My pimped up leftover Rice (using store cupboard ingredients)
Double carbs; everyone loves them but boy are they hard to get ‘rid’ of when it comes to excess weight.
I use rice quite a bit….and can sometimes cook too much rice. Well apart from serving it with daals or using them in a rice bowl or salad what else can I do with it?
A few days ago I had a bit of a ‘OMG that will work’ moment. As a rule I don’t serve double carbs (but remember from my childhood being served Mashed Potatoes and Chips in the same meal) however in this recipe it works! Just trust me.
So when you have leftover rice, a tin of potatoes, some cumin seeds and a pack of fried onions you end up with this recipe (which also works well with a fried egg on top if you have any around).
This recipe in my opinion can be served for a Brunch, Lunch or even Supper. It’s quick and easy and uses up leftover rice. And with a dollop of yogurt or a fried egg it’s got a big personality in a bowl.
To make two big bowls of my Pimped up double carbs sorry-not-sorry Rice you will need:
2 bowls pre-cooked Rice (mine were Basmati)
2 TBSP oil
2 heaped TBSP fried onions soaked in water and drained
1 heaped TBSP garlic paste
1 TBSP cumin seeds (whole)
1 heaped TBSP ground coriander seeds
1/2 TSP chili powder (for a spicier rice go up to 1 TSP)
Cooking salt-to your own requirements
Additional stuff:
2 eggs-fried
Additonal fried onions (not soaked)
1 lemon cut in half
Chili sauce-to drizzle over
1) Heat the oil in a large wok or similar pan on a medium heat.
2) Add the cumin seeds and allow to splutter.
3) Add the onions and fry for 1 minute. Keep stirring to avoid sticking/burning them.
4) Add the garlic paste and fry for 30 seconds.
5) Add the potatoes and fry for 3 minutes stirring so things don’t burn.
6) Add the salt and spices and fry for one minute.
7) Add the rice and stir/turn the rice to coat it in the spicy onion mix.
8) Tip into two bowls and serve.
Additional ingredients are a suggestion only.
Apply to face/stuff your face and enjoy.
I recall my Nan cooking Aubergines (aka eggplants) in an old fashioned clay Tandoor. She used to make a dish called ‘Bartha’ which was a smoky curry made with baked versions that are scooped out.
I love these deep purple gems.
In this curry you’ll notice there’s no tomatoes or onions. It’s a simple straight forward curry flavoured with lemon and dill. It’s a delicious combination.
To make two portions (or possibly 3 depending on how big you have your portions) you will need:
3 large cloves of garlic-minced
2 TBSP oil
2 large aubergines cut into strips
Salt-to your own requirement
1 TBSP coriander powder
1 TBSP cumin powder
1 TSP chili powder
1 TSP turmeric
Water
Juice of two lemons.
1 heaped TBSP chopped dill
1) Heat the oil in a large pan on a medium heat.
2) Add the garlic and fry for one minute.
3) Add the spices and salt and fry for 30 seconds.
4) Add the aubergine strips and stir the aubergines until they are all covered in the spicy oil.
5) Keep frying the aubergines and stirring them for 4/5 minutes.
6) Now add 4 TBSP water and the dill. Stir well. Lower the heat and simmer until the aubergines are soft.
7) Drizzle over the lemon juice. Your aubergines are ready to serve.
Growing up with Popeye it took me a while to acknowledge that large doses of leafy greens did not automatically equate to biceps that would make Dwayne Johnson jealous. Lucky for me though I’m a patient type of chick and I’m steadily changing my body to look the way I want (muscles and all).
This is a super quick curry that I really love. I’ll be honest. The portion sizes here are 250 grams each and feel it’s worth having a larger portion as spinach wilts down a lot.
Like I said it’s quick and actually easy to get onto the table. I use pre-fried onions and frozen spinach….and well the lack of fresh stuff means the food is quick to get on the table. Result!
Of course you can use fresh onions and spinach and adjust amounts and cooking time to reflect this. But like I always say my Meat free Monday recipes are designed for speedy Monday meals.
To make two portions of this amazing curry you will need:
500 grams frozen spinach defrosted and drained
2 TBSP oil
4 TBSP pre-fried onions soaked and drained
1 heaped TBSP garlic paste
1 heaped TBSP ground coriander seeds
1 heaped TBSP ground cumin seeds
1 TSP chili powder
Cooking salt-to your own taste
150 ml (and a bit more just in case) water
Juice of one lemon
1) Heat the oil in a large pan on a medium heat.
2) Add the onions and fry for about one minute stirring well to ensure it doesn’t catch/stick or burn. If you find the mixture is sticking too much just add 2 TBSP of water.
3) Add the garlic and cook for 30 seconds.
4) Now add the salt and spices. Fry for about one minute to cook out the spices. Keep stirring though. No one likes a curry tinted with burnt spices.
5) Add the spinach. Stir well to coat the spinach in the spicy mixture. Fry the spinach for 5-6 minutes.
6) Turn the heat off; your curry is done.
7) Before you serve the curry add the lemon juice.
I’ve always naturally leaned towards vegetarian food. Perhaps the fact I love lentils a tad bit too much for a lot of people’s liking is the reason I love a good vegetarian curry.
I love a good curry. None of this paste/out of a pack business (I’m Asian so….) it’s from fresh and needs to be cooked to perfection.
Since I was a child Tarka Daal has been my comfort food. Over the years I tried pimping it up however I always resort back to the basic, original homely edition.
My plate of daal usually contains more daal than rice (I’ve reduced carbs in my daily diet) plus pickles and freshly sliced red onions dressed in lemon. And that’s it. No fancy garam masala. No fancy business. It’s good old fashioned food like my late Nana and Grandmother would have made.
This daal cooks super quickly. If I pre-soak the lentils it takes 15-20 minutes. If I don’t it takes about 25 minutes. If I know I’m making daal I do tend to soak them before hand. Its not essential. Whilst the daal is cooking I tend to cook the rice (basmati folks; rules are rules in my house).
So what is Tarka Daal. Well Tarka just means tempering. In this case we use oil, garli and chilies. For some other recipes you may find mustard seeds, curry leaves, ginger, tomatoes and other wonderful ingredients too. But this is a simple, filling and amazing recipe that literally is a few ingredients.
Daal is the hindi/urdu for lentils.
It’s really that simple….the recipe is Tempered Split Red Lentils.
Tarka daal freezes well and if you really are one of those people that like to cook once a week you could freeze portions of daal with rice to have a ready meal on hand.
There’s method to my madness (How I calculate the volume of liquid for my daal)
I ‘measure’ by volume (e.g. place the lentils in a glass) and then double the amount of liquid. It’s that simple. So if I cook say one large mug of lentils I add 2 large mugs of water. And this gives me a thick daal. I do like thick daals and also eat it like a soup (minus the rice). Low in carb, highly filling and so good. I find the fragrance warm and earthy so I feel you could easily take a mug of this to work and ‘not offend’ the less adventurous people.
If you do decide to consume the daal as a soup consider a good squeeze of lemon as a garnish.
To make 4 big bowls of Tarka Daal you will need:
1 glass red lentils (approximately 250 grams) washed
2 glasses water (approximately 500-550 ml)
Cooking salt-to your on taste
1 level TBSP Chili Powder
1 TSP Turmeric (haldi)-for a more earthy taste use more. For a less earthy taste reduce the amount. I love the golden colour it gives and Turmeric is a wonder spice.
OPTIONAL: 1-2 dried red chilies (I like a hot daal)
3 TSBP oil (I’ve successfully used Rapeseed oil, sunflower oil, vegetable oil and olive oil).
4 cloves of garlic sliced thinly (I would use more but if I am going to serve the daal to someone I generally have a rule of 1 clove to 1 bowl. But if you love garlic and are eating alone you can go up to 6 cloves for the recipe).
3 green chilies slit (or prick them well all over so they don’t explode
1) Wash the lentils until the water runs clear. You can use the water to water your plants.
2) Place the lentils in a large pot and add the salt and spices followed by the water.
3) Place on a medium heat and bring to the boil. I usually leave a wooden spoon in my pot as I believe it stops the pan from boiling over. Once the lentils come up to the boil reduce the heat and remove the foam that you can now see floating on top of the lentils. You don’t want that to be a part of the lentils.
4) Add the coriander, stir and simmer. I stir a few times throughout simmering and find it takes about 15 minutes post boil for lentils to become tender. Now if you are happy with the consistency turn the heat off. If you want it more runnier add a bit more boiling water (you don’t want to bring down the lentils tempreture). If you want it a bit more thicker leave the heat on and allow it to simmer a bit more.
5) Heat the oil in a frying pan on a medium heat. Add the garlic and chilies and reduce the heat to avoid burning anything. Stir well (and turn the chilies over). You only want the garlic to be golden NOT burnt so once the garlic is turning golden kill the heat.
6) Pour the tempering over the lentils. Job done.
7) Serve the daal as is, or with rice, roti….or however takes your fancy.
Enjoy.
Additional notes:
you can ‘flavour’ the daal with vegetable stock if you wish to serve it as a soup.
Tarka Daal can be frozen….why not freeze up portions with rice for a quick freezer meal?
I love pasta…but when I do have it I try to make it a tad bit healthier. One of my favourite ways is by adding a vegetable to the sauce.
One of my favourite old skool pasta sauce is the simple but awesome Arrabiata which literally translated means angry. As someone who likes heat I love the spiciness of this.
This sauce in it’s simple classic form is really easy to knock up and there’s a high chance you’ve got everything at home. My aubergine version is a bit more work.
You can leave out the aubergines if you wish. I personally love it. If you wish to leave it out just skip the steps for the aubergine prep.
Ingredients (to serve 4):
300 grams penne pasta (cooked till Al dente) drained. Keep about 6 TBSP of pasta water just in case (I’ll explain later)
2 TBSP olive oil
5 cloves of garlic-minced
1 tsp dried basil
Chili flakes-to your taste
Salt-to your taste
1 X 350 ml carton passata (you can use one with garlic or herbs)
200 ml water or vegetable stock
For the aubergines:
1 whole aubergine sliced into slices (either way is fine). Sliced into a pounds (£) thickness.
Spray oil
Garlic Granules
To bake the aubergines:
Baking tray
Greaseproof paper
Spray oil (1 cal works)
To serve:
Italian style Hard cheese of your choice
Fresh basil (if you wish)
1) Pre-heat the oven to 170 (160 on fan assisted ovens). Place the aubergines on the tray and spray with oil. Sprinkle on garlic granules and bake for 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and turn over. Spray again and sprinkle on more garlic if you wish. Now spray on more oil. Place bake in the oven and bake for 10 minutes. Once the aubergine is done set aside. 2) To make the actual sauce: heat the oil in a large pan on a medium heat. Add the garlic and fry until garlic is lightly brown. This won’t take long so don’t leave the pan. Burnt garlic is horrible. 3) Add the basil, salt, chili and stir well. Add the passata and water. Bring to the boil. Then reduce to a simmer. Simmer for 10 minutes. 4) Now add the aubergine if using. Stir well and simmer for another 4-5 minutes. If the mixture becomes too dry add 4 tablespoons of water. You don’t want a dry sauce as you want it to cling to the pasta. 5) Add the drained pasta to the sauce (I like doing it this way) and if the sauce is too dry add the pasta water you saved earlier to it. This should restore the sauce. 6) Divide the pasta into 4 pasta sauces and shave over the cheese and add the basil if using. 7) Stuff mouth and enjoy (I’m joking about the stuffing bit btw).
I find the sauce can be frozen WITHOUT aubergines. However it’s just a quick sauce you may not want to have it in your freezer taking up space.
PS: Tesco have recently started stocking chargrilled sliced Aubergine. This still needs to be cooked but it makes the recipe even more easier to knock up as you don’t need to worry about having a fresh Aubergine in the Fridge. Plus they taste nice (no, Tesco did not pay me to say that).
