Smoky chicken & bean stew

When my dad is on afternoons, I have to get a recipe that will be just as good the next day when my dad heats it up and has it for lunch before starting work, this is one I’ve looked at for a while, but then often decided on a different recipe.

Serves 2 – ready in 30 minutes

Ingredients

·         1 small red onion, sliced

·         2 garlic cloves, crushed

·         Olive oil

·         1tbsp chilli powder

·         ½ red pepper, cut into chunks

·         4 skinless chicken thighs (or breasts)

·         ½ pack chorizo

·         4 tomatoes, chopped

·         300 ml chicken stock

·         400g tin borlotti beans, rinsed and drained

·         ½ small bunch coriander, chopped

·         Pita bread to serve

Now for the How To:

·         Cook the onion and garlic in 1 tbsp olive oil until softened.

·         Add the chilli powder and pepper and cook for a minute.

·         Add the chicken and chorizo and fry for a couple of minutes.

·         Stir in the tomatoes and stock and bring to a simmer.

·         Add the beans and cook for another 15-20 minutes until thickened.

·         Stir in the coriander and serve in bowls with the pita bread.

This was a brilliant dish, the onion almost melted away completely and there was just enough of a chilli heat to leave a tingle in your mouth and on your lips, it was so tasty and filling it was a completely amazing stew. The pita bread helped to mop up the juice and it was amazing, the chicken was soft and tender and honestly, I can’t think of a bad thing about this dish!

You must try it! What did you think of it? Any feedback is welcome!

I haven’t decided the next recipe yet as I'm now officially up to date on my recipes, next i will be adding my movie lists!

Bye for now! x

Pork, Chilli & Bean Stew

I tried this recipe, simply because of three reasons, 1: Pork, 2: chilli and 3: beans!

Serves 4 – Ready in 30 minutes

Ingredients:

·         Olive Oil.

·         400g Diced Pork

·         1 Red Onion halved and sliced.

·         2 Garlic Cloves, sliced

·         Large pinch of chilli flakes (or extra)

·         1 tsp ground cumin.

·         1 red pepper, cut into chunks

·         400g tin chopped tomatoes

·         400ml chicken stock

·         250g small salad potatoes, halved

·         100g green beans

·         ½ bunch coriander, chopped (optional)

Now for the How To:

·         Heat 1tbsp of olive oil in a large non stick pan.

·         Season the pork and quickly brown all over.

·         Scope out and then add the onion and garlic and cook for a minute.

·         Add the chilli flakes, cumin and pepper and cook for a further 2 minutes.

·         Add the pork back in the pan with the tinned tomatoes and chicken stock.

·         Bring to a simmer and add the potatoes and cook for 10-15 minutes.

·         Add the beans and cook for another 5 minutes.

·         Season and scatter with the coriander to finish. 

 I think this recipe needs much more than a large pinch of chilli flakes, don’t be afraid of it, add it slowly, as it is easy to add more, but you can’t take it away! Keep tasting the stew and add more chilli if you want it!

It was quick easy and totally worth it! Don’t spend a minute thinking about trying the recipe and honestly try it, I promise you will not regret it! Getting the right amount of chilli is critical; you want to be able to taste it without it over powering the rest of the flavours!

Despite cooking the pork for 30 minutes it was still juicy and tender, and honestly, I have no complaints about this dish. Go try it now!

Next up, Lamb Stakes with a spiced tomato sauce!

Bye for now!x

PS, have you started the recipe yet? :-D

Thai Prawn Curry

This recipe is really nice, and honestly, so simple, you must try it!

Serves 4  - Ready in 20 minutes including preparation

Ingredients:

·         1 tbsp Vegetable oil.

·         1 onion, chopped.

·         1 tsp fresh root ginger, grated.

·         1 – 2 tsp Thai red curry paste.

·         400g can chopped tomatoes.

·         50g sachet coconut cream.

·         400g raw frozen prawns.

·         Coriander, chopped, to serve (optional)

Now for the How To:

·         Heat the oil in a medium saucepan.

·         Tip in the onion and ginger and cook for a few minutes until softened.

·         Stir in the curry paste and cook for a further minute.

·         Add the chopped tomatoes and coconut cream, and bring to the boil, leave to simmer for 5 minutes.

·         If the mixture is too thick add a little boiling water.

·         Add the prawns and cook for a further 5 – 10 minutes depending on the size of the prawns.

·         Serve with some plain rice. 

I really enjoyed this dish, despite making a mistake when I got the ingredients, I didn’t realise until I was on the 4^th step about to add the coconut cream when I noticed I had actually brought coconut milk, it gave the same flavouring, but it meant that the curry was more liquidy than it should of been, I tried adding corn flour to thicken it, and it did work, but not to the extent as I believe it should of, nonetheless, it was still a great dish despite my mistake.

I have also noticed that the vast majority of the recipes I have tried have coriander involved. I’ve come to the point now where I will just always leave it out, I honestly can’t bare it!

This is also a healthy dish with only 180 calories per serving!

When I make this again, I will be tempted to add another spoon or two of the curry paste to add a bit more heat, it was lovely, but recently I have really liked spicy dishes, so that and getting the correct ingredient are the only amendments I would make!

A brilliant change to the curries I usually make!

Next recipe is Pork Burgers with herby Wedges!

Bye for Now!x

Last Weeks Recipe : Moroccan Lamb

This recipe will get me up to date with all the recipes I have tried. Well, until tomorrow at least, but I swear next time I'm not going to do a mass update on my recipes, itll be once a week, I swear I don’t know where the time goes, it’ll be the weekend again before you know it! Anyway, last week I made Moroccan Lamb.

Serves 4 – ready in 45 minutes, including prep

Ingredients:

·         500g lamb neck fillets, cut into bite sized pieces

·         2 tsp paprika

·         3 tsp ground cinnamon

·         2 x 400g cans of chopped tomato with olive oil and garlic

·         1 tbsp finely chopped parsley, plus extra to serve.

·         Chilli Flakes

Now for the How To:

·         Heat a large, non-stick frying pan, without adding any extra oil, cook the lamb well on all sides.

·         Tip in the spices and fry for a minute until aromatic

·         Pour in the chopped tomatoes, chilli flakes and parsley, bring to the boil and then summer gentle with a lid on for 30 minutes or until the lamb is tender.

·         Served sprinkled with parsley

It is a very easy and simple recipe. I don’t think traditionally chilli flakes are supposed to be added to the recipe, but I added them and it lifted the dish nicely, I think without them it would be a bit too much tomato. But it was very tasty, you could make out the paprika and the flavour of the ground cinnamon, and its worth a try, I served it with rice just to add some substance to the dish, but you could serve it with cous cous, or even mash potato if you wanted to, it was quick and easy, and tasted brilliant the next day.

Tomorrow I am making Paella, I have never tried it before let alone made it so fingers crossed it goes well, it’s mixed sea food, so I will be using squid, prawns and muscles! Interesting times ahead

Out of the recipes I have attempted so far, which is your favourite?

Bye for Now!x

Chicken and Bean Enchiladas

I'm a little bit behind on updating you guys on the recipes I’ve been trying, I just don’t know where the time goes, and before I know it’s another week and another recipe being tested, I'm currently working 3 weeks behind on the recipes, so I will try to get up to date as soon as possible. First we have:

Chicken and Bean Enchiladas

Serves 10 (the quantities can easily be changed) – ready in 1 hour 10 minutes including prep time

Ingredients:

·         3 tbsp olive oil

·         2 red peppers, sliced

·         2 red onions, sliced

·         3 red chillies, 2 deseeded and chopped, 1 sliced

·         Small bunch coriander, stalks finely chopped, leaves roughly chopped (optional)

·         2 garlic cloves, crushed

·         1 tbsp ground coriander

·         1 tbsp cumin seeds

·         6 skinless chicken breasts, cut into chunks

·         415g can refried beans

·         198g can sweet corn, drained

·         700ml bottle passata

·         1tsp golden caster sugar

·         10 tortillas

·         2 x 142ml pots soured cream

·         200g cheddar, grated

Now for the How To:

·         Heat 2 tbsp of the oil in your largest pan, then fry the onions peppers, chopped chilli and the coriander stalks with half the garlic for 10 minutes until soft. Meanwhile in another pan, fry the chicken in the remaining oil until browned and add it to the pan of veg when it is done.

·         Stir in 2 tsp of ground coriander and 2 tsp of cumin seeds and fry for a further 1 minute.

·         Stir in the beans, sweet corn, coriander leaves and 150ml of the passata into the veg and chicken.

·         In a jug mix the rest of the passata with the other crushed garlic clove, the remaining spices and the sugar and set aside

·         To assemble: lay the tortillas onto a board and divide the chicken mix between them. Fold over the ends and roll up in order to seal.

·         Divide the passata sauce into the dishes you are using, top with the enchiladas, dot with the soured cream, sprinkle with the cheese and scatter with the sliced chilli.

·         Heat oven to 200C/180C fan/ gas 6 and bake for 30 minutes scattering with more coriander leave to serve, if you like it (I don’t, so I didn’t)

I’ll be honest, this wasn’t my favourite recipe, yes it was tasty, but it was a lot of effort, and I can’t roll to save my life, so for me it wasn’t worth the effort, it wouldn’t be one Id race to make again, but at least I’ve tried it, its 490 calories per serving (one tortilla each) I was just very disappointed by the end result. Maybe you’ll have better luck!

Bye for now! x

It's been a while!

I haven’t updated my blog for some time, and so I thought it was a little over due.


I will Post March and April’s movies over the next couple of days, I have no idea where the days are going to! This year is flying by!

This is only a quick note, I have decided to compile my own cook book, from recipes from friends and from the internet (the main reason is because I'm too cheap to actually buy a cook book) so with this folder I am going to cook something new and different every week.

I think I am a good cook, but I only cook your simple meals, spaghetti bolognaise, lasagne, Chilli, and curries, I want to use this time to expand my cooking knowledge and basically make me a better cook, and to expand my horizons (maybe a bit extreme, but you know what I mean)

So last week was my first attempt, and I made a spicy prawn Pilau dish, it was rather easy, and from start to finish it only took about 30 minutes, that’s including time to prep onions and to wash the rice. The first step was to add the chopped onions to a dry pan for a couple of minutes, and then add a couple of tea spoons of curry paste and then continue to cook this out for a couple of minutes, the next step was to add the washed rice and to mix this around the pan so it is coated with the curry paste, chicken stock is then added to the pan, a lid is put on and then its left on a low heat for 12-15 minutes. After this time has passed and the rice is cooked break up the rice with a fork, add the prawns, peas, and chopped chilli, take off the heat and put the lid back on the pan and leave for 5 minutes. Upon serving sprinkle with coriander and then you’re done! It was so easy and bloody tasty 

This week I am making prawn and pea risotto, I have about 80 or so recipes I currently want to try, so it will take me a while to get through them all, and some may not be successful, or I may not like some, but what’s the harm in trying something different?

Do you have any recipes I should try?

Movie lists will be added shortly!

Bye for Now! X