Having just returned from soccer, I can report a 3 goal victory. Yay for us!!! I've even made it onto the goal kicking ladder, which, and those who've seen me in action will know, can only be put down to them having a reeeaaaally loooooong ladder.
This win comes after a two goal loss last week against the top side.
Those who read Lee's blog (and let's face, I don't have any friends of my own) will know of the weekends Puerto Rico fest. Being somewhat anti-social and keen not to risk my unbeaten (1-game) winning streak, I raided the Scott's bookcase and read two books:
- Hell Island by Matthew Reilly
- Cracking the DaVinci Code by Simon Cox
I also started reading a book called "Celebration of the senses" by Eric Rolls, which Lee had borrowed from Clinton and Jennifer, and which I have now borrowed to finish reading.
I have also just read "Playing Beattie Bow" by Ruth Park. This is a childrens book, but I bought it second hand because I felt that I'd missed something important in this. I had heard of this book, and it seemed that all the other kids at school knew about it. Now that I'm all growed up, no seems to have heard of it, so perhaps it was just my imagination. Anyway, it's about a girl who accidentally travels back in time, and it's quite readable for an adult - and would be highly recommended for an older child or younger teenager.
I cooked another batch of curry in the slow cooker on Monday, this tim using beef instead of lamb (because that's what we had in the fridge). I also made up the vegetable curry and we cooked them in the slow cooker together.
What? Recipes? Okay then. Here they are.
LAMB CURRY
(from 100 great ways to use slow cookers & crockpots, by Simon & Alison Holst)
2 Tbsp Oil
1 onion (sliced)
2 cloves garlic
2 Tbsp ginger (grated)
1-1.2kg lamb (cubed)
1 Tbsp curry powder
1 x 5cm cinnamon stick
4 cardamom pods (squashed)
6 cloves (whole)
800g diced tomatoes
2 Tbsp tomato paste
2 Tbsp honey
2 bay leaves
Cook the onion, garlic and ginger in 1 Tbsp oil, and add to the slow cooker.
Lightly brown the lamb in 1 Tbsp oil, then add curry powder, cinnamon, cardamoms and cloves - and cook for one minute.
Bang everything in the slow cooker on low for 8-10 hours.
The recipe also calls for 1 tsp fenugreek seeds, which I'm yet to find.
VEGETABLE CURRY
(based on a recipe from www.gourmetindian.info)
Paste:
3 green chillies
1 red chillie
1/2 tsp tumeric powder
1 inch ginger
a sprinkle of granulated garlic
1 tsp cummin seeds
1 tsp coriander seeds
Crush all this to buggery with a mortar and pestle.
Other stuff:
3-4 chopped potatoes
a similar volume of chopped pumpkin
a dozen or so beans
some chopped carrot
2 chopped tomatoes
2 chopped onions
1 green capsicum
2 Tbsp oil
2 Tbsp lemon juice
Method one:
Brown onion in the oil, then add and tomatoes and cook for 5 minutes.
Add the paste, stir, and cook for another two minutes
Add the vegetables, 2 cups of water, and cook till you've cleaned up the kitchen.
Add the lemon juice and simmer for a bit.
Method two:
Brown onion in the oil, then put the whole shebang in the slow cooker for 8 hours or so, preferably with the lamb curry and you'll have flavours up the yin yang!!!
NAAN BREAD
(based on a recipe from www.gourmetindian.info)
3 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup yoghurt
1 egg
1/4 cup butter
3 tsp sugar
3/4 cup water
1 2/3 Tbsp dried yeast
Mix yeast and 1 tsp sugar into 5 Tbsp water and stir well.
If the surface bubbles after 10 minutes, you're right to go. If not, your yeast may have gone to yeast heaven, and you'll need to get yourself to a yeastery to replenish stocks.
Add the rest of the ingredients, sans flour, and stir the bejeezus out of it. Then add the flour and mix it and knead it and stuff till you've got a dough that's just so damned doughy you want to push your face into it.
Warm a bowl, butter it (inside, not out, you idiot) put the dough in it. Cover it with cloth, and keep it somewhere warm for about 40 minutes - by which time it should be considerably more voluminous than you remember.
Make 8 equal balls from the dough, and then flatten them from the centre out so that the edges remain a little thicker than the middle. Grab each one frm the edge between your thumb and forefinger and hang it so that it stretches into a tear drop. Bake it for about 10 mins at 230 degrees.
Don't forget to eat it!
Only two days of work left before I take 8 weeks leave. Woohoo!!!!
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