Curried Currant, Cashew Nut & Carrot Couscous Salad

All the C’s.  Just realised as I typed it out.

 ——-

With an hours notice, my brother-in-law who does not cook, rang yesterday to ask me to knock up a couscous salad with some cashews in.

A quick google, whilst feeding my disabled daughter breakfast, and I turned up an enticingly sounding curried cashew nut and currant salad.  I simply added carrots to give it a little more colour, and possibly would add some thinly sliced fried or raw onion next time to give it a little more kick.

As it is an American recipe, and me being me, I altered the original recipe to suit what I have at home.  The recipe was in US cup measurements.  I do have these, but I’ve just discovered making it that a mug is pretty much the same as a cup if you don’t have cup measures to hand.

Serves 4-6

1 cup couscous
1/2 cup raisins, currants, or sultanas
1/2 cup cashew nuts, roughly chopped
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp curry powder or paste
2 medium carrots, grated

Place the couscous, currants, cashew nuts, curry powder, oil, and salt in a warmed serving dish with a lid. Pour over the same amount of boiling water as couscous i.e. one mug or cup.  Cover and leave to stand for 10 minutes.

After 10 minutes fluff the couscous up with a fork and add the grated carrot.  Taste to check  seasoning, adding more salt, oil, or curry powder as required. The original recipe only said one teaspoon of curry powder but I found that I could not taste it a tall in this amount of initially bland couscous!

My brother in law was very impressed and claimed some of the leftovers for a weekday lunch.

Twitter: Leesa@sunhillcurry

Spiced Plum Jam

Joining a Facebook conversation about the amount of fruit falling unused on the pavements around our town, I ended up with 5lbs of free plums on my doorstep last week. I made Spiced Plum Chutney with half, and was so taken with the flavour I decided to make a sweet spiced jam with the other half.
tesco.com has a very simple recipe and the jam has a lovely autumny/wintery spice taste to it.

900g stoned and chopped plums
900g granulated sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp butter (to clarify)

Place a saucer in the freezer.

Put the stoned and chopped plums in a wide stainless steel pan or preserving pan with 150ml water.  Bring to the boil and simmer for 20-30 minutes until the fruit is soft.  As I had frozen my plums, they were soft enough to skip this step.

Wash and sterilise your jars and lids as soon as the jam goes on.  I reuse the ‘pop up’ style lids as these help seal the jam and allow you to keep it in a dark place for 1+ years. Wash jars and lids in hot soapy water, rinse well and drain.  Place the jars in a cold oven, let it heat up to 140C and then leave for 10 minutes at this heat or until your ready to pot up.  Place the lids in a pan with boiling water and boil for 10 minutes to sterilise.

Add the sugar and stir over a low heat until all the sugar has dissolved.  Stir in the cinnamon and ginger and bring to a rolling boil.  Boil rapidly for 10 minutes without stirring.  With a spoon, pour a little onto the chilled saucer.  After a few seconds push the jam with your finger.  If it wrinkles, it is ready.  If not, return to the boil for another 5 minutes and test again, stirring from time to time.  It took about 20 minutes when I made this jam this afternoon, and I did have to stir it to stop it catching on the bottom of the pan especially towards the end of cooking.

When ready remove from the heat.  Stir in the butter which should make any scum ‘vanish’.  Take your jars out of the oven and fill right to the brim.  Seal immediately with your sterilised lids and leave to cool.

Twitter: Leesa@sunhillcurry

Madhur Jaffrey’s Green Bean Curry

A glut of green beans, even though I didn’t manage to grow any of my own this year, together with the decision to have a curry night this week had me googling bean curry.  But in the end the recipe I chose was from my mother’s 1987 edition of Madhur Jaffrey’s ‘An Invitation to Indian Cookery, first published in 1976.

There were several recipes for beans (Green Beans with Ginger and Green Beans with Mustard) in this book, but I settled on ‘Green Beans with Onion Paste’ as I wanted a curry with more of a sauce.

1 1/2 pounds fresh green beans (I used 500g and this was plenty)
1 medium-sized onion, peeled and coarsely chopped
3 cloves garlic, peeled and coarsely chopped
A piece of fresh ginger, about 1 inch square, coarsely chopped
1 medium-sized canned tomato, coarsely chopped (I used a tin of chopped tomatoes)
1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
10 tablespoons vegetable oil (Err, used about 2 tbps)
2 teaspoons ground coriander
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon whole cumin seeds
1/2 teaspoon whole black mustard seeds (I couldn’t find any so used onion seeds)
Optional – 1 or 2 whole dried red peppers OR 1/2 hot fresh green chili sliced in half OR 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (I used 1/2 tsp hot chilli flakes)
1 teaspoon salt (or to taste)
2 teaspoons lemon juice (I did not add any, yet the curry had a surprisingly light lemony taste?!)

Slice the beans into 1cm thick slices.

Peel and roughly chop the onion, garlic, ginger, and turmeric and blend together with the tomatoes to a smooth paste.

Here Madhur Jaffrey’s recipe fries the onion paste and beans separately, frying the paste in 6 tbsp of oil for 5 minutes adding 1 tbsp of water at a time if it starts to stick and then adding the ground coriander and cumin.  She then fries the cumin and mustard seeds in the remaining oil until they pop then adds the beans and onion paste from the other pan together with the remaining ingredients to taste.

Having cooked all day, I could not be bothered with two pans and opted for a one pan option, choosing to fry the green beans as above with the cumin and what turned out to be black onion seeds, and then poured over the paste and added the other ingredients.  I also added a can full of recently boiled water to make more sauce.

I simmered the sauce for about 20 minutes.  Madhur Jaffrey’s recipe, however, says 35 minutes, saying “In India we tend to overcook [green beans]…mainly to kill germs and because we love spices.  We like our spices to permeate a vegetable and this cannot happen unless a vegetable is allowed to become fairly tender.  When you finish this recipe, your beans with not look bright green, nor will they be very crisp.  They will be a brownish dark-green, smothered in spices, and utterly delicious.’

Twitter: Leesa@sunhillcurry

Sweet & Sour Vegetables with Noodles

A quick Sweet & Sour dish I learnt in Thailand. It’s a great way to vegetables into kids, even if you have to resort to selling it as ‘it’s got ketchup in’.

Below is the recipe as taught to me but I often use different vegetables depending on what I have left over. I always use carrot and pineapple, plus sometimes pak choi, cabbage, kale, red pepper. The list is endless. And again I usually add noodles, but you could serve this over rice.

Serves 2 greedy adults or 4 children

1 small onion, thinly sliced
1 garlic clove, crushed
100g cauliflower, cut into bite sized pieces
1 carrot
1 cucumber
8 baby corn
220g pineapple chunks (keep the juice)
70g snow peas or green beans
1 chopped red chilli (optional) or 1 tsp hot chilli flakes
2 tomatoes, roughly chopped (optional)
1 tbsp cooking oil
2 layers of noodles

Sauce
2 tbsp lime or lemon juice
2 tsp sugar
2 tbsp fish sauce
2 tbsp oyster sauce
2 tbsp soy sauce
6 tbsp tomato ketchup
50ml reserved pineapple juice + water or stock

Cook the noodles according to the instructions on the packet. Drain when cooked and leave in cold water to stop them cooking and sticking.

Mix the sauce ingredients together in a bowl apart from the juice/water.

Prepare the cauliflower, carrot, snow peas, and baby corn and chop into bite sized pieces.

Put the oil into a wok and fry the garlic over a high heat until it starts to turn brown. Add the onion and stir fry. Add the cauliflower and carrot followed by the cucumber, baby corn and pineapple and stir-fry for 2 minutes. Add the chillies, tomatoes and peas and stir fry for another minute until all the vegetables are cooked. Add the sauce ingredients and noodles and stir to combine. Add as much or as little of the reserved juice/water to make it the consistency you like. Serve immediately.

Cooked chicken or pork can be added at the start with the garlic if wished.

The trick is to prepare everything before hand as once you start stir frying the dish is pretty much done in a matter of minutes.

Twitter: Leesa@sunhillcurry

Quick Moroccan Inspired Fish Stew

There is an advertisement on television right now with a dad and young daughter making a Mediterranean Fish Stew. Here’s my take on it. More Moroccan, and less (read as no) child participation.

Serves 4
Cooking Time: around 15 minutes

1 small onion, finely chopped
1 clove of garlic, finely chopped
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tin chopped tomatoes
1 red pepper, chopped small or pureed to hide it
1-2 tsp harissa paste
4 fillets frozen white fish (I use pollock)
Handful of black olives (optional)
Handful chopped parsley or coriander (optional)

Fry onion, garlic and red pepper if using chopped in the olive oil over a medium heat in a saucepan until it starts to brown. Add red pepper puree if not added chopped earlier. Add tomatoes, half a tin of recently boiled water, harissa and bring to a simmer. Add the other ingredients and simmer until the fish can be broken up easily into small pieces. Stir in parsley or coriander if using, and season to taste.

I serve it over couscous (Add a good pinch of salt, pepper and a glug of olive oil to half a mug of couscous. Cover with a full mug of boiling water in a dish with a tight fitting lid and leave to cook in the heat of the hot water whilst you make the fish dish) or bulghur wheat (boil a mug of bulghur wheat for 10 minutes in lots of salted water whilst waiting for the fish to cook). If in need of brownie points off the children I will serve it over pasta.

Twitter: Leesa@sunhillcurry

Leftover Roast Chicken with Chorizo & Butter Beans

A really quick tea I put together last week with leftover roast chicken.

Serves 4

1 large handful of leftover roast chicken, or more if you have it
100g spicy chorizo, cubed or finely sliced
1 can butter beans
1 can chopped tomatoes
1/2 can recently boiled water
1 onion, finely chopped
1 large clove of garlic, finely chopped
1 tbsp olive oil
Pepper & salt to taste

Fry the chorizo in the olive oil until it starts to brown. Add the onion and garlic and cook for another 5 or so minutes. Add the rest of the ingredient, topping up with water to make into a suitable stewlike consistency, and simmer for 10-20 minutes to ensure the onion is cooked. Season to taste.

Serve over rice, pasta or just with crusty bread.

Twitter: Leesa@sunhillcurry

Hungarian Goulash with Leftover Roast Pork

Leftover roast pork in our house usually gets used in a stir fry but last week I thought I’d try something different, and so goulash came to mind.

Serves 4
2 large handfuls roast pork
1 large onion, finely chopped
1 large garlic clove, finely chopped
1 tbsp olive oil
1-2 tsp smoked paprika
2 tsp caraway seeds
A large red pepper, chopped (I blended mine with the tomatoes because my kids say they don’t like it if they spot it)
1 tin chopped tomatoes
4 tbsp red wine vinegar
Leaves from a small bunch of fresh marjoram or oregano (optional, but i have so much growing wild in my garden I was pleased to have a recipe to use it in!)
1-2 fresh red chillies, de-seeded and finely chopped

Fry the onions in a casserole dish over a medium heat until they start to brown. Add the garlic, red pepper, and chilli peppers and fry for another few minutes. Add caraway seeds, marjoram or oregano stir, then add tomatoes, paprika, vinegar and pepper & salt. Top up with hot water (about a can) to cover the meat. Bring to the boil, put the lid on and simmer for 10-20 minutes or until the onion is cooked.

Serve with basmati rice and a dollop of sour cream if you have any.

Twitter: Leesa@sunhillcurry

Slow Cooker Pheasant in Cider

Adapted from Delia Smith’s Pot Roast of Pheasant with Shallots & Caramelised Onions.

Pheasants are currently selling at £9.99 for four in our local butchers.  Which means last nights meal was roughly £1 each for the five of us, plus veg.   Apparently, according to Delia, the pheasant season comes to an end in mid-February so try it out quick.

Serves 5

2 pheasants
1 tbsp butter
1 tbsp sunflower oil
12 shallots or 3 onions, quartered
1 large clove of garlic, thinly sliced
2 fresh thyme sprigs
1 bay leaf
3 tbsp Calvados or brandy
500ml cider
300ml recently boiled water
1 chicken stock cube
1 tbsp flour
Salt & pepper

Plug in the slow cooker to warm up.  Heat the butter and oil in a large frying pan and brown the pheasants.  Once browned, place in the slow cooker.  Brown the peel shallots (or onions) in the remaining fat then add to the slow cooker together with the thyme and bayleaf.

Return the pan to the heat.  Add the Calvados/brandy if using to scrape any meaty goodness off the bottom of the pan.  Add the cider and bring to the boil.  Pour over the pheasants.  Crumble the stock cube into a measuring jug and add the recently boiled water. Top the slow cooker up with this so the liquid comes about halfway up the pheasants.

Cook on high for 4-5 hours or Auto for 6-8 hours.  Serve with mash to absorb all the lovely cidery sauce.

Any leftover liquid can be used as a stock for a soup.

Twitter: Leesa@sunhillcurry

Tarka Dhal or Lentil Curry

The best tarka dal (or dhal) I ever had was in a tiny Tibetan cafe in the backstreets of Kathmandu in Nepal. I have googled various recipes but nothing seems to conjure up the flavours I have in my mouth of this gorgeously fresh soupy lentil dish.

Today, however, as Dad is cooking tandoori chicken on the bbq, I have been challenged to turn out a tarka dal to go with. So, based on the recipe from the BBC series Indian Food Made Easy with Anjum Anand, this is what I have just prepared to eat later tonight.

Serves 2

125g red lentils
1/2 pint water
2 tbsp cooking oil
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 small onion, chopped finely
3 garlic cloves
1/2 thumb sized piece of ginger, peeled and finely chopped or grated
1/2 can tinned tomatoes or 2 large fresh tomatoes
1/2 tsp hot chilli flakes
1/2 tsp ground turmeric
1/2 tsp garam masala
1 tsp ground coriander
Small bunch chopped coriander (optional)

Rinse the lentils throughly, drain and bring to the boil with the water. Skim off the scum and simmer with a lid for 20 minutes until soft and mushy. Turn off the heat and leave covered to cool and thicken.

Fry the cumin seeds in a saucepan in the oil for a couple of minutes until they start to sizzle and pop. Add the onion, ginger, & chilli and fry for about 5 minutes until starting to brown. Puree the tomatoes and garlic, or finely chop if you don’t have a processor and add to the frying onion. Add the other dried spices and simmer for about 20 minutes until the oil rises to a simmering film on the top. Stir in the cooled lentils and heat carefully, stirring so it doesn’t catch on the bottom. Stir through chopped coriander and serve with plain boiled rice or naan breads.

Twitter: Leesa@sunhillcurry

Vietnamese Beef Pho with Leftover Roast Beef

When a friend, who lived in Vietnam for a while, said she was making a Beef Pho I thought this was something I had to try for myself particulary as I had a little rare beef left from a roast. She texted me a couple of photos of recipes from two recipe books and I muddled through from there.

A lot of ‘proper’ Vietnamese recipes instruct you to roast beef bones and make your own stock. Don’t bother! I came across beef bones by chance (I buy chicken carcasses weekly to make stock for Watercress Soup that I sell to a local farm shop) but it was a long, steamy, and ultimately greasy task. And I think I’ll stick to organic beef stock cubes in future.

Serves 2

200ml wide rice noodles
500ml beef stock
1 star anise
3cm root ginger, shredded
3 bunches bok choy, shredded (I used equivalent amount of sugar snap peas, baby corn, spring onions)
Thinly sliced red onion
Handful thinly sliced raw or rare beef
Half a large bunch of coriander
2 tbsp chopped mint or 1 tbsp dried mint
1/2 tsp hot chilli flakes

Fish sauce and lime or lemon juice to serve

Prepare the vegetables, onion, beef, coriander and mint first. Bring the stock to the boil and add the start anise and ginger and simmer whilst cooking the noodles according to the packet’s instructions.

When the noodles are cooked, drain and divide between two large bowls. Quickly divide all the other ingredients and place vegetables, onion, beef, and herbs into the two bowls and pour over the simmering stock. Add fish sauce, a squeeze of lime or lemon juice, and chilli flakes before eating immediately.

Twitter: Leesa@sunhillcurry