Thai Red Chicken Curry

Thai food is a winner at any dinnertime. The unusual flavour combinations make this style of food a great variation for families tired of the standard ‘meat and three vege’ dishes that grace so many New Zealand dinner tables!

I’ve been making my Mum’s Thai red curry for several years now so I’ve pretty much got it down pat. Over the years, I’ve tweaked my recipe to make it even tastier. I think I’ve finally hit upon the right combination of ingredients that makes it as good as the red curry that you can get in any Thai restaurant.

This recipe uses very few ingredients so is not complicated at all. I find it is such a great meal to put in the freezer for those weeknights when you get home and you’re a little tired, hungry, irritable, cold…….yes, you get the picture!

Although I tend to use chicken, pork and beef would work just as well. Regardless of the meat choice and side ingredients used, red curry is just so satisfying!

Thai Red Chicken Curry

• 45 grams butter
• 1 onion
• 1/2 tsp garlic, chopped finely
• 1 red pepper
• 3 tsp red curry paste
• 1 tsp cumin
• 2 Tbsp flour
• 2 cups chicken stock
• 500 grams lean chicken breasts, chopped

Melt the butter slowly in a heated fry pan. Cook the onion, garlic and red pepper. Add the curry paste, cumin and flour. Stir in the chicken stock and simmer until the mixture boils. Add chicken and simmer for approximately 3 minutes so the chicken is heated through.

Take off heat and service with boiled rice. I’m not sure if this is a traditional thing or just something my Mum read/saw in a magazine but like her, I serve mine with a serving of sliced banana mixed roughly with one tablespoon of coconut. This tends to ease the spiciness that comes through from the paste. Sprinkle a small handful of peanuts over the plated curry and voila!

Banana Muffins

Muffins, muffins, what to write about muffins?

I personally think muffins are completely underrated. Or should I say, homemade muffins are completely underrated. My opinion of muffins is often tainted by the cafe or supermarket type – often too dry, too dense, too sweet…….I could go on. They really make you forget how incredibly moist and delicious a fresh, baked-from-scratch muffin can be.

A muffin recipe would have to be one of the easiest recipes to follow. So easy and often with very few ingredients, you can have these in the oven in 10 minutes flat. The greatest thing about this recipe is that the *best* banana aroma fills your house as they bake…

Banana Muffins

• 1 1/2 cups self raising flour
• 1/2 cups sugar
• 1/4 cup oil
• 2/3 cup milk
• 2 ripe bananas

Preheat oven to 180 degrees. Spray 12 cup muffin tray with cooking spray.
Sift flour into a bowl then add sugar, oil and milk. Mix well but do not beat. Add mashed bananas and fold through mixture. Fill muffin cups 3/4 full. Bake for 15-20 mins until golden.

Ridiculously Delicious Banana Cake

Banana cake is an old-fashioned family favourite. A staple, if you like. For me, banana cake just does not get old. It is always so soft and well, banana-y. In fact, my birthday cake of choice for many years as a child was a banana cake!

It is also, hands-down, totally the best cake batter to eat straight from the bowl! It’s just so sweet and the bananas give it a thick, sticky, smooth feel that cannot be beat and ensure that the final product is always so velvety and moist.

It’s just so easy – no fancy layers, no complicated mixing techniques. Just a bowl, some ripe bananas, a wooden spoon and you. You can keep over-ripe bananas in your freezer and bust them out any time that you just feel like baking!

There is no need to really harp on, too much, about this one. Ridiculously delicious!

Ridiculously Delicious Banana Cake

• 1 cup of sugar
• 100 grams of butter, melted
• 3 bananas, mashed with a fork
• 3 eggs
• 1 teaspoon of baking soda
• 1/2 a cup milk
• 150 ml fruit yoghurt
• 2 cups of flour
• 3 teaspoons of baking powder

Preheat oven to 160 degrees and spray a 20 cm round cake tin with non stick baking spray. Line the base with baking paper.

Beat the sugar, melted butter, and eggs until thick and creamy. Add the mashed bananas and beat well. Heat the milk in a small microwave proof bowl in the microwave until nearly boiling – roughly 1 minute or so.

Stir the baking soda into the milk and then stir this into the banana mixture. Add the yoghurt, flour and baking powder. Mix well and pour into the prepared cake tin and bake for 45 – 50 minutes until the cake is cooked in the middle and just pulling away from the edges of the tin.

Cool in the tin for 5 minutes then release the spring sides and cool completely on a wire rack. When completely cold, ice with chocolate icing. Decorate the top of the cake with a few nuts of your choice!