Hot Punjabi King Prawn Curry - and it is hot, too!

Sometimes, a recipe just works so well and is so tasty, that it needs to be blogged ahead of the queue.  This is one such.

I found this recipe in the latest BBC Good Food magazine and you can find the original recipe - which deals with raw King Prawns as opposed to cooked King Prawns - if you click here.  The recipe apparently comes from a lady called Jagdish Kaur who hails from the Punjab'n de Rasoi cafe in Edinburgh.  I liked the recipe as it looked awfully easy to make (which is always a good thing) and had interestingly few ingredients.  So many curry recipes have ingredient lists as long as your two arms, that it was intriguing to find one working along such minimalist lines.

I won't deny that the notion of using three live chillis and some dried chilli flakes caused several ominous gyrations of my stomach, but the "Taste Team Comment" indicated that the heat was agreeable.  However, in the interest of self preservation I changed one of the chillis to a milder red version and removed all the seeds from it.

I also included a little fish stock - in my case, the lovely Essential Cuisine fish stock and have reflected these changes in the recipe below.  I think that adding just water to a recipe is often missing a golden opportunity to inject a little more flavour.  I accept that, in some curry recipes, the addition of stock would be inconsistent with the integrity of the style.  However, in this instance it worked very well.

In fact, we very nearly didn't have the curry at all.  I completely forgot about marinating the prawns on the night before and again first thing the next morning.  Even worse, we had a breakdown in communications and only got one bag of prawns out of the freezer, needing to defrost the remaining pack at the last minute, in a sieve, under the tap!  So, it may be worth bearing in mind that the marination of my prawns only took place for around a half an hour!  Oops!

The actual cooking of the recipe lived up to my expectation and was easy peasy.  I think it took longer to chop up the onions, tomatoes and coriander, than it took to do the cooking.

One cook's note that is worth bearing in mind, is that once the water is added it is worthwhile cooking the sauce until all the water has evaporated and the sauce is really thick - which is contrary to how the original recipe goes.  The reason for this is because as soon as you add the yoghurt and prawns, the yoghurt is going to melt to a certain degree and - no matter how well you've dried the prawns - they're going to release moisture.  If you haven't reduced the sauce to begin with, you're going to land up with a really dilute sauce which if you then try to reduce, you'll end up with rubbery prawns and split yoghurt.  Not good!  So make sure your sauce is reduced as far as it can go, before you add the marinated prawns.

Very definitely a hit with the family, I'll be making this again - perhaps with chicken next time.  Hubby declared it the best curry he'd had in many a long year (which is enormous praise, especially considering he was concerned about it turning to "pond water").  Son and heir didn't say anything, just sat stolidly moving his spoon from plate to mouth until it was all gone.  I think he liked it.  For me, I loved the flavours that were bright and fresh - and although the chilli effect made my nose run and the tip of my tongue hurt, I'd have it again tomorrow - and you don't get to say that about every recipe you make!

HOT PUNJABI KING PRAWN CURRY   (serves 3-4)

Ingredients :

For the marinade

600g cooked, peeled king prawns
6 tbsp full fat natural yoghurt
2 green chillies, finely sliced, with seeds
half a tsp of sea salt. 

For the curry

2 tbsp sunflower oil plus 2 tbsp rapeseed oil
half a tsp of cumin seeds
2 medium onions, finely chopped
1 tbsp finely chopped garlic
1 tsp turmeric
1 red chilli, finely sliced
2 tsp Garam masala
2 medium tomatoes, roughly chopped
half a tsp of sea salt
half a tsp of fish stock powder, or half a fish stock cube
half a tsp of dried red chilli flakes
2 tbsp fresh coriander leaves, finely chopped.

Method :

1. For the marinade: Rinse and drain the prawns.  Pat them dry and put into a non-reactive bowl.  Add the yogurt, chillies and ½ teaspoon of salt.  Mix well, cover and marinate overnight in the fridge.

2. For the curry: Pour the oil into a deep sided wok or frying pan and set it over a medium heat.

3. Once the oil is hot, spoon in the cumin seeds, swirl and brown for 10 seconds.  Add the onions and sauté for about 10 minutes, or until golden all over.

4. Add the garlic, reduce the heat to low and stir and fry for 2 minutes.  Mix in the turmeric and stir for 1 minute.

5. Add the red chilli, increase the heat to medium and stir for 1 minute.  Mix in 1½ teaspoons of the Garam masala and stir for 1 minute.

6. Add all of the tomatoes, a pinch of sea salt and the chilli flakes.  Cook until the tomatoes have broken down, then add 120ml boiling water and the fish stock powder or cube.  Stir to combine.  Allow the curry to boil and reduce until all the extra liquid has gone and the sauce is really thick.

7. Stir in the prawns and their marinade plus the chopped coriander and cook over a high heat until they are heated through.

8. Sprinkle the remaining Garam masala over the top and stir.

Serve.

Printable version

Sweet Chilli Pork Stir Fry - or "how to use the other half of your pulled pork"

This is the final destination of the other half of our pulled pork joint.

Now it was supposed to be a "sort of" roast dinner - with accompanying roast potatoes, parsnips, butternut squash, Yorkshire Puddings and gravy etc.  However, we forgot to take one of the tubs of stock out of the freezer at the same time as the pork, which meant that we'd have to forgo using it to make the amazing gravy - which would be a shame.  True, I could have got it out anyway and defrosted it in the pan - but in the time before I was due to start making dinner, I started to think sideways.

Initially, I started to think about gravy alternatives such as making a sauce.  I contemplated fruity sauces, but couldn't think of anything that didn't demand going out to the local Sainsbury's for supplies - and I didn't want to have to do that.  I seriously contemplated making an onion sauce, mainly because I love onion sauce and haven't had it for an aeon.  I thought it would go quite well with the pork (even better with lamb - but we didn't have any of that) and onion sauce always goes well with vegetables and roasties.  However, when I contemplated the washing up that would result at the end of the dinner, that put me off the sauce idea completely.

After all, I'd have a pyrex dish for the pork to be heated up in, the roasting tray for the roasties and a pyrex bowl that I'd used to oil and season them in, another tray for the Yorkshires, the three-part steamer pan for the other vegetables - and that was before I'd begun to think about the gravy or a sauce!  I was going off the idea rapidly.

So I began to think even further sideways - about things that weren't roast dinners.  Now, what would I be likely to do with some leftover roast pork, if I wasn't going to make it into a roast?

Wraps - I could put it in wraps with some BBQ sauce.  Don't have any wraps though - and don't want to have to go out and get some.  A pie - it'd make a nice pie.  Mind you, then I'd have to make pastry - and I refer you back to the washing up problem.  So what doesn't make a lot of washing up?  Hmmn .. something made in the wok.  Aha - now we're onto something.  A stir-fry.  Oh, but son & heir doesn't like stir fries - and I don't have any traditional stir fry vegetables in.  Well yes, but this IS pulled pork we're talking about stir frying - and son & heir is a sucker for pulled pork.  Add some chilli to the lure and I'm sure he'll forgive the stir fry effect.  So what vegetables have I got?  A red pepper .. two courgettes .. the taggy end of a head of broccoli and plenty of onions.  Wish I had some mushrooms!

So okay, what sauce could I put the whole thing in?  I've got a Blue Dragon Black Bean sauce, but one won't be enough and anyway, I don't fancy the oh-so-savoury route.  Wish I had some Hoi Sin sauce!  I've got Oyster sauce .. hmmn, once again not enough.

It was about this time that I remembered I had a bottle of Mic's Chilli Sweet Chilli Sauce in the cupboard that we'd not tried as yet.  I knew I also had a part-used bottle of Mic's Chilli El Loco BBQ Sauce in the fridge.  The sweet chilli was going down the right flavour route - sweet and hot - and the BBQ sauce would add the complexity to the flavours.  Add a little bit of Mirrin (Japanese rice wine) and a dash of Fish Sauce and I reckon we'd have it.  I had the bottle of Cider Vinegar standing by, just in case the whole thing came up too sweet - but didn't need it.

The vegetables behaved themselves in the pan and I even got to exercise a tip I'd seen demonstrated on the t.v. - that of stir frying the onions and peppers, then including a small amount of water in the wok and steaming the remaining vegetables for 2-3 minutes, before continuing the stir frying.  I did this just after including the broccoli pieces and it worked like a charm.  The combination of the two sauces was a complete masterstroke, if I say so myself - and the whole thing came together in what felt like minutes.  The washing up consisted of two pans and a chopping board - can't complain about that - and best of all, it was flipping delicious.

As a last-minute avoidance of making a roast dinner, I'd say that was a complete score!

As regards the Mic's Chilli Sweet Chilli Sauce, what a winner that is!  I'd already got a huge bottle of Thai sweet chilli sauce on the go - and had been waiting to finish that before breaking out the Mic's Chilli version.  However, the Thai one is so rampant with garlic that I didn't fancy including it in the stir fry or we'd have been burping garlic for ever more.  Mic's Chilli's Sweet Chilli Sauce has a degree of garlic - much as you'd expect - but it also has some lovely deep toffee flavours going on in there.  The chilli effect, for all that it declares itself to be just "one chilli hot" was still pretty darned awesome when combined with a dash of Chinese five spice and the BBQ sauce!

So there you are - want something different to do with the other half of a pulled pork joint?  Raid the fridge! 


SWEET CHILLI PORK STIR FRY   (feeds 3)

Ingredients :

2 tbsp rapeseed oil
2 medium onions, peeled, quartered and sliced thickly
1 red capsicum pepper, cored, de-seeded and sliced thinly
1 tsp Chinese five spice
1 courgette, sliced into batons
4 broccoli florets, quartered
500g cold cooked pulled pork
100ml sweet chilli sauce
75ml barbecue sauce
1 tbsp Mirrin
1 tbsp Fish sauce.

Method :

1.  Heat the oil in a wok and add the onions.  Cook on a high temperature until softened and just beginning to caramelise, stirring all the time, then add the red pepper.  Continue cooking and stirring until the red pepper has softened.

2.  Add the five spice and stir to combine.  Add the courgette pieces together with the broccoli and continue to cook and stir for another couple of minutes.  Add approx 100ml of warm water and cover the pan.  Let the contents steam for around 3-5 minutes, pausing to stir once in this process.

3.  Add the pork, chilli sauce, barbecue sauce, mirrin and fish sauce and stir to combine.

4.  Turn the heat down and cook for another few minutes, to allow the flavours to marry up and the pork to heat through sufficiently.

5.  Serve on a bed of white rice.

Printable recipe

Sweetcorn & Chilli Soup - making soup for teenagers!

In the latest Good Food Magazine, I spotted a particularly scrummy looking bowl of soup.

Now I completely love sweetcorn in all its incarnations - from corn on the cob through to polenta.  I have also recently discovered how well sweetcorn goes with chilli - and this soup looked to be just perfectly put together.

You know how you read some recipes and you've got a vague idea how it's going to taste, but you're not quite sure?  This recipe was one that you could almost taste the soup as you read down the list of ingredients - basically, because it is little more than onion, chilli and sweetcorn in vegetable stock.

I knew I'd have two teenagers to feed on Saturday lunchtime and this seemed to me to provide perfect teenager-filling ammunition.  I know that son & heir loves sweetcorn, but wasn't sure about his friend, D.  One thing I did know about D though, was that he has eaten absolutely everything I've ever put in front of him in the past - so I was fairly hopeful.

I purposely didn't tell them that I was making the soup for them.  I've found that if you tell them you're expecting them to eat what you're making, it's tantamount to saying "diss my soup, why don't you?" and they'd have banana sandwiches or some such.

I was hoping that the smell of it cooking would be sufficient to get their taste buds interested - and so it proved.

I opted for extra parsley, instead of double cream

I was tucking into my bowl of soup when they emerged from son & heir's recording studio (a.k.a. his bedroom) on the prowl for lunch.  "There's soup in the saucepan, if you want some", says I.  The sound of the lid being taken from the top of the saucepan is testament to a certain degree of interest, then the question "what is it?".  Having told them, the next sound was that of soup bowls being marshalled.  Success.

I can't begin to tell you, how completely and utterly chuffed I was, to have provided them both with a home-cooked lunch.  Quite ridiculously so.  After all, the soup really took no time at all to make, it's only a wonder I haven't managed it previously.

Anyway, getting back to the soup itself, the flavour (even though I used frozen corn, instead of fresh) was sweet and richly corny, with the fruity hot flavour of the red chilli warming the back of your tongue and the parsley providing that tiny sense of freshness that kept the taste buds interested.  I'll definitely be making this one again.

One note to bear in mind, is that when feeding teenagers, the estimated number of servings needs to be downgraded.  The recipe said "serves 6".  In fact, it served four and a bit - but then they are growing boys!

A second thing to bear in mind is the salt contained in whatever stock you choose to use.  I always opt for a low salt version and add salt to taste, however, you might want to hold off on any additional salt until you can taste to check, in the case of a standard stock cube.

ADDENDUM!  :  It is now April 2014 and I have come to make the soup again.  This time, I included a finely chopped leek instead of the other onion (simply because I had one looking for a home to go to) - and I do believe it improved the depth of flavour of the soup.  Hence, I have changed the recipe to reflect this.

One other change I made to this evening's soup (we ate it as a main course, with cheese scones for dipping) was to add a teaspoonful of Essential Cuisine's cheese stock powder.  Now I do appreciate that not everyone will have access to cheese stock powder, but if you do - it is very well worth including it.  Simply mix it in with the stock when you make it up, but don't change the liquid quantity.  I think this also served to create another dimension to the flavours of the soup.

It's just getting better and better!

October 2014 : Yet another change to the soup recipe - and for the better, we all think.  I included some chopped bacon and a small sweet potato, cut into chunks - just to bulk up the recipe and make it more filling as a dinner, main course soup.  Guess what?  I've included the changes in the recipe.  ;)

SWEETCORN & CHILLI SOUP   (feeds 4-6)

Ingredients :

4 rashers smoked back bacon, diced small
25g butter (I used goat butter, which I recommend!)
2 tbsp rapeseed oil
1 onion, finely chopped
1 leek, finely chopped
1 small sweet potato, peeled and diced small
½ red chilli, finely chopped

800g sweetcorn niblets (frozen, fresh or a combination of both)

1 litre vegetable stock (I used Essential Cuisine's vegetable stock powder with 1 tsp cheese stock powder mixed in, however the cheese stock is optional)

1 tbsp lemon juice

a handful of fresh parsley, chopped

2 tbsp double cream.

Method :

1.  Heat the oil in a large saucepan over a medium heat and add the bacon.  Fry until the fat has rendered and the bacon is beginning to caramelise around the edges.  Remove the bacon with a slotted spoon and reserve.  Sweat the onion off in the bacon oil for 5 minutes or so, then add the butter and leek and cook for around 5-10 minutes - until nice and golden but not caramelised at all - stirring occasionally.

2.  Add the chilli to the pan and continue frying for about 5 mins, stirring occasionally.

3.  Add the corn, sweet potato, the reserved bacon, stock and some salt and bring to the boil.  Reduce to a simmer and cook for 10 minutes, until the corn is tender but still crisp.

4.  Transfer two-thirds of the soup to a blender and whizz to a coarse puree.  Add this back to the pan and stir in the lemon juice and parsley.
  

5.  Bring back up to temperature, taste for seasoning and adjust if necessary.

6.  Serve with a swoosh of double cream and a sprinkle of parsley.

Printable version

The best (and biggest!) Cornish Pasties

If I can remember that far back (last Tuesday - it's a close run thing, to be honest!), I seem to recall that I made some crackingly good Cornish Pasties.

Now, of course, one wonders whether they should in fact be called "Dorset Pasties" as we're in Dorset, not Cornwall.  However, I think we can safely leave that a moot point and in calling them "Cornish", I trust everyone will know what sort of pasty we're talking about.

The original plan, with this pasty meal, was to have the Cornish Pasties with an accompanying salad.  I had thought that would be somewhat healthier (less fat & sugar, potentially) than baked beans and chips.  However, when I checked on them in the oven and saw what a humungous size they had reached, I quickly revised that idea.  It seemed to me that the pasty itself would be quite enough for a meal (as indeed, was the original idea behind them) with perhaps a few baked beans in order to provide something to lubricate the jaws.  Quite apart from anything else, I was beginning to feel distinctly peculiar - and the idea of putting together a salad was rapidly becoming less and less attractive both from a personal point of view and from a "not passing on whatever I've got" point of view.

So, the chaps had one each with some baked beans - and indeed, they proved perfectly adequate for a meal.  All of which leads me to suppose it might be better to draw 4" circles in the pastry, rather than 8" circles, in order to produce a smaller more manageable pasty!

I used shop-bought frozen puff pastry and it was brought home to me just how enfeebled I had become, because the simple act of rolling out the pastry was incredibly difficult.  When I'd done the first quarter - and cut out the first circle - I can remember thinking "OMG - I've three more of these to go!".  Which is crazy, when you consider that I used to think nothing of picking up 25kg of horse feed bag and slinging it over my shoulder.  How times change!

I kept the ingredients for the filling completely traditional, apart from the fact that I used some lovely steak mince, rather than cut up a piece of steak.  I felt this would rule out any pieces of steak being too "bouncy" and not tender enough, plus there was the outside chance that some fat would get through the net.  

Another interesting point regarding the pasties, is that I used the Mandolin to cut the potatoes, onions and swede.  This ensured that they were cut to the exact-same thickness and although each slice wasn't cut in the exact-same way, so some were bigger in diameter than others, it seemed to work beautifully where the cooking time was concerned.  I have, in the past, had pasties come out of the oven with the potato or the swede still really quite hard, where I've diced them instead of sliced them.

I put the slices into a bowl, which enabled me to balance the quantities of all three much more easily than taking a little handful for each pasty.  You could see, once you'd added the onion, how much potato you would need and likewise the swede.  It also enabled me to season with freshly ground black pepper - loads of it! - and sea salt, mixing the slices to ensure the seasoning was carried throughout the filling.  I did give each pasty a little extra grind of both seasonings just before closing them, but hubby reckons that although they were very nice, I could still have given them more pepper.

A note about the pastry.  I rolled the pastry out between two pieces of cling film (a la Rachel Allen), which is by far the cleanest way I know of it do it.  Now this has the added benefit, once you've cut out your circle, of providing you with some cling film to close over the top of the pastry and prevent it from drying out while you make the other three!  I found it was worth turning the pastry over before adding the filling, as it was easier to pick it up from the cling film, that way.

As for the crimping, well, in the past my pasties have looked rather like a rabid dog has put them together.  However, this time, I was quite pleased with the crimping and it looked even better once they'd cooked.  For once - faint! - none of them came undone in the cooking!

CORNISH PASTIES  (makes 4 x 8" circles = 4 pasties)

Ingredients :


1 pack with 2 blocks of Puff Pastry
300g steak mince
1 large onion, thinly sliced
2 medium potatoes, peeled, thinly sliced
175g swede, peeled, thinly sliced
freshly ground black pepper
sea salt
beaten egg.


Method :


1.  Pre-heat oven to 220c/fan 200c/gas 7.


2.  Roll out the pastry, a half a pack at a time, in between two pieces of cling film and until you can place an 8" plate on top with extra to spare around the edges.  Remove the top layer of cling film and draw a knife around the plate to remove the extra pastry.  Close the cling film over the circle and leave it to one side while you prepare the remaining circles.


3.  Using a Mandolin - or by slicing as finely and evenly as possible with a knife - slice the onion, potatoes and swede.  Place the onion directly into a bowl, however with the potato and swede, cut each slice (you can heap them and cut a number at one time) into four, then place in the bowl.


4.  Add the seasoning - and go wild with the pepper, as these pasties can take a huge amount of black pepper - and mix through with your fingers.


5.  Take the first of your circles and peel the cling film from it, turn it over and place it back onto the cling film.  Add a handful of vegetable mix along the centre line and add a quarter of the steak mince, broken into pieces, along the same line and on top of the vegetables.


6.  Season again, then brush a little of the beaten egg mixture around the outside edges of the circle.  Bring the half furthest away from you up and over the top of the meat & vegetables, towards you, sealing it on its opposite side.  Then, starting from one end, crimp the edges - sealing as you go.


7.  Once done, cut three lines into the body of the pasty and place onto a baking tray.  Brush with the egg wash and place into the oven for 10 minutes, then reduce the heat to 180c/fan 160c/gas 4 and bake for 45 mins or so until golden.


Serve warm.









 

Boulangere Potatoes : a "special" version

We had these Boulangere Potatoes with the Pot Roast Brisket on Easter Sunday.  I had made Boulangere Potatoes previously, but this recipe looked a teensy bit more "special" and thus suitable for a celebration lunch such as I was planning.

It's a cracking good potato dish to do if you're going to be pushed for cooker top space, or you'd quite like to spend time with your guests rather than in the kitchen thrashing around!  You can easily make this to the "putting in the oven" stage, then cover with clingfilm and leave until you are ready to cook it.

I used a mandolin to cut both the onions and the potatoes, so that they would be of uniform size and so cook evenly.  Don't worry if you don't have one of these natty gadgets, it'll just take you a bit longer to carefully cut the potatoes.

There's not a lot more to say, other than "I commend these to the house"!

BOULANGERE POTATOES (serves 4-5)

Ingredients :

50g butter
1 garlic clove, grated
2 onions, finely sliced
4-5 large Maris Piper potatoes, peeled & finely sliced
20g thyme, leaves only, chopped
100ml chicken stock.

Method :

1.  Pre-heat the oven to 200deg C/fan 180deg C/gas 6.

2.  Butter a large ovenproof dish and sprinkle with some of the chopped garlic and onion.

3.  Layer up the sliced potato, onion, garlic and thyme, seasoning each layer as you go.

4.  Continue until the dish is three-quarters full, then pour the chicken stock over the mix.

5.  Put 4 or 5 knobs of butter over the top and bake in the oven for 20-40 minutes or until the potatoes are tender and browned on top.

Serve.

. 

Home made pickled onions - whoop!

Our very good friends Laura & David recently let us have a collection of french kilner-style jars along with a monumental jam boiler.

Having the jars has meant that one of hubby's long-standing wants has been satisfied - that of making his own pickled onions.

Having accumulated the acquired wisdom of various websites, together with the small amount of ingredients required, he set to.  The vinegar quantities are a bit of an experiment, as the total quantity needs to be 1 litre but we were keen to achieve the dark brown and flavour that the balsamic brings.  Equally, the spice is completely up to you!

PICKLED ONIONS (makes two 750 ml jars)

Ingredients :

1kg pickling onions
50g salt
900ml pickling vinegar
100ml balsamic vinegar
180g sugar
half a tsp peppercorns
half a tsp coriander seed
a chilli

Method :

1.  Top and tail the onions.

2.  Blanche them in boiling water, with the skins on, for 20 secs.

3.  Put onions into cold water to stop them cooking & peel them under the water to prevent oxidisation and toughening.

4.  Drain the onions and place into a bowl, then sprinkle with 50g salt, cover and leave overnight.

5.  Be amazed at the amount of water that has come from the onions, drain them and thoroughly rinse under cold water and put to dry on kitchen paper.

6.  In a saucepan, combine the pickling vinegar, balsamic vinegar and sugar.  Bring to the boil and turn off the heat, allowing the mixture to cool slightly.

7.  Place onions into clean sterilized jars with peppercorns, coriander seed, a chilli and anything else you like.

8.  Pour in vinegar to the top of the jar to cover the onions, seal and leave for at least 1 week, but they get better the longer you leave them.

Roll on Christmas! 

Sausage Goulash

Hubby managed to pick up a pack of 12 speciality chipolatas for the price of an ordinary pack of sausages, the other day.  Although there were 12 in the pack, I felt they were a bit on the teensy side to be treated as just plain old sausages to be had with mash or suchlike, so began looking for a casserole-type dish to use them in.

I turned up a recipe for Sausage Goulash, which looked like it would have good results.  Indeed, it would have done, had it not have been for the accidental heavy hand with the crushed chillies and the quantity of paprika, which to hubby's taste was rather too strong.

Still, I enjoyed both the paprika and the chillies!  However, because I know that I'm currently going through a chilli-phase, I've re-written the recipe for another go at it, this time adjusting the quantities a tad.  Oh, and I'll try not to have a nerve jump in my hand right at the moment I'm shaking out a half a teaspoon of crushed chillies, next time.  LOL 

Incidentally, it would be easy for it to stretch to feed more people simply by including more vegetables in the mix.  Potato, sweet potato, parsnip, swede, peas, sweetcorn, green beans - all these would go very nicely.

SAUSAGE GOULASH (serves 3)

Ingredients

1 pack of sausages
2 onions, sliced thinly
2 cloves of garlic, grated or chopped
1 tbsp tomato puree
1 tbsp tomato ketchup
2 bay leaves (optional, depending on how herby the sausages are)
1 heaped tsp Paprika
1 tsp Smoked Paprika
half a tsp dried chilli flakes
2 carrots, peeled and sliced
4-5 mushrooms, quartered
1 small can kidney beans
1 small can chick peas or cannelini beans
600ml chicken stock
1 tbsp Balsamic vinegar
Plain yoghurt to garnish

Method

1.  Brown the sausages in a deep saucepan, then set aside.

2.  Fry sliced onions and garlic gently until golden, but not caramelised.

3.  Add paprika and stock.

4.  Add carrots, chick peas and beans, bay leaves, tomato puree & tomato ketchup and mushrooms.

5.  Return the sausages to the pan and simmer until the carrots are tender.

6.  Add the balsamic vinegar and simmer for 15 minutes more.

7.  To serve, decant into warmed bowls and add a generous blob of natural yoghurt on top.  If you really want to show off, add a sprinkling of chopped parsley.

Serve with crusty bread.