Say yellow, wave goodbye...

Apologies for the title!  I've had Say Hello, Wave Goodbye by Soft Cell in my head for days so when I was thinking of a title for a post about a yellow curry... Yep, that's how my mind works! Although, the wave goodbye bit is apt since the yellow curry in question was devoured to leave very clean plates by not only the boy child but my very fussy 'wife' (i.e. the other person in my life that I cook for. Not an actual wife!).

Now, if you know me it is quite likely that at some point I've asked you, "Have you heard of Chilli Papas?", to which you've then answered, "Yes, Jill. You harp on about it all the time". Some things are worth harping on about!!

This is their website---> http://www.chillipapas.com/  Here's a link to their Facebook page --->  https://www.facebook.com/redhotchillipapas .  It's updated all the time with their latest news, products, where they will be direct selling, asking for customer feedback and opinions, recipe ideas - loads going on. I like companies that interact with their customers like this. And they do listen and take on board what people tell them.  And to put an extra smile on my face, they are based right here beside me in Dunfermline. Yes, my Fife foodie mission continues...

I've been using their products for a while now and my favourite mix changes all the time, but at the moment I am really into the yellow curry.  I love a curry, but if you've ever made your own from scratch you probably know the problems with it:

1. you buy a dozen jars of spices which take up a lot of room in the cupboard and go out of date before you're even halfway through them
2. it takes time to measure out all the quantities of all the different spices
3. if you're trying to watch calories and fat content then curry is a no-no

I do love making a curry from scratch but I have to have the time to spare, and as a very busy working mum that doesn't happen very often.  Chilli Papas provide 2 of their mixes in each pack and each sachet contains all the spices you need for each curry.  The 2 in 1 Tikka has beetroot powder in it too which gives it a fabulous colour without any artificial additives that you might find in shop bought curries.  I'll do a blog post on the tikka mix separately as I adore it!  The Chilli Papas tagline is "Authentic curry the oil free way", and it is!  I suppose if you really wanted to you could fry the onion and spices in oil first, but having tried all of their mixes using the age old 'bung it all in a pot and let it cook' method, I can vouch for the fact that oil really isn't needed.

So on Mothers Day this year, as nobody was likely to cook dinner for me (boo hoo...), I wanted something I love, something easy that I could leave to cook without having to keep an eye on it and something both the child and the wife would like too. I decided on yellow curry with roasted butternut squash, baby corn and green beans. Phwoar!  Along with the spice mix and my veg I needed an onion, a stock cube, a tin of coconut milk and some easy garlic and ginger (or you can use fresh but I was going for superfast, superlazy cooking, I even used microwave basmati rice!). And here it all is:

The butternut squash was chopped into chunks and roasted in the oven with a bit of salt and pepper and a drizzle of olive oil until it was tender. 

This is what is in one of the Chilli Papas sachets of yellow curry mix, spices plus kaffir lime leaves and lemongrass:

As I say, you get 2 of these in a packet so enough for 2 curries and all for the bargain price of £2. You can buy them as single units on their Facebook page, or they also offer bundles of 3 or 6 packets for £5 and £10 respectively. And even more good news, free postage!  The inlay card gives you cooking instructions and a list of ingredients you will need, along with directions on how to cook rice.

So, my butternut squash was roasted and into the pot it went with a bundle of green beans, a packet of baby corn, a chopped onion, a teaspoon of easy garlic, a teaspoon of easy ginger, the spice mix, a tin of coconut milk and half a stock cube. The pack says a whole stock cube but as I had put salt on the squash to roast it and don't like things too salty, I cut back.  You could leave it out altogether if you're keeping an eye on your salt intake, or use a low salt one.  Give it all a stir, leave it to cook for 20 mins or until the raw veg or meat is cooked, and serve with whatever you like!  I chucked an Asda garlic and coriander naan in the oven and a packet of microwaveable basmati rice in and we had a splendid dinner:

It's so easy to make a nice authentic curry using the mixes that I even had a cheeky nana nap on the sofa whilst it was cooking! (Well, it was Mothers Day!) As for the flavour, well the young one and the picky one both scoffed the lot in record time.  There was talk of licking the plate... Again, if you are watching calories etc you can swap the full cream coconut milk for a reduced fat version and it still tastes great. To be honest, the curries are very versatile so go ahead and add what you like!  A squeeze of lime juice would be lovely in the yellow curry, add a sprinkling of dried chilli flakes if you like it with a bit more bite or chuck a handful of chopped coriander leaves and stalks in at the end to give it some more freshness - it's completely up to you.

The Chilli Papas range at the moment includes a 2 in 1 Tikka (you can mix it with yogurt etc and use it as a marinade, or you can make it into a tikka masala sauce), yellow curry, Mandalay and a mild, medium and hot version of vindaloo.  They also put together brilliant hampers for any occasion and can include chilli chutneys, chilli chocolate, chilli seeds, pamper products, cakes, chillipapa or chillimama aprons ( I have one, I heart it!), anything you fancy really to suit your budget. Keep your eyes open later in the year too as they are looking to launch new mixes in the summer, including a fajita mix which I am probably more excited about than would be considered normal.  I can't help it, I LOVE fajitas!!!  But for now, if you want a fast, authentic tasting range of curries to have as a store cupboard essential, head over to Chilli Papas and get stocked up!

Just a quickie...

I just stuffed myself with one of our favourite quickie dinners in a hurry, so whilst I'm trying to figure out how to roll myself off the sofa I thought I would do a quick blog post to find out what your staple quick dinners are.

Unfortunately, we were far too hungry to stop and take any photos before stuffing our faces but never mind!  So this is my quickie cheats 'carbonara' for 2:

150g linguine (or spaghetti)

1 x 100g pack of diced pancetta

1 250ml tub of single cream

A good handful of grated parmesan

Ground black pepper

Easy peasy dinner - whilst the pasta cooks in a large pan of salted boiling water, empty the tub of pancetta into a hot frying pan.  You won't need any oil as the fat from the pancetta will render down and do the job for you.  When the bacon is crispy, reduce the heat and add the tub of cream.  Stir to lift all the crispy bits of pancetta off the bottom of the pan and heat the cream through. Increase the heat a little til the cream is simmering and begins to thicken a little.  Add in a good few grinds of milled black pepper and the parmesan and combine well.  When the pasta is cooked to your liking, add this into the cream mixture, allowing some of the water the pasta has been cooked in to go in too as the parmesan makes the cream pretty thick so this will loosen it a little. Mix the pasta into the sauce until it's coated in the sauce and serve in 2 bowls.  The sauce should just coat the pasta rather than drowning it.  Fast and a bit tasty!

So what's your best super speedy dinner?

Oh, one last thing before I go and let the button of my jeans out...  The lovely Darren @ Chilli Papas is arranging the Fife Food Fayre to be held in the Kingsgate shopping centre in Dunfermline on 12th May 2012. If you are a Fife based food business and would like to take part, or know of one that would, get in touch with darren@chillipapas.com and let him know.  Now. Do it now. NOW!!  Ta :D

Warm and sultry? Don't mind if I do...

It's taken me ages to get round to writing this review of Foodles Mixes but, like the product itself, it's worth the wait! Once you Foodles-ise your life you'll not go back!  A little background to the product - they are based in Markinch (yes, another fine Fife foodie product!), and currently produce 3 different mixes.  Warm & Sultry produces a lovely Moroccan spiced dish with a deep sweetness, Sticky & Sweet has an oriental twist with lots of star anise and soy, and their new mix, Fragrant & Fiery, a coconut and cardomom based curry mix.  You can order the 2 original mixes at http://www.foodlesmixes.co.uk/ or via their Facebook page, (https://www.facebook.com/pages/Foodles-Mixes/236091043076561?sk=wall)

I received one each of the mixes in December 2011 but with the whole Christmas chaos going on we didn't really do much eating of proper food.  My diet consisted mainly of party food and gin. Lovely, but it takes its toll!  So in early January, on a very grey, damp and cold Scottish day, it seemed the perfect time to make a Warm & Sultry beef casserole.  This is what is in the pack...

I love their packaging!  The first packet contains the spice mix, the 2nd contains lots of lovely sticky dates.  The cooking instructions are all on the back of the packet but it's pretty much a case of bung it in a pot, stick it in the oven and leave for a couple of hours.  All the ingredients are of a very high quality.  Yes, they could probably make the product cheaper but I think it's worth the price of £4.49 (website price, only £3.32 on Facebook, hooray!) for the excellent quality of the ingredients.

This is the end result...

Sorry I didn't make it look prettier by presenting it on a plate, but really, what's more welcoming and warming than a big casserole full of beef stew??  Loooovely!  The dates melt into the sauce to give it a sticky sweetness and wonderful depth, the spices are subtle and warming and fragrant.  We had it with mash one night and a huge baked potato with butter another night. If you like comfort food, this is for you!  My son is almost 9 and he ranks this as one of his favourite dinners ever. WIN!!

A few nights later I thought I should try another mix to make sure the success of the Warm & Sultry wasn't a one off. Ahem...  So I popped to the butcher, bought some pork ribs which, judging by the size of them, I'm not entirely sure didn't come from some mutant dinosaur pig, and tore into the Sticky & Sweet mix...

Again, fabulous packaging!!  The first packet in this mix contains a mix of sugar and spices including star anise and cinnamon, the second packet is soy sauce. Once again I was struck by the really good quality of the ingredients. The star anise were all large and chunky, the cinnamon was thick and coarse and held together rather than disintegrating into dust like cheaper variations are inclined to do, and the soy sauce was thick and rich and obviously excellent quality.  Again, it's a case of bung it all together and stick it in the oven to cook low and slow.  Here's our mutant ribs all tossed in the mix and ready to go into the oven...

Phwoar!!!  The smell even from the raw spices was amazing!  After a couple of hours in a low oven they became...

Not the prettiest presentation again!  I just threw some veg into a wok and did a quick stir fry to serve with the ribs, this picture was taken as my lad was on his way to munch on it.  Another success!

The quality of the ingredients really made this dish shine.  You can't go far wrong with good quality ingredients cooked simply.

I have yet to try the Fragrant & Fiery mix but I'm pretty confident it will become another favourite in our house.  So go on, treat yourself and stock up on a few Foodles mixes. And if you try them, please leave a comment below to let me know what you thought.

Also, if you like the idea of easy peasy mixes to throw in a pot and end up with a delicious dish, then watch out for my upcoming blog on one of my favourite Fife companies, Chillipapas.  (www.chillipapas.com)

Happy eating!