Gnocchi

I have always been a big fan of gnocchi. That texture yum yum yum.

Check out this post at The Age

I’ll keep you posted when I try this out.

Potato and Pea Curry

Serves 4-6

3 Tb corn or peanut oil
1/2 tsp brown mustard seeds
1/2 tsp whole cumin seeds
1/2 tsp whole, dried, hot red chillies
generous pinch of asafetida
450g boiling potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
1 /4 tsp ground tumeric
1 tsp sugar
285g frozen peas, defrosted
1.5 tsp salt
3 medium tomatoes, grated on the coarse side of the grater

Pour the oil into a medium, lidded pan and set over a medium-high heat.

When the oil is hot, throw in the mustard seeds, cumin seeds, chillies and asafetida.
As soon as the mustard seeds begin to pop, a matter of seconds, add the potatoes.
Stir and fry until the potatoes brown a little.

Now add the cayenne pepper, cumin, coriander, tumeric and sugar.

Stir once or twice and put in the peas. Stir a few times, then add 250ml water and 1 tsp salt.

Bring to the boil, cover, reduce the heat to low and cook gently for 15 minutes.
Stir in the grated tomatoes and remaining salt.
Simmer gently, uncovered, for a further 10 minutes.

Grublover comment
Jess, Eve and I made this the other day but 10x the recipe for a party. It was a great success and tasted delicious but it was a bit watery - I would suggest adding 1/4 cup water and see how it goes, then add more if needed. It is not a dry curry, but you don’t want it to be watery either.

One dish chicken korma and rice

Serves 4

Prep and cook time 30 mins

2 tablespoons Korma Curry paste (I used Pataks - Korma Curry Paste - Coconut and Coriander, Mild - from Woolies)
800g Chicken thigh fillets (cut into 2cm pieces)
1 cup (200g) white calrose medium grain rice
1 1/2 cups (375ml) chicken stock
100g baby spinach leaves
Heat sauce in medium saucepan. Cook for 1 minute until fragrant.
Add chicken and brown.
Add rice and stock - bring to boil.
Reduce and simmer, covered for 15-20 minutes (keep an eye on it to make sure that rice cooks before all the liquid evaporates). Remove from heat and stir well. Cover dish and stand for 5 minutes.
Add spinach and stir to combine. Add pepper to taste and serve with a slice of lemon.

Enjoy!!

Recipe contributed by Nicole Stallard.

Stir-fried Chicken with Basil

Serves 4

4 chicken breasts, cut into cubes
2 Tb vege oil
2 Tb ginger, finely chopped
2-3 chillies
1 Tb garlic, crushed
2 Tb palm sugar, grated or sliced up if hard
2 Tb fish sauce
big handful basil leaves, Thai or common, roughly shredded
coriander leaves
extra sliced chilli for garnish
steamed rice

Heat a wok to very hot and then add the oil.

Add the ginger, chllies and garlic and cook for just a few seconds - do not burn these or your dish will be ruined.

Add the chicken and stir fry that until it is just cooked and coloured. You may need to do this in two lots if you don’t have good heat as you don’t want it to stew.
Add the palm sugar and the fish sauce and cook until the whole lot looks sticky.
Stir through the basil leaves and serve garnished with the coriander leaves and extra chilli.

Serve with the steamed rice.

Recipe by Margaret Johnson.

Funny Cartoons by Minties Man

I love this guys cartoons. They always make me laugh.

Make your own choc bombs!

Makes 6
100g dark chocolate, coarsely chopped
40g copha
1 tub of good-quality vanilla ice-cream
100g Maltesers
100g Jaffas
3 x 30g Cadbury Flake bars, halved
6 waffle cones

Place the chocolate and copha in a small heatproof bowl over a saucepan half-filled with simmering water (make sure the bowl doesn’t touch the water). Use a metal spoon to stir until chocolate melts and the mixture is smooth. Set aside for 5 minutes to thicken slightly.

Meanwhile, place the Maltesers in a sealable plastic bag. Use a rolling pin to pound and crush lightly. Transfer to a serving bowl. Repeat with the Jaffas. Place the Flake in another serving bowl.

Scoop the ice-cream into the waffle cones. To serve, push a piece of Flake into the ice-cream. Dip the ice-cream into the chocolate mixture and quickly sprinkle Malteser or Jaffa over the top.

Recipe from taste.com.au

Baked White Chocolate Cheesecake

Base
250g Arnott’s Nice biscuits (or digestives)
120g butter, melted

Filling
375g cream cheese, softened
82g (1/3 cup plus 1 tsp) caster sugar
3 large eggs (min weight 59g)
185g white chocolate, melted
225g (3/4 cup plus 2 Tb) sour cream
1/4 tsp vanilla extract (1/2 tsp natural vanilla essence)

Preheat oven to 160 degrees Celcius (If you have a fan-forced oven preheat to 145 degrees Celcius).

Line the base of a 20cm or 21cm springform cake pan with baking paper. Grease or line the sides.

Finely crush biscuits in a blender/food processor. Combine crushed biscuits with melted butter and firmly press mixture into the base and sides of the prepared tin. Refrigerate while preparing filling.

Using a food processor or electric mixer, beat cream cheese with sugar. Stop to scrape down the sides of the bowl as you are mixing. When mixture is smooth, beat in eggs one at a time.

Quickly stir sour cream into melted white chocolate, stirring until smooth. Add to cream cheese mixture along with the vanilla. Beat until ingredients are combined.

Pour filling over biscuit base and bake for about one hour. Leave cheesecake at room temperature for one hour then cover and refigerate for several hours, or until cold and set.

When ready to serve cut with a hot, dry knife. Enjoy!

Grublover comment:
This white chocolate cheesecake has a creamy, smooth consistency. Because it is so rich it is nice to serve with a fruit coulis and ice cream.
To make a white chocolate and rasberry cheesecake, pour half of the filling over the base, sprinkle with 150g of rasberries, then pour the remaining filling over the rasberries and bake.