Nanna's Curry

When I was little and went to visit my nanna, she'd often make a curry. Now, I grew up in a family who had lots of Asian friends, and my parents like HOT food. So - it was nothing like any curry that my mum or dad made as N, butanna's curry was a sweet one.

Today I was sitting at home trying to decide what to do with all the vegies that I bought to make a soup but decided the weather was too hot for that. So I thought - yep, Nanna's curry sounds good, as it's full of vegies and stuff.

I called my Nanna - who told me she was making it for HER dinner tonight too. My Pop said I could have his plateful (I don't think he's a big fan of it lol). So here's the recipe.

Dice up:
1kg blade steak

1 carrot
1 parsnip
3 small celery sticks
2 med onions
½ large capsicum (red or green pepper)
1 apple - eg granny smith

Fry it all up in a bit of oil.

Then add:

Curry powder to taste
2 dessertspoon coconut
1 dessertspoon brown sugar
1 tbsp sultanas/raisins

Fry for a little longer and then add:

1 small tin pineapple (crushed or chopped)
2tbsp soy sauce
1dessertspoon vinegar

1tbsp pickles eg green tomatoes

1tbsp fruit chutney

Simmer for 2 hours or so.

Can add a tiny bit of coconut milk too if needed.

Serve with rice.

I will post a photo when I've made it.

J

Amazing salad!

I made this awesome salad tonight.
Ingredients:
Torn up coral (?) lettuce
Torn up baby spinach
1 sliced red capsicum
1 sliced orange (or yellow, or 2 red) capsicum
2 thinly sliced carrots
2 mushrooms thinly sliced
1 lebanese cucumber, sliced
cherry tomatoes
fetta cheese, diced

Throw all the salad together and toss.

Then throw a nice piece of tender steak in a pan or on the bbq and cook to your liking. Medium well is how we had it. When cooked, slice your steak and scatter over the salad.

Serve in pasta bowls with some crispy noodles on top!

Dressing:
Found this amazing recipe on allrecipes.com for this honey balsamic dressing. I changed it a bit so here goes:

1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
1/3 small onion
1tbsp soy sauce
1tbsp white sugar
1 cloves of garlic
3tbsp honey
1inch wide piece of red capsicum
2/3 cup extra virgin olive oil (evoo)


Chuck everything in a blender and whizz until thick.

YUMMMMMMMMMM!!!!!!!!!

Inspiration

Well I went to see Julie and Julia last night at the movies, and I was inspired!

I have Beef Bourguignon in the oven at the moment!

If it's a success, I will post pics an the recipe. I am using Julia Child's recipe. It's rather time consuming, but man it smells divine!

Beef Pie

Well I really like meat pies, yet I've never really made a good homemade one. So I tried again. I got a recipe from taste.com.au and tweaked it a bit.

1kg diced beef - I used chuck steak
plain flour
400ml beef stock
dried italian herbs
worcestershire sauce
1 diced onion
2 stalks diced celery
1 cup sliced mushrooms
1 cup frozen peas/corn/carrots (or fresh diced carrot etc)
short crust pastry
salt and pepper

Dust the beef with some flour to coat, then brown in a heavy based pan with a little olive oil for 5-6 mins until brown. Take from the pan, then fry up the onion and celery (and if using fresh carrots, that too) with a little more oil. After a few mins when it's a little softened, add the meat back in, and the beef stock and some italian herbs. Stir and then add the mushrooms. Let it simmer for 1 hour or so. Stir occasionally and don't let it stick. Then add the frozen veg and and worcestershire sauce (a few gloops of it to taste). Let it simmer another 30 mins or so. Add salt and pepper to taste.

By now it should have reduced a bit, but you'll need to thicken it. A bit of flour and water mixed to a paste, then slowly poured in while stirring should do it. Don't under do it, or overdo it so it's a pile of glug!

Get a pie dish or a lasagne dish (I used a square lasagne dish) and spray with cooking spray lightly. Line it with shortcrust pastry including the sides. Pour in the meat mix evenly and put a pastry lid on top. Make sure there's no holes and it's nice and sealed. I folded the sides over the top of the lid and that worked well.

Bake at 180C for approx 40 mins till golden brown.

Serve immediately. YUM!!!!