Curried Sausage And Vegetables On Rice

Many of my Anglo friends grew up with a version of this peculiar but delicious curried sausage dish. It is also one of Tummy's childhood favourites - something his late father would cook when they wanted something a little more exotic than their usual meat with three veg. Though I haven't got his exact recipe but Tummy reckoned my version was pretty similar to that of his father's.

This is a simple and balanced one dish meal that can easily be altered to suit your taste; replace the sausages with some firm tofu, add a can of chickpeas or your favourite vegetables perhaps?

recipe from the tummies' kitchen
serves 4 as one dish meal
you'll need;

2 tbs of cooking oil

1 tsp of mustard seeds (optional)

a few curry leaves (optional)

6 good quality sausages of your choice, removed casing and break into pieces

1 onion, cut into chunks

2 green chillies, sliced

1/3 jar of vindaloo curry paste (I prefer Pataks)

1 can  (400ml) of coconut milk (use light or yoghurt for a healthier version)

1.5 cup of stock

1 head of broccoli, divided into bite size florets and stem cut to chunks, blanched and refreshed

2 carrots, peeled and cut into batons, blanched and refreshed

200g of green beans, topped and tailed hand halved sidewise, blanched and refresh

1sweet potato, peeled and cut into cubes, boiled until just cooked, drained well

3/4 cup of frozen peas, thawed

2 tomatoes, cut into wedges

salt and pepper to taste
steamed rice to serve

Get all the chopping, cutting, blanching and boiling out of the way.

Heat up a little oil in a large pan then add in the mustard seeds and curry leaves, when the contents start to pop add in the sausages, mix well and cook until the sausages are slightly golden.

Add in the onion and chillies and continue to cook for a minute to soften and enhance the flavour of the onion.

Add in the curry paste and half of the coconut milk and mix well, let it simmer for 2 to 3 minutes.

Finally add all the precooked vegetables, tomatoes, peas and stir well, pour in the rest of the coconut milk and stock and simmer for a further 3 to 5 minutes, season well with salt and pepper.

Serve with plenty of steamed rice and enjoy!

Beef Wellington From The Tummies' Kitchen And Our 200th post

This is the tummies' 200th post. When I first started my blog 6 months ago most people thought it would not last for more than a month. I have slowed down a little but more than ever I am going to make this blog better every time I put up a new post. Not a very exciting and good week for me personally, but it has been very rewarding when it comes to my experiments in the kitchen. It was just me and one other tummy for dinner tonight and he decided we (really he meant I) should be making Beef Wellington. Completely out of my comfort zone and armed with not the most useful information on the internet I started my quest to tackle one of the most well known classics for the first time. We were both extremely happy with the end result and I am proud to say this recipe certainly is going to give you the perfect Beef Wellington time and time again.

serves 4 with side dishes

you'll need;

oven preheated at 180 C 

4 x 125g beef fillet, seasoned with salt and pepper

300g of field mushrooms, roughly chopped

3 tsp of pate (optional)

3 tbs of English mustard

6 slices of thinly sliced pancetta or prosciutto (optional)*

puff pastry

1 egg beaten 

salt and pepper to taste

* there are versions using crepe 

To make the mushroom and pate paste - place chopped mushrooms into a food processor and blend to a paste. Fry mushroom paste with a little salt (without oil) til you get a condensed paste (get rid of as much liquid as possible). Remove from pan,  mix in the pate and set aside.

Brown beef fillets in a hot pan, rest for 5 minutes and brush with English mustard. Set aside.

To assemble - lay down a piece cling film on your work bench, place 1.5 piece of pancceta on the film and smear a thin layer of mushroom and pate paste over. Place the steak on top and a little more mushroom paste over the steak, wrap firmly and chill for 10 minutes.

The parcels should look like this, don't forget to remove the piece of film before wrapping of course :)

Wrap the parcels with puff pastry and try your best to make them look nice (I am very bad at this) Place them onto a baking tray, brush with a little egg wash and chill for another 10 minutes.

Bake in a preheated oven at 180 C for 10 to 12 minutes. Remove from the oven and rest for 5 minutes.

Serve with side dishes of your choice. We had roast potatoes and saute green beans with almond. Blanched silverbeet or spinach could have been a better side dish as this is an extremely rich dish!

The moment of truth.... success of failure just a cut away.

A closer inspection... perfectly cooked!

Shepherd's Pie And Happy Songkran

It has been cold and grey here for the last few days and I have been cooking some good old comfort food. Shepherd's pie has to be one of the top ten comfort dishes so it is inevitable it turned up at the tummies' to warm up our bodies and souls. This recipe is adapted from foul mouthed Ramsey's "Kitchen Heaven". I added some peas for colour and texture and it works brilliantly! 

Also I would like to wish all my Thai friends "สุขสันต์วันสงกรานต์" happy Songkran! Happy new year to all my friends from the subcontinent that do celebrate their new year on the same day.

P.S Finally our internet speed is back to normal so I am now able to blog as usual.

serves 3

you'll need;

900 g of minced beef or lamb, seasoned and browned

1 kg of potato

2 egg yolks

2 large onions, chopped

1 l of brown chicken stock or beef stock

1/2 cup of red wine

3 tbs of tomato puree

3 tbs of flour

75 ml of worcester sauce

1 cup of peas

salt and pepper to taste

For the meat filling - saute chopped onion and garlic til soft and golden then add in the cooked mince. Add tomato puree and flour, mix well and cook for 2 minute. Pour in the wine and worcester sauce and mix well, let it simmer til liquid is reduced by half. Finally add stock and simmer uncovered for 35 to 45 minutes, the meat sauce should be quite thick by then, add peas and mix through. Check for seasonings.

For the potato topping - boil peeled potatoes with plenty of salted water til tender and drain well. Mash potatoes then add in the beaten egg yolks and mix well.

Fill ramekins with meat filling and top with potato topping. Use a fork to create attractive patterns if you wish.

Bake in a preheated oven at 200 degrees C for 30 minutes til bubbling and golden.

Serve immediately with a side salad.