Jamie Oliver's Indian-Style Steak Dinner

So this weekend I've been cooking Jamie Oliver recipes from his 30 Minute Meals book. Last night was the Jerk Chicken, of which the winner was the black beans and rice - I'd happily eat a bowl of that on its own. Tonight it's the Indian Style Steak - grilled steak, curry sauce, salad, yoghurt, flat breads and grilled paneer. 


I used a papaya and turned it into a lassi to drink (because lassi is awesome). My favourite lassi is at Ahbi's in North Strathfield - a mango lassi that's almost a thickshake, and they add some cardamom to it - very very delicious. Thinking about it makes me want to go to Ahbi's!


PS - No photo today - in between having a cold and a baby who has a cold, something had to give :)


Papaya and Coconut Lassi (serves 2)


1 red papaya, seeds and skin removed
½ cup yoghurt
½ cup water
½ cup coconut milk
1 tsp rosewater
¼ tsp ground cardamom
1 tsp honey


Pop everything into a blender and blend until smooth and silky. Add water to adjust the consistency to your liking. Papaya has an enzyme (papain) that helps to break down proteins, which makes it a great accompaniment to a meat dinner because it helps with digestion.

One litre of milk: three tasty results

I've had an Easiyo yoghurt maker for a few years now. It's really very easy to make your own yoghurt from scratch, especially if you buy a starter culture from somewhere like Cheeselinks. This week though, I'm not just going to make a litre of yoghurt, I'm going to use that yoghurt to make some labne and, strange as it sounds, mustard!

Great for breakfast with honey

So the first step is to make the yoghurt. L has great instructions on how to do this on her blog. Get organic UHT milk if you can! I generally leave my yoghurt for 24 hours in the yoghurt canister, followed by at least 12 hours in the fridge before I use it - you get a nice thick yoghurt as a result.



The next step is to make some labne. This is a very simple style of fresh curd cheese, made by straining the whey out of some plain yoghurt. This is about 500g of plain yoghurt, with ½ tsp of salt mixed in for flavour, and to help the draining process. Place the yoghurt in a cloth-lined strainer over a jug or bowl, and leave overnight.

The result is a thick, smooth curd cheese. It has a texture similar to cream cheese but with a very light, tangy flavour. You can roll it into balls, coat with herbs and spices and store in oil, but I'm going to leave mine plain for now. It goes brilliantly with middle eastern flavours such as dried mint and sumac.


Up until now, I probably would have eaten the cheese and poured the whey down the sink, but I recently found this recipe* at Edible Aria for homemade mustard, which is handy, because I've run out! But whey? In mustard?
The whey from yoghurt is of course teeming with probiotic cultures - you can add it to preserved foods to help with the fermenting process, and to give them a healthy boost! Thank you internets yet again! This particular batch of mustard isn't fully organic, because I'm still in the process of converting my spice cupboard to organic. It already tastes and smells delicious - can't wait to eat it once it's had a chance to really develop the flavours (takes about a week). If I knew wholegrain mustard was this easy to make, I'd have stopped buying it years ago!

*I made a half-batch of the recipe, and it made about 1 cup of mustard.