New Video – Short Clips of Guangzhou, China

Its been absolutely ages since we had uploaded a YouTube video so please do bear with us as we get back to Video Editing basics! For now, we have uploaded Short Clips of Guangzhou, China

Link: http://youtu.be/C3wcNqToYy0 

And we’re off again!

We are now off to our next Backpacking Destination! Can anyone guess where?

Hint: National food dish is PLOV!

Image credit: http://arbuz.com/recipes/uzbek-plov/

NEW RECIPE: Quick Thai Green Curry – TOP 5 FAVORITE RECIPE –

Preparation time: 8minutes

Cooking time: 25-30minutes

Ingredients: 

• 3 spring onions
• 1 dash red chilli flakes
• ½ tsp ginger powder
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1 tsp · thai fish sauce
• 1 bunch fresh coriander
• ½ bunch fresh parsley
• 3 tbsp water
• 2 tbsp oil
• 1 chicken pieces
• 1 green bell pepper
• 1 can coconut milk
• salt and pepper to taste

Method

Place chopped spring onions, garlic, parsley, coriander, ginger, red chilli flakes and 2-3 tbsps. of water into a blender and blend until it turns into a paste.

Next heat the oil into a large frying pan and cook your chicken pieces until evenly brown, then transfer onto separate plate. A

• dd more oil if needed into the frying pan and fry the sliced bell pepper for 2-3 minutes.
• After
•  add your green paste you prepared at the start and stir fry for 2-3 minutes. R
• eturn the chicken back into the frying pan with the paste and green peppers, then add in your coconut milk and
• season with salt and pepper to taste and boil.

Once boiling reduce heat and cover, simmer for 8-10 minutes.

Next remove the chicken from the mixture with the green peppers (you might want to sieve it) and place remaining mixture on boil for another 10 minutes until it becomes bit more thicker.

R

• eturn the chicken and bell pepper to the green curry sauce stirring well and cook on medium heat for 3 minutes till its warm through out.

 Serve with hot rice and enjoy! 

Simple Chickpea Curry Recipe – Vegetarian

 

Hi to all the cooking fans out there!

So sorry haven’t blogged for awhile, been another busy week. And unfortunately won’t be able to blog for another week as we’ll be visiting my motherinlaw but i’ll be recording some of her delicious foods!!

But for now, this post is dedicated to my version of the classic Chickpea curry. My husband and I are trying to venture onto vegetarian meals more and after realizing that I had a can of chickpeas in the cupboard, chickpea curry it was!

 

Prep time: 5-10minutes

Cooking time: 30minutes (+45minute simmer time)

Servings: 2

 

Ingredients:

• 1 can of chickpeas
• 3 garlic cloves
• 1 onion
• olive oil for frying
• 1tsp. cumin powder
• 1/2 tsp. paprika
• 1/4 tsp. cinnamon
• 2tsps. ground coriander
• 1/2 tsp. chili flakes
• hot water
• 1/2 can chopped tomatoes
• 1 tsp. garam masala
• 1 bunch of fresh parsley
• salt and pepper

 

 

Method:

• First start by preparing your ingredients, by finely chopping your onions and garlic. And wash and drain your chick peas. 
• Also wash your parsley and roughly chop, including stalks.
• Now start cooking by placing a medium saucepan with 3tbsps of olive oil onto medium-high heat.
• Once the oil is hot, start by frying your onions and garlic till soft.
• Next add your cumin powder, cinnamon, paprika and chili flakes. Stir and fry for a further 5minutes until the onions have browned from the spices.

 

 

• Next add your chopped tomatoes and stir into the onions.
• After, add in your chickpeas and stir thoroughly into the onion and tomatoes spice mix. Add hot water from the kettle to just cover over the chickpeas. 
• Now add in your coriander powder, garam masala and salt & pepper to taste.

 

 

• Now add in your chopped fresh parsley, stir and lower heat to the lowest setting. Cover and simmer for 45minutes.

 

 

 

• Serve warm!
  

 

If you want more spice, then add tad more garam masalan and chili flakes to enhance the chili!

This recipe is also under the Category of ‘Winter Foods’ as I find the spice in this curry helps to warm you up!

 

Enjoy!

Coming up soon!

How to make Turkish vermicelli noodle rice

 

 

Where else to find The Wandering Cook786!

Facebook, where I always give a sneak peak of whats to come before posting on my blog: 

 

 

www.facebook.com/thewanderingcook786

YouTube, where you can find video tutorials of my recipes

www.youtube.com/thewanderingcook786

Twitter, where you can tweet me your versions of chickpea curry or any other recipe on here!  

@thewanderincook

***QUICK 30 minutes recipe! Prawn Noodles with veg***Food on the go***

 

 

 

 

 

 

NEW RECIPE – Home-made Fish & Potato pie – using Haddock and mixed veg.

Hi all, sorry haven’t been on here this week, been very busy and with the cold weather, had a few take-away nights so gave a little break from cooking!

Last week I went to local supermarket to get a few items when they had a good sale on fish, and remembering how my mum would cook a delicious fish pie, I decided to buy some and try to make my own especially in these cold winter months.

 

Prep time: 10mins.

Cooking time: 35mins (+ 35mins oven time)

Ingredients:

• 2 onion
• 2/3 cup. mixed veg – I used frozen as didn’t have any fresh veg left!
• 2 garlic cloves
• 50g butter
• Olive oil
• 3-4cups of milk
• 2-3tbsps. cornstarch/cornflour
• 4-5 large potatoes
• Sweetcorn
• Fresh haddock – cut into chunks
• Salt & pepper
• 1 tsp. chilli flakes
• Mushrooms – optional
• 1/2 tbsp. dried basil
• Handful of grated cheese (I used mature cheddar)

Method:

• Preheat oven to 200 degrees Celsius.
• Prepare your ingredients, chop up onions and garlic, and wash and cut haddock into chunks.
• While preparing the ingredients, add your milk into a large saucepan and place on high heat.
• Next wash your potatoes and place in another saucepan with water and onto high heat. I didn’t bother peeling the potatoes as frankly, I’m really bad at peeling! So I just made sure that I washed the potatoes well.
• Once you chopped your onions and garlic. In a frying pan on medium-high heat, add some olive oil and your butter. Once the butter melts, add your onions and garlic and fry until onions had softened. While frying also add in your chili flakes and stir in.
• Next add in your haddock chunks into the milk and stir.

• Once your onions have softened, add into your milk and fish and stir.

• While the milk is beginning to get hot and starts cooking the haddock, add in your frozen mixed veg. If using fresh veg (which is much better) chop them up and add in. Also if using mushrooms, add them in now. My mixed veg contains peas, cauliflower and carrots.
• After 5-10mins on high heat, you will start to see the fish beginning to get flaky and peal away from the skin. This is when you know its done. Also the potatoes will be boiling now, you would need them to boil for 10-15mins till soft but not too soft as in mashed potatoes!
• Next, drain out your fish and veg mixture into separate bowl but keep the milk and place back into the saucepan.
• With the fish mixture, if using sweetcorn, add now and stir into the mixture. Season well and add in your dried basil.

• Note: Some like to remove the skin left from the fish but I was a bit in a hurry so I kept it in and when it did come to eating the meal, was perfectly fine!
• By now your potatoes will be done, so drain them out next and leave to one side.

• Next with your pan of milk, place back onto the hob on high heat.
• Then take roughly a cup of the mixture out and add in your cornstarch into the cup with the mixture and stir thoroughly.
• Add this into the milk and stir continuously using a whisk until the mixture begins to thicken, so about 5-10minutes.

• Once the mixture has thickened, season to taste and add in your grated cheese and stir.
• Next add in your fish and veg mix and stir into the sauce.

• Afterwards, spread this evenly onto your baking dish.
• Lastly, slice your cooked potatoes and place on-top of your fish sauce evenly covering all of the mixture.

• Once completely covered, as an added extra, place knobs of butter around the dish.

• Place into hot oven, middle shelf, for 30-35mins until the potatoes have gone golden brown.
• Once cooked, take out of the oven and leave for 5mins to cool down then serve!

 

Enjoy!

Where else can you find The Wandering Cook 786:

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/thewanderingcook786

Twitter: @thewanderincook

 

Let me know how you get on! Tweet me your pictures @thewanderincook

xxx

 

 

A useful way to use up leftover Pitta Bread – Home made Garlic Bread RECIPE

Now I for one do not like wasting food! If there’s a little bit of green mold on piece of bread, just take that bit off and continue eating. Or even just break the bread into pieces and toast them under the grill and use them in soup.

If milk is just beginning to go off, turn it into cheese by boiling it with some lemon juice!

 

So for this recipe, I had some pitta breads that were beginning to get moldy I decided to make home made garlic bread out of them from a recipe inspired by the free food magazine in my local Co-operative supermarket. And the results were delicious! A great side to any dish.

Ingredients:

• your leftover pitta bread or any type of bread
• 100g butter
• 1/4tsp. chilli flakes
• 1/2tsp. dried basil
• 3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced

Method:

• Preheat your oven to 190 degrees Celsius.
• Cut your pitta bread into slices, I choose triangles.

• Next, in a frying pan, add your butter, garlic cloves (thinly sliced) and fry until butter has melted and garlic is covered by the butter.
• Add in your chilli flakes and dried basil and stir.

• Next with a small spoon/pastry brush, coat your bread with the garlic butter and place in a hot oven for 10minutes.

• Serve warm!

Enjoy!

Don’t forget I’m also on Facebook! >>> http://www.facebook.com/thewanderingcok786

Twitter>>> #thewanderincook

Any questions feel free to comment below and I’ll do my best to answer as soon as poss.

Let me know how you get on with making these and the best thing is, on the frying stage you can add other things aswell as dried basil, such as mixed herbs, coriander powder, dried mint, olive oil..etc.

xxx

Authentic Pakistani Chicken Curry – with fenugreek and green peppers – RECIPE

My recent dinner party with guests got served this delicious main course…

Yummy Chicken curry, inspired from my Pakistani motherinlaw ❤

This light and flavorsome meal is a delightful surprise with such yummy taste, containing fenugreek leaves (methi), green peppers and potatoes. I whipped this meal up when I had guests by making it the night before and serving the next day, which also increased the intensity of the flavors by letting it sit in it’s spices overnight. This is also not a recipe that contains a millions-and-one ingredients, the majority of the ingredients can be purchased from your local supermarket.

Prep time: 25minutes

Cooking time:25mins (+45minutes simmer time)

Ingredients:

• 3 large onions, sliced
• 2 green peppers, sliced
• 5-6 garlic cloves
• 1tbsp. ground turmeric (i love this stuff)
• 1/2 tsp. chilli flakes (very mild – add more if you prefer more chilli)
• 1.5tbsp. coriander seeds
• 5-6 potatoes peeled and cut into chunks (can add more if you like)
• Chicken pieces (I used a couple of drumsticks and 1 baby chicken cut into pieces from the butchers)
• 4-5tsps. methi (dried fenugreek leaves)
• 1/2tsp. coriander powder
• Seasoning to taste (I added 1tbsp. of salt and 1/2tsp. black pepper)
• Hot water from the kettle
• Cooking oil

Utensils needed:

• Blender

Method:

• Prepare all the ingredients (slicing the onions, green peppers, peeling garlic cloves, peeling and cut potatoes, wash chicken pieces).
• In a blender, blend your garlic cloves, turmeric, chilli flakes and coriander powder with half a cup of water altogether for approx 5mins. Try and blend till no lumps, if not, you can always sieve out the lumps afterwards like I did in my YouTube video tutorial for this recipe.
• Once that’s done, in a large saucepan put some cooking oil till it covers the base and place on medium-high heat. Once warm, add in your onions and fry for approx 2mins.
• Next add your green peppers and fry for another 2mins.

• Once green peppers and onions are softened, add in your chicken pieces and fry for 4mins until chicken turns white. Add hot water to prevent the chicken from sticking.
• Next add 4-5tsps of the dried fenugreek leaves (methi) and stir.
• Afterwards pour hot water from the kettle to just about cover your chicken, and add in your potato chunks. Your potatoes will be absorbing a lot of this water so it’s worthwhile to check on your curry now and again.
• Now add in your spice mix that you prepared earlier in your blender and stir. Then add your coriander powder and then the salt & pepper to taste.

• Cover and reduce heat to low and leave to simmer for 45minutes until potatoes have gone soft.
• After 45minutes, turn off heat and serve warm. Or leave overnight and serve next day for extra yumminess.

For the video tutorial that I made for this recipe so you can cook along, click this link >>VIDEO TUTORIAL CHICKEN CURRY

I made this main course, after my starters of Turkish Lentil Soup which can also be found on this blog or also my YouTube page: http://www.youtube.com/thewanderingcook786 don’t forget to Subscribe for updates!

Enjoy!

Any questions feel free to comment below.

The Wandering Cook 786  xxxxxx

Lemon & Honey colds and flu remedy

 

I know this is off topic but a month ago I came across a home made remedy for Winter colds/flu’s. It’s seemed very simple and lasts for 3months in the fridge so decided to give it a try!

What you need:

• Fresh cut ginger
• Slices of lemon
• Honey
• Dried Mint – I decided to add this ingredient in even though it wasn’t on the website, but knew that mint is very good in combating the common cold especially taken in the early stages

Method:

• Add the sliced ginger and lemon into a jar with the dried mint (I put about 1/2 tsp)
• Pour honey on top till it covers the lemon and ginger
• Place in the fridge and the honey will solidify making a jelly texture
• Then whenever you feel your coming down with something especially with the Winter month’s ahead of us, take a spoonful of the jelly, place into your favorite mug and add hot water and stir until it dissolves.
• Then drink! 🙂

Because I was running low on honey and I wanted to make 2 jars for family, I decided to only do half a jar but you can easily fill the honey up to the top with the lemon and ginger slices.

Chocolate Chip Cookies Recipe

Hey all,

As you might of noticed in my previous post about my scrummy Eid Boxes, they contained home made carrot cake (which there is a video tutorial available here – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iemiz48dkAw&feature=BFa&list=ULT5Grddo3mzA 

But also had home-made chocolate chip cookies, they were my first time making them so that’s why I didn’t do a video tutorial as yet just in case they didn’t come out nice!

To my surprise, they were delicious and were praised immensely by family and neighbors.

So for that reason here is the recipe and a video tutorial will be in the making!

Prep: 20mins

Cooking: 10-15mins
Ingredients:

• 2/3 cups melted butter
• 2 cups lightly packed brown sugar (I used Demara for the first time which you can still use but lightly packed sugar is much better – it’s like the difference between Granulated and Castor sugar, one is much finer than the other so the texture will be better)
• 2 eggs
• 2tbsps. hot water
• 1/2tsp. baking powder
• 2 2/3cups plain flour
• pinch of salt
• chocolate chips

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees celcius
2. Mix together the melted butter, brown sugar, eggs and hot water.
3. Next stir in the flour, baking powder and salt and mix until well combined. Notice how the mixture has become similar to dough.
4. Mix in your chocolate chips.
5. Now start placing small round circles into a greased baking tray, what I did was gather a small piece of the mixture and roll into a ball using the palms of your hands. Then gently squash it to create a flat round circle. Note: do NOT make them big, as they will double in size in the oven.
6. Bake for 10-15minutes in hot oven.
7. Take out of oven and serve warm with milk!

Enjoy!

xxx