dinner recipe this evening: cinnamon chicken and sweet n sour cabbage apple, serve with rice

Today dinner had some good distinct tastes. 

I often throw everything in one pot and it results in tasty curry or chilli or stew. Mostly brown colours and can be tasty but looks like brown goo every time!

I did lemon chicken last week one day limiting ingredients and focusing on getting some specific flavours. With pasta. 

We try to most often have home cooked tea/dinner together about 6pm/7pm. Fionn, myself and Daire are usually working from home so here at 6pm. Maeve gets back 6pm after after-school study MT-TF, home earlier Wed. Kate has circus/juggling Mon and Wed so late home (could be 8:80pm or until much later sometimes). Thur is family dinner night where each of us take a turn to cook and try make an effort to have something nice - hasn't been happening of late although Fionn & myself have generally cooked something those days and we're starting it up again this week.

Today veg options we have in fridge/cupboards NOT USED: swede, butternut squash, celery, sweet potato, spuds, red peppers, apples, lemons

USED Ingredients today:

2 packs 400g chicken thighs (8 or 10 thighs)

Aubergine - 1

Carrots - 4

Garlic - 6 cloves

Onions - 2

Yellow Pepper - 1

Cabbage - 6 medium leaves

Apples - 2 (1 cooker and 1 granny smith)

Condiments/other:

Oil or butter

Powdered: Turmeric, Cinnamon, Chilli

Soy Sauce, Vinegar (balsamic & apple), Brown sugar

Method: chop veg and add to pans/pots with spices - keep an eye to and brown meat & veg all sides, allow to dry out a little and brown but don't burn keep moving/add some liquid if needed 

Aubergine, chicken, carrot:

Slice aubergene - thin or half cm slices

Put heat low/medium on under a fry pan and pot (maximise surface area for browning up aubergine)

Optional: some oil/butter into pan & pot

Aubergine into fry pan/pot, dust with turmeric & cinnamon

   Keep all moving - allow to brown but not burn

Lay chicken on top of aubergine in pan, dust chicken with cinnamon and chilli

   Keep all moving - allow to brown all sides but not burn

Chop carrot - add into one pan/pot

   Keep all moving - allow to brown but not burn

   Adjust heat as needed - lower if things are getting too dry/hot

Put all the browned up ingredients into the one pot now.

Put a lid on the pot.

Free up the pan (no need to clean).

Cabbage and apple in pan:

Chop the hard bits of cabbage leaves.

In the pan start cooking up the cabbage - low/medium heat.

Add some oil/butter/spice if needed/desired.

Roll the cabbage leaves tightly together and chop into thin slices - shred.

Add cabbage leaves to pan.

Sprinkle about 2 dessert spoons of sugar over cabbage

Add some glugs of vinegar over cabbage.

Keep it moving in pan.

Chop apples in quarters, remove cores, slice (leaving skin on) and add into cabbage pan.

Keep all moving in pan.

Cover the pan. And keep going on a low heat. Occasional stirring.

Pot: add garlic, onion

Crush and remove skin and bottom from garlic cloves and add whole into pot with chicken & other veg.

Peel onions and slice and add to pot.

Put on the rice

Put on rice to cook in rice cooker or pot.

You can turn off heat under chicken pot after onion and garlic have softened a little.

Chicken with aubergine, carrot, onion and garlic and yellow pepper.

Sweet n Sour Cabbage n Apple

It still looks pretty brown/green samey but it tastes GOOD. Nom. :-P

family dinner plan: melon with mint lime ginger, sticky rice pearl balls, bread and hummus, apple cake

Family dinner was me this evening.

Melon with zesty ginger sauce

Hummus and tomato bread/calzone log

Sticky rice balls (turkey & veg)

Apple crumble

Calzone log with tomatos and cheese (and sage and parsley) before rolling up.

Rice balls into steamer.

Serve melon with garnish of mint and ginger sauce in jug.

The calzone log disappeared so fast I almost didn't get a picture!

Apple crumble also almost all gone before picture was taken.

Rice balls wrapped in nasturtium leaves. THe leaves worked really well to stop them sticking. And they are tasty themselves or come off easy enough. 

Inspiration and help with instructions from . . . 

Melon

https://www.health.com/health/recipe/0,,50400000128409,00.html
https://www.finecooking.com/recipe/melons-with-ginger-syrup
https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/uk/food/recipes/a537483/melon-with-ginger-and-port-vinaigrette/

Crank's Recipe book hummus
With two tins of chick peas as 4 cloves of garlic is too much for 1 tin of chick peas.

A rylandpeters.com easy vegetarian recipe for pizza dough

Sticky rice balls

https://www.thespruceeats.com/pearl-balls-appetizer-695040
https://www.happycow.net/blog/cooking-sticky-rice-balls/
https://foodsogoodmall.com/recipe/201104chinese-turkey-rice-ball-appetizers-html/

Darina Allen's Ballymaloe apple crumble

Plan

0. soak rice

1. marinade turkey

2. bread

3. hummus

4. cake

5. rice balls

6. melon

7. and serve . . .

Do

1. Chopped onion and green pepper and grated ginger, mixed with turkey mince and turmeric.

2. Made yeast dough. Left on top of kettle to rise.
7g yeast, mix of strong white and interesting flour 20g, 125ml warm water, 2 tbsp olive oil
half tsp salt,
mix. knead. rise.

3. Made hummus, mashed drained tin of chick-peas with grated garlic. 2 tbsp olive oil, 4 tbsp yoghurt, lemon juice. Too garlicky! Added another tin of chick peas. Mashed. Taste. Better. Add pepper.

From garden . . . got parsley, sage, mint and bunch of nasturtium leaves which are a bit small this time of year. Parsley to garnish hummus. Parsley and sage to mix with tomatos for the calzone. Mint for the melon ginger sauce. Nasturtium leaves instead of banana leaves to cook the sticky rice balls in.

4. Peeled and chopped apple. In with some sugar and water to steam/stew.
Slightly overdid the stewed apple but used the syrup/juice for the ginger melon sauce. Added mint leaves, lime juice and zest and grated ginger and simmer.

Crumble
110g flour, 50g butter mix with hands until crumby, add 50g sugar. mix.
Add crumble on top of apple in a suitable baking dish and into oven oops 200 then 180 degrees for 30 to 45 mins.

Calzone log
Roll out dough on floury surface.
Chop tomato, mix with sage and parsley, spread on rolled out dough like pizza.
Add cheese (white cheddar).
Roll up into log, seal the ends with tomato juice and squeeze dough to seal.
Into oven.

5. Put marinaded turkey and veg into a big bowl. Add some spoons of the soaked rice and an egg and some cornflour. Mix.

Prepare bottom layer of steamer with nasturtium leaves (stick the stalks out the holes)
Lay out soaked rice on a plate.
Form a ball of the mix then put on plate, press rice around the outside.
Place in steamer.
Repeat that about 30 times!

Steam a good long while to cook the rice and meat. About 30/35/.. mins.

Oven off and leaving calzone log and crumble inside to keep warm.

6. Slice melon and remove seeds. Chopping into chunks would have worked better actually.

Lay table. Chopsticks. Forks. Glasses. Water. Soy sauce and sweet chilli ready with small bowls for rice balls.

Serve melon with zesty ginger sauce in jug for pour over.

Serve calzone log with hummus.

Serve rice balls.

Serve crumble with ice-cream and tea.


Review

YUM

phew it took a good while to prepare! 2hours/2:30 ish

varied diet

for my midnight-ish snack I've just had:
half an apple
pulp of one orange
hot whiskey (with zingy grated lemon peel and ginger, honey & lemon clove slice) (with Fionnuala)
piece of cajun salmon
half glass red wine
bowl of breakfast cerial (girls from this morning - medly!)
small piece of christmas cake

Yum. Leftovers. Me dustbin.