The Cookbook Challenge Week 38 - Spice - Pumpkin & Chickpea Curry - 2 - $ - V - (!)

This week's catch-up Cookbook Challenge was an epic fail! It had nothing to do with the recipe mind you. Well I'm assuming it was my fault due to my rather large deviation from the ingredients. It all started so well too, with good intentions of maximising today's vegetable intake and providing lunch for my colleagues tomorrow.

Never mind, cook and learn. And what I learned today was not to use the coconut version of evaporated milk thinking it will behave like proper coconut milk because it WON'T. It curdles and should only ever be added at the last minute on a low heat due to having barely any fat content. Of course I know this NOW. Which is a real shame because the curry looked and smelled great before it all went wrong.
I think you should give the recipe a try and follow the ingredients to the letter because I'm going to have another go and I promise to do as Curtis Stone asks in Issue 4 of the MasterChef magazine which is where it comes from.


Ingredients - serves 4

100gm dried chickpeas or 1 x 400gm tin - if using dried cover in boiling water and soak for 40 minutes or until water goes cold
2tbs olive oil
1 onion, thinly sliced
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2cm piece of ginger, grated
2 long green chillies, seeded and finely chopped
2 long red chillies, seeded and finely chopped
400gm butternut pumpkin, peeled and chopped into 3cm pieces
1 large carrot, cut into 3cm pieces
2tsp garam masala
2tsp ground coriander
2tsp caraway seeds, toasted
1/2tsp ground cumin
1/2tsp ground turmeric
juice of 1 lime
1tbs brown sugar
2 x 400ml cans of coconut milk - use the real deal!
1/4 cup coriander, roughly chopped and extra to serve
steamed rice

Sort out your chickpeas if using dried ones or drain the tinned ones and rinse well.
Heat the oil in a large pot over a medium-high heat and cook off the onion, ginger, garlic and half the chillies for about 4 minutes or until soft.
Add pumpkin, carrot, chickpeas and spices and cook stir for another 3 minutes. Add the lime juice and sugar and cook for another 2 minutes.
Add 250ml water and the coconut milk. Bring to the boil and then reduce heat and simmer for 35 minutes or until the vegetables are soft. Season and stir in the chopped coriander.
Serve with rice and garnish with remaining chillies and extra coriander.

Enjoy!

The Cookbook Challenge Week 23 - Leafy - Country Chicken Soup - 2 - $ - !

As I mentioned in my last Cookbook Challenge catch-up, my new Jamie Oliver book - Jamie does Spain, Italy, Sweden, Morocco, Greece & France - has certainly inspired me to get back in the kitchen (thanks Vera!).

This recipe is from the French section of the book and is my first soup of the season. I quite like Jamie's suggestion of using half the chicken for the soup and half for scrumptious chicken sandwiches - you can do this to the sandwich half.

I picked this soup to qualify for the 'leafy' theme as it has half a savoy cabbage in the ingredients.
I think the savoy got a bit of a bad wrap when I was a kid due to being put in coleslaw with awfully bland dressing. Remember the international sign for the kid with a fancy mum? Savoy and red cabbage in the 'slaw - ooh la la!
In the soup however, the cabbage is lovely, it bulks out the broth without being too heavy like potato or parsnip.

The following ingredients make heaps of soup. Don't forget to soak your beans overnight in preparation for cooking.

Ingredients

250gm haricot beans (must be soaked overnight)
olive oil
4 rashers of bacon, finely sliced
3 onions, peeled and finely sliced
5 cloves of garlic, peeled and finely sliced
1 whole chicken, approx 1.2kg
sea salt and pepper to season
1 fresh bay leaf
1 small bunch fresh thyme
1 small bunch fresh flat leaf parsley
1/2 savoy cabbage, chopped
4 carrots, peeled and finely sliced
crusty bread to serve

Soak your beans overnight in cold water, covered with a lid.

In a large deep pot, add some olive oil over a medium heat. Once the oil is hot, add the bacon and cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally until the bacon has some colour.
Add the sliced onions and garlic and cook slowly for 20 minutes, stirring often until they are slightly golden and sticky. (You may need to reduce the heat during this time to avoid them sticking.)

Place the whole chicken on top of the onions. Drain the beans and add them to the pot too. Tie the fresh herbs and bay leaf together with some string and add them to the pot. Pour in enough cold water to just cover all the ingredients and give it a generous season with the salt and pepper.
Bring to the boil and skim and discard the foam that will rise to the top. Reduce the soup to a simmer, cover and cook for 1 hour. Continue to remove any foam that rises to the top over the cooking time.
After the first hour, check to see if the chook is cooked. If the drumstick pulls away easily you are good to go. Remove the chicken from the pot - be very careful of hot liquid running down your tongs and onto your skin.
Add the cabbage and carrots, increase the heat to a rolling boil and cook for a further 30 minutes or until the carrot is soft.
Meanwhile, remove and shred the chicken meat. Taste the soup, adjust the seasoning and add as much or as little of the chicken as you like.
Serve hot with crusty bread.

Enjoy!

Carrot Cake - 2 - $ - V

Being a redhead I have been given many nicknames. Some kind, some not-so-kind.
I've never really understood the reason behind being called Blue; and Blood-Nut has always been my favourite.
I CANNOT stand Ranga or the very un-classy Fanta Pants.
So here is a Carrot Cake from a Carrot-Head.



Ingredients

1 cup plain flour
3/4 cup raw sugar
1tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp bicarbonate soda
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
2 eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 cup grated carrot (approx 2 medium sized carrots)
3/4 cup crushed pineapple, in juice please, not syrup
1/2 cup chopped pecans (walnuts are fine if you can't find the pecans)

Preheat oven to 180C degrees.
Grease and flour a cake tin.
Sift the flour into a large bowl and add the sugar, bicarb, cinnamon and baking powder. Mix well.
Add the eggs and oil and mix well. It's going to clump together, but don't worry it's meant to look like this.
Add the nuts, carrot and pineapple. Don't drain the pineapple! Mix really well. Trust me it will turn back to a batter, rather than a dough, as long as you keep stirring.
Pour into the tin and bake for 50-60 minutes.
You can serve as is, or add some lemon icing (see below).

Icing Ingredients

1 cup icing sugar
Juice of 1 large lemon

Sift the icing sugar into a bowl. Add the lemon juice and mix well until it forms a smooth paste. If it's a little runny just add a bit more sugar and keep adding/mixing until you get the consistency you like.
Make sure the cake is cool before icing or it will just run straight off.

Enjoy!