Spatula, Spoon and Saturday

(Ayer’s Rock Resort’s communal kitchen at around 9pm)

Wow I never thought I would ever do this. I figured I have already missed my boat on the whole backpacking/youth hostel thing. We were camping out at the camp ground at the Ayer’s Rock Campground near the Uluru-Kata Tjutu National Park because I planned the whole trip out in two days and I couldn’t get us reasonable accommodation that didn’t cost, like, $500 a night. So sleeping in a tent, it was.

(the choice of cooking implements were sadly lacking)

It seemed like, though, that everyone around us was well prepared and came with their own portable stove and cooking equipment. We only had some provisions, plates and cutleries and a billy can! I actually planned to just buy food there but the choice was so sadly lacking that when we by chance discovered the communal kitchen, I decided that I would hit the supermarket and make us some food. It was absolutely packed at first but once we made a trip to the supermarket and came back, the crowd had died down and the kitchen was nice and empty.

(I didn’t realise there was a water boiler there, I actually set a huge wok to boil some pasta)

To the certain extent I was prepared for everything to cost more, but I didn’t expect everything to nearly double in price! Amazingly, the only thing that wasn’t double in price was the steak. They loved their steak out there. That was the only thing in that entire Ayer’s Rock Resort IGA that didn’t cost much more than it would in Melbourne!

(pasta sauce with broccoli, zucchini and bacon)

So I ended up making us two meals there on both nights we camped there. The first night I made pasta with vegetables and bacon, having all the ingredients from the box. The second night, Mum insisted on some more meat and so I made green curry with beef and mushrooms and stir-fried lettuce with bacon.

(we had salad every night)

Things I already had in the provision box (some of which desperately needed to be used up):

1. 1 x 500g. fusili
2. 1 jar of Leggo’s Stir-Through pasta sauce
3. 2 slices of bacon
4. an iceberg lettuce
5. cooking oil
6. fish sauce
7. seasoning soy sauce
8. salt
9. green curry sauce (Mum bought this in Thailand so it really wasn’t so bad)
10. 2 tomatoes
11. 1/2 broccoli
12. 1/2 zucchini
13. 3 x mushrooms

(our pasta mean on the first night)

The rest I had to acquire at the supermarket, of course. I cut up some bacon, broccoli and zucchini. I stir-fried them in a bit of oil and added the Chilli, Tomato and Olive Stir-through pasta sauce in this mildly-filthy frying pan that I had to stir with a bent-up ladel. The shared equipment’s cleanliness had a lot to be desired I have to admit. Mum insisted on rewashing everything but some of the burnt on filth just wouldn’t come off. Ah well. The food they were selling there didn’t look much more appetising though! I’d rather have something I made!

(pasta dinner for three, cooked in a communal kitchen, served in provided bowls)

I ended using all of the pasta and sauce and we had some for lunch the next day (we needed to energy to climb the Uluru!)

(green curry with beef and mushroom, this is me breaking every Thai cooking rule here)

The second night saw us procuring some very nice and reasonably priced scotch fillets, which Mum promptly grilled up (in a wok I might add as it was the only thing we could lay our hands on because we went in during peak time on that day). I sliced the other one up and marinade it in 1 tbsp of fish sauce.  I brought the green curry sauce to boil and added the steak and mushrooms and simmer and cooked them quickly so that the beef stayed nice and tender.

Yes I know. There is no mushroom in any Thai curry, ever. But I needed to use up the mushrooms as we didn’t have a fridge and I would be damned to store anything in the communal fridge! Again, I made a lot of food hoping to have it for picnic lunch the next day. Not a great idea with the curry as the fat solidified, so we saved it (and thankfully it lasted) until we get to Alice Springs where we had a microwave!

(stir-fried lettuce with bacon)

I also stir-fried lettuce and bacon together quickly in very hot oil. I only used salt as a flavouring ingredient. Everyone thought it tasted great. But the wok was so filthy it really put me off that I just couldn’t enjoy it knowing it was cooked in such a filthy communal wok. I literally added a heap of salt into a heated wok to clean out all the burnt bits that were on there that couldn’t be removed by detergent and scouring. It was rather disgusting to see what came off it. Although I cleaned it rather well, the memory lingered! I know the lettuce probably wasn’t a traditional stir-fry veggie but everyone should try it. It’s rather good.

(Rice cooked in a billy)

I made some rice in a billy! The trick is to use a lot less water because the billy is much taller and narrower so there’s less room for water to evaporate. Still the same ten minutes, just as it takes on the stove.

I guess I wouldn’t mind cooking in a communal kitchen again. I loved the big space and industrial-sized stove. The cleanliness had a lot to be desired but I think I’ll be happy to do it again provided that I bring my own saucepan, wok, frying pan, etc!

I saw a few families cooking in the kitchen together and it seemed like a great family bonding experience. I think that’s what everyone should do at home. Cook with your family. Sit down and eat the meal you have all prepared together. It was an experience for me observing all the family dynamics that were going on. I found it very interesting.

I (very, very loosely) base the chicken korma recipe on Jamie Oliver’s Ministry of Food book and completely made up the pea pulao. I have to say I’m very impressed with myself for replicating the pea pulao without consulting any recipe!

Chicken Korma

For 4 people:

1. 2 chicken breast fillets, skin-off, cut into 2.5 cm cubes
2. 1 tbsp of light soy sauce
3. 1 onion, sliced
4. 1 piece of thumb-sized ginger, finely chopped
5. 5 stems of coriander, leaves picked, stalked chopped finely
6. 1 red or green chilli, sliced
7. 3 heaped tbsp of Patak’s korma curry paste or to taste
8. 1/2 can of coconut milk
9. 1/2 cup of pumpkin, steamed and mashed
10. yoghurt, to serve

(frying onion, ginger, coriander stems and chilli)

Marinade the chicken cubes with the soy sauce. Set aside. Add some butter and oil to a frying pan on medium heat and fry the onion, ginger and coriander stems until the onion softens and slightly brown. Add the chilli. Stir until the chilli softens. Add the curry paste, coconut milk and mashed pumpkin to make up the korma sauce. Add a bit of water if the sauce is too dry. Simmer on very low heat for 5 minutes.

(adding chicken to the curry sauce)

Turn the heat back to medium until the sauce bubbles and add the chicken cubes. Stir and turn the heat down to simmer for about 5 minutes or until the chicken is just cooked through. Because we’re using chicken breasts, we don’t want the chicken to be overcooked which will make it tough and dry. If you’re using chicken thigh, brown the chicken pieces with the onion and ginger before adding the curry paste and simmer for 15 minutes longer.

Top with plain yoghurt and the coriander leaves.

Pea Pulao (using a rice cooker)

I made this in the automatic rice cooker which requires 2 cups of rice minimum.It’s really simple and works well.

You’ll need:

1. 2 cups of basmati rice, washed until the water runs clear
2. 1/2 cup of frozen peas
3. 1/2 tsp of cumin seeds
4. 1 bay leaf (I use fresh now that I have amassed some fresh bay leaf supplies)
5. 5 cloves
6. 5 pods of green cardamon
7. 2 tbsp of vegetable oil
8. Water

Turn the rice cooker on and set to cook (you might need to stand there and keep your finger on the ‘Cook’ button) Add oil to the cooker and wait a few minutes until the oil is hot. Add the spices and wait a minute or so. Add the rice and water (your cooker would normally have a marking on the side to tell you how much to add. if it doesn’t, try 2 cups of water to 1 cup of rice for the rest 2 cups and 1.5 cups of water for each cup of rice after – again this depends a lot on your cooker and the rice you use). Let the rice cook for about 10 minutes. Add the frozen peas and continue to cook until the rice is ready.

Serve with chicken korma. Or any other Indian-style curry imaginable. Yummy.

I generally don’t order Butter Chicken when I eat at Indian restaurants here in Melbourne because I get the impression that they are westernised rubbish. And they generally are. Until I went to Bombay By Night in Caulfield who did a really nice Butter Chicken. I realised then that the main difference is that the chicken pieces must be marinated and grilled before putting them into the butter and tomato sauce. They called it Chicken Makhani. I then realise that generally the restaurants that call it Makhani make better Butter Chicken that others! Strange but true.

I consulted many, many Butter Chicken recipes out there on the web and I decided that the one on VideoJug seems to be most authentic one. But it seems a little bit too fiddly so I add my own short cuts here and there.

There are two parts to the Butter Chicken: the Chicken Tikka and the Makhani sauce. Yes it does make it fiddly but it is very good!

Chicken Tikka

I use (for four people):

1. 4 chicken thigh fillets (about 450 g.)
2. 1/2 pack of Patak’s Coat + Cook Tikka (I thought I might give it a try but it’s not really necessary)
3. 2 tbsp of yoghurt
4. 1 tsp of crushed ginger (I use garlic crusher)
5. 1 clove of garlic, crushed
6. 1 tsp salt
7. 1/2 tsp powdered garam masala
8. a sprinkle of hot cayenne pepper (it’s very hot so I went a bit easy on it)

Trim off any excess fat on the thigh. Mix the rest of the ingredients together to make the marinade. Add the chicken to the marinade and massage the marinade into the chicken. Leave to marinate for about 1/2 hour. Grill under medium/high grill until browned on both sides. It takes about 10 minutes on each side on my grill.

Makhani Sauce

I use (the tomato is just there in the picture because it’s purrdy):

1. 2 sticks of cinnamon
2. 5 cloves
3. 5 pods of green cardamon (not black, they are different)
4. 4 dried bay leaves
5. 1 tsp of cumin seeds
6. 1 tbsp of sliced green capsicum (should be green chilli but I didn’t have any)
7. 1 tsp of ground fenugreek seeds (the recipe asks for kasuri methi (dried fenugreek leaves) but I figured this is close enough)
8. 1 tbsp of crushed ginger
9. 2 cloves of crushed garlic
10. 1 can of diced Italian tomatoes
11. 2 tbsp of cashew nuts, grind to powder
12. 1 tbsp of honey
13. 1/2 tsp of cayenne pepper (or chilli powder)
14. 1 tsp ground garam masala
15. 2 tbsp of tomato paste
16. 1 tbsp of cream
17. salt to taste

Heat some vegetable oil in a saucepan, add the cinnamon, cloves, cardamon pods, bay leaves, cumin and sliced green chillis. Stir for 1/2 a minute until the spices are toasted. Add the ginger and garlic and stir for another 1/2 a minute. Add the diced tomatoes and simmer for 20 minutes.

Once the Chicken Tikka is done, cut them into bite-sized pieces and reserve any cooking juice. Add chicken and cooking juices into the Makhani sauce. Add the cashew nuts, honey, cayenne pepper, ground garam masala and tomato paste. Simmer for another ten minutes. Season to taste. Finish with a bit of cream at the end. Garnish with fresh coriander leaves.

Serve with naan or basmati rice. I serve it with Vegetable Biryani this time.

Mat was coming over for lunch yesterday so I thought I might try something Indian but mild. And I felt like baking something so naan bread to go with the curry would be a good choice.

Navratan korma is my favourite Indian dish ever. However, I reallly hate it when they make it out of pre-cut frozen vegetables and there’s no interesting vegetable in it. My favourite navratan korma comes from a little shop in Clayton called Moza Corner where they add mashed pumpkin into the sauce. My favourite Indian restaurant in Melbourne Bombay By Night in Caulfield North does very disappointing navratan korma (pea, carrots, beans, that’s it!) but everything else is fantastic.

(pretty vegetables cooking)

I digress. Navratan (‘nine gems’) korma a vegetarian dish. Unlike a meat korma dish, it tends to be a bit milder and creamier – from my experience anyway. This was a very mixed up korma because I kept tasting and adding things. I also used very little oil so it turned out more like a vegetable stew rather than proper korma but it was very yummy (even if I may say so myself). It doesn’t look very sexy. Stewed vegetables never do but before it was ready it was very pretty with all sorts of colours.

You can use any veggies you want. You can also add paneer. I didn’t have any but I had an idea that I would just by ricotta and squeeze the living daylight out of it to make paneer. I don’t know if that works.

I used (generous servings for 2 + 1 doggie bag portion):

1. 1/2 cup of broccoli florets
2. 1/2 cup of cauliflower florets
3. 1/2 a large carrot
4. 1/4 a zucchini
5. 5 mushrooms
6. 4 long beans
7. 1 small potato, cubed (the peeler went AWOL so didn’t peel it, which turned out to be a good idea otherwise it would have disintegrated into the curry)
8. 1/4 green capsicum
9. 1 stalk asparagus
10. 1/2 tomato, finely chopped
11. 1/2 onion, sliced
12. 1 tbsp Patak’s korma paste (the recipe on the jar says 1/4 jar for 2 which I completely ignored)
13. 1/4 cup coconut milk (leftover from curry the other night – to be posted)
14. 1/2 cup of carton pumpkin soup (I would have used mashed pumpkin instead but I was too lazy to peel the whole pumpkin we have)
15. 1/4 cup of cream
16. 1/4 cup of water
17. 1/4 cup of crushed unsalted cashew nuts
18. (I forgot but I would have added) 3 tbsp of frozen peas

Fry the veggies together with the korma paste. Add water, coconut milk, pumpkin soup and cashew nutes. Simmer for 15 minutes. Stir occasionally. Don’t be tempted to add too much water because the veggies will give up some more water while it’s simmering. In the last few minutes, add the frozen peas and cream and stir before serving.

The naan! Oh the naan! Well that was a total failure. It came out look like flat bread. It smelt wonderful and tasted gorgeous (let’s face it, anything fresh out of the oven is awesomely nice) BUT IT DIDN’T LOOK OR TASTE LIKE NAAN.

I found some packets of yeast that expired in 2007 so I was very worried that the yeast might not be active but the dough proved. But still! Anyway, I followed this direction on youtube exactly. Well almost exactly. I changed things here and there. Ah well.

Oh hell, I’ll just call it flat bread.

Edit (9-May-2009): I made some more for lunch today and the pictures are much prettier so I replaced the pictures with the ones from today. We ate it with fresh turkish bread rolls. Yummy.

I found this from 2006! You can even see my old kitchen (the one with natural light as opposed to my current kitchen with very little natural lights. Pictures from that period are so much nicer)

This is the basic Thai red curry that I added a whole bunch of not-so-Thai vegetables to it. Any veggies will most likely do. I like the combination of broccoli, carrot, zucchini, green beans, tomato and tofu puffs*. Don’t forget the Thai basil. It makes everything much nicer.

You will need (for four people), one small carrot, a handful of green beans, a small zucchini (not a huge one like I got from Jim’s – I’m still so impressed about its size, seriously), one tomato, a handful of broccoli florets, five-six tofu puffs (halved). You’ll so need one tablespoon of Thai red curry paste (I use Mae Ploy due to its availability in Australia), a small can of coconut cream (I like Ayam and Aroy-D), and about a tablespoon of fish sauce (I insist on a Thai brand). Substitute with soy sauce if you’re a vegetarian.

As I said previously, it matters what curry paste and coconut cream you use. You need to taste. Sometimes you won’t need to fish sauce and some times you’ll need a bit of sugar to round it off if your coconut cream isn’t sweet (note: coconut cream is naturally sweet. I’m not talking about the sweetened coconut cream that you put in your pina colada). Read the rest of this entry »