Beef Vindaloo with Dry Potato and Pea Curry

Feasting on Indian food tonight!

Whilst tidying up in my kitchen, Jo came across a recipe for Roti Bread, I had downloaded from the net.  My intention was to have roti with some left over bolognese sauce  when I downloaded it, however that night, by the time I reached home, I had become more adventurous and I made a quick lasagne instead.  On reading the roti recipe, Jo exclaimed "YUM", then said "when you make this can you do a brown gravy curry to go with it", how could I resist to give her what she wanted?

Given I had a day off, I decide it as time to deliver, so out came my favourite little curry cookbook to look for a brown gravy curry, I did not have to go far before coming across a Beef Vindaloo, as Jo loves anything beef it was an easy choice and one I knew she would love.

Beef Vindaloo

When I have Indian food I like a little bit of variety, so to compliment the beef I made my favourite potato and pea curry, it is so full of flavour and the brown mustard seeds with the peas give the dish both an interesting look and great texture.

Dry Potato and Pea Curry

Great combination of flavours

I was so pleased with the way the roti turned out, I made the flat bread version, the recipe is very simple, the hardest part of making the bread is the 10 minutes of kneading to get the dough to the right consistency before rolling out, once it is rolled it is a minute each side on a hot pan and it is ready to eat.

Bon appetite 

I added a cucumber yoghurt sauce as an accompaniment as I love to have the coolness and the crunch of it with my curry, this along with beautifully steamed rice, completed the Indian feast I prepared for my beautiful wife, on a cold winters night, it proved to be just what she needed after a hard day at the office!

Green Curry Fish and Prawn with Coconut Rice

During the last half hour I spent in the office today it looked very bleak outside, it was rainy and I really was not looking forward to running out to the car and getting wet, it must have dampened my spirits as I rang Jo and asked her to stop by on her way home so I could take her out for dinner.

Stopping somewhere in Northbridge on our way home for dinner has become a fairly regular event, often it will be my favourite Vietnamese Vinh Hong, not only because I love the food, but also because of Jo’s love for the wine bar next door, it is a nice way to end the day, especially  after being busy at work.

Well that was the plan anyway, however by the time I left the office it had stopped raining, and Jo was still stuck on the freeway, so I told her to continue on home and I’d cook for her after all, I had started driving myself by this time and was formulating an idea in my head to cook a green curry chicken.  That was until I turned the next corner and the traffic was at a stands still, so after a quick U turn, I was heading back from whence I began and looking for a quicker route home, that route took me through North Perth, straight past our local fish monger, an ordinary chicken curry had now been elevated to a fish and prawn curry.

After a quick stroll through Coles, I was headed home with my snapper and king prawns, a yellow capsicum, a handful of green beans, a bunch of chives and a red chilli, with this and a few items from the pantry dinner was on its way!

I make my own green curry paste from green chillies, lots of coriander, shrimp paste, coriander seeds, cumin seeds, shallots, galangal, ginger, garlic, Kaffir lime leaves and lemon grass, it is absolutely the best, when I make it I make enough so as to make a couple of curries and then to fill an ice cube tray for later use, I used 3 cubes tonight from my last batch. 

I cooked the rice in coconut milk using the absorption method that takes 30 minutes to cook, having prepared the curry ingredients in the first 10 minutes of that time, left me 20 minutes to cook the curry, such an easy dinner to make and oh so YUM YUM to eat, really did leave me wanting more, but that would leave Jo without lunch tomorrow and we cannot have that now can we!

Jukut Gedand Mekuah - Spicy Chicken Zucchini Soup

Jo and I have just returned from a twelve night holiday in Bali, staying 5 nights in Ubud and the final 7 nights in Seminyak, an area we both love to spend time relaxing, eating and drinking, it is hard to be back!

We arrived in Ubud after a one and a half hour drive from the airport, picking up a few things on the way to stock the bar fridge, Bintangs, soda water, orange juice and bottled water, just the essentials to go with the duty free items we brought with us.
Walking into the beautiful foyer of the Kamandalu Resort we must have looked a sight loaded down with our supplies, we were greeted by a beautiful Balinese woman who after placing a lei of frangipani around our necks, sat us down for an ice cold drink of freshly squeezed fruit juice, we were happy we had arrived, we were back in Paradise!

The woman then proceeded to tell us about the resort and informed us that we had been upgraded to a garden villa, as I had marked the guest register when booking as being on our Honeymoon, to say we were excited is an understatement, I had forgotten all about ticking the "special holiday box" and Jo having no prior knowledge was a little embarrassed, but we delightedly accepted the upgrade.

Once the business of paying was taken care of the young lady invited us to follow her to our villa, I hoped up grabbing the bigger bags we had walked in with and took off following her across the foyer, Jo following, as we walked all the other staff members came forward to greet us and to wish us a wonderful honeymoon etc, when the bag I was carrying with four 1.25 litre bottles of water decided to break open sending the contents rolling in all directions and me stood there with and empty bag trying to decide which way to run first, the laughs had begun!

We managed to gather the water bottles up and with our hostess sharing the load we made our way to the villa, the gate of which was decorated with streamers made from Pandan leaves and adorned with bright red flowers, the girl explained that this was traditional Balinese decoration to mark a Honeymooners residence, the decorations remained there for our entire stay, which meant the old grey haired bugger got a few wry smiles and knowing looks from the gardeners etc. as we walked around the resort.  But I was not complaining the villa was absolutely beautiful, as was the special Honeymooners cake we were presented with and the large fruit bowl adorned with yet more flowers, special.  On the bed there where two beautiful white swans kissing, above a red heart shaped from rose petals with  letters inside spelling out Mr & Mrs J, even though this was in fact our fifth honeymoon, it made it feel to us, as special as our first.

We had been through Ubud a few times on previous trips, but never stayed long enough to see what the place was all about and once I had made the booking for five nights a year ago, I began to wonder what we would do, so at that time I started to investigate and whilst doing so found some information about a cooking class which included a tour through a local market before going to the peoples home for the cooking class, I was taken by the idea and booked us in immediately.  I was very surprised to learn on the day that they had only just started the business venture a few weeks prior to my booking, had I known this I may not have booked, so I am so glad I did not as I would have missed out on the best day out, both Jo and I rated it as one of the best two things we have done during our travels, the other being the two nights on board a junk on Halong Bay we had in Vietnam 2010.  I intend to do a blog just on this very special cooking class so I will not go on about it any more now, other than to say the recipe for Jukut Gedang Mekuah came for this day, and it was the first thing I cooked on arriving home, I could not wait to do so.

The Jukut Gedand Mekuah, is in fact a Papya, mince chicken soup served with crispy shallots, however I was unable to souce a fresh green Papya so I substituted this with a zuchinni, as suggested by the chef  from the cooking class and quite frankly I could not tell the difference, the dish tasted just as it had back in Ubud.   However it did look quite different, mine was a lot richer in colour, I have put this down to the fresh turmeric being pumpkin orange, whereas the home grown variety we enjoyed at Lobong Villa was a lot paler in colour.

One of the things I really liked about this soup, was its simplicity, counting the spice paste as a ingredient, there where only 9 ingredients in all to make this wonderfully flavoured soup.
1 tbl spn coconut oil
1/2 cup gede paste
1 stalk of lemon grass, bruised
2-3 salem leaves, I used fresh curry leaves
200 gram chicken breast or tenderloins, diced to small mince
100 gram zuchinni, diced into 1cm cube
1 litre chicken stock, home-made is best
2-3 shallots, finely diced and fried until golden (Garnish)
salt and pepper to taste

Heat the oil in a heavy based pot and add the spice paste, lemon grass and curry leaves, cook stirring for about five minutes, the aromas will fill your kitchen and your mouth should start to water at this point.

Add the minced chicken, stir into the paste and cook for about 5 minutes or until completely browned.

De-glaze the pot with a ladle of chicken stock, being sure to scrap up all the flavour from the bottom of the pan.

Add in the zuchinni or papaya if you are lucky enough to have some, stirring in well, continue stirring until the stock starts to boil, then add in remaining stock, bring to the boil, then reduce heat to simmer for 20 minutes.

 Served garnished with the crispy shallots, I also added some finely sliced spring onion, some red chilli and a few curry leaves, looked great, tasted unbelievably good.

For the base spice paste you will need
100 grams red chillies
125 grams shallots
30 grams garlic cloves
50 grams ginger
30 grams galangal
50 grams fresh turmeric
25 grams candle-nuts, you can use macadamia
1 tsp coriander seeds, lightly roasted and crushed in a mortar
1/4 tsp nutmeg
75 ml water
1/2 tsp salt

Combine all ingredients in a food processor and grind coarsely, this will make a lot more than is required for the soup recipe above, if you are not making another dish straight away, simply spoon into and ice cube tray and freeze until required.

As I said earlier I will blog our experience with the Lobong Cooking Class in Ubud, in fact I think it will have to be split into three episodes, such was the day and the wonderful experiences we shared, can't wait to shared the stories it was so good!

I used more of the base spice paste today, to make my own version of a Rendang curry, it was bloody awesome too, but that is a story for another day!

Thai Red Curry Shark with awesome rice

If you came over to visit me right now, you would swear as you stepped over the front door step that you had stepped from Australia into Thailand, such are the aromas of the Murphy household tonight and if you like Thai food like I do, you’d think man that smells so good!

Now if you were an avid reader of my blog (God help you), you would know that I have blogged similar meals to tonight’s meal here in the past, but I am blogging this meal anyway as it is one I am very happy with, and there is enough difference and enough new information to warrant it.   That is partly due to a couple of new ingredients, well new brands of ingredients better put, that I have tried for the first time and also due to a new method I have used to cook the rice, both parts have made tonight’s meal one to remember.

I will start the same way as I did in the kitchen, with the rice.  I cook rice using the absorption method as I find it is not only the easiest but proves every time to produce the best results, it also makes it easy to time the cooking of the meal, as I practically do it in two parts, where I cook the rice for 15 minutes, then let it rest untouched for 15 minutes.  Tonight however I did vary the method by first quickly stir frying a teaspoon of grated ginger, a crushed clove of garlic and a teaspoon of finely chopped coriander root in a little oil heated in my wok.  Once the ingredients were nice and fragrant I added a cup of rice and mixed it through stirring continuously for about a minute, the now fragrant rice grains were transferred to a large pot to which I added 1¾ cups of chicken stock.  You then put the lid on the pot and onto a high heat until the liquid come to the boil, then turn the fire down as low as it will go and leave it for 15 timed minutes, as soon as the alarm goes off remove the pot from the heat, reset the timer for another 15 minutes and you get perfect rice, every time.  I changed that last bit tonight however, as I had prepared 2 tablespoons of coriander leaves, 2 tablespoons of mint, a cup of finely chopped bean shoots and a small finely diced carrot which I added to the rice and then mixed in quickly with a fork, then replaced the lid to let it stand for the remaining time.  It was amazing rice, I could have sat down and just ate that it was that good.

Once the rice was off the heat I got to work on cooking the fish which I had coated with a tablespoon of rice flour to which I had added a ¼ teaspoon each of ground cumin, ground coriander, ground cardamom, black pepper and salt, I then stir fried the fish in hot oil for a couple of minutes and then set aside on paper towel to drain any excess oil off.  I added a little more oil to the wok and once it was hot stirred in a large tablespoon of red curry paste, the first of the new ingredient brands I was trying out, the brand is Hogan’s Chilli Sauces, it is a WA product, handmade and has no artificial colouring, flavours or preservatives.  Until tonight I had always used and sworn by Valcom curry pastes, I don’t know if I could go back to that product after using Hogan’s paste.  I cooked the paste for a few minutes, it became very fragrant and sort of starts to separate a little, I then added the coconut cream, tonight I am using Ayam Brand Premium Coconut Cream and again I don’t think I could use anything else in future, it made the most beautiful sauce, I added the cream off the top of the can a little at a time to the chilli paste until I had it all combined before adding the juice from the bottom of the can and letting it cook for a couple minutes.  When the timer got down to two minutes to go, I added the fish back in and allowed it to heat over a low flame.

Wow, this has turned out to be a long blog, I think it has taken longer to write this than it did to cook the entire meal!!!  But now it is written I am happy, cos this is one meal I definitely want to cook again!

Curried Sausages and Apples

I always find it funny when I shop, every now and then I will buy an ingredient, just because I like that ingredient so much, such was the case the other day when I was at the deli bar and I saw my favourite big thick Italian sausages, just the sight of them made my mouth water!

It was only after buying four of those big boys and placing them in my trolley that it occurred to me that I would have to now cook them in some manner, but by the time I got to the checkout I had made my decision and I have been hanging out to cook my very own recipe for Curried Sausages and Apples since.

I had to make my very own recipe because I could not find anything like what I wanted to do with these big boys, I wanted the curry to be similar as that my Mum would make, and I also wanted to include apples in the dish, after that all I wanted was a nice balance between spicy n hot rounded out with a little bit of sweetness.

My only concern with the result was always going to be what Jo thought of it, as this dish contained two of her least favourites, yellow curry and sweetness.  That is why I had to laugh when she sat to eat her dinner and exclaimed with a surprised voice “Oh I thought we didn’t have any potatoes” and then a little latter after I mentioned something about the sausages, she began to laugh as she had thought she was eating chicken!
With that I had to think to myself, job well done!

Curried Sausages and Apples

Ingredients

4 thick Italian pork sausages

1 tablespoon oil

1 onion, thinly sliced

1 red chilli, finely chopped

2 cloves garlic, crushed

2 tsp grated ginger

2 sticks celery, chopped

1 carrot, julienned

½ red capsicums, julienned

2 tablespoon madras Curry powder

2 tablespoon plain flour

1 ½ cups chicken stock

2 Granny Smith apples, cored and quartered and halved again

½ cup sultanas

Garnish

¼ cup coriander

8 cherry tomatoes

1 red chilli, sliced diagonally

Method

Bring a saucepan of water to the boil, drop the sausages in and reduce to a simmer, cook for 10 minutes, then remove and set aside to cool, once cooled remove the skins, slice thickly on the diagonal, set aside

Heat oil in a heavy based pan, add onions and cook until tender 3-4 minutesAdd the ginger, chilli, garlic and celery cook until fragrant

Add the carrots and capsicums, cook for a couple of minute

Add the curry powder and flour, nix well with other ingredients and cook 1-2 minutes until very fragrant and grainy looking

Remove pot from the heat and slowly add the chicken stock stirring to mix in well, return to heat bring to the boil, stirring occasionally

Add the meat and cover with lid, reduce heat to simmer, and cook for ten minutes

Add the apples and sultanas, cook covered for a further 15 minutes

When you add the meat to the pot, get the rice on, to do so first rinse rice thoroughly, then place in a saucepan to which you add 1¾ cups of water for every cup of rice.  Place the lid on top and put the pot onto the hotplate, bring to the boil, once it boils, turn the heat right down as low as it will go and simmer for 15 minutes, I start a timer as soon as the heat goes down and it is important not to lift the lid at all.  Once the 15 minutes is up remove the pot from the heat and sit it somewhere safe, again do not lift the lid, leave it there for another 15 minutes, pt the timer on again!  Once the time goes off the second time you will have perfect steamed rice, now take the lid off and break u a little with a fork, then serve with the curry on top, garnish with coriander, chilli and cherry tomatoes, enjoy!
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Dusit Thai - Green Curry Chicken

Back in March 2005, Jo and I had meal in celebration of my twin sisters birthdays, at the Dusit Thai restaurant in Northbridge, Perth.  It was a very memorable night for many reasons, for one the food at the restaurant was some of the best Thai I have ever eaten, the restaurant has won several Gold Plates and many other awards.
Then there was the bottle of wine we took along to enjoy with our meal, I gave the bottle to the waiter and he seemed to take an eternity to come back with it, when he did he had mentioned it was very hard to open.
The wine within was divine, one of the best Cab Sav's I have ever enjoyed, it was only after my nephew read the label that we realised the wine to be over 15 years old, and it had aged beautifully, and a bottle gifted to me from Jo's sister for Christmas 2004.
The other memorable thing from that occasion was my being so taken by the Green Curry Chicken, always one of my favourites and this one, if not the best, was definitely amongst the best!  I had mentioned this to our waiter and commented that I would love the recipe, he responded by telling me that I could enrol for a cooking lesson and not only get the recipe but be shown how to cook it perfectly.
So on that last day in March 2005, I enrolled for the one and only cooking lesson I have had in my life, I cannot remember what it cost me, but it was worth ever penny, not only for that recipe, but for the knowledge of what exact ingredients to use and where to buy them in Perth, and the place to buy them is still my favourite Asian store, fantastic store run by fantastic people!

I cooked that recipe a number of times in the next few months after my lesson, then we packed up and moved house, three times before settling in our current home, and somewhere along the way with all the packing and unpacking I lost that recipe, devastated as I was, I had faith and believed that one day it would come back to me.  Jo was going through some stuff recently and she come out with the recipe in hand asking "do you still want this or shall I bin it?", I quickly took it from her and put it back in it's rightful place and very happy to have it back, stains and all, ... it has been laminated now and so I should have it forever more!
I brought that recipe out tonight and made that curry for dinner and it was just as I remembered it, fantastic!  Though, I followed the recipe a little too closely, so it was a tad too spicy for me, and so much so for Jo, she could not eat all her dinner, so next time I will leave the red chilli's out all together!

Dusit Thai March 31 2005 - there was a lot less of us back then!

Mum’s Sweet curry n rice

Driving home from Rockingham the other day when I rang my Mother to ask for her recipe for a sweet curry.
Mother proceeded to tell me throw in some of this and a bit of that and oh don’t forget this, the list went on and on and on, and never was there a quantity mentioned, no tsp, no tbsp, no half a cup or anything like it!  She ended up saying and don’t drown it!   Don’t drown it? I asked, drown it with what? I had to ask, water of course she said, this was the first time water had been mentioned, that’s my Mother and that is just the way she cooked day in day out for years for her flock of 12.
She had mentioned just about everything in her pantry, so I thought well good enough for her good enough for me, only thing is there is a few more exotic ingredients in my pantry than Mum’s, so my sweet curry was the spiciest, hottest sweet curry I have ever tasted, the flavours of Mum’s where there, as was the yum factor, but it had an enormous spicy finish, which saw Johnny Cash pay me a visit around 1:30 this afternoon!

I actually cooked the curry on Sunday night for Monday night’s dinner, one because it makes for an easier Monday night and two because curry always tastes better the following day, and this curry was no different, the spiciness had mellowed marginally overnight but the overall flavours had intensified, much to my Father in law’s delight!

If you want to make your version, include whatever amount you like of the following ingredients,
1 onion, 2 carrots, Plum Jam, Mustard Pickles, Fruit Chutney, BBQ sauce, Tomato Sauce, Curry Powder, Sultanas, an Apple or two, for meat use Beef, Lamb and you could probably do Pork if you desired and water, but don’t drown it!  All these things can be found in Mum’s pantry, in mine I also found 4 Red Chilli’s, an extra tbsp of curry, a red Sweet Paprika and a big splash of Sriracha Sauce (Hot Chilli Sauce), 2 Tomato’s and I used Beef Stock over water, which with the Plum Spread I had gave the sauce a beautiful rich colour.  For the meat I used a kilo of Topside Steak cubed and I dusted the meat with all purpose flour before adding it to the curry sauce.
The method is simple, cook the onion for a few minutes until softened a bit, add the curry powder and cook until fragrant, throw in everything else, leaving the meat and water (stock) till last, cook for an hour or so, until meat is tender and the sauce has thickened, serve with steamed rice, I added some sliced tomato on top, just to cool things off a bit!  Other than that this Sweet Curry Beef was kick arse!

Curry night

Had a phone call whilst I was at work today requesting an Indian curry for dinner, it was Jo making the call and the request, which cracks me up because for years Jo told me she didn’t like curry.
In fact I have this little curry cookbook which I would use 2 or 3 times a week before I met Jo.  But since we have been together every time I brought it out she would say no let’s have something else instead, this went on for the better part of five years, until earlier this year I was reacquainted with my little curry book and I finally cooked Jo curry.   Things have never been the same since and I am often requested for some form of curry to go with roti bread or naan bread or as the craving was tonight, pappadums!

I wasn’t sure what I was going to do so when I shopped I brought both pork and beef, ended deciding to use the beef in a Keema Curry, it wasn’t until all the spices and garlic and ginger were ready to go that I realised the recipe stated minced beef, I had diced meat, so went with it all the same, just cooked it a little longer and added about a cup of beef stock to the gravy whilst it cooked.
It turned out pretty good, as curry goes it will be better still tomorrow, so will look forward to the leftovers.
I also cooked up a dry potato and pea curry, which has always been one of my favourites, think I added a bit more chilli than I used to though as it was quite hot, to combat that heat I diced up some cucumber and tomato, added some fresh mint and it worked wonderfully and had a lovely cooling affect on the laughing gear.

Tomato chicken curry with potato and aubergine

Thought I best do a blog tonight since I have had a few nights off, thanks to Friday football, a birthday party, a wedding and a case of food poisoning (had some bad grapes, again), all good now though still somewhat tired, but that is enough whinging for one post!

Had a very late finish from work today and came home to find Jo had defrosted some chicken drumsticks for dinner, only thing there was not a lot in the house, so I decided best and easiest thing to do would be a curry.  I had a quick look at one of my curry books but did not see anything that interested me so I just sort of threw a few things together as I went and ended up with a tomato chicken curry with potato and aubergines.  The best thing about curries is they are so easy and you can throw just about anything in the pot and it will work out ok, the second best thing is I know it is going to taste even better tomorrow, but tonight it tasted very nice indeed.

Ingredients

2 tbsp olive oil

1 large onion, sliced

2 garlic cloves, crushed

1 Tbsp ginger

1 kilo chicken legs

2 med-lge potatoes, diced

1 large aubergine, diced

2 x 400g cans tomatoes, diced

1 cup stock

Curry paste

Curry paste

2 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp ground coriander

1 tsp ground cardamom

1 tsp garamassala

2 tsp turmeric

½ tsp red chilli flakes

1 tsp sweet paprika

2tbsp white wine vinegar

Method

·         Add all ingredients for curry paste to a bowl and mix well with a fork until it forms a paste

·         Heat oil in a large heavy based pan, add onion and cook for a couple of minutes over medium heat

·         Add garlic and ginger and cook until onions are tender

·         Add chicken to the pan and cook to brown all sides, then remove chicken from pan and set aside

·         Add the curry paste and cook stirring until fragrant, about 1 minute

·         Add the stock, scrap bottom of pan to get all stuck bits off

·         Add the potato and aubergine, mix well to coat with curry paste

·         Add the tomatoes , mix in with stock

·         Return the chicken to the pan, cover with curry sauce

·         Raise heat until sauce comes to the boil, then reduce to a simmer, cover with lid and let cook for 30-40 minutes, the chicken should just start to fall from the bones and the potatoes tender

·         Serve with steamed rice and a sprinkling of fresh coriander leaves

Malai Prawn (creamy prawn curry)

Tried something a little different tonight and so glad I did it was so scrumptious!

Malai Prawn or creamy prawn curry if you prefer was a very easy recipe to follow and did not take long at all to put together, the longest part of it was the cooking of the rice, though I did spend a bit of time shelling the prawns as shelled prawns were not available today. The curry is a flavoursome curry more so than a hot curry, that could have had a little to do with the fact I only used the one chilli instead of the two listed, I will follow the recipe to the letter next time! The interesting thing whilst cooking this dish was the colours that it went through getting to the final product. The onions, chilli and tomatoes are blended together before cooking commences and that come out predominantly white, then changed to a green colour as the oils blended in and heated up and after a few minutes the red of the tomatoes started coming through, then you start adding the spices it becomes quite dark and then coconut milk and then cream lightening it up again. I’ll cook this again just to see that again, I found it so interesting.

Jo loved the flavour of the curry so much she has requested I make it again only with steak instead of prawns, she thinks that would be a real winner, such a dag!

I love dinners like this one, easy to cook, big on flavours and little mess to clean afterwards, and there will be plenty of room for a bit of apple pie a little later this evening!!

Ingredients:
• 1 kg large prawns
• 2 large onions
• 3 tomatoes
• 2 green chillies
• 2 tbsps garlic paste
• 1 tbsp ginger paste
• 1 tbsp garam masala
• 2 tsps coriander powder
• 1 tsp cumin powder
• 2 cups coconut milk
• 3 tbsps single cream
• 3 tbsps vegetable/canola/sunflower cooking oil
• Salt to taste

Method:
• Grind the onions, tomatoes, 2 green chillies into a fine paste in a food processor.
• Heat the oil in a pan and add the paste to it. Fry for a minute.
• Add the ginger and garlic pastes and fry for another minute.
• Add the spices and brown masala till the oil begins to separate from it.
• Add the coconut milk and bring to a boil. Add salt to taste.
• Add the prawns and cook for another 2 minutes only.
• Turn off the cooker and stir in the cream.
• Garnish with coriander leaves and serve with steamed rice.

I used 600g prawns, and the one chilli, it really needed the 2nd chilli though, and there was plenty of sauce for more prawns, I will be on my Pat Malone tomorrow night so the leftovers may find its way onto a nice fish fillet! If you love curries that are not spicy hot, you’ll love this curry.  I found the recipe in a blog by an Indian lady, see the new link in My Favorites below.

Thai green curry chicken

Cooking dinner tonight was like a trip down memory lane for me, and an absolute pleasurable trip at that! Such is the effect that Thai food has on me. I still remember the first time I ever ate Thai, it was at Top End Thai, a very authentic restaurant in Hannan St, Kalgoorlie. The owner/chef Artchariya Ward, is a beautiful woman of around 70 years of age now, and as far as I can tell still preparing meals for her very fortunate clientele. I was amazed and hooked on Thai at my first mouthful, it was like a flavour explosion in my mouth. That night we had a mixed appetiser plate, Green Curry Chicken, Seafood Jungle curry and Coconut rice, I liked it that much I went back the next night, this was back in 1996 and I still remember it like it was this afternoon. On my return to Perth, I started looking for a good Thai restaurant and was amazed to find Artchariya had a sister restaurant in Edward St, East Perth. I introduced many work and social friends to Thai food at that establishment, unfortunately Artchariya had to close it to concentrate on Hannan St when her head chef left for greener pastures. That was a sad day for me, and I cannot remember how many times I have said to Jo how I would like to take her to Kalgoorlie just to visit Top End Thai, it still rates as the best ever on my list.

A couple of years after that work trip to Kalgoorlie, I found myself in a position where I had to cook for myself or go hungry! Green Curry Chicken was amongst the first things I set about to perfect, I never cook to a recipe, so it changes every time I cook it, but tonight’s version is pretty close to the norm now. I actually went to the Dusit Thai restaurant in Northbridge for the only cooking lesson I have ever had, that night I was given a recipe and instructions to cook their dish, starting with grinding herbs and chilli’s into a paste, I have lost that recipe now, but I still follow some of what I learnt from them. One thing that I learnt was the brand of Coconut Cream they use and swear by, and it is the best!

In February 2000 my eldest sister went away somewhere and left my BIL at home to fend for himself, we decided to go out to some dance, and he was to pick me up, so I said come early and I’ll make dinner for you. Well he walked in and saw I had Green Chicken Curry on the stove and his face lit up, ten years later he still talks about that night and in particular that meal, something he does not and will never get at home.

In July 2004, I had my gorgeous girlfriend over for dinner, the first dinner I cooked for her, I had only known her a few days but she was impressed, so much so that I am still cooking for her today!

To say I love Green Chicken Curry would be an understatement, and to hear me utter those words you might think, mm that’s nice, the words really don’t convey the message that well do they, but my memories ah now that’s different and I have shared but a few!

Murgh baadami – Spiced chicken with almonds

Tried a new curry out tonight, the kitchen was very busy in preparation for the Italian Invasion which will be well and truly under way this time tomorrow night, I am not allowed to say too much, but I think it is going to be big, bigger than Ben Hur.

Princess Joanne has been hard at it too, making the dining room look so welcoming, she puts a great touch on it and it helps set the mood for the night, promise to post some photo’s Sunday and you’ll see what I mean, she really has done an outstanding job.

I really am knackered right now so I am just going to show you a few photo’s if you’d like the recipe send me an email and I will be very happy to send it on, by the way, it really was delicious!

Red curry chicken with rice, and a pot of gold!

A bit of a rush getting home tonight as we are off shopping but needed to kick of a chicken master stock a la Maggie Beers, so whilst doing that I quickly knocked up red curry chicken with rice, very simple but oh so yummy, did not have a lot of ingredients, half a carrot, a few green beans 2 chicken thighs boned out and diced, teaspoon each of ginger and garlic, table spoon of red curry paste (Valcom brand the only one to buy), a little olive oil and a can of coconut cream, cream scooped off the top and fried with the ginger garlic and curry paste until it separates, then added the chicken, carrot and beans, cooked stirring until the chicken is nicely browned, then add the remaining coconut juice, cook on a simmer about 20 minutes, serve with steamed rice.

The stock is whole chicken cut into pieces, 2 onions, 1 leek, a stick celery, head of garlic, a carrot, 2 ripe tomatoes, 2 bay leaves, teaspoon thyme, handful fresh parsley, 2.5 litres water. Drizzle olive oil over chicken, onions and carrot and roast for 20 minutes @ 200C.  Chop up all other ingredients and put in pot with water, add roasted ingredients, place on cooker and cook slowly to a simmer, don’t boil at anytime, then simmer for 3 – 4 hours. Sieve into a large bowl as soon as you take off the cooker, then place bowl in sink of cold water to cool down, don’t skim the scum or fat off, you’ll take away flavour. Once cooled cover with cling wrap and place in the fridge, in the morning take the fat off the top and you are ready to go, freeze what you don’t need straight away in 1 litre portions for later use.

Why bother? because it is the best stock ever and brings so much flavor to your dishes, makes em delicious!

Madras curry, saffron rice, roti and cucumber raiti

Saturday 9th July

Being a cold wintery night, we decided a curry to warm us all up would be nice, so out with the mortar and pestle and grind grind grind it was!

Nothing is nicer than a curry made from fresh spices, accompanied by saffron rice, cucumber raita and rotis, absolutely brilliant, and from the oo’s and ah’s coming from every mouthful Jo had, it could not have been too bad!

Saffron Rice
Rinse 2 cups Basmati rice well, then place in a bowl and cover with water, soak for 30 minutes.
Drain rice and fry off remaining moisture in 25 grams butter, add 3 bay leaves, cook for 6 minutes whilst stirring. Meanwhile soak a quarter teaspoon saffron threads in hot water for a couple of minutes. Add saffron to rice with 2 cups boiling vegetable or chicken stock, add 1 ½ cups of boiling water and a little salt, bring to the boil, then reduce heat to low, cook covered for 13 minutes, then remove from heat and let stand for ten minutes, leaving the lid on. After which you can fluff rice up with a fork and serve.