Cooking Fresh Food - breaking the jar/can/bottle habit...

[Olive]

veronica i willpost my butter chicken recipe later, its soooo easy and soooooo tasty

[christy]

Teriyaki Sesame Sauce:

1 tsp sugar
2/3 cup japanese soy sauce
2/3 cup mirin
2 tsp sesame oil
1tbsp sesame seeds

I always associate terriyaki with fish for some reason, so I generally get some fillet of fish, either a white variety (I buy from the fishermen here on the bay.... so depends on what they have caught) or I buy salmon at the fish markets... Marinate for 10 minutes either side and then drain & pan fry or grill for 4 minutes both sides (do not overcook!!)

In a small sauce pan add the marinade and cook on a medium heat until it thickens.

I stir fry some green veges in a bit of oil & garlic and then pop them on the side of the fish and serve it with rice.

[TheBear]

Netix - it will keep for a couple of weeks in the fridge, but I tend to cut it into 2-3" blocks and just keep one on the fridge, and the rest in the freezer - that way you can just cut off what you need without worrying about it spoiling.

LL80 - The recipes would be good, does your DH fly out of Toowoomba? I flew in there earlier this year...but it took me three days to fly home when the weather turned into this...Piccy

Thai Green Curry

The first thing to make is a green curry paste, it's worth making in decent sized batches then keeping in the freezer until you want to use it.

* 15 large fresh green hot chilies
* 3 shallots, sliced
* 9 cloves garlic
* 1 tsp finely sliced fresh galangal
* 1 tbsp sliced fresh lemon grass
* 9 tsp finely sliced kaffir lime rind
* 1 tsp chopped coriander root
* 5 white peppercorns
* 1 tbsp roasted coriander seeds
* 1 tsp roasted cumin seeds
* 1 tsp sea salt
* 1 tsp shrimp paste

Preparation

1. Combine coriander seeds, cumin and peppercorn in a mortar, pound well. Transfer to a bowl and put aside.
2. Pound hot chilies and salt together well. Add the remaining ingredients except shrimp paste, pound until mixed well.
3. Add the cumin mixture and shrimp paste, continue pounding until smooth and fine.

This will keep for about a week in the fridge, or a year in the freezer.

Now for the curry itself...this recipe uses beef, but you can use chicken or fish - I'll quite often grab a handful of the marinara mix from the fishmonger (salmon, mussels, calamari, etc) to use in this kind of dish. If you are using fish, then don't add it until the end of the cooking process as it overcooks easily.

* 400 grams beef
* 3 tbsp green curry paste (see above or use prepared curry paste)
* 2 1/2 cups coconut milk
* 5 small fresh Thai eggplants, quartered (or substitute your choice of veggie - strips of capsicum, carrot, small cherry tomatoes and even lychee work well - kids like the sweetness of the lychee in the curry)
* 2-3 fresh red spur chilies, sliced diagonally
* 2 kaffir lime leaves, torn
* 1/4 cup sweet basil leaf (optional)
* 1 1/2 tbsp fish sauce
* 1 1/2 tsp palm sugar
* 1 tbsp cooking oil (not olive oil, but corn, safflower or peanut oil)
* Sweet basil leaves and red chili slices for garnish

1. Slice the beef into thin pieces, about about 1/3" (3 cm) thick.
2. Saute the green curry paste in oil over medium heat until fragrant, reduce the heat, gradually add 1 1/2 cups of the coconut milk a little at a time, stir until a film of green oil surfaces.
3. Add the beef and kaffir lime leaves, continue cooking for 3 minutes until fragrant and the beef is cooked through. Transfer to a pot, place over medium heat and cook until boiling. Add the remaining coconut milk, season with palm sugar and fish sauce. When the mixture returns to the boil add the eggplants. Cook until the eggplants are done, sprinkle sweet basil leaves and red chilies over, then turn off the heat.
4. Arrange on a serving dish and garnish with sweet basil leaves and red chilies before serving.

[Netix]

Bear, so you only cure a small piece at a time, that's what you mean isn't it? Aside from pastas, what else can you use it in?

I had a look through all my cookbooks, including a reprint of Edwardian recipes, but I only had a recipe for ox tongue something. Not sure you wanted that....

[TheBear]

I usually buy a whole pork belly, then break it into three 8-10" pieces so they will stack one on top of another in my curing box - then cure all the meat at once and freeze the cured meat that I'm not ready to use over the next week or so. Sometimes I will also cure some pork loin to make rashers of bacon.

I add it to all sorts of things - lots of sauce bases in casseroles and stews, cut into slices for use in quiches and as the weather gets warmer we tend to make warm salads with it. Once you have tried the flavour of it then you'll discover that it adds a little punch to all sort of dishes.

Try dressing some mixed leaves with a whole grain mustard vinaigrette, then tossing through some little chunks of fried bacon and top with a poached egg - makes for a great light lunch dish.

[Netix]

Thank you Bear. I actually had another question for you (unrelated to curing).... Now what was it....? Nup, no idea . Sorry about that.