Saturday 21 March 2015

Coconut Thai Curry and Throwing out the Clocks








I was thinking this morning as I was rushing around and looking at the clock how wonderful it would be not to have to live by the clock.  To get up when it is light, go to bed when I am tired, eat when I am hungry and get things done in my own time.  I read about a couple who refuse to change the clocks when we move over to British Summer time, they just keep their usual routine They were retired so that made it easier, I don't think my clients would appreciate me working to a different time!  Have I said all of this before?  I seem to be repeating myself a lot lately!  I guess what I am looking for is a simpler less frazzled life, yet I continue to take on too much.  Instead of concentrating on getting the house sorted to put on the market, I decide to grow my own veg, not just a few of course, but everything from sweetcorn to squashes all from scratch. Learning basketry is wonderful, but did I have to do it now?  I have trips planned and a foraging course booked.  What is driving me?  Well I guess it is my 'live life to the full, you never know what is around the corner' attitude to life.  But it can be exhausting!

After yesterdays meltdown over the on-line training which still hasn't been sorted, a computer glitch apparently.  The assessment time should start when you press the 'take assessment' button not when you are doing the training!  It makes me nostalgic for the days of sitting in a hall when the invigilator would say 'turn your papers over, you may begin'.





As promised I have another 'Cooking the Books' recipe for you, a lovely Thai Curry, the recipe came from Deliciously Ella by Ella Woodward.  Here it is:

COCONUT THAI CURRY WITH CHICKPEAS

2 x 400 ml tins coconut milk
2 x 400 g tins tomatoes
2 - 3 cm piece of fresh ginger, peeled and grated
1 - 2 tsp chilli flakes
1 large butternut squash (1kg)
2 medium aubergines (600g)
handful of fresh coriander, finely chopped
1 x 400 g tin chickpeas drained
3 teaspoons brown miso paste
brown rice to serve
salt and pepper

*A word of warning, because this is a gluten free cookbook I assumed the miso was gf.  I have not used it before and didn't read the ingredients until after I ate the curry.  Luckily there was not enough gluten in it to affect me but if you are celiac make sure you pick up a gf version.

I also didn't weight the aubergine or squash so I had to dig out the biggest pot I had to fit it all in!






Preheat the oven to 200 C (fan 180 C)

Put the coconut milk, tinned toms, grated ginger and chilli into a large pan with a sprinkling of salt and pepper and allow it to heat until boiling.

As it heats up, peel the squash and cut both the squash and the aubergines into bite sized pieces.  Add these to the coconut and tomato in the pan.

Allow the mixture to cook for about 30 mins in the oven, at which point add the coriander and chickpeas to the pan with the miso and place the pan back in the oven for 30 mins.  It's ready when the squash is soft.

Serve with brown rice.

It can be frozen, leave out the chickpeas if you don't like them and replace any other veg with cauliflower etc if you prefer.




It is a lovely healthy recipe but even though I used a reduced fat coconut milk I'm not sure that it will help with my goal to shed the weight I gained after my various operations.  I eat very healthy food, but they are not always low fat/low calorie.  Snacking on dried fruits and nuts needs to be done in moderation, a word that doesn't apply to anything I do!!

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend, we have glorious weather here so I am bailing out the greenhouse (it floods every year) in preparation for the tomatoes and cucumber.  It was lovely to be out in the fresh air, listening to the birds singing and spotting first signs of life on my cherry trees, I love seeing them burst into flower.




I found these little beauties hiding under a tree






I will leave you with a photo of my veg plot....... no I haven't lost the plot :).  My son visited with his dogs last weekend.  They spend all their time careering around my garden with total disregard for flower beds and veg plots.  I had visions of my newly growing spinach being squashed so I took drastic action.  I have decided that it would be a good cat deterrent as well so have left them there for now.  Growing my own garden chairs :)





Welcome to Undomestic Diva and Lynda :)

Chickpea xx


31 comments:

  1. I never changed my clocks when they changed, it drives Martin nuts when he gets in my car and its an hour behind but next week end it will be on time, I don't use an alarm clock haven't for years I wake up with the sun rise its a great feeling living free of time restraints.

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    1. So envy you Dawn, my whole life revolves around clock watching.

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  2. That curry looks gorgeous it makes my mouth water looking at it. Good idea with the chairs, nice bit of improvising. xx

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  3. I live in Arizona and we never change our clocks It is wonderful.
    I don't know why we just don't leave it alone. It saves nothing.
    I used to make a chickpea curry, with potato for daughter who has been vegetarian forever.
    But she has added chicken to her diet now. Who knows how long though.
    This looks like a wonderful dish. Love eggplant but I have to watch the nightshade family.

    cheers, parsnip

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    1. I don't know why they can't leave it alone either parsnip!

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  4. We haven't changed our clocks since we first started farming, animals expect to fed at the same time, not by what time it say's on a clock.

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  5. I buy Thai curry paste by the kilogram, I love it so much.

    Enjoy your foraging class! My grandmother was very knowledgeable about plants and taught us how to forage as kids. I always foraged opportunistically- if I saw an edible plant like purslane or wood sorrel, I'd grab it. Five years ago, I made a resolution to forage for at least one wild ingredient every week of the growing season. After our harsh winter, I am looking forward to the return of the stinging nettles, which are delicious and extremely nutritious. A lot of our edible plants are invasive (I recall that the UK has an even worse knotweed problem than the 'States, but the plant is delicious so I love it as much as I hate it), and there is a growing Eat the Invaders movement. In one extreme example, I ate a brown marmorated stinkbug, it had a strong but not unpleasant flavor- like cilantro with a hint of camphor.

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    1. I have had nettle soup but not made it myself, I think I will give it a go this year. My dad told me that during the war people ate nettles, people don't seem to bother to forage these days, not even blackberries.

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    2. Foraging has come back here in the 'States. I've been doing it my whole life (when I weeded the garden as a kid, I'd save the purslane and wood sorrel to eat after a quick wash). I have the good fortune of living right near a failed 1930's-era silkworm farm, so there are tons of mulberry trees not too far from me in the northern Bronx.

      I eat a lot of nettles in the spring- they grow all over the place at work. Once you parboil them to take the sting out, you can do just about anything with them. I am partial to nettle pesto and creamed nettles over toast. If I'm ambitious, I'll make a hortopita,but that's time-consuming, and I don't know if there's a gluten-free substitute for phyllo.

      One of our seasonal contractors is convinced that I live in a hobbit hole.

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  6. Isn't it lovely seeing Spring arrive in the garden. X

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  7. I'm one of those invigilators who tells you to begin, although these days we get the students to fill out the cover sheets with their names and candidate numbers at the beginning, so there's no grand turning over.
    love the sound of that recipe, I always avoid miso as I assume it's not gf, I'll have to hunt for a suitable one x

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    1. Won't be the same without the 'grand turning over' : {

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  8. A foraging class - oooooh! When we lived up in the wilds of Northumberland we used to carry a book called Food for Free around with us everywhere. I can't quite remember many culinary delights but I do remember cooking giant puffball mushrooms and attempting to make dandelion root coffee ( the first was fantastic - the second not so much!) Love your cat deterrent - sit down and deter cats all at the same time - my kind of gardening ;) Jane x

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    1. I'm afraid to forage mushrooms after reading someone nearly died from eating the wrong ones!

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  9. That recipe looks delicious! I eat a GF diet, and miso can be a problem. Some is GF, but not all. Brilliant use of your lawn chairs!

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    1. I will look out for a gf one now that I know. I think it should have been mentioned in the book so it didn't catch people out.

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  10. I so wish I knew how to forage but I'd probably poison us both! The curry looks fantastic and where can I buy seeds for garden chairs please?? lol...x

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  11. I would really enjoy that recipe. I'll keep it in mind. I don't enjoy the time change at all. It was two weeks ago here and I think I'm just getting used to it. I would like to stay on summer time all year, personally.

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  12. It takes me ages to get used to it, I wish they would stop doing it!

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  13. Oh so funny to see you growing chairs! I understand though. We have a squirrel who will dig anything in our garden - not our squirrel, just the one who comes here and digs you realise! It looks and sounds as though spring is busy springing all around you. If you are not getting on with the moving things perhaps that means that you are not ready/don't want to move? xx

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    1. I am dreading the whole moving process I have to admit Amy, I also love my home but not the area anymore. If I could pick it up and move it I would.

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  14. Hey Chickpea,
    I must say the curry looks lovely. Would you recommend the book? I have some book tokens and was wondering about buying it. Although do I really need another cookery book in my life? I suspect not. I spent a lovely morning yesterday in the greenhouse. I have hardly any space left. It is all taken up with seeds trays. A fabulous sight.
    Leanne xx

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  15. Hi Leanne, I like the book it suits the way I eat. I also like Hemsley Hemsley, which has lots of yummy looking food in it, though I haven't done much from it yet. It is not vegetarian so would have more interest for meat/fish eaters. Deliciously Ella has a blog so you could check out some of the recipes there before you decide.

    I spent the weekend cleaning out the greenhouse so I'm really looking forward to putting some plants out there now. xx

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  16. That sounds like a delicious curry! And I know exactly what you mean about throwing out the clocks... If only!

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  17. Hi Chickpea - guess what, I cooked the very same curry last week! Don't have the book (but I can see me buying it in the near future) but came across the recipe in a magazine. It was tasty enough to please my meat-eating husband too!

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I love reading your comments and will try to reply to all you lovely people xx Spam will be deleted so don't even bother!