Delicious - June 2015 - Beetroot & Pumpkin Curry

My last post said that I found this issue unread on my dining table. Well, apparently it just looked unread as when I started looking for this recipe it turned out to be in the June issue.

Doesn't the cake on the cover look amazing? I would love to make that but, well you know, I can't bake too much. There is only so much that I can (should) eat. I do get a bit of a chance to bake now that I am in Toastmasters as I get to provide supper for the meetings. So perhaps I will make the Almond cake with poached pears and caramel praline. Sounds awesome doesn't it? Although it might be a be much for one of our meetings. Plus those pears would mean that it wouldn't be "finger food". There are plates there that we can use but, well, then there is just more washing up. lol

The Beetroot & Pumpkin Curry recipe jumped out at me when I was flicking through the magazine. I love both beetroot & pumpkin. I have had pumpkin in curries before but never beetroot. It had me a bit curious. Beetroot are plentiful and pumpkins are in season so it was a really good seasonal meal to make. Like all beetroot dishes the colour is glorious. The earthy flavour of the beetroot combined nicely with the spice. I am not a huge curry fan but I did really enjoy this one. The recipe called for it to be served with flat bread however I didn't feel like making any so I just cooked up some rice. I just used white rice but I think that the nuttiness & chew of brown rice would be much better with this dish. I did really like it but given I am not a huge curry lover and freezing didn't go well I doubt I would make it again.

Beetroot & Pumpkin Curry

by Jill Dupleix

Delicious magazine June 2015 pg 58

800 g baby beetroot, stalks trimmed & scrubbed (I used 3 or 4 regular beetroot)

400 g butternut pumpkin, peeled & cut into 2 cm pieces

1 onion, thinly sliced

2 garlic cloves, crushed

1 long red chilli, thinly sliced

2 tbsp tomato paste

1 tsp tumeric

2 tsp ground cumin

1/2 tsp chilli powder (I would add a bit more)

50 g baby spinach (I used finely slice silverbeet)

1 tbsp sunflower oil

2 tbsp raw unsalted cashews,

Natural yoghurt & fried curry leaves to serve (I didn't have curry leaves)

Boil beetroot until tender. Drain saving 2 cup cooking liquid.

Cook onion until soft & then add garlic, chilli, tumeric, cumin & chilli powder and cook until fragrant. Add tomato paste and cook for a further minute. Add beetroot "stock" and pumpkin. Simmer until tender (approx 15 min)

Peel beetroot, chop & process 150 g to a puree. Chop remaining beetroot. Add both to the pumpkin mixture. Cook until heated through. Add spinach and stir in to wilt.

Serve with rice, yoghurt & cashews.

Feast - Heather Honey Chicken

It has been a long, long time since I have been compelled to blog about a recipe immediately after having finished it but I just had to tonight.

I don't often buy Feast magazine anymore. I find that so many of the recipes have stuff in them that I just cannot access. I was looking through the magazines last night when I was shopping and flicked through this issue. I noticed a few things that I would like to make and have access to all the ingredients. This is the first of those recipes.

So this dish was amazing. There is so much flavour and the meat just melted. I would use a bit less oil next time, and there will be a next time. I just loved this. The name refers to honey from heather flowers. They said in the magazine that it has a very limited availability here and to substitute manuka honey. Well, I didn't have that but I had recently bought 1 kg of local honey so, of course, used that. I think a leatherwood honey would been good. I didn't have any dijon mustard either. I had two choices a hot mustard or wholegrain. I went with the wholegrain. Although maybe a mix of the two would have been better. Oh it doesn't really matter, it was wonderful just the way it was.

Heather Honey chicken

Feast magazine - September 2014 - page 60

1.7 kg whole chicken

2 onions, cut into wedges

6 sprigs rosemary (apparently my plant is dead, I used dried)

100 ml olive oil

90 g (1/4c) manuka honey

1 1/2 tbsp Dijon mustard

1 tbsp curry powder

2 garlic cloves, crushed

Preheat oven - 180 C

Put onion & rosemary in casserole dish with a lid. Add half the oil.

Mix remaining oil, honey, mustard, curry powder & garlic. Place chicken in casserole dish & pour over honey mix.

Roast, covered, 30 minutes. Remove lid & bake further 1 hour or until cooked basting as necessary.

Let rest 10 minutes before serving.

Delicious April 2012 - Cauliflower, Lentil & Coconut Milk Curry

I haven't forgotten about this month's delicious magazine recipe. I have just had a bit of a motivation problem. In fact I lost my cooking mojo for a few weeks. I did make a couple of things but for the most part I really just couldn't be bothered. I did however start to get out a bit. Barbecues at friend's places, dinner out, swimming a lot. I had been getting meals from the local cafe for lunch so wasn't all that inclined to eat much for dinner. 

I was quite interested in making Bill Granger's Lentil Bolognaise from this issue. It is always nice to get some more vegetarian meals. However in the past 12 months I have managed to lose 20 kg and, as much as I love it, I am being very careful about the amount of pasta that I eat. I have issues with pasta. I just adore it. Unfortunately I just can't eat a small amount. When it comes to pasta I always have a massive bowl full and eat until I am absolutely stuffed. I also never make a salad or anything to go with it. Although at least this recipe is lentil based rather than meat. Plus I would probably add some vegetables to it, probably grated carrot, zucchini, perhaps corn & peas as well. I will make it one day. I might be able to serve it with some quinoa instead of the pasta. 

I came very, very close to making Phoebe Wood's Eggplant Escabeche. It looked and sounded so yummy. I guess the best way to describe it would be some kind of eggplant pickles or relish. The only thing that stopped me making it was the fact that it used 1.5 kg of eggplant and at the moment at my local greengrocer eggplants are $8.99/kg. Would make for a rather expensive recipe unfortunately. I will add it to my "must make" list for when eggplants drop in price. 

What I ended up making was Debbie Major's Cauliflower Lentil & Coconut Milk Curry. I had cauliflower in the fridge that was in desperate need of using up. I also had a few green beans that really needed to be used as well so I tossed them in as well. I was really happy with the result of this. I only had a good medium curry powder so just reduced the amount a touch. I would probably reduce the amount of coconut milk in it next time as there is a bit too much sauce for my liking. I would probably use 250 mls. I think that would be plenty. Although if I had the 400 ml can then I would be able to add more if necessary. I served it with some brown rice and a Chickpea, carrot & yoghurt salad. The salad was really easy to throw together, just some chickpeas, a grated carrot, sliced green onions, chopped mint & coriander, yoghurt and a squeeze of lemon juice. Was the perfect accompaniment to the curry.