Spiced lamb, mushroom and pea curry, dhal and rice

Oops - I forgot to take a picture of this dinner before people dived in - but there were some leftovers, so I took a quick snap of them.  The thing which really was a shame to miss were the lovely spiced lamb steaks - but hey ho!

Lamb steaks
Natural yogurt
Curry mix (bassar masala in our case)
Rice
Red lentils
Onion
Garlic
turmeric
mustard seeds
fennel seeds
cumin seeds
Mushrooms
water
potato
peas

1.  Marinade the lamb steaks in spices mixed into yogurt.
2.  Put both the rice and lentils on to boil.
3.  Fry chopped onion, crushed garlic and various spices, fry off for a few minutes, then add chopped mushrooms.  After they have fried for a few minutes add some water and some finely chopped potato (the potato softens and helps form a sauce).
4.  When curry is nearly done add the peas, and fry the lamb steaks.
5.  Finally make a tarka for the dhal by frying spices of your choice in oil, chuck over the dhal as you take it all to the table.
6.  Serve, scoff … you might want to blob on some natural yogurt too.

Salad nicoise

A sunny day deserved a sunny dinner - so salad nicoise - dead easy, very delicious.

New potatoes
Eggs
Green beans
Asparagus (not entirely authentic, but I like it)
Garlic
Olive oil
White wine vinegar
Wholegrain mustard
Salad leaves
Baby plum tomatoes
Spring onion
Tinned tuna

1.  Boil potatoes, steam beans and asparagus on top.
2.  Boil eggs.
3.  Make dressing by whisking mustard, crushed garlic a little olive oil and vinegar.
4.  Chop tomatoes and spring onion, toss together.
5.  When everything is cooked, drain potatoes and tuna, peel eggs, toss warm beans in dressing and assemble.
6.  Serve, scoff ...

Steak, tofu and vegetable chow mein

Ringing the changes a bit at Kitchen Fairies HQ tonight - steak for the carnivores, tofu for the vegetarians and vegetable chow mein and jasmine rice for all of us.

Tofu
Jasmine rice
Spring onion
Yellow pepper
Mushrooms
Green beans
Carrots
Ground nut oil
Garlic
Ginger
Chilli flakes
Steak
Bean sprouts
Soya sauce
Rice wine vinegar
Sesame oil
cornflour
Pak choi
ready to wok noodles

1.  Remove tofu from packaging and press - ie.  put it in a dish, put a plate on top and weight it down with a large tin  Leave for a few hours.
2.  Put jasmine rice on to cook - I use the adsorption method - 1 cup rice, 1 cup water - bring to the boil, bang the lid on and turn right down.  Ready in about 15 minutes.
3.  Chop all vegetables into smallish pieces.  Put wok on high heat and add a splash of groundnut oil.
Crush garlic and finely chop ginger, add to wok with chilli flakes and the first batch of chopped vegetables.  Stir fry.
4.  Cut tofu into pieces, fry lightly on both sides, remove from the heat.
5.  Splash soya sauce, wine vinegar and a little sesame oil into the vegetables, with a small cup of water - continue to stir fry.
6.  Cook steak, on a high heat - turn after a couple of minutes - cook both sides - bring out of the pan and leave to rest.
7.  Finish the vegetables by adding noodles, beansprouts and chopped pak choi - also stirring in a little slaked cornflour to thicken the sauce slightly.
8.  Finish the tofu by tossing in the pan with soya sauce and a drizzle of sesame oil.
9.  Serve, scoff … seconds .