We love a good Chinese takeaway but they are often one of the worst culprits for being sky high in both points and calories. If you are looking for a good healthy alternative, my twist on this classic Chinese dish tastes just as good without any of the guilt. The recipe actually came about one night when Continue reading
Before you crack on making this one, I would urge you to read my little blurb below as there are a few different ways you can serve this dish. All are delicious, but some take a little more time than others.
I initially created this duck stir fry mixture when I was whipping up some spring rolls to go with my egg fried rice. They were delicious but I couldn’t help but think that this tasty mixture was being wasted in such small quantities inside the rolls and should instead be the star of the show on the plate so I set about adapting my initial recipe to make it the main part of the dish.
Whenever we order rice as part of an Indian takeaway my hubbie and I get ‘peas pilau’, largely as he is rather obsessed with peas! It’s a lovely side dish which is a bit more interesting than just plain rice and so this week, when I fancied an Indian style dish, I thought I would try and recreate this rice at home. I had some lean mince in the freezer so I paired some spiced beef kofta’s with the rice and served with the mint yoghurt from my Tandoori Salmon recipe.
One of my lovely friends got me a Good Food Magazine subscription for Christmas. Now I have a terrible habit of absolutely loving reading recipe books and magazines, but never actually making anything out of them as I tend to just go off and do my own thing so I decided that I would try and make a least one thing out of each monthly edition. The January edition was full of tray bakes and, having had a read through the mag, I decided the Harissa Cauliflower Pilaf was the most up my street. Now whilst I committed to making something out of the edition, I knew it wouldn’t be too the letter and so, having made this a few times now, I can confirm my version is actually rather different to the original.
Coriander is probably my favourite herb and I find it makes its way into lots of my cooking. One dish it hadn’t yet made it into was a risotto and, after fancying a different kind of risotto this week, I decided to have a little experiment with a Mexican style creation. The result was delicious. The risotto itself is creamy and indulgent yet bursting with fresh and vibrant flavours and the Cajun prawns add that little bit of extra oomph to the dish.
Mackerel is a fish that both the hubbie and I love and it’s often on offer /reduced (or on a ‘whoopsies’ as our local supermarket likes to call it) near the end of the day in larger supermarkets. As a cheap and flavoursome fish, mackerel is great way to add oily fish to your diet without adding in too many extra points.
There is nothing better than a classic chilli con carne and I’m always looking for ways to mix things up to put a little twist on an everyday classic. Last week my friends and I went out for a few gins and the bar we were in served a small tapas dish with each drink. One of the dishes was a tiny bowl of the most delicious chorizo and chicken chilli and as soon as I tasted it I knew I needed to recreate it in my kitchen at home. The result was delicious and enjoyed by both my friends and family. I served the chilli with rice, homemade guacamole, a little light cheese and a sprinkle of jalapenos. Because the chilli itself is so low in points, you can have a little bit of what you fancy with it, whether that be rice, a jacket potato, chips, nachos or even a pita bread.
Following on from my success using Very Lazy garlic and chillies in my last post, I was keen to road test the one of the other products that the lovely folks there sent me to try, the Very Lazy Smoked Garlic.
After doing a bit of brainstorming over what I fancied, I set my mind on creating a new risotto dish as I thought this would be the perfect way to retain the lovely smoky flavour of the garlic. The flavour of the garlic goes so well with both the paprika flavour in the chorizo and freshness of the prawns, and the addition of fennel to this dish really lifts it to a whole new level.
Nasi Goreng literally translates as ‘fried rice’ in Indonesia. This delightful dish is a great option if you are looking for something really straight forward, quick and tasty. I’ve just used a shop bought paste here as it’s not too many points and is a lovely flavour. I haven’t added any extra chilli as it already has a nice kick but you can always add some crushed chillies at the end if you like things really hot. I will also be posting a recipe with my own paste but since lots of you are asking for this recipe to make this week, I thought I best not keep you all waiting! I got my paste in Tesco but I know lots of other supermarkets do their own version too.
My hubbie and I love all things hot and so I’m always on the lookout for new spicy additions to our weekly menu. After visiting a food festival a few weeks ago and enjoying the most delicious Jamaican brown chicken wrap I decided to give this dish a go for myself by transforming it into a stew.