Anzac Biscuits

Tomorrow is Australia Day and Debs is excited! We are having A&P& Godzilla over for a BBQ tea. Nothing outrageous as it's a school night. Today, in preparation, Debs and I made Anzac Biscuits. They turned out very well. Debs likes them. A lot.
So here is the recipe I used. Pretty standard one.

1 cup plain flour
1 cup brown sugar (though regular works too)
1 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup coconut
125 g butter, melted
2 tablespoons golden syrup
1 tablespoon water
1/2 teaspoon bi carb soda

Preheat your oven to 175 degrees C. (I need 160 on mine so test your oven)
Mix the flour, sugar, oats and coconut together.
Melt butter in a saucepan, add syrup and water and mix well.
Add bicarb soda and wait till it foams then mix in with the flour mixture in the bowl.
Roll into balls about the size of a walnut, and place them, well spaced on a tray.
Bake for 12 - 15 minutes, cool on tray then put on a cooling rack.
If you like them chewy, err on the 12 minutes side, if you like them crunchy, add a little more golden syrup.
Makes about 24.

Mulligatawny Soup

It is wet and windy here. So we are stuck indoors and it is soup weather. KISA wanted me to try a mulligatawny as he had one in Tasmania and loved it. So I googled it and found this one. Tweaked it, he loved it so now it is appearing here for you all to try.

Mulligatawny Soup

3 tablespoons butter
2 onions, chopped
1 large carrot, chopped
1 stick celery, chopped
1/2 green capsicum, chopped
1/4 cup flour
1 tablespoon curry powder
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg, ground
1 litre chicken stock
1 teaspoon salt
good grind black pepper
2 sprigs parsley, whole
1 tin tomatoes
3 chicken thigh fillets, chopped, or 1 cup cooked chicken if you have some leftover
1/2 cup cream
1 cup cooked rice

Melt butter and stir fry onions, carrot, celery and capsicum fo 10 minutes. Add the flour and curry powder and nutmeg and stir fory for a minute or so. Add stock, salt, pepper, and tomatoes. Add raw chicken if using, simmer for an hour. Remove the parsley sprigs.
Blend soup, add cooked chicken if using instead of raw, add cream and warm through a little. Add rice and serve.
I served with the garlic bread. I was popular.

Golden Syrup Dumplings

Tonight, the last night of my forties, we decided to have dessert for dinner. Debs idea, all her fault. So I cooked up an Australian Speciality...Golden Syrup Dumplings. Dedicated to our resident backpacker, Deborah.

2 cups water
1/2 cup golden syrup
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons butter

1 cup self raising flour
30g butter, cubed
1 egg
1/4 cup milk

Heat syrup ingredients in frypan slowly till simmering, ensuring sugar dissolves and it doesn't burn.
Rub butter into the flour till like breadcrums, add egg and milk, and mix gently to a dough. Divide into 8 sections and gently roll into balls. Don't over handle the dough or they get tough.
Drop balls of dough into simmering syrup, simmer 5 minutes, then turn dumplings and simmer 5 minutes more.
Serve with ice cream or cream. Ice cream is better in my opinion.

Secret Family Recipe...(Don't tell anyone!)

Mango Chutney

This is a bit of a Christmas tradition here in North Queensland. We eat it with our Christmas ham and make it around this time of year, when the mangoes come on. This is my grandmothers recipe. I am posting this for Jenny. Let me know how it goes Jen!

4 kg green mango flesh (texture of potatoes), sliced then pulsed in food processor till bits are the size you like
4 kg sugar
500g raisins, pulsed in food processor*
250g garlic cloves (about 4 knobs), pulsed in food processor
500g dates, pulsed in food processor
500g crystallised ginger, pulsed in food processor
250g salt , err on less some batches can taste a bit salty
1.8 litres brown (malt) vinegar
8 - 10 birdeye chillis
Makes about 16 assorted jars.
Prepare jars by washing in hot soapy water and heating in 120 degree oven about 30 minutes. Boil lids for 10 minutes. Do this while chutney is simmering.
Put all ingredients into a big stock pot. If you aren't sure if yours is big enough make a half recipe, chances are it isn't. I need to do this in two batches.
Bring to boil slowly then simmer about an hour. Test by putting a teaspoon full on a saucer and popping in freezer for a couple of minutes. If you can run a finger through it when cold and it leaves a gap then it is jelled and done. Bottle while still hot. Invert bottles for a minute after putting lids on then up the right way to cool. If they have those poppy lids they will eventually pop on. Will keep in the pantry at least 5 years.
(Hint, you can buy jam funnels at House, these make it SO much easier to bottle jam, though are about $15. You need to sterilise that too, and the ladle etc.
* If you don't have a food processor, put on a good dvd and make yourself comfortable. You will be chopping for a long time.

Smoked Salmon with Avocado Salsa and Prawns

This recipe is attributed to Kaye and she posted it in Best Recipes.com.au. I don't know Kaye but her last name isn't mentioned. This is a very yummy starter so thank you Kaye!
It serves 8 as an starter.

500g smoked salmon (but I used 330 g and that was plenty, Kaye must love the stuff!)
16 small cooked prawns
Salsa:
3 medium roma tomoatoes, seeded and finely chopped
2 large avocadoes, finely chopped
1 small (80g) red onion, finely chopped
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh chives
1 teaspoon grated lemon rind
2 tablespoons lemon juice
salt and pepper
Dressing:
1/4 cup olive oil
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon fresh chives
salt and pepper

Line 8 little rammekin dishes (about 1/3 cup) with plastic wrap making sure there is about 3cm above the edge. (Kaye says to use muffin tins, I chose the rammekins)
Comine all the salsa ingredients and mix gently.
Trim a slice of smoked salmon slightly larger than the base of a rammekin.
Top with 1 tablespoon of salsa and top with salmon trimmings.
Top with another tablespoon of salsa, and cover top with salmon. This should fill a rammekin.
Fold over the plastic wrap to seal.
Repeat till all rammekins are used.
Eat up any leftover bits as they are delicious!
Put in the fridge several hours or overnight.
Combine all the dressing ingredients in a jar and shake well.
Just before serving turn out salad, it should hold its shape, onto a plate.
Add two prawns, peeled with tails intact to the top, drizzle with the dressing, making a few drops around as well to look pretty.
Serve and enjoy!

Cheats Chicken Pasta

I made this last night out of what was in the cupboard. I call it cheats because it uses tinned stuff, but sometimes cheating is a good thing. It was searingly hot yesterday and my face was swollen with some allergy so cooking was not high on my list.

1 onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, chopped
1 jalapeno pepper, chopped (optional for the sooks)
1 tablespoon oil
1 tin Campbells Cream of Chicken Soup (or any cream of something soup would work too)
half soup can milk
1 jar hot taco sauce (or mild or medium)
1/3 taco jar water
6 - 8 mushrooms, sliced
handful baby spinach leaves (had them in the fridge - frozen peas would be a second choice)
chopped leftover cooked chicken meat
2 cups pasta spirals

Boil pasta, drain. Heat oil and fry up onion till soft, then add garlic and jalapeno. When all delicious looking, add mushrooms and fry till they are just softening up. Then add can of soup, half a can of milk, taco sauce and third jar of water (shake up to get all of the sauce). Stir together and heat till simmering, add chicken meat and spinach.
Use as a pasta sauce or turn into a pasta bake by plonking into a square pyrex dish and covering with equal parts soft bread crumbs* and grated cheese. About 3/4 cup of each is about right.

* Wizz crust of bread in the food processor and store crumbs in the freezer. Then they are always ready for crunchy topping, rissoles, meatloaf and stuffings.

Use It Up Thai Red Curry

The other night I had some leftover BBQ chicken and the end of the week veges in the crisper to use up. So I made this Thai Red Curry. It is not very authentic but it tastes good! The ingredients will vary according to your crisper and leftover situation.

meat - I use whatever is available or if I am making it for posh I use 500g chicken thigh fillets, 500g mixed seafood, 300g beef strips, tin of chick peas or block of hard tofu
1 onion, chopped
1 tablespoon oil to fry the onion in
1/2 tin Maesri thai red curry paste (this is the real stuff, don't substitute. It is also the cheapest way to buy it. When Jess did her Thai Cooking course in Sydney this is the one they recommended. They also said you should use the whole tin, but I don't recommend that unless you want your tongue to explode)
3 to 4 cups assorted chopped vegetables to your taste. In this house they are usually red pepper, celery, carrot, peas, mushrooms and spinach.
tin of coconut cream or milk. If your dietician is giving you a hard time about saturated fats, use low fat evaporated milk and 1 teaspoon coconut essence. This is what we did.
1 cup chicken stock
salt/pepper to taste. Or Vegeta or vegetable stock powder.

Heat the oil in large frypan and fry onion till softened and sweet. Add the curry paste and fry it for a minute or so to release the flavours.
If you are adding raw meat, add now and brown. If not add vegetables and stir fry till well coated with curry.
Add the coconut milk and stock if using, just the stock if you are not.
Cover and simmer till veges are nearly cooked.
If adding cooked leftover meat or seafood, add and simmer a couple minutes more.
If adding evaporated milk and essence, add now.
If you like you can thicken with 1 tbs cornflour mixed with a little of the milk at this stage.
If you are adding spinach add now so that it is just wilted when you serve.
Serve with rice.
Makes lots and the leftovers are good for torturing your work collegues with when you reheat at work for next days lunch.