Try popping it in the microwave for a couple of minutes... makes it softer to peel.
Spicing up the cookingRe: Spicing up the cookingTry popping it in the microwave for a couple of minutes... makes it softer to peel. ¸.•´¸.•*´¨) ¸.•*¨)✰
(¸.✰´¨(¸.✰ Manda Living our version of the Good Life with 1 dog (who feels like we're living with 4!), 1 cats, a few sheep and 11 chooks. Don't get your knickers in a knot..it solves nothing ~ just makes you walk funny Re: Spicing up the cookingI've got a couple of the multi cookers (a slow cooker/pressure cooker/rice cooker saute thingy etc ...only thing it doesn't do is the hoovering which is a shame)...I love them and we use them a lot especially in the winter. I do pulled pork or corned beef or pickled pork in them either by pressure (if I've not given myself time) or slow cook or a mix of the two.
Be interested to see how your the wok pan does slow cooking LL. ¸.•´¸.•*´¨) ¸.•*¨)✰
(¸.✰´¨(¸.✰ Manda Living our version of the Good Life with 1 dog (who feels like we're living with 4!), 1 cats, a few sheep and 11 chooks. Don't get your knickers in a knot..it solves nothing ~ just makes you walk funny
Re: Spicing up the cookingI'm still ploughing my way through the pork and had several meals out of it Last night I decided to use the pan to make a frittata (basically an all in one big omelette) with some of the pork and vegetables and it was perfect. No matter what I did with the old frying pan, my omelettes usually ended up as scrambled eggs. I'm really pleased with the new pan - as non-stick pans go, this has to be the ultimate and looks like it will be more enduring than most other brands. This is it (called a Scoville Neverstick shallow casserole): Re: Spicing up the cookingGiven my love of all things kitcheny
¸.•´¸.•*´¨) ¸.•*¨)✰
(¸.✰´¨(¸.✰ Manda Living our version of the Good Life with 1 dog (who feels like we're living with 4!), 1 cats, a few sheep and 11 chooks. Don't get your knickers in a knot..it solves nothing ~ just makes you walk funny
Re: Spicing up the cookingMy old frying pan may be retiring soon - this has to be the best pan I've ever bought. It does what it says: "Neverstick" - I've had some non-stick / Teflon coated pans over the years but this one has to beat them all. The main reason I got it was because my frying pan was a bit too shallow for the all-in-one pot cooking even though it had served me well for the past 20 or so years.
Re: Spicing up the BBQ or grillI haven't posted on this topic for a while but I can recommend some packet spice mixes I came across the other week. They were being displayed near the till and my eyes lit up .... oooooh, I've never seen those before. They are for marinating meat for grilling or BBQ. I happened to pick up the Citrus Brazilian BBQ and used it with a bit of oil and honey to marinate some chicken thighs and then cooked them in the air fryer. Finger linking delicious. The recipe actually suggested chicken pieces (or other meat like beef or pork pieces) skewered to make kebabs but my stand alone spiced chicken thighs (and yummy crispy flavoured skin) went down just as well.
PS - this photo was taken from a bargain website which was posted a long time ago so they are no longer 39p each ....
Rice, Bulgur Wheat and Cous cousSpicy foods, whether it be hot, aromatic, curry or whatever, go well with a bland carbohydrate foodstuff. As everyone knows, there's more than one type of rice on the market - Basmati, short grain, long grain and a whole load of specialised such as Jasmine used in Thai cooking or Arborio for a risotto and so on. I think I've tried most but cost-wise for those on a tight budget, the long grain (even the cheap stuff) on sale works fine. The trick is to definitely rinse the rice thoroughly in a sieve before cooking (be aware that cheap rice don't take as long to cook) I do like the mix of wild rice and Basmati - I once threw a handful into a curry to cook in the pot but had left it a little bit too long waiting for the vegetables to cook through. So the Basmati rice went very soft giving it a slight rice pudding texture yet the nutty wild rice off-set it and the whole dish actually turned out very nice. So even overcooking the rice didn't spoil the dish.
Cous cous has to be the simplest to cook - just add boiling water, lid on and leave until the cous cous softens, then use a fork to fluff it up. Unlike Rice and Bulgar wheat where you can cook vegetables with the rice at the same time (saves using multiple pans and energy), these are added either already pre-cooked or raw (such as spring onion or sweet pepper) to the cooked cous cous. When I first came to Nottingham, I lived in a bedsit for a year and shared a tiny kitchen with another tenant (a vegetarian) As it so happens, the tiny fridge (with a chill box) was not big enough to store much and I had already been using vegetarian alternatives (such as adding Bulgar wheat to a spaggi bol) but after I moved to my first house, that all changed once I had my new fridge freezer. With my recent renewed interest in cooking, I have been looking at some foodstuffs I'd forgotten about and Bulgur wheat is once again on the menu. Bulgur wheat really is a good alternate to rice and quite versatile. As well as having more fibre and protein than rice, it is also lower in calories. As it takes between 10 and 20 minutes to cook (similar to rice), you can add vegetables and spices to the cooking pot (or rice cooker) and eat hot or cold. It went very well with my recent chicken thigh "tray bake" spices (and the remains of the marinade after taking the chicken out to cook, had gone in the rice cooker with all the raw vegetables and Bulgur wheat giving is a little extra flavour) The next day the rest of the cooked Bulgur wheat was eaten cold with tinned tuna (originally in oil which I think would be better than tuna drained from water or brine). It tolerates a lot of garlic added during cooking
Peanut + curryI really want to start expanding my spicy cooking a bit more and looking for something a little different. In particular, some recipes containing peanuts (or peanut butter - so not a post for those allergic to peanuts!) and of course, the first just has to be:
Thai Peanut Curry
I haven't tried Thai curry pastes before so time to be adventurous .... Meanwhile, the BBC Good Food site have loads of recipes to choose from. These next 2 sound lovely (though I may have to tweak some ingredients to what I like, have or easily obtain): Thai Pork & peanut curry recipe Ingredients 1 tbsp vegetable oil bunch spring onions, sliced small bunch coriander, stalks finely chopped, leaves picked 400g pork tenderloin, sliced 4 tbsp Thai red curry paste 4 tbsp peanut butter 1 tbsp soft brown sugar 1 tbsp soy sauce 400ml can light coconut milk 175g pack baby corn juice 1 lime steamed jasmine rice, to serve Method STEP 1 Heat the oil in a large saucepan or flameproof casserole. Add the spring onions and coriander stalks and cook for 1 min. Add the pork slices and cook for 5 mins until starting to brown. STEP 2 Stir in the curry paste and peanut butter. After 30 secs, add the sugar, soy and coconut milk, plus ½ can of water. Mix well, put a lid on and leave to simmer for 15 mins, stirring occasionally. STEP 3 Remove the lid, add the baby corn and increase the heat. Bubble for 3 mins until the corn is cooked and the sauce has thickened a little. Stir in the lime juice and check the seasoning. Can now be frozen for up to 2 months. To cook from frozen: thoroughly defrost, then heat in a pan on the hob until curry is hot all the way through. Serve scattered with the coriander leaves and rice. Peanut Butter Curry Ingredients 2tbsp avocado oil 8 skinless boneless chicken thighs, cut into chunks 1 onion, finely chopped 3 garlic cloves, crushed 2 red chillies, finely sliced (deseeded if you don't like it too hot) 2tsp fresh ginger, grated 2tbsp garam masala 100g smooth peanut butter 400ml coconut milk 400g can chopped tomatoes coriander, ½ roughly chopped, ½ leaves picked roasted peanuts, to serve Method STEP 1 Heat 1 tbsp of the oil in a deep frying pan over a medium heat. Brown the chicken in batches, setting aside once golden. Fry the onion for 8 minutes until softened. Then add the garlic, chilli and ginger and fry in the other 1 tbsp oil for 1 min. Add the garam masala and fry for 1 min more. STEP 2 Stir in the peanut butter, coconut milk and tomatoes, and bring to a simmer. Return the chicken to the pan and add the chopped coriander. Cook for 30 mins until the sauce thickens and the chicken is cooked through. STEP 3 Serve with the remaining coriander, roasted peanuts and rice, if you like. cauliflower rice to serve Seems there is a beef version: Beef Panang Curry
I wouldn't mind giving any of these recipes a try so I think I will need to buy in some ingredients ... Re: Spicing up the cookingIt is making my mouth water, LL.
Re: Spicing up the cookingSince my illness last year, trying out spices and combinations with other ingredients that I wouldn't have normally entertained in the past, is opening up a new world for me. Blame John Torode on Masterchef for going on and on about some fresh ginger in a dish that was warming up the back of his throat ... I realised that I had never in my life ever cooked with fresh ginger (ground dried ginger for cakes only - not that I did much baking anyway) That Chinese 5 Spice noodle dish I used to make, which was okay (but not something I would want too often), suddenly went up a whole new dimension with the added fresh ginger (and garlic & hint of chilli flakes) I have had Thai Peanut Curry before (I was away on a conference at the time) which I thoroughly enjoyed so I'm eager to give that a go
New (to me) Spices / HerbsI buy most spices, herbs and mixes from the supermarket as I'm not quite ready to try mixing up my own blends yet. However, even the bigger supermarkets don't sell everything that are available (even ones they used to sell) but after I had visited the Schwartz herbs & spices website to check if they still package & sell them (they do!), I realised that I could easily make up an order worth £20 or more to get free delivery. As well as replacing the ones I missed, a few others fell in the basket (Steakhouse pepper, Chargrilled chicken seasoning to name a few) plus some new ones I'd never heard of before:
Sumac ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Makrut Lime Leaves (aka Kaffir Lime) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Zaatar One Sheet Pan Roasted Za'atar Chicken and Potatoes Of course I'd already placed the order by the time I had got round to asking a work colleague (from the middle east) if she had heard of the Sumac or Zaatar and what would she used them for. Of course she had, and this morning brought me a big bag of dried sumac berries. Meanwhile, while researching Makrut Lime Leaves, they are the alternate name for Kaffir Lime leaves (I've never cooked with them before so are still new to me)
Re: Peanut + curryJust an update of my version Beef Panang Curry. First, getting hold of Thai red curry paste seems strangely difficult (I've seen jars of Thai green curry paste) as does fresh lemongrass. I'm sure if I went to the bigger supermarkets or to some of the Asian shops it might be easier but I'm still shopping locally. Anyway, I had decided to buy some dried lemongrass (google searches indicated it was just as good) but then ... long story short, I thought I'd ordered it, I thought I'd received it but when I finally gathered the ingredients for the cooking, I had done neither. As for Thai red curry paste, I ended up buying a kit (containing sachets of red paste, coconut milk and one with dry ingredients such as red chillies) When buying the beef, I opted for a piece of rump steak and sliced it. A quick fry in a little oil to seal the meat and then got on with preparing the other ingredients (the garlic, ginger, dried chilli flakes, no red pepper but I had a green pepper, onion) Now I like to cook vegetables in the same pan and I decided to add a diced sweet potato and some frozen peas. I didn't have any lemongrass but added some lemon juice instead (to be honest, I don't think it made any difference) I didn't bother with the stock or zest of lime, and decided to use soy sauce instead of fish sauce. As for the dry ingredients in the kit, I had decided to stick with my original plan of using chilli flakes instead as I have got an idea of how much heat I like and how much to add. Okay, the kit was for a chicken curry and the only other ingredient it suggested was baby corn. As it happens I had some, so that went in as well. I followed the instructions (both for the recipe above and the kit which were similar) thereafter. While everything was cooking, I was finally able to read the ingredients on the kit ... hmmm, the red paste actually contained among other things .... lemongrass and ginger. So I have to confess I then did a lot of tasting during the cooking and all seemed just right. Until I added the peanut butter - it thickened the sauce very quickly. After checking everything was thoroughly cooked, I served it with some heated naan bread (with garlic and coriander) What did I think? First - the beef was very nice and although it was not cheap (I wouldn't normally buy beef because it is expensive), I would happily get another piece of that rump steak just for a steak dinner. It cooked really nicely and melted in your mouth (another reason why I don't normally buy beef is because I can quite easily ruin it when cooking, but not in this case) The naan bread was a good choice rather than rice or noodles. As for the Thai curry, I think it tasted nicer without the peanut butter. It still tasted nice but it didn't have that "wow, I could eat that all over again" factor before as well as after the peanut butter. I don't think omitting the lime and using a green pepper instead of a red one made any difference. So a little disappointed but there is room for improvement and might need some tweaks (perhaps getting hold of Thai red curry paste and lemongrass might help!) Cost-wise, the beef and the curry kit alone made it a much more expensive meal than I would normally budget for, so not something I would do too often. Even if I'd got individual ingredients, coconut milk isn't cheap either. So one of those things to think about if being careful on food costs (at least with spices, you only need a small amount to make a big flavour and still have some left for another time) Re: Spicing up the cookingIs the sumac the same as the shrub that gives good autumn colour in the garden.
Spreads from runners, if one house has it all the neighbours do to. Dance caller. http://mo-dance-caller.blogspot.co.uk/p/what-i-do.html
Sunny Clucker enjoyed Folk music and song in mid-Cheshire
Re: Spicing up the cookingNo idea as there seems to be an edible and a poisonous variety. Spreads by suckers as you mention but then I'm not sure if that is a general sumac trait. As for containing toxic compounds, always make sure you identify the tree / shrub carefully before ingesting any parts (berries, leaves, bark and so on)! Rhus typhina Is staghorn sumac poisonous? .
Spicing up the cooking - BobotieI had just been re-reading some of the Growing Up in South Africa posts (food) and one of the recipes which was popular over there (but my mother never cooked because she didn't like anything with "curry" in it) is called Bobotie. I decided to look up the recipe and found this on the BBC Good Food recipes site. Madras curry mix is one of my favourites plus I don't mind adding fruit to savoury dishes like a curry, so I thought I'd put the recipe here for future reference:
I'm not a big lover of chutney (or anything pickled) but I'm sure without it would affect the flavour (I can imagine the fruit and vinegar / sugar mix would be missed) So I'll have to see what I can get. And instead of whole allspice or clove, I'm sure powdered spices could be used. Knowing me, I'd probably add a lot more garlic ... One website Immaculate Bites had slightly different ingredients .... oooh, they both sound nice
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