Curryless curry

I guess that happens once in a while to everyone who spends some time in the kitchen, of course except those people who appear there only to open take away boxes. Suddenly you feel like want to cook this particular dish and you realize that you have all ingredients, except this main one. You are too hungry/ lazy/desperate to go for shopping. Well there is a solution and it’s called improvisation. Of course cooking burgers without meet or pancakes without flour could be very challenging and not always attains with expected result. At least you can try. You can always order pizza if not succeed…

Ingredients

3 red peppers seedless and diced into large cubes

2 cups of peeled raw shrimps

1 medium leek diced into large cubes

1 tbsp spoon of minced garlic

1 tbsp spoon of ground cumin

1 tbsp spoon of ground coriander

1 tbsp of cooking oil

Salt and black pepper 

You will also need a food processor and large pan.

Place leek and peppers into a food processor. Process until you reach thick and chunky consistency. Preheat the pan with cooking oil. Add leek, pepper, garlic and spices. Simmer for 30 minutes on low heat. Add shrimps and cook for another 10 minutes stirring occasionally until they change color. Add salt and black pepper. Season it with black pepper to achieve desired spiciness. Adding salt is optional. I’m trying to avoid using salt in my kitchen. It masks real flavors of food.

I served this ‘curry’ with pink rice and zucchini linguine. Recipes in next posts.

 

Husband Rate: 9/10

Polish cuisine for dummies p.2 Sunday lunch (serving for three)

When I moved abroad I was sure I would cook traditional Polish meals at least once a week. Well the truth is I live now in ‘foodies melting pot’. Restaurants and markets with food from all around the world are at my fingertips, so old cooking tips I’ve learned in my origin country seem to be a little boring. However, sometimes I get nostalgic for old flavors. I’m pretty sure that most countries have own special meal for Sunday lunch. Traditional Polish Sunday lunch served at my home had 3 courses:

1) soup- chicken broth with vegetables and pasta, sprinkled with fresh parsley

2) breaded pork chops, mash potatoes with fresh, chopped dill, fresh salad - it could be cucumber and cream salad or shredded cabbage/ sour kraut with carrots

3) Dessert usually cake with fresh or frozen seasonal fruits, berries or rhubarb or ‘babka’ cake

There was also traditional drink ‘kompot’ which is nothing but compote with hot or cold water.

Well, traditional lunch I’ve made last Sunday consisted of course No 2 only. In my opinion real pleasure of cooking comes when we don’t feel forced to do it and we can spend as much time in kitchen as we like. I can stay in kitchen even all day long if I want to. That Sunday wasn’t cooking day for sure.

Breaded pork chops “Schabowe”

Ingredients

6 pork chops

2 eggs

Breadcrumbs

Salt, pepper

 1 tsp. of sugar or 1/5 of cup sparkling water ( to make breading more crispy)

½ cup Cooking oil

You will also need 2 deep plates, paper towel, and skillet

Beat each pork chop on both sides with meat mallet to break up the meat fibers and get them tender. If you don’t have meat mallet use blunt side of knife. Sprinkle them with salt and pepper. Beat eggs on plate with sugar or sparkling water until white and yolk are combined. Place breadcrumbs in second plate. Dip pork chops first in breadcrumbs then in beaten eggs and again in breadcrumbs. Make sure pork chops are well covered on each side. Many people I know use  regular flour for the first step of breading but using only breadcrumbs makes cover thicker.

 Preheat skillet with cooking oil. When you sprinkle it with a little drop of water it should sizzle. Place pork chops and fry them on each side until golden brown. Then put them on paper towel to absorb excess oil. Ready to serve!

Simple beet salad

4 grated cooked medium beetroots (washed, unpeeled boil in water for about 40 minutes)

Half of red pepper finely chopped (optional)

Half of onion finely chopped

2 tbsp. Olive oil

 2 tbsp. Lemon juice

Salt, pepper

You will also need a grater

Peel cooled beets. Skin should come off easily. Grate them and combine with other ingredients. You can serve it straight away but I find this salad tasting better served couple of hours after preparation.

Mashed potatoes

½ kg of potatoes

1 l of boiling water

Salt

1 tbsp. of butter

½ cup of milk or plain yoghurt

1/3 cup of chopped, fresh dill

Peel potatoes and cut them into smaller pieces. Place them into pot and cover with boiling water. Add salt and put the pan over medium heat and boil until tender. Test it with sharp or fork. If it goes in easily, potatoes are cooked. Drain the water and still hot mash with milk/yoghurt and butter until creamy consistency. Serve it sprinkled with fresh dill.

Husband Rate: 10/10

Raisin spaghetti sauce

With greens-guilt free option for too much pasta

Traditional serving

This simple recipe was created by my husband’s grandma and it was the very first meal I had occasion to try at her home. Adding raisins to tomato pasta sauce can sound strange but in reality is very tasty kind of sweet and sour combination. This sauce is also a proof that combining ingredients that don’t match at first glance can end with quite spectacular effect.

Sauce Ingredients

500 g of ground lean beef

750 g of minced canned tomatoes

2 tbsp. of minced garlic

2/3 cup of raisins (seedless if possible)

½ cup of Italian herbs mixture (possible replacement with combination of dried oregano, basil and thyme)

Salt, pepper

Ground Parmesan

You will also need large non-stick frying pan with lid

Place beef on preheated non-stick pan and stir frequently. I never use any extra oil to cook. Usually fat melts out of meat, even if it is lean flesh. It’s healthier and has fewer calories. Cook until starts to brown and then add raisins, garlic and herbs. Cook for another 10 minutes, then add minced tomatoes and cook on low heat covered with lid for another hour. Stir occasionally. Add salt and pepper just before serving. Serve it with spaghetti pasta and top with grounded Parmesan.

Serving

To be honest when it comes to eating pasta I can’t help myself with tucking into every possible portion. I just can stop eating it! No matter what kind of sauce it comes with. Now I’m trying to replace it with some greens or spaghetti squash to avoid too many calories and gluten. It’s not this same but still tastes good. Simply substitute half of pasta with salad mix or use squash instead. Spaghetti squash is very simple to cook. You just need to cut 1kg squash into half, remove seeds, cover with kitchen foil and place to a preheated oven to 180 C for approximately 50 minutes . After pulling out the oven scrape squash flesh with a fork into strings, and then serve it with pasta sauce. Kitchen foil protects flesh from getting to dry.

How to buy perfect meat

Choosing the best ground meat isn’t easy. I would recommend spending extra few minutes on reading labels carefully. Unfortunately most producers don’t give info about fat percentage and very often on same shelf you can find cheaper ‘ready to cook mixtures’. Price is tempting but that’s not a real meat! It has some extra stuffing with little seasoning to make portion bigger and use as less meat as possible. Buying regular ground meat isn’t good option either. Usually it has very high percentage if fat and after placing meat into the pan you realize that half of it melts and you have to chuck it out. Lean ground meet is the best choice. It’s not so pricy if you consider content of pure meat.

Husband Rate: 9/10

Asparagus for lazybones

Asparagus is one of my favorite vegetables. Trouble is I really don’t like peeling spears. Suddenly all those peelings spread all over the kitchen, so I just wash asparagus before steaming. If spears ends seem to be very hard and woody just bend them until they break. They snap exactly where woody part ends.

Ingredients

1 bunch of fresh asparagus

Half cup of chopped side bacon or ham

Half cup of shredded Gouda cheese  you can use every melting cheese)

Half cup of fresh, chopped parsley

water

Salt, pepper- optional

You will also need non stick skillet and steam pan set or steamer

Bring water to boil in a steam pan set or steamer. If you’re using steam pan set, it should be filled to halfway point. Place asparagus and steam until tender. It takes approximately 7 minutes for thin spears and 12 minutes for thicker. In this same time preheat skilled on medium heat and cook bacon/ham until crispy. Remember about stirring. Place hot asparagus on the plate. Sprinkle it with bacon/ham, cheese, parsley and serve straightaway. 

Husband Rate: 8/10