Tomato and chickpea curry

This curry was inspired by the fact that I had Roma tomatoes needing to be used up and the discovery of a can of chickpeas in the pantry. It's quick to make and very tasty. You can add more curry powder if you prefer a stronger curry flavour.



Ingredients
1 can of chickpeas (you can boil your own from a food co-op but they smell and a can is much easier!)
2 - 3 small onions
2 - 4 cloves of garlic
2 - 3 tbspns curry powder
dash of coriander seeds
good shake of cumin
salt n pepper
approximately 6 - 8 Roma tomatoes
135ml light coconut milk
1 tbspn olive oil
rice

Method
1. Add oil to fry pan and allow to heat.
2. Chop onions and garlic. Fry on low to medium heat until onions are soft.
3. Add curry powder (you can use more if you want more curry flavour). Stir.
4. Add coriander seeds and cumin, along with salt and pepper (to taste).
5. Drain the chickpeas from the can. Add about 3/4 of the can to the curried onion mixture. Stir.
6. Pour in light coconut milk (make sure it does not boil).
7. Add tomatoes and cook on moderate heat around 10 mins, or until you can smell curry.

8. Cook rice to serve with curry (I usually make mine in a microwave, cooking on medium heat for around 20 mins).
9. Serve curry with rice.

Unfortunately vegerama's blood pressure has skyrocketed lately, so you expect to see some lighter, low cal meals from now on, as she tries to shift some blubber.

Banana smoothie

The quickest way to get rid of bananas that are on the turn is to make a banana smoothie (or a banana cake but my oven lets me down). This is the ultimate power brekkie that will set you up for the day! All natural, no preservatives . . .

Ingredients
Bananas (I used 3, but 1 - 2 should be enough)
Nutmeg (some scrappings of fresh nutmeg or a dash of ground nutmeg from a bottle)
Natural yoghurt
Honey, to taste
Wheatgerm (optional - not too much as it makes the smoothie too grainy)
Soy milk (or cow milk)

Method
1. Place everything in food processor and blend.
2. Serve in glass

Curry in a hurry - cashew nut korma

It's time to lash out away from all that rich carby pasta and rice and move into the wonderful world of Indian flavours! I have Indian neighbours, all the way from downtown Bangalore. Often I have to close my balcony door to drive out the smell of South Indian spices drifting up from downstairs (not to mention the shrieks from their kid, but that's another story). This recipe is fairly easy to make. It is tasty and improves over time. High leftover potential too.

Ingredients

75g (3 oz) creamed coconut, sliced into flakes (Hard to find in the shops! Try a health food shop or food co-op as my local fresh food corporatised supermarket did not sell it. It comes in chunks.)
30 ml (2 tbspns) sunflower oil (olive oil is OK too)
2 onions, chopped
2 fresh green chillies, deseeded and finely sliced (greens one are mild)
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/2 ground coriander
125g (4 oz) unsalted cashew nuts, pureed in a food processor
salt n freshly ground black pepper
250g (8 oz) long grain rice (white or brown - I used white)
1/2 medium sized cauliflower, split into florets
125g (4 oz) okra, with ends cut off (see photo - you should be able to buy okra in a supermarket)

125g (4 oz) zucchini (courgettes), sliced
125g (4 oz) frozen peas
2 - 4 tbspns chopped fresh coriander

Method
1. Place coconut in a bowl and pour over 450ml (15 fl oz) boiling water. Stir and leave to melt completely.
2. While that is melting, warm oil in a saucepan over moderate heat, adding onion. Cover and cook until tender (5 - 7 mins).
3. Add chillies, garlic and spices, stir well and cook for a further 1 - 2 mins. Remove and set aside.
4. Stir pureed cashew nuts into the bowl with melted coconut. Add this mixture to the onion and spices in the pan. Season with salt n pepper. Cover and set aside again.
If you are after a more intense flavour or if you are pre-preparing it, you can now leave it for up to 24 hours. Cover it and keep in the fridge.
5. When you are ready to eat, cook the rice (I always just use a microwave).
6. Cook the veggies by pouring 1cm (1/2 in) boiling water into a largish saucepan. Add cauli and okra, cover and half-boil, half-steam for 1 min. Add zucchini (courgettes), cover and cook for another 3 mins. Drain the veggies.
7. Stir veggies into the creamy cashew nut mixture, along with frozen peas.
8. Warm entire mixture over a gentle heat. Add more salt and pepper, to taste.
9. Serve on rice, sprinkled with chopped coriander.

Hummus

Hummis is a great food for veggies because it's so versatile. You can have it on a water cracker or on a thick piece of french bread stick or sourdough. It's good for a post-work snack with a packet of Jatz when you can't be bothered slicing an onion yet alone cooking up a storm. Depending on your garlic preference, you can add more if you prefer a bit more garlic breath . . .

Ingredients
400g can of chickpeas, drained and reserve the liquid
1-2 cloves of garlic
15 ml (1 tbspn) light tahini
30 ml (2 tbspns) lemon juice
15 ml (1 tbspn) olive oil
pinch of chilli powder (optional)
salt and cracked black pepper

Method
1. Place chickpeas, garlic, tahini, lemon juice and olice oil in food processor and process until smooth. Add enough of the reserved chickpea liquid to make the consistency like that of lightly whipped cream.
2. Add a pinch or two of chilli powder to give it a bit of a kick (if desired).
3. Season with salt and pepper.

Monica Trapaga's Mexican-style garlic prawns

Ex-PlaySchool host and purveyor of fine wares at Reclaim at Summer Hill (http://www.monica.com.au/reclaim), Monica Trapaga originally shared this recipe in the Australian Women's Weekly (now published monthly!) in March 1996. It's really easy to make, as the hardest part is actually going to the shops to buy the prawns! You can eat them by themselves, but also delicious on a bed of rice sprinkled with chopped almonds.

Note - you can prepare the marinade up to 3 hours in advance.

Ingredients
1 kg uncooked medium prawns (banana prawns or king prawns if you're rolling in it)
1/3 cup (80 ml) lime juice
1/4 cup chopped fresh oregano
6 cloves of garlic, crushed
1 tspn sugar
2 small red chillies, seeded, chopped (the smaller, the stronger the flavour so go easy if you're not a red hot chilli fan)
1/4 tspn cracked black pepper
1 tabspn olive oil

Method
1. Peel and devein prawns, leaving the tails on. (This is vile and there is no easy way to it. Just don't forget to pull out the "shit shoot")
2. Combine prawns with all remaining ingredients in a bowl. Cover and put in fridge for several hours.
3. When you pull them out again, drain the marinade from the prawns and keep the marinade.
4. Heat BBQ or frypan, add prawns and cook on both sides until just cooked through (they go reddish ;))

5. Put marinade in with prawns and bring to the boil.
6. Serve prawns with marinade. You can also add rice and steamed snow peas.

I know this recipe isn't strictly veg (apologies to the vegans) but some of us eat seafood.

Spinach and ricotta cannelloni

This is yummy! Filled with carbs but just what you need on a cold wet night in old Sydney town. It's a bit fiddly filling the cannelloni tubes so I recommend using fresh pasta sheets. I made mine with instant cannelloni tubes. Messy, but the end result was the same - yum!

Ingredients

375g fresh lasagne sheets                 75g grated mozzarella

50g parmesan

Ingredients for filling

30g butter                                         3 bunches spinach, trimmed & shredded
1 small onion, finely chopped          300g low fat ricotta
2 garlic cloves, crushed                    1 tabspn fresh oregano

Ingredients for sauce
1 tabspn olive oil                              440g tin peeled whole tomatoes
1 small onion, finely chopped          125 ml tomato pasta sauce (I used passata)
2 garlic cloves, crushed                    2 tspns dijon mustard
1 tspn dried oregano                         1 tabspn balsamic vinegar
1 tspn sugar

Method - Lasagne sheets
1. Preheat oven 180C/350F/Gas 4.
2. Cut pasta sheets into twelve 12 cm (4.5 in.) squares.
3. Boil water in saucepan, add salt and blanch [cook briefly in boiling water - thanks Wikipedia] lasagne sheets in batches for 1-2 mins. Drain flat on damp tea towel.

Method - Filling
1. Melt butter in saucepan and cook onion and garlic for 3-5 mins, or until onion becomes soft.
2. Add spinach and cook for 5 mins, or until wilted and moisture has evaporated. Cool in pan.
3. Mix spinach with ricotta and fresh oregano in a food processor until smooth. Season with salt n pepper.

 Method - Sauce
1. Heat oil in saucepan, add onion and garlic and cook over low heat for 8-10 mins.
2. Add the rest of the sauce ingredients.
3. Bring to the boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 10-15 mins, or until the sauce thickens.
4. Lightly grease a 2 litre (8 cups) casserole dish (a pyrex number from K Mart is fine).
5. Spread one third of the sauce over base of the dish.
6. Spoon 1 1/2 tbspns of the spinach mixture onto one side of each lasagne square, leaving a small border.
7. Roll up pasta to cover filling and place in dish seam side down.
8. Repeat until all sheets are snuggled in the dish. (Remember, I used instant tubes)

 9. Spoon in the remaining sauce and sprinkle with cheeses.
10. Bake 30-35 mins, or until bubbling. Leave for 5 mins before serving.

Pesto

Pesto is easy to make and deliciously tasty! This is a fab recipe. All you need is a food processor . . .

Ingredients
3 - 4 cups of lightly packed basil leaves
1 cup of parsley
4 cloves of garlic
1/4 - 1/2 cup of parmesan cheese
1/4 cup of pine nuts, almonds or walnuts
1/2 - 1 cup of olive oil (you can also use corn oil, whatever that is)
Approx 1 tsp salt
Method
1. Place basil and parsley into food processor with the peeled garlic cloves, parmesan and the nuts.
2. Using oil, process the leaves, adding up to half a cup of oil until they are finely chopped.
3. Keep adding the oil until the mixture is a dark green paste, just liquid enough to pour. Smell the fresh basil to remind yourself that you are alive.
4. Add salt to taste.
5. Store in the fridge, in a glass or plastic container with a lid. Cover with baking paper before you place the lid on to stop garlic smells in the fridge.
6. Use the pesto within 3 months. You can freeze it (wacky!) for longer.
7. To stop it turning black on top, keep it well covered with olive oil at the top.