New Zealand Play the French - Let's Eat Indian

The All Blacks are playing the French.
Pete and Elphie were coming over to watch the rugby.
Food on your lap was the order of the day. What better than Curry?

On Food TV Cyrus Todiwala one of Britain's most successful Indian chefs, demonstrated this delicious curry.
"I Curried favour" with our guests!!! and it worked
The flavour and texture of this dish with the ground nuts in the sauce is just divine.

So:
Green Curry with Cumin Pilau

Once again you can make the sauce for the curry earlier in the day and add the prawns just before serving.
The Pilau is very simple just a wonderful flavour with the cumin and onion

First the Curry
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
5cm piece cassia bark broken in half
4 green cardamom pods, lightly crushed
4 cloves
1 onion, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, crushed
4cm piece ginger, finely grated
2 green chilies, seeded, finely chopped
½ tsp turmeric
1 tablespoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon ground cumin
150 mls water
500 mls coconut milk
50 gms cashew nuts, roughly chopped
110 gms ground almonds
5-6 fresh curry leaves
500 gms tiger prawns, shells removed
2 tablespoons roughly chopped coriander leaves


Heat a heavy-bottomed casserole, and add oil.
When hot add the cardamom, cloves and cassia bark.
Cook for one minute on medium heat.
Add the sliced onions and cook for 3-4 minutes, or until translucent.
Make sure the onion does not brown.
Add the garlic, ginger and green chilies, and cook for 4-5 minutes.
Mix the turmeric, ground cumin and ground coriander with the water to make a paste.
Add to pot.
Place the coconut milk, ground almonds and cashew nuts into a food processor and blend until you have a smooth paste.
Add a little water if required to give it a single cream consistency.
As soon as the liquid has reduced down in the pot, add the coconut milk mixture and stir continuously for 1-2 minutes.
Add the curry leaves, and bring to the boil, stirring slowly.
Add salt, to taste, and simmer for 1-2 minutes, then add the prawns.
Continue to cook for a further 1-2 minutes, before removing the saucepan from the heat.
Sit for 5-6 minutes, while the latent heat of the curry cooks the prawns.

For the Cumin Pilau
These proportions of rice to water are perfect for this method. Couldn’t be simpler

2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 onion, finely chopped
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
900ml water
500g basmati rice, washed
Salt and freshly ground black pepper


To make the Pilau,
Preheat the oven to 150C
Heat an ovenproof saucepan until hot and add the oil, onions and cumin seed.
Fry for 3-4 minutes until translucent and softened.
Add the water and bring to a simmer.
Add the rice and stir well to combine.
Bring to a simmer and cover.
Place saucepan in the oven for 15 minutes.
Remove from the oven and fork through.
Season, to taste, with salt and freshly ground black pepper


To serve, place Pilau Rice on plates and ladle curry on top.

Garnish with chopped coriander leaves

Tuna with a Different Thai Curry Sauce

This vegetarian Thai Curry is perfect for serving over Tuna Steaks.
Add some sautéed Baby Bok Choy and steamed rice.
What a fab light meal.
It’s very simple took 4 pans but what’s the dishwasher for.
I had a disappointment with the green curry paste that I had bought…no guts to it.
So pick your paste well.

The programme that inspired me was Manic Organic.

For 4 people

1 Tuna steak per person (approx 150 gms each)
Sea Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Vege oil

1 tbs Vege Oil (I like Rice bran oil)
2 punnets Cherry tomatoes
2 shallots finely chopped
2-3 tbs Green Curry Paste


1 can coconut cream
½ can Chicken stock
2 tbs Fish Sauce
Juice 1 lime

2 -3 Tbs Thai Basil finely sliced

Baby Bok Choy

Steamed rice

Sauté the tomatoes and shallots in rice bran oil for a few minutes
Add curry paste and mix well and cook for a couple of minutes

Meanwhile in a pot
Place coconut cream, stock, and fish sauce and bring to simmer.
Simmer 5 minutes or so
Add sautéed vege and bring back to boil and
Add lime juice and just before serving
Throw in Basil

While this is cooking cook your rice.

Brush the tuna with a little vege oil ,
Season with salt & pepper,
Sear in a hot pan in a little vege oil to your taste…about 2-3 minutes each side.

Take the baby Bok Choy and pull the leaves off.
Separate stems from leaves and finely slice the stems.
Sauté in a little vege oil for a couple of minutes
Throw in leaves and let them wilt.
Season salt & pepper

To assemble
Serve rice
Place Tuna on top
Pour over curry sauce
Top with wilted Bok Choy.

Divine.



But how to deal with the leftovers

Cook them Biriani style
Biriani is an Indian dish of rice layered with either meat chicken or vegetables.
And each layer lightly covered with a some liquid or stock.
It then is well sealed and basically steams in the oven.

You usually only par cook the rice as it continues to cook in the oven but as this is using leftover cooked rice it seems to be just fine

Into a casserole dish.
Put a couple of tablespoons of the curry sauce in the bottom
Layer with rice
Break up tuna and spread over rice.
Pour over more sauce and some Thai basil leaves.
Cover with remainder of rice and finish off with the curry sauce.
If it looks a little dry just sprinkle a little chicken stock not too much though

Throw a few Thai basil leaves on top

To get the Biriani feel make a circle (cartouche) of oiled parchment paper.
Push down on top of rice this is to keep the steam in.
Into 180 oven about 30 minutes

Chicken Curry Including the 5 A Day Vege

In the fridge was a big bag of Chicken tenderloins
What to do with them???
First thing that came to mind was Chicken Curry

These days we are blessed with wonderful packets of Curry Paste
Much easier  than making it yourself and very very tasty

I like to use Vegeta as seasoning, it is salty and packed full of flavour.
And if you are so inclined .
It's Gluten Free

The beauty of this particular Curry is the amount of Vegetables included
Pumpkin at the moment is at it's peak, beautiful colour. It Has to be good for you

 So you need for 6 generous servings

2 packets Curry Paste
Chicken tenderloins 1kg
I large onion peeled and sliced
2 cloves garlic peeled and smashed
500 gm piece pumpkin, peeled and cut into cubes
1 carrot sliced
2 courgettes sliced
Vegeta seasoning
1 tin coconut milk
Handful green beans sliced
1/2 Lime or Lemon

Chop chicken into 2cm cubes (approx)
In a large pan, add curry paste  let bubble slightly
Add chicken and stir well

In another pan sauté onions and garlic
Add carrot and pumpkin
Stir and cook gently till vegetables are tender
Add courgettes
Season with 1 tablespoon of Vegeta

When the Vegetables start to gain some colour add to chicken
Deglaze Vegetable pan with 1 cup hot water
Add to chicken
Top up with extra water till chicken is just covered
Simmer till tender about 15 minutes
Add coconut milk
Simmer for another 10 mins

Meanwhile top and tail then slice the green beans into 2.5 pieces
Blanch in boiling salted water
Add  to chicken
Cook for another 5 minutes
Set aside
This dish improves with time
Let those flavours meld
So preferably  cook at least an hour before serving
Even better earlier in the day
Before serving add the Juice half lime or lemon

Serve over rice with coriander on top
Dinner is served
Good for lunch the next day
Perfect

Pineapple is the Hero

I know the tulips have nothing to do with pineapple and soup, but they looked so pretty I just had to take a quick shot.


I really loved Barbara’s idea of yellow for food for Livestrong Day...148 entries received, isn't that amazing.
I was pleased with my Curried Parsnip and Apple Soup and wondered how pineapple would react with the curry and winter vege combo. Well I am happy to report it is great.

Pineapple of course responds well to curry and it worked here as well.

As you can see very simple ingredients

1 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon butter
1 red onion
2 med parsnips
1 large carrot
1/8 of a pineapple (half of what is pictured)
½ a butternut marrow

1 litre Chicken Stock
2 heaped teaspoons curry powder (I used mild)
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Green onions for garnish
Good extra virgin olive oil for that little extra zing to finish.

Peel and roughly chop all vege and pineapple.

Add butter and oil to saucepan and heat
Add onions first to soften then all the other vege and pineapple.
Stir well
Add curry powder and season with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Add stock and a little extra water if needed to cover the vege

Bring to boil and simmer for about 45 minutes. Check the seasoning and add more if needed
Cool a little and blend till smooth

Serve with a garnish of finely chopped green onions and just a little drizzle of olive oil.

These soups really improve if made earlier in the day or even the day before.

Asha from foodieshope http://foodieshope.blogspot.com/
has a recipe for Olive Rye Bread. Look it up...it's worth it.
It looked delicious I made it today and it would make a wonderful accompaniment for this lovely soup. I used a light rye flour.

It was excellent with mozzarella, tomato and basil. Just popped under the grill for a few moments to melt the cheese.

I'm sure it will be great for lunch tomorrow.

Lamb and Beer Curry

I found this excellent curry recipe in the goodtoknow.co.uk website
This recipe called for potatoes but one member of the family, is not eating food from the nightshade family for a month or so, therefore I used sweet potato (kumara) instead
It worked well
Pretty too
Perfect for a winter night

2 tablespoons rice bran oil
1 red onion, sliced
2.5 cm piece of fresh ginger, chopped
3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 tsp chopped fresh turmeric
1 red chili, finely sliced
1 tsp cardamom seeds
1 tbs finely chopped lemon grass, outer Leaves removed
2 tbsp red curry paste
700g  lamb leg, no bone, cut into 4 cm chunks
125g  plain yoghurt
330ml bottle of 8% ale
3 potatoes, or sweet potatoes peeled and each cut into six pieces
1 large handful fresh coriander (cilantro), chopped
16 sugar snap peas, topped and tailed
16 green beans, topped and tailed

Heat the oven to 170°C
Blanch the prepared peas and beans, in boiling salted water, for just a minute
Drain and set aside
Heat the oil in a flameproof casserole dish over medium heat.
Add the onion and cook, stirring often, until lightly caramelized. 

Add the ginger, garlic, turmeric and chili and cook, stirring, for 5 minutes.
Stir in the cardamom seeds and lemongrass powder and cook for a few minutes more.
Stir in the curry paste and cook until fragrant,
then add the lamb pieces and stir well to thoroughly coat all the lamb with the paste.

Stir in the yoghurt, bring to a simmer,
then add the beer, stirring well to combine.
Bring back to a simmer.
Put the lid on the dish, place in the oven and bake for 45 minutes.




Meanwhile, toss sweet potato with 1 tbs red curry paste and 1 tbs rice bran oil
And roast for 20 minutes
Toss with 2 tbs coriander

and add to casserole
Then back into oven for another 30- 40 minutes lid on

the meat should be quite tender by now.
Add the sugar snap peas and beans and bake, still covered, for a final 5 minutes. 

Stir the remaining coriander through just before serving.

Carrot Soup Island Style

The Beautiful No-Ever Beach

Our host family Tony, Kathy with their girls including the brand new baby 48 hours old.
Tony supplied us with a leg of suckling pig.  Freshly
I have only had this once before and it is so fabulous, as long as you get your head around baby pigs. BUT we all eat lamb and milk fed veal…so, I guess its not much difference.
The Skin was so white and the flesh a very pale pink.

It roasted beautifully. What a crackling. My friend Lois, who is a champion Pork cooker would be proud.

Anyway only 4 of us ate the roast so there was a lot left over. Being my Mother’s daughter, nothing ever goes to waste so I set about and made
A Japanese Pork Curry, Thursday's Dinner
The leftovers were dinner on Friday night
Curry on Toast

Still had a lot of meat left over so I carved off the best bits and made

A Pork and Ginger Beer Stew with Green Capsicum, onions and white wine.

And with the bones and residual meat

A beautiful gelatinous stock.

And Carrot Soup

We did that pig justice

Carrot Soup
50 gms butter
6 carrots peeled and cut into small cubes, (you could grate it)
Sea salt and black pepper
1-2 teaspoons ground coriander
2 cloves garlic finely chopped
100 mls ginger beer
Meat Stock, preferably homemade Of course I used the pork stock
I think Veal or chicken would be just as good Beef a little strong perhaps.
A good slosh of Thai Ginger Sauce (Shop bought, or if you are lucky enough Heinzie’s version)

Melt the butter in a pot
Add carrots
Gently sauté till they are coated with the butter
Season with S & P and coriander
Stir
Add garlic
Stir again then add ginger beer
Simmer till it reduces and the carrot start to soften

Add the stock about 600 mls I think
Add Thai Ginger sauce
Simmer again till carrots really soft
20- 30 minutes.
Cool
Blitz in blender till smooth

And serve. Deep orange colour and delicious.

The Stock was really simple.

I used what was in the fridge
Threw in the pork bones and any residual meat that I hadn’t used
2 onions cut in half
4 celery stick
Bunch parsley
4 cloves garlic
Green capsicum scraps
Couple of chillies
½ bottle white wine
Sea salt and Black pepper
Water to top the pot up.

I cooked it for about 2 hours just simmering away
Strain it
Cooled and removed fat from the top
And Voila
Stock fit for a king.

There are Changes Afoot.

Renovating The House.
I have had a strange week. I haven’t been cooking First I got a 24 hour virus.
Lack of appetite... nausea...tired
Dale had baked beans on toast while I languished in bed. The painter's sheets were off the furniture so there was a slight amount of normality. We could watch TV in the lounge again.
We are fare-welling Dougie "The Uber Painter" (he has completed an awesome job for us)
and welcoming the flooring people.

The next job on the agenda…new flooring.
Thursday dawned and the wooden flooring man came.
We had empty the dining room.

The exciting bit -The Piano.
With difficulty 3 of us got it up into the lounge area.
And he started.

Then the Video technician arrived the Plasma TV is going on the wall

It’s looking good.

Of course it needed overnight settling-in time.
We ate out.

Friday morning The Carpet
Now move everything back down including The Piano.
This time we enlisted the help of 3 burly men!!!
Success

Surprisingly enough there was a problem. The manufacturers sent the wrong carpet
So our carpet layer could only work on the stairs.
Luckily there was a farewell lunch for Per (one of our presenters at Juice TV who is off to live in the UK with his lovely wife) at Portofino “The Clubhouse”.
This is our local and we love it there.
Alex once again put on superb food.
I have to say their grilled squid is pretty hard to beat.

A feast of squid, and pizzas was ahead of us.

Washed down with some excellent wines.
Gino’s pizza has a wonderful spicy chorizo on top.
Crisp bottom melting cheese, I think artichokes and that superb chorizo.

Delicious

Sad to see Per go, he has been a great presenter, but we wish them both well for their future life in the UK.
Back at work...A little Sing Star and some extra wine A fun day.

This is the state of the kitchen so on Saturday I went shopping for ready prepared food at my local Supermarket for lunch and dinner.
The food wasn’t that bad.
I had Green Chicken Curry a little mild for me but quite tasty,.
Dale liked his Roast Vegetable Curry

Katie offered her kitchen for Sunday Dinner. Any excuse to see the little girls.

This new baby Cleo is such a good girl. So far, doing everything right. Her big sister Mia is coping reasonably well with the interloper.

It was good to be cooking again. I cooked Hapuka(Grouper) accompanied by Risotto flavoured with a Cauliflower and Parsnip puree.
Very good. Didn’t take any photos but I did make the following soup a couple of weeks ago and it is excellent.

So while on the subject of Cauliflower try this.

Roast Chicken and Cauliflower Soup
I really love velvety soup and this soup is so delicious, not overpowered by any of the flavours a beautiful blend.
Just to puree the vegetable is not really enough for that extra gorgeous smoothness,

there needs to be a roux.

You will see that I have boosted the chicken flavour with some chicken stock powder.
The addition of the braised leeks at the end add a nice dimension to the texture, little speckles of green.
So I seasoned and roasted 2 large chicken thighs on the bone sitting on a large onion with some thyme and rosemary to make stock.

Should take about 30 minutes.

Meanwhile I braised 2 leeks my word they do look pretty

Just slice thinly and sauté gently in 2 tablespoons butter,
Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper
Add a little water and cover and cook gently about 5 minutes just till tender.

Put aside
When the chicken thighs have roasted

Take 1 cauliflower and break into florets
Throw into a large pot
Add all the contents of the roasting pan and cover with water.
Bring to boil and simmer till cauliflower is tender
Strain cauliflower and reserve stock

Remove chicken and herb sprigs (the chicken could make some nice sandwiches for lunch the next day minced with a little mayonnaise and grated cucumber)

Place cauliflower in blender
With a little of the stock, puree till smooth.
Add half of the leeks and puree again

In your pot add 2 tablespoons butter and melt
Add 2 tablespoons flour stir well and

cook for a few minutes to get rid of the “flour” taste

Add 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard and

2 teaspoons chicken stock powder.
Plus a good grind of freshly ground black pepper
Mix in the rest of the stock
Bring back to the boil stirring to stop any lumps forming.

Add more water if it is too thick
Add the cauliflower and leek puree.

Add reserved leeks
Taste and adjust the seasoning if needed.

Who could believe my little lemon tree could produce so much beautiful fruit.
I have pruned it...so it is a sparse, look how pretty it is now with the daffodils and freesias

Argentine Steak-More Food for Winter

I have no idea why dish this was named Argentine Steak...but once again it came from the tried and true "Triple Tested" Cook Book...A favourite Cookbook from the 60's and 70s for those of us that lived in Wellington and Environs, during that time 
Perfect for a dinner party
Simple, cheap and better still... best prepared the night before
A young Mothers' Dream Party Meal

I have resurrected it for this Winter
Got thumbs up from my guests

Ingredients
1.5 Kg Blade steak 
2 tablespoons sugar
2 Tablespoons Flour
1 tsp curry powder
1 tsp ground ginger
1 glass port
1 glass tomato sauce
1/2 glass vinegar
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
Juice and zest of 1 lemon
1 clove garlic crushed with a some sea salt

Cup Grated cheese
Chopped bacon (3 rashers)

Handful Pitted Prunes

Garnish
Parsley, finely chopped

Cut Steak into 2 in pieces
Place on flat oven proof dish 13” x 9” / 350 x 240 mm

Mix sugar, flour, ginger and curry powder
Massage into meat

Pour over Port, tomato sauce, vinegar, Worcestershire. lemon juice and rind

Plus grated  cheese and chopped bacon

You can prepare the dish ahead and leave overnight in the fridge ( recommended )
Pre-heat oven 175C
Cover with tinfoil
Bake for  1 hour
Add prunes

 Bake for another hour

Garnish with some finely chopped parsley
Serve with Potato Mash and Garlicy Green beans

For the beans
Top and tail the beans
Blanch in salted boiling water for just 2 mins
Drain and run under cold water to cool
Put aside till you need them

In another pan add 1 tablespoon olive oil
2 cloves of garlic peeled and crushed with a little sea salt
Zest of 1 lemon

Heat gently over medium heat, don't brown the garlic, it will get bitter
Add cooked green beans
Toss over medium heat till they are heated through