My Take On A Lamb Briyani

Curries are my passion, I love eating them as much I love cooking them. Very easy to make and really good with left overs. Especially since they have all those spices added to them . You can make it as hot as you like, or even maybe sweet. This is a combination between both. I'm sure you will like it. I was reading different recipes on this style of curry. I did take a few notes and ideas, bit non of them were exactly to my palate , so I arranged it and twisted it. The result was extraordinary  . So lets get cooking.

Lamb Briyani 

Ingredinets

1/2 a cauliflower 

1 onion diced

2 garlic cloves

Olive oil

1/2 a chili chopped

1 tin chopped tomatoes

2 tsp turmeric

2 tsp chilli powder

2 tsp ground cumin

2 tsp ground coriander

5 cardamom pods

300g of ready cooked lamb (leftover from roast dinner) If you want you can buy ready cubes of lamb and cook from scratch on the day .

Preparation Time: 10 minutes

Cooking Time : 30 minutes

Total Time : 40 minutes

Level: Easy

Serves : 2

Method

 

Get all the spices ready measured . Heat some oil in a pan. Add the onions , garlic and all the spices. Bash the cardamom pods first . Then remove them just before serving. Cook for about 2 minutes and add the cauliflower . Cook everything for about 8 minutes on a low heat. Add the chilli and cook for a minute. Add the chopped tomatoes along with 100 ml of water. Add the lamb . Bring to a boil and leave to simmer uncovered for about 20 minutes. If it goes to dry before serving add another splash of water.

Coconut Fluffy Rice

Ingredients

1 can of coconut milk 400ml

1 cup rice

1 cup water

2 tsp turmeric

1 tin chickpeas drained

Seasoning

A good knob of butter

Olive oil

A handful of toasted almond flakes

Preparation Time: 5 minutes

Cooking Time : 15 minutes

Total Time: 20 minutes

Level : Easy

Serves : 4

Method

To make fluffy rice. Soak the rice in some cold water for about 30 minute and then drain . Put the rice in a lidded pot, add all the ingredients to the pot with the rice . Cover the pot with some foil and then the lid. Leave to cook for 15 minutes and serve. Fluff the rice with a fork .

Cajun Chicken and Mash

This is quite easy and quick to make this dish, the flavours work really nice together. Looks nice and colourful to .

Cajun Chicken

Ingredients

2 fillets of chicken breast

Seasoning

Olive oil

Cajun spice

Golden bread crumbs

Preparation Time: 10 minutes

Cooking Time: 10 minutes

Total Time :20 minutes

Level : Easy

Serves: 2

Method

put the chicken down on a chopping board, and with a sharp knife, half each breast lengthwise . Like this they will be quite thin , therefore easier and quicker to cook. Season well each side and rub some cajun spice on the breast, drizzle with some olive oil and the cote with the breadcrumbs. No need to add any more oil to the pan, but you can if you want to. Transfer the chicken onto a non stick frying pan , and cook well on high heat both sides. Serve and eat straight away, while still hot. You can serve with some lime on the side if you fancy.

Sweet potato Mash

Ingredients

3 medium sized sweet potatoes
4 tbsp of sweet chilli sauce
A good knob of butter
Seasoning

Preparation Time: 5 minutes
Cooking Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 15 minutes
Level: Easy
Serves: 2

Method

Peel and chop the potatoes, as smaller cubes as you possibly can. This helps it cook quicker, the smaller it is. Take off the heat drain, and mash. Add the butter, season and the sweet chilli sauce. Stir all to combine and serve .

A Quick Tomato Salad

Ingredients

1 ripe tomato

5 cherry tomatoes

1 juice of a lime

3 spring onions

Extra virgin olive oil

Seasoning

Preparation Time: 5 minutes

NO Cooking Time

Level: Easy

Serves : 2

Chop the tomato and the cherry tomatoes and put in a bowl. Chop the spring onions finely and add to the bowl. Drizzle some oil and the juice of the lime. Season and ready to serve.

Meatloaf And A Tomato Sauce

Well this is basacailly a giant burger in the shape of a big sausage. Quite tasty and different , to make a bit more interesting then just doing a normal burger. It does take a bit of time to do it , but worth a shot. Espacially if you like to try new things.

Meatloaf

Ingredients

1 onion diced
1 tsp ground cumin
Olive oil
Seasoning
1 tsp ground coriander
12 cream crackers crumbled
2 cloves of garlic
2 tsp oregano
2 tsp Dijon mustard
500g of mince beef
1 beaten egg

Preparation Time: 30 minutes
Cooking Time 35/40 minutes
Level : Medium
Serves: 4/5

Method

Start with softening the onion in a little oil for about 5 minutes on a low heat. Add the coriander and the cumin and cook for a further minute. transfer to a bowl and leave to cool. Smash your crackers to little crumbs, or use your food processor . Add the mince, crackers , oregano and mustard to the cooled onions.
Now mush everything together with both your hands. Make sure it is all well combined. Add the beaten egg, and combine it well with the rest of the mixture. season well . Transfer on some baking paper or maybe chopping board if you like. start shaping it into a large sausage. If you have time put in the fridge and cool for about 30 minutes. Then transfer on an oven proof dish. Bake in a preheated oven of 200 degrees for about 30 minutes. So you can start with your sauce.

Tomato Sauce

Ingredients

Olive oil
Seasoning
1 onion
2 cloves of garlic
1 chili ( de-seeded if you like)
1 tbsp smoked paprika
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tin chickpeas drained
1 tin chopped tomatoes
5 rashers of streaky bacon

Preparation Time: 10 minutes
Cooking Time: 15 minutes
Total Cooking Time: 25/30 minutes
Level : Easy
Serves: 4/5

Method

Cook the onion, garlic and chili in some oil over a low heat, for 5 minutes. Add the paprika and cook for a further 2 minutes. Add a good splash of Worcestershire sauce and cook for a minute. Add the drained chickpeas and the chopped tomatoes along with a pinch of sugar. Bring to a boil and simmer for about 8 minutes.

Take the meatloaf out of the oven. Pour the tomato sauce over , put the rashers of bacon on the meatloaf vertically, and put back in the oven until the bacon is brown and cooked. Transfer to a chopping board and slice. Serve with some salad , and maybe chips, or roast potatoes if you fancy.

Cider Braised Red Cabbage, Mustard Roast Potatoes, and Broccoli Gratin.

I have to admit, I am not normally a fan of red cabbage myself. But I like to try new things . So i done this red cabbage and it just taste fantastic . Must try. I done it as a side with my Sunday roast dinner. I do like to do a roast every Sunday, keep a little bit traditional, but I don't like to be boring, and everyone knows what to expect on their plates. So trying new things and making a roast exciting , is definitely on my list.

Braised Red Cabbage

Ingredients

1/2 a red cabbage
1 red onion
3 tbsp cider vinegar
300ml apple cider
1 apple chopped
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground ginger
Lots of butter 30g
3 tbsp brown soft sugar.

Preparation Time: 10 minutes
Cooking Time: 1 hour
Serves : 3
Level : Medium

Method

Finely slice the red cabbage and the onion. I used the food processor with the fine slicer. Mix the spices together in a small bowl. Prepare everything else chopped and ready measured to use. . In a lidded pot layer out the red cabbage , followed by the red onion, apple, spices and sugar. pour over the cider vinegar . Add the apple cider. Put the butter on top. The cider won't cover all the red cabbage , that's fine .  Cover and cook on low heat for an hour, until it is all absorbed.  If it sticks or it it is all absorbed before an hour is gone add a splash of water to the cabbage.

Musted Roasted Potatoes

Ingredients

6big potatoes, halved or quatered
1 tbsp plain flour
1 tsp english mustard (powder)
Olive oil for drizziling
25g butter
Seasoning

Preparation Time: 15 minutes
Cooking Time: over an hour
Serves :3
Level: Easy

Method

Par boil the potatoes , just half cooked to much that they break. Drain and leave to steam dry in the colander for a few minutes. Toss in the flour and mustard, season and drizzle some oil over. Put them in a preheated oven 200 degrees, for about an hour.

Broccoli Gratin

Ingredients

1/2 a broccoli (florets)
25g of better
25g of plain flour
250ml of milk
Parmesan cheese
Cheddar cheese
golden bread crumbs
Seasoning

Preparation Time: 15 minutes
Cooking Time: 20/25 minutes
Level : Medium
Serves : 4

Method

Put the broccoli in some boiled water, and cook. In the meantime, start the cheese sauce. Melt the butter in a pan, I always add a little oil to it, as it is easily burnt, and it will ruin all the flavour of your cheese sauce then. Add the flour and stir in for about a minute, Take off the heat and start adding the milk little by little and stirring well , to combine. Put back on the heat, bring to a boil , and keep stirring continuously . Add some Parmesan and some cheese stir on a low heat for a little while and take off the heat. Drain the broccoli and put in an oven proof dish. Pour the cheese sauce over, grate some more cheese over and sprinkle over the bread crumbs, put under the grill for about 5 minutes , or until it's nice and golden on top.

 

Three Sausage Stew

I do like a stew. This is one of my favorites. All the family loves it especially my kids, as they could eat sausage everyday . I do suggest to everyone to give this a go , and you won't regret it. That's for sure. I called it three sausage stew as it has three types of different sausages in it along with nice big Mediterranean flavours . The sausages used for this recipe are, good quality pork sausages, chorizo sausage and salami sausage. The three of them together release a great big flavoured stew.

Three Sausage Stew

Ingredients

8 pork sausages
12 slices of salami Milano
100g of Chorizo ( sliced)
Olive oil
1 red, 1 yellow, 1 green pepper
1 onion
3 garlic cloves
1 tbsp dried chili flakes
2 tbsp oregano
A glass of red wine
2 tins chopped tomatoes
1tbsp tomato puree'
1 tin cannellini beans
A pinch of sugar
Crusty bread and butter to serve

Preparation Time: 30 minutes
Cooking Time 1 hour 30 minutes
Total Time: 2 hours
Serves: 4
Level : Medium

Method

In a big pot add some oil . Add your sausages and brown well all over. Set aside. Crisp the salami Milano in the same pot maybe add more oil if you want. Set aside with the sausages. Add the chorizo to the same pan and when it starts to brown and crisp , add the onions and garlic and cook until soft and they start to caramelize. Now time to add the peppers and season. Best to leave the peppers cut in thick slices. Add the oregano and dried chili flakes. Stir to combine and add the wine. Bring all to a boil before adding the chopped tomatoes, puree' and beans. Stir everything and bring to a boil once more. Add the sausages and the salami Milano to the pan. Add some water to the pan , see that everything is tuck in and covered, Don't over do it though with the water. I added about 200 ml. But it depends on the size of your pot. Cover and cook for an hour. Uncover for the last 30 minutes of cooking. Serve and eat while hot.

Turkey Curry (leftover Turkey)

It is not a spicy curry. Quite mild, anyone could eat it. Very easy to do and does not take hours to cook. After a big meal for Christmas and all the prep and hard work in it. No one wants to spend another day in the kitchen. I Am going to use my left over turkey for this recipe,as I have a quite a bit left, but you can even do it from scratch with turkey breast or maybe chicken if you like.

Turkey Curry

Ingredients

1 tbsp olive oil
1 onion
2 red pepper

1 tbsp hot curry powder

2 tbsp tomato purée

500ml chicken stock

1 tbsp mango chutney

1 tin chopped tomatoes

250g basmati rice

200g baby spinach

300g of cooked left over Turkey 

 

Preparation Time: 10 minutes

Cooking Time: 20 minutes

Total Time: 30 minutes

Serves : 4

Level : Easy

 

Method

Soften the onions and peppers in some oil. Add the curry powder, the mango chutney and the tomato puree'. Stir well and cook for a further minute. Add the stock and the chopped tomatoes. Bring to a boil and add the turkey. Leave to simmer until turkey is warmed up. Add the spinach and leave to wilt. Serve with the rice and poppadoms .

A Quick Soup (Maltese Brodu)

Hello to all my readers, and a Happy New Year 2013. I must say I have missed my writings in the past week. I had a little holiday form everyday life , but now it's all back to same old, same old.
I am doing a quick soup today for lunch time . Quick easy and healthy. I am going to use some left over turkey in my soup today, I normally do it with chicken legs , it comes nicer! Well lets get cooking.

A Quick Soup

Ingredients

2 carrots
2 small potatoes
1 celery stick
1 onion
2 garlic cloves
1 ripe tomato
600ml of hot chicken stock
1 bay leave
1 tbsp tomato puree'
1 tsp mixed herbs
Seasoning
A handful of shredded leftover turkey ( or 4 chicken legs)
Any pasta you like ( I am going to use tortellini)

Preparation Time: 10 minutes
Cooking Time :  30 minutes
Total Time: 40 minutes
Level : Easy
Serves: two

Method

Get you carrots, potatoes, celery, onions and garlic and put in some oil over a medium heat . Cook for 5 minutes and add the mixed herbs, bay leave and seasoning. Stir well and cook for a further minute on a high heat. Add the tomato puree' and the stock. Bring to a boil and lower the heat to simmer. Add the turkey and the tomato. Leave to simmer until everything is cooked. Add the pasta , and cook some more until the pasta is well cooked. Serve in a bowl , maybe with bread if you want. I decided not to this time as we have been eating so much over the holidays.