Lamb Dhansak

Once again I am very sorry, I do seem to keep disappearing at the moment. My writing bug seems to have died, I had even stopped writing to my best friend who I normally write to daily.

It appears to be back though and I promise I will be here for at least a few days

Something seems to be working for me at the moment as I managed to lose an astonishing 4lb which pushed me nicely over my 2stone barrier I have been stuck behind for weeks. I’m extremely pleased and more motivated than ever. So YAY!!

My best friend comes home in 6.5 weeks and I am hoping to loose another 11lb by then, we are going to be throwing her a surprise welcome home party and would love to have lost 3st in total by then. We will see!

The below recipe was nice but I would advise that only people who like lentils make it, you could definitely taste them quite strong through the recipe.

It was extremely filling and was great served with just a chapatti or a naan bread.

I cooked mine in my slow cooker as I was going out for the day, so it’s pretty versatile and the lamb was lovely and tender.

 

Pro Points Per Serving: 8

Plus some sort of Indian bread!

Serves: 4

Prep Time: 20 Minutes

Cooking Time: 2 Hours

 

Ingredients:

100g Red Lentils

500g Butternut Squash, Peeled & Chopped Into Chunks

2 Onions, Roughly Chopped

400g Tin Chopped Tomatoes

1 Teaspoon Turmeric

1.5 Teaspoons Cumin Seeds

1.5 Teaspoons Coriander Seeds

4 Cardamom Pods, Squashed

400g Lean Diced Lamb

2 Inch Root Ginger

4 Garlic Cloves

2-3 Green Chilli’s, De-seeded and finely chopped

1 Teaspoon Garam Masala

Small Bunch Coriander, Roughly Chopped

 

Method:

1. Put the lentils, squash, onion and tomatoes in a pan with the turmeric and 1 tsp salt.
2. Add water to just cover, then simmer gently for about 20 minutes until the lentils are tender.
3. Put the cumin, coriander and cardamom in a small pan and toast until fragrant.
4. Grind in a pestle and mortar or spice grinder.
5. Heat a few sprays of low fat cooking oil in a pan, add the lamb in batches and brown all over.
6. Scoop the meat out then pop to one side.
7. Add the ground spices to the same pan. Cook for 2 minutes then stir in the ginger, garlic and chillies.
8. Cook for a few minutes then add the lamb, lentils and squash and 200ml more water. Cover and simmer for 1 hour 30 minutes (remove cover for final 30 minutes) or until the lamb is completely tender and sauce thickened.
9. Stir in the garam masala and coriander and serve with naan bread or chapatis.

 

I have a good 5 stunning recipes for you guys to try, I will post them up over the following few days. I hope that you are enjoying the stunning weather and making the most of it. Don’t forget that sun is great for your skin but always be careful and use SPF.

Happy Cooking

Sarah xx

 

 

Pork Shoulders With Cider & Creme Fraiche

Hi Guys

I am still alive, for some reason over the last week my writing head has not been functioning!! I have been tinkering in the kitchen still though so I have some nice recipes for you.

As most of you will know, my other half cant stand any meat that isn’t chicken, so getting him to eat something else can be abit of a mission to be honest.

I am slowly succeeding though and he is eating a more varied diet which can only be good for him, its certainly good for me as sometimes I want to never see chicken again. Not that I don’t love chicken, it is immensely versatile and delicious but not every day

This recipe was very simple and I think would work really well in a slow cooker too so I am going to try it at some point!

 

Slow Braised Pork Shoulders With Cider & Creme Fraiche

Pro Points Per Serving: 11

You will also need to point any potatoes etc that you serve with it.

Serves: 4

Prep Time: 15 Minutes

Cooking Time: 1 hour 45 minutes

 

Ingredients:

4 Pork Shoulder Steaks, About 800g

Low Fat Cooking Spray

1 Large Onion, Roughly Chopped

300ml Cider

2 Bay Leaves

4 Tablespoons WW Creme Fraiche

2 Teaspoons Dijon Mustard

Small Bunch Fresh Parsley, Chopped

 

Method:

1. Spray a large frying pan with your cooking spray and heat to high.
2. Fry off the shoulder steaks on each side until golden brown.
3. Heat your oven to 160 degrees fan.
4. Remove the steaks carefully leaving any juices in the pan and poop them into an ovenproof dish with a lid.
5. Add the onions to the pan with the pork juices and fry off until softened and golden.
6. Pour in the cider and add the bay leaves. Scrap the bottom of your pan carefully with a wooden or silicone spatula to remove any goodness that might be stuck to the bottom.
7. Pour the cider and onion mixture over your steaks in the ovenproof dish. Place in the heated oven for 1 1/2 hours.
8. After the 1 1/2 h0urs, stir in the creme fraiche, mustard and parsley.
9. Cook for another 5 minutes.
10. Serve with potatoes and green veg.

 

I served mine with some mash potato and it was really lovely, my other half  liked it even though it was pork!

Last nights tea was a slow cooker Lamb Dhansak which will I pop up for your this evening.

Happy Cooking

Sarah xx

Chinese Beef With Tomatoes

Evening Guys,

So here it is…. My Chinese masterpiece and my take-away favourite.

I served this over boiled rice to keep the points to a low, but Iwould usually have this with egg fried rice and sesame prawn toast if I was to have it from the take-away.

 

Chinese Beef With Tomato

Pro Points Per Serving: 5

Serves: 4

Prep Time: 10 Minutes Plus Marination

Cooking Time: 15-20 Minutes

 

Ingredients:

400g Lean Beef Steak, Cut Into Thin Strips

2 Teaspoons Oil

4 Medium Tomatoes, Cut Into Wedges

1 Medium Onion, Cut Into Wedges And Layers Peeled Apart

Marinade:

1 Tablespoon Dark Soy Sauce

1 Tablespoon Water

1/2 Teaspoon Sugar

Black Pepper

2 Teaspoons Cornflour

Sauce:

2 Teaspoons Light Soy Sauce

1 Teaspoon Sugar

2 Tablespoons Oyster Sauce

2 Tablespoons Tomato Ketchup

 

Method:

1. In a large bowl mix together the dark soy sauce, sugar, salt and a touch of pepper. In a small bowl ur just pop your 2 teaspoons of cornflour, pour in your tablespoon of water and stir until all of the cornflour has desolved. Stir your cornflour mix into your soy sauce mix.
2. Stir your beef into your marinade mix and make sure it coats. Leave for 30 minutes at least or up to overnight.
3. Whilst waiting for your beef, combine all of the ingredients for the sauce and stir well. Pop to one side.
4.  Heat 2 teaspoons of oil in a wok or large frying pan, until hot!
5. Tip in your beef and marinade if any is left over. Fry off until the beef is browned but not completely cooked through.
6. Remove from the pan with a slotted spoon. Leave any juices in the pan.
7. Tip in your onions and tomatoes with a good splash of water and cook off until your tomatoes and onions have softened slighty.
8. Place your beef back into the pan and stir in the sauce. Continue to cook until the sauce is hot.
9. Serve over rice!

 

Amazing!! If you want it a little sweeter, add another tablespoon of tomato ketchup for the same pro points…

I am now on a mission to learn how to make sesame prawn toast

Give this recipe a try if you like your chinese food!

Happy Cooking

Sarah xx

Yogurt Spiced Chicken With Almond & Coriander Rice

Evening Guys

How is everybody?

For tea the other evening I made this for me and my other half and it very tasty

It was lovely and filling, it also had masses of flavour and was delicious served with some mango chutney!

This recipe will definitely be made again, it was so quick to cook and really nice.

At my meeting this morning, I asked my lovely leader how to point marinades… I have come across this issue a few times now so I wanted to ask just to make sure.

Her answer was that if the marinade is to be discarded and not used in the cooking, to point the marinade separately to the rest of the dish and then to half it!! Then to add the extra points to the rest of the dish.

Obviously this only works if you are discarding at least half of the marinade. If your marinade is just enough to coat your meat then obviously point all of it!

So with the marinade pointage taken into consideration this recipe is 13 Pro Points per serving, but it was a nice sized portion so I feel it is worth the points…

 

Pro Points Per Serving: 13

Serves: 2

Prep Time: 5 Minutes Plus Marinating

Cooking Time: 25 Minutes

 

Ingredients:

150ml Fat Free Yogurt

1 Tablespoon Any Indian Curry Paste

2 Chicken Breasts, Butterflied or Flattened Out

1 Teaspoon ow Fat Spread

1 Onion, Diced

3 Cardamom Pods, Squashed Slightly

125g Basmati Rice, Dried

350ml Chicken Stock (Made With 1 Stock Cube)

1 Tablespoon Sliced Almonds

1 Red Chilli, De-seeded & Finely Diced

1/2 Bunch Fresh Coriander, Chopped

 

Method:

1. Mix the yogurt and curry paste and toss with the chicken breasts. Leave to marinade for as long as possible. This isn’t essential but gives the chicken extra flavour.
2. Heat the low fat spread in a wide shallow pan with a lid. Cook the onion and cardamom for 5 minutes then tip in the rice and stock.
3. Bring to a simmer, cover and cook until all the stock is absorbed and the rice is tender (you might need to add a little more water if it dries out quickly).
4. Griddle or grill the chicken breasts until golden and cooked through. Stir the almonds, chilli and coriander through the rice.
5. Serve the breasts on top of the rice with some mango chutney.

 

So simple, yet really good! The chilli isn’t hot at all so don’t be afraid to use it!

Tomorrows recipe is probably my finest cooking accomplishment to date. Since I was young if we ever went to the Chinese or had a take-away I would always order Chinese Beef With Tomatoes. I love it, I don’t think I will ever order anything else, if I do ever both to order again!!!

I hate tomatoes raw, or grilled or anything along those lines, so why I love beef with tomatoes who knows, but I do! About a week ago I decided I wanted to have a go at making my own beef with tomatoes so started googling. I found 2 recipes which both claimed to be for this dish but were totally different. So I decided I would attempt to make an amalgamation of the 2 and thought I would tweak it whilst cooking if it wasn’t close enough to what I wanted.

Well tonight, I created my masterpiece! It was pretty much exactly the same as what you get in the Chinese and I am sure half the points. It was gorgeous and I was blown away when I tasted it as to how close it really is!!

Even my partner polished off the whole plate including the chunks of tomato, which for him is a miracle in itself. Now I just need to learn to make Sesame Prawn Toast and I will never have to go to the Chinese again.

Anyways, ta ta for now.

Happy Cooking

Sarah xx

Chilequiles (Mexican Lasagna)

Good Evening

How is everybody at the moment?

I have a poorly puppy dog at the moment who is freaking out when left on her own, so on Thursday I missed my weigh in it hasn’t bothered me too much, I am still very much on track even though I went to Nando’s last night which is my favourite food establishment ever and I could seriously ruin my week if I wasn’t in the right mood! But all was good, I pointed what I was going to have before I even got there and if I am honest, I was abit of a piggy and pointed for a nice big meal as I knew it was inevitable I was going to have one!!!

Tonight I was back in the kitchen though and it was nice, I haven’t been doing masses of cooking of late and I don’t like it lol!

The recipe for this evening was one that I found on an American recipe website and the lady said that she makes it with her children, but after reading the ingredients list I thought it was something I wanted to try. I do love to cook things that sound abit bizarre, even if it is just to see if it tastes just as bizarre!

I have to admit, this doesn’t taste weird at all it was very nice! I was a little concerned it would fall apart whilst I tried to scoop it out of the dish, but it stuck together perfectly and came out as a very well presented rectangle. Bonus!

If I made it again I would add more spices to it, but I will write down here what the recipe calls for and then people can tinker with it as much as they want

I would recommend that you use Weight Watchers tortilla wraps if you can find them, I used Tesco’s Light Choices ones but believe it or not, just by using them over the WW ones it added a whole 4 Pro Points per serving!!!!

 

Chilequiles

Pro Points Per Serving: 9

Serves: 4

Prep Time: 15 Minutes

Cooking Time: 30 Minutes

 

Ingredients: 

3/4 Cup Onion, Finely Chopped

Low Fat Cooking Spray

2-3 Large Cloves Garlic, Crushed

3 Cups Courgette, Grated (About 3 Courgettes)

8 Tortilla Wraps (WW If Possible)

240g Half Fat Mature Cheddar Cheese, Grated

400g Can Chopped Tomatoes

3/4 Teaspoon Cumin

1/2 Teaspoon Ground Coriander

 

Method:

1. Heat your oven to 175 degrees fan.
2. Spray a largish frying pan with you cooking spray and heat to a medium temperature. Sauté the onion in the pan for 3-4 minutes or until softened.
3. Add to the pan, the garlic, courgette and a good sprinkling of salt and pepper. Sauté for another 5 minutes and then remove from the heat and pop to one side.
4. Spray a large oven proof dish with your cooking spray, you need to make sure the edges are well sprayed so that they cheese wont weld to the edge.
5. Tear the tortilla wraps into bite sized pieces and put them into your sprayed dish. To create a layer across the bottom. (This was a little tedious so maybe some willing little helpers could do this.)
6. Top the tortilla with half of the grated cheese.
7. Top the grated cheese with your courgette mixture.
8. In a blender or with a stick blender, pulse together the can of tomatoes and the 2 spices to make a cooking sauce.
9. Pour this sauce over the tortillas, cheese and courgettes. Spread across the top so it is evenly distributed.
10. Sprinkle over the rest of the cheese.
11. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until bubbly and the cheese is starting to brown.

I served mine with a salad and a little soured cream which was lovely I also “built” this early on this morning and didn’t bake it until this evening and it didn’t affect it so is something you can prepare in advance and then only takes 25 minutes to cook.

I did use my food processor to do all of the grating in this recipe so it was pretty easy, but may take a little while if you have to do it by hand, so good luck!!

Happy Cooking

Sarah xx

Greek Cod Cakes

Good Evening My Guys

This evening I managed to get my boyfriend to eat yet another strange ingredient to his palate!!

This is only the second time I have ever managed to get him to eat fish and the first time he complained, but this evening he said that he would eat it again which is always a good sign.

They were a tiny bit fiddly to make but were worth it. I served ours with just a nice salad and the sauce that is included in the recipe below. It was really filling!

This recipe makes 8 patties so you could have 2 each as part of a meal or have 4 each and add to salad etc.

The sauce was very nice but I thought the dill was a little overpowering, so next time I would leave that out, or at least reduce it.

 

Pro Points Per Serving: 

For 4 Cakes – 9

For 2 Cakes – 5

For 1/2 Sauce – 3

For 1/4 Sauce – 1

 

Serves: 2 Or 4

Prep Time: 15 Minutes

Cooking Time: 15 Minutes

 

Ingredients:

400g Cod Fillets (Raw Weight)

50g Panko Breadcrumbs

2 Tablespoons Fresh Parsley, Finely Chopped

1 Tablespoon Onion, Finely Diced

1/2 Teaspoon Salt

1/2 Teaspoon Ground Black Pepper

1 Large Egg

1 Large Egg White

1 Garlic Cloves, Crushed

1 Tablespoon Lemon Juice

1 Tablespoon Olive Oil

 

Sauce:

70g Light Mayonnaise

1 Tablespoon Parsley, Finely Chopped

Up To 1 Teaspoon Fresh Dill, Finely Chopped

1 Teaspoon Dijon Mustard

1 Teaspoon Lemon Juice

1 Garlic Clove, Crushed

1/4 Teaspoon Ground Black Pepper

 

Method:

1. In a large saucepan with a lid, fill up to half way with water and pop on the heat. Once the water is simmering, place your cod fillets in the water and simmer for 5-6 minutes or until the cod will flake apart. Once at this stage, drain well and leave to cool slightly.
2. Whilst waiting for your cod, create your sauce by mixing together all of the ingredients. Try not to add the lemon until right before serving.
3. In a large bowl combine the – panko breadcrumbs, parsley, onion, salt, pepper and garlic.
4. Flake the fish apart and add to the rest of the ingredients. Tip your lemon juice in also. Mix well to evenly combine all ingredients!
5. Add to the mixture your whole egg and egg white and stir until the mixture comes together.
6. Divide into 8 even sized balls. Press down on the balls to create a patty shape.
7. Heat your tablespoon of oil in a non stick frying pan. It needs be medium/high temperature.
8. Place your patties into your oil and fry off until golden. Turn occasionally so that they cook evenly.
9. Once golden and crispy, serve with the sauce.

 

I did try these at first just using the low calorie spray but the patties were just falling apart and going dark brown not golden, so I would advise using the oil.

You can also add 1 teaspoon grated lemon rind to the cake mixture but I left this out as I am not a fan of lemon. If you do decide to add this, pop it in along with the breadcrumbs etc before adding the cod.

Another light summery dish for this lovely weather we are having… Not lol! But give it a try it might brighten your day.

Happy Cooking

Sarah xx

 

Mustard Casserole

This evening I feel a little cheeky

As usual, I cooked this evening for me and my other half. But as he has been fiddling around most of the day with a broken TV I have had the kitchen completely to myself. This meal has been planned for over a week now but he hasn’t mentioned anything so I am assuming he just never took any notice of what was on the fridge.

Usually if my partner hears the word mustard or parsnip he pulls faces and refuses to even try the dish. Tonight I managed to get one on him though

This has been cooking in the slow cooker for about 7 hours so it was all prepared and hidden away cooking before he could even ask what we were having!

Other than chicken, the 2 main ingredients in this dish are parsnips and as you can tell by the name – mustard!

I served it with some mash potato and it was delicious, really warming and filling also! Perfect for this rubbish rainy weather.

Well after polishing off his entire portion he looked at me and said – “I really enjoyed that, I could eat it again”

SCORE!!! After telling him what was in it, he was really surprised but he said again that he really liked it. I am glad to be honest, as now in the future I think he will be more than happy to at least try meals that include these ingredients…

Even if you don’t like mustard I would still urge you to give this a go, it was incredibly easy and involved very little preparation. You could set this on before going to work in the morning or going out for the day and come home to a lovely hot meal.

This doesn’t have to be cooked in a slow cooker though so feel free to cook it however you feel!

 

Pro Points Per Serving: 9

You will also need to point any potatoes etc you wish to serve with this!

Serves: 4

Prep Time: 25 Minutes Plus Marinating

Cooking Time:

In Oven – 90 Minutes

In Slow Cooker – 4-8 Hours

 

Ingredients:

Low Fat Cooking Spray

2 Tablespoons Wholegrain Mustard

1 Tablespoon English Mustard

2 Tablespoons Clear Honey

6 Chicken Thighs, Skin & Bone Off

2 Onions, Roughly Chopped

300g Parsnips, Peeled & Roughly Chopped

1 Teaspoon Dried Thyme

600ml Chicken Stock (For Slow Cooker) OR 900ml Chicken Stock (For Oven)

Flat Leaf Parsley, Finely Chopped

 

Method:

1. Mix together both of the mustards in a large bowl and stir in the honey until well combined. Season your chicken thighs with salt and black pepper, then pop them in the mustard mixture. Stir well to coat the thighs.
2. Cover the thighs and leave to marinate for at least 30 minutes, the longer the better though!
3. If you are using your slow cooker, pre-heat it to high. If cooking in an oven pre-heat your oven to 160 degrees/ 140 degrees fan / gas mark 3.
4. Spray a large pan with your low-fat cooking spray and pop on the heat to heat to high.
5. Once your pan is nice and hot, remove your chicken from its mustard mixture with a pair of tongs, but keep the excess mixture.
6. Pop your chicken thighs in your hot pan and fry off, but turn regularly as the honey in the mixture will cause it to blacken quite quickly! Fry off until nice and golden.
7. Once nice and golden, remove the chicken and pop it back in into the excess mustard mixture.
8. Add the onions to the same pan you fried the chicken off in. Toss them around in the pan to coat in any juices. Stir well to scrape up any sticky bits from the bottom of the pan, then add the parsnips and thyme.
9. If using a slow cooker, place the chicken in the slow cooker, tip over the onion and parsnip mixture then pour over your stock. Stir in any of the excess mustard marinade.
10. Season, cover with the lid and cook for – LOW 6-8 hours OR HIGH 3-4 hours.
11. If using the oven. Get a casserole dish large enough, follow step 9 and cook for 1 1/2 hours and check occasionally that it’s not drying out, if it is a little top up with some hot water.
12. Before serving, stir in a small handful of fresh chopped parsley. Serve with potatoes and veg if desired!

 

Hopefully that makes sense!

Give it a try, it really was great and as you can see above even very fussy people will eat it.

Happy Cooking

Sarah xx

Spiced Potato Soup

Good Afternoon

How is everybody?

The weekend is rapidly approaching us again which is always good! Not always so good for weight loss though is it…

It was my weigh in this morning and I lost 1lb, not masses but still a triumph as the last 2 weeks or so I had lost my mojo.

Thankfully it is back now and I am feeling refreshed and ready to pound it hard. Upon entering my weight loss for this week into the WW online weight tracker I lost yet another point honestly I was quite annoyed. As you are all probably aware, 26 in the lowest number of points you can now have on WW. Well I am now supposed to be having 26 a day.

I am on the other hand going to be rebellious as I am finding it abit of a challenge with 27 nevermind 26 and the fact I still have another 3 stone 5 lb to lose before my goal. I am no expert but I do know that weight loss tends to slow down slightly towards the end. If I am on 26 now I will have no-more left to drop if I do get stuck at any point in the next 3 stone.

I have decided that for the next few weeks at least, I will stick to 27, if I stop loosing weight I will drop it then. I do on the other hand think that due to the fact that I have tripled my exercise intake lol, I will continue to lose on 27. Wish me luck as I really don’t want to drop it yet!

Back to the recipe though

This recipe is one I came across a few weeks ago when I had a mass of vegetables I was trying to use up so me and my partner had a mammoth soup making session. We made 3 in total which all tasted very nice, unfortunately after freezing the butternut squash based one it came out very lumpy and pretty horrible. The other 2 came out great though.

I am not a huge soup fan and tend to not find it satisfying in the least, but….

This soup is divine! It’s thick, creamy, luxurious and totally full of flavour. I serve mine with 2 slices of Danish bread and this is then enough for a main meal for me! It isn’t exactly low pointed but is worth it.

 

Pro Points Per Serving:

When Serving 5 – 5 Pro Points

When Serving 4 – 6 Pro Points

Serves: 4/5

Prep Time: 10 Minutes

Cooking Time: 30 Minutes

 

Ingredients:

1 Tablespoon Oil

20g Low Fat Spread ( I Used Utterly Butterly )

1 Large Onion, Roughly Chopped

1 Tablespoon Medium Curry Powder ( 1 1/2 Tablespoons if you want it with a little kick – same points)

2 Large Baking Potatoes, Cubed (Roughly 575g)

500ml Skimmed Milk

500ml Water

1 Vegetable Stock Cube ( I Used Oxo )

1 Teaspoon Mango Chutney

 

Method:

1. Warm the oil and the butter together in a large saucepan, once the butter has melted add the chopped onion. Cover with a lid and cook over a medium heat for a few minutes until softened.
2. Add the curry powder and potato and continue to cook for a further 5-10 minutes.
3. Pour the milk and 500ml of water over the potatoes and sprinkle in the vegetable stock cube.
4. Bring to a summer and cook fir 15-2o minutes or until the potatoes are cooked through.
5. Season with a pinch of salt and pop in your teaspoon of mango chutney.
6. Either blitz in a blender or with a stick blender until silky smooth.
7. Spoon into bowls and serve or freeze.

 

This soup was so easy to make and is really tasty, I actually look forward to eating it which I have never said about a soup before.

Even when I defrost this and reheat in the microwave it still tastes just as good.

Simple yet effective!

Happy Cooking

Sarah xx

 

30 Day Challenge

I am not sure if any of you guys use the Weight Watchers message boards on their site at all, but I do occasionally.

Quite a lot recently I have been coming across blogs or posts regarding “The 30 Day Shred” it is the lady off The Biggest Losers exercise DVD thing. I don’t know to be honest; I have never really been a fan of exercise videos after being made do them with my mum and sister when I was younger. Rosemary Connelly is a thing of nightmares for me lol.

All I know is that the idea of the DVD is to follow it for 30 days straight and it’s supposed to “Shred” you lol, tone you up etc etc! Now I know for a FACT that there is no way I would stick to any exercise video for 30 days straight as I just find them terrible, but I do love my Xbox Kinect and the various energetic games you can buy for it.

Last night my other half surprised me with the new Zumba Rush game for it, which I have wanted for a few weeks now. This is basically just a Zumba class in your own living room, but a little more fun as you can choose what style of music, style of dance etc that you wish to do. It also gives you the chance to perfect the moves before doing the routine, which is useful for people who don’t pick things up as quickly as others!

When my partner presented me with it, I had a little idea of my own. For the next 30 days I am going to do at least 30 minutes of Zumba each day! Starting as of today!

Before I started this morning I roped my other half into taking detailed measurements of my body. After the 30 days of Zumba-ing he will do the same again and I will compare and see if I have lost any inches or toned on any areas of my body.

I have done my 30 minutes this morning and might do it again tonight!

I will also obviously be sticking to the plan and seeing if it affects my weight loss at all.

Is anybody else trying to “move” more recently? If so what are your chosen activities?

Sarah xx

 

Mogul Style Chicken Korma

Evening Ladies & Gentlemen!

How has everybody’s day been?

This weather is completely terrible isn’t it…? In the glimpse of sunshine that we had this morning/afternoon I decided to take a walk to our local post office to post of a letter to my other housemate who is away at the moment.

Now I live in a beautiful new house, on a beautiful brand new estate, with beautiful people and my local post office is a 3-4 minute walk from our house. The problem is, when you step off our estate, it isn’t so beautiful and our area can be pretty grim. Two minutes after I left my house I was walking down the road with my little doggy and had some young “man” if you could even give him the credit of being a man, shouted out of his van window at me – “Fat Slag!”

As far as I am aware, walking down the road in trainers, jeans and a cardigan does not give the impression that I am a slag, but oh well. It just riles me incredibly that people think they have the right to comment on somebody or something that has no connection to them what so ever! I have to admit that this didn’t upset me at all and I just carried on walking, living in a town that is filled with immature people you sort of get used to this. It did however irritate me – Why on earth do people feel the need to put other people down? And since when were people who wear a size 12 classed as fat?

Anyway back to why we are all here! On Saturday evening I cooked a curry from scratch which I found on the Channel 4 Food website. It was a recipe from Aktar Islam, which some of you might know as the head chef at Lasan.

If you don’t know, Aktar and Lasan won Gordon Ramsey’s Britain’s Best Restaurant a couple of years ago after beating many others to the title. I have actually been to Lasan myself and eaten some of this chef’s amazing food; he really is a genius when it comes to modern Indian cuisine. Not only this but the restaurant was also awarded a “Healthiest Restaurant” award in 2o09 by Men’s Health.

This recipe is for a healthy Chicken Korma recipe. It is not quite what you expect from a chicken korma and I assume that it is probably closer to a traditional Indian Korma than the ones we are served up in most Indians.

Whilst making it I was quite amused as it calls for Madras curry powder, which is one of the hotter dishes and it also calls for 3 large dried chillies. I kept thinking to myself, this is never going to be mild like a Korma, but it was!!

The smell of this whilst it was cooking was almost unbearable, I wanted to jump in the pot with it and gobble it all up. I certainly didn’t want to wait for it to finish cooking.

When we finally got round to eating it, it was very nice, mild yet flavoursome and different to curries that I have had before.

I actually purchased a Lasan cookbook whilst I was at a food show in Birmingham a while back and have used it a few times so I am now accustomed to some of the strange ingredients that Aktar uses in his cooking. I am pretty certain there WILL be ingredients in this list that you have never heard of and certainly haven’t used before.

You are also not going to be able to buy these in your standard grocery store. If you would like to try the recipe and are wondering where to buy them from, this is where I use for alot of ingredients – http://www.theasiancookshop.co.uk/index.asp

I will be posting other recipes that do call for these ingredients, so if you do fancy getting a couple to try out. I can help you use them up. They are also extremely reasonable prices.

 

Pro Points Per Serving: 8

You will also need to point any rice or naan you serve with this dish.

Serves: 4

Prep Time: 15 Minutes

Cooking Time: 20 Minutes

 

Ingredients:

2 Tablespoons Cashew Nuts

1 Tablespoon Vegetable Oil
5 Black Peppercorns
5cm Piece Cassia Bark
2 Cassia Leaves
3 Green Cardamoms
3 Large Whole Sundried Chillies
3 Onions, Finely Chopped
4 Large Cloves Garlic, Crushed
5cm Piece Root Ginger, Finely Grated
¾ Teaspoon Salt
1½ Teaspoon Ground Coriander

½ Teaspoon Garam Masala
1 Teaspoon Madras Curry Powder
1 Teaspoon Ground Cumin
4 Chicken Breasts, Cut Into Large Chunks
2 Teaspoons Brown Sugar
250ml 0% Fat Yoghurt, Whisked
Pinch Of Saffron, Mixed With 25ml Warm Milk
75ml Water

 

Method:

1. Toast the cashew nuts in a dry pan, then add 50ml of water and purée using a pestle and mortar. Set aside.
2. Heat the oil over moderate heat in a medium/large sized pot, then add the black peppercorns, cassia bark and leaves, cardamom and dried chillies. Once the chillies puff up slightly add the onions and sauté slowly until softened and caramelised, about 6-8 minutes. Add the garlic and grated ginger. Mix well.
3. Reduce the heat then add the salt, ground coriander, curry powder and ground cumin and garam masala. Cook the spices out for 2 minutes then add the chicken and coat well.
4. Add the brown sugar and cashew nut purée then pour in the whisked yoghurt slowly in small amounts. Add the water and bring up to a fast simmer, then add the saffron and milk.
5. Stir, cover and simmer over a moderate heat for 20 minutes. Adjust the seasoning before serving.

 

As I mentioned above, there are 2 ingredients in this recipe which aren’t very well know. These are Cassia Bark (looks just like cinnamon sticks but has a completely different taste and smell) and Cassia Leaves!!

If you do decide to purchase some of these from the above website, when looking for the cassia leaves, in the search bar type Tej Patta this will bring up an item called Indian Bay Leaves, these ARE cassia leaves but for some reason they have changed the name on the website. Also do not be put out by the name, although called Indian Bay Leaves, these are not the standard bay leaves we can purchase in our local supermarket!!

If anybody does have any questions about these spices I will answer as much as I can

Happy Cooking

Sarah xx