Ravishing Runny Raita…

This yummy, slightly hot dipping sauce or raita, was originally supposed to be a “chutney”, but it turned out way too runny to be spread on anything. It is, however very very tasty, and spooned or poured over an Indian dish or a bowl of plain rice, it is very moreish and delicious.

Makes a great dip for poppadoms while you are waiting to serve your main curry.

Green Raita

12 tbsp low-fat Greek yoghurt

2 tbsp fresh lemon juice

4 tbsp fresh mint, finely chopped

4 tbsp fresh coriander, finely chopped

1 large green chilli, finely chopped

1/2 tsp salt (or to taste)

Place all ingredients in a bowl and blend thoroughly with a hand blender, until smooth. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

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!

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!

Making Your Own Paneer

I came across these pics recently, from two years ago when I made my own paneer one day. It was very successful and my then-husband used it to make Palak Paneer, a spinach & cheese Indian dish that I do not now have the recipe for – I think we just randomly selected one online somewhere.

The paneer recipe itself is here – step-by-step easy instructions with great photos.

I remember I did have a little trouble getting the milk to separate – it said use vinegar OR lemon juice, and whichever one I used didn’t make it happen so I ended up adding the other – but now I can’t recall which way around I added them! Apart from that it worked out really well and really does end up making a ball of cheese!

Don’t be deceived – it might look small but in fact this made a BIG piece – more than twice what we needed for the spinach dish – so it pays to make this when you want to use a lot of paneer within a few days, or are making an enormous quantity for a big Indian feast!

Happy Fooding!

Spicy Potato & Lentil Curry

This warming vegetable curry is super easy and quick, and makes a great side dish as well as a main vegetarian dish. If serving as a main, have some naan bread and raita or Greek yoghurt on the side, and you won’t be disappointed. The potatoes will break up easily when it’s done, and in fact you could squish them up quite a bit and make this a great filling for roti or tortillas.

And don’t worry, despite the 2 chillies, it is actually NOT high in heat.

Spicy Potato & Lentil Curry

2 tbsp olive oil

1 onion (any kind), finely chopped

2 red or green chillies, finely chopped

5 cloves garlic, crushed

1 tbsp coriander seeds, ground

1 tbsp turmeric

6 medium potatoes, cut into 5mm slices

2 x 400 gm cans lentils, drained & rinsed

2 cups vegetable stock

100 gms baby spinach leaves

cracked pepper, to taste

Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan, and saute the onion, chill and garlic for 3-4 minutes, stirring often. Add coriander, turmeric and potatoes, and saute for 5 minutes.

Add lentils, stock and cracked pepper, and simmer for 20 minutes or until potatoes are very soft. Add the baby spinach and fold through for about a minute until it has wilted.

Serves 6-8 as a side dish or 3-4 as a main.

Happy Fooding!

Vegetable Curry

Freshly ground spices and garlic make this into something out of the ordinary – not particularly hot, but full of flavour. Serve with brown rice, yoghurt & naan bread, and take the leftovers to work for lunch the next day (if there are any….).

Vegetable Curry

2 tbsp olive oil

1 tsp cumin seeds (whole)

1 cinnamon stick

1 large brown onion, chopped

6 cloves garlic, crushed

250 gms button mushrooms, cut into 3mm slices

425 gm can diced tomatoes

1/4 cup water

1 tbsp cumin seeds, freshly ground

2 tsp coriander seeds, freshly ground

2 tsp turmeric

1/2 tsp chilli paste

2 x 425 gm cans chickpeas, drained & rinsed

1 bunch fresh coriander, chopped (about 3/4 cup)

cracked pepper, to taste

100 gms baby spinach leaves

1 tbsp lemon juice

Heat oil in medium saucepan over moderate heat.  Cook cumin seeds and cinnamon stick for 30 seconds, stirring until fragrant.  Add onion and garlic; cook for 3 mins until soft.  Add mushrooms; cook until wilted.  Stir through tomato, water, ground cumin, coriander, turmeric and chilli.  Simmer for 10 mins, stirring occasionally.  Add chickpeas and coriander and pepper; simmer for 10 mins longer.  Stir through spinach and lemon juice until wilted.

Remove cinnamon stick before serving.

Serves 4

Happy Fooding!

Korma Fish Curry

On the plane last month on the way home from London, I watched an episode of Jamie’s Fish Suppers, in which he panfried a piece of coley (not a fish I’ve ever heard of!), smeared with korma paste and served with a sauce made of coconut milk, chilli & spring onions.

I decided to muck around with the idea of these flavours, and came up with this fish curry, which I am quite happy with. I used snapper fillets, but any firm fish will do – I was tempted to use salmon, as is my wont, but my boyfriend doesn’t like it all that much in its cooked form (blasphemous I know – luckily he has other redeeming qualities!).

Korma is not a particularly spicy curry paste, but the addition of a large red chilli helped haha. Leave this out though if you truly like your curry very mild (does anyone???!!  I guess they do… they’re in trouble if they come to my house lol).

The photo above is not very gourmet, but I actually forgot to take a photo until we’d finished eating – so what you see is the leftovers in a plastic container!

Korma Fish Curry

1 tbsp olive oil

9 spring onions, cut into 3cm pieces

1 green capsicum, roughly chopped

1 fresh red chilli, finely sliced (including seeds)

3 tbsp korma paste

3 firm white fish fillets (mine were 520 gms altogether), cut into 4cm pieces

400 ml can coconut milk (low-fat)

100 gms baby spinach leaves

2 cups bean shoots

1 bunch fresh coriander, chopped (including some of the stalks)

juice of 1 small lemon

Heat the oil in a deep pan. Saute the spring onions, capsicum and chilli for 2 minutes. Add the korma paste, stir to coat and cook for another 2 minutes, stirring so it doesn’t burn. Add the fish and coconut milk, bring to boil and simmer with lid on for 7 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add remaining ingredients, stir to combine, and cook for 1 minute or until spinach has wilted.

Serve with rice and naan bread.

Serves 4.

Happy Fooding!

Almost Got It Right….

I’m experimenting a bit with different Indian and Thai dishes at the moment, planning for a curry night later on.  As I’d like to use my slow cooker for one dish, to save time and make things easier on the night, I made this Chicken Vindaloo recipe.  It was a last minute “what have I got in the cupboard/freezer” thing that I just threw together and I’m kind of happy with the result, but will alter it just a fraction next time.  I used chicken breast fillets because I had those in the freezer, but they do dry out a bit, so thigh fillets would have been better.  It also could have been a tad more spicy for my taste – next time I will add a couple of chopped red or green chillies I think, or some of those pickled jalapenos you get in a jar.  But that’s just me!

This makes quite a large amount – halve it for a lesser quantity.

Crockpot Chicken Vindaloo

950 gm (approx) chicken fillets (skinless), cut into 5cm chunks

425 gm can diced tomatoes

140 gms (about half a jar) bought vindaloo paste (I used Pataks – or make your own if you have time)

2 large onions, cut into wedges

1/2 cup fresh coriander, roughly chopped

Mix vindaloo paste with diced tomatoes. Place onions in base of crockpot. Place chicken pieces on top of onion. Pour paste mixture evenly over the chicken.  Cook on LOW for 6 hours (stir once after 4 hours).  Mix coriander through to serve.

Serves 6.

I served this with brown rice and yoghurt – naan bread would be great too, only I didn’t have any at the time!

Happy Fooding!

Coleslaw With a Twist!

Try this variation on the usual Coleslaw idea…..it is a little sweet but not overly so, and it is healthier because it uses yoghurt instead of mayo 🙂

Indian Coleslaw

1 1/2 cups Greek yoghurt (low-fat)

2 tsp honey

2 medium carrots, peeled & thickly sliced

2 spring onions, chopped

1 1/2 cups cabbage, finely shredded

1/3 cup sultanas

1/2 cup salted cashews

2 tbsp fresh mint, chopped

cracked pepper, to taste

Using a fork, beat the honey into the yoghurt.  Mix together all remaining ingredients; pour yoghurt mixture over and mix thoroughly. Refrigerate until serving.  Serves 6 as a side dish.

Enjoy this simple, refreshing salad with your next bbq, or use instead of raita with Indian meals….Happy Fooding!

Packet Spice Mixes

I try to mostly make things from scratch – grinding cumin seeds, coriander seeds, grating whole nutmeg etc, rather than using the already powdered stuff.  The flavours are really quite different and much stronger, using fresh ingredients.

There are times, however when shortcuts are necessary for time reasons, or when you just can’t be bothered.  Recently when shopping in the William St area of Northbridge, here in Perth, which has a concentration of wonderful Oriental grocery stores, I chanced upon a huge range of Indian spice mixes, which contain no MSG (a big plus), no hydrogenated fats, no artificial colours and no chemical preservatives. Also gluten-free.  In fact, the list of ingredients is literally just spices, garlic, ginger etc.  I was impressed, so bought a couple of different packets to try.  The first picture above, is Vegetable Tawa – the spice packet is mixed with plain yoghurt, and this is added to the vegies & paneer that is cooked in the pan for a bit first.

I prefer homemade paneer, but I decided to try the bought one you can now buy in the supermarket – it was nowhere near as good as homemade, although certainly very convenient.

I was pretty happy with the finished dish – spicy but not horrendously hot.  We had garlic/lemon-marinated prawns on the barbie, to go with it – just had to take a photo of those because they were so BIG and yummy looking as they sizzled away. I don’t eat prawns very often so it was a bit of a treat for me.

The other packet I bought was the Biryani one, so I am looking forward to trying that some time soon.

Happy Fooding!