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.

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.

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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.

Living Better on Less

I have a dripping hot tap - well, dribbling, and worse each time it's used - so I'm trying to do as little washing up as possible (washing up = kettles of boiling water + cold tap). I was also trying to use up some leftover beetroot before it went off, and that plus one-pan-cooking-YAY made me decide on a variation of Jack Monroe's beetroot, lentil and feta salad.

My version skips out the leaves, which would be grand in summer, in favour of some carrot, and beefs the whole thing up a little with some stock.

1 tbsp olive oil
2 medium carrots, cubed
3 beetroots, cubed
2 small onions, chopped small
100g red lentils
300ml chicken stock

Heat the oil in a saucepan.

Add the carrots and beetroot. Saute for about 10 minutes.

Add the onions to the pan. Saute until the onion begins to soften.

Rinse the lentils and add to the pan, stirring well.

Add the stock to the pan and simmer until the stock is absorbed into the lentils.

You can crumble some feta cheese over the top, which is really nice; I just forgot that today.

This made easily enough for two, so there's a tub of leftovers in the freezer.

Sunday's Salad

This is the salad I was making on Sunday when the baby fell off the bed. The salad was still good when we came back from A&E.

Carrot and Beetroot Salad
1 orange
2 carrots
1 beetroot
1 cup sultanas
Chopped, fresh coriander leaf

Juice of 1 orange
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1/2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
Ground black pepper

Zest, peel and slice the orange into eights, collecting the zest and any juice in a bowl. Halve the slices and set aside.

Add to the collected juice and zest the juice of the second orange. Add the oil, vinegar and pepper and stir vigorously with a fork to create a citrus dressing.

Place the sultanas and chopped coriander in the citrus dressing and stir.

Peel and grate the carrots and beetroot and mix together.

Add the sultanas and the dressing and mix together.

Pasta with tomato sauce - Veggie lasagna - Chicken soup

Pasta with tomato sauce
A bit of a family speciality, this one.

Olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
1 large clove garlic, chopped
300g mushrooms
1 tin plum tomatoes
1/2 glass red wine
Black pepper
Basil
Oregano

Heat the oil in a large saucepan.

Fry the onion and garlic until soft, then add the mushrooms.

When the mushrooms are softening, add the wine and the tomato. You can add a tablespoon of tomato puree to thicken.

Add fresh ground pepper, basil and oregano to taste.

For a meat sauce, you can add minced beef, meatballs or chopped sausage at the same time as the mushrooms, adding the tomato once the meat is browning.

This serves 3-4 with 75-90g of pasta per person and salad, 2-3 on its own.

You can also leave the mushrooms out, in which case a dash of mushroom ketchup adds a good flavour, although it isn't gluten free, unfortunately. This makes a less substantial sauce, but one which works very well mixed in with a large quantity of pasta to serve a lot of people.

Vegetarian lasagna
An experiment. The first iteration also used celery, but we figure it would be better without.

Olive oil
1 leek
1 medium onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 carrot, chopped
2 beetroots, chopped
1 courgette, chopped
250g mushrooms, chopped
Black pepper
Oregano
Basil
1 tin plum tomatoes
1/2 pint milk
3 tsp cornflour
250g ricotta
50g grated cheddar

Split the leek to the core and simmer in almost-boiling water to soften.

Grease an oven dish and heat the oven to roughly 180-200 degrees.

Heat the oil and fry the onion and garlic until softened. Add the carrot and beetroot and fry for c.3-5 minutes.

Add the courgette and mushroom and fry briefly, then add herbs and pepper to taste, followed by the tomatoes. Simmer for c.10 minutes.

Warm the milk. Mix the cornflour with 3 tsp milk, then add to the milk pan. Heat and add the ricotta to melt.

Spoon half the vegetable mix into the dish.

Separate the layers of leek and lay across the dish. Spoon in the remaining vegetables, then cover with a layer of the ricotta sauce. Cover with another layer of leeks, the remaining cheese sauce and top with grated cheddar.

Bake for 20 minutes.

Chicken soup
Oil
1 medium onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, chopped
3 chicken thighs, trimmed and chopped
2 carrots, chopped
2 sticks celery, chopped
250g mushrooms, chopped
500ml chicken stock
1 glass white wine
Black pepper
Oregano
1/2 cup frozen sweetcorn
1 portion bean noodles

Heat the oil and fry the onion and garlic until softened.

Add the chicken and brown, then add the carrots and celery, frying for c.3-5 minutes.

Add the mushrooms and 1/2 a cup of wine, cover and simmer for 3-5 minutes.

Add the remaining wine, stock and herbs to taste.

Simmer for 15 minutes.

Add the sweetcorn and noodles and simmer until the noodles are soft.

On the first attempt, I blitzed this before adding the corn and noodles, and the result was somewhat heavy. With the bean noodles to add body, I do not think the soup requires blending.