Fish Curry

I'm done with feeling sad that Christmas is over for another year, and now I'm looking forward to 2012 and all that it might bring. This knowledge was cemented for me when I was trying to decide what to have for dinner tonight, I suddenly remembered my Turkey Curry recipe. Another sign that Christmas is well and truly done for me though: not being able to face the idea of even one more mouthfull of turkey.

So I had a look in the freezer, and we had some fish that had been there a while... Hmm. One of my favourite dishes to get when we go out for a curry is a fish curry, so I decided to swap the turkey for fish, and let me tell you - it was delicious! We enjoyed this with some rice and naan bread. I made it exactly the same as the original recipe, just substituted haddock for turkey, although I suspect any white fish would be just as good.

Turkey Curry

There hasn't been a new recipe on the blog for a little while now, due to being swamped with schoolwork last week! Poor Adam didn't get a single home cooked meal for the entire week. I tried to make it up to him yesterday, by putting this curry in the slow cooker, so it would be ready and waiting for him as soon as he got home from work!

Turns out trying to make a curry look photogenic is quite difficult - for me at least! 



Turkey Curry

Based on this curry.

Ingredients:

600g turkey breast, cut into bite sized pieces (you can use an equal amount of any meat or veggies you'd like)
500ml passatta
200ml light coconut milk
2 onions, finely chopped
4 garlic cloves
1 tsp turmeric
1 ½ tsp cumin seeds
1 tbsp dried coriander
1 tbsp cayenne pepper (warning: this curry is very spicy. If you don't like it as hot then take this down to ½ tbsp or 1 tsp, adjust to taste. Remember it's easier to make something more spicy than it is to make something less spicy!)
3 green cardamom pods
Black pepper

Method:

1. Finely chop onions, place in a saucepan sprayed with frylight (or other non stick spray) and cook slowly over a very low heat. Add a small splash of water if they seem like they are starting to stick, and stir often.
2. Add garlic cloves and passatta, and simmer for five minutes
3. Optional: Adam hates lumps of onion in his sauces so I always do this step, but you don't have to. I transferred the sauce into a blender, and carefully (it's hot!) blended.
4. Add turkey to slow cooker, season well with black pepper and pour sauce over.
5. Add spices and coconut milk and stir to combine
6. Leave in slow cooker for about four hours. Ensure turkey is cooked through before serving with rice.


Serves 4.
Syns: 2.5 per serving

Brocolli, Sweet Potato and Cheddar Cakes

I made these a couple of weeks ago, based on this recipe. So good!

Spaghetti Bolognese

Ingredients

1 onion
3 small carrots
3 garlic cloves
500ml passata
175ml red wine
1 tsp oregano
250g beef mince
8 mushrooms
Spaghetti pasta

Method

Finely chop onion, garlic and carrots.

Lightly fry in olive oil or non stick cooking spray until onions are soft and translucent, taking care not to let the garlic burn.

Add passata and red wine, oregano, season to taste and let simmer for about ten minutes.

This next step is optional, depending on how you like your sauces. For me, Adam hates any lumps in his sauces, so this is where I add the sauce to the blender and blend for a minute or so to make it smooth. If you like lumps (like me!), then you can skip this step. If you do blend the sauce, take care as it will be hot.

In another pan, brown the mince.

Chop the mushrooms.

Add mushrooms and bolognese sauce to the mince and let simmer for about twenty minutes while you cook the spaghetti.

Serve hot and enjoy!

Serves: 4
Syns per serving: 1.5

Amazing Pasta Sauce

I'm a big fan of pasta. When I was younger and still lived with my parents, my sisters and I would eat it every single day. It really fills you up and I think it's quite healthy too. Unfortunately, the sauces that come in the jars or pots that we would eat it with are not. They're usually full of sugar and oil and chemicals. Over the years I've tried to make my own pasta sauce with varying degrees of success - from the edible to completely inedible. And you know what? I think I've finally got it.

Amazing Pasta Sauce

Ingredients:

500ml passata
1 tsp dried oregano
3 garlic cloves (minced)
1 tbsp sun dried tomato (or regular tomato) puree
1 tsp sugar
Pinch of sea salt
Black pepper

Method

Add all the ingredients to a pan, stir well and simmer gently for about five minutes. That's all!

The sauce is so versatile; I originally made this as a sauce for lasagne, and it really was just delicious. I saved some leftover sauce, and reheated it the next day to stir through hot pasta. I let it simmer for longer so it would be thicker, then stirred it through hot spaghetti. So good! I could just eat another bowl full now!

Syns: Less than ½ per serving!

Healthy crisps & tzatziki

So the plan was to try and keep the vegan marshmallows for as long as possible to see how they would last and if it would be possible to ever ship them overseas, but that didn't last very long. Adam came back from work yesterday and before I even had chance to say "save one for me" they were all gone! I don't really mind though; I love to see people enjoy the food that I've made!

I got in yesterday after a particularly gruelling day; I'm swamped with Uni assignments at the minute, and was really hungry after a session at the gym! I didn't want to spoil my dinner though, and was really fancying some crisps. Instead of grabbing a packet out of the cupboard, I decided to make this healthier verison.



Healthier crisps

Preheat oven to 180C. Thinly slice one potato (you can use regular white potatoes, or sweet potatoes!). You can either slice them with a normal knife or if you want them to be really thin and crispy you can make the slices with a vegetable peeler. Season with salt, black pepper and/or dried rosemary.

Spray a baking tray with cooking spray and arrange the slices in a single layer. Put them in the oven, then keep an eye on them as they cook fairly quickly depending how thinly you sliced them. If the slices are a little on the thicker side, you might want to flip them during cooking.

Tzatziki

Half cup fat free or very low fat natural yoghurt

Half clove of garlic

One inch piece of cucumber

Black pepper to taste

Pour the half cup of yoghurt into a bowl. Grate in a small amount of garlic, I used half a clove but you don't want it to be too overpowering so maybe grate some in, stir it and taste. When you're happy with the garlic level, grate the cucumber into the yoghurt mixture and stir well to combine. Add a little ground black pepper to taste.



These were delicious, and really curbed my craving!

Do you have any healthy alternatives for your favourite junk food?

Asian inspired pasta

I love picking up reduced items when I go shopping! There's nothing better than feeling like you've got a bargain! When I went shopping last weekend, I picked up a piece of salmon for 60% off! I ate it in this Asian inspired pasta dish:



Asian inspired pasta for one!

Salmon

Three brocolli florets

Four mushrooms

Garlic clove

Half chopped chilli (optional)

Spaghetti

Handful of spinach

Soy sauce

Chop chilli and garlic, add to a bowl with about half a cup of soy sauce and stir to combine. Cut the salmon into bite size pieces and add to the bowl, stirring well and leave to marinate in the fridge for a few hours or overnight. Chop the vegetables. Cook the spaghetti according to the instructions on the packet, while they are cooking spray a pan with cooking spray, add the salmon (reserve the marinade), brocolli and mushrooms. About halfway through cooking, add the reserved marinade into the pan. Drain and rinse the spaghetti, and mix everything together. I don't cook the spinach, I just stir it into the hot pasta so it doesn't wilt too much but feel free to add it earlier if you prefer!