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Post by FloraTrevelyan on Jan 17, 2017 10:22:53 GMT
By 'dinner' I mean evening meal, otherwise known as 'tea', 'supper' etc!
There's a breakfast thread but mine is nearly always the same - super healthy cereal, fresh fruit and and probiotics waffles with Nutella but I can't find an evening meal thread anywhere. Thought it might provide menu ideas as much as anything, I am guilty of getting stuck in a rut in this regard...
I've just thrown some beef in the slow cooker, with potatoes, onion, leek and white cabbage. Lots of herbs, cracked black pepper, fresh garlic and bay. The kids will turn their noses up at it on the basis that it's not a ham and pineapple pizza...
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Post by HDS on Jan 17, 2017 12:38:03 GMT
Chicken curry
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Post by FloraTrevelyan on Jan 17, 2017 12:57:58 GMT
^ If you've got a good recipe please pass it on, I keep trying to get the blend of spices and oils right but always end up falling back onto the mercy of Patak's pastes!
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Post by HDS on Jan 17, 2017 13:19:55 GMT
Ah OK I will do, I'll tidy it up a little so it makes sense and post it in here for you.
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Post by HDS on Jan 17, 2017 13:23:53 GMT
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Post by FloraTrevelyan on Jan 17, 2017 13:47:27 GMT
^ That looks ace, thanks
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Post by HDS on Jan 17, 2017 14:47:08 GMT
Here you go. I was given this recipe by my friend's mum who has spent many years making curries. I use it all the time and have added some of my notes for you so I hope it helps......no more Patak's lol
Chicken Curry with Spinach Serves about 4....depends on your appetite really!
• 4 skinless chicken breasts cut into bite size pieces. remove all fat • 2 x medium or 1 ½ large Red onions finely chopped • 2 cloves of crushed garlic (I use frozen that I get from the Asian supermarket as it's a lot quicker) • Tablespoon of finely grated Ginger ( or you can use ginger powder added to the dry spice mix below) • Olive Oil – enough to fry the onions, I use no more than a tablespoon. • 1 pack of passata • A couple of squirts of tomato puree to thicken up the sauce • 1 or 2 large bags of baby washed spinach which you need to chop up to make the leaves smaller, don’t put in whole leaves as it can be stringy. • Large bunch of fresh coriander washed and chopped. Don’t chop too far down using too much of the thicker stalks its really just the leaves you want and a small amount of the thin stalks with leaves on are ok… you will know what I mean when you are chopping. • Chopped chillies with the seeds removed, you can use scotch bonnets (amount depends on how fiery you want it!) because they have an awesome Caribbean flavour but you have to wear gloves to touch them and any chillies for that matter! I usually can't be bothered with fresh chillies so I add either chilli flakes or chilli powder with the dried ingredients below. • You can also add potatoes to this dish. I use the small packets of baby potatoes. They need to be bite size and I boil then for about 10 to 15 minutes and have them ready to just add. I usually put on the potatoes to boil before I start chopping all the ingredients. • I have everything chopped and ready to put into the pan before I start otherwise I end up panicking and then burning the spices!
*Dry Spices*: I always measure out all the dried spices into a small cup as they can be added all together and measuring them as you put them in the pan may mean they burn.
Salt to taste I use about 1 teaspoon, 1 heaped teaspoon of garam masala (of proper Indian make not Swartz, Sainbury's & Tesco have proper garam masala in packets not the bottle if you don't have an Asian supermarket close by), if using dry ginger 1 level teaspoon, if using dried chilli powder 1 level teaspoon (again depends how hot you like it) 1 level teaspoon Turmeric. I also like extra cinnamon so I add 1 level teaspoon. You don't have to because you're using garam masala but I also add 3/4 teaspoon of ground cumin and coriander powder. Once you've done this a few times you'll get used to how you like your spice mix and adjust accordingly.
Method. 1. Heat the oil in a large deep pan (medium heat), the bigger the better as the spinach when first put in fills up the pan and can spill out everywhere. 2. Add the chopped onions stirring occasionally, the oil amount should just be enough to fry the onions i.e. not swimming in oil but not too dry so that it takes ages to fry. 3. After around 10 mins before they start to go brown add the crushed garlic and if using fresh chillies & fresh ginger add those also and stir to coast in oil. It's a lot easier especially for the first few times if you use dried chilli & ginger. 4. When your frying mixture is just about to turn golden brown add the dried spices and fry for a few seconds only (burned spices makes the curry taste awful) but as you are about to immediately add the meat burning shouldn’t happen. If you are struggling with the timing just take off the heat for a moment before you add the chicken. 5. Add the chicken and stir in, coating it with the spice mixture. Stir around every few minutes so that all the meat gets browned and the juices are sealed in. 6. Turn the heat down a little at this stage. Once the meat is looking like it’s a little brown (after about 10 minutes) add in your chopped spinach. 7. It looks a lot but it wilts away to virtually nothing and the moisture will help to stop the meat from sticking to the bottom of the pan. 8. If you're using potatoes add them once you've mixed the spinach in, give it all a stir and cook on a low to medium heat for about 10 minutes. 9. Now add in your passata and tomato puree, put the lid on and turn up the heat. As soon as it’s reached a high heat turn down to simmer. You might at some point have to remove the lid but it all depends on how thick you want the curry sauce. 10. Simmer for about 30 mins stirring occasionally. 11. Finally once cooked take off the heat and add coriander. Stir in then serve. The gravy of the curry sauce should be dark brown once cooked.
This is just a basic recipe to start with and you can replace the chicken with other meat or prawns, you can also marinade the meat in yogurt and spices. I sometimes add coconut cream (depends on how my diet is going!) at the end of cooking, this give it a nice creamy texture. In addition you can add mustard or fenugreek seeds at the beginning before the onions go into the oil which makes quite a difference to the flavour.
Let me know if you try it and if it's a success (or not!)
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Post by leibniz on Jan 17, 2017 17:16:05 GMT
That looks lovely, H!
I'm making pasta alla Medici. It's my dish of the moment and it takes about five minutes to make (plus pasta cooking time) so it's perfect for football training night.
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obeeky
Member
So here I am once more...
Posts: 5,209
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Post by obeeky on Jan 17, 2017 18:33:40 GMT
I have a craving for garlic mushrooms today so I've metaphorically twisted the homeboy's arm and we're going to our local italian for dinner. If he'd said no I would have made them but they wouldn't have been as good.
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obeeky
Member
So here I am once more...
Posts: 5,209
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Post by obeeky on Jan 17, 2017 21:19:37 GMT
...and very nice it was too. Kiddo paid for us (after prompting!)
I had garlic mushrooms, goats cheese al forno and raspberry ripple ice cream.
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Post by brightsider on Jan 17, 2017 21:58:17 GMT
We had a home made cottage pie with roasted mixed beetroot with cranberry dressing as a side dish. It was really yummy, despite the fact we skipped the cheese and tomato topping we usually add. After being reasonably healthy at dinner, I followed it by having half a packet of Asda's free from butter shortbread. Ah well - tomorrows another day!
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Post by FloraTrevelyan on Jan 18, 2017 8:38:19 GMT
That recipe looks great HDS, thanks 👍🏻
My kids ate the beef <falls over in shock> As a reward tonight it's M&S ham & pineapple pizza 😎
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Post by brightsider on Jan 18, 2017 22:26:29 GMT
Yesterdays left over cottage pie with a heap of peas, and a cream soda that I re-discovered in the cupboard.
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Post by jlosid on Jan 21, 2017 16:27:15 GMT
Because it is Saturday we are having potato sinks with cheese and bacon for starters then a vegetarian pizza but I might add tuna
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Post by Ms Arrrrrrrr Mk 2 on Jan 22, 2017 21:44:49 GMT
I had a chicken and spinach fettuccine pasta thing - was rather nice for a microwave meal
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