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by bitsofcarey

Succulent lamb tagine with dates and apricots

May 22, 2013 in Crush mag recipes, Curries and casseroles, Meat

2 Comments »

I can’t believe we’re pretty much slap bang in the middle of the year. Where does the time go? I know just the thing to slow myself down, a lovingly slow cooked lamb tagine with fresh dates and turkish apricots. This is a dish that cannot be rushed. I prefer using lamb on the bone (stewing lamb, knuckles or neck) apposed to goulash. It permeates a lot more flavour into a stew or tagine and I just love sucking all the meat and marrow off the bones. I’m a big fan of tagines because they have a wonderful fragrant sweetness from the fruit and warming spices with an inviting texture. I serve this yumminess with citrus, coriander and pine nut couscous. Heaven in a bowl…
Lamb tagine with dates and apricots
Served with citrus, coriander and pine nut couscous

Serves: 4

Ingredients:
Tagine:
2 t (10 ml) vegetable oil
1 kg lamb knuckles
2 onion, chopped
3 fat cloves garlic, crushed
1 T (15 ml) grated fresh ginger
1 t (5 ml) turmeric
2 t (10 ml) ground cinnamon or 2 cinnamon sticks
½ c (125 ml) chopped flat leaf parsley
3 T (45 ml) olive oil
¼ c (60 ml) prepared lamb, beef or vegetable stock
1 tin whole tomatoes
Juice of 1 large orange
Zest of 1 lemon
100 g fresh dates, halved and pips removed
100 g Turkish apricots
Salt and pepper to taste

Garnish:
Handful of coriander
50 g pan toasted pine nuts or slivered almonds

Citrus couscous:
2 c (500 ml) couscous (try wholewheat)
2 c (500 ml) cooled vegetable stock
Zest of 1 small orange
Zest of 1 lemon
1 T (15 ml) olive oil
1 c (250 ml) chopped coriander
Salt and pepper to taste
50 g pan toasted pine nuts or slivered lamonds

Method:
Heat a pot with a little vegetable oil and brown the lamb in batches. Then return all the meat back to the pot together with the onions, garlic, ginger, spices, parsley, olive oil and stock. Cover and bring to a gentle simmer and cook for +- 60 minutes. Check on the meat occasionally, giving it a quick stir.

Add the tomatoes, juice, rind and fruit. Cover and simmer again for another +- 45 minutes or until the meat is tender and falls off the bone.

Alternatively, cook in a tagine pot at 160 degrees celcius in an oven for 2- 3 hours(or until the meat is tender).

Season with salt and pepper.

Couscous: In a large bowl, pour the cooled stock over the couscous and allow to stand for 15 minutes. Fluff up with a fork. When ready to serve, cover with cling film and microwave for 2 minutes. Add the coriander and toasted pine nuts. Season to taste.

Serve the lamb tagine immediately on a bed of couscous or serve in separate pots and bowls.

Remember to slow down and smell the onions… :-)

**This recipe appeared in my feature in Crush online magazine Issue 24 **

 

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by bitsofcarey

Homemade butter chicken

June 12, 2012 in Chicken, Curries and casseroles

2 Comments »

Brrrrr…It’s cold! How about some homemade butter chicken to warm you up? This dish is packed with flavour and the chicken just melts in your mouth…mmm! Enjoy and keep warm! C x

Homemade butter chicken
Forget the ready-made sauces, try this!

Serves: 4-6
Difficulty: easy
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: +- 25 minutes

+- 600 g deboned chicken thighs, cubed
1 T (15 ml) canola oil
100 g butter
2 onions, finely chopped (do them in a food processor)
175 ml (1 small tub) plain yoghurt
75 ml water
50 g sachet tomato paste
1t (5 ml) sugar
2 t (10 ml) ground coriander
2 t (10 ml) garam masala
1 T (15 ml) garlic and ginger paste
1 t (5 ml) chilli powder
6 cardamom pods
6 black peppercorns
6 dried curry leaves
2 t (10 ml) corn flour
½ c (125 ml) cream
1 c (250ml) coriander leave, roughly chopped
Salt to taste

Heat the oil and butter in a medium pot, brown the chicken pieces in
portions and set aside.

Add the onions and sauté until soft and golden brown.

In a bowl, combine the yoghurt, water, tomato paste and sugar with all
the spices. Add the chicken to this mixture and coat well.

Whisk the cream and corn flour together.

Add the chicken mixture to the onions, together with the cream and
simmer for 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Add the chopped coriander and season to taste.

Serve with basmati rice and cucumber salad.

This recipe was featured in Crush! Online mag Issue 18 as one of my 7 dishes for “Cooking Monday to Sunday”.

 

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by bitsofcarey

Belly warming lamb and cabbage bredie

June 7, 2012 in Curries and casseroles, Meat

2 Comments »


It’s pouring with rain outside and I can’t think of anything better than a bowl of lamb and cabbage bredie. I love how the cabbage becomes so soft and sweet and the lamb just melts in your mouth. I haven’t posted on my blog in a while, so thought I’d share this recipe with you just to let you know I’m still alive in the rat race that is life, haha!
These chilly days remind us to slow down, take a moment to smell the onions, make a bubbling pot of stew and cuddle up on the couch with loved ones and furry friends.

Lamb and cabbage bredie
I add bacon to my bredie for extra flavour and the trick is brown the onions and
meat really well then braise with minimal liquid.
Serves: 6
1 T cooking oil
+- 600 g lamb neck
2 onions, peeled and chopped
250 g bacon, chopped
+- 500 ml Beef or lamb stock or water
1 medium cabbage, chopped and steamed
until soft
4-6 potatoes, peeled and cubed
Salt  and lots of pepper to taste

Heat the oil and brown the meat then
remove from the pot and sauté onions until golden brown and soft.
Add the bacon and fry until cooked through.
Add the meat back to the pot together with the stock and simmer gently for 1
hour or so until the meat is tender. Add more water if necessary.
Add the potatoes and steamed cabbage
and simmer for another 40 minutes (adding more water if necessary).
Serve on fluffy white rice.

For more “stewy” inspiration and recipes, check out Top tips for the perfect stew

P.s. Hope to see you all at FBI 2012 , looking forward to seeing old and new faces.

Warms hugs,
C x

 

 

 

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by bitsofcarey

Chicken curry like mom used to make

March 28, 2012 in Chicken, Curries and casseroles

4 Comments »

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Chicken curry like mom used to make
Author: 
Recipe type: Main
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 

Serves: 6
 

The cooler weather makes me think of my mom cooking big pots of stew, bredie and particulary, chicken curry. I used to get a bit agro when the whole house including my hair and school uniform would smell of curry, but when it came down to eating dinner – I had nothing but smiles and second helpings. Now I don’t quite know how my mom makes hers, but I know it had a lovely sweet taste to it, I think her special ingredient is chutney. So this is my interpretation of how I think she makes it. Haha! I must say this version is delicious, but there is still nothing like mom’s cooking…
Ingredients
  • 1 packet Free range chicken legs and thighs
  • 2 large onion, chopped
  • 2 T cooking oil
  • 3 T garlic and ginger paste
  • 2 large tomatoes,seeds removed and finely chopped or grated
  • 3 T medium curry powder
  • 1 T tumeric
  • 2 cinnamon sticks
  • 1½ cups hot chicken stock
  • 2 -3 T hot fruit chutney
  • 1 T vinegar
  • 6 potatoes, peeled and quartered
  • sugar to taste
  • Salt to taste

Instructions
  1. In a large pot, brown the chicken pieces in the hot oil, then set aside.
  2. Saute the onion and paste together until softened, add the tomatoes and cook for a further 2 minutes.
  3. Add the spices and fry for 1 minute to release the flavours, add the stock, chutney and vinegar. Bring to the boil.
  4. Add the chicken and potatoes, cover and simmer until chicken is tender and potatoes are cooked through (+- 30 – 40 minutes).
  5. Add sugar and salt to taste.
  6. Thicken with some flour paste if needed.
  7. Serve with fluffy basmati rice and raita.
  8. TIP: To “freshen” the curry up a bit, add some fresh coriander at the end.

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by bitsofcarey

Thai green curry Carey style

September 30, 2010 in Asian flavours, Chicken, Curries and casseroles

9 Comments »

This is a favourite in our home and you guessed it, quick of course!  Life has been hectic over the last 2 weeks. We became members at the local gym(just like the other 89 % of South Africans when Spring arrives) and are on a strict work out plan. When we get home I am usually in a semi paralytic state and starved out of my mind! So, lately I have been choosing meals that are not only more healthy but super quick to prepare! We also have not been dining out as much…not even Chai yo, our weekly fix of Thai take -away. I suppose it is good in a way, having more control on how your food is prepared (just look at those guys in masterchef AUS – they use copious amounts of butter , I love butter – but that is over the top!). It’s dishes like this Thai Curry that make my(our) road to fitness and health easier to bear!

What you will need:

Canola oil

4 free range chicken breasts, sliced

1 onion, sliced

30 ml green curry paste

1 can light coconut milk

juice of 1 lime or 1/2  Lemon

1 small packet of long stem broccoli

125 g portobellini mushrooms

Fish sauce to taste

Handful of fresh coriander, chopped

  

In a hot oiled wok, brown the chicken breasts slightly, remove from the wok and set aside.

Add the onions and saute until soft, the add the chicken back to the wok together with the curry paste. Heat through a bit and then add the coconut milk and bring to a gentle boil. Add the lime juice, mushrooms and broccoli and simmer for +- 10 minutes or until chicken is cooked – do not overcook the broccoli and mushrooms!

Add some fish sauce for seasoning and stir in the coriander.

Chicken should be tender and broccoli deliciously green and crisp!

Serve with jasmine, basmati or brown rice.

Try a vegetarian version(using aubergines, butternut etc) or replace chicekn with prawns or beef strips.

P.s. I’m cheating tonight because it’s my father in law’s birthday and we are going to Col’Cacchios for dinner! Yay!! Eat love pray pizza here I come!

 

Have a splendid weekend all!

 

C xx

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by bitsofcarey

Lamb chop and veg korma made from bits and bobs

August 5, 2010 in Curries and casseroles, Meat

4 Comments »

Do you ever find yourself with a fridge full of half used ingredients from veg to canned goods? Well this happens in our home often, and is also when I create some of my best recipes. I had a few lamb chops in the freezer, 1 tomato, 1/2 a broccoli, 1 sweet potato, 1/2 can of chopped tomatoes, 1/2 small tub of bulgarian yoghurt, 1/2 can coconut milk, a few raisins…the list goes on. I cannot handle wasting, so this is what I made…

 

Lamb chop and Veg korma made from bits and bobs

serves 4

15 ml cooking oil

6 lamb chops(or 500 g stewing lamb)

2 onions, finely chopped

30 ml Korma spice – I use Spice Mecca

1 tomato, seeds removed and chopped

1/2 tin chopped tomato

1/2 tin coconut milk

1/2 to whole tub of Bulgarian yoghurt

10 ml sugar

1 sweet potato, cubed

a handful of raisins

1/2 broccoli, cut into florets

10 ml lemon juice

salt and pepper to season

 

Brown the meat in the heated oil, then remove and set aside.

Gently saute the onion and spice until soft and golden.

Add the meat back into the pot, together with the tomatoes, coconut milk, yoghurt, sugar and potato and raisins.

 Simmer covered for +- 40 minutes or until the meat is tender.

Add the broccoli and simmer for a further 10 minutes.

Add lemon juice and season.

Thicken with a bit of cornflour if need be.

Serve with couscous or rice.

 

This was just divine! You could use full tins of all the above, then you would just increase your veggies and meat. Loved the sweetness of the raisins, imagine adding a few dried apricots?

 

Wow, this week has flown by!

 

C xx

 

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by bitsofcarey

Lazy Sunday’s Beef in Red wine casserole

June 27, 2010 in Curries and casseroles, Meat

4 Comments »

Beef cubes slow cooked in Shiraz until tender served on a bed of sweet potato mash topped with Parmesan shavings…

 

 

Serves 4

 

You will need:

 

1/4 cup flour

500 g beef goulash

1 T olive oil

1T butter

2 onions, sliced

2 tomatoes, seeded and chopped

4 carrots, thickly sliced

500 ml Shiraz or good red wine of your choice

250 ml hot beef stock

3 T / 45 ml tomato paste

2 T / 30 ml sugar

3 sprigs of Fresh rosemary

 

Coat meat in the flour.

In a large pot, brown the meat in the heated oil and butter then remove and set aside.

In the same pot saute the onions and carrots for a few minutes, then add the tomatoes.

Return the meat to the pot followed by the wine, stock, paste, sugar and rosemary.

Cover and simmer gently for 2 1/2 hours or casserole in the oven at 160 degrees for the same amount of time.

Season.

 

About 30 minutes before the casserole is ready,  prepare the sweet potato mash.

 

 

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by bitsofcarey

Chicken Korma

May 12, 2010 in Curries and casseroles

3 Comments »

Chicken Korma

So mild, yet full of flavour. The friendliest curry by far!

 

 

To make you will need:

 

 

4 -6 chicken thighs(skin on or off)

1 T olive oil

2 onions, chopped

3 T garlic and ginger paste

2 T Chicken Korma Spice(I used Spice Mecca)Got at Pick n Pay

2 tomatoes, chopped

125 g peeled baby carrots(or sliced)

125 g peeled baby potatoes

1/2 tin tomato puree

1 T tomato paste

1/2 cup coconut milk( or small tin)

1/2 cup plain yoghurt

S&P

Juice of 1/2 a lemon

Handful of fresh coriander

 

Brown the chicken with the oil in a medium pot. Remove and set aside.

Saute the onions with the garlic and ginger paste and korma spice until soft and translucent.

Add the chicken back into the pot together with the tomatoes, carrots, baby potatoes, puree, paste, coconut milk and yoghurt. Cover and bring to a gentle simmer cooking for about 40 minutes.

Season with S&P, lemon juice and stir in 3/4 of the coriander.

Serve with jasmine rice and a coriander yoghurt sauce.

Garnish with fresh coriander.

 

*the trick to a good curry is lots of onions sauteed until sweet and golden

* The carrots and potatoes are optional

 

So comforting for a cold winters night!

 

Over and out from cold and wet Cape Town

 

Cx

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