Spicy Hot Prawn & Apple Curry - friskier than a spring lamb!

I have had this recipe sitting waiting to be published since for ever, it seems.  The trouble is, you see, Christmas and new year got right in the way and I lost touch with reality.  *chuckle*  No, reality has always been right here - I just got distracted for a while.

So here you are all those people who were so keen to have the recipe.  I do apologise for the time it has taken.

The curry is a touch different from the norm in its use of apple, but it gives such a lovely fruity tang that goes so well with the tomato, tamarind, red onion and coconut. Some of those ingredients also give off a sweetness which somehow boosts the flavour of the prawns. Lots of savoury flavours as well, of course, from garlic, coriander, ginger, turmeric and the curry powder - which included a small amount of Tikka curry powder, prevent it from becoming too sweet and naturally the hot spiciness from the red chillis combined with the ginger and spicy curry to make this lovely light textured prawn curry super frisky! Not so frisky that it melts anything, but enough to clear the sinuses. Can't be bad!

SPICY HOT PRAWN & APPLE CURRY   (serves 3-4)

Ingredients :

1 tbsp coconut oil
1 tbsp plus a half tbsp salted butter 
1-2 red onions, depending on size, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
sea salt
ground black pepper
a quarter tsp of ground cinnamon
4 cherry tomatoes, diced
1 sharp eating apple (I used Braeburn), peeled, cored & diced small
3 tsp medium curry powder
1 tsp tikka curry powder
1 tsp ground turmeric
1 tsp ground ginger
a pinch of dried red chilli flakes (to taste)
500ml hot water plus more as required
1 tbsp tamarind sauce
1 tbsp chopped fresh coriander leaf plus a little for garnish
half tsp honey (to taste)
325g cooked, peeled, cold water large prawns, defrosted and drained if pre-frozen
hot white Basmati rice to serve.

Method :


Melt the coconut oil and butter in a large frying pan and add the onions & garlic.  Fry on a medium heat until the onions are transparent and just beginning to caramelise and the garlic is fragrant.  This shouldn't take too long if the onions have been chopped finely enough.  Part way through the cooking, add the sea salt, black pepper and cinnamon and stir through.

Once the onions and garlic are cooked to your satisfaction, add the cherry tomatoes and apple and cook on until the tomatoes are beginning to soften and break up.

Add the curry powder, turmeric, ginger and red chilli flakes and stir through.  Cook on for about 5 more minutes, to allow the spices to amalgamate and lose their uncooked flavour.  Add the water, tamarind sauce and fresh coriander and stir through.

Cook at a simmer, stirring regularly, until the ingredients have all amalgamated into a sauce and the sauce has reduced to a good thick consistency.  This can take around 20 mins, perhaps a bit longer depending on how much juice the tomatoes had and how much water you added.

Taste the sauce for seasoning and add more salt, or black pepper, or chilli flakes as necessary.  Taste again and add the honey if required.  Stir everything through once more.

When you are happy with the flavour and consistency of the sauce, add the prawns and increase the temperature under the pan, to heat the prawns through.  You aren't looking to cook them as they've already been cooked - just heat them through to piping hot.

Serve the curry with the white basmati rice and sprinkle the remainder of the coriander over the top as garnish.

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Prawn & Pineapple curry - mmmnn, fruity!

Somehow or another, we've wound up with several little bits of things left over from dishes that either didn't happen, or where ingredients have been too much and a portion of them were put into the freezer "for another day".  One such is a tin of pineapple.  Somehow or another we've managed to accumulate two of them in the tin cupboard, which really is just one too many.

So I set my mind to pondering on what could be done with said pineapple. What it was supposed to be, was part of a salad.  However, England being what it is, the "too hot for anything but salad" days have gone for now and left me with a pineapple glut.  The obvious answer was to bake a pineapple upside down cake - and I wouldn't rule out the second tin being disposed of that way - but I'm afraid I just couldn't justify two cakes in quick succession.  No, I felt sure there was a savoury context I could use a tin of pineapple in - it was just a matter of deciding what.  Once again, the obvious is a sweet and sour chicken dish, but son & heir really isn't keen on that.  Which led me to thinking about the curries that involve fruit.  Our local Indian takeaway does a curry with pineapple and lychee, so I knew it was possible.

What goes well with pineapple, then?  Coconut.  Yep, that's perfect.  Chicken, or fish?  Prawns!  Yes, I believe I've seen salads with pineapple and prawns, so they have to be nice together.  A coconutty, pineappley, prawney .... um .... tomato?  Yes, that'd work, oh and I've got my new tamarind sauce, I could use some of that too!  Coconut cream would thicken it nicely and a combination of curry powders would provide depth of flavour.  And so, the delicious prawn & pineapple curry took form in my mind - and this evening, in my kitchen.

It really proved to be as good as I'd thought it would be.  To my taste buds, it was slightly frisky with chilli heat but for hubby and son & heir, they could have taken it a lot hotter so maybe next time I'll add a few red chilli flakes to just up the heat ante a little.  I could still taste the prawns (which was, for me, a desired result) and the pineapple juice as well as the tamarind sauce gave the curry a delicious acidity, together with - oddly - a degree of sweetness which a handful of peas helped along.

Now as for Cook's Tips, I have just the one which is to make sure that you add the cooked prawns at the very last minute, when you are just about to serve. They only take a twinkling to heat up and you definitely don't want them simmering in the sauce for longer than it takes for them to do that, or you'll have pink curls of prawn flavoured rubber - and nobody likes those in their curry.

So there you are!  The curry took me around 35/45 minutes to make, so it is a good one for an evening when you've not a lot of time or energy.  I really liked this curry and am looking forward to the next instalment of it!  

PRAWN & PINEAPPLE CURRY   (serves 3)

Ingredients :

1 heaped tbsp solid coconut oil
1 red onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, chopped finely
3 tsp medium curry powder
1 tsp tandoori curry powder
half a tsp ground coriander
quarter of a tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground turmeric
2 large vine ripened tomatoes, cored and diced
pinch of sea salt
quarter of a tsp ground black pepper
110g tinned pineapple pieces, with juice
120ml hot water
1 tsp fish stock powder (or a low salt fish stock cube)
1 tbsp tamarind sauce (or 1 tbsp mango chutney)
15g coconut cream
a small handful of frozen peas
15g butter
250g cooked, peeled, cold water prawns.

Method :

Gently heat the coconut oil in a deep frying pan and add the onion and garlic. Fry, stirring regularly, until the garlic is a light golden colour and the onion has turned transparent.  This should take up to 10 minutes.

Add both the curry powders, coriander, cinnamon and turmeric and stir to combine.  Cook for 2-3 minutes until all trace of dry powder has gone.

Add the chopped tomatoes and stir well.  Cook until the tomatoes are beginning to soften, adding the sea salt & black pepper along the way.

Add the pineapple pieces, pineapple juice, water and fish stock and stir to combine.  Bring to a lively simmer and simmer to reduce the liquid by at least half.

Add the tamarind sauce (or mango chutney) and coconut cream and stir through until the coconut cream has dissolved and combined.

Add the frozen peas and butter and stir through.  You can now either simmer until the sauce has reduced to your liking, or add a little more hot water to thin the sauce to your liking.

Finally, add the prawns and stir through.  Continue to simmer until the prawns are heated through properly and serve in warm bowls with steamed white basmati rice.

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Malay style chicken & peanut curry - silky, spicy and delicious

Well, this one worked out well!  

I think I shall call it a Malay style chicken & peanut curry as the basis of it was the recipe as below, but I halved the Thai curry paste and added the other half in Indian curry paste (a Korma paste) - so it wound up being a fusion of the two.  Knowing what a fusion of races now call Malaysia home, I think that represents Malaysia quite well.  

Original recipe : http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/2838670/thai-pork-and-peanut-curry

I deviated from the original recipe in several different ways, the first being the addition of the Korma paste as I've already mentioned.  I added a red pepper, chopped into smallish dice, for colour and interest and a white sweet onion cut into eighths, the sweetness of which meant I could leave the soft brown sugar specified in the recipe, out.  I'm always keen, where I can, to reduce the amount of added sugar in dishes.  The sweet red pepper, the sweet onion, the baby sweetcorn, the coconut milk all have an inherent sweetness and I felt that the soft brown sugar would just take it too far.

It was mildly spiced so easy to pep up if you like it hotter and was jolly tasty.  Everyone said they'd be happy to have it again, only with rather less coriander, next time!  LOL  (I'm a bit heavy handed with the coriander, because I like it so much.  I forget that others aren't as keen!).

I've reproduced the recipe with my alterations below, but feel free to cook the original if you prefer the look of that!  I'm not precious about my recipes - they're there for you to use, change, adjust and develop as much or as little as you wish.

MALAY STYLE CHICKEN & PEANUT CURRY   (serves 3-4)

Ingredients :

1 tbsp vegetable oil
3 skinless & boneless chicken breasts, cut into bite sized chunks
ground black pepper 
1 sweet white onion, cut into eighths
bunch spring onions, sliced
small bunch coriander, stalks finely chopped, leaves chopped
1 red pepper, cored and cut into dice
130g baby sweetcorn, halved lengthways
2 tbsp Thai red curry paste
2 tbsp Korma curry paste
2 tbsp peanut butter
400ml can coconut milk
1 tbsp soy sauce 
juice 1 lime.  

Method :

Heat the oil in a large and deep frying pan until very hot and carefully add the chicken chunks.  Fry them until lightly golden on at least two sides and season with black pepper.  Remove from the pan and set aside.

Add the sweet onion, spring onions, coriander stalks, red pepper and baby sweetcorn to the pan and stir fry (adding a little more oil if necessary) until softened.

Return the chicken to the pan and reduce the heat slightly.

Add the Thai curry paste, the Korma curry paste and peanut butter and stir to combine.  Cook over a moderate heat for some 3 minutes or so, until well combined.

Add the coconut milk and soy sauce and stir gently.  Simmer for some 10 minutes or so until the sauce thickens to your preference.

Just prior to serving, add the lime juice (Half a lime at a time, then taste.  If necessary, add more) and stir in the chopped coriander leaves.

Serve with plain white rice, or jasmine rice.

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Anzac biscuits - a terrific emergency biscuit recipe

You know, I'm sure hubby wasn't planning on making biscuits today.  Not as far as I was aware, anyway.  This morning we went and got the bulk of the week's food shopping in, then came home and hubby put the shopping away while I had a shower. Then, I discovered that he was busily making biscuits - Anzac biscuits, which turned out to be the scrummiest, most naughty thing! SO many calories per biscuit, but so yummy with their coconut and oats.

Do I hear you asking "what is an Anzac biscuit and why is it called so"?  Both of which are very good questions.

Well I first tripped over Anzac biscuits in a supermarket (can't remember which one) which was stocking packets of them around about Remembrance Sunday time.  A percentage of the proceeds were going to injured servicemen, as I recall.  Well, being soldier's daughter, I bought a couple of packets for the charity point of view, hoping they'd be nice.  They were more than nice, they're a fabulous accompaniment to a cup of coffee, or chai tea, or even builders' tea.  They're the old fashioned HobNob, made before HobNobs were even a twinkle in their creator's eye.

As for why they are called "Anzac Biscuits", well Anzac biscuits have long been associated with the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) which was established in World War I.  It has been claimed the biscuits were sent by wives to soldiers abroad because the ingredients do not spoil easily and the biscuits kept well during naval transportation. So you can see the Forces connection.

It must have been a wonderful moment to receive a parcel from home which contained a package of these wonderfully, munchy, crunchy biscuits.  A little bit of heaven in an awful lot of hell.

Now from a current perspective, the speed at which hubby brought the biscuits together and baked them - probably around half an hour at the most - makes them one of the most agreeable "spur of the moment" or "last minute, Mother's on her way" biscuits to make.  The end result is certainly worth more than the time they took to make!

So, if you fancy some baking or you're cooking with your kids, give them a history lesson while they are baking and make some Anzac biscuits.  Your next cup of tea will thank you.

ANZAC BISCUITS   (makes 20)

Ingredients :

85g porridge oats

85g desiccated coconut

100g plain flour

100g caster sugar

100g butter, plus extra butter for greasing

1 tbsp golden syrup

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

Method :

1.  Combine all the dry ingredients except the bicarbonate of soda together in a bowl.

2.  Melt the butter in a decent sized pan (it needs room to expand) over a low heat.

3.  Add the golden syrup to the butter.

4.  Put the bicarbonate of soda into a small cup, add the boiling water and mix.

5.  Remove the butter mixture from the heat and allow to cool for 30 secs or so.

6.  Pour in the bicarbonate of soda mixture to the butter and watch it froth!

7.  Quickly mix all the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients before you lose the froth and stir well until completely mixed.

8.  Make a flattened disc out of a spoonful of the mixture and place onto a lined baking sheet.  Make sure to leave at least 1" between each disc.

9.  Bake in a preheated oven at 180degC/350degF/Gas 4 for 8-10 minutes, watching them like a hawk to make sure they don't burn.

10.  Put each biscuit on a cooling rack until absolutely cold.

Calories per portion (1 biscuit) : 118 (wince) - however, they do keep well in an airtight tin!  (Reference : Calorie Counter).

Pineapple & Coconut Chicken Curry

For absolutely ages - and I do mean ages - hubby has been asking for a "fruity, mild, creamy, Caribbean type curry".  However, I've really only just begun to get my head around Indian curries, without trying to expand my repertoire to the Caribbean!  However, I've been reading, watching, thinking and reading a bit more, to absorb all that is encapsulated within a "Caribbean type" curry.

I've had a few false starts, too.  Curries that started off with every intention of going Caribbean, but wound up being resolutely Indian.  I've had one or two "nearlies", in that they have been too heavy and a little bit cloying (forget using cream then!) and too rough in the spicing (leave out the ginger and cayenne), but nearly there.

Last night, however, I hit the nail right on the head.  Now please don't - for a millisecond - think that this is an "authentic" Caribbean curry, because I wouldn't know one of those if it jumped up and bit me on the nose.  No, this is "our idea of what a Caribbean curry would be like" - so is quite probably very different.

However, if you forget where I was trying to go with it and just take it on face value as "a curry", it was blinking marvellous.

Friends have suggested that maybe it has a flavour of Thailand, or Singapore.  Well, I'm sure it probably does, as in the course of my reading and absorbing, I visited both those destinations and no doubt tucked some of their methods and/or flavourings under my wing.

I was jolly pleased with it, anyway.  You know you are on the right track, when you take that first taste of the very young sauce and your immediate reaction is "Mmmmmmn!".  Oh it tasted good - and very right - and very promising.

I had originally intended to make this curry with some of the Barcut Farms rose veal - and I'm quite sure it would be fantastic with that.  I shall do a slow cooker version that would be perfect for the rose veal, now that I've had such success with the chicken.  If only I could remember to take the meat out of the freezer the night before, so that it has defrosted by the time it comes to putting it in the slow cooker.  But I didn't - and so off we went to Spring Fields butchers for some chicken, which doesn't take anything like as long to cook.  D'oh!  Nothing lost, however, as the chicken curry was a singular triumph.

I'd had plenty of time to formulate a plan for the chicken version, so a sudden change of protein type wasn't a problem at all.  For once, I allowed plenty of time to do all the cutting, chopping and peeling - particularly as I also had a plan for a fruit salad, to use up the leftover pineapple.  (A few leftover strawberries and a well ripened papaya worked beautifully).

I do so much prefer to cook knowing I've got time in hand.  I hate the frenzied, Masterchef style of cooking where an imaginary Greg Wallace is yelling "only 45 minutes to go!" in "you should be panicking now!" tones in my head.  I much prefer the Two Fat Ladies' style of "I'll just be peeling and chopping this onion, whilst regaling the assembled throng with a tale of breakfast at the Thruppington-Smythes, back in 1944" cooking.  Much less stressful - and I'm quite sure that the end result is better for it, too.

So, with Clarissa Dickson-Wright (bless her) controlling my knife skills, I had a happy hour or so at the chopping board, before moving to the cooker and adopting a more Jennifer Paterson approach.  Woe betide any onion chunk that decided to become airborne and avoid my frying pan.  One stern look soon took the wind out of its sails and everything was peace and tranquillity again.

I love cooking curries.  You just sit there and add stuff to your frying pan in order and lo and behold, a curry appears.  Magic.

There is also magic to be had when cooking with coconut milk, I think.  It's the transformation that occurs.  When you open the tin you are confronted with a supposedly impenetrable wall of thick white goo yet, suddenly, there comes a flood of sweet coconutty water.  After five minutes' stirring in the pan, you suddenly realise that the contents of the tin seem to have doubled in size and turned to - albeit delicious - pond water.  Minutes spent diligently and gently reducing said pond water, turns it into a delicious sauce - however, beware turning your back on it, or within seconds it will dry out, the fat will separate and you'll wonder what the heck happened and where did the magic go.  Fickle, that's what it is.  Fickle coconut milk!

Ahem.  So anyway - back to the job at hand - if you're not moved to poetry by pineapple, I am quite sure you could substitute mango without seriously damaging the balance of the dish.  However, the two ingredients that are essential to the balance, are the sweet potato and the green pepper.  You just have to have sweet potato, even if you hate the stuff and throw it away before you eat, or the sweetness balance just won't be right.  Likewise, with the green pepper, it lends a savouriness to the balance that would be utterly lost without it.  So there.  Don't say you weren't warned.

A perfect curry for the hot weather, this one will fill you full of Caribbean sunshine without weighing down your hammock.  Lovely!  Chin chin! 

PINEAPPLE & COCONUT CHICKEN CURRY     Serves 3-4

Ingredients :

2 tbsp sunflower oil
1 large onion, half chopped fine, half left chunky
a pinch of sea salt
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1 small sweet potato, cut into 1cm dice
4 chestnut mushrooms, quartered
1 green pepper, cut into 1cm dice
3 skinless, boneless chicken breasts, cut into chunks
2 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp Garam Masala, divided into two
2 tsp mild curry paste
200ml chicken stock
400ml coconut milk
200g fresh pineapple cut into 1cm dice
2 tbsp fresh coriander, chopped and divided into two
1 tbsp coconut powder (optional).

Method :

1.  Heat the sunflower oil in a deep frying pan or wok.  Add all the onion and a pinch of sea salt and gently fry until the smaller pieces are golden brown and the larger pieces transparent.  This should take around 10-15 minutes.

2.  Add the garlic, sweet potato, mushrooms and green pepper and continue to fry until the mushrooms are beginning to soften.

3.   Move the vegetables to the outside of the pan and add the chicken to the centre.  Increase the heat slightly and fry the chicken until most sides of each chunk are whitened.  The vegetables will mix in as you turn and fry the chicken.

4.  Add the ground coriander, cumin, 1 tsp Garam Masala and the curry paste.  Stir to combine.

5.  Add the chicken stock and stir to combine.  Bring to a gentle boil, cover the pan and cook for 10 minutes or so, or until the sweet potato is softened but not cooked through.

6.  Remove the lid and, stirring occasionally, allow the liquid to reduce by two thirds.

7.  Add the coconut milk and stir to combine.

8.  Add the pineapple, half the fresh coriander and the coconut powder (if using it).  Bring to a gentle boil, but stir gently and more regularly to avoid the mixture catching on the pan.  Continue to cook while the sauce reduces, until it reaches your preferred consistency.

9.  Add the remainder of the fresh coriander and the last tsp of Garam Masala.  Stir through and serve on fluffy Basmati rice, with naan bread for dipping.

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