Curry Puffs February 21, 2010

Ingredients:
500g mince
1 tin lentils
1 small onion
carrot, pumpkin, sweet potato, broccoli
Curry powder, Cumin, Cardamon
Salt & pepper
Pastry

method:
Brown the mince and finely chopped onion. Drain off remaining fat/oil. Drain and rinse the lentils, then squeeze out as much moisture as possible. Chop enough vegies to make about 2 cups worth, and steam these until cooked. Mix all the ingredients together. Season with spices to taste – I never measure things, but I try 1tb curry powder, 1/2 tsp cardamon and about 1tsp cumin, and add more if you need it. Cut pastry sheets into 9 squares, put a spoonful of mixture into the centre and fold into a triangle. Pinch the seams closed. Bake at 200ºC for about 15 mins.

Less Fuss, 2 meal Roast May 6, 2009

Normally I like to go all out with my roasts… I bake them slowly, basting often, separate the pumpkin so I can make it burn a bit (Mmmmm burned pumpkin!)… sometimes even popping it under the grill if it’s not burned when everything else is ready…… but more simple can be good too… and this “recipe” of sorts shows how you can make a roast span over 2 days with minimal effort for the second night.

When you buy the roast meat, buy a portion bigger than you would normally need. It doesn’t have to be twice as big if you’re happy to bulk it up with vegetables and yorkshire pudding.

In a large (twice as big as your meat is) baking dish (I use the black enamelled kind with a lid), place the roast in the centre, and then in one end put (single layer if you can) whole, washed, skin on baby potatoes, and in the other end larger pieces of pumpkin (I prefer skin off, but thats up to you). Add about 3cm (3/4″) water to the dish and put the lid on. Pop that in the oven at about 180ºC for 1.5 hours. Go read or do something to pass the time.

Then bring the roasting pan out and carefully drain off all the water/juices into a saucepan (keeping it). Return the roasting pan to the oven, uncovered.

Make the yorkshire pudding mixture (1 egg, 1 cup milk, 1 pinch salt and 1 cup flour [you can use either, SR flour makes a lighter 'pud', plain makes a dense one]) Put a little olive oil in the wells of a muffin tray, and put it (empty) in the oven for about 30 seconds, bring it out and pour the ‘pud’ mixture in (about half fill them), being careful because the oil may sizzle a bit, then put it in the oven for about 15 mins until golden brown. You can bring the roast out and leave it somewhere with the lid on if you think it’s cooked enough.

Get your other vegies ready if you’re having them (we do steamed peas, corn and broccoli usually), and make the gravy. You can spoon off the oil from the top of the roasting pan juices (or leave it in)… and add some gravy powder if you like, and some extra water. Make about twice as much gravy as you normally would.

Serve your roast, serve up only half of the meat, putting the remainder in the saucepan of gravy. After the meal, when the gravy has cooled, put a lid/covering on and put the pan in the fridge.

Roast day 2 – simply take out the pan of gravy/meat and heat this on the stovetop while you get some vegies happening (I forgo the effort of roasting more and just toss some spuds, pumpkin and other veg in the steamer), and make another batch of yorkshire puds. You can get 2 nights out of the meat, and all you have to do the next day is reheat it. The gravy keeps it lovely and moist, so you don’t have dried out leftovers. If you wanted to, you could probably cook a double batch of spuds, pumpkin and puds the first night, and stick them in a baking dish and reheat it in that while your gravy/meat is heating… but it probably won’t be as nice as making new veg.

Slowcooker Chickpea Curry January 16, 2009

Ingredients:
500g chicken
Potato
Sweet potato
Pumpkin
Cauliflower
Broccoli
1 tin chickpeas
1 tun coconut milk
1 green chilli
Cardamon, Cumin, Coriander and Garlic to taste (about 1/2 tsp each)

 
Method:
Cut chicken into bite sized pieces and brown this is a frypan, then place the chicken in slow cooker. In the frypan, heat the spices, then add those to the slow cooker. Cut the vegetables into bitesized pieces, then add to the show cooker with the chickpeas and coconut milk. Cook on low for several hours.

Slow Cooker Lentil Curry December 13, 2008

Ingredients:
Handful of red lentils
1 onion (chopped)
1/2 butternut pumpkin (diced)
Small sweet potato (diced)
Red capsicum (diced)
Fresh tomato (chopped)
Green beans (sliced)
Spices – cumin, ground coriander, garam masala, tumeric and chilli

 
Method:
Add all ingredients to the slow cooker (Add water – but not sure how much), mix well, put the lid on and allow to cook for several hours.

 
(From http://www.joyousbirth.info)

Slow Cooker Beef Curry December 13, 2008

Ingredients:
800g beef, diced
1 onion – diced/chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed/finely chopped
1 ½ tbs madras curry powder ( or 3 tsp of madras 3 tsp normal curry)
1 tbsp plain flour
1 cup beef stock
400g can diced tomatoes
2 med carrots diced
1c chopped pumpkin
400g chat potatoes quartered

 
Method:
1). Brown the meat.
2). Place all ingredients in the slow cooker, cook on low for around 6 hrs. serve with rice

 
Slightly adapted from http://www.nappycino.com.au

Creamy Chicken Stew December 13, 2008

Ingredients:
235ml Low Fat Evaporated Milk
1tb plain flour
4 Chicken thighs or breasts
2c sliced fresh Mushrooms
2 Potatoes, peeled and cubed
2 large Carrots, peeled and sliced
1c pumpkin, cubed
1c peas
235ml Chicken Stock
1ts mixed herbs
2 ts chopped fresh Parsley

 
Method:
1). In a small bowl/cup mix the flour and milk until smooth.
2). Place all the ingredients (including milk mixture), except parsley into the slow cooker
3). Cook on low for 6 hours. Add parsley just before serving. Serve with rice or pasta.

 
Recipe from:
http://www.bellybelly.com.au/forums/showthread.php?t=17924

Vegetarian Curry December 13, 2008

Ingredients:
1 Onion, finely chopped
1 Clove Garlic, crushed
1/2 tsp Chilli
1/2 tsp Turmeric
1/2 tsp Coriander
1/2 tsp Cummin
1c Lentils
1 litre vegetable Stock
1 tsp Lemon Juice
Salt and Pepper to taste
2 Carrots, diced
1c pumpkin, diced
1c potato, diced

 
Method:
Lightly fry the onion and garlic, then add the spices. Add the lemon juice, lentil and stock. Bring to the boil and boil for 5 minutes. Pour this into to the slow cooker and add the vegetables. (You may need to add more water/stock) Cook on high for 3-4 hours (or low 7-10 hours).

 
Slightly altered from the recipe posted by Debbie Lee:
http://www.bellybelly.com.au/forums/showthread.php?t=17924

Vegetable Quiche December 13, 2008

Ingredients:
6 eggs
Spring onions, finely chopped
bacon (2 rashers), chopped
1/4 cup grated cheese
1 teaspoon cornflour
a “splash” of milk
1/4 cup of steamed broccoli
1/4 cup sweet corn
1/4 cup steamed pumpkin
1/4 cup spinach
1 sheet puff pastry
Optional – cooked diced chicken breast

 
Method:
1). Fry the bacon and spring onions. Then leave to cool.
2). Put the cornflour into a coffee mug, add the milk and stir until it is combined. Beat the eggs and milk mix together. Add whatever herbs and spices you like.
3). Add all ingredients together and stir gently, but don’t whisk it! (otherwise you’ll have too much air in the quiche and it will puff up and look bizarre
4). Line a deep flan tin with the pastry (I need to cut some of the overlap off and use it in the areas it doesn’t cover). Add the egg mix. Use a pastry brush to coat any exposed pastry with the filling mix.
5). Put this on the top shelf of the oven and bake until pastry is browned. You might need to turn the oven down towards the end to let the inside set without burning the pastry.

Chicken & Veg Parcels December 13, 2008

This is basically a “freeform pie” – rather than using a pie dish, you just slop the ingredients onto the sheet of pastry and wrap it up.

Ingredients:
3 chicken thighs (skinless)
3 small-medium sized mushrooms
1 clove garlic
1 small onion, finely chopped
Pinch of assorted spices (mixed herbs, cardamon etc.)
1c grated cheese
1/2 cup spinach (I use 2-3 cubes of [defrosted] frozen stuff)
handful of peas and corn
1/2 cup steamed pumpkin
1/4 cup steamed broccoli
1/2 cup steamed eggplant
1 sachet of cream of mushroom cup-a-soup
Sheets of puff pastry

Method:
Fry the meat, onion, garlic and mushrooms. Mix the mushroom cup-a-soup with about 1/2 a cup of water and pour over the meat. Add rest of ingredients together. Make sure your mixture is not too runny.

Scoop the mixture onto a sheet of pastry and fold the corners over to make a sort of envelope.  Make sure the pastry overlaps well so that it will seal and the filling will not leak out.  (You can make 4 small parcels by cutting the pastry into 4, or make one large one from a full sheet)

Then flip it over so the seams are down on a greased tray, and poke an airhole in the top. You can brush the pastry with beaten egg and sprinkle with sesame or poppy seeds and herbs.

Cook in a hot oven (200ºC ) until the pastry is cooked…. about 15-20 mins.

Creamy Pumpkin Soup December 13, 2008

This icontains chicken but if you are not a meat eater, you can leave out the meat.

Ingredients:
1/2 a butternut pumpkin (or you could use any type)
4 Potatoes
1/2 a Medium Onion
2 Cloves Garlic
600 ml Light (Reduced fat) Cream
4 finely chopped Chicken Breast/Thighs
1 teaspoon Curry powder
Fresh Basil and Parsley
Salt and pepper to taste

Method:
1). Take the skin off the Chicken (if it has skin on), and fry these in a large soup pot with just a touch of oil.
2). Finely chop the Onion, and chop the potatoes and pumpkin into cubes (as if you were making potato salad – bite sized pieces) and add those to the pot. Add the curry powder. Continue frying.
3). Finely chop the Garlic and herbs (use as many as you wish), and add to the pot when the meat and onion have browned (Garlic cooks quicker than Onion and you don’t want to burn it).
4). After a few moments (Don’t let the Garlic burn), add approx 4 cups of water (enough to cover the ingredients), and simmer this for around 2 hours.
5). Add the Cream, Salt and pepper and simmer for about 5 minutes.
6). Allow to cool slightly, then puree with a hand held blender or food processor.

When done enjoy a bowl with some nice crusty bread, and then pour excess the soup into containers to freeze or leave in the fridge for another day (Will last a few days – depending on how fresh your meat/cream is)

Roast Beef/Lamb December 13, 2008

Ingredients:
Leg of Lamb or Beef Roast
2 -3 cloves Garlic (good sized ones)
1 Onion
Fresh Basil
Fresh Rosemary
Fresh Parsley
4 Mushrooms
1 teaspoon wholegrain mustard
2 – 4 teaspoons gravy powder
Salt and pepper (I like cracked pepper)
Capsicum (optional – I don’t put it in, I hate it, but it would be nice for those who like it)

Potatoes
Pumpkin
Zucchini
Carrot
Corn
(any vegies you like)

Yorkshire Pudding makings

Method:
1). Take your hunk of meat and place it in a roasting dish. Large enough for your roast, plus extra room. Using a sharp knife, stab about 2 cm into the meat in a few places, and place into each of these holes a halved (or quartered if they are large) peeled Garlic clove. You could poke herbs and things into this hole too if you like. It lets the flavours infuse into the meat.
2). Smear the top of the roast with the mustard, sprinkle chopped fresh herbs over the top (you can use dried if you have nothing else).
3). Slice the onion (I leave them in rings) and the mushroom, and scatter those over the meat and into the pan. Add water to the pan to fill up to about 2cm.
4). Put the lid on (or cover with foil if your pan has no lid), and put this into a low-medium oven (say about… 150C maybe?), for as long as you can. I like to go about 3-4 hours at about 100C….
5). Take care of your roast. Don’t just leave it alone, every 20 mins or so, baste the meat, by getting a large spoon and spooning the liquid in the pan back over the meat. This stops it drying out.
6). About an hour before you are ready to eat it, Peel (if you wish, I often don’t bother), and chop into halves or quarters (depending on the size) your potatoes. Cut the pumpkin about the same size.
7). Remove the roast from the oven, and carefully pour off (and keep) the water. You might like to keep the mushrooms and stuff with the water, otherwise they will burn in the next phase.
8). If you can, spoon off the top layer of the water you saved from the roasting pan. This should have lovely juices and some oil. Put this in the bottom of the baking dish.
9). Toss into the dish the Potatoes and pumpkin. Make sure they are coated in the oil/water mix. If for some reason your roast didn’t give you any oil, you might need to give the vegies a bit of a spray with oil so stop them sticking to the bottom.
10). Put this back into the oven, but this time without the lid, and turn the oven up to about 180C. You’ll need to turn the vegies over half way through, and you might like to do the same for the roast – or one side will go very dry. You can continue to baste it (not too much liquid), with the stuff you poured off, or is remaining in the pan.
11). About 20 mins before you want to eat, Put some Zucchini into the roasting pan. I cut mine in half, then cut those halves into 4 lengthways. Also put on your Yorkshire Puddings.
12). Then start to get your other vegies happening (I use a steamer on the stove top for things like the broccoli, corn etc.)
13). Use the water you poured off the roast as your gravy base (add a bit of water mixed with gravy powder). Leave the onion bits and everything in there. You can add some more fresh herbs to this, as the ones you added before will have browned and wilted.
14). When everything is ready, serve.

I like to leave the garlic in the roast, and just slice the meat. The roasted garlic has a more nutty flavour than the usual garlic one, so is quite mellow enough that it is nice when you bite into your meat piece and find the garlic. If your guests hate garlic, or you think they might, when cutting the meat, just flick out the garlic cloves (they will be mushy) and discard (or eat them yourself)…

Chargrilled Steak and Vegies December 13, 2008

Ingredients:
Small amount of oil
herbs/spices
Steak
Potato
Pumpkin
Zucchini
Broccoli
Sweet Corn

 
Optional mushroom gravy:
Mushrooms
Spring Onions
Capsicum

 
Method:
1). Wash or peel the potato. Cut the potato into slices (fairly thin – about 1/2 a cm thick). Cut pumpkin into similar sized slices. Put these in a saucepan of boiling water/steamer until soft. Chop the Zucchini into slices twice as thick as the potato, and simmer those until they start to soften. Drain these vegies well and put them to the side.
2). Mix the oil and the herbs/spices together. You could add some garlic if you like.

 
Depending on how well done you like your steak, or how thick it is…. you might need to put the vegies on the grill first, or the meat. I like well cooked vegies and a medium rare steak… so this is how I do it:

 
3). Lightly brush the pumpkin with the oil mix. Put the pumpkin on the grill. Do the same for the potato. You need to do this carefully, as the soft potato and pumpkin will break up easily. Lastly, add the zucchini.
4). Add the meat to the grill. (no need to brush with oil). Put the broccoli and corn on to boil/steam.
4b). If making the mushroom sauce… chop ingredients (the “optional” ones). and fry them lightly. Add gravy powder and water, and let this simmer. Add herbs/spices to season. Put some peas, corn etc. into a steamer or pan of water to cook.
5). When you think that side is done, brush with oil and flip them over. I don’t know how long that will take… it depends on how well you like them cooked. Just remember if you lift it up and put it back down… you’ll ruin that cool stripy effect Wink
6). When both sides are done, drain the vegies, add everything to the plate (in a decorative fashion of course) and top with your optional gravy….. yum!

 
If your grill isn’t big enough for putting everything on, you might like to have the oven on at about 60C and do the vegies first, put them on a plate/tray in the oven with foil on top and keep them warm. Or you can do the meat first and put that on a plate with alfoil on and let it sit while you do the vegies.

Vegetable Stew/Casserole December 13, 2008

Ingredients:
Basically whatever you have in the fridge…. some things I usually use are:

Pumpkin
Potato
Corn
Peas
Zucchini
Broccoli
Carrot
Onion
Garlic
Pasta /rice – about a 1/2 cup of rice or 1 cup small pasta
herbs and spices
Tomato paste (1/2 small tin)
Wholegrain mustard (about 1ts)
meat – chicken, beef, sausages.. whatever I have
Powdered milk
Gravy powder
cornflour

Method:
1). Chop the vegetables and meat into bite sized pieces.
2). In a large casserole dish put all the ingredients in – except the last 3 and mix well.
3). In a coffee mug, mix about 2 teaspoons of cornflour and about 1-2 tablespoons of gravy powder with about 1/2 cup of water. Mix well. Add about 2 tablespoons of milk powder, stir well and add to the casserole dish.
4). Top up with water to cover the ingredients. Put the lid on and place in an oven at about 150C for a good 2 hours. Keep stirring it every 15 mins or so, to make sure it doesn’t stick. You can cook it on the stove top in a saucepan if you wish

If you are in a hurry, fry the meat first, and cut the vegetables (like the pumpkin, carrot and potato) into smaller pieces, and it will cook quicker.

Or you could do this in a slow cooker instead of the oven

Lamb Rogan Josh December 13, 2008

This originally called for lamb shanks and using a slow cooker, but this variation is using diced lamb in a casserole dish in the oven.

 
Ingredients:
2/3 cup sour cream
1 tb plain flour
1/2 ts chilli powder
1 ts ground coriander
1/2 ts ground ginger
2 chicken stock cubes
1 ts ground cardamom pods
1 can diced tomatoes
1 cup water
ground nutmeg to taste
salt and ground black pepper to taste
2 tb cornflour
1/4 cup water
1 large onion, diced
Diced lamb
2 carrots, peeled and diced
1 cup potatoes, peeled and diced
1 cup pumpkin, peeled and diced
handful button mushrooms, sliced (optional)

 
Method:
1. Mix the sour cream and flour together until smooth.
2. In a coffee mug, mix the cornflour and water, until it forms a paste.
3. Mix the spices, stock, tomatoes and water in a saucepan and being to the boil, then slowly add the cornflour mixture and simmer for 2 mins
4. Remove from the heat and stir in the sour cream mixture.
5. Add all ingredients to a casserole dish, and bake in the oven for 2 1/2 hours at 180C

 
(From http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Rogan-Josh-Lamb-Shanks/Detail.aspx)

Quick Pumpkin Curry December 13, 2008

This is made using a sachet of curry paste. You could substitute it for another kind of curry paste, but this is what I like.

Ingredients:
1 sachet of “Raj Masala” Kashmiri Korma curry paste
200g diced beef
1 cup of steamed chopped pumpkin (should be cooked until it’s turning into mash)
1/2 cup grated zucchini
handful of chopped leek (or onion)
1 c approx milk
1 ts cornflour
Rice

Method:
1). Put the rice on to boil/steam whatever
2). Add the meat to a saucepan (no oil), and fry until browning, add leek and fry until meat has browned.
3). Add pumpkin and curry paste, stir so that the pumpkin mostly breaks up.
4). Mix the cornflour and milk and stir well to remove lumps. Slowly add the milk mixture to the meat mixture so that it doesn’t curdle (if it does, stir quickly for a while and it should go back together again). You should have enough milk to cover the meat – add more if you are feeding more people or like a milder curry.
5). Bring mixture to the boil and the milk should thicken. Serve in the centre of a bed of rice, with a dolop of sour cream.

You could cook the curry in a slow cooker, but don’t add the milk until the end or it will curdle. Instead use water, and then at the end mix 1tb milk powder with 1tb cornflour and a little warm water, then add this to the bubbling mixture and stir well until it thickens.

Pumpkin Soup December 13, 2008

Ingredients:
Pumpkin
Sweet Potato
Pepper
nutmeg
Onion
Brown Sugar
vegetable Stock

Method:
Chop up pumpkin & sweet potato. Mix up some olive oil, ground pepper & nutmeg, toss pumpkin pieces in the oil to coat thoroughly. Bake pumpkin in a moderate oven for about 40-60 minutes (until really soft).

Roughly chop an onion or 2, coat it in the olive oil (but this time add a little brown sugar to the coating mix as well as the nutmeg). Add it to the oven tray about 15 minutes into cooking the pumpkin.

Heat up some stock in a large pot till it’s simmering. Add the roasted vegetables. Use a hand blender to completely mash down the vegetables & mix until the consistency is right (I start with a little stock & add more if needed). Adjust seasoning if necessary

Red Hot Root Soup December 13, 2008

Ingredients:
pumpkin
carrots
sweet potato
onion
chilli paste
garlic (optional)
vegetable stock
1 tin cannelli or butter beans

 
Method:
Fry up onion/chilli with olive oil in a large saucepan until soft. add the chopped vegies. Add some stock to cover the vegies. Bring to boil with lid on. Simmer until vegies are soft. Add a rinsed can of cannelli/butter beans, then puree/process soup until smooth.

 
Serve with a dollop of cream on top and sprinkled dried parsley or a sprig of fresh for garnish, and some bread.

 
(From joh)

Variation
Leave out carrot and add 1/2 can of coconut milk, ginger and corriander

Creamy Chicken & Pumpkin Risotto December 12, 2008

Ingredients:
2-4 Chicken Thigh fillets (skin off)
1/4 cup (approx) spring onions (chopped)
2 large Mushrooms
1 cup raw Arborio Rice
2 cups of hot water
2 Bacon stock cubes
2 cups (approx) milk
2 low fat cheese slices
1 cup (approx) steamed pumpkin and broccoli (mostly pumpkin)

Method:
1). Chop and fry the chicken until browned.
2). Add the Spring onions and mushrooms (thinly sliced) and fry until the chicken is browning/mushrooms are soft.
3). Add the raw rice and stir until the rice is warmed. Add the bacon stock cubes to the water, and pour half of this into the frying pan. Bring to the boil.
4). Add the remaining water-stock as needed and simmer while stirring. As the mixture starts to get drier (the rice absorbs the liquid) keep adding up the milk.
5). When the rice is softening, add the vegetables and cheese.
6). Keep stirring and adding more milk until the rice is cooked (soft). Then serve.

(I usually get itto the point when it’s just slightly undercooked, then cover it with a lid, turn the heat off and get the plates out and stuff and its ready by the time I serve about 2-3 mins later)