Thai Potato Soup....Yum For Winter

With the Winter cold now upon us, this soup is probably my very favourite of all. I got the recipe from somewhere unknown, wrote it on a scrap envelope and keep digging it out every winter. And it's delicious! I haven't tried making it in the slow cooker yet...that is on the 'to do' list....although I can guarantee you that it is worth every minute of making it the conventional way. My greatest piece of advice though is buy fresh coriander. It just isn't the same with the packaged stuff!

Ingredients:

1/2 bunch fresh coriander
1 teaspoon crushed garlic
1 teaspoon crushed ginger
grated rind and juice of 1 small lemon
1/2 teaspoon Thai green curry paste
500 ml chicken stock
425 ml lite coconut milk
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon sweet chilli sauce
1 teaspoon sugar
3 cups peeled and chopped potatoes
Chopped roasted peanuts or almonds to serve

1. Chop roots and stems of coriander and reserve leaves for later. Place in a large saucepan with garlic, Ginger, lemon rind and curry paste. Cook over a low heat until mix is soft and fragrant.

2. Stir in lemon juice stock, coconut milk, sauces ans sugar. Add potato. Bring to boil. Reduce heat. Simmer for 30 minutes or until potatoes are tender.

3. Remove from heat. Puree in blender.

4. Return to heat. Serve with coriander leaves and nuts.

(BTW, for all of you WWs out there....1 serve = 6 points!)

Slow Cooker Apricot Chicken

It's been a while since I posted a good slow cooker recipe. The reason? Dear Husband decided sometime before Christmas that he wanted to cook the meals for a while. He held out for about 2 or 3 months but needless to say, I am back doing the meals now. And a good thing too, because my slow cooker was feeling neglected.

Did you know that you can convert simple, standard cooked meals to the slow cooker? Apricot chicken is a classic example of a great dish that so easily works in the crock pot!

I use this very simple basic recipe. It is fantastic for those mornings when you haven't got anything prepared for tea and decide that you would like to come home from work to the smell of the night's dinner cooking. And the good bit? Everyone in my house (fusspots included!) like it!

Ingredients

1-1.5 kgs chicken pieces (I used chicken drumsticks only for this one!)
1 extra large tin apricots done in natural juice (ie not syrup)
1 packet French Onion soup
1 onion, chopped
1 chicken stock cube
1 cup water
Light sour cream
Parsley (if desired)

Method

1. Place apricot and juice (entire tin), French Onion soup packet and chopped onion in the slow cooker. Stir.
2. Mix the stock cube in the water and pour into slow cooker.
3. Place chicken pieces in the slow cooker and stir gently so that all the chicken has been covered/glazed by the juice mixture.
4. Cook on low for 6-8 hours.
5. Serve on a bed of rice. Top with dollop of sour cream and sprinkled parsley.

Gluten Free Jaffa Cake.....Yum!

This recipe was given to me years ago by a friend and is one of the best and easiest cakes to make and impress your friends with. I made it last night and took it to the new year's eve party that we went to. It is great for those gluten intolerant people (check the other ingredients before adding obviously for gluten products) although is tasty for everyone to eat! Be warned though...it is very rich and full of calories!


Chocolate Jaffa Cake

Ingredients:

2 large oranges
250g almond meal
1 cup sugar
5 eggs
1 teaspoon bi carb soda
2 teaspoons orange liqueur (optional although I've never used it in this recipe).

Method:

1) Cook whole oranges in water for 2 hours, simmering. You can do this the night before making the cake if you like. Drain and let cool.

2) Chop cooked oranges and blend (skin and all!).

3) Beat eggs and sugar in a bowl until fluffy.

4) Add other ingredients.

5) Line cake tin with paper. Bake for about 80 minutes at 180 degrees Celsius (I baked in a fan forced oven at 170 degrees for a little over an hour and then turned the heat right down as it was virtually cooked, so check your oven after the first hour to decide!).

Chocolate Icing:

Melt 250 grams of dark cooking chocolate in a bowl over boiling water. Beat in 300ml heavy cream until smooth. Cool for it to stiffen slightly. Spread over cake. Keep in fridge. This cake only lasts a couple of days so best to eat quickly.

Slow Cooker Sago...The Way To Go!

Miss Nine is learning about 'Past and Present' at school. Naturally, because of this great topic, we've gotten out all of the old things lying around the house and have had interesting discussions about history. In fact, we are even reading 'Little Women' together at the moment. So in keeping with her 'olden days' theme, I decided to make all of us an old-time pudding and use up some lemons that I picked from my friend's tree. And to make it even more interesting, I decided to try a slow cooker recipe for Lemon Sago Pudding.

What You Need:

1/2 cup sago (available from the supermarket. I actually used tapioca which apparently is the same thing only the beads are smaller).
2 1/2 cups hot tap water grated rind of two lemons juice of 2 lemons made up to 1/2 cup with water (I had juicy lemons so no water was needed)
1/2 cup golden syrup 2 tablespoons sugar

What You Do:

Turn the slow cooker on HIGH. Coat the bowl with a non-stick spray.

Put the grated rind, sago and tap water into the bowl. Sieve the lemon juice and add to the mixture. Stir. Cook in the slow cooker, with the lid on, for about 30 minutes. Stir with a fork until evenly thick then add the golden syrup and sugar.

Cover and cook for 30-40 minutes longer, until the grains of sago are soft. Turn off the slow cooker and cool.

Serve while still warm with ice-cream, cream or yoghurt.

Footnote:

We got about 7 serves from this quantity. I used both ice-cream and vanilla fruche (on separate occasions) to serve with the sago and I think that this is a must as it really completes and complements the dessert.

This is not a particularly sweet recipe. If you like really sweet desserts, I suggest that you add a little more sugar or serve with a lot of ice-cream.

And just to let you know....we all loved this dessert.....except Miss Nine who declared it 'horrible'! Lucky she wasn't born in the olden times, huh!



**Picture taken on phone cam!