Simple Week Day Chick Pea Curry - with Basmati Rice - Vegan Version

I don't cook to cater for special needs, and I have been cooking a lot more meat, since I met hubby, he's a huge meat lover.

I'm on the other side, have always been a lover for vegetarian food, or vegan food, not because they are healthier - well, they are, but mainly because, I like them more than meat.

To some extend, when I announced that hubby will have to have at least 3 vegetarian meals a week after hearing his medical report and doctor's recommendation, he can sense a bit of joy in my tone, I really don't like meat, especially red meat, I don't mind cooking them, but I'd be happier if I don't have to eat them all the time.

For some reason, I decided to do chick pea curry tonight.  I soaked the chick peas and some red beans (they are in the same jar as I'm short of storage in the kitchen) last night.

Apart from the chick peas and beans, I have also added:
2 small onions, diced.
2 cloves of garlic, crushed.
some celery
1 zucchini, finely chopped.

I don't usually have time to ground my own curry paste during week days so I do stock up some good curry powder from the Indian grocery shops. I was in a rush because it's Luke's swimming lesson at 5:30pm, and I had to make the curry after I picked him up from school and get home around 4, and go to the pool before 5.



Fried the onions and garlic first in some canola oil in the non stick pan, added a good amount of curry poweder, and added some more garam masala, salt, cademon powder, cumin powder, tumaric powder and
some flakey dry red chilli, and wait till it's fragrant.

Added chick peas and beans and make sure it's well coated with the curry mixture.  I then added the rest of the veggies and a tiny pinch of raw sugar, and added the can of coconut milk.  Simmer in low heat after the milk is heated.

I reheated the curry after coming back from the pool, and cooked it for a further 30 minutes and served with steamed basmati rice.

It might not be a very authentic curry, but it's tasty and easy for a week day dinner.

Riti Canai - Prata... Did I get it right finally?

Yippie..
And I did the flip....
Great feeling...
I flipped first but didn't dare to go as far as the pros and then stretched the dough...

Roti Canai.

450g plain flour
1 egg
150ml water
150mil milk
30g margarine
Olive oil

Put plain flour in a large bowl and make a well in the middle, add liquid and the whisked egg, and melted margarine, and mix well and make a soft dough.

Knead for 6-7 minutes or till elastic, and separate into small balls – the bigger the ball, the bigger the roti will be. I divided them into 12 small balls.

Fold them neatly into round shape and cover with olive oil (normal vegetable oil will do) and set in a bowl, the balls shouldn’t be on top of each other, you only need a bit of oil to cover bottom half of the balls, cover with glad wrap, set aside for 10-12 hours.

And…. Oil the bench you want to work on, use the back of hand to spread out the little ball flat and left hand hold down the edge of the flat dough at 8 o’clock, and use the right hand to flip… I can sort of do it now after watching Youtube demo and Poh’s kitchen.. again and again… still can’t get it fully right but mine did spread out quite big, and I just pulled the edges and made them bigger… brush on a bit of olive oil,



fold into envelops


and put on medium heat frying pan with tiny bit of oil, cook till golden brown both sides….

I can’t quite figure out how to clap them? Bit too hot….

and I made curry chicken with sweet potato to go with it...

Curry Chicken:
2 Big Chicken Maryland – cut in chunks.
1 tbsp Cumin Powder
1 tbsp Tumaric powder
1 tbsp meat curry powder
1 tbsp fennel powder
3 red chillies with seeds
1 big onion
2 cloves garlic
2 knobs of ginger
Finely chopped lemon grass
Kaffir lime leaves
1 can coconut cream
3 large potatos peeled and cubed
1 small sweet potato peeled and cubed
½ cup chicken stock
Salt and Palm sugar
Oil


Ground ginger, garlic and onion and chilly till fine.
Heat oil in pot and sauté the ginger, garlic, onion and chilly mix till fragrant.
Add all the powders and sauté till fragrant.
Add chicken chunks and stir well with the spices and cook till half cooked.
Add Potato and Sweet Potato chucks and mix well.
Add coconut cream, stock and stir well, add salt and sugar.
Bring it to boil and then turn down to low heat, simmer for an hour till chicken is tender and falling apart when pork is in.

Ricotta Creme Fraiche Scones, Ghostsword Fish Sweet Curry and My Almost Perfect Loaf

I thought this day will never come true - when mother in law mentioned the old school home cooks in the old days can just whisk up some batches of scones when unexpected guests arrive - they'd make the guests cups of tea, seat the guests, chatting away with a scone dough, and minutes later, the perfect afternoon tea with the perfect scones and jam and cream.

I made 2 batches of sourdough breads during the weekend, but all used up for lunches etc and we didn't have any to freeze for the coming week's brekky... Both hubby and I have brekky on the go, so basically, some yoghurts and some home baked goods. 10pm last Sunday night, I said to hubby, well, I have to make some scones.

I didn't know what to make - flavour? I do know I have some ricotta cheese, some creme fraiche, I have to use up, and yes, loads of bananas.

So, I mashed up 2 bananas, add the rest of the ricotta cheese about 150g and all the 250g creme fraiche into the 3.5 cup self raising flour, whisked in an egg, and rubbed in 25g butter. Must say the mixture was a bit too moist to my liking so I did add a bit more dry flour as I go. Ah, I added a bit of cinneman powder and all spice, 1/2 tsp Bi-carb soda to balance the acid, before the wet stuff went in, and put in quite a generous amount (1 cup?) of sultanas.

Baked for 25 minutes whilst baking my son's school lunch (the weekly loaf) and they came out quite nicely - surprising fluffy... Finally, I can get a batch of scones out without any recipes, using whatever in my fridge... So, I'm an old school cook now? And really happy with my loaf this week.... I make my son a loaf of bread each week for his lunch box, and it hasn't worked all that well in the last week or so, but finally, I'm back on track. I just want to give him preservative free home baked goods, and I know he likes his white bread, but if I'm baking, I can just sneak in 3/4 cup of whole meal flour...

Alright, today's dinner, I have been wondering what to do. Week day nights, dinners are usually rushed. We didn't have time to do much in between music lessons, home works (for children of course) and other bits and pieces, and of course I only have 1 hour or so to put dinner on the table and can't prepare anything during the day.

I bought some ghostsword fish - wasn't quite sure about the fish, just some fillets from the supermarket, so I think, maybe a light sweet curry. Something warm, but not heavy, we had the bacon hock soup last night.

First of all, I cut the fish fillets into 2" squares, dusted with ginger powder, white pepper, bit of salt and some tapioca flour, and let it sit for half an hour or so, whilst getting the rice and veggies ready.

In the pot, I heated up some veggie oil, sauted 1 sliced red onion, 1 sliced ginger, 2 cloves of garlic, 1 sliced fresh red chillie with no seeds (I did say mild today), until slightly cooked, then I add 2 tsp of powders (a mixture tumeric, corriander, cummin, cardemon, nutmeg, cinnemon, bits and pieces I found in my spice box, I do use ground spice as it's easier for me) and no chillie powder - normally I'd add more but I wasn't sure if I would use the same sauce for the children, and I do know they can't handle the spices all that well.

I added a can of coconut milk, some white wine, 2tsp of fish sauce, 1 tsp of salt and 1tsp of raw sugar (if you have palm sugar, use that), added in some chopped lemon grass and 3 kaffir lime leaves, a small slice of lemon, and let it simmer.

Meanwhile in another non stick frying pan, I heated up some oil and shallow fried the fish pieces to almost cooked by themselves, and set aside. I chose to do the fish separately because they'd keep the shape better if I fried them by themselves first, and also I do have a choice to seperate kids and adult meals - as it turned out, the sauce (even I toned down) was still to spicey for the children, so I used another pot to tone down further for them with their fish pieces...

I added one tomato cut up in chunk to the pot, and added the fish pieces and a sprig of corriander for the adults.

after 15-20 minutes, the sauce became thicker, and I served up with steamed rice and veggies. Simple food, warm enough for winter and not to heavy.