Money saving recipes with two fantastic curries :))

Recently there has been so much emphasis on families cutting down food waste and being more economical in he shopping and as good as it all sounds, this can be difficult...okay I admit it I am one of those people that throws stuff away but I must say I'm making a real effort to curb this down! Jamie oliver has just recently brought a new book out and a new series and its very inspiring and it shows that you don't just have to meal plan to save food waste and save pennies, it just means using whats leftover for something else...I know easier said than done but I attempted this with leftover chicken. We were supposed to have guests and unfortunately they cancelled so Sunday afternoon I was left with a lot of chicken, I was expecting a bit but I had a least two days worth so recipe experimenting went into over drive to come up with some family friendly recipes to use it up...and it really paid off not only did we have another two days using up the chicken but some awesome meals and flavours.

My first recipe is a child friendly take on a Kerala Curry, I must say I'm not thy tolerant of spicy heat so whenever I make a curry of any sorts it tends to be mild to medium which works well with kids as well! You can of course make this curry spicier if you wanted just use hot curry powder and a chilli if you wanted! 

The flavours in the curry are fantastic an its so simple to prepare but not only did I want to use up the chicken, I also had some leftover veg and potatoes, so I was determined to use them as well and wow was it a fantastic meal...easy to prepare and cheap cheap cheap :))

My take on a Kerala Curry (child friendly)

500g Leftover Chicken 

1 Onion chopped

1 tsp Ginger 

2 Garlic cloves chopped

Mild chili powder- 1 tbsp (if you like it hot use hot chilli powder according to your taste)

1/2 tsp Turmeric

1 tsp ground Coriander

1 tsp Garam masala powder

5 cardamom pods

1/2 tsp fennel seeds

1/2 tin plum tomatoes

1 tin coconut milk

Salt

Coconut oil (if you have it otherwise normal oil will be fine)

Heat the oil in a pan and add onion until it becomes soft and then add the ginger and garlic and sauté until onion turns golden brown.

Reduce the heat to low and add the chili powder, turmeric, coriander, garam masala, cardamom pods and fennel seeds and cook this for several minutes (you may need to add more oil if needed) add the cooked chicken and stir through to coat in the spices and cook for a further minute. Add the 1/2 tin tomatoes and stir through and then add the tin of coconut milk, stir to combine and bring to a simmer. Add salt and simmer for 10-15 minutes 

Serve with rice and my leftover veg and potato side dish

Leftover veg and potato side dish

Leftover veg ie Brussels broccoli cabbage carrots

Leftover roast Potatoes 

1 onion chopped

1 tsp ginger

1/2 tsp chilli flakes 

1 tsp turmeric

1 tsp garam masala

Salt

In a pan heat some oil and add the onion and ginger, cook until the onion softens

Add the turmeric and garam masala and heat for 1 minutes

Add the chopped veg and potatoes and mix through and season with salt

Cook for around 10 minutes on a medium heat until cooked through thoroughly 

Serve with my child friendly Kerala curry and rice 

Apology for my absence but a fantastic cake to make up for it :))

I must apologise for my absence, in July, on my birthday actually; I took my grandmother to the hospital for some tests results to find out that she has terminal cancer and was only given two to three months to live...pretty heartbreaking, but two months on and she's still here although she is fading fast! These last two months have been spent with her and also making the most of the holidays with my son and he really has taken my mind off of it while we have been doing a million and one activities! Baking has taken a bit of a back seat but every so often I have managed to make my way to the kitchen to prepare something new or try something completely different...don't worry I'm still cooking all the time just not as experimental as I normally am! I have been updating my facebook page a little bit more (sorry blog) so I will try and catch up with myself so my first recipe has to be something that came to me from a wonderful trip to the pick your own with my son. We have been many times and we have so much fun especially when we get to make something with all the great fruit and veg we pick. As courgettes are now coming into season what perfect way to use them than to make a cake (I hear you all cheer) I love courgettes and as like carrots they bring a fantastic moist quality to cakes. I decided to not go down the chocolate and courgette cake route and opted for something that I had come up with and not heard of before, whether that would work, time would tell and thank goodness it did :))! This really is one of the best cakes I've made and the taste is fantastic and with a slice adding up to one of your five a day who can argue hehehehe :))

Courgette, Coconut and Macadamia Nut Cake with a Coconut and mascarpone Icing

Cake

100ml coconut oil

150ml vegetable oil

200g caster sugar

3 eggs

200g self raising flour

75g dessicated coconut

100g macadamia nuts toasted

250g cougette coarsely grated 

Coconut Icing 

50g cream cheese (Philadelphia)

200g mascarpone

4 tbsp icing sugar

40g dessicated coconut

Pre heat the oven to 180/170c fan.

Grease and flour 2 x 8" cake tins and set aside 

Into a bowl add the oil, sugar and mix well, add the eggs and beat until well incorporated

In a separate bowl add the flour and coconut and slowly add this to the egg mixture and fold in gently.

Add the courgette and macadamia nuts and fold them in gently.

Pour evenly into the cake tins and pop into the oven for 30-35 minutes until a skewer inserted comes out clean (springs back when you touch the top centre of the cake)

Allow to cool and then remove from the tins and place into cooling racks

Mix the cream cheese, mascarpone and icing sugar in a bowl and stir through the coconut

Place one of the cakes onto a cake stand. Smooth the icing over the top of the cake and place the other cake on top

Enjoy :))