Curry in a Hurry

Some of you will be familiar with the Japanese Curry. This dish is popular amongst children in Japan and usually has carrot, potato and stewed beef. I had none of those ingredients so just used what was left in the fridge.
Fry a chopped onion and garlic clove in olive oil until softened. Add mince meat and bacon and stir. Once meat is cooked, add peeled and chopped daikon (Japanese raddish), and chopped red capsicum. Coat with oil. Sprinkle Garam Masala spice and salt and pepper, then add 6 cups of water. Cover and bring to the boil until the daikon is almost cooked. Add shimeji mushrooms, green peas and corn. Cook for a further 5 minutes. Add curry roux and stir.

Simple Minestrone Soup

Fry chopped bacon, onion, garlic, carrot in olive oil in a pot. Add a can of chopped tomatoes and chicken soup. Put in a bay leaf and bring to the boil. Add chopped cabbage and macaroni. Simmer until the macaroni is almost cooked. Season. Sprinkle Parmesan cheese on top.

Beef Stew

I do this stew in the rice cooker. It comes out really tender and you don't have to stand over it and watch it. I often put it on when I teach at home and dinner is ready when I am done!
Here's how to make it:
Coat 500g beef cubes in 3 tablespoons of Balsamic Vinegar and let sit for 15 mins.
Chop 1 onion, 1 clove of garlic, 1/2 carrot, 1 sweet potato, and place in ricecooker with one can of cut tomatoes. (Don't turn on yet)
Season meat with Salt and Pepper, coat in flour and brown meat in frying pan. Add to rice cooker. Add chopped yellow pepper, shimeji mushrooms, and a 15g packet of mixed grains. Add 2 tsp dried thyme, a bay leaf, 150g packet of tomato puree, salt and pepper then fill the rice cooker with water to the top memory.
Set on 'Brown rice' setting. Some rice cookers only shut off once all the liquid is gone, so check the cooker after 1 hour. If cooking on the normal rice setting then check after 40 minutes. The meat should be tender and vegetables cooked. Add chopped broccoli ten minutes before it is ready, or boil and serve on the side of the plate.

Naughty Treats - Apricot Slice

Many of you have requested low-carb menus to help you eat a healthy diet...and I have put some on previous posts... but I had some dried apricots that had gone a little ripe so decided to make this slice for the kids. The original recipe doesn't have chocolate in it and is covered in coconut. But as I didn't have enough condensed milk I substituted it with choc chips. If adding choc chips melt the butter/2tbsp condensed milk and sugar first, then add choc chips once removed from heat.
1 pkt plain biscuits
1-2 cups dried apricots, chopped
1/2 cup condensed milk
100g butter
2 tablespoons brown sugar
Coconut or finely chopped nuts.
Crush biscuits in mixer and put in bowl. Add chopped apricots. Melt condensed milk, butter and brown sugar in a saucepan. Pour over apricots and biscuits and mix well, using your hands if necessary. Press into a biscuit tin and sprinkle with coconut or ground pecan or almonds. Cut immediately then place in refridgerator for an hour to set.

Party Food - Pizza Pinwheels

Friday night was 'Party Night' at Erinn's. All the women bring their finest dishes and it is always a delicious assortment. I made Pizza Pinwheels and Grilled chicken. The pinwheels were surprisingly easy to make and well received by the children.
I make my own pizza dough in the bread maker. 400g bread flour, 280ml water, 11g yeast, 1/2 tsp salt.
Filling:
400g mince
1 onion, chopped finely
1 glove garlic, minced
1 small carrot, grated
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp dried oregano
Dash Hot pepper sauce
1 jar of tomato puree (150g)
1 sachet of tomato paste (18g)
2 cups cheese (cheddar or mozarella)
1 tbsp Parmesan Cheese for topping
Fry the onion and garlic in a dash of olive oil, add mince and brown. Add rest of the ingredients except the cheese. Simmer until liquid is absorbed. Cool. Stir in cheese.
On lightly floured surface, roll out dough into a rectangle. Leaving a 1 inch border along the top, spread filling over dough. Moisten uncovered border with water. Starting at bottom edge roll up jelly roll style. Pinch seam to seal. Cut into 1 inch thick slices.
Place, cut side up, on waxed papered pizza pan. Cover and let rise for 25 mins in warm draft-free place. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Bake in bottom third of the oven at 200C for 15-20 mins, or until crust is golden.
This is the picture from the Canadian Living Magazine (Jan 1998). I adapted the recipe from that issue. The recipe said 220C for 25 minutes...and well, as you can see from the picture at the top, they are a little over-done.... Ok, they are burnt! Shock, horror! For some reason my oven wasn't registering the temperature correctly, so I was waiting for it to correct itself thinking it was only 160 degrees in there...then after 18 minutes I checked and they were a little black on the sides...boo hoo... so I next time I will lower the temp to 200C and check after 13 minutes, no matter what the gauge says! Lesson learned. But they still tasted great!