The Garden Fence - proper Old Style support and chat!

thriftmonster

Tinydancer - I made a veggie biriani the other day which was easy. I fried onion and garlic in a little oil and added curry powder (I use hot), sliced carrots, a yellow pepper, a cubed normal potato, a cubed sweet potato (both peeled) and some cherry tomatoes. Once a little browned I added water and put a lid on and simmered till the carrots and potatoes were done. There wasn't a lot of liquid left at this point (if there was boil it off without a lid). I added a mug of frozen peas and one of those microwave packets of Lidl pilau rice (left from hols) and heated for 5 mins. Served with plain yoghurt and poppadoms.


The veg are not set in stone - it was what needed using up and you could use home cooked rice

ivyleaf

Lovely news, Doveling and thriftmonster :j

Monna I love Today's Thought

Softstuff

Tinydancer, I'm a bit out of practice with non meat recipes, it's been a while, we're a bit meaty here now! Most of my recipes don't have a thousand steps, it's more chuck it all in together. I find the key is to go down the recipe list, assemble all your ingredients before you get going, tick them off as you do, then cook it at a leisurely pace.

Here's a few good ones for you I dug out of my recipes:

Butter Chickpeas (like butter chicken curry, but not)

butter chicken

1/2 cup plain greek yoghurt
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 tsp ginger
2 tsp cumin
2 tsp coriander
1 tsp garam masala
1/4 tsp chilli powder
2 tins chickpeas
1 tbsp oil
20g butter
1 onion sliced
410g tomato puree
1/2 cup chicken stock
1/2 cup double cream

put yoghurt, spices and chickpeas together.
cook onion in oil and butter, add chickpeas then add tomato and stock, simmer 10 mins
stir in cream, simmer 5 mins

Freeform veggie pie

With this pie, you make a simple pastry, roll it out to fit a baking tray, top it with various things, fold the edges in a bit and bake it. It isn't pretty but it tastes good:

olive oil pastry

2 cups wholemeal flour
1 egg yolk
1/4 tsp salt
100ml olive oil
1/4 cup cold water

Mix everything apart from the water together by hand, until it's a crumbly mix. Add enough water until you get to a soft dough. Roll it out as best you can and get it on the tray. Press together any breaks!

Top is with a paste made from:
1 tin of chickpeas whizzed up with
2 tbsp miso
2 tbsp tahini
1 tbsp lemon
1/2 cup water

Then you throw on any other cooked veg you have: like peas, carrots, zucchini, aubergine, capsicum, sweet potato etc. Fold in the edges a bit, bake at 180 degrees for about half an hour, until the pastry looks brown.

Easy pumpkin Soup

2 tbsp olive oil
1kg pumpkin
1 chopped zucchini
1 onion
2 tbsp parsley
1 potato
5 cups chicken stock
pinch nutmeg, salt, pepper
1 cup light coconut milk

Chop everything up, put it in a pan, boil it for an hour, blend it!

LameWolf

Doveling wrote: »

:j Is it too early for champagne?:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

It's never too early for champagne!

Hard_Up_Hester wrote: »

MTSTM, my all time low for a vegetarian meal was two lettuce leaves, a scoop of instant mash and a spoon of tinned spaghetti!

When we stayed in Dublin earlier this year, all the FISH dishes on the hotel menu were marked as "suitable for vegetarians". As was their Caesar salad, which, when you read the really tiny print description, contained BACON. :doh:A German lady at the next table fell foul of that last one; she obviously didn't read all the tiny print (or maybe her English wasn't up to it) and she was really upset at ordering what she thought would be a vegetarian dish as it had the veggie icon next to it on the menu, and then finding bacon on her plate. I did feel sorry for her.

FairyPrincessk

fuddle wrote: »

Fpk it sounds like you're an empathetic person who feels hurt on behalf of others. I have a tenancy towards it but my youngest DD is crippled with it. She really takes others misfortunes to heart. I hope you can get through it OK and I hope the youngster is OK.

I do, and I used to be much more-so but I've learned a lot of perspective as I've gotten older. It also helps that I do a job where empathy is useful, although I have had to learn to set boundaries

I'm pleased to hear about those who got what they were hoping for and pleased to report that I had no difficult clearing calls, in fact two were downright ecstatic and that was really nice. You could hear the relief and then excitement as they went from worrying they'd messed everything up to realizing that had a place that they were genuinely excited about. One of the nice parts of the job Anyway, I was on the phones starting at 7 so I'm absolutely knackered now. OH had a good day as well with all of his ducklings squared happily away so I think we'll crash on the sofa with a stiff glass of something and then fall into bed quite early.

VJs--I've just finished my marking today bar a couple of quick ones that need some one else's input. Our deadline is tomorrow so I've managed to squeak in under the wire!

Tinydancer

Thank you so much THRIFTMONSTER.......sounds scrummy. Can I just ask, how much curry powder? I know it's to taste but my other problem is that I have no sense of smell, which in turn affects my taste!!
DH laughs and says there's no point buying expensive wine as I can't taste it anyway!!
SOFTSTUFF...thank you for taking the time to find those recipes. I guess it's just practice but I would love to be able to bung a load of ingredients in and it turn out tasty. I will try......but am out tonight for a meal and then we are at a festival at the weekend so will be picnic food. :rotfl:
Please keep advising me guys.....I need all the help I can get.
BTW......DOVELING, I will raise a glass with you anytime:beer: Congratulations!!

Tinydancer

Forgot to say LW.......hilarious veggie story but I wouldn't have been too impressed. You never know if someone is allergic to a particular food, so could have been nasty. Still funny though.


I have to confess to sitting on my lappy for the best part of the day trying to skim read through some really old posts. Just trying to get a feel for who everyone is. Only because many of you seem to know each other so well as you have been posting for a long time. I have lurked for years but still can't remember everyone's situation. It's given me a headache so I think best thing would be for me to ask questions as I go along if that's ok?
Catch ya later

Hard_Up_Hester

Ask away Tinydancer, no one will mind.

Tinydancer

Thanks HUH, will do.

shanks77

Congrats to Thriftmonster and Dovelings offspring
Tinydancer an easy recipe for salmon can be done in foil for less washing up or any suitable ovenable dish with a lid.
Place fish in dish, then add any veg you like I normally do onions, mushrooms, frozen sweetcorn and peas but anything that needs using up. Then add a splash of lemon juice, approx a tablespoon each of soy and sweet chilli sauce and a drizzle of honey. Wrap up/stick lid on and cook for approx 20 mins. Serve with cous cous or rice to soak up juices HTH xx