WHILE many kids are watching Facebook Live or Youtube videos for learning and hobbies during this period of lockdown, Ballymoney 11-year-old Adam Cooper has gone a step further and created his own online cook-along.
Only child Adam admits that spending the past five weeks at home has been “boring” at times and that he misses his friends. But he has used his spare time to experiment with creating new recipes and sharing his love of Chinese cooking with others through a weekly Facebook Live cooking show.
Although he started his own YouTube channel Addycooks over a year ago, Adam says he “enjoys the live shows” more.
“It’s great to interact with my audience and have them cook along with me. Even making mistakes adds more fun to the live stream.”
Adam started getting involved in cooking at home with his mum, Bonnie, from the age of four.
“My mum taught me everything that I know. I started watching her cook from a young age and as I got older she would have me practice chopping things up and then making my own things.”
Now Bonnie admits it’s Adam who's starting to teach her new techniques and recipes.
“I'm not keen on deep fat frying and don't normally go for things like crispy fried chicken goujons, but Adam has a great recipe for them and he's actually taught me to cook them,” says the proud mum.
Bonnie’s love of cooking also began as a child in her native China. “My dad loves cooking and I was always interested in what he was doing and I’m delighted Adam has followed in our footsteps.
“If you enjoy the process and understand a bit more about cooking, that actually helps you enjoy food better and have a healthier lifestyle.”
While Adam’s recipes include many Chinese takeaway favourites, such as chicken fried rice, he is keen to point out that “real Chinese cooking” is much healthier.
“Chinese food is very quick and healthy. When people watch my videos they will realise that Chinese takeaway is not like real Chinese food.”
Adam incorporates some old family recipes and tips in his cooking, but says the staples of nearly every dish he cooks is “ginger and garlic”.
“You build everything else around those two ingredients. Soya sauce is also great for marinating meat.”
Adam also enjoys gardening and growing vegetables and herbs to use in his cooking.
“We grow peas, garlic, Chinese vegetables and we also have fruit trees,” he enthuses.
And his favourite dish to eat or cook? “I love my meat – so anything with chicken, beef and pork,” he laughs.
All of Adam’s recipes take less than 20 minutes to make and use ingredients found in your local supermarket. He does love experimenting with recipes from other nationalities, but admits “even if it's a Western dish I still add a Chinese twist, like some spices or herbs.”
As he talks viewers through the various methods and steps required to create his Chinese-inspired meals, they can see Adam carefully cut up vegetables with large professional knives and beat eggs with chop sticks. Along the way he passes on tips, such as it’s best to beat eggs in a circular clockwise direction to make them mix and cook better.
As well as his online channel, last summer Adam demonstrated his entrepreneurial skills in putting together Addycooks cooking packs, which included the sauces, marinades and vegetables needed to cook the accompanying recipe, and selling them in his local area.
“I wanted to help encourage others to cook. The packs meant people just needed to add meat,” explains Adam, whose plans to build his own Addycooks website were put on hold, due to Covid-19.
During this time of quarantine, he also enjoys catching up with his extended family back in China, on Skype.
“I have cousins and uncles and grandparents in China we visit them every year but had to cancel our trip this February. Our family weren’t affected by the virus; now they're starting to worry about us.”
Adam admits his favourite celebrity chef is young American YouTube star Joshua Weissman, who has 1.7 million subscribers.
“I'd love to have a television show showing other people how to cook Chinese food,” says Adam, who encourages everyone to have a go at cooking from scratch.
“People don't cook a lot these days because they think it's hard and complicated, but you can make some really tasty dishes from scratch in a few minutes. It's not very hard.”
ADAM'S CRUNCHY CUCUMBER AND BEEF
(Serve 2, ready in 15 minutes)
One cucumber,
Rump steak
Ginger
Two cloves of garlic
Soy sauce
Cornflour
Method:
Take off both ends of the cucumber and rub them against the bits you just cut them off from. This should help get rid of any bitterness sometimes present in cucumber (my Chinese great-grandmother’s secret method). Slice it down the middle, then cut into 2mm slices; season with half a teaspoon of salt and mix well. Leave to marinate.
Slice your steak into 1cm slices and marinate with one tablespoon soy sauce and one teaspoon cornflour.
Thinly slice your ginger and finely chop your garlic.
Add four tablespoons oil into a hot wok or pan and fry half of your ginger and garlic for 10 seconds.
Add the beef and fry until browned, then take it out along with the ginger and garlic (leave as much oil behind as possible).
Add in the rest of your ginger and garlic and add in your cucumber without the excess juice. Once the cucumber is in the wok make sure everything is done swiftly so the cucumber doesn’t lose its crunchiness.
Add back in your beef and fry for a minute. Add half a tablespoon of soy sauce. Mix a teaspoon of cornflour with 2 tablespoons of water and add to your cucumber and beef and mix in well.
Now it is ready to serve with rice or noodles.
:: Adam will demonstrate this recipe on his Facebook Live broadcast on Thursday at 12pm. Follow Addycooks on Facebook and Youtube for new recipes.
