Seafood & Chicken - Turmeric Rice

This recipe is a little expensive, but it doesn't have to be as you can replace certain food elements with other cheaper ones, like cheaper prawns and instead of fresh squid use crab sticks and so on.
But even when I say a little expensive, is not as expensive as you may think the whole cost could be between 7 or 8 pounds and feeds 6-7 people so about one pound something per person, well worth it though.

Recipe Ingredients:

• 1 large red chilli (finely chopped)
  
• 1 large onion (finely chopped)
  
• 1 large red pepper (medium chopped)
  
• 2 garlic cloves (1 minced, 1 crushed)
  
• 6 large mushrooms (medium sliced)
  
• 1 medium fresh squid (cleaned around 250-300grs, strips sliced)
• 250grs fresh uncooked prawns (cut in halves)
  
• 2 medium chicken breasts (no skin, diced)
• enough rice for four people around 400-500grs (I used Basmati)
  
• 1 tin of tomato (chopped) pomodoro
• 1 tea spoon of medium hot curry powder
• 2 soup spoons of turmeric powder
• 1 chicken stock cube (I used OXO)
• 2 bay leafs
  
• olive oil, salt and pepper to taste
• optional a cinnamon stick
  

Preparation:

Place two pans on the heat one half filled with water, one glug of oil, the crushed garlic and one bay leaf plus salt. The other one with, two glugs of olive oil, the minced garlic, the bay leaf some salt and pepper.
Once the one with the water is boiling add the rice and let it cook should take 10-12 minutes to be fully cooked, once cooked put it in a sieve and rinse it with boiling water and set it aside to drain.

the one with the old, add the chopped onion, pepper, chilli, and the curry powder, once the onion is translucent add the chicken and the turmeric, now it tends as is cooking for it to dry a bit, so you can add a little water, always stirring to seal the chicken so it stays nice and soft, once the chicken is fully sealed add the tomato tin, again always stirring, if it continues to get a little dry you can add more water (or stock or white wine), but at this point add the stock cube (crumb it before adding it) let this cook until the chicken is fully cooked.

at this stage add the mushrooms, the prawns, the cinnamon stick and the squid, it literally only takes 3-5 minutes for these to cook, as you just want them cooked, any longer and they will be rubbery. Once that is done remove from the fire add the mixture to the rice, fold it in until all is well mixed and let it stand for about 2 minutes, and is ready to serve.

if you require more taste and colour you can also add when putting the mixture with the rice a big bunch of chopped parsley...the only reason I did not is that I suffer with too much iron in the blood and parsley is full of it, so although I can eat it I should not abuse. Hope you enjoy this as much as i and my family did.

Cheesy Meat Balls

Receita em Portugues clique AQUI



I needed to make something fast the day before yesterday as we were all hungry and I had left it too late to cook dinner as had been working on making a menu on a PC for a friend and time passed very quickly, so I decided on a traditional recipe and added a little surprise inside.


Recipe Ingredients:

• 500grs minced beef
• 60grs bread crumbs (I used old bread and crumbed it)
• 1 egg (medium)
• 3 garlic cloves
• 2 tea spoon chilli powder
• 1 large onion
• 1 tin of tomatoes
• a little bunch of parley
• 600grs rice
• 2 bay leafs
• some olive oil
• salt and pepper to taste
• Some cheddar cheese
• 2 soup spoons of tomato paste
  

This recipe was very fast and very easy to make, is not fattening at all and the garlic and chilli help the blood circulation, and at this time of the year I suppose it is welcomed, also was very cheap to make.

For the rice just put it in boiling water with a crushed garlic clove inside and a couple of spoons of olive oil and salt to taste, after 10 to 12 minutes is cooked depending on the rice you using (I like basmati) once cooked rinse it in a sieve with boiling water and drain it ready to plate.

For the sauce I chopped the onion very finely and the remaining two garlic cloves one to add to the mince the other for the sauce. The meat balls were made as follows, I put the mince in a bowl adding to it the egg (whole) the bread crumbs, one spoon of the chilli powder, one garlic salt and pepper to taste, and mixed all with my hands until was all blended in, then I cut the cheese into little squares and making a little disk in my hand with a portion of the disk mixture I placed the cheese square in the middle, folded the meat around and rolled it into a ball and set it aside until all the meat was spent.

Then in a pan I put some olive oil, let it get hot and added the chilli, onion (diced), bay leafs, garlic, and the meat balls swirling the pan around from time to time until the balls were sealed (you can see this as they turn from red to brown) at this stage I added the tomato a small glass of water and the tomato paste, I let this cook for 20-30 minutes, obviously only started making the rice 10-12 minutes before the rest was ready, so all comes out at same time, and on the last 1 minute of cooking of the balls I added the parsley chopped. As simple as that.

Now you can use spaghetti if you prefer, I do but the family wanted rice and I had to go with the majority.

Vegie Bulgar & BBQ Chicken Wings

Trying to impress my sister, I wanted to do something special but did not have the time to go shopping so I ravaged through my cupboard to find something to go with my chicken wings. Hurrah, found some Bulgar Wheat so I done the following:


Recipe Ingredients:

• 1 mug of Bulgar Wheat
• 1 large courgette
• 1 large onion
• 1 red pepper
• about 6-8 mushrooms
• 1 fresh chilli
• 1/2 can of tomatoes
• 1 spoon of tomato paste
• 1 garlic clove
• salt and pepper to taste
• 3 soup spoons of olive oil
  

Dice into small cubes the onion the pepper the courgette and thinly slice the mushrooms.
I used a Wok... so put the olive oil in the Wok add the pepper the onion and the garlic (minced) let it fry for about 5 minutes then add the (chopped & de-seeded) chilli, the courgette and the mushrooms, let it cook for another 3 minutes, then add the tomato and the tomato paste, and let it cook for about 10 minutes (or longer if you wish)
As to the Bulgar wheat just boil it in water as if it was rice for about 10-12 minutes, then once cooked drain it and rinse it with boiling water, let it drain until has no remaining water then add to the sauce and cover it with a lid.
As to the chicken wings, was very simple, I cut the tips off and cut the wings into two parts, placed them in a bowl and added the following, 1 crushed garlic, a spoon of smoky paprika, salt and pepper to taste, a couple of spoons of honey a pinch of chilli powder (put more if you like it spicy), a lid of sherry, and finally a squirt of smoky BBQ sauce. Left it to marinade for about 30 minutes, then laid them on a tray previously smeared with olive oil, gas mark 200 c and let it cook for about 25 minutes until crispy (times may vary depending on oven), then served it with the Veggie Bulgar. It was very nice, first picture was my sisters serving the next picture was my serving LOL.

Chorizo Pork Burgers & Paprika Wedges

Recipe Ingredients:

• Enough new potatoes for 4 people (or more)


• 2 (separate) tea spoons of sweet paprika


• 2 half a tea spoons of chilli powder


• 50 grs of chorizo (if you like it a lot 100grs)


• 4 slices of French toast


• 1 garlic clove


• 500grs of minced lean pork


• 1 egg


• salt and pepper to taste


• 4 slices o Derbyshire cheddar (it can be found at Asda)


• 2 spoons of olive oil


• 1 spoon of plain flour

In bowl I crushed the French toast till resembled bread crumbs added some salt pepper; chorizo finely chopped; the garlic minced; one spoon of paprika; the 1/2 chilli powder, mix this well. Then added the minced pork, combining it (with hands) all until well mixed at this stage added the egg, continue mixing until well mixed again. At this stage shaped the mixture into four about 2" thick burgers (see the picture) and lay these on a board to rest the meat.
while waiting I washed and cut into quarters lengthways new potatoes (enough for four people) dried them well with a kitchen cloth, then in the bowl added the other 1/2 chilli powder; 2 spoons of olive oil; salt and pepper to taste and the other spoon of paprika (if you want as is to be served with pork you can also add fresh chopped rosemary) and finally the flour, mix this well with the potatoes, and placed it in the oven at gas mark 200 for 40 minutes.
After 20 minutes of the potatoes being in I placed the burgers in the griddle pan leaving it 8 minutes on each side then place the sliced cheese on top and a little oregano and to the oven, finishing them off with a grill blast ... but all should finish at the same time as the potatoes, and why not in those 4 minutes rustle a salad.
On mine I used baby plum tomatoes some red onion thinly sliced carrot, mixed salad leaves, read bell pepper thinly sliced, a little sea salt some oregano and olive oil and white wine vinegar.
Arranged all in your plate and bellow is what it looks like (it was yummy)...please leave some feedback.

Meat Loaf with Cheese and Courgette

Recipe Ingredients:

• 500grs of lean minced beef
• 4 dried toast slices (made into crumbs) or 4 soup spoons of bread crumbs
  
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1 bunch of parsley
• 1 pinch of chilli powder
• 1 tin of chopped tomatoes (good quality)
• 1 egg (large)
• 8 large potatoes
• 6 slices of ham
• 3 slices of cheese (Gouda or mozzarella)
• 1 courgette
• 1 onion
  

Cut the potatoes into cubes and parboil them, following that drain them until dried.
While that is happening place the mince in a bowl add one garlic minced the egg the bread crumbs and half of the parsley (finely chopped) salt and pepper to taste and the pinch of chilli powder, blend it well with your hands. Once all well mixed spread it over a large chopping board into a square shape about 2-3 cm deep, slice (very thinly half of the courgette) and lay it on top of the mince to cover the whole of it, then layer the ham to cover it too, and finally lay in the middle the three cheese slices, with the help of a spatula roll it up into a torte shape, then insert it inside a foil parcel put it in a tray and bake it in the oven for 30 minutes (gas mark 200), once that is done to brown the top open foil and cook for a further 10 minutes. As to the potatoes there is two ways you can do them, deep fry them and drain them or (my preferred way) drizzle some olive oil over them and bake them in the oven (about 20 minutes) obviously add salt and pepper to taste previously.
Now while meat is cooking, chop the onion finely and the remaining garlic, and pan fry them until the onion is translucent, add to this the courgette and the tomato (tin) let it cook for a further 10 minutes and add the parsley at this stage and salt and pepper to taste.
plate composition slice the meat loaf (a couple of slices per plate) and serve this with some cubed fries and poor a couple of tomato sauce spoons over the fries, it is just delicious. See picture bellow.