Spicy Chicken

I had this delicious chicken dish at my aunty’s house whilst in Melbourne over Christmas, and immediately had to try it myself when I got home. It did not disappoint, and was fabulous served with a light and refreshing Cucumber & Dill Salad and some steamed broccolini.

This salad was amazing! I did it exactly as the recipe stated, and bought a piece of Danish feta to sprinkle over the top as I thought this would be a great addition to the flavours of cucumber, dill and zucchini – however, I completely forgot until we’d finished eating, that the feta was still sitting in the fridge waiting to be used! Oh well, I’ll try that idea next time, as I fully intend to make this salad again.

You can use whatever chicken pieces you like – I love drumsticks, and they’re great for picking at cold the next day. This would be a great picnic dish too.

My quantities are double the original, so increase/decrease accordingly as you see fit!

Aunty Helen’s Spicy Chicken

1 tbsp olive oil

8 chicken drumsticks

Spice Rub:

2 tsp salt

4 tsp sugar

2 tsp ground pepper (I had a jar of ground pepperberries so used that)

2 tsp ground ginger

2 tsp curry powder

2 tsp dry mustard powder

Sauce:

6 tbsp mango or lemon chutney

2 tbsp light soy sauce

2 tbsp worcestershire sauce

a splash of white wine

Combine spice mixture and coat chicken in it (I placed it all in a plastic bag to shake it around easily). Leave for at least 1 hour (overnight is good) in the fridge.

Heat the olive oil in a pan and brown the chicken on all sides. Place in a casserole or baking dish.

Combine remaining ingredients in a small saucepan, and bring to a simmer over low heat.

Spoon over the chicken pieces.

Cover with foil or lid and bake at 180C for 40 minutes.

Remove foil/lid and cook, uncovered for a further 20 minutes.

Happy Summer Fooding!

Quick Lamb Curry

This simple lamb mince dish is based on one from Simple Indian Cookery by Madhur Jaffrey – an old book that I came across at work recently, with loads of terrific and EASY Indian dishes.

There is no rocket science here; the key is in the use of fresh spices – get your mortar & pestle action on!

You could serve this as is, in a bowl, or make it a bit more glamorous with rice, tortillas or naan bread, raita, and maybe a side dish of sauteed mushrooms or mashed potato!

Minced Lamb With Peas

2 tbsp olive oil

1 brown onion, finely chopped

2 cloves garlic, crushed

1 tbsp freshly grated ginger

1 tsp cumin seeds, ground

1 tsp coriander seeds, ground

1/4 tsp turmeric

1/4 tsp cinnamon, ground

1/4 tsp nutmeg, freshly grated

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

2 tomatoes, chopped

4 tbsp low-fat Greek yoghurt

500 gms minced lamb

cracked pepper, to taste

1 cup water

juice of 1 lemon

3/4 cup frozen peas

Heat olive oil in a large saucepan or frying pan over medium heat. Add onion, garlic and ginger; stir until lightly browned.

Add the cumin, coriander, turmeric, cinnamon, nutmeg and cayenne pepper, and stir for 10 seconds. Add the tomatoes and yoghurt. Cook over medium heat until the tomatoes have softened, stirring often.

Add the lamb and cracked pepper. Cook, stirring, for 2 minutes, breaking up all the lumps.

Add the water and bring to a simmer, then cover and simmer on low heat for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Add lemon juice and peas, return to a simmer and cook gently, uncovered, for a further 10 minutes.

Serves 4

Happy Fooding!

Cooking With Herbs – An Old Fave

Chicken, mushrooms & vegie snags

This terrific and easy marinated chicken thigh fillet recipe is from another great old Women’s Weekly Cookbook from yesteryear – Cooking With Herbs. My copies of all of these old WW books are very food-stained, falling apart at the seams and generally well-loved! When I first bought this particular one, coriander was one of those “weird” herbs that you had to be innovative and daring in your food tastes, to use! Now of course it is a staple flavour in most kitchens, and deservedly so.

I have usually made this in a wok, but this time decided to rev up the barbie, as I had just given it a good clean (anticipating Summer, even though it’s still only mid-Winter – ever hopeful, I am). As you can see, I threw on a lot of food for just one person, but I find if I’m going to heat up the barbie, I have to make it worthwhile, so I just cook a heap of stuff and then have it as leftovers on sandwiches or in salads etc.

The fresh herb/garlic/ginger odours as the chicken cooked, were lovely – a good aroma coming off the bbq is always a delight.

Coriander Ginger Chicken

2 cloves garlic, crushed

1 tsp crushed fresh ginger

1/4 cup chopped fresh coriander

1/4 cup chopped fresh mint

2 spring onions, finely chopped

1/4 cup light soy sauce

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

2 tsp castor sugar

cracked pepper, to taste

6-8 skinless chicken thigh fillets, trimmed of fat

Add chicken to combined remaining ingredients in a bowl or marinating dish. Mix well and refrigerate for several hours or overnight.

Cook chicken in a single layer either in a wok, a medium frypan or on the bbq, for 5-7 minutes each side until cooked through. Pour over any leftover marinade during cooking.

Serves 4.

Thai Red Curry Prawns

I’ve had a bit of a meat-free phase recently – kind of a post-Christmas detox, only not really as I haven’t given up wine haha. I just sometimes feel my body needs more vegies, and I firmly believe in listening to what your body tells you.

I am eating lots of fish and prawns, and am also eating a lot of spices at the moment, no idea why. There are many versions of red and green Thai curries around, so I made up my own prawn dish using the elements I liked from several dishes. The result was quite good, medium hot and not too complicated to make.

The prawns I bought were quite small – I should have bought the giant king prawns and shelled them myself, but I just couldn’t face the messiness of peeling/deveining them myself . You just have to be in the right mood for that, so I cheated and bought smaller prawns, already peeled with the tails left on. Of course they shrink when cooked as well, so ended up quite small. Instead of cooking rice or noodles to go with it, I decided to have Thai fajitas! Prawns wrapped in tortillas with a little yoghurt instead of guacomole – yum!

Thai Red Curry Prawns

2 tbsp olive oil

500 gms prawns, tails left on, peeled/deveined

1 brown onion, cut into wedges

1 small carrot, peeled & thinly sliced

1 tbsp freshly grated ginger

2 tbsp red curry paste

400 mls coconut milk (I use low-fat)

1 tbsp fish sauce

1 tbsp brown sugar

2 kaffir lime leaves

1 cup fresh basil leaves

100 gms baby spinach leaves

Heat 1 tbsp of the oil in a wok or saucepan; add prawns and toss for 1 minute or until starting to change colour. Set prawns aside.

Heat remaining oil, and saute onion, carrot and ginger for 2 minutes, stirring constantly.

Add red curry paste and stir to coat, for 1 minute.

Add coconut milk, fish sauce, brown sugar and kaffir lime leaves. Bring to the boil and simmer, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes.

Return the prawns to the wok along with the basil and baby spinach, and simmer for 2 more minutes.

Serves 2-4 depending on what other things you have with it.

Happy Summer Fooding!

And The Winner Is…..

Despite my lack of decoration, and concern about the lack of sweetness, all of the gingerbread I made last weekend was chomped up and pronounced quite edible. Phew!

I’ve been very busy working a lot this week, plus attending a work Christmas breakfast and library Christmas party last night. I made spinach bites and vegetarian sausage rolls to take to the party, which was a casual bbq and loads of fun. Jane, who hosted, made some fabulous salads, including things like haloumi, roasted vegies, brown rice, and 3 dishes of potato bake that disappeared very rapidly! As a couple of people there could not eat eggs, I replaced the egg with milk, in the spinach bites, and it worked just as well, so that’s good to remember. As usual, everyone was surprised to find that the sausage rolls were vegetarian, as they taste so “meaty”.

I also made a batch of Christmas truffles – very boozy and rich – which I will share with you later.

Thank you to the 14 entries in my cookie cutter giveaway! I drew 2 names out this morning, and the lucky winners are….. Chris, from here in Perth, and Lindy, from Melbourne. I will be in touch with the winners privately to arrange their cookie cutter deliveries in time for Christmas.

I felt a bit post-Christmas-party-seedy this morning lol, but I’m sure I will have recovered by the time I get home from work tonight and be ready for a glass of wine again……

Happy Christmas Fooding!

Christmas Baking & Cookie Cutter Giveaway!

The Cookie Family!

You know it’s Christmas time when you have the smells of cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and cloves wafting around the house! I ended up using my own gingerbread recipe, and didn’t decorate them. I was going to, but then I thought meh I can’t be bothered. I find it hard to get motivated to go to that much trouble when there aren’t small children around anymore. When my kids were little I would spend the first weekend in December baking up a storm, but now they don’t live in the same state as me and I only see them a couple of times a year.

One day when there are (hopefully) grandchildren in my life, I will again get really into the Christmas sweet baking, but for this week just a batch of gingerbread to take to work was enough for me.

The cookie cutters worked really well. Don’t forget to “like” this posting (or make a comment) to be in the running for a free set! I will draw the 2 winners’ names out of a hat next Sunday.

My recipe did not turn out as sweet as I thought it should – but it all got eaten at work on Monday so I guess it tasted okay! It makes quite a large batch, but can be halved easily (the photo below shows half a batch). Or use your own favourite recipe, or the one I shared from the cookie cutters the other day.

Gingerbread

1 cup butter

1 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup treacle

2 eggs, beaten

4 cups plain flour, sifted

2 tsp ground ginger

2 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp ground cloves

1 tsp bi-carbonate of soda

1 tsp salt

approx 1 cup plain flour, extra

Melt butter in a saucepan until just melted. Remove from heat and add brown sugar, treacle and eggs. Mix well and cool for a few minutes, then add flour and spices and mix well.

Turn mixture out onto a floured board (it will be quite gooey still), and knead extra flour in by hand, to make a firm dough. Set aside in fridge for 20 minutes.

Preheat oven to 180C (160C for fan forced).

Roll dough out on a floured board (work in more extra flour if you need it) to 4-5mm thickness and cut into shapes with cookie cutters.

Place shapes on a greased or lined tray (baking paper works brilliantly) and bake for about 10 minutes depending on how hot an oven you have.

Store in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks.

Note: you can make the dough beforehand and keep in fridge, wrapped in plastic, for a few days – soften to roll out then cut and bake as above.

Happy Christmas Fooding!

I threw in a couple of stars & angels as well.

I Have a New Family…To Give Away!

…..a Gingerbread Family, that is!

Thanks to Wiltshire, makers of my adored Poachies, I now have a set of their new-for-Christmas Gingerbread Family cookie cutters. The set includes 5 cutters (there’s even a family dog!) and 6 disposable icing bags.

AND, I’ve been given a couple of sets to give away to you, the lucky Salmon & Avocado readers!!!

Here’s an extract from the media release:

“For an extra sweet Christmas this year, create a whole gingerbread family with the Wiltshire Home for Christmas Gingerbread Family cookie cutters. The fun kit includes five cookie cutters – a gingerbread dad, mum, brother, sister and even a dog!

Baking is a large part of the holiday tradition and decorating the gingerbread family is the perfect way to get the kids involved in festive activities this year. The pack also includes six disposable icing bags – which encourage neater decoration and take the stress out of washing up afterwards.

Once baked and decorated, the Gingerbread family can be given as Christmas gifts, snacks or even treats to be left out for Santa!

The Wiltshire Home for Christmas Gingerbread Family cookie cutters, RRP $8.98 from Big W – or call 1800 65 11 46 for nearest stockist details”

I’m going to have a play with the cutters on the weekend – I’m sure my work colleagues won’t mind an early Christmas morning tea on Monday! I was sent a recipe, but there is also one on the back of the box, plus I have my own gingerbread recipe that I’ve been making for years anyway – so I’m not sure which I’ll use but it should be fun playing around.

So how do you win one of these sets? All you need to do is “like” this post (or the fb page if you are reading this there), or “like” the post/make a comment when I actually make the gingerbread.

Here is the recipe I was sent, in case you just can’t wait and want to start baking up a gingerbread storm right away!

Gingerbread Family Cookies Recipe

Ingredients:

• 75 g soft brown sugar, sieved
• 2 tablespoons golden syrup
• 1 tablespoon black treacle
• 1 level teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 level teaspoon ginger
• 1 pinch ground cloves
• 95 g butter, cubed (and a small amount to grease the baking trays)
• ½ level teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
• 225 g plain flour

Ingredients for decorating:

• 50 g Smarties (optional)
• 1 egg white
• 1 cup of sifted icing
• Selected food colourings (red and green are great choice for Christmas!)

Instructions:

1. Pre heat the oven to 180 °C and grease two baking trays with butter.
2. Put the sugar, syrup, treacle, 1 tablespoon of water and spices in a large saucepan. Bring them to boiling point, stirring all the time.
3. Remove pan from the heat and stir in the butter and bicarbonate of soda.
4. Stir in the flour gradually until dough is smooth and manageable. Add a little more flour if you think it needs it.
5. Cover dough and leave in a cool place to become firm (approx. 30 minutes).
6. Roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface to 3 mm thick.
7. Dip the Gingerbread cookie cutters into flour (to help prevent the dough sticking to the cutters) and press into the dough to produce your gingerbread family.
8. Place gingerbread cookies on trays (with a little space between each) and bake for 10-15 minutes or until the biscuits feel firm when lightly pressed.  Be aware the smaller cookies may cook quicker.
9. Remove from oven, leaving biscuits on trays to cool for a few minutes before transferring them to a wire rack.

Instructions for the decoration:

1. Place the egg white in a clean, dry bowl and beat until soft peaks form.
2. Gradually add icing sugar and beat until stiff peaks form.
3. Divide icing into bowls for each colour you are using. Add a few drops of food colouring and mix, adding more if required for desired depth of colour.
4. Spoon the icing into the icing bags that come with the Wiltshire Gingerbread Family Cookie cutters (use a separate bag for each colour).
5. Snip the tip of the bag and pipe the icing onto the cooled biscuits.
6. A dab of icing under a Smartie will secure the family’s ‘buttons’!

Happy Christmas Fooding!

All Aboard the Quinoa Train

I became a fan of quinoa when living in Chile – it’s a staple thing there, just like rice or couscous. At the time, no one in Australia had heard of it, but now it is very trendy and recipes are popping up in all the foodie magazines. Quinoa is extremely nutritious, and goes equally well as a plain side dish or as a more substantial meal, such as this pilaf.

My work colleague, who writes the fabulous Excelsior literature blog, and runs the book club at our library, adores quinoa and recommended this Indian-Spiced Chicken Quinoa Pilaf recipe as one he had tried and found delicious. And I agree! I made it exactly as written and it was completely perfect in every way.

My goodness, this was sooooooooooooo tasty! There was quite a bit of chopping up and measuring things out beforehand, but the actual cooking part was easy. I thought it would be very spicy because of the green chilli and all the spices, but actually it wasn’t so much spicy as flavoursome – a great Indian blend of aromatics that works really well.

This is VERY filling and quinoa, like rice, increases hugely as it absorbs liquid, so this quantity would easily serve 6 if you had some kind of bread and salad with it.

As a variation, I’m thinking prawns instead of chicken would work really well here – added sometime towards the end maybe, as 20 minutes would be way too much cooking time.

This is definitely going in to my saved recipe files.

Happy Fooding!

Thai Pork Stir-Fry

The other night I made this very easy pork mince dish from taste.com – I don’t usually think of mince when I think of stir-fry, but this did turn out well and has a lovely mix of Thai flavours in it. Instead of serving with rice noodles, this would be good served in lettuce cups, as it pretty much is the same ingredients as a Thai larb dish.

The ingredients here are not anything super unusual, but the flavours come from using fresh foods. If you didn’t use fresh lemongrass, ginger, garlic and chilli, for sure this would taste quite uninteresting and bland.

Another serving idea, which would make this go a bit further if you had more people to feed, is to serve it as a kind of Thai fajitas – the noodles in a separate bowl, with warm tortillas, Greek yoghurt or sweet chilli sauce, and maybe a bowl of shredded lettuce.

Serves 4 – so plenty of leftovers for me!

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!