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Hiya :wave:

Had a bash at the Channa Masala (chickpea masala) recipe from Good and Cheap (pg 93) for our dinner this evening.



If you think you would like a bash at it, but the US measurements put you off, a cup of cooked chickpeas is approximately 150g, so 2.5 cups is about 375g, which is (I think) about one and a half drained tins of chickpeas (the 400g tins usually contain about 240g of chickpeas when they are drained). The only other thing about this recipe that I regretted was putting in the smoked paprika - I don't think that it worked at all........ if you would have to buy the smoked paprika to make this recipe, then I'd say don't bother, you'll have a nice dish, without having wasted 80p (mrM/mrA) on a jar of spice. I go0gled channa masala recipes and no other version had smoked paprika in it, so I don't think it needs it. 1 cup of chopped tomatoes would be about half a 400g tin - but I used 200ml of passata instead, because I had some.

As you can see, we had a frugal curry tea The runner beans were gifted, and I made up a sort of korma sauce, using the korma paste recipe from Mr J Oliver, the 'fake' naan breads are Mr J Oliver's recipe for Piadina (minus the fillings! ) with some black onion/nigella seeds tossed in. Cheaper than a take out

Greying

Ay Up!

So, Friday night is pizza night at Greying Towers, we're trying to follow the lead of Leanne Brown's cookery PDF's and therefore, in her From Scratch volume, I followed the 'Great' pizza dough recipe from pg 44. It is a slow-rise in the fridge dough, so it entailed starting off last night, so some preparation/forethought required. There is also a 'quick' version - I didn't try that.

In the recipe, the flour, at 2 1/4 cups is about 300g, and 3/4 cup of water is about 170g - but I used 1 cup which is about 230g

I made the margherita version of the pizza from pg 50. I used 2 balls of mrAl mozzarella - 44p each? I made some tomato sauce with a little left over passata, a HG red onion (gifted) and some HG garlic (gifted). I had no fresh basil, and couldn't really adapt it into my budget, so I compromised, and made some basil oil, with a little oil and some dried basil. Not the same as fresh basil, but an extra dimension none-the-less. The pizza was accompanied by some potato wedges made from 5 medium potatoes from a 2kg bag of Maris Piper potatoes bought for 49p in HB. Not the tastiest potatoes I have ever tasted, but good enough Picture here;



Would I make the pizza again? I sure would. It was a 'smaller' quantity than I usually make, but an overnight rise seems to have all but equalled the resultant pizza size. The dough base actually had a taste of it's own, rather than just being a carrier (put that down to the slow rise) and actually, I made it with; 1 cup plain flour, 1 cup bread flour and 1/4 cup Wholemeal, completely by fluke - it was late and I couldn't be bothered with rummaging through stores - I used what I had, and it worked
I do think this meets the brief of 'frugal fare'. I don't think that you would get an 'as nice' pizza from a shop - I really don't.

Another winning dish from Leanne :T

For info; the pizza yielded 8 slices, in the instructions, the dough is enough to make 3 dough balls - so the base for 3 individual pizzas. Making 1 large pizza yielded sufficient for 2 adults for an evening meal - 1 slice each for lunch tomorrow and 1 slice each frozen for another day.

Greying

Hello Dear Reader

Tonight I made Leanne's 'Deconstructed Cabbage Rolls' from pg 109 of Good and Cheap Just the sort of grub we like here at Greying Towers I was thrilled, because it used rice - a storecupboard staple; I used up the last cupful of brown lentils - too little for a dish in their own right; a red onion and a tin of tomatoes made a sauce; a few leaves off the YS'd summer cabbage from mrW yesterday were shredded and steamed in the microwave with some ground pepper and caraway (super yum ) and I could use 2 veggie sausages (one each) in a dish without seeming cheap! Picture here;



I should add that I didn't cook it as a casserole as Leanne does - I made it on the stove-top and combined on the plate, which I think is probably more fuel efficient and less time-consuming than putting on the oven.

The only thing that I would do differently is cut up a load more cabbage, it shrunk down more than I anticipated And I would use a little more sauce, or think about dressing (for example) the lentils - the dish could use just a smidge more moisture, but otherwise it's yet another winner from Leanne :T In the original dish, Leanne uses chorizo - which led me to add paprika into the sauce, but ordinary meaty bangers would work equally well in this dish too I scaled the quantities back, as the recipe serves 6, but I cooked all the lentils, as they were the last I had of that particular bag - so I have a portion of cooked lentils left over and a little of the tomato sauce.


Greying

Ay up XSpender :wave:

Thanks for sharing your experience That recipe is on my menu-planner for the 29th - I have the 3 for £1 - tins of butter beans from HB in readiness I shall bear your wise words in mind and have a think at how it might be improved whilst I'm making it.

I hear you on the cost of chorizo. I wonder in that case (I will be using veggie sausages) whether there would be any mileage in using paprika (probably a must for me, as my veggie sausages won't have paprika to ooze into the cooking liquor) - but maybe even smoked paprika? Definitely got to be a storecupboard staple, and not something to bump the price sky-high, as that is not the point of the recipes.

Thanks again for your post. Greatly appreciated

Greying