deadmillion

New blog with recipe added this time, some spoilering for the non-meatarians readers, and some talk about my Christmas menu.

This curry can be made vegetarian, with chicken (which I did), or with fish. For the vegetarian version, just add a combination of your favourite vegetables at the end. I like spinach, peas or scallions for this. I used chicken in this curry, but it's added at the very end. So if you serve the chicken (or fish) on the side for people to add themselves, you can use the same sauce for vegetarians and meat-eaters alike.
If you can get some curry leaves, they will really pick up the dish. Unfortunately, my local oriental store was out of curry leaves this weekend. They store very well, though, so smart people keep a batch in stock for impromtu curry needs.

For the basic sauce (vegetarian):
3 onions, shredded (I used red, for some sweetness)
6 tomatoes
1 thumbsize piece of ginger, grated
3 green chillies, seeds removed and sliced
1 can of coconut milk
5 tablespoons of oil
2 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp fenegreek
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp tumeric

For the chicken version:
4 chicken breasts, cut into strips
1 tbsp ground coriander seeds

Put a pan on medium heat, and add the oil and mustard seeds. When the mustard seeds start to pop, add the fenegreek, ginger, peppers and curry leaves (if you have them). Let them soften while you chop the onions in the food processor. Add the onions, and let everything sweat and soften for a couple of minutes. When the onions are brown and soft, add the tumeric and chili powder. Blitz the tomatoes in the food processor, and add them as well. Let everything cook for a few minutes. Add the coconut milk and a glass of water, stir, and let the curry thicken. The basic sauce is now ready.


Chicken part:

Finished product:



I want to do a pie blog sometime in the near future, or maybe bread. But I'll have to find a time and/or occassion for it first, since especially bread takes quite a bit of time. So it's not something you do in the spur of the moment . I'll have some time off around Christmas though, so hopefully I'll be able to do it then. I'll also have to wrap my head around some kind of tripod/mounting contraption, since I'll be needing both my hands to knead dough. For a pie blog, I'm thinking either apple or chocolate, and for bread just a basic bread recipe.

My Christmas menu is almost set. It'll start off with a light chicken soup, which I'll be making from scratch. Then appetizers, in the form of baby bell peppers (called tinkerbells, so cute) and small tomatoes stuffed with spinach and parmesan cheese risotto. I'll probably use some of the stock I made for the soup to cook the risotto, to tie it in with the soup course. Or I'll use vegetable stock if I decide to document the whole cooking process in a food blog, as to cater for our veggie readers as well.
The main course is not fully decided yet. I know I'll be doing a stuffed turkey breast, but I'm not sure about the stuffing yet. Any suggestions? Last year I did a ham and cheese stuffing, which was really good. But I might want to try something different. I'll also make either some kind of pork as a second meat dish, or a chicken roulade. Side dishes will include peas, green beans, green asparagus in prosciutto, mashed potatoes and one or two roasted or fried potato dishes. Garlic sauce and some form of fruit sauce (probably cranberry) I'll make from scratch, but for mayonnaise (to go with the fries) I'll probably settle for store-bought.
Another course I won't (entirely) make from scratch, is dessert. I'm going to go with 3 or 4 different kinds of ice cream, and while I do have an ice cream maker, it'd be a multi-day event because I have to re-freeze the tub thingy overnight after every flavour. So I've settled for good quality store-bought ice cream. The chocolate sauce to accompany the ice cream I will make myself, and maybe a cookie to garnish the plate aswell. To finish off the meal, there will be coffee and tea, with cookies, cake and/or chocolates.

Like I said, I might document the whole thing in the form of a food blog. Though I might have my hands full with cooking alone, since I'm doing a lot of different dishes, so I'm not promising anything. Things I can do in advance, like cookies and sauces, have a greater chance of making it into a food blog, than things I have to do all at once, like the side dishes. Also, having someone take the pictures for me will greatly increase the likeliness of everything being documented. So if you like the menu, you're welcome to join me and my family, as long as you can operate a camera . No knowledge of dutch required .