Showing posts with label spicy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label spicy. Show all posts

Sunday, 22 July 2012

Recipe: Roast Chicken, Thai Style

As regular readers of the Blog may have noticed, I'm taking advantage of having the kitchen to myself for a few days and cooking many of the dishes I love and have been dying to write about. The Boy isn't keen on messing with the usual Sunday routine, including the traditional Sunday roast, so this weekend I took the opportunity to roast a chicken... Thai style! 



Tuesday, 19 June 2012

Recipe: North African Pork & Lentil Curry

Determined not to waste (or, more likely, nibble on every time I open the fridge) some delicious slow-roasted pork belly, I knocked up a little leftovers recipe on Monday evening. It was the perfect start to a long week and made great use of some great quality meat. 

I love improvising in the kitchen and usually take inspiration from combinations of ingredients in a handful of favourite recipes. My inspiration for Monday's quick supper was from a North African chicken tagine recipe. I decided to use the sweet and spicy flavours with a tomato-based sauce to liven up my leftover pork belly; served on some cous cous with a good hit of red chili, the dish really hit the spot. 




Monday, 26 March 2012

Recipe: Sweet Potato & Thai Coconut Soup


I'm on my third week of making soup for packed lunches and I'm still loving it. My latest batch, of Sweet Potato and Thai Coconut Soup with cashew nuts, really hits the spot. Thai curry is one of my favourite flavours and the sweet potato makes this soup delightfully filling and satisfying. It's easy to make and you can re-heat it without affecting the quality too. 

Here's what you need: 

1 tablespoon vegetable oil 
1 onion, chopped
1 - 2 teaspoons Thai curry paste - I use red from Mae Ploy (it's quite feisty!) 
1 litre vegetable stock 
100 - 150ml reduced-fat coconut milk 
750g sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed 
Handful cashew nuts
Creme fraiche or extra coconut milk, to serve 
 
What you do:

1. Heat the oil in a saucepan and add the chopped onion. Fry gently for 4 - 5 minutes. Stir in the curry paste (note: if using good quality thai paste, 1 teaspoon will be plenty). Cook for 1 more minute until fragrant.

2. Add the sweet potato and stock and bring to the boil. Simmer until the potato is tender (about 10 - 15 minutes). 

3. Remove the soup from the heat and stir in the coconut milk and season well. Leave to cool for a few minutes and then whizz in the blender until smooth.

4. Serve with a dollop or swirl of creme fraiche or coconut milk and a handful of crushed cashew nuts.

Delicious!! Enjoy :-)

Next week: I want to try something new!! Ideas please...

Saturday, 7 May 2011

Recipe: Canarian Curry

A hotty but a goody!

I brought back a bottle of Mojo Picon (canary chili sauce) from Gran Canaria earlier this year as lots of dishes in the restaurants we went to contained it and it gave a nice kick in a kind of fruity way! Whilst on holiday we cooked a chicken smothered in it one night in our apartment (I think in the microwave if I recall correctly!!) and had it with salad and rice and it was absolutely delicious! On the last night of the holiday we ate at a fantastic restaurant on the little square off the harbour in Puerto de Mogan. It was very traditional and rustic, with friendly staff, authentic embroidered table cloths and wall hangings, and little maritime artefacts and lanterns hanging around our heads. "La Bodega" served us a tapas selection of traditional Canarian Delights - including potatoes cooked in canarian sauce and also succulent rabbit in the picon sauce - plenty of chili, garlic, peppers and a warming fruity sauce.

Last week we experimented with the last few dollops of sauce, having only used it on unoriginal things like chips and pizza until now, and created this curry. We used beef but I think chicken would be fab with it.

Ingredients:

Beef or chicken
Red onion, chopped
Garlic, pressed
Celery, chopped
Jalapeno or similar chili, in rings
Chopped tinned tomatoes
Tomato puree
Chickpeas, drained
Red wine
Canary chili sauce
Seasoning
Fresh coriander leaf, roughly chopped
Rice
Lemon juice

I really did chuck it all together and guess quantities, to taste, but here are some rough instructions:

1. Fry the cubed meat off in a large, deep frying pan in olive oil until no pink bits remain - I squeezed half a lemon over the meat before I started cooking

2. Add chopped onions, garlic and celery and soften on a fairly low heat

3. Squeeze a generous amount of tomato puree over the meat and veg and add the canary chili sauce according to your spice threshold - I dribbled over about a tablespoon altogether

4. Coat everything with the sauce, and use like a paste

5. Once coated and frying nicely, add the tin of tomatoes, allow to boil, season, stir and pop a lid on, leaving to simmer on a very low heat for as long as you like

6. When you are happy with the consistency of the sauce and that your meat is cooked through / tender enough according to your liking, remove the lid and reduce down slightly whilst you cook the rice

7. Sprinkle with coriander and serve with haricots verts or similar, and lemon wedges if you desire

Photo to follow next time I make it - I didn't expect it to be nice enough to blog about :D

Enjoy! :-)