Braised Red Cabbage with Bacon

This is the drier one.

Yo, Dear Reader, this is a twin recipe with Braised Red Cabbage with Cranberry, so I won’t repeat myself, you can pop over there to read up about these recipes. This is a drier recipe, still plenty of liquid, but less need to drain before serving. There’s a really strong scent of bacon throughout he cooking process and it really resembles the traditional bacon and cabbage in a lot of ways, it’s almost like an intentional rework rather than a useful way to use up an excess of red cabbage. This one let’s everything cook a little longer and stronger, there’s nothing to stop you crisping the bacon and caramelising the onions to intensify the flavours. This takes a while to cook, but there’s very little needed here but patience and maybe a garden to grow your own cabbages. I’ll be back again soon, Dear Reader, until then stay safe and take care.

Such a lovely colour.

Ingredients

1 Head of Red Cabbage, Finely Shredded (About 500g)
250ml Chicken Stock
150g Bacon Lardons or Streaky Bacon, Diced
1 Yellow Onion, Sliced
80ml Balsamic Vinegar
50g Butter
30g Light Brown Sugar
Salt and Pepper to Taste

Can Be Frozen.

Method

1. Add Butter to a large pot and heat on high, add Lardons when Butter has melted and stir to coat. Reduce the heat to medium, put the lid on and allow the fat to render. Once the fat has melted add the Onions and let them cook until the Onions and Lardons have browned.
2. Add Red Cabbage and stir to coat. Cover with lid and let cook for 5 minutes until Cabbage has brightened in colour and started to sweat. Pour in the Vinegar and deglaze the pan. Add in the Stock, Sugar and Salt and Pepper and stir together.
3. Cover and let it cook for 45 minutes, stirring occasionally, until softened. Near the end you can uncover for a while to reduce the liquid.

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Braised Red Cabbage with Cranberry

It’s such a vivid purple.

Yo, Dear Reader, I did mention that I might have some recipes and well here I am. I can’t eat these myself, I don’t need to go into it here which I’m always grateful for, but they’re nice recipes and the person I made them for likes them and I tell you,. Dear Reader, if they like it it speaks volumes. The reason I’m making yet another Braised Red Cabbage recipe is twofold, firstly I planted it and have no idea why, but here it is so I had to use it, secondly the other recipe has a much more pronounced vinegar flavour and it isn’t something that most in Ireland are really accustomed to. These recipes are really rather simple, red cabbage just need longer cooking as it much tougher than green. This is fruity and can be adjusted as you want to. I couldn’t get pure cranberry juice, it too isn’t that common here, so I used a juice from concentrate with added sugar, ideal for the person who is eating these as they like it sweet. You’re just boiling it down until it’s meltingly soft, this has a lot of liquid, but you can just scoop out the cabbage when serving, it’ll help with reheating so don’t discard it. Not much else to add, Dear Reader, this one of a pair, so I’ll post both side by side. See you soon.

The soupy one is this one.

Ingredients

1 Head of Red Cabbage, Finely Shredded (About 500g)
500ml Cranberry Juice (Either Pure or from Concentrate)
2 Cooking Apples, Peeled, Cored and Grated
2 Red Onions, Sliced
60g Light Brown Sugar
50g Butter
30ml Balsamic Vinegar
1/2 Tsp Cinnamon
Pinch of Cloves
Salt and Pepper to Taste

Can Be Frozen.

Method

1. Add Butter to a large pot and heat on high, add Onions when Butter has melted and stir to coat. Reduce the heat to medium, put the lid on and allow the Onions to cook for a few minutes until they soften.
2. Add Red Cabbage and stir to coat. Cover with lid and let cook for 5 minutes until Cabbage has brightened in colour and started to sweat. Stir in the grated Apple and add in the Sugar, Vinegar, Cinnamon, Cloves, Salt and Pepper and Cranberry Juice.
3. Bring to a rolling boil and then reduce to a simmer and Let cook for an hour, stirring occasionally. When ready the cabbage will be tender and will have reduced. When serving scoop Cabbage from the liquid.

Wholegrain Brown Rice

Yo, Dear Reader, last recipe without a photo, I promise, though it might be the last new recipe for a while, I haven’t much to work with any way and the garden might be taking up more of my time, still I wanted to share this as I’ve posted a lot of rice recipes over the years, but knowing how to cool fluffy, soft rice isn’t something that’s all that well known where I live, mostly because all the packets suggest cooking it like pasta, instead you can cook it the proper way. This is pretty much emulating what a rice cooker does, or maybe it’s the other way round, I don’t use rice cookers, Dear Reader, it’s all single servings for me. Handily there’s no need to wash this, I did give it a quick rinse through, but unlike the hulled rice this retains the hull and doesn’t wash and stays firmer when cooked. It uses more water as here’s no soaking either. I personally prefer the wholegrain basmati, but I have been eating that for so long I’m probably biased. Still, worth a shot even if you dislike rice, when it’s coked well every grain is discernible, but tender, not sticky, but holds just a little. Never thought I’d talk so much about plain rice, but here we are, Dear Reader. I’ll be back again soon, until then stay safe and take care.

Ingredients

1/2 Cup of Brown Rice
250ml Water

Method

1. Add the Water and Rice to a flat bottomed pot. Put the pan on high heat. Wait until the water boils and starts bubbling then turn the heat down to medium (3 on hob) cover and let it just sit there for 20 minutes.
2. After the 20 minutes is up, turn off the heat open the lid and place a folded tea towel over the pot and return the lid. Let it stand for another 10 minutes or so. After 10 minutes, lift the lid, remove the tea towel and take a fork and fluff the Rice.

Mango and Wild Garlic All Purpose Sauce

Someone dropped off Wild Garlic, I’ve never used it and had to do with what I had to hand.

I’m slowly learning when the mango is ripe enough to eat. Golden orange, fragrant flesh is a fair indicator you’ve gotten it right.

Yo, Dear Reader,  haven’t eaten wild garlic before and had no real idea of how best to utilise it, I could’ve Googled, but eh, I tasted the leaf and it had a pungent fresh garlic hit, the stems were bitters so I left those out and the flower heads had a taste of onion so I threw those in. Allium tasting sounds strange, but the combination of onion and garlic and that indefinable freshness that leafy greens have when fresh is summed up in the word. This is a hard to describe sauce, purpose-wise that is, it’s pretty basic otherwise, I use it on hot pasta, but keep it cold, well, I mean the original with basil, you can use it as a dip, you could heat it, but you’ll lose a lot of the good when you do. I could’ve made pesto, but I hadn’t any nuts in and I have found pesto too oily at times, just a personal thing, this work because it has that punch of freshness, with a sight underlying bitterness. When poured over and dispersed through a dish the bitterness diminishes and the slightly sweet mango and the pungent garlic spreads over everything just enough to pack flavour into each mouthful. It’s simple food, but fresh and after the Winter fresh is always appreciated. Not much to say today, Dear Reader, I’ll be back again soon. I’m going to be decorating another birthday cake, a wheat flour one, but he same could be done with buckwheat, I might share it and let people see what they can learn from it, it won’t be anything to elaborate, but it should make a dreary birthday better for a friend. Okay, stay safe and take care, Dear Reader.

Quick to come together and a really fresh taste.

Ingredients

250g Fresh Mango Chunks
70g Fresh Wild Garlic Leaves
12 Cloves Garlic, Peeled
90ml Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Salt and Pepper to Taste

Makes Five Servings.
Can be frozen, just top with Olive Oil.

Method

1. Add everything to a blender, layering the Wild Garlic and Mango in alternating layers, finally topping with the Olive Oil, then pulse until everything is combined and uniform, no need to add extra water. Use right away or cover and leave in the fridge for a few days.

Ginger Chicken Broth

I followed the recipe by ignoring it and throwing it aside.

You can make this relatively cheaply, especially useful when produce is on sale.

Yo, Dear Reader, it’s been a while since I had anything new to report, but here I am again, trying to find something to do with my limited stock of ingredients. See what I did there? Stock? Geddit?…anyway. I have often thought I should make stock, but would have little use for a great quantity of it, this broth as I’m calling it, seems too simple and bare-bones, heh, for a soup, makes quite a bit, I’m learning as I go, but I do leave a suggestion to reduce if desired in the recipe, but it makes a really mild, but warming bowl. If the ginger were left in it’d be too much, but as is it’s just right, my taste-buds aren’t the best, Dear Reader, but you an adjust as you want, I had a recipe suggest to use less than half of what I did and that was silly as silly as suggesting two clove of garlic was enough. Now, straining might seem wasteful, but I have a hot bin so nothing goes to waste and I have a smooth broth for noodles and a quick meal.

Our chickens are just good for breasts and little else.

Ginger for freezing in lumps. Chicken breasts boiled and cooling.

The preparation is pretty simple, big chunks, lump and whatever will be just fine, please do be careful if you haven’t butchered a chicken like this before. I hadn’t, but I’m Jack and everything I do turns out okayish, just give it a good whack and you’ll be fine or get a serrated blade and saw slowly. The whole prep takes twenty minutes as most, the cooking is long and despite the volume of ingredients the end result is mild enough, just pleasant and warming as I say. You could add to this when serving, you could do as I do and blend ginger and freeze it in cubes for an extra kick, you could add grated garlic for that fulfilling allium burn, you could use this as a replacement for stock as it really isn’t all that different. Really just experiment, Dear Reader, you can add and remove as you see fit here, it won’t greatly affect the end result as you can adjust how you serve it to compensate any errors. I’d have reduce it more if I’d realised, but there’s always next time and it’s nice to know I can knock together a quick, healthy broth like this when needed.

Pot and mini pot.

Someone asked about blending, but you better peel what you’re blending and separate it out before straining the rest, bits of bone and gristle can be found throughout, remember you’re boiling the rest of the chicken for the remainder so it does break down and spread throughout. A really basic skill on the whole and one I should’ve tried, but never did, Dear Reader, but it’s never too late to learn and even if you find that you don’t like what you’ve made that’s okay too because it teaches many skills within its framework and those skills are never a waste, the only waste is in not noticing and refining those skills. I wish I had a few more ingredients at my disposal, Dear Reader, but them’s the breaks. I find myself less inclined to push these days, there are limits and I have reached many of them in my time in the kitchen, I’ve pushed and pushed and it’s okay to rest when you find yourself in a good place with your diet. Okay, that’s it from me, Dear Reader, I’ll be back again sooner rather than later.

You can portion it out as you like. It’ll depend on the water you use.

Ingredients

1 1.5 Kilogram Whole Chicken
500g Unpeeled, Scrubbed Ginger, Roughly Chopped
250g Unpeeled Garlic, Halved
4 Stalks Celery, Roughly Chopped
3 Medium Carrots, Roughly Chopped
1 Large Onion, Roughly Chopped
20 Whole Black Peppercorns
Salt to Taste

Method

1. Divide the Chicken into Breast, back, two thighs and two Wings by banging a cleaver or large knife against the bone until it breaks and by pulling apart.

2. Place everything but the Chicken pieces into a pot and lay the Chicken on top leaving the Breasts until last.

3. Add water until the vegetables and meat are covered, add more for a milder broth, less for a stronger tasting broth, and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and leave for half and hour or until Chicken breasts are done. Remove the breasts and let cool. When cool remove the skin and shred the meat. Cover and set aside.

4. Continue cooking the broth for another two or three hours, if less liquid is desired leave the lid ajar and let it reduce. Once the time is up remove the Chicken pieces and remove the meat from the bones and shred, set aside and let cool. Strain the solids into a bowl through a sieve and when everything is cooled add the chicken to the broth. Separate as needed and freeze or refrigerate.

Glutinous Rice Flour Gravy

It looks stodgy, but really isn’t.

Yo, Dear Reader,I haven’t been feeling all that great and sadly my taste-buds are refusing to work, I can taste coffee so small mercies and all that, so I haven’t been all that interested in what I’m eating, great start for a recipe post, no? Still I did say I’d try a few things with the glutinous rice flour and you really can’t do much with it that isn’t commonly know, it has a very specific range and considering the beautiful stretchy, chewy texture the dough it makes has you don’t need much else. The issue is that chewy dense texture doesn’t translates to other recipes, no matter how light and airy this flour looks it’s very dense, even blended. Still, I had this vague idea on the back-burner for years and finally it’s brought to fruition. I will freely admit it looks awful, when the liquid hit the pan the entire sauce seized and I had to add more liquid, the recipe below reflects that, but when I whisked it the sauce still resembled a gloopy mess and I admit, Dear Reader, they don’t call me honest Jack for nothing, well they don’t because that’s a pen name, still, nothing venture nothing gained. I tried a spoon and there was this super smooth textured gravy, simple as they come, but it was just the right balance or smooth and subtle to moisten, but not overpower. Hence the reason I’m sharing such a simple recipe, you can never tell who may need a recipe just like this, I prefer nut butter gravies myself, but this is a great simple sauce to use in a pinch. I’ll get back to myself soon, Dear Reader, I’m not pushing myself and I’m making sure I eat well, I keep being told I’m losing more weight and that I look great, so there’s that. I have indoor plants to look at and cards to shuffle that’s where I find my peace in these gloomy Winter months. Until later, Dear Reader.

 

Ingredients

200ml Stock (Chicken, Beef, Vegetable etc) or Meat juices
1 Tbsp Glutinous Rice Flour
1 Tbsp Butter
Salt and Pepper to Taste

Method

1. Add the Flour, Salt, Pepper and Butter to a very hot pan and stir together as the Butter melts. Keep it stirred to prevent burning and cook for a few minutes until the mixture has turned slightly browner.

2. Pour in the Stock and then whisk everything together and bring to a boil, once the boil has been reached reduce to a simmer and cook until Gravy has thickened.

Same Old, Same New: Carrot Curry Refill

 

I did wonder why some purple carrots were listed as being purple all the way through, now I understand.

(A Dear Reader was kind enough to send a donation, I won’t mention their name, but I did want to thank them here and I hope they see this, thank you again, it meant a lot to me.)

Yo, Dear Reader, this post is an ungodly mess as it’s been updated a few times, there has been a huge bathroom renovation and I’ve had to fill, sand and paint a couple of doors, so I’ve been a bit all over the place, heh, I hope you’ll forgive me this because there is something worth sharing, alongside the carrot curry recipe rework. I did this in he middle of filling spice jars and replenishing blends, filling a door, scratched by the Late Naru over thirteen years of letting herself in, so it isn’t all that fancy a rework of Pumpkin Curry, but it is a delicious delivery of fresh onion and carrot, that never lost the taste despite all the processing. I used a curry blend, that is a variation of Nightshade Free Curry Powder where, no I never leave anything be, why do you think I’m plastering a door?, I add whatever else I see in the spice rack. You can add too much and mar the flavour, but a little pinch here and there does wonders for a very mild flavoured blend. The rest is just subbing carrot for pumpkin, carrot and curry powder really go well together, it was just sweet enough and really creamy, I just had to sit in the middle of the mess I myself created, nothing new there, Dear Reader.

There is currently so much happening that I’m only just certain I ate this today.

So, today I received a call, that to my poor torment brain sounded like the direst of news until I took a moment to think, there is a time-frame for the surgery, they hope to have it done before the end of the year, but it may slip into next, before Christmas is the latest they’re hoping for, but is wishes were horses etc, I will hopefully get a consultation in the coming months and start this terrifying merry go round all over again, if everything stays to the plan this will be the last surgery, a grouping of three procedures, so Jack will be knocked for a loop, it shouldn’t be as severe as the first, hard to beat that, but still I’ll be ready. I hold onto hope so carefully, Dear Reader, it’s a fragile, sharp thing when broken and I know the hurt this can bring, I’m far too familiar with it, but the idea of an end of the year finish would be incredible. The gardening has been bad this year, a cruelty as I was hoping to use it as a distraction from the wait, but if I could get the most of my healing done in the Winter months, best not to think too much on it, it’s a positive turn, Dear Reader, I’ll take small steps towards hope, it’s all I can bear right now. Sorry for this being messier than usual, I’ll be finished with the big DIY work soon and will be back in top Jack form, as good as that ever is. Until later, take care.

Bonus: Impromptu Rough Shepard’s Pie

I can still make a decent roux, who knew?

This will need to be adapted, I haven’t done anything with free-from flours in roux so you’re on your own, Dear Reader, it just seemed a shame not to share it. I meant to photograph the entire thing, but I went and painted a door instead. As you do. I made this from scratch, with no recipe to follow, mostly due to the fact the package version seemed terrible and I had a rough idea of what I had to do and a friend recommended some parts too, as I say, it just seemed a pity to not share it, you never know what could be useful to someone. Head over to Twitter for the recipe…the rough recipe.

Ah, okay Shepard's Pie Off The Cuff.

Er…

Ummm…

— Oftentimes Jack (@PepsFFK) August 20, 2019

Update: Turns out this was really good, even for a finicky eater, the recipe needed typing up so, for the gravy at least here you go, again you’ll need to figure the allergens etc, I’m just sharing it rough not as a recipe proper.

Gravy

Ingredients

450g Lamb Mince
30g Butter
30g Plain Flour
1 Medium Onion
2 Medium Carrots
1 Tbsp Tomato Puree
1/2 Tbsp Brown Sauce
1 Beef Bullion/Stock Cube
1 Tsp Dried Thyme
1 Tsp Dried Parsley
A Few Leaves of Fresh Sage, Rosemary and Thyme
Salt and Pepper to Taste

Method

1. Dice the Onions and Carrots and fry in some Olive Oil and Butter until Carrots are soft and the Onion has browned.

2. While Onion and Carrots are cooking steep the Thyme in Boiling water for a few minutes, remove the Thyme and add the Stock Cube, Dried and Fresh herbs, Salt and Pepper and mix. Add a little to a blender along with the Carrots and Onion mixture blend until smooth. Set aside.

3. Heat the Butter in a pot on a medium high heat until melted and just starting to bubble, remove from heat and whisk in the Flour, return to the heat, whisking constantly, until the Roux has started to become fragrant, add in the Tomato Puree and Brown Sauce and whisk for a minute or two.

4. Reduce the heat slightly and add the Herby Stock to the Roux base and whisk until there are no lumps, add in the Onion and Carrot Puree, adding a little water to the blender to loosen and whisk everything together. Heat for a few minutes until thick.

5. In a closed pan fry the Mince in a little oil with some water and let it steam on a medium heat until Mince has been cooked through. Drain and stir into Gravy.

Same Old, Same New: Espress(o) Ramen

Quick and easy. And not a combination you see everywhere…or anywhere…

Sauteed Sweet Potato because why not go all in?

A quick rework of Espresso Steak, Dear Reader, because I muddled up my days, this is getting to be a theme and I don’t do it on purpose! I forgot it was a pasta day, all my days are planned ahead and I can’t and won’t change it, and left out steak strips I keep for this kind of meal, but don’t usually do with pasta, but I had a grinder loaded with rich espresso beans and a bit of a curious thought as to how well it’d go with the Buckwheat Ramen, King Soba, you can get it on Amazon UK, so, yeah, Espresso Ramen. The only major Tweak was I kept everything covered, I did uncover the onions for a time to get them nice and browned, but I didn’t want any of the sauce evaporating, I added the rinsed noodles when everything was ready and let them just soak in the flavours. It worked well, you taste a lot more of the coffee this way as there aren’t any competing flavours, it’s nothing extraordinary, but it’s fun and a bit different so I thought I’d just share it.

Today was a great day to get out and harvest.

A mix and match.

Old strawberries are coming out now. Turnips are done.

A surprising haul today, I was out to thin out beetroot and had no idea so much was ready, a mysterious yellow beetroot has appeared too, it’s either a discoloured white or I’ve won the grand prize! The yellow beetroot is of course orange on the outside for some reason known to nature. The carrots are all various sizes, the Atomic Red were firmly stuck in the ground and the tops kept coming while the roots remained, I had to fight them to get them free. The rainbow seem very prone to bolting, the Resistafly seem to be the best of all, they’ll all get bigger as I leave them, but I needed to thin out some of what I have. I love these as you can just scrub and cook them, no peeling, no hard, woody cores, just sweet tender carrots. The tops of everything went straight into the composters, no waste in this garden if I can help it, Dear Reader. I have a fresh supply of comfrey tea fermenting and the weather is starting to look a bit better so I’ll hope things pick up. It’ll grow as i pleases regardless what I want, but I still like to pretend I have a say. Until later, Dear Reader, take care.

Same Old, Same New: Yearlong Coconut Basil Sauce

Those crates save so much time and backache.

Though sitting on the low kitchen chair hurts my back. Worth all the pain though.

I used a little more coconut milk and used some coconut cream too.

If only you could smell it, Dear Reader.

Freezing currently then popped out, bagged, put into one large bag and back they go.

Original recipe here. Today went from “I will do nothing” to “I have done too much”, but after a long year, Dear Reader, I finally have this Coconut Basil Sauce, sans lime and without any meat as of yet, but I tell you honestly without any hyperbole that this has been in my mind since last year. I made so much pesto that second year and the third followed with an even better harvest, I’m still eating pesto from that year, so I was able to experiment, but this sauce stood out. It’s this and the Basil Mango Sauce from here on out, this year hasn’t been as kind, but finally the sauce returneth! This is a huge punch of basil, garlic and I can’t tell you how much I’ve wanted it. Freezing diminished it in no way and the basil used was only hours old. The basil hasn’t looked as good as last year, nut last year was a true fluke I may never see again in my lifetime, but patience has paid off and I have a blend of, wait for them:

Genovese Basil (The great balancing basil, lets strong flavours mellow)
Thai Basil (The punch of aniseed and gentle warmth)
Basil Horapha Rue Que (Diminutive, but hat smell is concentrated)
Basil Cinnamon (Much like the Thai, but more vigorous)
Basil Violetto (A gentle warm clove smell and taste, but much stronger than other purple basils)

Even if this was all I get, I did have to take a heavy hand with the cutting, but I did feed them before they went back into the greenhouse, I will be content. I made three last year as a test and I have thought about them, the flavour is like nothing else. Pesto doesn’t compare. All I need do is defrost, let simmer with meat, or not if you prefer, get your own sauce mind!, and serve it over rice, if I’m lucky and the stocks last with Sauteed Harlequin or Sweet Potato. I started the garden for basil, just two long trays on a chair and look at me now, Dear Reader.

One of the rescue roses.

The Sweet Peas and Royal Mallow are starting to grow well, they’d been swamped by weeds, but a good, careful, weeding helped.

A lot of my roses were rescues. Much better in my garden than dead.

My red rose. Red is surprisingly rare around here.

Alcea Rosea. I thought it was dead.

There’s a big supermarket, getting bigger soon, that sells these bulbs, root sections and different kinds of corms for just €1.39, which is admittedly a very specific price, and you take a gamble each time, but if they grow at all they will thrive. The selection is so varied from little anemone to huge hollyhocks, I never let a chance to get something unusual out of the bin whenever they appear. It’s where many of my flowers came from, you can’t guarantee they’ll grow regardless of where you get them so it’s much better to go cheap and plentiful with occasional splurges. I lost a dahlia and something else that wasn’t marked, but after a moment I realised I had two hostas from a friend that needed potting, I lost lilies, though I have one and a nub left, but I used that soil for planting. I can replace and in a way I’m glad to have the chance to change things up, there are flowers I really do love, but you can’t keep everything static, that goes against nature. It’s not always an even flowing path, but wherever it goes there goes Jack, where it’ll take me is anyone’s guess, Dear Reader, but it’ll be fun, even in the heartbreaks fun is lurking just beyond the horizon. Until later, Dear Reader, take care.

I could’ve made this panoramic…whoops.

Next time…if I remember.

It’s very long.

Sweet Potato Curry

Considering I was just trying this out it seemed best to have everything ready.

Actually as creamy as you’d hope.

You hear that, Dear Reader? That’s the sound of me scraping the bottom of the barrel. All joking aside I really am running out of combinations, I just have so few ingredients and only so many ways they can be combined. I’m still without amaranth and now eating quinoa twice a week, well for dinners, I eat it everyday puffed. I’m saying that I racked my brains to make something new, Dear Reader and I failed. Then while finding no squash in the supermarket, all that have appeared since are tiny, I had to make Cottage Pies with just sweet potato which always ends up slightly stodgy, so I decided to blend the sweet potato with some butter, that I had none of, so milk was used, the gravy was left thinner and the pies were absurdly creamy and delicious. So, I went ahead with the idea of using pureed sweet potato with extra water, accidentally stumbled on something useful: Reducing the coconut cream to cook the sweet potato stopped the whole being too much sauce and had to make this again, but better. So, I ended up browning the onions, slow work, but oh so buttery, letting the chicken cook to give it a firmer texture so it wouldn’t be lost in amongst the creamy rich sauce, the maple syrup and spices bringing just the right complimenting flavour to the sweet potato and the whole dish became a decadent rich and flavoursome wonder. It really takes like sauteed sweet potatoes and caramelised onions, without containing either, the onions are only browned, the garlic too which is where the taste comes from even more.

Blended sweet potato looks like melted cheese, doesn’t taste like it, but people like to pretend it does so you’ll follow them.

The onions melt and the sauce darkens.

So, a little more time consuming, but worth taking the time to enjoy while consuming. The curry powder would be a sticking point in another recipe, the variable flavours of every blend out there might clash, but as sweet potato works so well with any blend, most containing common spices and herbs and many of the more unusual ones being perfectly matched to sweet potato, you have no problem getting the flavour just right. The sauce is really velvety and though richly flavoured isn’t in any way heavy or too filling, it’s mostly empty vegetable and taste. You know how it often goes, Dear Reader, a nightshade diet brings out the nomato recipes that without flavoursome vegetables will never really satisfy, here they keep the flavours from overpowering everything. All things in cooking and baking are balance, Dear Reader. I’m glad to finally have a new recipe to share, though I’m nearing five hundred, the majority being originals. I’ll be back with a garden post sooner rather than later, Dear Reader, until then take care.

Ingredients

2 Chicken Breasts, Chopped
160ml Coconut Cream
150g Finely Cubed Sweet Potato
1 Yellow Onion, Chopped
4 Cloves Garlic, Diced
2 Tbsp Butter
1 Tbsp Maple Syrup

For the Spice Blend:

1 Tsp Curry Powder
1/4 Tsp Ground Cumin
1/4 Tsp Ground Turmeric
1/4 Tsp Ground Coriander
1/8 Tsp Ground Fenugreek
1/8 Tsp Dried Parsley

Method

1. Add Coconut Cream and Sweet Potato to a pan and bring to a gentle simmer. Then cover and cook until Sweet Potato is tender and Coconut Cream has reduced and thickened. Remove from heat and pour into a blender, blend until smooth, adding Water as necessary, until a thick pourable puree has formed. Set aside.

2. Wipe out the pan and add Butter, let melt on a high heat and add Onions and Garlic, cook on a high heat, making sure they don’t burn, until Golden Brown. Will take about 15-20 minutes.

3. Reduce the heat to medium and add Chicken and Spices and stir to combine, cook for a further 10 minutes.

4. Add Puree and Maple Syrup and stir everything together, turn the heat to low and let the sauce gentle simmer until it has warmed through and thickened. Serve with Rice.