Im a newly wed, and I am not much of a cook, well actually i dont really cook, living with my parents still so dont get chance to practise. I make things like spaghetti bolognaise, fajita’s, shepards pie. But i do like baking when i have an idiots guide infront of me lol!
Anyway i am going away with my husband for a few days and i need 3 nice recipies that are quite easy to cook. He really likes currys and things like that and i am starting to get into them now, and dinners are a big one for him too. Any ideas?
Oh and i am pregnant by the way so need things that i can eat too. Thank you
Thai Steak Salad w/noodles:
1 sirloin steak
Salt and pepper
2 tablespoons soy sauce, plus more for drizzling
2 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons peanut butter
Juice of one lime (2 tablespoons)
4 cups coleslaw mix
1 tablespoon chopped cilantro
1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil
One 3-ounce package ramen noodles (flavor packet saved for another use) broken into pieces
1. Season the steak with salt and pepper. In a grill pan, sear the steak over medium-high heat for about 5 minutes per side for medium rare; transfer to a plate to rest.
2. In a small bowl, whisk together 3 tablespoons water, the soy sauce, honey, peanut butter and lime juice. In a large bowl, combine the slaw mix, cilantro and basil with the peanut dressing and toss. Add the dry ramen noodles and toss again. Divide evenly among 4 shallow bowls.
3. Cut the steak into thin slices and distribute among the salads.
French Toast Souffle:
13″x9″ pan
1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, melted
2 cups dark brown sugar, packed
Challah (egg bread) sliced into thick 1 1/2″ slices (probably will only need 1 per pan, but have extra just in case). Recipe calls to cut off crust, but I like it on. This is up to you.
7 eggs
2 1/2 cups milk
2 Tbl Vanilla
Cinnamon & Sugar on top
Mix melted butter and brown sugar together completely.
Spread evenly along bottom of pan.
Mix eggs, milk & vanilla with whisk. Set aside.
Lay challah in pan in one layer on top of brown sugar mixture.
Pour egg mixture over challah. (The challah will float up till eggs are absorbed.)
Sprinkle with cinnamon & sugar.
Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate over night.
In the morning, uncover and bake at 350 for 45 minutes or until golden brown and puffy.
When you scoop out to serve, flip each serving over so that the brown sugar mixture drizzles over the top. It is really rich and yummy!
Mexican Casserole:
1 lb. extra lean ground turkey or beef
1 can black beans, NOT drained
1 can kidney beans, lightly drained
1 can corn, drained
1 large can Rotel tomatoes, drained
1 package Taco Seasoning
1 package 2% grated cheddar
1 package whole wheat flour tortillas
1 chopped onion (optional)
Optional: sour cream & salsa for topping
1) Preheat oven to 350
2) Brown meat, then stir in undrained black beans and taco seasoning (and onion, if using)
3) In a 13X9 in. glass dish, place a layer (2-3) of tortillas, then 1/2 meat mixture, 1/2 of all other ingredients; repeat entire process starting with tortillas again, then top 2nd layer with tortillas
4) Bake covered with foil for 30 min., then uncovered for another 10 minutes
prep time: 15-20 minutes
First get some quality pots and pans.then we’ll talk.If you don’t cook why would you have cooking tools? If you have a selection of equipment go to food network.com and pick.Their recipes are proven and mostly easy they are even rated on difficulty, .
Chicken korma
Serves 4-6
Preparation time less than 30 mins
Cooking time 1 to 2 hours
Ingredients
1.4kg/3lb whole chicken, cut into pieces
150g/5¼oz ghee or clarified butter
2 large onions, peeled and sliced
1 tsp chilli powder
4 tsp onion powder
1 tsp coriander seeds
2 tbsp cinnamon powder
½ tsp dried ground ginger
10 black peppercorns
5 cloves
6 cardamom pods, ground
2 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
1 tsp salt
300ml/10½fl oz natural yoghurt
3 bay leaves
300ml/10½fl oz chicken stock or water
1 lemon, juice only
Method
1. Melt the ghee or clarified butter in a large pan and fry the onions until golden brown.
2. Remove from the pan with a slotted spoon and put to one side.
3. Add all the spices and the garlic to the pan and fry until brown, then throw in the chicken and salt and cook until browned.
4. Add the yoghurt, bay leaves and stock or water and return the fried onions to the pan.
5. Bring to the boil, reduce the heat, cover with a tight-fitting lid and simmer for one and a half to two hours, until the chicken is tender.
6. Remove the pan from the heat, pour in the lemon juice and mix well.
7. Remove the bay leaves and serve with plain boiled rice.
Beef Curry
Ingredients
Serves 4
2 Lbs Diced braising steak
4 Green Cardamom pods
2 Bay leaves
1 Onion sliced
Water
1 Cup of Curry Massalla Gravy-click for recipe
Half of an onion finely chopped
2 Teaspoons Curry Powder
1 Teaspoon Chilli Powder
1 Teaspoon Mustard Powder
1 Finely Chopped Green Finger Chilli
4 Teaspoons Garlic Puree
1 Whole Clove Garlic
2 Teaspoons Ginger Puree
5 Tablespoons Vegetable Oil
4 Tablespoons roughly chopped coriander leaves
1 Tablespoon whole coriander leaves
1 teaspoon Garam Massalla
Seasoned flour
We are now making premium quality toasted and freshly ground curry powders and curry kits, availability is limited due to small scale hand made production but the quality will exceed your expectations.
Method
Dip the meat in a little seasoned flower and brown on all sides a small batch at a time. Put the meat, sliced onion, cardamoms, bay leaves and whole garlic in a casserole dish, cover with water and casserole at 200 degrees for 2 hours. Make a paste of the curry powder, mustard powder and chilli powder with a little water. Fry the onion until translucent in the veg oil then add the garlic, ginger and chilli and stir fry on medium for a further 5 minutes. Add the curry, mustard and chilli powder paste and stir in and fry for a further 30 secs. Add the cooked Meat pieces. Add the Massalla Gravy and simmer for 5 minutes or until the Meat is piping hot again, stirring occasionally. If needed add more massalla gravy and some juice from the casserole to prevent the curry becoming too thick or dry. Now add the finely chopped coriander leaves and cook for a further minute. Serve with the whole coriander leaves sprinkled over the top.
Pasta e fagioli
Serves 4
Preparation time less than 30 mins
Cooking time 10 to 30 mins
Ingredients
2 tbsp olive oil
2 cloves garlic, peeled and finely chopped
1 carrot, diced
2 potatoes, peeled and diced
1 celery stick, diced
1 large tomato, peeled, de-seeded and diced
2 pint/1.2 litre chicken stock
375g/2×13oz tins cannellini or borlotti beans, drained
200g/7oz munnezzaglia, or tubettini – pasta
1 small chilli pepper, finely chopped
2 basil leaves
salt
freshly ground pepper
1 tbsp virgin olive oil
Method
1. Heat the oil and sweat the garlic. Add the vegetables and toss well. Pour in the stock, bring to the boil and simmer for 5 minutes.
2. Add the half the beans. Mash the remaining beans to a pulp with the back of a fork and add to the stock with the pasta, the chilli and the basil.
3. Cook gently for another 8 minutes, stirring from time to time to prevent the mixture sticking.
4. Skim the soup to remove any scum. Taste and add seasoning. Serve with a trickle of virgin olive oil on top.
Here is an easy one..
Serves 1 as main dish.
Ingredients:
8-10 large shrimp.
1 cup of cooked rice (spread out on a plate and let stand in the refrigerator at least 4 hours before using).
1/4 cup of grated carrot.
1 thin slice of a large Spanish or yellow onion, coarsely chopped.
1 large clove of garlic, crushed and minced.
1 Tbsp of soy sauce.
1/2 tsp of fish sauce.
sugar.
salt and pepper.
crushed red pepper flakes (optional)
Preparation:
Place shrimp in a bowl, along with 2 tsp of vegetable oil, minced garlic. Salt and pepper the shrimp, and mix well. Cover with saran wrap and refrigerate at least 1/2 hour before using.
Mix the soy sauce, fish sauce, and the sugar in a small bowl. This is the dressing for the fried rice, and should be on the sweet side.
Take the rice out of the refrigerator and separate the grains (your hand work best). Add the grated carrot and mix into the rice.
Heat a large frying pan on medium (5, on my stove). Pour the shrimp, oil and garlic into the pan. Add the onions to the pan. Saute shrimp till they’re pink, and the meat is white and opaque.
When cooked through, remove the shrimp from the pan, leaving the garlic and onions in the pan. Salt and pepper the onion garlic mixture. Saute till the onions are translucent. Constantly stir to keep the mixture from burning.
Add the rice to the pan and mix the onions and garlic into the rice. Press down into the pan and let it saute for 30 seconds or so. Stir and press down again.
Add the soy sauce dressing along the sides of the pan and stir the rice to evenly mix it into the rice. Add the shrimp back to the rice and mix into the rice.
Serve the fried rice. Sprinkle with chopped green onion, extra soy sauce, wedge of lime.
Note Bene:
1. I like to use raw, frozen, easy peel shrimp, and cook them with the shell on. The shrimp, IMO, have a better flavour when cooked with the shell on. You can remove the shell before adding the shrimp back to the rice.
2. If you’ve never used fish sauce before you may want to use ony 1/4 of a teaspoon. For me, fish sauce is kinda burpy, so expect to enjoy it again and again
Also, fish sauce will be stinky when you add it to the pan. That smell is normal.
3. If you add the crushed red pepper flakes while sauteing the onion mixture. Watch your eyes. The vapours from the sauting pepper is nature’s version of mace!
Baked Ziti
1 lb. Ziti
1 onion, chopped
1 lb. hamburger meat
2 Med. jars of Ragu
6 oz. sliced provolone
1 1/2 C. Sour Cream
6 oz. shredded mozzarella
2 Tbsp. Parmesan cheese
Cook pasta, drain. Brown onion and beef, add Ragu, cook 15 minutes. Preheat oven to 350. Grease 9×13 casserole. Layer 1/2 ziti, provolone, sour cream, 1/2 sauce, remaining ziti, mossarella, remaining sauce and top with parmesan. Bake 30 minutes. Serve with garden salad and garlic bread.
Santa Fe Spaghetti
8 oz. Spaghetti
1 Tbsp. Vegetable oil
12 oz. Chicken strips
1 1/2 tsp. garlic
1 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. coriander
1/2 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. pepper
1/2 ea. green pepper and onion, sliced
1 1/2 cup Salsa
1/2 cup Sour Cream
1 1/2 tsp. cornstarch
1 Tbsp. Cilantro
Cook spaghetti. Heat oil in skillet, add chicken, garlic, cumin, coriander, S&P. Stir 2 minutes. Stir in peppers, onions and salsa. Cook 4 minutes. Combine sour cream and cornstarch in small bowl, stir into pan, cook 2-3 minutes until thickened. Serve over spaghetti and top with cilantro.
i bought a curry book ( indian style) it gives easy curry recipies as well as starters & breads, check your local library/book shop, its amazing what youll find..good luck.
add: i`ll`try & fish it out & give you the name of the book, its a real handy book & everything is simply explained.
heres some
Easy Indian Style Okra
INGREDIENTS
3 tablespoons butter
1 medium onion, chopped
1 pound sliced fresh okra
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
salt to taste
DIRECTIONS
Melt butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onion, and cook until tender. Stir in the okra, and season with cumin, ginger, coriander, pepper and salt. Cook and stir for a few minutes, then reduce the heat to medium-low, and cover the pan. Cook for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally until okra is tender
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Potato and Basmati Rice Pilaf
This delicious side dish is the perfect dish to serve to introduce your family to Indian cuisine.
INGREDIENTS:
2 Tbsp. olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
1 russet potato, peeled an ddiced
1/2 tsp. ground cumin
1 cup basmati rice
2 cups vegetable broth
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup currants
1/4 cup toasted chopped walnuts
1 Tbsp. butter
PREPARATION:
Heat the oil in a heavy skillet and add onion. Cook and stir for a few minutes, then add diced potato. Cook and stir until potatoes are golden, 6-8 minutes. Then stir in cumin and basmati rice; cook and stir for 1-2 minutes until fragrant.
Add vegetable broth and water, bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer for 12-14 minutes until rice is tender. Add currants, walnuts, and butter and stir gently. Serves 4
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Raita
Raita is a cool side dish vegetable salad that helps temper spicy Indian foods.
INGREDIENTS:
1 cup plain yogurt
2 cucumbers, peeled, seeded, and chopped
2 Tbsp. finely chopped fresh mint leaves
2 tomatoes, chopped
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. ground cumin
PREPARATION:
Combine all ingredients in a medium bowl and mix well. Cover and chill for 2-4 hours to blend flavors. Serves 4-6
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Gajar Halwa
1 pound or 6 medium Carrots, scrapped and grated
4 cups Milk, whole or 2%
3/4 th cup Heavy cream
3/4th cup Sugar
6 tablespoons Almonds, ground
1/2 teaspoon Cardamom powder
3 tablespoons Pistachio nuts, coarsely crushed
3 tablespoons Ghee, (optional )
Put the grated carrots, milk and heavy cream into a deep, large, heavy saucepan. Bring it to a boil over high heat, stirring constantly. Reduce the heat to moderate and cook, stirring constantly until the mixture has reduced to about half its original volume and is thick enough to coat a spoon heavily.
Stir in the sugar and cook for about 10 to 15 minutes. Reduce heat to low and add the almonds and the ghee and stir for a few minutes more.
The “halwa “is done when the mixture is thick enough to draw from the sides and bottom of the pan in a solid mass.
Remove the pan and stir in the cardamom. Remove the “halwa “into a decorative serving dish.
Decorate the top with the crushed pistachio nuts. Serve warm or at room temperature
You can prep most of this ahead of time. It’s a nice, light curry soup. Slice up 1 medium yellow onion, add in 4 tbsp. curry powder, 2 cloves of finely diced garlic, salt, pepper and 1/2 very finely diced scotch bonnet pepper. Make sure you wash your hands very well after you cut up the pepper, it’s very hot and will transfer easily to your porous skin parts. If you can’t find scotch bonnet pepper, just find the hottest pepper you can. Make sure this sits together for at least an hour, but Iike mine to sit for at least 24 hours.
Then sautee it on a light heat until the onion mixture until the onions are almost completely tender, but not brown. Then add 1 quart of chicken stock. At this point taste the broth. You might need to add more S & P at this point. Once the pot has come to a smooth boil add the thinnest spaghetti type pasta you can buy. Not alot, maybe about 1/4 of a box. Let the pasta cook. To this add room temp. protein or veggies. Generally I use sliced chicken that I have seasoned with curry or some shrimp, but anything would probably do. Right before you are about to serve add 1 tbsp. each coconut cream and diced cilantro. It’s really good. Mix the rest of the coconut cream with an equal amount of pineapple juice ( a little rum for your hubby if he likes), blend it with frozen pineapple chunks. It’s a nice juxtoposition to the soup.
This is very easy, one pan and a little spicy
No meat in this one
Ingredients:
One packet of ‘golden rice’ or ’savoury rice’ made by most supermarkets or Bachelors
One tin of red kidney beans in chili sauce
Optional ingredients:
handful of almonds
apple
banana
yogurt
Method
If you have almonds its especially tasty if you ‘dry fry’ them over a low heat until they are just going brown (you can use the same pan, just do it before you cook the rice and tip them out when they are cooked). Then once the rest is done, stir the almonds in.
Open the rice, tearing just the top off, tip it into the pan, take the pack and almost fill it with water (about 1cm from top), add the water to the rice, bring to the boil then simmer, (if you have an apple, cut it up into chunks and add it when there is still some water left in) when the water has gone add the chili beans and heat through, add the almonds if wanted, stir and serve.
Pour into bowls or plates
If you have a banana chop it over the top. And or yogurt.
Or peanuts if you like (yogurt banana and peanuts go well)
Eat and enjoy!