Moroccan Quorn Tagine

I’ve been eating a lot of quorn lately – trying all the different forms of it, both refrigerated and frozen. So far I’ve liked everything except the “sweet chilli stir fry strips“, which were very dreary tasting and in texture were more like tofu than anything else. Meh, won’t be going for those again. Everything else, however has been quite delightful, and this Moroccan Quorn Tagine recipe from the quorn Australian website, using frozen quorn pieces, was very good.

Mine even looks pretty much like theirs, too! I didn’t bother serving with couscous or rice, as for just me it was enough to scoff into a bowl of it without any accompaniments. Very nice indeed.

I broke my vegetarian phase the other night, with a Crust mediterranean lamb pizza (loads of garlic!) – it tasted great but afterwards I felt really bloated and yuck, almost like I was being punished for eating meat! I didn’t feel at all well for the rest of the evening, a bit like when you have an MSG overload at a Chinese restaurant, which thankfully doesn’t happen often these days. I for one won’t go back to a place that does the too-much-MSG thing. The pleasure is just not worth the gesplurgledness (my word) – headache/nausea/palpitations/breathing trouble and “dry horrors” all night afterwards. Don’t get me wrong –  if you like MSG in your food then go ahead, it’s just not my thing, especially after living in Suriname where the shops sold big bags of “aji-no-moto” and didn’t understand why I didn’t add heaped tablespoons of it to every dish I cooked!

So, I think I’ll skip the meat for a while again….red meat at least. I do have a bit of a pang for chicken occasionally, and this Winter weather does makes me feel like a nice comforting roast sometimes.

Terrible weather here still…..cold, wet, windy…..roll on Spring.

Happy Fooding!

Balls That Once Were Burgers

I love to cook, but sometimes I am also pretty lazy. I also don’t eat “fried” food much – never deep-fried, and minimal oil in any other kind of frying. So when I saw this great looking Cashew & Lentil Patties recipe at Weekend Notes, I really wanted to make it. Loved the simplicity of it, ease of preparation, vegetarian-ness (I can’t quite do it fully, but I can’t cope with lots of meat either), health benefits (nuts! lentils!) and combination of flavours. But then I thought hmmm maybe I could bake this instead, then thought hmmmmmmmmm if I make it as a “burger” then I have to have a side, or make it into a proper burger…..so because I’m feeling lazy, what if I just roll it into balls instead and bake them?

So that’s what I did. I just scoffed myself stupid on these, for dinner, dipping them in sweet chilli sauce. So it was like a main course and I didn’t feel I needed to make any silly old side dishes to go with it!

It worked brilliantly – very impressed with this recipe. Chuck it all in the food processor and roll it into balls – what could be easier than that? And a lot of scope for experimentation – you could add grated zucchini, carrot, feta, haloumi, tahini…..the list goes on.

Makes 28-30 balls.

The only thing I changed was that I thought the mixture looked a bit dry so I added a splash of milk – which in fact made it very sticky – so I probabably didn’t need to do that.

Although I ate this as my dinner, of course it would be perfect finger food for an appetizer. Win-win all the way really.

Happy Fooding!

Restaurant Review: Gurkhas Nepalese

11 of us went to the relatively new Gurkhas Nepalese Restaurant in Highgate for dinner last weekend, following pre-drinks at the Brisbane Hotel, which is only a stone’s throw away.

Four of us chose to have the $38.50 banquet so that we could try a few different dishes. The starter was delicious mo-mos (steamed dumplings), with a meat filling and a bit of spice, and little paneer-filled spring roll type things that were divine.

Service was good, our main waiter was super friendly and very happy to change the listed banquet dish of Butter Chicken to Chicken Tikka Masala instead. We also had goat, cooked on the bone – the meat was lovely and tender, but I’m not so fussed about having to deal with big chunks of bone in my meal when I’m out – and very nice Palak Paneer, one of my favourite Indian dishes.

The Tarka Dal was beautiful, quite an unusual blend of spices and unlike any dal I’ve had before – quite runny in texture, but it tasted really, really good. We had plain and saffron rice, and plain and garlic naan bread.

Serving sizes were not overly big – we ate the lot and I was full, but only just.

We could choose whichever dessert from the menu that we wanted (I didn’t have one, as Indian desserts I do not find appealing at all, but the rice pudding and ice cream was enjoyed by the others).

I like my food very hot and spicy, and these dishes were not particularly so – I guess a banquet is designed to suit a blander palate than mine – but it was very happily enjoyed by the other three, who were not very familiar with Indian style foods. Next time I would order my own individual dishes so that I could ask for things to be made extra hot!

Currently Gurkhas is BYO only, with a corkage charge of $2.50 for each wine-drinking guest (this is VERY cheap for Perth), and we were informed that they have applied for a full liquor licence, but the process takes a long time. There is no bottle shop close by, so being licenced will be a plus for those like me who always forget to take a bottle and then have to rush off to the nearest bottle-o to grab something!

Overall a good value eating place, close to the city, relaxed atmosphere with friendly staff – not stupendously fantastic, but then again not horribly overpriced and pretentious like some Perth restaurants. Gurkhas is certainly worth going back to.

Happy Fooding!

Still on the Vegetable Crusade….

Chopped veg

With my mountain of vegies to play with, I found this easy Pumpkin & Lentil Curry dish from the 4 Ingredients website – I mean you can’t get much simpler than this really – but I decided than rather than just pumpkin, I’d throw in a variety of vegies, because, well, why the hell not?!!

I was also feeling very lazy, so didn’t even peel the skin off the pumpkin…..

The result was okay, nothing too flash – actually it doesn’t look so great but it tasted better than it looks. A bit stodgy, but healthy and filling.

I’m off to an ANZAC Day picnic today, and yes I probably should have made Anzac biscuits, but I just couldn’t be bothered. I made olive tapenade and a zucchini slice, homemade bread and coleslaw instead.

Happy Fooding!

Luscious Lentil Spag Bog!

OMG this vegetarian spaghetti bolognaise was fantastic! Taste has such great recipes, from a variety of magazine sources and all thoroughly tested with good photos and clear instructions. I make a lot from this site and love the comments people add, to help me decide if I will give something a go or not. I’m always on the lookout for new vegetarian things to try and this fits the bill perfectly – it’s perfect for dinner parties or pot lucks where you need a vegetarian dish.

I did add 2 tiny red birds eye chillies, finely chopped, to the initial sautéed veg mixture, and increased the garlic a tad.

I also halved the amount of dried spaghetti, as I thought mmmm I think 500 gms is a hell of a LOT. I don’t know about you, but I like my pasta to have a real amount of sauce through it, not just 90% pasta with a tiny little blob on it! Halving the pasta quantity was the right decision as it was perfect with 250 gms, and looking at the website’s photo I can’t see how that is 500 gms of pasta unless they doubled the sauce. 250 gms is just right, as with all pasta dishes this is VERY filling – so it will still serve 4-6, depending on whether you have just a bowl of it on it’s own or serve it with salad, garlic bread etc.

I guess you could substitute other types of lentils, but red are perfect in this instance I think, and they cook so quickly, so no need for any pre-soaking/cooking.

As with any pasta dish, sprinkle liberally with freshly grated parmesan cheese if you like…..mmmmmm yum.

Happy Fooding!

Wonderful White Stuff

Sometimes, you can go literally years in between making something, and then you suddenly rediscover it. That’s what happened with this recipe – I was looking for an easy dip to make, to take to a cheese-&-wine-by-the-river evening, so that I wouldn’t be just taking a lump of cheese and a packet of crackers. I wanted to flesh it out a bit, to make my little cheese platter contribution amongst 25 people, a little less plain.

Rummaging around in my recipe e-files, I saw this dip and thought hmmmm why haven’t I made this in so long?! A trip to the supermarket post-dentist (I am funding my dentist’s retirement at the moment, with all of the work I’m having done!) to buy a can of cannellini beans, and 5 minutes later the dip was sitting in the fridge alongside a Wensleydale-with-cranberries block of cheese and a bottle of Yellow, all ready to go.

The texture and flavour of this dip is similar to a chickpea hummus, only minus the garlic. It’s great spread on toast too.

White Bean Dip

425 gm can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed

1/4 cup low-fat Greek yoghurt

1/4 cup hulled tahini (sesame paste)

2 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped

1 tbsp lemon juice

1/4 tsp paprika

cracked pepper, to taste

Mix all ingredients together in food processor until smooth. Refrigerate until ready to eat, then serve with crackers, squares of fresh bread, triangles of pita bread, or carrot/celery sticks. And wine and friends of course 🙂

My city at dusk

Happy Summer Fooding!

Crockpot Vegetable Chilli

Healthy and filling, this slow cooker chilli is the perfect example of the ‘chuck it all in and turn it on’ philosophy that slow cookers are all about. To me, a slow cooker should be about convenience, so the recipes where you still have to saute things on the stove first etc are just not my idea of fun. I want my crockpot to serve my needs, and this chilli suits the slow cooker ideal so well. Plus, it tastes great!

Vegetable Chilli

2 medium zucchini (OR 1 large eggplant), chopped

1 green or red capsicum, chopped

1 medium carrot, peeled & chopped

2 celery sticks, sliced (optional – include leaves as well)

2 brown onions, chopped

425 gm can chopped tomatoes

425 gm can chickpeas, drained & rinsed

2 tsp chilli paste

2 tsp cumin, ground

225 jar salsa (hot)

140 gms tomato paste

425 gm can corn kernels, drained

cracked pepper, to taste

Place all ingredients in crockpot. Cook on LOW for 8 hours. Serve with rice or tortillas.

It doesn’t get much easier than that!

Happy Fooding!

Aloo Dhal Curry

This website promotes Australian potatoes (including some varieties that I’ve never heard of!) and every now and then puts out a leaflet of recipes in the supermarket, which is how I came across this vegetarian lentil curry recipe. And, it tastes amazing!!

Below is my tweaked version – mainly I’ve just changed a few quantities to suit my taste or the weight of vegies I happened to have, and of course I upped the garlic lol. I also found it took longer than the stated cooking time, but then I did cut my vegies in quite large chunks so that could be my fault, not theirs.

Anyway, this is lovely and flavoursome, and hearty warming Winter fare for this last burst of cold weather (which I really hope is the last….). Or you can check out my similar-but-not-exactly-the-same Potato & Lentil Curry, a great vegetarian curry standby that is a no-fail easy dinner.

Aloo Dhal Curry

1 brown onion, cut into wedges

4 cloves garlic, crushed

3cm piece fresh ginger, peeled & grated

1 tsp turmeric

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

1/2 tsp coriander seeds, ground

1/2 tsp cumin seeds, ground

2 tbsp olive oil

450 gms potatoes, cut into large dice (leave skin on)

500 gms pumpkin, peeled & cut into large dice

1 1/4 cups brown lentils, rinsed & drained

425 gm can diced tomatoes

2 cups water

cracked pepper, to taste

1 bunch (about 1 cup) fresh coriander leaves, roughly chopped

In a large saucepan, heat the olive oil on medium heat, and saute the onion, garlic, ginger, turmeric, cayenne, ground coriander and cumin for 4-5 minutes, stirring frequently.

Add all remaining ingredients except coriander leaves. Bring to a simmer, and cook on low heat, stirring occasionally, for 45 minutes or until vegetables are tender.

Add coriander and stir through to serve.

Serve with yoghurt or raita and naan bread, if desired.

Serves 4.

Happy Fooding!

Vegetarian (or Not) Barley Stew

This Barley Stew is something I’ve been making for years, from the Internet somewhere, no idea where. It is true comfort food, perfect bowl food for a chilly Winter’s evening. This time, however I decided to make it as a meat dish, by simply adding a couple of chicken breast fillets to the pan. I was pleasantly surprised at how well this worked – no tweaking of the recipe was needed, I just added them along with the onion etc at the beginning.

So it’s your choice – without chicken as a great vegetarian main dish, or with chicken for the meat eaters.

Barley Stew

2 tbsp olive oil

2 chicken breast fillets, chopped into 2cm cubes (optional)

1 brown onion, finely chopped

4 cloves garlic, crushed

1/2 red capsicum, chopped

1/2 green capsicum, chopped

300 gms button mushrooms, chopped

1 cup pearl barley

425 gm can chickpeas, drained & rinsed

1 tsp cumin seeds, ground

a few drops Tabasco sauce, to taste

cracked pepper, to taste

1 tbsp soy sauce

4 cups vegetable stock

Heat oil over medium heat. Add chicken (if using), carrot, onion, garlic and capsicum and saute until onions are translucent. Add the mushrooms and saute for 2 minutes.

Add the remaining ingredients, bring to a simmer and cook, stirring occasionally, until barley is tender (about 50 minutes).

Serves 4

Happy Fooding!

1 medium carrot, peeled & finely chopped

Elies Tent

Here’s another restaurant review for you…….I love Middle Eastern food – Lebanese, Arabian etc. so I was really looking forward to this meal at Elies Tent.

Overall opinion – quite nice, but not outstanding and I think I’ll try elsewhere before I go back again.

Hummus & Babaganoush

We had a banquet as this was the best value and is a good way to try a bit of everything. Whilst the dips were pretty good (hummus and babaganoush) I’m sure the pita bread to go with it was just a bought one from the supermarket – VERY dry and brittle – whereas it should be piping hot and soft, served freshly out of the oven.

Falafels & lamb puffs

The nibbles of falafels and lamb puffs were delicious, as were the lamb and chicken kebabs – a tad burnt but for my taste I didn’t mind that really.

Lamb & chicken kebabs

The tabbouleh was superb – lemony fresh and salt with loads of fresh flat-leafed parsley; my photo of that turned out blurry though 😦

Finally there was a big plate of rice, which was quite sweet with cinnamon, fruit and almonds in it – very gluggy – topped with shaved cooked chicken and lamb that was very dry. I ate as much as I could anyway as I hate waste, but in the end we really did leave quite a bit on the plates.

Meat & rice

It was worth a try, but I won’t go back there again except maybe for a big bowl of their tabbouleh one lunchtime!

Happy Fooding!