Goan Prawn Curry

No recipes this time but I did take some photos.  I served the curry with some Korean Green Onion Pancakes.

 Eclectic dinner?

Absolutely and it was delicious.

What do you do when you have some green prawns, some beef sausages to use up and you feel like an Indian inspired dish?

Create your own of course.

This is my version of...

My not so Traditional Beef Sausage & Prawn Curry

• 550 grams of Beef & Mustard Sausages
• 500 grams or so of green prawns
• a bunch of asparagus
• a handful of snow peas
• an onion, preferably a big onion
• a clove or two of garlic
• a teaspoon or so of ginger
• a tin of coconut milk
• a splash of fish sauce
• a large helping of Herbies 'Medium Curry Powder' (actually only about a tablespoon)
• a tablespoon also of Herbies Panch Phora
•  served with basmati rice flavoured with Herbies Brazilian Spice Mix and Pataks Pappadums.

1. Cook the sausage and then remove and slice.
2. Cut the onion and cook until soft.
3. Add the garlic, ginger and spices and cook for a few minutes.
4. Then add the asparagus and snow peas.
5. Once slightly cooked then add sliced sausage and then coconut milk and simmer untul cooked. I added fish sauce about now to season.
6. 5 - 10 minutes before serving add the green prawns and allow them to turn pink.
7. Serve with cooked basmati rice and pappadums.

Of course there aren't any photos again.

Hot Tossed Salad 

Have a look at what’s in the fridge.

Then if you have some  grab 

• one bunch of asparagus, 
• one yellow capsicum (red or green are both okay if the yellow ones are unavailable or too expensive),  
• some mushrooms and 
• one or two zucchinis.

1. Chop the lot into bite sized pieces and toss into a fry-pan with olive oil and a dab of butter.  (Butter makes everything taste so much better.)
2. Stir around until cooked but not  mushy.  It’s almost like a stir fry.
3. Season with a bit of cracked pepper (I’m trying to avoid the salt) and then serve.  I would add some fresh herbs about now but I keep forgetting.
4. The capsicum cooking with the mushrooms and the asparagus seems to give the dish a really nice favour.

Variations:

Add or swap green beans, snow peas, leeks, those food items that cook around the same time as asparagus and mushrooms.

Enjoy.

My Version of Chicken and Chorizo HotPot

In my enthusiasm I forgot to take photos.  How silly is that.  Here is the recipe anyway...

My version of Chicken and Chorizo HotPot with added capsicums, zucchini, a tin of cherry tomatoes and a tin of borlotti beans with smoked paprika, coriander, parsley and chives.  I also added a cup of frozen diced vegetables ie:  peas/corn/beans/carrot.

• 1 kg chicken thigh fillets chopped into bite sized pieces
• 2 chorizo sausages
• 1 red capsicum
• 1 green capsicum
• 1 zucchini
• 1 cup of mushrooms
• 1 cup diced frozen vegetables
• a tin of borlotti beans
• a tin of cherry tomatoes
• a tine of tomatoes as one was not enough.
• 1/2 cup of white wine
• flavoured with a pinch of smoked paprika, coriander, parsley and chives
• seasoned with salt and pepper.
• Olives but I didn't have any last night.
• a drizzle of olive oil on the top.

Turn on the oven to 200 degrees C.

Cut the chicken thigh fillets into bite sized pieces and then slice the chorizo.

Chop the capsicum, zucchini and mushrooms into small pieces.

I 'marinated' the chicken pieces with the smoked paprika, coriander, parsley, chives and cracked pepper while preparing the rest of the vegetables. I used dried herbs but fresh would be better.

Next add the sliced chorizo and chopped vegetables in with the chicken and add the cup of diced frozen vegetables. Now add the drained and rinsed borlotti beans.

Stir together until evenly mixed and then place into a baking dish.

I then added the tin of cherry tomatoes and white wine.  Last night the dish needed another tin of tomatoes as it looked too dry. Carefully mix the tomato and wine mixture through the vegetables and chicken mixture to that everything is evenly coated.  This is where I would add the olives if I had some. 

Season with salt and pepper, smoked paprika, coriander and parsley.  Drizzle with olive oil and place into the oven.  I baked the dish for about 1 hour and 15 - 20 minutes

Variations?

Add some jalapeno chillies for an extra zing. or 1 chipotle chillie in adobo sauce for a more Mexican/Tex-Mex version.

I would consider this is a low carbohydrate dish.

My First Enchilada Dish

Overall?  A success.

But…

For me the dish was a tad too tomatoey and not enough vegetables.  My daughter agreed with me on this.  The enchilada sauce was, if anything, a bit too strong and not of chillies either, there weren’t any of them.

I didn’t add enough of the chicken mixture into the enchilada rolls but that was intentional as I am always filling my fajitas too much.  They could have been a bit bigger.

I had also crammed the rolls into the baking dish so the sauce and the cheese didn’t get in between the rolls and to the bottom of the dish which made the base of the rolls dry, tough and crunchy. I think I would add a dollop of the sauce onto the bottom of the baking dish before adding the enchilada rolls. That or not cram them in so tight next time.

I didn’t realise until too late that I used the wrong cheese for the topping.  I had a Dutch Smoked Cheddar which tastes great, but doesn’t grate so well compared to other cheddars.  Again that was my fault as the Dutch Smoked Cheddar was already grated. The cheese didn’t want to stick to the rolls when I was eating them. The cheese also left a slight unpleasant after taste as well.

The recipe I followed was on the back of the ‘Old El Paso Enchilada Sauce (Tomato and Capsicum)’ jar.  The sauce was ‘mild’ and I wonder if this was part of the problem of the sauce.  No chillies in the dish or very little. Of course the jar of sauce was a pre made purchased one which is rarely as good as a home-made sauce, most of the time at least.

It is time for me to investigate other enchilada recipes.

My Ingredients

• 2 brown onions finely chopped
• 2 red capsicums finely chopped
• 2 cloves of garlic crushed
• 500g to 1 kg chicken thigh fillets sliced thinly (I used 700 grams but that was because it was the size of the tray of chicken thighs).
•  I also used 1 packet of ‘Old El Paso Taco Seasoning Mix Reduced Salt’ sachet. (To me the dish looked like it needed more flavour.)
• Grated Cheddar cheese – about 300 – 500grams.
•  I – 3  packets of ‘Diego’s Flour Tortilla Wraps’. (There are 6 rolls in each packet): I was aiming for 3 rolls each.  Because they were quite thin, I felt 3 weren’t enough.  However they would be enough if the filling was thicker.
• I didn’t have any cherry tomatoes to add to the dish, plus I didn’t have a ‘mixed lettuce salad’ to serve.

Method

I followed the recipe on the back of the ‘Old El Paso Enchilada Sauce (Tomato and Capsicum)’ jar but I did marinate the chicken strips with the taco seasoning mix for about 10 or so minutes before adding them into the onion and capsicum mixture.

The recipe from the jar…

Enchilada Mixture.

Heat a little oil in a pan and cook until onion is soft. (I added the diced capsicum and crushed garlic here). Add (marinated) chicken & cook for a further 5 minutes or until browned.  Stir in half of Enchilada sauce (and simmer for 2 minutes.)

Nice and Warm Tortillas.

Warm Tortillas according to packet instructions. (For Diego’s Flour Tortilla Wraps:  place paper towel onto a plate.  Remove the tortillas from the packet, discard freshness sachet, and add another paper towel on top of the tortillas.  Microwave for 45 seconds or until warm.)

Enchilada mixture goes onto of the tortilla.

Top each tortilla with 2 tablespoons of chicken mixture.

A rolled tortilla

Roll the tortilla into a cylinder.

      

Half way there

Repeat with the remaining tortillas into the baking dish....

All rolled and ready.

...until the dish is full.

enchilada sauce over the top.

Spoon over the remaining enchilada sauce…

add the cheese.

...and the cheese and cherry tomatoes (if you have then)  Place in lightly greased oven proof dish  Bake at 180ºC for 15 -20 minutes or until cheese melts.

ready to eat.

Enjoy served with mixed lettuce (assuming one remembered to buy some).

Another success story.

The Cook's Garden, North Turramurra

This was my very first post that I never did get to publish at the time.  It is already six months late but here it is.

I forgot to take photos.  Silly me.

It's February again and another birthday to worry about.  Mine of course. The years are flying past so fast these days that I find it quite scary.  That does sound a bit clichéd, I know, but it's true.


After a melt-down, again mine, we decided to venture out for the night for a quick celebration.  A family crisis the day before meant that our planned venue had to be delayed for another time (and another excuse). So... where to go? 


Of course!


The Cook's Garden in North Turramurra.


Unfortunately I wasn't confident enough to take photos of our dinner.  I regret that now.  There are times that standing up to take a photo of my plate in a restaurant is not a good idea.  This was one of those times.


Update: We have since been back to the Cooks Garden for my better half's work dinner recently.  And yes it was again a very good night.

Overall Result? A great night out.  Both times.  I highly recommend it.