More nuts

Aside

My latest spin on the peanut chicken rice recipe ..there was some chicken cheap at the supermarket so o grabbed two packs. As normal, nothing is as good as it seems, and each pack was only 3-4 stripped skeletons…as an experiment I made up the peanut rice mix as above and then dropped the chicken into it….

There wasn’t enough meat on each bird to make it worth removing before cooking but I was hoping that it would loosen up as it cooked and that I would be able to scrap some off…

That worked out nicely and in addition to contributing to the stock, each contributed a bit of meat that was easy enough to scrape off the cooked skeleton…

All frozen and placed in the freezer for a lazy cooking day…

Note: this was originally written as a comment for the thread linked at the top of the post but Google decided that it didn’t like the WordPress URL so this was the alternative to save the text until Goggle got its knickers untwisted…since it became a post in its own right it might as well stay one…

Spicy ricy

Posted on 24 May 2014 by SJPONeill

The enhanced vegetarian version underway

This post was originally meant to be an addendum to an existing post on the Healthy Food Guide Spicy Indian Mince and Rice recipe [PDF: Spicy Indian mince and rice – Healthy Food Guide ]but it seems that I never got around to publishing (or even drafting) that post in the first place…

Every day a new recipe or two from HFG pops up in my Facebook feed and I’ll grab anything that looks doable with basic i.e. inexpensive ingredients…meals that can either be frozen and/or that will last over a couple of days are popular at the moment…

What You Need

1 tablespoon canola oil
1 large onion, finely diced
2 cloves garlic, peeled, chopped (I’m used garlic that has been crushed and frozen for simplicity and ease of use + I’m lazy)
1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger (I dice up the onion, ginger and (if fresh) the garlic using my every handy Tupperware Terminator – see below)
400g lean lamb or beef mince
2 teaspoons curry powder
2 teaspoons garam masala
1/2 teaspoon chilli powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves (the recipe says whole cloves which I have but hate picking them out later on)
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 bay leaves
3-4 whole cardamoms, crushed (optional) I just used a teaspoon of cardamon powder because I have a bottle of it that will most likely not get used otherwise.
1 cup long-grain or basmati rice
400g can chopped tomatoes in juice
2 cups liquid chicken stock
salt and pepper, to taste
toasted slivered almonds and currants
chopped fresh coriander (optional)

The Tupperware Terminator

What you do

Heat the oil in a large non-stick frying pan. Add the onion, ginger and garlic. Cook until onion begins to brown.

Stir in the mince and break up any lumps. Cook, stirring frequently, until mince has lost its pink colour.

Add the spices and cook for 1-2 more minutes before adding the rice, tomatoes in their juice and stock. Bring the mixture to the boil and then reduce the heat to a gentle simmer. Cover and cook, stirring occasionally, until rice is tender. I find that, at a slow heat, this takes about 30-40 minutes. If it starts to dry out, just add some more water.

Season with salt and pepper then serve. Garnish with a sprinkling of almonds, currants and coriander (if using).

I’ve made this a few times since discovering the recipe in March but until last night it seems to have avoided both camera and blog. It doesn’t take a lot of time or effort to prepare and is another uber-flexible recipe that you can tweak depending on what you might have available in the fridge.

Having successfully experimented with a vegetarian version of the Going Nutty With Rice recipe, I thought I might try the same with this one. Looking to provide dinner for the next 3-4 nights I also increased the quantities to make the same quantity as that nutty recipe. The change I made were to substitute the following from the original recipe above:

400g lean lamb or beef mince became two diced carrots, a diced stick of celery, a diced up chuck of cauliflower (about a cup) and a cup of frozen peas.
2 teaspoons curry powder was increased to three teaspoons.
2 teaspoons garam masala was increased to three teaspoons.
1/2 teaspoon chilli powder was increased to a full teaspoon.
1/2 teaspoon cloves was increased to a full teaspoon.
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon was increased to a full teaspoon.
1 teaspoon of cardamon powder. I kept this the same but probably should have increased it to 1 1/2 teaspoons.
1 cup long-grain or basmati rice became 1 1/2 cups.
2 cups liquid chicken stock became three cups. This was enough stock for flavour but I had to add two extra cups of water before the rice was cooked properly. I actually used Maggi Green Herb stock powder as I found that I was out of chicken stock.

I was very happy with the result although for dining in polite company I might look at reducing the curry and chili powder by about a third so that they match the proportional increase in the size of the recipe i.e. the 50% increase in the rice and stock.

Variations on a theme of C

Posted on 15 May 2014 by SJPONeill

A while back Sofia posted a great story on Schubert, who I didn’t know that much about apart from think (wrongly) that he was Charlie Brown’s friend with the piano, as a backdrop to her ‘Four Cs’ recipe…the four Cs being cumin, coriander, chili and curry…and over four nights I experimented with variations on this theme…

What you need

2 cloves garlic

1/2 teaspoon curry powder

1 teaspoon coriander seeds (I had hoped to use my own coriander seeds in the recipe but they didn’t look quite ready when I looked at them and now the storms of the last week or so have pretty much done for my corianders til next season)

1 teaspoon cumin seeds

1/2 teaspoon chili flakes

salt

black pepper

1 tablespoon of sesame oil

Your choice of meat chunks e.g. chicken, lamb, beef, fish…

1 cup of basmati rice

What you do

Wash the rice and put it on to cook in either a rice cooker, or pot on the range.

DSCF8274

Warm the sesame oil in a wok – I tried a frying pan but it was too flat: the wok guides everything into the centre – and add all the spices.

DSCF8272

On my first crack at the four Cs, I forgot the garlic…only remembering when I saw it on the window sill as I was serving up…

DSCF8263 Once the spices are blended together and the fragrance is wafting out of the wok, add the meat and mix it in so that the spices are all over it.

Place a lid on the wok and let the mix simmer – you don’t want it to dry out so add a little water if it does – stirring it occasionally.

In a perfect world, the spices and meat will be cooked just as the rice is ready.

A ring of rice

Ring the rice on a plate and serve the spices and meat in the middle. there should be enough of the spice mix to serve as a sauce over the top.

So that was variation #1 – forgot to take a pic of the final product…very tasty but I forgot the garlic…

Variation #2

As I had defrosted a three-pack of chicken breast from the freezer for Variation #1, I was pretty much committed to chicken for the next three nights…we all know that refreezing and reheating raw chicken just creates a lethal WMD, don’t we?

With Variation #2, I still had some rice left over from Variation #1, so rather than do the lazy and unadventurous option of simply reheating it in the microwave, I added it to the spices about five minutes after the chicken. I remembered to add the garlic to the spices too!

Having the spices mixed through the rice as it was cooking/reheating really added to the flavour and I much prefer Variation #2 to Variation #1 with the rice on its own. Having the rice on its own, I think, works a lot better as a bland offset to a strongly-flavoured centrepiece (just hold that thought for a minute…)…

Variation #3

In Variation #3, I got all the spices right, added the chicken chunks, and then added half a cup of the basmati. In other dishes, when I cook the rice with the main dish, I use the old standby of a can of chopped tomatoes to provide the moisture for the basmati to do its rice thing…I was a little over that but had a can of coconut milk approaching its best-by date that I cracked and added to the mix.

I didn’t realise quite how much I had made until I had plated it up…really, even for me after a hard day’s working, there was enough for two meals…from an economy point-of-view, not bad for one chicken breast and a half cup of rice…

Variation #4

I have had a pack of smoked salmon chunks in the fridge freezer for a while and they stare at me each time I open it to get something…I decided that their time had come and defrosted them on the fourth afternoon of this journey.

Because of their strong natural flavour, I decided (you can release that thought from Variation #2 now) to cook the rice separately as an offset to that strong flavour. I prepared and started the four Cs spices in the usual manner and added the salmon.

Placing the lid on the wok and stirring the mix occasionally, I waited for the rice to cook. When it was ready, I ringed it on a plate and served the salmon and spices up into the middle. Certainly this was the best presented of this experiment and certainly has the best combination of flavours…

DSCF8278

So there you have it: four variations on Sofia’s four Cs…cumin, coriander, chili and curry…Of the four, my preference overall goes to Variation #3 with the coconut milk, with the salmon of Variation #4 running a close second…

There was some rice left in the cooker after Variation #4, so I made a quick rice pudding for dessert but forgot to take a picture…twas yummy though…

Going nutty with rice

Posted on 11 May 2014 by SJPONeill

I am getting more and more into these meals in which you cook rice as part of the main dish and not separately…last night I tried another variation on this theme that popped up on the Healthy Food Guide Facebook page…peanut chicken and rice…

I was sure that I had some chicken bits in the freezer but they must be buried deep as I couldn’t find them. It was getting late so, instead of waiting for a chicken breast to thaw out, I used the last 200 or so grams of beef mince that I had in the fridge (I needed to use this any way). That worked a treat and I think that this recipe would work equally as well with beef, lamb, chicken or pork, chunks or minced; in fact, it would probably go well as a vegetarian dish with a mixture of vegetables instead of any meat. Other than that and finding myself out of thyme and having to substitute oregano, the only change I would make to this recipe next time would be to double the curry as I couldn’t even taste a hint of the tablespoon this went in last night in accordance with the recipe…

What you need

1 tablespoon oil
2 boneless and skinless chicken breasts or beef, pork, lamb (chunked or minced) or mixed veges
1 onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, crushed
400g can chopped tomatoes
1/4 cup (= 4 tablespoons) crunchy peanut butter
1 tablespoon curry powder
3 cups chicken stock
1 1/2 cups basmati or jasmine rice
1 large pinch thyme
1/2 teaspoon salt

What you do

Heat the oil in a large saucepan. Add the onion and garlic to the pan and cook till soft.

Add the chicken to the pan and, after a couple of minutes mix in the tomatoes, peanut butter, curry powder and thyme and mix well to disperse the peanut butter through the mixture. DSCF8310

Add the chicken stock and bring to the boil. When the mixture is boiling stir in the salt and rice. Return the mixture to the boil then cover and reduce the heat.

DSCF8311 Cook for 20 minutes on low, then check to see if all the liquid is absorbed and the rice is cooked.

DSCF8312 Serve with a salad or green vegetables. I didn’t do this and just had it on its own which was good enough; if I was going to do a salad I think I would use very crisp peppers and tomatoes…

I got three big servings from this and if I was honest they were very big servings and I could have gotten four servings from it without adversely affecting my diet…or 3-4 dinners for an investment of only $3-4…pretty good, I think…

Edit: found this on the camera this morning…a better presentation…

Cake in a cup

Posted on 24 February 2014 by SJPONeill

You may have seen this image and the accompanying recipe doing the Facebook rounds…

Ingredients

4 tbsp. flour
4 tbsp. sugar (after experimentation, this can safely be reduced to 2 T)
2 tbsp. cocoa
1 egg
3 tbsp. milk
3 tbsp. oil
A small splash of vanilla extract
1 large coffee mug
3 tablespoons chocolate chips (optional)

Method

Add dry ingredients to mug, and mix well.

Add the egg and mix thoroughly.

Pour in the milk and oil and mix well. Add the chocolate chips (if using) and vanilla extract, and mix again.

Put your mug in the microwave and cook for 3 minutes at 1000 watts (high). The cake will rise over the top of the mug, but don’t be alarmed!

Allow to cool a little, and tip out onto a plate if desired.

It works!!! Out of the box, straight off the paper, it works!! No facebook scam here…

The cake will rise A LOT out of the cup and totter in a Pisa-esque manner until slightly subsiding…

Serve with lots of ice cream and a dose of cream (forgot the cream the other night!)

This is seriously enough cake for at least two people…

Best Ever Burgers

Posted on 20 January 2014 by SJPONeill

Whenever I do a shop, I usually grab one or two kilogram packs of beef mince, split each pack into three and freeze it. This has become such a habit that the freezer has become quite flush with packs of frozen mince.

To reduce the stock levels I made burgers the other night and these are, no lie GI, the best burgers ever…this recipe comes from the book in the picture which is one of those series that you see on bargain bin tables in bookshops – it is part of a series and so far I have the Burger, Mince, Garlic and Chili titles. I haven’t made many verbatim from the text but I find that most of not all the recipes are good foundations for local pattern modification and experimentation.

The Makin’s

1 small onion

350-450 grams of beef mince

(at least) 1 large garlic clove

1 tsp ground cumin

2 tsp ground coriander or coriander seed (I always prefer the latter)

1 tsp wholegrain mustard

2 tbsp tomato puree or ketchup

1 dash of Worcester sauce

2 tbsp (total) of assorted fresh herbs chopped finely

One small egg

Breadcrumbs to bulk out if too much egg.

The Makin’

Slice’n’dice the onion and garlic and fry until softened.

Mix the onion, garlic and all the other makin’s in a bowl, adding breadcrumbs if the egg makes the mix too moist.

Form the mix into patties and fry over medium heat.

Serve according to taste or preference…

In this instance I served the burgers with cabbage, and mashed potato and pumpkin. A day or two before I had overhead an item on TV or the radio – unsure of the the source so I can not attribute it – about cooking eggs ‘properly’ and I gave this a shot for this meal too…

Heat water in a small pan ’til it’s boiling; remove it from the heat and turn the hotplate to its lowest setting. Let the water cool a little while you get the eggs from wherever you store them.

Break the eggs into the water and let them cook slowly over the lowest heat. This doesn’t take long and you can see them cook as the egg white changes from clear to white. This process gives you soft whites and runny yolks and is awesome as the yolks runs over and blends with the burger…

I’ve tried this a few times since and every time a coconut: nice soft whites and exquisitely runny yolks…

Dining in…

Posted on 19 January 2014 by SJPONeill

I’ve ended up with some cabbage and pumpkin getting near their use by date, and also some silverbeet that I blanched and froze before Christmas that I wanted to thaw and test. The cabbage was simple as I did it the same way as described in the Healthy Food Guide Tuscan Stuffed Chicken recipe that I reviewed in October. It is quick, easy and adds an interesting tang to plain old garden variety cabbage. As you can see I got distracted by other activities and the cabbage was a little scorched in the pan…

I tried combining the silverbeet and pumpkin into patties by mixing them with a small eggs but I need to add something else to the mix to help them combine (stick together) better – tasted good, just a bit fragile in their construction…Hard to see in this shot are the hash brown I made by modifying the kumara fritter recipe from the Curried Kumara and Salmon stacks that have been a regular fav for a couple of years now…they worked out really well and I will be doing them again…

This meal was rounded off with a couple of sausages grilled in the trusty Foreman griller…

Overall: needs work but tasty and filling…

Faster than…

Posted on 2 November 2012 by SJPONeill

Just for perspective, the upload and download speeds here are twice those we were getting with satellite broadband; the ping is almost 20 times faster!!

It doesn’t seem so long that we used to get excited at home when the dial-up download speed got anything over a mighty 6kbps…it’s been our curse to never live (for any period of time anyway) anywhere with fixed line broadband…then, one day early in 2010, the nice folk at Telecom rang up and said we were just inside the coverage for the XT network (after they got ALL the bugs out of it, of course).

Contrary to all the bad press that Telecom gets, they were very nice about it and offered to send out an XT modem for a month’s free trial. Couldn’t say no to that and all of a sudden we were in the world of broadband…not without its issues though: we only had 2Gb a month to play with and the only reception was in one room of the house (fortunately the study: working from home could have become interesting if it had been the bogger!!). XT worked really well for us for almost two years but as I reverted to working more and more from home (the great thing about policy analysis and doctrine review is that you can pretty much do it anywhere), we more and more started to exceed our 2G monthly allowance and the cost started to spiral upwards…

We had been aware of Farmside and its satellite broadband options for a while but hadn’t considered them as cost-effective as the XT option – plus they had (and still do) this annoying habit of answering emails with phone calls which is nice if one is at home but of limited use if one is spending a lot of time away from home and thus not able to answer the phone when it rings…By the end of 2011, though, their satellite and home line bundles were starting to look pretty attractive – the all-up costs were about the same as what we were already paying but the big bonus was a much larger monthly cap albeit with 25 of the 30Gb only being available offpeak between midnight and 2PM – that actually wasn’t too bad as I normally start work at 6AM to catch the back end of the US working day.

Once we established comms – after more email/phone tag – the Farmside sign-up process was swift and efficient and the installer turned up the day after Boxing Day. We would have preferred to have the dish placed further up the wall of the house so that the modem and cables would be out of sight/mind in the loft but still able to wifi through the house…but the installer didn’t come with a long enough ladder (even though we had advised that the wall was pretty high) and we think he may have been a little scared of heights…but the job was soon done and, apart from more lights than the flight deck of Concorde where the modem and router had been placed in the spare room, we achieved another plateau in the quest for decent broadband. The only downer with satellite broadband is that it is high latency – about 800 milliseconds, or the better part of a second – which only meant that pages took a little longer to access and load unless one uses a VPN for work as I do in which case it can be quite frustrating and tiring using a real time mouse and keyboard on pages lagging about a second behind.

Just before I went overseas in September, our phone went off for the day – late in the afternoon, someone claiming to be from Telecom rang and apologised for the disruption of service, attributing it to some errors when our local cabinet was cut into the new fibre network. Fibre? Did someone say fibre? You would think that finding out if we could now access fixed line broadband would be a simple thing mais non…both Farmside and Telecom fobbed us off with “We will tell you when these services are available” responses. To their credit, when we nudged Farmside again after a month or so, they came to the party and advised (after more email/phone tag) that it looked like we could now access proper broadband.

Those living in urban areas will be all “hohum” but these are the things that are important in rural areas where connectivity = communication and the ability to do business from home…the ADSL modem arrived this morning – and didn’t work. Five calls with the really helpful customer service staff (thanks, Chris and Jess) later, we had narrowed the problem down to a modem that had not been configured before it had left the store. All that was easily fixed and by lunch time, it was all up and running, and we were able to kill the Concorde lights in the spare room for the last time. By close of play today, I had been enjoying the rapid response of web pages and had indulged in a long ‘test’ Skype with Rowland from Hawkeye UAV. Now that we have decent 24/7 broadband, we plan on using Skype a lot more and possibly reducing our homeline calling plans – more

So all that thinking and fault locating made me a might peckish….I didn’t quite get the angle right in this picture – I should have reduced the angle so that the whole is silhouetted against the white of the plate – so it doesn’t look as nice as it actually did and certainly not as well as it tasted. All it is is some kumara hash brown mix left over from my kumara and salmon stack the other night, and a chunk of fresh-fried lamb I found in the fridge with a squirt of Carmen’s homemade chili sauce…the curry in the hash brown and the chili sauce blended deliciously…so I made another and it was just as good…

Sitting back now, watching Lost in Space (the original, not the sad-as movie with Joey from Friends) after a great dinner of pork sausages with a cheese omelette….