Curry Night

Tonight I made four curries, or made three and put together a chicken korma with bought sauce because that's what Arya eats, as well as making pilau rice. Aside from the korma, this whole lot is vegetarian, and probably vegan. It was also a roaring success.

Sag aloo
1/2 tbsp oil
1 onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tbsp ginger, chopped
500g potatoes, cut to roughly 2cm cubes
1 large chilli, chopped
1/2 tsp mustard seeds, crushed
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp ground turmeric
250g spinach

For this recipe, I used a chilli from the garden, and home grown beetroot greens instead of the spinach.

1. Heat the oil on a medium heat and fry the onion, garlic and ginger for about 3 minutes.
2. Add the potatoes, chilli and spices; stir and cook for another 5 minutes.
3. Add a splash of water, cover and cook for 8-10 minutes, until the potatioes are soft through, but not disintegrating.
4. Add the greens and wilt before stirring together.

Red lentil dahl
1/2 tbsp oil
2 onions, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tbsp ginger, chopped
1/2 chilli, finely chopped
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
2 tsp turmeric
1 tsp garam masala
200g red lentils
400g chopped tomatoes
400ml coconut milk
500ml vegetable stock
Juice of 1/2 lemon
2 handfuls spinach

Again, this used the home grown chilli and beetroot greens (in lieu of spinach.) Be aware, this recipe makes a lot of dahl.

1. Heat the oil and fry the onions for about 5 minutes.
2. Add the garlic, ginger and chilli and cook for another 1-2 minutes.
3. Add the spices and cook for another minute.
4. Add the lentils, tomatoes, coconut milk and stock and cook for 15-20 minutes.
5. Add the lemon juice and greens and allow to wilt.

Curried beetroot
1/2 tbsp oil
450g beetroot
1/2 onion
2 chillies
2 cloves garlic
1/4 tsp ground coriander
1/4 tsp ground cumin
120ml coconut milk
120ml water

A late addition to the lineup intended to use the home-grown beetroot, I actually made about half this much because the beetroots were very small.

Mix all the ingredients together in a pan. Bring to the boil, reduce heat and simmer for about 5 minutes covered, then 10 minutes open.

Emergency Sticky Ginger Chicken

400g chicken
1 cup frozen veg (peas, broccoli, carrots)
500g egg noodles, cooked
1 tbsp sesame oil
1 tbsp tomato puree
1 tbsp tamari
2 tbsp clear honey

1 tbsp grated root ginger
Juice of one lemon
2 tsp rice wine

Could add spice or chillies

Mix tomato puree and liquids.

Marinate chicken and veg.

Stir fry.

Add noodles and cook through.

Coq au Vin

This one is a bit of a classic which I semi-improvised around. The onions and garlic should be good and chunky in this recipe. The carrots should be in fat slices and the mushrooms quartered. This is a hearty, rustic stew, so the veg should be chunky.

6 thick rashers bacon (or pack of pancetta or lardons)
2 small-to-medium onions
3 cloves garlic*
6 chicken thighs, bone in
300g mushrooms
Two carrots
600ml red wine
300ml chicken stock

Chop the bacon up and fry in a large saucepan or stock pot. Trim the fat, but do not remove it all; much of the cooking fat should come from the bacon.

Add the onions and garlic, roughly chopped. Cover and simmer until the onion starts to soften.

Add the chicken and brown on both sides.

Add the carrots and mushrooms, roughly chopped.

Add the wine and stock. Bring to the boil, then turn down to a steady simmer. Cook for about 30-40 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through.

Serve with mash, noodles or rice.

* Some recipes describe the garlic in coq au vin as 'optional', but how can anything with that strong a flavour be optional?

Summer Pancake Pudding

Another recipe for leftover pancakes.

7-10 uneaten drop scones
Approx. 500g mixed berries
3 tbsp vanilla sugar
3 tbsp water

Line a pudding basin with cling film.

Put the berries in a pan with the water and sugar, leaving out strawberries and anything else that would go squidgy. My mix was about half strawberries with raspberries, blueberries and blackberries. Bring to a simmer then gently heat for about five minutes.

Remove the pan from the heat. Strain the fruit, reserving the syrup.

Add the strawberries to the other fruit.

Line the basin by soaking pancakes in the syrup then laying them in an overlapping pattern.

Fill the pudding with fruit and lay the remaining pancakes over the top.

Close the cling film over the pudding. Place a small plate over the top and weight with cans. Chill for at least two hours.

Lemon pancake bread and butter pudding

This recipe is based on this one from the BBC.

Small stack left over gluten free drop scones (aka Scotch or American-style pancakes)
Lemon curd
Cinnamon powder
350ml whole milk
50ml double cream
2 eggs
25g sugar

Butter a 2 pint ceramic dish.

Spread the pancakes generously with curd, cut in half and arrange in layers in the dish. Sprinkle with cinnamon.

Gently heat the milk and cream together.

Beat the eggs and sugar gently together. Add the milk and cream and stir through until combined. Pour this custard over the pancakes.

While the pudding sits, heat the oven to 180C, and then cook for about 30 minutes.

Serve with fresh berries and a little cream or ice cream.

Paprika Chicken HD

This is a recipe from the first Hairy Dieters' book. We cook it a lot - usually making half the amount here and serving it with rice - and the book keeps going walkabout, so I'm recording the essentials here.

1 tbsp olive oil
2 medium onions
12 chicken thighs
2 cloves garlic
1 tbsp smoked paprika
400g can chopped tomatoes
400ml chicken stock
2 bay leaves
1 tsp mixed herbs
3 large peppers
1 tbsp cornflour

Heat the oil in a large pan. Finely chop the onions and fry on a medium heat until softened.

Bone the chicken, if necessary; cut away the fat and cut each thigh in half. Season with pepper and add to the pan, turning occasionally until browned on both sides.

Finely chop or crush the garlic. Stir into the pan along with the paprika.

Add the tomatoes, stock and herbs. Bring to a simmer, cover and cook for about 20 minutes.

De-seed the peppers and chop into chunky pieces. Add them to the pan and cook for another 20-30 minutes.

Mix the cornflour with a tablespoon of the cooking juices and return to the pan. Cook another 5-10 minutes to thicken the sauce.

Pasta Bolognese

I am not a Bolognese snob. I do not hold with their being one way to make it and all others being a sin. A great many ways are rubbish, there's no denying it. I've seen some horrible Bologneses in my time, as well as one in California which was actually a tomato sauce with meatballs and sausages like in The Godfather.

For myself, I like a Bolognese to be thick, rich and meaty, without carrots or celery.

Ingredients
1/2 tbsp olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
1 large clove garlic (oh yes, I went there), finely chopped
250g lean minced beef (not extra lean)
400g chopped tomatoes
1 tbsp tomato puree
1/2 glass red wine
1/2 tsp oregano*
1 tsp basil*
1 beef stock pot

75-100g pasta per person

Heat the oil in a large saucepan on a medium-high heat.

Add the onion and garlic, stir well, reduce the heat to medium and then cover and sweat until the onion starts to soften.

Add the beef, making sure to break up any large chunks early. Stir periodically as the meat browns.

Add the herbs, a twist of black pepper, the puree and the wine. Stir well, add the tomatoes and the stock pot and mix well until the stock is dissolved.

Reduce to a simmer and cook for 10-20 minutes.

Serve with almost any kind of pasta and freshly grated Parmesan. You can also mix with the pasta and layer into an overproof dish with mozzarella to make an excellent pasta bake.

* While living things wither in my presence, if you can keep a basil or oregano plant alive, this is a meal that really benefits from fresh herbs.

Chicken Paella

This is one of my signature dishes. It's kind of involved, but well worth the effort. Your classic paella is full of seafood, but it can be made with anything and I'm not a fan of shellfish. I usually use chicken, but sometimes substitute game.

Ingredients
2 tbsp olive oil
250g chicken breast or thigh, cubed
1 red pepper, roughly diced
2 green pepper, roughly diced
1 red onion, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
100g diced chorizo
100g diced pancetta
20g flat leaf parsley, finely chopped
200g chopped tomatoes
1/2 tbsp paprika
180g bomba rice
500ml chicken stock
Pinch of saffron
200g peas

Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in a large, heavy-based frying pan on a medium-high heat.

Fry the chicken and peppers until the chicken is browned, then remove from the pan and set aside.

Add the saffron to the stock to infuse.

Clean out the pan and heat the remaining oil on a medium-high heat.

Fry the onion, chorizo, pancetta, parsley and garlic (the sofrito) until the onion begins to soften.

Add the tomatoes and paprika, then cook on a medium heat until the liquid from the tomatoes is mostly evaporated.

Restore the chicken and peppers and add the rice. Stir so that the rice is coated in the other ingredients.

Add the peas and then the stock. Cook at a high simmer for c. 10 minutes without stirring or covering.

Simmer gently for 10-15 minutes, until all of the stock is absorbed and the rice has just a little bite left. If the liquid is used up too quickly, top up with a little boiled water.

Cook on a high heat for a minute to scorch the bottom of the paella.

If cooking game - pigeon, pheasant etc - instead of chicken, omit the pre-cooking, as the meat will end up too dry.

Spaghetti Carbonara

This is a good standby, both because it's quick to make and because my daughter reliably eats it. I have added peas to the standard recipe because Arya eats them and it puts at least some vitamins in what is otherwise a carb-and-protein dish.

Ingredients (per person)
100g spaghetti
1/2 cup peas

2 eggs
2 rashers bacon
2 tsp grated Parmesan
freshly ground black pepper
1/2 tbsp olive oil

Bring a pan of water to the boil. Add the spaghetti and peas, bring back to the boil and then simmer until the spaghetti is cooked.

Once the spaghetti goes in, heat the oil in a large saucepan.

Fry the bacon until cooked to preference.

Beat together the eggs, cheese and pepper.

Drain the pasta, add to the saucepan and toss together with the bacon and oil.

Remove from the heat, add the egg and stir though.

Camembert with Chorizo

Get one Camembert of baking size (6"-8" across) and about 50g of diced chorizo.

Place the Camembert in a baking container and slice the top rind. Push chorizo cubes into the slices and scatter the rest on top of the cheese.

Bake at 180 degrees for about 30 minutes.

Eat with hot bread, carrot sticks and chutney.

Christmas Ham

Ham is a pretty simple thing to cook, but I had never done it before. Now I've done it twice. In both cases, the essential process was the same:

1. Take a ham (or gammon, if you will).
2. Place in a pan and cover with cold water.
3. Bring to the boil; drain.
4. Cover with cold water, adding vegetables and spices to the pan.
5. Bring to the boil, reduce to a simmer for about 20 minutes per 1/2 kilo.
6. Drain and transfer to a roasting dish.
7. Glaze and bake in a hot oven for 10 minutes.
8. Turn, glaze, and bake for 10-15 minutes.

In the first instance I used fresh vegetables and black pepper for the boil. In retrospect, since I wasn't reserving the stock due to lack of freezer space, it would have been as good to do what I did in the second instance and use vegetable stock to season.

The Christmas Day ham had a half-and-half honey and mustard (English) glaze, but Arya didn't go for that. Since honey and mustard mix up nice and runny, the glaze could be applied cold.

The New Year ham had a variation on a marmalade and brown sugar glaze, using a couple of tablespoons of good marmalade and one of black treacle, heated to mix and bring to a good consistency for painting onto the ham with a brush.

Spicy Pumpkin and Potato Soup

This was a recipe improvised to make use of a lot of leftover pumpkin. The end result could pretty much stand a spoon.

1 medium onion, chopped
1 large clove garlic, crushed and chopped
4 rashers of bacon, cut into small strips
1 tbsp olive oil
1.5kg of diced pumpkin and potato
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
2 tsp paprika
1 tsp dried coriander
1 tsp garam masala
1 litre water
2 stock cubes (chicken or vegetable) or equivalent

Heat the oil in a large stockpot.

Fry the onion, garlic and bacon.

Remove the bacon once cooked, then add the vegetables to the pan. Stir well, pour over the spices and continue stirring to mix evenly.

Add the stock, bring to the boil and turn down to a simmer.

After about 45 minutes, when the potato is soft, blitz the soup with a stick blender, restore the bacon and cook for another 5 minutes.

Serve with grated cheese and bread.

Apple, raisin and cinnamon porridge

Serves 3

1 apple, finely sliced or chopped
100g raisins*
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tbsp hot water

150ml jumbo rolled oats**
150ml cold water
150ml semi-skimmed milk***

Finely slice or chop the apple. Add to a pan with the raisins, cinnamon and water and heat on a medium ring, simmering until the apple is softened and the liquid largely evaporated.

Add the remaining ingredients and stir together.

Bring to a gentle boil, stirring regularly. Once the porridge is bubbling vigorously, reduce to an easy simmer for 1 minute.

* This is very approximate; adjust to preference.
** I find that the jumbo rolled leave a pleasant bite to the finished porridge.
*** Whole milk (or skimmed, if you're a monster) could be substituted. Scots may prefer to use another 150ml or water, but if you're that much of a Scots porridge purist, I probably lost you at 'apple'.

Veg Box

This weekend, we mostly cooked using Hannah's organic veg box. Ingredients from the box are marked with an asterisk (*).

Friday - Chicken Casserole
1/2 tbsp olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, chopped
3 medium carrots*
350g chicken breast fillet, cubed
500g mushrooms, chopped*
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp oregano
2 medium leeks, sliced*
1/2 glass white wine
2 chicken stock pots
1 red pepper, sliced*
1/2 cup rice

Heat the oil in a large stockpot over a medium-high heat.

Add the onion, garlic and carrot. Stir well, cover and sweat until the onion begins to soften.

Add the chicken and mushrooms and the paprika and oregano. Keep turning until the meat is sealed on all sides and beginning to brown.

Add the leeks, stir, then add the wine and one of the stock pots, stirring until it melts. Melt the other stock pot in 500ml of boiling water.

Add the stock, stir and cover. Bring to an easy boil, reduce the heat and simmer for about 10 minutes.

Add the peppers and the rice and simmer until the rice has absorbed enough liquid to be al dente.

Saturday - Lamb Tagine
This is the same recipe as my last entry, but with lamb shoulder from the local butcher. Being mostly fruit, we didn't use the box veg.

Sunday - Chicken Soup
1/2 tsp olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, chopped
2 medium carrots, chopped*
1 leek, sliced*
200g chicken breast fillet, cubed
1/2 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp black pepper
500ml chicken stock
2 nests rice noodles

Heat the oil in a saucepan.

Sweat the onion, garlic and carrots for a few minutes, then add the chicken and leek. I was using the chicken from frozen, so I actually sweated the vegetables in a separate pan until the meat was defrosted and sealed.

Add the herbs and stock. Simmer for about 15-20 minutes until the carrots are almost cooked through.

Add the noodles and cook for 5 minutes.

Sunday - Sausages and new potatoes with cabbage and bacon

1 tbsp olive oil

6 sausages (I used Fen Farm venison and pork, which at 100% meat are also entirely gluten free)

6 medium new potatoes, roughly chopped*

2 small carrots, roughly chopped*

1 tsp rosemary

1/2 tsp black pepper

2 cloves garlic, halved

1/2 tbsp olive oil

1 small onion, chopped

1 clove garlic, chopped

3 rashers unsmoked bacon, chopped

1 medium cabbage, shredded*

Coat the base of a large roasting dish in oil. Arrange the sausages, potatoes and carrots in the dish and season with the garlic, rosemary and pepper.

Place in a preheated oven at 180C, turning the food in the dish every 10-15 minutes for 30-40 minutes.

After 30 minutes, heat the oil in a saute pan. 

Sweat the onion, garlic and bacon until softening, then add the cabbage a few handfuls at a time, stirring and adding more as it reduces in size.

Cook the last of the cabbage for about 5 minutes and then remove from the heat. Cover the pan while cooking if you want to soften the crunch.

Serve the sausage and potatoes on a bed of cabbage. The carrots in this recipe were the last in the box, included mostly for show (and because we know that our baby daughter will eat them), but they could be scaled up easily.

The veg was excellent quality. The carrots and cabbage were notable for their flavour, and the richness of the mushrooms created a much darker and earthier casserole than I had been expecting.

Lamb and Apricot Tagine with Moroccan Spiced Quinoa

This was a slightly experimental mish-mash based on what I did and didn't have in the cupboards. I had to improvise on the spices due to an absence of ras al hanout, mace, allspice, saffron or coriander leaf. The end result was very successful, however; sweet and spicy, and the meat just about right.

The recipe would work just nicely with couscous, for a fraction of the price, but quinoa is gluten free, as well as being the miracle superfood of our age. If using couscous, the cooking time is much less than quinoa. I imagine you'd pretty much mix it with the spice and onion, then cover with the stock and leave for five minutes.

I've used my approximate amounts, which served two and a baby, but it would double up nicely for a party.

ETA: I did this again a week later, replacing the slightly fancy lamb leg steak with about 400g of shoulder (once I'd trimmed out the fat and bone and cubed the meat). I had to cook it for about another 20 minutes, but the result was wonderfully succulent. As an additional lesson, be careful in sourcing the dried fruit; if the figs are very sweet you might want to consider adding a little more of the sharper spices (mainly turmeric and cumin).

I also don't have a tagine, so I cooked this in a saucepan.

Tagine
250g lamb, diced
1/4 tbsp plain flour
1/2 tsp ground turmeric
1/2 tsp ground paprika
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

Put the lamb, flour, turmeric, paprika and cinnamon into a bag and shake to coat the meat in the spiced flour, then shake off the excess flour.

1/2 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 medium onion, chopped
1 large clove garlic, chopped
200ml chicken stock
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1/2 tsp ground coriander
150g dried apricots, halved
75g soft figs, quartered
1 tbsp honey

Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan on a medium-high heat. Add the paprika and cinnamon to the oil and mix well.

Add the lamb to the pan, turning to brown all sides well.

Add the onion and garlic and cook with the meat until the onion begins to soften.

Add the stock, pepper and coriander to the pan and stir well. Reduce to a simmer and cover.

Put the fruit in a bowl and cover with boiling water. Allow to stand for 20 minutes.

Drain the fruit and stir into the pan with the honey. Recover and simmer for another 20 minutes.

Quinoa
1/2 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp ground paprika
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp ground turmeric
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1 small onion, finely chopped
50g dried apricots, chopped
150ml quinoa (I realise that quinoa is traditionally measured by weight, but like rice it absorbs liquid at about a 2:1 ratio, so volume is more useful)
300ml chicken stock

Rinse the quinoa in cold water.

Heat the oil in a small saucepan.

Add the spices, onion and apricot; stir together and sweat until the onion begins to soften.

Stir in the quinoa, then add the chicken stock. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer and cover for about 20 minutes, until the stock is absorbed and the quinoa become transparent.

Chilli con Carne

This is one of my favourite one-pan recipes; excellent with rice or wrapped in tortillas with grated cheese and sour-cream.

1/2 tbsp vegetable oil
2 tsp paprika
2 tsp cumin
1 tsp coriander
Up to 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper*
240g drained red kidney beans
1-3 chillies*, finely chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
1 large clove garlic, chopped

500g beef mince
1/2 glass port

400g tinned tomatoes

1 tsp dried oregano or 1/2 handful fresh
1 bay leaf

1 beef stock cube or pot

* The level of chilli should be varied according to taste. A single chilli will make a mellow dish; three plus cayenne will have some serious kick (if it doesn't, check your chilli supplies). If you like it volcanic, you can go higher, but that's as much as I'd want to do.

Heat the oil in a large saucepan over a medium heat.

Add the spices and mix into the oil, then turn the heat up for about 30 seconds to get the oil really hot without giving the spice time to burn.

Add the beans, onions, garlic and chillies to the pan and stir well. Reduce the heat again, cover and cook until the onions start to soften.

Add the mince, stirring and cutting with the spoon until it breaks up and browns. Make sure that the spice mix is well mixed in with the ingredients.

Add the wine, then the tomatoes, stirring well. Finally, stir in the herbs and stock cube until the latter is melted/dissolved and stirred thoughout the pan.

Cover and simmer for 20-30 minutes. If the heat isn't too high it won't suffer from being cooked longer, especially if you add some water to keep it from getting dry.

Dim Sum Buns

This is a dim sum recipe which Hannah turned up and has made a few times. They're actually pretty healthy, being full of veg as well as nommy starchy goodness.

300g plain, white flour
2 tsp baking powder
2 carrots, coarsely grated
1 tbsp grated ginger
Large handful of chopped parsley or coriander
150ml coconut milk
Juice of 1 lime

The recipe also involves crushed cashews and a pinch of salt, but we tend to skip that.

Mix the flour and baking powder.

Make a well in the centre and pour in the coconut milk and lime juice, folding the liquid into the flour to make a soft, sticky dough.

Roll into a long, sausage of dough and cut into balls. Place the balls into cupcake cases.

Cook in a steamer for 10-15 minutes.

-

We use gluten free flour and it works, although rolling out the dough isn't happening, so instead we spoon the dough into cupcake cases.

We've also used beetroot instead of or as well as carrot, which works but makes for a very red dim sum.

A filling can be put inside the buns before steaming, say, slow-cooked pulled pork mixed with barbecue sauce; nom.

Leftover fritter

This was something I made to use up some leftover mash and sliced ham in the fridge.

Four slices cooked ham
I large spoon mash*
1/2 cup frozen vegetables
1/2 red onion
3 spring onions
1/2 tbsp olive oil
1 or 2 eggs**

Shred the ham and add to a bowl with the mash and the frozen veg. Stir together as best you can, although at this stage it will tend not to mix well.

Heat the oil in a small frying pan. Saute the onions until soft.

Add the onions - and oil - to the bowl and mix well.

Break the egg into the bowl and mix again.

Transfer the ingredients from the bowl into the pan, form into a fritter and fry for a few minutes, turning occasionally.

* The mash I had was made with 2:1 potato and sweet potato, with butter, milk and black pepper. I don't usually use milk in my mash, but I think the extra smoothness helped here.

** I used one egg, and the result was very edible, but kind of crumbly. a second egg might have bound it better.

If making this again, I might add a clove of garlic, or some frozen mushrooms. If you didn't have any ham, it would be grand as a veggie option.

Chicken and Lentil Curry

Curry
1/2 tbsp oil
1 onion
1 clove garlic
1 chilli
2 tsp garam masala
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp ground turmeric
3 cracked cardamom pods2-3 chicken thigh fillets
100g lentils
1 tin chopped tomatoes
250ml chicken stock

Heat the oil in a large saucepan, then add the spices and fry briefly.

Fry the onions, garlic and chilli until soft.

Add the chicken and seal, stirring well.

Stir in the lentils, then the tomatoes and the chicken stock. Simmer until the stock is reduced and the lentils are soft.

Pilau Rice
1/2 tbsp oil
1/2 cup rice
1/4 tsp turmeric
1/4 tsp cumin
3 cracked cardamom pods

Heat the oil and fry the spices briefly, then stir through the rice.

Add 1 1/2 cups of boiled water and simmer until the water is absorbed, adding more water as needed to bring the rice to a good consistency.

Sort of Ratatouille

This was a dish I knocked together for one of my 5:2 fast days.

Ingredients
1 carrot, sliced
1 courgette, sliced
1/2 pepper, sliced
1 onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, chopped
1/2 tin chopped tomatoes
1/2 tbsp olive oil

Heat the oil in a large saucepan.

Add the carrots, stir, cover and saute for about 5 minutes.

Add the onion and garlic, stir, recover and saute for about 2 minutes.

Add the pepper and courgette, stir well, then stir in the tomatoes and simmer for 5-10 minutes.

I actually forgot to add any herbs or spices and it was still delicious. Adding some black pepper, basil and oregano wouldn't hurt, I suspect.