Egg and Spinach Curry (Andaa Saag)

I've fallen off the Tuesday Night Vego Challenge bandwagon, not that we haven't been eating vegetarian, just nothing worthy of posting (the culinary equivalent of watching star trek reruns). But today the inspiration has arrived thanks to a tub bursting with baby silverbeet leaves, and a dozen freshly laid eggs.

The thought of freshly poached eggs swimming in a vibrant green sauce sounds fantastic today - Saag with Eggs!

I started with a recipe from Lil'Chef's World, using red lentils and a slurry of milk and starch instead of cream (because I don't have any).

I actually made this for lunch, and it was easily done in half an hour. It's also a great way to get some extra green stuff into your day.

Egg and Spinach Curry (serves 1-2)

2 eggs
2 cups leafy greens (or use 3 frozen spinach cubes)
2 tbsp dried red lentils
half a tomato, diced
half an onion, diced
salt and pepper
a pinch of cumin seeds
a pinch of turmeric powder (or some grated fresh)
a pinch of garam masala
2 tbsp milk mixed with 1 tsp cornstarch
1 tsp crushed garlic
olive oil
boiling water

Firstly, boil the kettle. If I've learnt anything from Jamie Oliver's 30 minute meals, it's that waiting for water to boil is a waste of time.

In a frying pan, heat some olive oil over a medium heat, and add the onion and garlic, cumin and turmeric and tomato. Cook for 5 minutes until the spices are fragrant and the onion and tomato are soft. Add the lentils and a cup of boiling water. Cover and allow to simmer for 10 minutes.

While the lentils are cooking, place the spinach in a small food processor/blender or mortar and pestle with a couple of tablespoons of boiling water. You can add fresh herbs. I'm adding some thai basil and mint because I have plenty of both at the moment. Pulse to form a rough puree. Add the puree to the saucepan and reduce the heat so that the sauce gently bubbles.

Add the milk, garam masala and season generously with salt and pepper. Finally, crack the eggs into the sauce and allow to poach until done to your liking. Do not stir after you have added the eggs. If you have older eggs, then hard boil them and add them to the sauce before serving.

Serve with rice or flatbreads.

Pink Dips for a Baby Shower

Yesterday I went to a baby shower. The mum-to-be is due very soon, so all the guests helped out by bringing a plate to share. The theme was pink, so I made a magenta-pink beetroot hommus, and a pale pink salmon pate.

Smoked Salmon Pate

This was adapted from a recipe in Jamie Oliver's 30 minute meals, but with hot smoked salmon instead of smoked mackerel.

250g hot smoked salmon fillets*
1 packet of light cream cheese
Juice and zest of ½ lemon
1 handful of parsley (or another soft herb such as dill or basil)
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tsp of horserdish
salt and pepper to taste

Remove the skin and any bones from the fish. Place all the ingredients into a food processor and blend until smooth. Taste and adjust with extra salt, pepper, lemon or horseradish.


*Hot-smoked salmon is available in the deli section or from fishmongers. It's been cooked, so it's safer to eat in pregnancy than cold-smoked salmon. You can even make it yourself at home on the bbq (here's a recipe for Tea-Smoked Salmon).

Beetroot Hommus

100g roasted and peeled beetroot (or tinned beetroot)
2 cups cooked chickpeas (1 cup of dried chickpeas or 1 can of chickpeas)
Juice and zest of ½ lemon
2 tbsp olive oil
1 handful of mint leaves
1 tbsp tahini (I prefer unhulled tahini)
1 tsp honey (omit if using tinned beetroot)
½ tsp salt (omit if using tinned chickpeas)

Place all the ingredients into the food processor and blend until smooth. You can add some greek yoghurt for a creamier version. Taste and add extra salt or lemon if needed. You can use tinned chickpeas and beetroot if you're in a hurry, but it's worth cooking everything fresh.

Cauliflower and Potato Subzi

There was a beautiful head of cauliflower in my vegie box this week, and after a couple of weeks of struggling for dinner inspiration, I'm all ready for a Tuesday Night Vego Challenge!

Some time ago, my husband bought me a wonderful cookbook simply called Curry, and it's a wonderful collection of curry (and curry-like) recipes from India (north and south), Pakistan, South East Asia, Africa, the Caribbean, Britain and Japan. It's written by a range of authors, so each section is authentic, but the recipes have been written with a western home cook in mind - the ingredients are generally ones you can find with little effort. The book also includes a range of side dishes, breads and condiments. If you like curries, it's a great book to have in your collection.

A subzi generally refers to a vegetable curry from India or Pakistan. They're quick, fresh and use seasonal vegetables. This is a "dry" style curry - more like a plate of spiced vegetables, rather than the saucy versions you make with coconut milk. Very light and perfect for a Tuesday night.

Cauliflower and Potato Subzi

500g cauliflower, cut into florets

500g kipfler potatoes, sliced (I left the skin on)

1 onion

1 punnet grape tomatoes, halved

1 tsp crushed garlic (2-3 cloves)

1 tbsp chopped ginger root

½ tsp ground tumeric

1 pinch chilli flakes

1 tsp cumin seeds

salt  and pepper

1/2 cup water

1 handful fresh coriander

2 tablespoons coconut oil*

Heat the oil and gently fry the spices, onion until the onion has softened. Add the tomato, garlic, ginger, and season with salt and pepper. Fry until the tomatoes have started to soften. Add the cauliflower and potato, pour over the water and cover with a lid. Cook for 20 minutes or until the potato is tender. Stir through some chopped coriander before serving immediately.

We ate this with some steamed brown rice and a mint raita.

*I havet a jar of virgin coconut oil and it works brilliantly in curries as a substitute for ghee. It does have a high quantity of saturated fat, but supposedly has high amounts of lauric acid, which has antioxidant properties. Not sure if it's a miracle food like some people claim, but it does taste amazing (and can be used as a dairy-free substitute for butter in baking).

Brown Rice Pumpkin Risotto

It's been two weeks since I posted a Tuesday Night Vego Challenge, so I was determined to post one today. We've switched all our white rice for brown and it's been a good decision. We're eating less and feeling better for it. Tonight I'm using a Barbara pumpkin, which is a cross between a butternut and a jap (two of my favourite varieties). I've left some of the skin on for extra colour and goodness.

Oozy Risotto with Brown Rice is possible!

 Pumpkin Risotto with Brown Rice
The creamy consistency of risotto comes from the starch of the rice, plus a good amount of butter and cheese added at the final stage of cooking. I've left out the butter, and the pumpkin adds to the sauce. The longer you leave this to cook, the creamier it will be - mine took about an hour. Stir, stir, stir!

1 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, finely diced
1 tap crushed garlic
1 cup medium grain brown rice
1 glass white wine
400g diced pumpkin
1L vegetable stock
Freshly ground pepper
A handful of fresh thyme
½ cup grated pecorino cheese

Heat the oil in a heavy bottomed pan over a medium heat. Add garlic and onion ans saute until the onion is soft. Add the rice and gently fry the rice for 3 minutes. Add the wine and cook until it has been absorbed. Continue cooking and stirring, adding spoonfuls of stock gradually. Halfway through the cooking, add the pumpkin, pepper and thyme. Stir the risotto often to tease out as much starch as possible. When the rice is cooked and the pumpkin is a little overcooked, stir through the cheese. Put the lid on the pot and take off the heat. Let the risotto sit for 5 minutes to rest before serving. Serve with an extra sprinkle of pecorino on top.

Mushrooms stuffed with Cottage Cheese

It's time for another Tuesday Night Vego Challenge!

I love stuffed mushrooms, and do not make them often enough. These ones make the most of some delicious herbs from my garden. This is a low calorie meal but it's very tasty.

Mushrooms stuffed with Cottage Cheese (serves 2)

2 large flat mushrooms
200g low fat cottage cheese
¼ cup finely chopped herbs (parsley, thyme, garlic chives)
salt and pepper
½ small red onion
4 sun dried tomatoes
1 tsp olive oil

Preheat the oven to 180˚C, and line a baking tray with baking paper. Heat a small non-stick frying pan over a medium heat.

Remove the stems from the mushrooms and place the mushroom caps on the baking tray. Some recipes suggest you peel them and remove the gills, but I don't bother - why waste anything? Just make sure they're clean by wiping with a damp cloth.

Finely dice the mushroom stems, red onion and sun dried tomatoes and sauté in the frying pan with the olive oil until the onion is soft. Remove from the heat and place the cooked vegetables into a bowl. Add chopped herbs, cottage cheese and season with salt and pepper. Mix gently and scoop the mixture into the mushroom caps.

Bake for 15-20 minutes until the mushrooms are cooked and the cheese is golden on top. Serve with a green salad (and some crusty sourdough if you like, but we're on a low carb diet).

Stir Fried Veggies Two Ways

Tuesday night! Time for another Tuesday Night Vego Challenge!
This week's in season veggies are a bunch of Kang Kong, or Water Spinach, Eggplant, Tomato, Basil and Chilli.
Given that I have chillies galore coming in at the moment, I feel like something spicy for dinner. So we're having two stir fried veggie dishes with some steamed brown rice.

Drying chillies in the dehydrator

Sambal Kang Kong
Kang kong is an asian green vegetable. In Indonesia it's often stir fried in a pungent paste of chillies, garlic, dried shrimp, and fermented shrimp paste called belacan. I must admit that I'm not a fan of having really stinky things in my cupboard, so I'm making a vegan version using miso paste instead of the shrimp paste to give lots of umami flavour. The sambal paste makes any stir-fried green vegetable absolutely delicious (and it's also good for tofu). Like all soft green leafed vegetables, a big bunch of kang kong will wilt to almost nothing. My bunch only just fed two.

Kang Kong

1 bunch kang kong
1 pinch sugar
1 pinch salt
1 long red chilli
1 small hot chilli
1 tsp miso paste
1 eschallots
3 cloves garlic
1 tablespoon red bullhorn chilli

You can de-seed the chillies if you are a chilli wimp, but I left them in this time. Place the chillies, eschalots, miso and garlic in a small food processor and blend until finely chopped. My paste came out like a puree.

Frying the paste

Heat 1 tbsp of oil in a wok, then gently fry the sambal paste until fragrant - you don't want the heat too high, or else you will end up with a house full of chilli fumes and bitter burnt garlic. Take your time doing this - you want to evaporate any water out of the paste to the point where it just starts to darken in colour.
Add the kang kong, sugar and salt and stir fry until tender and wilted. 

Stir Fried Eggplant with Egg and Tomato

I used this lovely recipe at noobcook.com, with the only change being to use some fresh basil leaves instead of dried ones. Very tasty, and a nice mild contrast to the strong flavours in the sambal. I'd even eat this one for breakfast.

Cold Soba Noodles with Sides

Time for another Tuesday Night Vego Challenge!


I've been cooking a lot of Japanese food lately. I'm really learning to appreciate how the different sorts of flavours work together. It's also a great source of ideas for vegetarian meals. Unfortunately this one took longer than 30 minutes to cook, although dealing with a fussy toddler didn't help things. The eggs keep well in the fridge, so you can make a bunch of them on the weekend and eat them during the week. They are DELICIOUS!

In Japan, soba noodles are often eaten cold in summer. As in ice cold, and often garnished with ice cubes! They're served with a sweet/savoury dipping sauce. It's very refreshing, and I've made some for dinner. To go with the noodles are some tasty side dishes: Pan fried Tofu with Miso Peanut Sauce, Purple and Orange Carrot Fritters, Miso Marinated Boiled Egg, and an Edamame and Corn salad.


I'm using kombu stock again today because it's a vegetarian alternative to dashi (fish) stock, and adds lots of flavour.


Miso Peanut Sauce
I like to think of this as a Japanese version of satay sauce. I found the garlic taste was far too strong unless the sauce was cooked.


1 tbsp miso paste
2 tbsp natural peanut butter
2 tsp soy sauce
2 tsp mirin
2 tsp honey
1 clove garlic


½ tsp grated ginger
pinch of chilli powder to taste
water


Place all the ingredients in a small blender and mix until smooth. Add water until you achieve the consistency you prefer. Pour the sauce into a small saucepan and heat for 3-5 minutes until it starts to bubble. Cool and store in the fridge for up to a week. This is a great sauce dabbed on grilled meat oat or tofu - it's very intensely flavoured, so you only need a small amount.


Purple and Orange Carrot Fritters
Unless the carrots are looking a bit old, you can leave the skin on.


½ orange carrot, finely shredded
½ purple carrot, finely shredded
3 tbsp plain flour
1 tbsp tapioca (or corn) flour
kombu stock
1 egg
vegetable oil for frying


Mix the flour together in a bowl, then add the egg. Slowly incorporate the egg into the flour, then add stock or water until the mixture has the consistency of thick cream. Leave to rest for 10 minutes while you shred the carrots, then mix the vegetables with the batter. Shallow-fry heaped tablespoonfuls of the mixture, and drain well on paper towel. 

Spicy Tofu Hotpot

Time for another Tuesday Night Vego Challenge.

You don't have to make carrot flowers.

 Now that January and its associated festivities are over, the time has come to start working on the new year resolutions. Some wholesome low fat and low carb eating is required. A hotpot is a variety of vegetables and protein simmered in a basic stock. It's more filling than a soup, and the broth picks up all the flavours of the ingredients.

Tofu Hotpot (serves 2)

1/2 bunch gai larn (chinese broccoli)
1 cup shredded cabbag
1/4 red capsicum
1 spring onion
10 carrot slices
100g marinated tofu, thinly sliced (I used Soyco Japanese Teriyaki flavour)
6 dried shittake mushrooms
2 tsp sesame oil
2 tsp gochujang paste*
500ml kombu stock**
2 tbsp organic tamari soy sauce
2 tbsp mirin

Soak the shittake mushrooms in boiling water for 5 minutes until softened, then remove the stems and slice (using scissors works well for this). Chop the gai larn into 2cm lengths and place in the pot. Layer the other vegetables on top, and garnish with the carrot slices and tofu. Pour over the kombu stock, a little of the soaking water from the mushrooms, and top with a teaspoon of gochujang paste.

Cover and simmer for 10-15 minutes on the stovetop or in the oven until all the vegetables are cooked. To serve, add the soy sauce and mirin, then stir well to mix the paste into the broth.

This is "medium hot".

* Gochujang paste is a thick fermented chilli paste from Korea. It's hot, sweet and savoury. You could substitute some miso and chilli powder.

This is instant kombu stock.

**  Kombu is a type of seaweed. You can make kombu stock by gently simmering a piece of kombu in water for 5-10 minutes. You can substitute with vegetable stock.