Chicken and Spinach Tikka Masala with Buttered Lemon Cauliflower 'Rice'

I am really stoked with this recipe - I'm just gonna say that right from the get-go. We eat chicken at least once a week at our house and it's hard to keep coming up with new and interesting things. I was looking for something a little bit different to the usual and came across this recipe by Nadia Lim, of MasterChef and My Food Bag fame, which I found on The Food Show website, somewhat randomly.
I was surprised to find that I had almost all the staple ingredients in my pantry already and I liked the idea of making a curry totally from scratch - I usually use a store bought paste. I'd also never had a go at the latest trend of using cauliflower for everything from pizza bases to mash to rice, so I was keen to give it a whirl. And it looked pretty healthy and quick - very important for a Sunday night dinner, after spending the better part of the day driving back from Hawke's Bay.

1 tablespoon of oil
1 large onion, thinly sliced or chopped
2 teaspoons garam masala
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 tablespoon of smoked paprika
1 1/2 teaspoons of ground tumeric
1 teaspoon of ground chilli
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
2 teaspoons of chopped, grated or minced ginger
Zest of 1/2 a lemon
1 teaspoon of salt
600g boneless, skinless chicken things, cut into 2-3cm pieces
400g can chopped/crushed tomatoes
1 tablespoons sweet chilli sauce
Juice of 1/2 a lemon
1/2 cup sour cream or cream - I used lite sour cream
3 large handfuls of baby spinach, chopped
2-3 tablespoons of plain yoghurt (to serve)
1/4-1/2 cup chopped coriander (to serve)

For the buttered cauliflower rice:
1/2 head of cauliflower (including the stem), cut into florets - the recipe said a whole head but 1/2 head was just right for 4 servings.
1 tablespoon of butter
Zest of 1/2 lemon
1/4-1/2 cup chopped coriander or flat-leaf parsley


Heat the oil in a large frying pan on medium heat. Cook the onion for 4–5 minutes until it's just starting to turn brown. Add the spices, garlic, ginger, lemon zest and salt and cook for a further minute or two. If the onion or spices catch or stick to the bottom of the pan, just add a little bit of water to the pan and stir. Add the chicken, tomatoes, sweet chilli sauce, lemon juice and cream/sour cream, cover and simmer for 5–10 minutes until chicken is cooked through and sauce has thickened slightly. While the chicken is cooking, make the cauliflower ‘rice’. Put the cauliflower florets into a food processor and pulse until it's the texture of rice or couscous. Put into a microwave-safe bowl and microwave on high, uncovered, for 2-3 minutes to steam the cauliflower slightly and evaporate extra moisture to make it fluffy. Add the butter and coriander/parsley to the hot cauliflower and fluff, using a fork, then season to taste with salt and pepper. The chicken should be cooked by now, so just stir through the spinach until wilted and season to taste with salt and pepper. Spoon some cauliflower rice and chicken tikka masala onto each plate and garnish with a little yoghurt and coriander.

This recipe was easy and quick, I already had most of the ingredients and, most importantly, it was delicious! I really liked the cauliflower rice - a simple and healthy alternative to rice - and even my partner who doesn't like cauliflower, thought it was pretty good. I can see this becoming a regular!

Cheesy Tomato and Veggie Pasta Bake

Yay! It's Spring time! And daylight savings! I love nothing better than cooking in my kitchen when it's still light - it's so nice and bright and the lighter evenings are promises of the approaching summer. It also means time to plant a new veggie garden, which I managed to do a couple of weekends ago, including potting some herbs for my window sill.

The weekend before last we were in Brisbane for a wedding, which was lovely - and warm. A couple of days before we left I wanted to try and use up some of the veggies we had in the fridge. Plus it was a Monday, so a good reason to have a meat-free meal. This recipe is great as you can pretty much put in whatever you like/have on hand/need to use up and it's very accommodating. And if you really need meat, you can add that in too. This concoction comes straight from the mind of yours truly!

1 tablespoon oil
1/2 onion
1 stalk celery
1 zucchini
1/2 red capsicum
6 mushrooms
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1/2 teaspoon dried chilli flakes/fresh chilli
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
1 tablespoon harissa paste (optional)
can chopped tomatoes
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar or 1 teaspoon of sugar (optional)
couple of handfuls of spinach
250g pasta - I used macaroni but whatever you like is fine
50g feta cheese
parmesan cheese
handful of fresh parsley

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees celsius. Chop up the onion, celery, zucchini, capsicum and mushrooms. Heat a little oil in a pan on medium heat and, when hot, add the veggies. Cook for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the onion is starting to become clear and the veggies are softening, Add the garlic and chilli and stir, cooking for another minute or two. Add the tomato paste, smoked paprika and harissa paste and stir, cooking for another minute. I love harissa and always have a jar in the fridge - it's so versatile and gives things a real depth of flavour. I often just have it on toast with eggs and avocado, It shouldn't be too hard to find, but it's not in every supermarket. Next, add the chopped tomatoes, stir, season and simmer for about 10 minutes. At this point, get some water on to boil on the stove, with a little salt and olive oil. Add the pasta when the water is boiling. Taste the sauce and depending on what you like, you can add either the balsamic vinegar or sugar to take away from the tartness of the tomato if you need it. Drain the pasta when cooked to al dente and tip back into the empty pot, off the heat. Add the spinach to the sauce and stir to wilt the spinach, then tip the sauce into the pot with the pasta. Stir gently to combine. Crumble the feta on top and the chopped fresh parsley and give it another quick mix. Pour into a rectangle baking dish, or 4-6 small dishes. Grate over the parmesan cheese to your liking and bake in the oven for 20 minutes.

Serve with a side salad. Creamy and cheesy but fresh and tomatoey at the same time. A great dish to use up leftover veggies and get your 5+ a day at the same time - and it's perfect for leftovers the next day or feeding a few hungry people.

Slow Cooker Greek Lamb

As promised (albiet a little while ago), here's something yummy and easy peasy for the slow cooker - and coming into Spring, it's actually pretty perfect. Last weekend, we were pretty lucky to have a beautiful sunny weekend here in Wellington, so it's starting to feel like winter might finally be over. Which also means I probably won't be using my slow cooker quite as much any more, so best to get in a few final meals. I put this on last Sunday morning, before heading out to a baby shower and to visit some other friends, and it was lovely to come home to the house smelling like a good roast - with hardly any effort.

Sometimes I struggle to find interesting things, beyond the standard stews and the like, to make in the slow cooker - if you know any good links, please let me know. This recipe is courtesy of www.kidspot.co.nz, a good website for kid-friendly recipes but also if you're not very experienced in the kitchen. I've found a few good, simple recipes on there - even one or two my partner was willing to have a go at!


3 tablespoons olive oil
1kg rolled lamb loin - I actually used a bone-in roast, because it was about half the price of a rolled and stuffed lamb loin, so this is ok too. Mine was about 1.2kgs.
1kg potatoes
1 bunch rosemary
1 head garlic
1/2 cup dry white wine
1/2 cup lemon juice


Peel and cut the potatoes into eighths. Place these at the bottom of the slow cooker and put 2 sprigs of rosemary on top. Peel 6 cloves of garlic and slice. I had some large home grown bulbs a friend gave me which have a really strong flavour, so I used 4. Poke holes in the skin of the lamb with the point of a knife and push the garlic into the holes. Heat the oil in a pan on the stove and brown the lamb all over. Place the lamb on top of the potatoes in the slow cooker and push sprigs of rosemary into the holes you put the garlic into earlier. I had some leftover sliced garlic so I put that into the slow cooker too. You can also put your squeezed lemons in there as well. Pour over the wine and lemon juice and cook on low for 6 hours or high for 3 hours - a little less if you like your meat rarer.

The meat was lovely and tender and the potatoes were really soft. I took them out of the slow cooker and fried them, to make them a wee bit crispy.I didn't need to use any extra oil either, as they had some of the fat from the meat on them. Be warned though - the potatoes can have a little bit of a tart flavour from the lemon and wine, which didn't bother me but my partner thought the flavour was a bit too strong. If you didn't want to fry them, you could always roughly mash them with some feta cheese, fresh parsley and cracked pepper. I served the lamb with mint sauce but there was leftover liquid in the bottom of the slow cooker that could've made a nice gravy if I hadn't been feeling so lazy (or hungry). And there's always leftovers for sandwiches - which I'm sure everyone agrees is pretty much the best part about a Sunday roast.

Chicken and Udon Noodle Soup

It's been pretty cold lately, in case you hadn't noticed, or you're reading this from warmer climes. And I've been feeling it more than most over the last month after returning from northern hemisphere summertime humidity straight back into the depths of winter. Like many of us, I've been in hibernation mode of late as well as a little depressed to be back at work if I'm honest, not to mention sick too. Feel sorry for me, god damn it! But the upside to all this is comfort food, but also lots of quick and healthy meals that don't take too much effort after a long day of work.

In commiserations of the cold winter weather, here's a super quick and warming meal - and you probably can't get any easier than this as there's hardly any cooking! And if, like me, you use leftover chicken from a whole cooked chicken you bought on a Saturday from the supermarket, it's basically just assembling it. Give it a whirl on a week night when you're tired, but need something hot and nourishing.

This recipe is from the August issue of the Healthy Food Guide, which fortuitously arrived not long after I got home. It serves four - or two and lunch the next day.

2 cups chicken stock

2 teaspoons of crushed garlic

1 chilli, finely sliced (or dried chilli flakes, which I used as fresh chillis were crazy expensive)

2 x 200g packets of fresh - as in, not dried but still found on the supermarket shelf - udon noodles (you could also use dried rice vermicelli noodles too, but you'd need to cook them for a bit longer)

450g bag of coleslaw (either a pre-made bag from the supermarket, or make your own, depending on how energetic you're feeling)

1 bunch baby bok choy (spinach would also work, but bok choy has a great flavour for this sort of dish)

2 cups shredded cooked chicken breast

1/2 cup coriander leaves

Put 2 cups of water onto heat and add the chicken stock, garlic, chilli and noodles when it's boiling. Simmer for 1 minute to soften the noodles, longer if they're dried). I recommend warming the bowls before the next step. Put the coleslaw, bok choy and chicken in four bowls and then divide the noodles between the bowls. Ladle the broth over the top and cover for a few minutes to allow the chicken and veggies to heat through - the veggies will be best when they are still a bit crunchy. Garnish with coriander and extra chilli if you like. The flavours are all spicy and fresh and it's just so perfect for a cold winter night. If you're making it for two with leftovers for lunch the next day, just make the full amount of stock liquid and take that to work with the chicken and veggies in a separate container. Just microwave the stock and noodles the next day, add the chicken and veggies, cover and warm through. Next time I might add baby corn - so good in Asian dishes. It's a little hard to eat on your lap though - I don't know about you guys but we've abandoned eating at the table in the dining room for the warmth of the living room. 

The last couple of weeks I've been Wellington on a Plate-ing it up like a mo' fo' - so next time, I'll tell you all about that. And share something good for the slow cooker - perhaps the most valuable kitchen implement for lazy winter time cooking.

Macaroni Cheese

This recipe is the BOMB. If you need some winter comfort food, look no further than this creamy, cheesy, carby bad boy. For my birthday I was given two cookbooks, one of which was The Great New Zealand Cookbook. Having a flick through, I came across this recipe for macaroni cheese. This is something I've never actually made before and hadn't eaten in ages, so I thought I'd give it a try. This recipe is by Laurent Loudeac of Hippopotamus,one of the fanciest restaurants in Wellington. It made 5-6 portions for us, although the recipe says 4 but it's definitely quite rich - there's a lot of cheese in there - so smaller portions were fine for us on this particular evening.

250g macaroni

100g butter

100g plain flour

500ml milk

100g blue cheese, crumbled

100g ham, chopped - this is optional and you could easily leave it out and make it vegetarian. I used chorizo sausage, as I had some handy.

50-100g spinach

1/4 cauliflower - this wasn't in the recipe, but I had some leftover from the veggie curry

75g cheese (cheddar or Gruyere), grated - the recipe actually says 200g but I found 75g was just fine.

Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees celsius. Cook the macaroni in a large pot of salted boiling water until al dente - usually about 6 minutes. While the pasta is cooking, melt the butter in a small pot and add the flour, stirring until you get a paste (roux). Add the milk slowly, whisking as you go to break up any lumps. Cook until you have a nice thick white sauce (bechamel). This took me a little while and a lot of stirring to get the sauce to thicken, but without it sticking to the bottom of the pot. Season to taste and then add the blue cheese, ham - or in this case, chorizo - and spinach. I also added the cauliflower at this point. I love to add extra veggies to dishes where I can, and spinach is a good one, so I always use extra. It adds a nice bit of colour to this dish too. Drain the pasta and pour the sauce over it, in the large pot. Stir well to combine and poor into either a large oven proof dish, or small individual dishes. Sprinkle the grated cheese over the top and bake for 25-30 minutes or until it's golden and crispy on top - I put the grill on for the last few minutes of cooking, just to get a really nice crust. Serve with a salad on the side - which I didn't this time, but I'd recommend it just to cut through the richness of all that cheese. Yum!

Veggie Curry with Chickpeas

I have recently rediscovered the library and I had a brainwave when I was there recently - I can get cook books out from the library! My first selection was Jamie Oliver's 30 minute meals. I've made a few recipes from here before - some of them are conveniently found on the internet - and this one is probably my favourite. I've made it heaps of times over the last few years - it's easy, has loads of veggies and you can actually make it in 30 minutes...without all the other accompaniments that go with this recipe in the book, that is. It's actually called Curry Rogan Josh in the book, but you can make it any kind of curry, just choose whichever kind of paste you like.

I also made the Piri Piri Chicken and the Kind Of Sausage Cassoulet while I had this book out from the library. I didn't rate the sausage cassoulet - it was too oniony for my taste - but the piri piri chicken was really delicious, as were the lemony potatoes with feta, chilli and coriander that went with it. I forgot to take any photos when I made it however, so no blog about it....this time. Anyway, back to the curry. I usually make some adjustments to the amounts of some things in the recipe, so this is my slightly altered version, which should do two meals and two lunches the next day.

1 onion
1/2 medium butternut squash
1/2 small cauliflower
1 fresh red chilli (optional)
2 cloves of garlic (3 if they're small)
a bunch of coriander
1/4 of a 283g jar of Patak's curry paste. I usually go for korma, but this time they only had 'mild curry paste' at the supermarket
1 x 400g can of chickpeas
100g prewashed baby spinach
1 cup (ish) natural yoghurt
oil for cooking

Peel and slice the onion and put into a large pan or pot with some oil and a splash of water, on a medium heat. Use the neck half of the butternut squash, so you don't have to de-seed it. Chop it up into 1cm pieces, skin and all, and add it to the pan. The skin becomes really tender so you won't even notice it, and it saves having to chop the skin off which is really fiddly. Chop up the cauliflower into bite-sized pieces and add to the pan, along with the sliced fresh chilli. I really like cauliflower in curries as it's such a great texture with excellent absorption qualities - so add a bit more if you fancy it. Crush in the garlic and chop up about half the bunch of coriander, including the stalks, and add to the pan. Add in a couple of splashes of water, the curry paste and the can of chickpeas, including the juices. Season, stir well, put the lid on and turn the heat up to medium-high. Basically, just cook this (hard and fast, as Jamie says) for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally, and adding more water if it starts to look a bit dry. Add the spinach about 5 minutes before the end and stir through. Cook the rice while the curry is cooking (see below). When it's all done, divide the rice and curry between plates and add about 1/4 cup of yoghurt onto the top of each, with some chopped coriander leaves.

As as little aside, I am rubbish at cooking rice, however I learnt the best and most simple way from this recipe. Fill a mug with rice, put it into a pot and then add two mugs of boiling water with a little olive oil, a pinch of salt and a few cloves if you have them. Put the lid on and cook on a medium heat for 7 minutes. Then take the pot off the heat and leave it, with the lid on, for another 7 minutes - this gets you nice and fluffy rice and (almost) never fails!

Baked Lamb Meatballs with Pasta

I went to Auckland for work the other week, just for the night. My flight arrived at about 6pm the night before I had to attend the work thing, so of course I'd already researched where I wanted to get dinner from before I even got there. There was a well-recommended Japanese restaurant, Kushi, near my hotel so I ordered some takeaway - so I could eat it in my fluffy hotel  robe, in my giant hotel bed of course- and sat down to wait. I was reading an old Mindfood magazine, and came across this recipe. I was so hungry and this looked so delicious, I copied it straight down onto my boarding pass (so old school - my phone was flat, ok).

A friend was coming for dinner last week, and to watch a couple of the latest Game of Thrones episodes, and the weather was pretty crappy so I thought this would be a nice warming dish.

Baked Lamb Meatballs with Pasta

800g lamb mince
6 garlic cloves, crushed
1/2 onion, peeled and finely chopped
2 tablespoons flour
1 tablespoon olive oil and extra to drizzle
800g chopped tomatoes in juice
3 tablespoons fresh oregano leaves - I used dried
1 lemon, rind finely zested
1 1/2 cups black olives - I used pitted kalamata olives, chopped up
200g feta cheese, sliced lengthways
300g dried orzo pasta
oregano leaves, fried, to garnish - I omitted these

Preheat the over to 180 degrees. Mix the lamb, garlic and onion together - using your hands is best - and season. Oil a deep baking dish with the olive oil and put the flour onto a plate. Make meatballs from the mixture and roll them in the flour, before putting them into the baking dish and toss them around in the oil a bit. Cook for 15-20 minutes until browned. Add tomatoes, oregano, lemon zest and olives to the baking dish. Top with the feta slices and drizzle with a little olive oil. Bake for 30 minutes or until feta is golden. I used reduced fat feta, so it didn't really brown - or perhaps I was just too hungry and impatient!

Once the meatballs are about 20 minutes in, cook the orzo in a large pot of salted boiling water for 11 minutes or until al dente. Drain, divide between plates and top with the baked meatballs and fried oregano leaves, if using.

This was pretty yummy, but I felt like it needed something else. Maybe some more veggies, or a bit of spice. When I make it again, I'll add in some chilli or harissa and some spinach. I meant to top it with some fresh parsley in the absence of the fried oregano too, but I forgot. Excellent on a cold night though, and pretty quick. I've never used orzo before, and it's a nice alternative to your regular sorts of pasta as it has the same texture as rice - I'd like to experiment with it a bit more. And you really can't go past something topped with slices of cheese. Next time, I'll throw caution to the wind and go full fat feta. Yummo!

Indian Potato and Chickpea Wraps

I'm always on the look out for quick, healthy and tasty recipe ideas. I must admit that I don't often have the patience for food that takes a long time to prepare, especially during the week - by the time I get home from work, I am ready to eat, so anything that can go from fridge to plate in under an hour is my go-to.

I've had a subscription to Healthy Food Guide for the last couple of years, so not surprisingly, a lot of my inspiration comes from these monthly magazines. There are also heaps of recipes on their website, so if I'm looking for seasonal recipes or a healthy variation on something, that's often where I look first.

I also like to try and eat a fair bit of vegetarian food. Not only because it's tasty, I enjoy it and it's cheaper, but it's a good way to get a veggie boost and it's more environmentally friendly - we don't necessarily do Meat Free Monday, but we do try to have at least one or two dinners a week with no meat.

This is one of the latest I've made - it's really filling and super tasty.

Indian potato and chickpea wraps (from the April 2015 issue of Healthy Food Guide)

3 large potatoes
1 large onion, thinly sliced
1 tablespoon of oil
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground turmeric
1 teaspoon garam masala (I used some daal masala my sister sent me when she travelled to India)
400g can chickpeas, drained
2 tablespoons of liquid honey
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 teaspoon black sesame seeds (I used regular sesame seeds)
1 cup frozen peas
1/2 cup fresh coriander, chopped
6-8 tortillas

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees celsius. Cook the potato in boiling water until soft (about 10-15 minutes). When the potatoes are almost cooked, fry the onion in the oil until clear. Add the spices and cook for about a minute, stirring regularly. Remove from the heat. Drain and roughly mash the potatoes and add them to the onions and spices, along with the chickpeas, honey, salt, peas, cumin seeds, sesame seeds and coriander (but leave some of the last three to use as a garnish at the end) and stir to combine. I placed about a 1/2 cup of mixture into the middle of the tortilla and bring the sides in to wrap it - you can use more filling if you're making less, or you have large tortillas - I made 8 medium size ones, so we could take leftovers for lunch. Secure the wrap with a toothpick if you need to. Put them into an oven proof dish, spray or brush with a little oil, sprinkle over the leftover cumin and sesame seeds and bake for 10 minutes until wraps are crispy. Top with the remainder of the fresh coriander and serve.

The only addition I made to this recipe was a yoghurt dipping sauce I made up to go with it:

1 cup plain, natural yoghurt
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon of honey
Splash of lemon juice
Fresh chopped coriander
Freshly ground pepper

I found these really filling and the spices just make it so delicious. The dipping sauce added a little spicy sweetness to it too. Next time I'd probably add some additional veggies, like spinach or even substituting some of the potato for cauliflower would work a treat too.

Smokey BBQ Pulled Pork

Woo hoo, my very first recipe blog. And what better way to start than with MEAT!

Why did I make it? I made pulled pork a while back in the slow cooker, and it turned out...ok. It wasn't quite as flavoursome as I'd hoped, but that was probably because it was a 'healthy' recipe. I also had everything I needed to make it from this recipe, except the bbq sauce and pork (so yeah, the main ingredients). Also, pulled pork is just awesome and this recipe is nice and simple.
Where did this recipe come from? From one of those free recipe cards you get at the supermarket - so housewifey
What's it good for? Feeding lots of people or just at the weekend when you've got some time to wait for dinner to cook.
How many people can eat it? This recipe made 6 serves (a dinner and two lunches for two people)
What do I serve it with? I made a coleslaw with red and green cabbage, spring onions, coriander (super quick in the food processor) and chipotle aioli, and put it into some nice fresh bread rolls.

What do I need?

3/4 cup BBQ sauce. I used Wattie's Bit on the Side Smokey BBQ sauce because the people who wrote the recipe card get paid to put that in the recipe I guess, but I reckon you could use any sauce, but in my opinion, make sure it's a smokey one
1/4 cup cider vinegar
1 tbsp worcestershire sauce
1 tsp mustard. I used wholegrain
1 tsp dried thyme. I used fresh as I had some in my garden
1.2 kg boneless pork shoulder, rind removed and fat trimmed. y piece was just over 2 kgs and it had a bone, but it was all good - I just adjusted the cooking time.
1 onion chopped (I used a red onion, just because I pretty much always do.
4 cloves of garlic crushed. I used already-crushed-in-a-jar garlic because my garlic disintegrated into a cloud of dust when I went to crush it.

How do I make it?

Preheat the oven to 160 degrees celsius. Mix the bbq sauce, cider vinegar, worcestershire sauce, mustard and thyme in a bowl. Put the onion, garlic and pork in a casserole dish. Pour over the sauce, cover and out in the over for 2 1/2 hours or until the pork is really tender. I cooked it for 3 hours, as it was a bit bigger and had a bone in it. I turned the pork once half way through cooking and poured some of the sauce back over it.

Once cooked, take it out and shred it with two forks. Put it back in the casserole dish with the sauce and stir it up. Serve it with coleslaw in bread rolls. Nom nom nom!

Tip: If you're making coleslaw, make it as you need it, or make it without the aioli and add that as you need it.