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Written by Tony Carson

Category: Recipes

Created: 18 February 2023

• Quick and Easy
• Crispy Coated
• Vegan
• Vegetarian
• Gluten Free

Maybe far from traditional, but we’re not known for being tradition respecters…..

Kale in the Curry. Kale in the Sag Aloe. Just Kale and more Kale. There is a reason for this. But to protect the dignity of others, let’s just say we have quite a bit of Kale to work through….

We’re awash with Kale at the moment so we modified this recipe, to our surprise it actually worked really well.

Ingredients:-

1 Large Onion, roughly sliced
300g of Kale, fried with a little Oil and Five Spice until dark
1 Tsp of Hot Chilli Powder
1 Tsp of Onion Salt
1 Tsp of Garlic Salt
1 Tsp of Baking Powder
1 Tsp of Black Lime Power
1 Tsp of Turmeric
Fresh ground Black Pepper
Water
Oil to fry

Method:-

(1) Fry the Kale with Five Spice until you have a crispy texture and most of the water has been driven out.
(2) Set aside on kitchen paper to drain and cool.
(3) Mix to batter Onion and Kale with enough Water to make a very sticky batter.
(4) Heat Oil to 170c.
(5) Using a ladle and a spoon drop flat fritters into the hot Oil in batches.
(6) When then float remove them and set aside.
(7) Just before serving re-fry them in batches and drain before serving.

The crunch from the fried Kale and the taste was really good. Sometimes you happen on something a bit odd which really works…..



 

Details

Written by Tony Carson

Category: Recipes

Created: 10 February 2023

• Takes a bit of time
• Lactose Free
• Gluten Free
• Zimbabwean recipes

There were probably reasons why we didn’t do Zimbabwe as part of our ‘Around the world’ gig, or at least didn’t study their cuisine deeply. Now we have a reason to correct this. So far so good….

Zimbabwean Chicken Stew

Ingredients:-

3 Chicken Thighs
3 Chicken Drumsticks ( Just buy legs and cut the up!)
1 Large Onion, sliced into rings
2 Red Chillies, deseeded and chopped
2 Cloves of Garlic, minced
1 Carton of Passata
1 Green Chilli, deseeded and chopped
2 Spring Onions, chopped
1 Tsp of Oregano
1 Tsp of Paprika
1 Tin of Chopped Tomatoes
2 Fresh Tomatoes, chopped
Water
Salt & Pepper to season

Method:-

(1) Place the Chicken in a large pan and cover with water.
(2) Add 1/3 of the Onion rings, 1 Chilli, minced Garlic and season with Salt & Pepper.
(3) Cover and cook over a medium heat until the Onions are softened.
(4) Drain and transfer to a casserole dish.
(5) Add the remaining Chilli, Garlic, Passata, Green Pepper, Spring Onions, Oregano and Paprika in a blender – blending to a smooth paste.
(6) Add another 1/3 of the Onion rings and ½ of the tin of Tomatoes and blend.
(7) Pour the sauce over the Chicken adding the remaining tinned Tomatoes, Onion and fresh Tomatoes – covering with foil.
(8) Bake in a preheated oven at 180c for 15 minutes, turning the Chicken every 5 minutes.
(9) Remove the foil and cook until the Chicken is cooked through.

Rice Salad

Ingredients:-

200g of Brown Rice
70g of Black Eye Peas, soaked
3 Tbsp of White Vinegar
1 Tsp of Curry Powder
3 Tbsp Brown Sugar
½ Tsp of Turmeric
2 Tbsp of Soy Sauce
½ of a Red Pepper, chopped
1 Red Onion, diced
60 Ml of Oil
Water
½ Tsp of Salt to season

Method:-

(1) Rinse the Rice & Black Eyed Peas and place in a large pan.
(2) Cover with Water and bring to the boil.
(3) Allow to simmer for about 30 minutes, until cooked and tender.
(4) Drain and set aside.
(5) Mix the Vinegar, Curry Powder, Sugar, Soy Sauce, Turmeric, Oil and Salt – Combining well.
(6) Pour over the Rice / Beans and add the Peppers & Onion.
(7) Mix well and serve as a side.

This was a new flavour combination for us and we really enjoyed the Bean / Rice salad as a side dish. This will easily feed a family of four.

Details

Written by Tony Carson

Category: Recipes

Created: 03 February 2023

• Takes a bit of time
• Lactose Free
• Gluten Free
• Asian Recipes

We’ve been doing a bit of freezer mining to clear some space. I’m not quite sure what cut this was, possibly shoulder? But sliced before marinading it worked really well.

Ingredients:-

400g of Pork, sliced
20g of Sugar
½ Tsp of Five Spice
¼ Tsp of White Pepper
½ Tsp of Sesame Oil
1 Tbsp of Shaoxing Wine
1 Tbsp of Soy Sauce (Gluten free for us)
1 Tbsp of Hoisin Sauce (Gluten free for us)
2 Tbsp of Treacle
3 Cloves of Garlic, minced
2 Tbsp of Honey
1 Tbsp of hot Water
Sliced Spring Onions and Sesame Seeds to garnish

Method:-

(1) Combine all the ingredients apart from the Honey.
(2) Reserve 2 Tbsp of the marinade and place in the fridge.
(3) Add the Pork the the remaining marinade and cover in the fridge for at least 4 hours.
(4) Line a roasting tray with foil.
(5) Place the Pork on a rack above the lined tray.
(6) Add about 300ml of water to the roasting tray.
(7) Cook in a pre-heated oven at 200c for 25 minutes.
(8) After 10 minutes reduce the heat to 180c.
(9) After 25 minutes turn the Pork and continue to roast for a further 10 minutes.
(10) In a pan heat the reserved marinade with the Honey and hot Water, allowing to simmer for 2 minutes.
(11) Remove the Pork and drizzle with the sauce from the pan.
(12) Garnish with  Spring Onions and Sesame Seeds

We served ours on a bed of mixed fried rice with home fried Prawn Crackers. Very tasty for some random lump of Pig from the freezer!

Details

Written by Tony Carson

Category: Recipes

Created: 28 January 2023

These boneless Chicken Thighs were in the yellow sticker fridge. So initially we intended to do a Pasta sort of gig. Somewhere at some time our plans were lost in the translation! Looked and tasted quite a lot like a Stir-fry to us…….

Spicy Chinese Chicken

Marinade Ingredients:-

4 Boneless Chicken Thighs, cut into cubes
1 Egg
1 Tbsp of Garlic & Ginger Paste (Sue made her own)
2 Tbsp of Soy Sauce ( Gluten free for us)
1 Tsp of Chilli Powder
2 Tbsp of Cornflour

Sauce Ingredients:-

1 Small Red Onion, sliced
2 Tsp of Garlic & Ginger Paste
1 Green Chilli, de-seeded and chopped
3 Tbsp of Tomato Ketchup
1 Tsp of Honey
1 Tbsp of Sweet Chilli Sauce
1 Tbsp of Soy Sauce (Gluten free here)
A handful of Cashew Nuts, chopped
½ a pack of Baby Sweetcorn
4 Mushrooms, sliced
3 sheets of dried Kelp, soaked and cut into strips
1 Nest of Rice Noodles
Green of Spring Onions to garnish
Sesame Seeds to garnish
Oil to fry

Method:-

(1) Combine all the Marinade ingredients.
(2) Stir in the Chicken and stir well.
(3) Place in the fridge for ½ an hour.
(4) In a large frying pan heat Oil on a medium heat.
(5) Fry the Chicken until crispy and cooked through.
(6) Remove and set aside on kitchen paper to drain.
(7) Add the Onions and cook until softened.
(8) Add the Garlic & Ginger Paste and Chillies – cooking for a further minute.
(9) Add the Mushrooms & Sweetcorn and stir in.
(10) Add the Honey, Soy Sauce, Chilli Sauce & Ketchup and allow to simmer.
(11) Boil the Rice Noodles and drain. Running cold water over them.
(12) Boil ¾ of the Kelp until softened.
(13) Fire up a fryer and heat to 170c.
(14) deep fry the remain Kelp until crispy and set aside.
(15) Deep fry the Chicken to re-heat and brown, until eat piece floats.
(16) Remove and drain.
(17) Run boiling water through the Noodles and add to plates.
(18) Add the boiled Kelp and layer the Chicken over the top.
(19) Pour over the stir-fried sauce.
(20) Garnish with the chopped Nuts, Sesame Seeds and Fried Kelp.

We really enjoyed this, even though it is far from the Italian gig we had planned. The deep fried Kelp worked really well. But when we do this sort of thing again it needs to be served as a side. The steam from below very quickly destroyed the crispy texture and it reverted to its natural slightly vegetative state. (Read it went soggy!)