

100g Thai aubergines, cut into quarters (or purple aubergines, cut into chunks)

150g cooked bamboo shoots, cut into bite-size pieces

A pinch of sea salt

A handful of basil leaves

To serve: steamed rice

To garnish: 2 red spur chillies (diagonally slice) and some sprigs of basil

Method:

1. Heat the oil in a saucepan over a high heat and add the curry paste. Stir-fry for 10 seconds until fragrant.

2. Reduce the heat to medium and add half the coconut milk. Cook for about 2 minutes until the oil splits and rises to the surface.

3. Add the remaining coconut milk, the palm sugar and fish sauce, and season with a pinch of salt. Stir in the lime leaves, pea aubergines, Thai aubergines, leftover turkey and the bamboo shoots. Cook over a medium heat for 5-7 minutes. Stir in the basil leaves.

4. Ladle into serving bowls, garnish each one with some sliced chilli and a sprig of basil. Serve with steamed rice.

To drink

Niepoort Vinhos Conciso 2018

A beautiful rich white made mainly from the local Encruzado grape which is round and fruity enough to balance with this dish. Buy now

Panettone bread and butter pudding

Give your bread and butter pudding an upgrade with leftover pannettone (if you have any!) (Paul Winch-Furness)

By: Chef Jun Tanaka, chef-owner of The Ninth

Ingredients:

Leftover panettone

For the crème anglaise:

500ml milk

500ml double cream

100g sugar

3 eggs

25g vanilla essence

Method:

For the anglaise, mix all the ingredients together in a bowl.

Take an oven-proof dish and add a layer of panettone. Ladle some of the anglaise over the panettone.

Then add another layer of panettone and some more anglaise. Repeat this process until all the panettone is used up.

Bake in the oven at 110C for 45mins.

Take out of the oven and allow the dish to cool to room temperature.

Sprinkle some caster sugar over the top and blow torch until caramelised. Serve with ice cream.

To drink

Terre di Serrapetrona, Sommo IGT Passito 2012

When it comes to dessert pairings, Panettone means Passito! This sweet red will be an ideal match for this. Buy now