Garlic Prawns and Scallops - In the Thermomix

I had been craving prawns and decided to try Tenina's Garlic Prawn Recipe. I made that decision while I was at the shops but wasn't exactly sure what ingredients I had at home. I ended up having most of what I needed but had to improvise a little bit when I didn't have everything.  Also, Rory and I love scallops so I added those!  Here is my modified version.  PS ... this is done entirely in the Thermomix.

 

6 largish cloves of garlic

25g extra virgin olive oil

10 green prawns, shelled and deveined (I can buy them this way at my fish shop!

35g dry sherry

a pinch of pepper

35g cream

lemon juice, to garnish

a few branches of parsley, to garnish

 

Put garlic and olive oil into Thermomix bowl and chop 4 sec/speed 5. Scrape down sides of bowl and saute 5 min/Varoma/speed 1.  Add prawns and cook 5 min/Varoma/Reverse/speed 1 with MC off. Add scallops, sherry, pepper and cream and cook 2 min/Varoma/Reverse/speed 1 with MC off.  While this is happening, chop your parsley.  Stir through when cooking is finished.  I served this over a bed of rice, with a squeeze of lemon.

Fish Tacos - The Low Sodium Way

My cousin Liz (Jill, at the time) posted her fish taco recipe a few (like six!!) years ago.  It has been a favorite in our house ever since.  Rory wanted to have them the other night so I set about making them low sodium.  It wasn't difficult.  The high sodium portions are the tortillas and the mayo but I made both of those from scratch so no problem!

I'll list the ingredients in bold in the actual recipe ... There's a few steps but they are easy and I'll put them in the order I recommend ...

Put rice in rice cooker (or cook on stovetop)  I do two cups of rice. 

In a bowl, mix ¼ cup lime juice, 1 TBLS water, 1 tsp sugar and 1 tsp chili powder.  This is your marinade.  Cut flakey white fish (I do two fillets for our family of four) (and I use Snapper) into into taco-sized pieces, about 1 ½” x 2 ½” (thin pieces work best).  Add to marinade and let stand.

Mix ½ cup homemade mayo,  ¼ cup cream, 1 clove garlic, and pepper to taste. You can add 1-2 Serrano chilies, seeded too if you want, but I don't.  Liz blends all this in her blender but I don't mind it chunky so I just mix it with a spoon.  Pop it in the fridge until you are ready to serve. 

I made the dough for the tortillas in the Thermomix but you could mix it by hand.  370g flour, 180ml lukewarm water, 40g olive oil, 1 tsp sodium free baking powder.  Add to TM bowl, blitz speed 5 for 10 seconds.  Knead setting for 2 minutes.  Tip dough out, roll into big ball then divide into 8 equal portions.  Roll with rolling pin and set aside.  Fry in hot, dry (no oil) flying pan for 1-2 minutes or until it bubbles, then flip.  The second side never takes as long.  AND the first tortilla never works!  (Roll out a tiny one to be 'first one' that goes in the trash!)

In shallow bowl, mix 1/2 cup flour, 1 tsp sodium free baking powder and 1 tsp chili powder. Add water until a thick batter forms.

When your rice is finished cooking, mix in the juice of one lime and a handful of fresh coriander.

You can decide whether to cook the fish or tortillas first.  I had help ... Rory cooked the fish while I cooked the tortillas.  If I had to do it on my own, I would have cooked the tortillas first.

Fry tortillas in a preheated (on medium low heat), dry (no oil) flying pan for 1-2 minutes or until it forms bubbles, then flip.  The second side never takes as long.  AND the first tortilla never works!  I always make a tiny one to be 'first one' that goes in the trash.  Place tortilla's in a stack under a clean tea towel until ready to serve.

Grab your marinated fish.  Dredge each pieces in flour then coat liberally with batter and shallow fry (you can deep fry but I never do!) until golden. (It is okay if your fish does not get completely opaque, if your pieces are thin enough, the lime juice will have already cooked them) Drain on a paper towel.

To serve ... top tortilla with rice, fish and sauce.  I often sprinkle with extra coriander.  And Rory adds Sriracha to his.

Mexican Beans and Rice

I cooked this again tonight and decided it was time to re-post it. 
My Aunt Jo originally posted it and I make it quite regularly in the colder months.  
I made a few changes for my family ... I'm adding those notes in RED.

1 ½ cup water
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 green bell pepper, chopped (we all prefer red bell pepper)
1 can red kidney beans
1 can chopped tomatoes
¾ cup uncooked long-grain rice (I use brown rice)
1 Tbsp chili powder (Australian chili powder is ground chili and SUPER HOT! I only use a pinch)
2 tsp cumin
1 cup mozzarella cheese (I use a mozz/cheddar blend)

In large saucepan, sauté onion, garlic, and green pepper in water. Simmer, stirring often, until onion is tender. Add beans, tomatoes, rice, chili powder and cumin. Simmer, covered, 20-25 minutes until rice is tender and most of liquid absorbed. (Keep an eye that you don’t run out of liquid before the rice is done. Since I also use the liquid in the tomato and bean cans, I sometimes have to boil the mixture, uncovered, at the end to reduce the liquid.) When rice is done and most of the liquid absorbed, top with cheese. When cheese is all melted, serve and enjoy.

Tonight I served these with quesadillas.

Curry (Korma)

I realized after Jimmy commented on my rabbit curry, that I've never posted the recipe here.  Since I was gathering some of my favorite recipes for a potential church cookbook, I decided it was high time I added it to the blog!

Picture credit goes to Jimmy - Cause I almost always forget to take one!

Ingredients

-          2 tablespoons vegetable oil

-          2 teaspoons curry powder

-          1 pound boneless beef or lamb (you can also use venison or rabbit) – cut into one inch cubes

-          ½ large yellow onion – peeled and chopped

-          3 large potatoes – peeled and cut into one inch pieces

-          1 green bell pepper (optional) – chopped

-          Frozen broccoli (as much or as little as you’d like)

-          1 teaspoon salt

-          1 teaspoon paprika

-          1 teaspoon garlic powder

-          ½ teaspoon chili powder (more or less to taste - depending on how spicy your family likes things...I keep it really mild and let people spice it up at the table since two of us are not fans of spicy things)

-          1 can of chopped tomatoes

-          1 cup sour cream (or to taste)

Directions

Heat oil in a large skillet or soup pot (depending on how much you’re making).  Add the curry powder, meat, and onions.  Cook 3 or 4 minutes, stirring frequently, until the meat has browned.  Add the potatoes, bell pepper, broccoli, salt, and spices, with only enough water to cook the vegetables.  (I normally splash in an inch or so of water and then add more if it boils off.  Better to need to add more then to have too much water!!)  Cook over medium heat 15 to 20 minutes, stirring from time to time, until the vegetables are cooked.  Just before serving, add tomatoes and sour cream.  Cook over low heat just until heated through. 

Serve over rice.

Optional: top with your favorite chutney, chopped peanuts, French fried onions, and/or chopped hard-boiled eggs.

Jono's Spicy Mince

Jono (12) brought this recipe home from school. He has cooked it for us a couple of times now.

500g beef mince (ground beef)

olive oil

1 tomato, chopped

1 small onion, diced

2 small cloves garlic, diced

3 tablespoons Moroccan seasoning

1/2 cup beef stock

small handful of pinenuts

handful of parsley

1/8th of an lemon

Here are the directions as Jono told them to me ...

Cook the meat in a little bit of olive oil.  Add the tomato and the onion.  Cook until the meat is browned.  Add the garlic.  Add the Moroccan seasoning.  Stir.  Add the beef stock.  Cook until liquid is gone.  Add pinenuts and parsley.  Serve on top of rice and drizzled with lemon juice. 

He always does something green on the side.  Peas are his favorite.

I don't even need to be in the kitchen when he cooks this!

Ps ... We call this spicy mince but it's not spicy spicy ... Alia eats it and she's got a kitten tongue!

Easy Peasy Crockpot Pork

EDIT: I don't have much time after work to cook dinner, so I've been making meals that I can put in a ziplock, freeze, and then dump into a crock pot to cook all day.  This is one I'm trying!  I've heard it does well in the freezer.  Just dump all the ingredients into a bag, label, and freeze.  You can either thaw it before you put it in the crock pot, OR stick it in a bit of hot tap water to get everything unstuck from the bag and put it in the crock pot frozen to cook all day.  Now THAT is easy!

Super Easy - Super Yummy

- Pork chops (or favorite pork cut) - I used two family packs for the 7 of us

- Cream of chicken soup - we like plenty of gravy so I used 3 cans, probably could have gotten away with two cans for the amount of pork used

- Ranch dressing packets - I used two for the amount of soup and pork


Place Pork in Crock pot and top with soup and ranch.  I kind of stir the ranch into the soup a little.  Cook on high for 4 hours or low for 8 hours. Serve over rice with a veggie beside. 

Done!  YUM!

Teriyaki Chicken Wrap

This was a little lunch time experiment.  A successful one.  We are going to have this for dinner tonight since I am the only one who ate it for lunch today and it is delicious!!

Rice, cooked.  (I used sushi rice, but you can use whatever kind you like.)

Soy sauce ... I added a few drops to the rice.

Easy Crock Pot Teriyaki Chicken

Avocado, sliced

Spring onion, thinly sliced

Lettuce, shredded

Sesame seeds

Japanese mayo

Flour tortillas

Just heat your tortillas.  Fill with rice, chicken, avocado, spring onions and lettuce.  Top off with a sprinkle of sesame seeds and a drizzle of japanese mayo.  I didn't try it this time, but I imagine my husband and son will add sweet chilli sauce to theirs tonight ...

Done. 

PS. If you plan this for the night after you make Easy Crock Pot Teriyaki Chicken, you will have a super simple dish.  Minimal prep work.  Minimal clean up.  Maximum taste and enjoyment!

Cauliflower "Rice"

 

This is not so much a recipe as a couple of simple steps ... I saw this recipe and had to try it! 
It was so simple and so tasty.  I will do it often. 

Here's what you do ...

Break off cauliflower florets & put in food processor.  

"Whizz" until the cauliflower looks like rice. 

When you are ready to serve it, put it

in the microwave for about five

minutes.  Season it how

you would normally

season your rice.

We added 

soy 

sauce tonight

and just ate it as a side.

Curry is planned for Wednesday 

night and we will be using the leftovers from

tonight!  I think it will be a delicious under curry too!!

Chicken and Beans on Rice

This was delicious.  Easy too.  I found the recipe here.  I did what she did with minor alterations like, one less chicken breast because I always find these sorts of chicken dishes have to much chicken. I also added rice and toppings.  Oh, and I mixed all the stuff together before adding to crock pot ...

Anyway, here's my way ...

3 raw boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 (400g/15oz) can of pinto beans, drained and rinsed
1 (400g/15oz) can of black beans, drained and rinsed
2 (400g/15oz) cans of diced tomatoes
frozen corn, I didn't measure ...
1 (340g/12oz) jar of salsa

to serve ...
avocado, chopped
grated cheese, i used a mexican blend
rice or tortillas or corn chips
sour cream or greek yoghurt (didn't have any in the house this time but will use next time)

Put chicken breasts in the bottom of the slow cooker (crock pot).

In a separate bowl, mix other ingredients.  I just added the corn til it seemed a reasonable amount. Pour over chicken.  Cook on low for 5-7 hours.  I did the full 7 hours then turned it on 'keep warm' til we were ready to eat a few hours later.  When I stirred the mixture up when we were ready to eat, the chicken just broke into pieces! 

Serve on top of rice, or in a tortilla or with corn chips.  Top with avocado, grated cheese and sour cream ...

This was a BIG HIT with the whole family ! And it made lots.  Our family of four ate it for diner one night & everyone had seconds.  Two of us are having it for lunch today.  And there is still enough for lunch tomorrow!

Egg Curry and Chutney

I am re-posting this recipe because it needs to be at the front of the blog again, (and also because I finally got a photo that I'm happy with !)  Have you tried this yet ? You need to !!  Just a little side note, I used wholemeal flour in this tonight and there was no difference to taste !

My Mom sent me her recipes for these when I was first married. I have cooked both of them many times since. They are both passed down long time family favorites !

For the Egg Curry:
1 cup white sauce per person
1 hard boiled egg per person and one for the pot
curry powder to taste (start with 1 teaspoon per cup of white sauce)
garlic powder to taste
a little salt
generous black pepper
generous pinch of cumin per cup of white sauce (adds heat and punch but is optional)

Make white sauce.
Add sliced eggs.
Serve over rice.
May add green peas to rice, if you like peas ...

How to Make White Sauce:
2 tablespoons butter (or oil as I discovered out of necessity last time I made this !)
2 tablespoons flour
1 cup milk

Melt butter (stir in spices if using for curry)
Stir in flour. Stir til all lumps are gone and there is only a smooth past.
Slowly add milk and stir constantly until sauce thickens and then boils. (use med-high heat)

For the Chutney :
1 pound of canned tomatoes and the juice (mush them up with your fingers so there are various sizes)
1 cup of sugar
1/2 clove of garlic, peeled and sliced
1/4 tsp powdered ginger or 10 thin slices fresh ginger
1 tsp whole cloves
1 cinnamon stick
generous 3/4 cup vinegar
as many raisins as you like (this recipe would call for 1/5 of a pound)

Throw everything into a pan except the raisins and cook for about 1.5 hours, or til it's dark brown and looks like chutney (not too runny) Turn of the fire and thrown in the raisins. Let cool in the pan so the raisins plump up.

You can freeze this chutney.
You can also keep it in your fridge from now til kingdom come.
But ... it won't last that long ... it's too yummy !

Japanese Mince and Rice ....

This is so yummy and so simple. Last time I made this, I had some ground beef (mince) already cooked and in the freezer. I took that out in the morning to thaw, set the timer on the rice cooker and then only had one step to do when I got home.

Here's what you do.

500g beef mince

cooked rice (i like sushi rice best)

3 Tablespoons Sake

3 Tablespoons Mirin

3 Tablespoons Soy Sauce

All you do is cook the mince in a bit of oil, add the sake, mire and soy and continue to cook until the juice is gone. I did this on a med heat. Then you just stir that through the rice. You can shape it into onigiri (as shown below) or just eat it. Lately, we've opted to just eat it !! 

And  I add a little bit more soy sauce to my bowl ...

Gallo Pinto

This dish is served everywhere in Nicaragua, as a side dish or main dish, often with corn tortillas and boiled or fried plantains. It is part of breakfast, lunch, and/or dinner!

• 2 cups cooked long-grain rice
• 1 cup red beans
• 1/2 cup of finely diced white onion
• 3 teaspoons vegetable oil
• salt
• sour cream

Place vegetable oil on a frying pan and heat for approximately 1 minute. Saute onions until caramelized. Add entire pot of cooked beans and its gravy into the sautéed onions. Stir over low-medium heat for a minute. Add cooked rice to sautéed bean mixture, mix well and simmer for 5 minutes. Add salt to taste. Serve immediately, topped with sour cream if desired.

Variations: Can substitute canned red or black beans, undrained. The recipe I used called for 2T chopped cilantro, added with the salt (but I am not a fan of cilantro, and I don’t remember Liz or Eli using it in Nicaragua). To be authentic don’t skimp on the salt. Other versions of this recipe added chopped red or green pepper and garlic with the onion for more zip.

The name of the dish translates to "speckled rooster," a reference to the look of the dish rather than its contents.

Honey Sesame Chicken

This recipe looked so yummy to me. I changed it just a little bit ... here's how I did mine :

3 chicken breasts - cut to bite size pieces
1 tbsp of soy sauce
1 tbsp of sherry
1/2 tbsp of sesame oil
1 tsp of sugar
2 tbsp flour & 1 tbsp cornstarch,mixed together
salt & pepper to taste

Marinate chicken with soy sauce, sherry, sugar, sesame oil, salt & pepper. Let marinate at least an hour. Just before frying mix the flours into the chicken.

Heat oil for frying. Fry chicken until golden brown, remove from pan to paper towel. Tip all the oil from the pan.

Mix the following ... and pour into the pan you cooked the chicken in.
3 tbsp of sweet chili sauce
2 tbsp of tomato ketchup
1- 2 tbsp of honey
1 tbsp of oyster sauce
2 tbsp of soy sauce
1/4 cup of water
some toasted sesame seed

Let the sauce thicken a bit. Add in the chicken & stir, making sure chicken is coated with the sauce. Sprinkle the sesame seeds on the chicken. Serve with warm rice.

Jodie's Sushi Rice and Jono's Favorite Roll

if you're wondering why i haven't posted a menu this week, it's because i haven't made one. oh how i despise not having a menu ! but, we're pretty much just trying to eat out of the fridge/freezer/pantry this week. we're doing pretty well, if we are an ingredient or two short, i just run out and get them. so far, we're still UNDER BUDGET !! hoooray !!

the other night we did very simple sushi. the only ingredients we did were cucumber, avocado, cream cheese and tamago. i had run out of sushi rice vinegar so i tried my friend jodie's recipe for making your own ! it was great. i'll never buy sushi rice vinegar again ...

here's how you make it ...
1/3 cup white vinegar
2 TBLS sugar
1.5 tsp salt

mix in a bowl, zap in the microwave to help the sugar dissolve. i probably took it out and stirred it two or three times over a minute's zap ...

and that's it. use how much you need and save the rest for next time ...

as for this fancy inside out roll. my boy reckons this is the best way to eat sushi. he's always disappointed when we go to a sushi restaurant that doesn't have these. so ... i tried my hand at it and he said it was better than the one he gets at the sushi shop ! how's that for a compliment ?! it really was quite easy. Just roll the sushi mat with glad wrap (plastic wrap) before you start, otherwise you'll be picking rice out of your mat for years to come !

Do your rice as you normally would, sprinkle with sesame seeds and then turn it over. Add your ingredients as you normally would, only you're doing it on the seaweed, not the rice. I did cucumber, avocado and cream cheese for jono. Roll as per usual. Cutting is a bit tricky but if you have a sharp knife, you'll be fine.

That's it ! Easy and yum !!

Nancy's Osaka Chicken

I got this recipe from my sister's husband's Mom ... Nancy ! Though I have never eaten any of her food cooked by her hand, I know that she is an incredible cook ! I drool over everything that she posts onto facebook and often ask for the recipe ! She's also who we give credit to for the most amazing soup ever ... Thai Chicken Soup !!

This chicken is one of the ones I asked for the recipe of and boy am I glad she was willing to give it to me ! You will be too once you try it !!

Sauce #1
1/2 cup veg oil
1/4 cup orange juice
2 Tablespoons balsamic vinegar
2 Tablespoons grated ginger
1 Tablespoon soy sauce
1 Tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 Tablespoon sugar
1 clove garlic minced
2 scallions chopped
Combine all ingredients in a container and blend well. I used a stick blender.

Sauce #2
3 Tablespoons soy sauce
1/2 Cup lemon juice
2 teaspoons Dry Mustard
3 Tablespoons sugar
2 Tablespoons sesame oil
2 Tablespoons rice vinegar
1/3 cup veg oil
Combine all ingredients in a container and blend well.

Now that you have these two sauces made you can start with the chicken. I used 4 chicken breast. Cut them into bite size pieces.

In a big hot skillet fry till browned a little in some oil then add Sauce #1 and cook until the sauce thickens a bit. Oh yeah. You can add some slices of ginger to the cooking oil and I added some sliced Thai peppers for heat.

Serve with your preference of rice ... And a mixed up a salad of sliced celery, cucumbers and grated carrot. Serve with sauce #2. We pour it over the whole thing.

Enjoy!

Jono Makes Butter Chicken w/Saffron Rice

Jono LOVES butter chicken.
On his night to cook a couple weeks ago he requested that we try making it at home !
We found these recipes in a cookbook that was my Grandma's.
It is called Indian Food and Folklore.

We modified their recipes to look like this ...

For the butter chicken ....

1 kg chicken breast, cubed
7 tablespoons vinegar

Put the chicken and vinegar in a bowl for an hour or two. Mix the following ingredients in a food processor and let rest while the chicken is doing whatever it's doing in the vinegar.

4 garlic cloves
2 inch piece of fresh ginger
2 tablespoons of a mild curry paste. We used a green curry paste.
a big handful of chopped fresh coriander
1 teaspoon dried mint
150ml greek yogurt
1/2 teaspoon salt

Pour this luscious green mixture onto the chicken (after it's hour or two in the vinegar) and let marinate in the fridge overnight !

Preheat oven to 160c/325f

To cook, pour all of that chicken ... including the marinade ... into a roasting tin. (I lined mine with baking paper so the chicken wouldn't stick to the pan.) Bake for 20 minutes ... or until chicken is cooked through.

While that's cooking you'll need to get these ingredients together and make your sauce:

6 tablespoons ghee
2 tablespoons cumin seeds
1 small onion, thinly sliced
7 tablespoons thickened cream
1 tablespoon garam masala

Heat the ghee in a wok, add cumin and fry for one minute. Add onion. The original recipe said to fry til crisp and golden. Mine never crisped nor golden-ed. So ...whatever. Add the cream and garam masala and simmer gently. Once the chicken is cooked, pour it into this sauce and mix it all together. Serve with saffron rice and top with a bit of fresh coriander.

For the rice ...

375g basmati rice
50g ghee
1/2 a cinnamon stick
6 cardamom pods
6 cloves
1 red onion, sliced
1 teaspoon saffron threads
2 tablespoons boiling water
450 ml water

Put the saffron threads into the boiling water and let set at least 10 minutes.

Wash the rice. Soak in cold water for 30 minutes. Drain.

Melt the ghee and fry the spices in it. Add onion. Fry to desired onion consistency. Add rice. Fry 2 minutes. Add saffron water & the 450ml water. Stir. Bring to the boil. Cover. Cook gently ... about 20 minutes ... til liquid is absorbed and rice is tender.

Mari's Crock Pot Soy & Garlic Chicken

I got this recipe from Mari ...

4 chicken breasts, skin removed
1 can (8oz) tomato sauce (I used tomato puree)
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon minced garlic

Place chicken in crock pot.
In small bowl, combine tomato sauce, soy sauce, brown sugar and garlic.
Pour over chicken.
Cover and cook on low for 5 to 6 hours.

I served with rice.
So yum.

Rice Balls

Sent these in the lunches the other day.
Want to know how to make 'em ?
I've posted the 'how to'
before ... here.

COPS ~ Cabbage Onion Polish Sausage

I ordered a box of veggies last week.
It included a whole cabbage.
What the heck does one do with a whole cabbage ?

Rory and I do this.

Chop up half the cabbage.
Chop an onion.
Chop up some polish sausage.

Heat a bit of olive oil.
Brown sausage.
Add onion.
Add cabbage.
Pour a big of soy sauce on top.

DONE !

Put it on top of rice.
Easy.
Yummy.

We still have 1/2 a cabbage and 1/2 a polish sausage ... we'll be having this again next week !

Excuse me, this is delicious, shrimp salad !

I got this recipe from Zested.
I didn't change it very much but I'll do a few things differently next time ... here's what I'll do.

3 T. peanut oil
1 large shallot, thinly sliced (i used a few spring onions)
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 inch fresh ginger, grated
2-3 Thai chilies*, with seeds, minced
1 lb. large shrimp, peeled and cleaned

* I can't find these here. I've bought some seeds and am going to grow some, 'til they are ready though, I just use a jar of chili/garlic paste when something calls for these ...

Sauce
2 heaping teaspoons tamarind concentrate
3 T. sugar
2 T. soy
2 T. Asian fish sauce
2 T. lime juice

Salad
2 avocados, chopped
1 large cucumber, chopped
1 half sweet onion, diced
3 T. lime juice
1 t. sugar
1 t. Asian fish sauce
3 T. fresh coriander, chopped
Rice, cooked ... to serve

Make tamarind sauce by mixing all sauce ingredients.

Make salad from salad ingredients. I didn't know if you were supposed to combine the lime, sugar and fish sauce, I didn't. I just threw them on top.

Cook shrimp. Heat peanut oil in a heavy skillet and sauté ginger, shallot, garlic, chilies, stirring constantly ... for about 30 seconds, don't burn them ! Add shrimp and sauté until barely pink, about 2 minutes. Stir in tamarind mixture and simmer until shrimp are just cooked through, about 2 minutes more. ( I think this took me a little longer than 2 minutes ... )

Spoon shrimp and salad over rice.

Ps ... you'll notice the peaunuts in this photo ... I didn't think they added to the meal and I won't put them in the next time so didn't include them in the recipe I posted. If you think you'd like them check out the original recipe ...