Fragrant Fish Curry

This is a fish curry that I created. I wanted a really fragrant curry based on my Goan beef curry recipe that used plenty of cinnamon (combined with a few other things) in a coconut milk sauce.



Fragrant Fish Curry
(Serves 4)

4 tbsp vegetable oil
3 garlic cloves, crushed
1 fat red chilli, finely sliced
1/2 tspn ground cinnamon
1/2 tspn ground cloves
1/4 tspn ground turmeric
1/4 tspn salt
1/8 tspn ground black pepper
4 tspn tamarind paste
600g firm white fish fillets, cut into large pieces
1 cup (250mL) coconut milk
3 tbsp chopped coriander

In a small bowl, mix together 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil with the garlic, chilli, spices, salt, pepper and tamarind paste. Smear this paste over the fish fillets.

Heat the remaining oil in a large non-stick pan and fry the fish until almost cooked through. Stir in the coconut milk and then let the curry simmer for 5 minutes or until the fish is cooked. Stir in the chopped coriander then serve the curry over steamed basmati rice.

Beef, Mushroom and Rosemary Pocket

I made these "pockets" the day after Pete made a large batch (3 loaves!) of Turkish bread and we wanted to use them up whilst they were still fresh.

For this recipe, I have specified 2 loaves of Turkish bread between 4 people. However, if you can only get those smaller loaves from the supermarket then you may need a side salad or some fries to bulk out this meal. We didn't need anything with these as the loaves were massive!



Beef, mushroom and rosemary pockets
(Serves 4)

2 large loaves of Turkish bread
Olive oil
2 300g steaks
1 onion, finely diced
2 garlic cloves, crushed
8 mushrooms, sliced
2 tbsp flour
1/4 cup white wine
2 cubes of vegetable stock concentrate, optional (recipe available on this site)
2 tbsp chopped rosemary
Lettuce leaves, washed

Cut each loaf of Turkish bread in half cross-ways, then use a sharp bread knife to slice a "pocket" into each loaf (as I've done in the image above). If you'd like, you can warm them in a low oven for 5 minutes.

Heat some olive oil in a large pan and cook the steaks to your liking. Set them aside to rest.

In the same saucepan cook the onion and garlic until the onion is beginning to soften. Add the mushrooms and saute for 2 minutes. Sprinkle over the flour and let it cook for 30 seconds. Stir in the white wine and stock and let it simmer. Season well with salt, pepper and rosemary.

Slice the steaks very thinly and add them to the sauce. You want the sauce to simmer away until the liquid has almost completely evaporated and there's a thick gravy remaining.

Fill the Turkish bread "pockets" with lettuce then gently spoon in the beef mixture.

Because Some Days Call For Junk Food

It's been one of those weeks. And sometimes, a quarter pounder and fries is necessary.

Spicy Lentil Soup and Garlic Toast

Yep - it's another lentil recipe. This time I'm dedicating the recipe to the world-wide Meatless Monday movement - an initiative about cutting back meat consumption for the sake of your health, budget, animal welfare, global hunger and environment.

I got this recipe from my Aunty and really enjoyed it. If you're the type of person who has plenty of spices on hand all the time (like me) then this is the perfect, quick, vegetarian meal to make when the pantry is (nearly) bare.



Spicy Lentil Soup
(Serves 4)

2 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, finely diced
1 tspn each of ground ginger, ground coriander, ground cumin and paprika
1/2 tspn each of ground pepper, cinnamon and turmeric
1/4 tspn each of nutmeg and chilli powder
120g red lentils
1 tin of diced tomatoes
1.2L vegetable stock
Fresh coriander (optional)

Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium heat and saute the onion until it has turned translucent. Add all the spices and toast them briefly.

Add the lentils, tomatoes and stock and simmer the soup for about 20 minutes, or until the lentils are tender.

Season with salt and fresh coriander.

Perhaps you'd like some garlic toast with that?

When I first started dating my partner (what feels like a century ago. In a good way of course!) he fell in love with my garlic toast. It's nothing special, but he likes it and I always make it for him when he needs cheering up. (Men can be such simple creatures sometimes.)



Garlic Toast
(Serves 4)

8 slices of bread
Butter
Garlic powder
Salt
Chopped parsley

Preheat the oven to 160C. Butter the bread, sprinkle on the garlic powder, a very small amount of salt and the chopped parsley. Cut each slice of bread into three, pop them on an oven tray and bake for about 10 minutes, until the bread just begins to turn golden.