Food, Finds and Forays
Hey there....
How’s your week panning out? I’ve been shivering my way through mine this week. Jeepers this is the coldest winter I can remember in years. So cold I’ve been pulling out all the stops with warm hearty dinners. Let’s face it though, some nights when you’re rushing in after a busy day but still craving something hearty and are short on time it can feel all be a bit hard right? Today I’ve shared one of my favourites for a quick curry meal that will be on the table fast, fill the hungry bellies and not break the ever dwindling budget. I hope your family enjoys it as much as mine.
I also have a some book recs for you, both cook book and fiction and boy is that a good one. And to round out the morning and start your day with a heart swelling joyful smile I’ve shared the sweetest little vid.
I’m off for a lovely lunch in the yarra valley today to catch up with a friend and check out this glorious new location that I’ve been watching construction of for months, I’ll report back.
Have a great weekend and happy cooking.
Stay warm,
S xx
Food
Curry Chicken and Rice
“What’s for dinner?” Did even reading that line make your toes curl? It’s the lament of parents the world over. The late afternoon question that rings through homes around the globe. The question that evokes an almost audible eye roll from every household’s cook. Logically the more years we cook for our families the more our repertoire grows and indeed the greater the library of skill and recipes we theoretically should be carrying around and able to call on. BUT that’s simply not how it works is it? I mean I clearly love cooking and love creative cooking but even I am frequently stumped literally having no idea what to whip up. The trouble when you love food and cooking is the many questions that rattle around in your head. What do I feel like eating/cooking? Can I actually be bothered after a busy day…in the kitchen?…queue that headache inducing eye roll. And literal cook’s block! Like writer’s block only hunger inducing and frustrating and narrated by a chorus of voices demanding an answer to the age-old late afternoon question that is the language of hungry tummies.
It can be easy to call on the plain, wholesome Aussie old school favourite of meat and three veg but that can be boring, and frankly require as much work as many more elaborate offerings. With the current crazy prices of vegies in Australia, hello $10 lettuce, and you, over there…$12 strawberry punnet…sit down we’re not indulging in you this week, those veg next to a piece of protein frankly feels almost indulgent. If you’ve hung out here for a while you’ll know I like a one pot wonder, a fast take on a more laborious favourite like this one and the family love rice, it’s cheap, filling and results in leftovers for lunches the next day. We also love a curry and the use of the, albeit, not traditional but delicious none the less, Indian style curry powder makes it super simple.
My curry chicken and rice is a one pot dish, that's simple to prepare and needs only 25 minutes cooking time on the stove. It calls on the techniques of both risotto and pilaf methods combining to make what is reminiscent of the two combined into one. It’s a gentle curry for younger diners and can be dialled up or down according to the palettes of your family but also marries nicely with spicy condiments if there’s varying needs at your table.
2 Tb Olive oil or ghee
500 gm chicken thigh cut into chunks, roughly 6 pieces per thigh
1 brown onion sliced
1 tb grated fresh ginger
1 large or 2 small garlic cloves crushed
3 tsp indian style curry powder
½ tsp garam masala
4 cardamon pods bruised
1 cinnamon stick
¼ tsp ground ginger
4 curry leaves
1 cup rice, I use doongara
1 cup coconut milk
2 cups chicken stock
2 hand fulls baby spinach leaves
Extra curry leaves to serve
Heat 1 tb of the oil or ghee in a pan over med to high heat, brown chicken pieces until starting to brown on the edges, five minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon and keep warm.
Add the second tb of oil to pan and reduce heat to med-low. Cook onion gently until translucent, 5 minutes. Add garlic and ginger and cook til fragrant but not browning. Add spices and cook stirring to release all the fragrant aromas for 1 minute. Add rice and stir to coat in the spice and onion mixture. Return chicken to pan and increase heat to med-high. Pour in coconut milk and allow to boil for 1-2 minutes. Add stock and curry leaves. Bring to boil and immediately reduce heat to low and cook covered 10 minutes. Remove lid stir well ensuring it’s not sticking to the bottom and cover again and cook an additional 10 minutes. You’ll need to keep an eye on it at this stage to prevent it catching on the bottom. Just give it a quick stir if it does. Taste rice to be sure it’s nearly cooked, if so add spinach fold through and replace lid cooking for a final 3 minutes, again with lid on. Remove lid, stir while continuing to cook for a few more minutes to reduce any remaining moisture. Turn off and leave it to sit with lid on for five minutes until serving.
***Notes:
If spinach will leave you stretching a friendship with kids, you might like to try substituting this with frozen peas or sliced green beans.
We like to add additional spice at the table with various condiments such as, chilli jam, dried chili flakes or even chilli oil.
For those more sensitive palettes you might like to add a bowl of yoghurt to the table, but this is a very mild dish.
You can easily convert this to a vegetarian meal using canned chickpeas. 1-2 cans drained and rinsed should do the trick dependent on appetite. Boiled eggs, if your'e not vegan, with the chickpeas is also a hearty addition and very curry friendly.
Finds & Forays
For a whole bunch of reasons my love of sourdough baking has not been employed for some time. Daisy, my starter….yes it has a name as is tradition, is still alive and thriving. Nurtured like a house plant with reckless abandon bordering on negligence, fed only when she appears to wilt, quietly slouched in her jar on the shelf missing the love she once enjoyed fervently. She was my lockdown years trophy. I gave birth to her, endured her failure to thrive some days and celebrated her milestones others, much like raising a child really. Daisy was my metaphor for lockdown, highs and lows, then the win of successful loaves regularly churned out of my kitchen, many gifted to others left on door steps without the dreaded contact. A small act of friendship and bringing pleasure to myself and my recipients. We didn’t buy bread for months which left me feeling like I had something to show for the many months spent at home and inside my 5km home zone. With the bitterly cold winter we’re enduring here I think it’s time to pull her off the shelf and get her to work. To fire up my baking spirit I’ve ordered this book to try some other recipes instead of the simple loaves I made and this favourite I created. I bought this one recently on my jaunt to Trentham so will pull it off the shelf for inspo too.
On the subject of baked goods, I’ve been dying to try this place. Their story is another one that evolved from the last two years, a chef pivoting after his circumstances changed growing a cult following for a side hustle that was initially sparked to get through until hospitality re-opened. It’s been a roaring success with pre-orders selling out weekly, indeed it’s outgrown it’s original small commercial kitchen growing into a new café space. It is however some distance from me. So you can imagine how excited I was to watch this episode of MasterChef and see this recipe pop up on the website. With a huge jar of pecans in the fridge kindly gifted by Pecans Australia I think I’m going to give it a go.
Every time I share my fiction reading finds you guys seem to gobble them up so I thought I’d share this one with you. Full disclosure the author is a dear friend’s brother in law but as much as I love her this is not a gratuitous rec leading you up the garden path, this is a goody. I’m a quarter of the way in and have had to force myself to stop reading the last few nights and switch the light off. Matt writes of a family saga, namely three siblings reunited during a family crisis and all the family secrets that reveal themselves. The book grabs you from the first page and takes off. I’m loving it so far and am not counting on getting much sleep until finished.
Finally, do you need some sunshine today? Or any day for that matter? I’ve followed this account on Instagram for years for JJ’s beautiful food images and recipe ideas but this reel is the bomb!!! I’ve saved it and keep coming back to it. It’s the most delightful thing I’ve seen/listened to on social media in the longest time. I dare you not to smile!!
