Apologies and Butter Curry

Apologies and Butter Curry

 

First of all a HUGE sorry to all my loyal fans! I haven't had internet for the past couple of weeks and haven't been able to get a blog in! So sorry for that.

Although I did upload not one but TWO YouTube videos last week. One for spaghetti bolognese (guest starring Adam Taylor) and one for Beer-Can Ba-Can Chicken (recipe will be coming soon for those of you who want to try it!)

You can get the Spaghetti Bolognese video HERE and the Beer-Can Ba-Can Chicken video HERE.

Ok so today we cooked Butter Curry from the brilliant student recipe book by Sam Stern. Here's what you'll need to have a go (although some ingredients are not too important, i'll mark which ones with a [?])

75g Butter
1 Medium Onion, chopped
4 Cloves of Garlic
Pinch Salt
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp chilli powder
3 tsps sweet paprika
2 tsps garam masala
2 tsps ground coriander
1 cinamon stick (You can use the cinnamon powder too)
4 cardamon pods [?]
700g Tomato Passata
1-2 tbsps Mango Chutney
2 tbsps Tomato puree
2 tbsps Red wine vinegar [?]
1 tbsp Fresh grated ginger
6 large Skinless Chicken Breasts, cut into peices
200ml Double Cream
225g Basmati or other long grain rice
Fresh Coriander

 So start off by melting the butter and frying the onion and garlic. Now throw in all the spices and stir it up, fry until the onions are soft. Sploosh in the passata, mango chutney, tomato puree, red wine vinegar and ginger. Stir and bring it bubbling to the boil, reduce the heat and let it simmer for 10 minutes or so.

Now add the chicken and stir in the cream and yoghurt bit by bit. Now simmer on a very low heat for roughly 10 minutes until the chicken is cooked but still tender.

Cook the rice in the mean time and serve with fresh coriander chopped and stirred into the chicken.

That's it! Now go and have a go! Let me know what you think in the comments box and remember to check out the videos on YouTube!

Day 5 - Chicken Curry...Again!

Chicken Curry Number 2!

So today won't be an interesting blog...go and watch Blue Planet if you want something interesting (make sure you come back tomorrow though!). I just ate some of the chicken curry I cooked the other day...

However I couldn't keep out the kitchen so I baked a delicious victoria sponge cake!

If you want a go then you'll need: 225g of flour, 225g of butter, 225g or sugar, 4 eggs, some jam and some cream to serve.

Mix everything together and add a splash of milk if you feel like it. Then whack it in the oven until a knife in the centre comes out clean, should be around 20-30 minutes.

Then slice it through the middle so it has two layers, spread jam on the bottom layer and put together again.

EAT!

Day 4 - Tagliatelle

Hello! Tagliatelle was today's meal and it was delicious!

Started off by chopping half an onion finely, then slicing the other half in thin slices. Frying this and adding mixed meat spice (you could use cumin and paprika or similar), mixed herbs (basil, oregano, thyme) and some garlic. 

Then I added about a quarter of a can of chopped tomatoes I had left over from the curry. I made sure to smush any lumps with the back of the spoon to release the flavour evenly. Don't worry if you don't have a quarter of a can of chopped tomatoes, you could use half a tablespoon of tomato puree or some left over tomato past a sauce.

Next I added the cut up chicken pieces and gave them a good stir around. Finally I threw in two big tablespoons of pesto and stirred it all together.

Now chuck it all in with the cooked tagliatelle and serve with some grated cheese (or not?).

Notice I didn't use any measurements here because I cooked enough for at least two meals, you might want just one meal or maybe a thousand!

 

Day 3 - Chicken Curry

Sorry for the late arrival of this post, was working last night so didn't have time unfortunately. Tonight will have to be two mini posts!

So last night I whipped up a curry. Was pretty simple, and i would have liked to use coconut milk instead of chopped tomatoes, but I couldn't afford it this week, hopefully next time! So by all means, please switch the chopped tomatoes for coconut milk, or for a thicker curry use coconut cream.

Top tip: Why not add some ground almond

and extra sugar to add that sweetness to your curry?

So I started off by frying a whole chopped onion until softened, then adding garlic until fragrant. Then I added a teaspoon of garam masala, cumin, turmeric, chili powder, ground coriander and some salt and pepper. I used about a teaspoon of sugar but use more if you want a sweeter curry.

Now add the chicken that you have, chopped into bit sized pieces, if it was already cooked then it will normally break up in the pan so don't worry about the size too much. Give it a good stir and then add either the chopped tomatoes or coconut milk or cream. Bring it to the boil and let it simmer until your rice is cooked. Start the rice immediately (it should take roughly 10 minutes).

If you used coconut milk or cream I like getting a handful of fresh coriander and chop it roughly and throwing it in. It adds an authentic Indian taste and smell.

 

Day 2 - Girlfriend Surprise

Day 2 - Girlfriend Surprise

 Today was the second day in my week trying to survive on just £10. I posted the shopping list yesterday so you can all have a look what I got, basically it was just a chicken...

So anyway the roast left me with all but a leg and a wing of the chicken, so I decided today to make mash, beans and Mama's Chicken Schnitzel which is one of my girlfriends favourite after trying it for the first time this summer in Thailand!

It wasn't quite the same but still delicious. Maybe even better...

 So if you want to try this recipe, its so simple and it works great with raw or cooked chicken!

So there it is have a go and check back tomorrow for the next installment!

Day 1 - Roast Chicken

Roast Chicken

 It's on people! For the next week the menu will be:

Friday - Roast Chicken
Saturday - Surprise for the Girlfriend
Sunday - Chicken Curry
Monday - Chicken and Pesto Tagliatelle
Tuesday - Either Curry or Pasta again
Wednesday - Chicken Hot Pot with Dumplings
Thursday - Leftover Surprise (Probably curry!)

So this is sort of a challenge to myself to see exactly how little I can live on for the next week. It started off today with a TREK to the local ALDI, a 4 mile round trip. Plus they charge for plastic bags, which is fine, but it means I have to skimp on them too so I took the old rucksack (It's literally over 10 years old) and packed it to bursting, I thought it was ripping at one point and got a few strange looks whilst trying to crane my head behind myself to check...doesn't work.

Anyway here's the shopping list, I did go a little over budget but I'm going to discount a few things.

 The mince is going to be frozen and used another time, same with the spaghetti, one tin of tomatoes, the tomato puree and the oil I should normally have so I won't count that.

That makes a total discount of £4.92.

So take this away from the shopping total gives a fantastic total of £9.60!

So today is Friday so obviously it was roast chicken today! I did it with roast potatoes (I already had a bag of potatoes (read the last post!)).

And what a beaut!

Cooked to perfection. I got 3 cloves of garlic, chopped it up whacked in about a tablespoon and a half of butter and a teaspoon of mixed herbs, and rubbed in underneath the skin of the chicken. Then once you've had enough of fingering your bird, back to the cooking. Rub the rest of the garlic butter on the breasts (the chicken...hmmm or...no she wouldn't go for that) and give it a hard slap for pleasure. If you're not into that then carry on.

Whack it in the oven at about 170-180 degrees C for 45 minutes per kg plus about 20 give or take 20 depending on your oven. 

Put the chicken in upside down to keep the breasts from drying out.

Now onto the potatoes, I will be doing a post on "The Perfect Roast Potatoes" so this will just be a quicky: Boil em for 20 mins, drain and toss in the seive/collander until "fluffy" on the edges, whack em in a baking dish or frying pan with hot oil and fry until the corners ar going golden. Then throw them in the oven for another 20 mins or until they are nice and crispy.

"You know it's good when you forget out the knife and fork"

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Shopping Crisis

Shopping Crisis!

Hi students/random other demographics, today I really need to go shopping...

One problem I have £10, to last until next Friday at the earliest...

I already wasted £2 on a 2 litre apple and mint juice carton from the interesting local Polish food shop. Wasn't sure what I was buying, hoped for the best, didn't pay off.

 
So I have pretty much exactly £10... Now normally £10 for a week should be fine, bearing in mind I have a bag of potatoes, half a big of tagliatelle, a small bag of flour, half a jar of pesto and a Lurpak butter I could do:

 Friday: Roast Chicken with potatoes and gravy...side of mash?
Saturday: Potato curry, with chicken
Sunday: Chicken tagliatelle - could use some pesto?
Monday: Potato Curry, could do a slight variation using more potato...hmmm.
Tuesday: Chicken stew with dumplings (using stock from the roast carcass)
Wednesday: Soup (chicken, what else??) maybe whack a few bit of potato in, or some tagliatelle!!
Thursday: Leftover surprise

Now that is a very cheap week. Which probably costs a little less than £10 seeing as all I bought was a whole roast chicken. I could afford to splash out on some rice and have a normal curry, or some veg for the Friday roast...THE POSSIBILITIES ARE ENDLESS!

If anyone has any ideas on what I could eat survive on for the next week, then leave a comment or hit up the Facebook page!

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