The spices are roasted and ground by hand and lovingly added with the precision only a true Indian cook can imagine. In any cuisine that relies on spices, the order in which they are added to a dish is of the utmost importance and Indian cookery is no exception.

All that said, this is a life saver if you haven’t got two days of tender loving care to spare, it is a beautiful blend of spices and vegetables.

Great as a main dish or an accompany to grilled meat or fish. And you can always pretend you spent two days of tender loving care preparing it:)

I have used artistic license on this dish, to give you busy working people a balanced meal after a hard days work.

So don’t be put off by the length of the ingredients list, most of it you just pop into the pan, if you prepare the zucchini before hand and have all the ingredients ‘ready to go’ then you will save heaps of time.

What You Need

4 Good size Zucchini’s
1 Head of Garlic (about 6-8 cloves)
1 Thumb nail size piece of Fresh Ginger
A pinch of Yellow Mustard Seeds
A Pinch of Cumin Seeds
4-6 Small Green Chillies, carefully de-seeded
1 Heaped Tea spoonful of Garam Masala
Juice of a Lime
Small Handful of Raisins
Small Handful of Cashew Nuts
A Good Sprig of Fresh Cilantro/Coriander
A Sprig of Parsley
2-4 Bay Leaves
4 Curry Leaves
Splash of Oil

What To Do

In a heavy based pan, heat a small splash of oil and gently fry the mustard seeds and cumin seeds until the cumin becomes aromatic and the mustard seeds begin to ‘pop’

Add the ginger, garlic and chilies, continue to fry until the garlic begins to turn a golden colour, at this stage add the zucchini, some coriander leaves and parsley

Cover the pan and cook on a low to medium heat until the zucchini is tender and most of the water that oozed from the zucchini has evaporated

Add the rest of the ingredients and gently cook until all the ingredients has mingled and then serve on a bed of rice or a side dish.

Alternatives:
Zucchini curry with aubergine & pumpkin
Zucchini curry with butter beans
Zucchini curry with sweet potato & chickpeas

See how easy it is to make one recipe become 4 recipes, simple by adding alternative vegetables!! Have fun!!

What You Need:

A good 3 cups of grated Zucchini (if your zucchini is very ‘wet’ after grating, pop them into a t-towel and give it a wring, hold it over the sink!!)
2/3 cup of a mix of melted Butter & Oil
1 cup Sugar
2 Eggs
3 cups Flour
1 cup Nuts, I find Walnuts or Brazil or Macadamia nuts are good
A good splash of REAL Vanilla Essence or 1 Vanilla pod (scrap out the seeds)
A pinch of Ground Cinnamon and Ground Nutmeg (freshly grated is best)
1 cup of Raisins or Cranberries, or 1/2 a cup of each!!
2 good pinches of Baking Soda

What To Do:

• Pre - heat your oven to 180°F / 350°C
• In a bowl lightly beat together, the eggs, vanilla and sugar
• Add all the other ingredients, and mix together, until all is incorporated
• Fill you muffin tin, and pop into the oven for about 25 mins, until the muffins feel firm but soft to the touch, when you press them the should pop back up again.
• Remove and put on a cooling rack, until cool enough to ea
• So easy and they really do taste good, but in the unlikely event you have some left over, pop them into a freezer bag and store in the fridge, they keep for 2-3 days

What you will need (for 2 adults)

A good handful of white potatoes

A good handful of Jerusalem artichokes

Sprigs of: Apple mint, true Greek oregano and Curly parsley (Three herbs of your choice)

25g Butter

What to do:

Clean the potatoes and the Jerusalem artichokes, do not peel, pop both into a saucepan, cover with water and add a small pinch of salt, bring to the boil, then simmer gently until soft

Rinse the herbs and chop

Drain the potatoes and Jerusalem artichokes (You could use the water for a weed killer on the patio or as a tonic for your indoor plants, for more great gardening tips click the blue link!!)

Mash the potatoes and Jerusalem artichokes with the butter and herbs, check the seasoning and consistency of the mix once it has cooled slightly.

Heat up some cooking oil in a large frying pan. To test if the oil is hot enough, gently drop in a small piece of bread, if it sizzles straight away, you are ready to go.

Take a good teaspoon full of the mixture and drop in into your palm, squeeze gently to form a ball shape and gently lower this onto the hot oil.

Please be careful at this stage, hot oil can spit and if you get any on you rinse the area under cold water for at least 10 mins and if necessary seek medical attention. If you have a large burn, after cooling it in cold water, if you can wrap the area with plastic wrap and go straight to hospital)

Cook until golden brown then turn them over and cook the other side until golden

Serve hot or cold.

Ingredients:

1 3 to 4 pound frying chicken, skinned and cut
1 quart water, or enough to fully cover ingredients
2 1/12 cups sliced carrots
2 cups sliced celery
4 tablespoons chicken bouillon granules, add more to suit taste
1 small onion, peeled and chopped
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 cup cooked macaroni
Salt to taste

Directions:

Place all ingredients, except macaroni, in a large stock pot. Bring to a boil; reduce heat. Simmer until chicken is done. Remove chicken; cool. De-bone chicken and cut into small pieces. Cook macaroni; rinse and drain. Add chicken and macaroni to pot. Bring to a full boil.

Ingredients:

1 large onion roughly chopped
3 cloves of garlic minced
4 cups of Ketchup
1/2 cup of white Vinegar
1/8 cup of Worcestershire sauce
1/3 cup of Brown sugar
1/2 tsp Pepper
1 tsp Salt
1/4 small can of Tomato paste
1/4 cup of whiskey - use a good whiskey, it will make the difference

Directions:

Saute onion, garlic and whiskey until the onions are soft. Add the rest of the ingredients and boil for a couple of minutes. Reduce heat and simmer for twenty minutes, stirring frequently. Sauce can be served as is or strained.

In fact, paella is one of the most versatile dishes to make. Paella also has the advantage of being great to clean out the fridge and use up leftover meats and vegetables. Any combination will eventually be great the secret is in the chemistry. Paella is a dish that is generally made to feed several people. Moreover, paella is quite flavorful the next day as the tastes have had time to mix together and become stronger.

This article is not a recipe but rather an outline that describes the three basic steps to follow to make a wonderful paella while leaving the reader (the chef!) the latitude to be creative and to make the dish their own by customizing it to their taste.
First the rice.

Select a type of rice that you are comfortable using. Feel free to experiment but know that paella contains a lot of ingredients and if you are unhappy with the end result with a particular type of rice, you might end up with a lot of waste. Basmati, brown or a mix with wild rice can add great taste and texture. Follow the instructions on the package with regards to washing and cooking the rice. Finely chop some onion, garlic and tomato. Heat a saucepan and add olive oil once the saucepan is hot (make sure that the oil does not start smoking. Burnt olive oil is carcinogenic and quite unhealthy). Once the oil is hot, throw in the uncooked rice. Frying uncooked rice gives it a nutty taste. Let the rice fry in the saucepan for a minute or so. Add the chopped onion, garlic and tomato until they soften, mixing constantly. Spice with saffron, salt and pepper. Feel free to experiment. Cumin, Cayenne various fine herbs or even a bit cinnamon or cloves can easily be added for a flavoring of your own. This mixture should not be on the stove for more that three to five minutes. At high heat with constant mixing, none of the ingredients should stick but they should mix well together and soften. Once all the ingredients are combined, remove the saucepan from the burner and mix in some frozen peas. Add enough peas to make a well balanced mixture.
Second the meat.

In a frying pan at high heat, brown some pieces of chicken. Upper thighs, drumsticks, breasts…it’s all good. Do not cook the meat completely but brown the outside. Once browned, set the meat aside. Lamb can also add great flavor to your paella.
Third combining it all.

Cover the bottom of the paella pan with the uncooked rice mixture. Add the browned chicken pieces on top. Add uncooked Merguez (spicy lamb sausages) and small fish filets rolled up and fastened with a toothpick or string. Use any type of fish but make sure that its flesh will hold well together. Pour some chicken broth on top (if the broth is warm the cooking time will reduce). Note that you can also add wine for more flavor. Cover the paella dish and cook for about 45 minutes at 350F or until the rice is cooked. At this point you can add raw shrimp or muscles and cook uncovered for another five minutes.

In short, the secret to preparing the perfect paella is to make it your own!

Have them is soups, salads or on their own as a tasty snack.

True, croûtons are tiny pieces of fried bread, but it’s HOW you prepare them that makes the difference..let me guide you in preparing THE most YUMMY croûtons.

What You Will Need:

A day old loaf of bread, you can use brown, whole-meal, white, specialty breads
Olive oil
Herbs
Garlic Salt

What to Do:
Heat up about an inch of olive oil, slowly in a large frying pan

Cut the bread into small cubes

To test if the oil is hot enough:

Carefully,drop in a cube of bread, if it sizzles, you are ready to go
(If not turn up the heat a little and wait until the bread begins to sizzle and turn light brown.)

Place the cubes of bread in the frying pan, just enough cubes for all to lay flat

Watch them, once the begin to brown, they can burn really easily.

Turn them all over, I find starting at one side of the pan ad turning the cubes over from the middle to the sides.

Once you have finished turning aver all the cubes, the ones you first turned over will be done.

Remove these from the frying pan on t a paper towel

Once drained, pop them into a glass bowl, sprinkle over fresh herbs & garlic salt

Eat at once or store in an air tight jar, that if they last that long:)

Words of WARNING:

ALWAYS CHECK WHAT MUSHROOMS ARE SAFE TO EAT BEFORE EATING THEM FROM THE FIELDS. SOME TYPES CAN KILL

What you will need:

1kg White Button Mushrooms and Portobello/Field Mushrooms
25g Butter
1 cup Pearl Barley
1 cup of Green Lentils
4 Potatoes, cubed
1 Capsicum, diced
Few Cloves of Garlic
Seasoning
Vegetable Stock

What to do:

Brush off any dirt on the mushrooms, if you have picked them fresh like I did, you may have to wash them on both sides to remove any unwanted visitors, this does not impair the flavour of freshly picked mushrooms but it does on shop brought ones.

Dice up the mushrooms, capsicum, garlic and potatoes.

Throw everything in a big pot ( I use a cast iron pot that I can put on top of a wood burner and leave all day, you could use a slow cooker ) and cover with stock, cook gently all day over a low heat. The soup will thicken and the flavours will mingle just in time for you to come home from work, light the fire and throw your shoes off.

All that is left is to enjoy with fresh bread and lashings of butter. Yummy it is too!!

Making real custard is a dying art in today’s busy world, but you really cannot beat it.

I know the ‘ready made’ cardboard cartons are quick and easy, but it’s not really custard. Just a yellow glob tasting of cardboard.

Do yourself a favor and make a real custard and you will not regret that extra five minutes, I promise you.

What you will need:

500ml Milk, you can use full cream, skimmed or light
125g Caster Sugar
6 Egg yolks
Vanilla Pod or True Vanilla Essence

Cooks Tips:
If you save the egg white you can make decadent meringues.

Also invest in a ‘real’ vanilla pod and put it in your sugar bowl, the delicate flavour of vanilla will permeate through.
And when you need a vanilla flavour, take it out of the sugar and use it. Simply rinse it off and dry it, then pop it back into your sugar.

So you can keep re-using the pod, this way it doesn’t seem so expensive. If you have flavoured sugar, use it in dishes like this.

What to do:

1. Pop the milk, yolks & the sugar into a pan with either the vanilla pod, or a good splash of true vanilla essence
2. Bring to the boil over a medium heat, then turn down the heat & simmer gently
3. Keep stirring with a wooden spoon, until the custard coats the back of the spoon
4. The custard is cooked, when you can run your fingers along the back of the spoon and it should leave a space so you can see the wood of the spoon
5. Take off the heat and serve

Tip: Any left over custard can be covered and kept in the refrigerator for about three days

Ingredients:

4 eggs
1/4 cup milk
1/2 cup cubed, sliced breakfast ham
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1/4 cup diced spring onion or chives
1/4 cup diced green bell pepper
2 tablespoon butter
Freshly ground pepper and salt to taste

Directions:

Beat eggs, pepper and salt together until foamy.

Add in milk, spring onion/chives, green pepper, 1/4 cup cheese and ham.

Heat a large skillet and melt butter over medium heat. Pour in omelet mix and spread to cover bottom of skillet.

Reduce heat and cook until edges become firm.

Work edges with spatula to allow for easier folding. Flip the omelet by slipping it out onto a plate and and flipping it back in with uncooked side down to brown other side.

Right before omelet is finished, add remaining cheddar and a few dashes of ground pepper. Fold and serve.