Quick Chicken Curry

Some days just call for a quick curry.

The kind where you simply look at your cupboard and find a tin of coconut cream which will form the basis of the whole meal. Curry powder, chicken pieces, onion, garlic, cauliflower, carrots, string beans and rice will complete it.

This is my favourite kind of day.

Rice Pudding with Left Over Rice

Yes, yet another first for me.
My husband simply loves rice pudding and I have never really been a big fan of it.
Not sure why, because the rice pudding I made was pretty damn good.
My husband was a very happy man and the kids also emptied their bowls.
Left over rice will never be wasted again!

Here is a link to the recipe on slashfood.com and here is a copy (I adapted the recipe to the quantity of rice I had left over):

2 cups leftover cooked white rice
3 cups milk (any kind)*
1/2 cup sugar
small pinch salt
1/2 cup raisins
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, optional
pinch nutmeg, optional

Combine cooked rice, milk, sugar and salt in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat to a simmer and stir in the vanilla and raisins. Cook until just about all of the milk is absorbed (30-45 minutes, depending on how absorbent your rice is). Stir in cinnamon and/or nutmeg, if using.

Divide rice pudding into individual serving dishes serve warm or chilled.
Makes 4-6 servings.

Tandoori Spiced Chicken and Vegetable Stir Fry

I love shopping in other countries. You know, just browsing the super market becomes an adventure. Of course it is always an adventure when you do not speak the language (in this case French).
Sometimes you stumble across good things like this little bottle of Tandoori seasoning.
It is perfect on chicken.

It will run out quickly and once it is finished it is finished for good since I won't be heading to France again soon.

For the time being I will just enjoy using it in my cooking adventures.

This lovely and very healthy meal was made by liberally seasoning about 300 grams of diced skinless chicken breasts with the Tandoori mixture. add a dash of lemon juice and let it marinate while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.

Peel, slice and dice a head of broccoli, a few carrots, paksoi, an onion and of course some garlic.
Prepare enough basmati rice to serve 3 people (or more, you decide). It should take about 18 minutes.
While the rice is simmering away, I prefer to start cooking my chicken and vegetables separately and then combine them when everything is done. Add a splash of soy as you go along, and of course a tablespoon or two of olive oil. Season as needed and when ready serve with fluffy white basmati rice.

Enjoy!

Beef Mince Curry and Rice - South African Style

Mince curry and rice is a dish that I grew up on.

Now, this is not a curry in the Asian style. No, this is true South African 'cuisine'.

I must admit that I do not remember all the ingredients of this dish, so as usual I kind of winged it a little.

In a nutshell I sauteed an onion and crushed garlic in vegetable oil and added a tablespoon of curry powder. Then throw in the beef mince (500gram) and saute until it becomes nice and brown. Add some chopped tomatoes, chopped potatoes and then a can of carrots and peas.The next step is to add a cup of hot water and stir it all together until it forms a bit of a sauce. Season to your liking. Let it simmer gently for 10 to 20 minutes.

Make the rice while the curry simmers away. My preference is always for basmati rice, and that takes about 18 minutes to make. Add some turmeric or curry powder to the water in which you cook the rice if you want to give it a bit of colour.

Serve the curry with chutney, sliced bananas and a side salad.

And there you have it, my quick and improvised South African curry and rice.

A Quick Red Thai Curry

A busy life calls for quick and easy dinners.
That is when a curry can be a lifesaver.
Ready made curry paste, coconut milk, pork (already cut neatly into bite size pieces), a big carrot (sliced), one courgette (sliced), basmati rice and you should be able to have a meal on the table in 30 minutes.

Start by making the rice as per the instructions on the packet.
Then heat up a little bit of oil and add a few tablespoons of red curry paste to the pan. The more you add, the hotter it will be!

Now add the pork and stir fry for a few minutes, then add the vegetables and stir fry for about 5 minutes until they are tender. Now add the coconut milk and leave everything to simmer for about 5 more minutes.

Easy, easy, easy.

Butternut Curry

I finally decided to use the butternut patiently waiting in the vegetable drawer.

First I thought of making a butternut soup but then as I walked to the kitchen a curry seemed like a great idea... except that I didn't really have all the required ingredients.

But I like to improvise, how wrong could it go?
Not at all as it turned out!

So, the big problem was that I had no curry paste. I've seen lots of cooking shows where they whip up a curry so I decided to just make it up. Yes, just make it up!

I heated up a tablespoon of vegetable oil and added two cloves minced garlic. To this I then added a tablespoon curry powder, a dash of dried ginger, some cayenne pepper, salt, a tablespoon sugar and some cumin. As the ingredients were heating up, a lovely spicy smell filled the kitchen. I kept stirring and a paste formed within a couple of minutes.

I added some hot water to the pan and let it simmer. Then it was time to pour in the coconut milk. I had a little 250ml box of Thai coconut milk and into the mixture it went, smooth and creamy. I left it to simmer while I prepared the rest of the ingredients. (note to reader - I suggest you use preprepared curry paste!)

The butternut had to be peeled and diced, then I sliced a courgette and an onion. Prep work done.

Next I heated up a tablespoon of vegetable oil in my wok. I added the vegetables and stir fried them for 5 minutes. Then I poured in the curry sauce and let it all simmer for about 20 minutes. This was enough to cook the butternut.

Of course you mustn't forget about the rice! Once the vegetables were simmering away, I cooked my basmati rice as per the package instructions. It was going to take 18 minutes in total. Seemed like perfect timing to me.

At the last minute I decided to serve some vegetarian fillets with the curry - I quickly pan fried them and just piled them on top of the curry.

It was a surprisingly delicious curry, and one I will definitely make again.

Curried Chicken Rice a la Bill Granger

Now this is my husband's favourite dish.

I stumbled across it a few years ago when I first discovered Bill Granger's cookbooks. It is very easy to make and simply delicious. Essentially it is a one pot dish, once the prep work is done you just pop it in the oven and about 50 minutes later dinner is served. Chicken with rice, served with a salad. Yum yum yum.

Trust me, this dish is a winner and you simply have to make it.

As always I modified the original recipe slightly... I added peas to the dish since I think peas go really well with rice.

Here is the recipe as per Simply Bill by Bill Granger.

Ingredients:
1kg chicken pieces on the bone, with skin
2 tbsp Indian curry powder
1 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, chopped
2 garlic gloves, crushed
300g basmati rice
750ml chicken stock
1 cup frozen peas

Method:

Preheat oven to 200 degrees C (400 degrees F).
Put the chicken in a large bowl, add the curry powder and toss to coat well.
Place a heavy-based casserole pan with tight fitting lid over medium heat.
Add the oil and chicken pieces and cook until they are sealed and browned all over.
Remove the chicken to a place.
Add the onion and garlic to the casserole and cook until the onion is soft and pale golden.
Add the rice, stir to combine and cook for 2 minutes.Put the chicken back into the casserole in a single layer over the rice and carefully pour in the stock.
Scatter the peas over the chicken.

Put on the lid and bake in the oven for 45 minutes of until the rice is tender and has absorbed all the liquid and the chicken is cooked through.

Serves 4.

The choice is yours, add peas or not, serve with a lovely cucumber salad or some greens.
Go on, rush to the shop and buy the ingredients. You won't be sorry!

Happiness Soup

Now this is one of my all time favourite recipes - happiness soup from Nigella Lawson.

It really makes me happy.

Courgette, lemon, basmati rice. Need I say more?

The recipe is very simple, the most difficult thing was to get hold of the turmeric. Not that it isn't readily available, its just that I didn't know the right word in Dutch (duh!).

Here it's called kurkuma so now you know if ever you went looking for it in the Super de Boer.

Follow the link to the original recipe, or here is a copy if you are too lazy to go to her page:

• 500g yellow courgettes (2 large)
• Zest and juice of 1 lemon
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 teaspoon turmeric
• 1 litre chicken or vegetable stock
• 100g basmati rice
• Maldon salt and pepper

Serves: 4-6.

1. Cut the courgettes - wash them by all means if you want, but don't bother to peel them - into 5mm rings, and then finely dice them. Put them into a pan with the lemon zest and oil, stir to coat, then cook on a gentle heat for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until they've slightly softened.
2. Stir in the turmeric and pour in the stock and lemon juice and then drop in the rice. And for the stock here, as usual I make up some bouillon concentrate with water; you could use vegetable stock if you prefer, but I love the mellow goldenness you get from chicken.
3.  Cook, uncovered, for 10-20 minutes, or just until the courgettes and rice are tender. Taste for seasoning.
4. Leave to cool slightly before serving so that you eat the soup warm rather than hot.

As always I modified the recipe slightly, I added onions and used vegetable stock instead of chicken stock. I grated the courgette instead of dicing them. Also, watch out that you don't add too much rice... it will then become more of a rice dish than a soup but still delicious.

Easy peasy and yummy!