Beef Rendang...

Here is our version of a Rendang curry...
(Bits have been taken from a post I made on a Simple Savings Thread .. Some alterations have been made..)

Beef Rendang 
Paste...
5-6 cloves Garlic, chopped or 6 heaped tsp of minced garlic
2 x 10cm stalks Lemongrass, chopped (you could just add a very well bruised stalks straight into the curry but we found it became very tender when processed & wasn’t tough al all in the finished product)
1 Tbsp fresh Ginger, grated 
2 Tbsp fresh Turmeric or 1 heaped tsp of powder
2 Tbsp Fresh Galangal, grated
Chillies to taste… I will be using 1 large from the patch & adding paste if needed..
2 medium onions, chopped
About ½ cup water to help ingredients combine in processor…
3 tsp Coriander powder
3 tsp Cumin powder
10 Curry leaves

Add all above ingredients into processor & blend into a paste...
Other ingredients...
1kg of diced beef
2 x 400ml tins lite Coconut Cream
½ tsp Tamarind paste
1 tsp/cube palm sugar (If you have Tamarind sauce you can use 1 Tbsp of that instead of the paste & sugar)
All ingredients are then added to a pot & brought to a boil
Once boiled then reduce heat to a medium simmer for an hour… Don’t forget to stir about every 10 min & have a taste test or 6 as well…
Reduce to very low & simmer for about an hour or until the liquid has been absorbed stirring occasionally… Remove the Lemongrass now if you put it in whole then serve by itself or with your favourite rice...

Hope you enjoy it, We do regularly...
Have a great one...
: )»

A few Recipe Clips...

Have been a tad slack with this Blog now that the girls & I have discovered You Tube... No excuse really...
We have made a few Cooking clips... Hope you like them...

Lemon & Dill Chook...

2 Chicken breasts, Diced
Marinade for Chook...

1/3 cup chopped Dill

Juice of 1 large or 2 small Lemons

Dessert spoon of Garlic

- Place all Ingredients into dish, mix well then let stand for 10-30 min  

Veggies...

1 Medium Purple Eggplant, chopped roughly

½ a Red Capsicum, chopped roughly

1 Med Zucchini, chopped roughly

1 large Kohlrabi, sliced into fingers.. (Green tops  would of been used as well but were a tad wilted from a night in the fridge.. )

2 Shallots, Whites chopped into 2cm sections & greens sliced thinly for garnish...

About 1 small head of Broccoli, divided into small trees

Handful of Bush Beans, cut into thirds

- Add Tbsp of oil to pan/wok, heat then fry off chook mixture in batches then set aside

- Add another Tbsp of oil & heat 

- Add Shallots, Eggplant, Capsicum, Zucchini, Kohlrabi & fry for a few minutes

- Add in Beans, Broccoli & Chicken with a bit of water to help the veggies steam if needed (I use the Grilling plate from the convection Microwave as a lid to help the steaming process)

- Garnish with Shallots Greens & extra fresh Dill..

Would be nice served with steamed rice me thinks....

Quick Chicken Coconut Curry... 

 

2Tbsp of oil
2 Poached Chicken breasts, chopped roughly (poached in Chicken stock powder & water)

2 dessert spoons of minced Garlic

1-2 dessert spoons of minced Turmeric (or 1Tbsp of dried )

Medium sized Red Capsicum, diced large

1 medium Onion, chopped

400g Tin diced Tomatoes, liquid reserved in a bowl for later
400ml tin of Lite Coconut cream

1 dessert spoon Curry powder (2 would of been better but the Spawn don’t like too much spice)

2 medium Sweet Potatoes, chopped roughly1 medium Onion, chopped in half then sliced thinly

3 Green Thai Eggplants

¾ cup of Sultanas

 Large handful of Bush Beans, chopped into ¼’s
1 cup frozen Peas

 -  Add oil to pot & heat 
- Add turmeric, Onions & Capsicum & fry for 2 min 
-  Add Chicken then stir while cooking for a minute or so
- Add diced Tomatoes, Coconut cream,  Curry powder & reserved Tomato juice if needed (depends on amounts of other ingredients used as to if extra liquid is needed)
- Add Sweet Potato & Eggplant.
- Add Extra liquid at this stage as well if needed... You could add water, Tomato juice or Liquid (stock) form poaching chicken
- Add Sultanas & more liquid if needed keeping in mind that the Sultanas will absorb liquid
- Simmer on low for 40 min while stirring/checking every 10-15 min or so...

Have made this or a version of it a few times now & hope you enjoy it as much as we do if you try it...

 If you are a Simple Savings member you can find it here...

Shall be posting a tad more often now that we are back into a routine...

Have a great one all...

: )»

A few bits from the weekend...

This week I made up a batch of yoghurt using some Vanilla sugar as the sweetener & I must say that it was most impressive... So much so that I snipped open one of the vacuum sealed packs of Vanilla beans & made a MEGA batch of vanilla sugar for future batches of yoghurt... I am storing it in one of the EXTRA Large Moccona coffee jars we purchased from the hospice op shop in Ipswich... Should be ready by May hopefully...



We harvested the Lemongrass from the patch on Saturday so we could use the barrel it was in for a Zucchini plant... The smaller stalks were all whizzed in the processor for storage in a container... The larger stalks were just sealed in Ziplock bags & all were placed in the freezer for curry pastes & meals at a latter date...


In keeping with our Asian for a month (well, when I cook during the week at least) we had a simple Japanese Katsu style curry made with "Golden Curry" blocks...

3Tbsp Rice bran oil
1 onion, diced chunkily
1Tbsp of minced Garlic
2 medium long Chinese Eggplants, diced large
¼ of a Red Capsicum, diced large
Small head of Broccoli, chopped into "Little trees"
Stalks of 2 small Broccoli heads, slice thinly
3 cups of water with 2tsp of Chook stock powder added
½ a packet of S&B Golden Curry

-Fry Garlic & Onions in a med enamel Caserole pot until Onion is translucent
-Add Eggplant, Broccoli stalks Capsicum until they brown slightly, 3-4 min on high heat
-Stir in Made up stock & once it boils, reduce to simmer for 5-10 min  (I like my veg to have some crunch so normally only leave it 5 or so min)
-Add ½ a packet of Curry blocks & stir until dissolved then serve over Favourite crumbed meats or just eat as is... I like it over Crumbed Chooken but have purchased it from resturants served over Crumbed Pork & loved it just as much...

Last night B☼ & I went out to a Mexican restaurant (well known & established Brisbane restaurant) & blew $50 on what I can only call Tomato flavoured mince wrapped in tortillas with grilled cheese on top... No heat or spice flavourings you would expect like Chilli, Cumin or Coriander... Most disappointing...  I think I may have spoiled us by cooking all our meals from scratch me thinks... I think Mexican is the next Cuisine that I shall be delving into further after watching some clips on a Gardening YouTube channel I subscribe to...
MMmmm, Enchiladas !!!!

: )»