#definitely try it

[lucianalight]

This picrew is so pretty!

Open tags.

[disneyfoodislove]

Seasonal cake (almond) from Sunshine Seasons located in the Land Pavilion available during Epcot's International Festival of the Arts.

[tinytulip]

Stressing myself into an auto immune disorder has been a super fun experience

[deejafood-blog]

Mrs. Cricket's Lamb Biryani

      + Recommendation: Definitely Try It!

+ Serve With: Toaster friendly Naan bread (thank you Mission Foods) & a healthy dollop of greek yoghurt mixed with mint (aka raita)

+ Food Consumption Environment: On the couch, watching a show on the ABC* about a British celebrity trying to survive six days on an island with nothing ... except shelter ... and 24 hour contact with a film crew ... and an emergency rice stash.  pft.

+ Topic of Conversation:  This celebrity is screwed.

When it was decided that January would be the 'month of curry' I immediately contacted my best, and most trusted curry connoisseur friend, Mrs. Cricket.  She is lauded far and wide (mostly by me) for her curry making abilities.  So much so that if her curries were the mid 1990s I'm pretty sure you'd find them in the dictionary under 'da bomb'!  Boo-yah!

And as expected Mrs. Cricket came through with the goods.  For 2 hours I sat and stared at that biryani sauce bubbling away* imagining the smell of the sauce in my mouth and the soft, soft meat crumbling from the bones of that tender, succulent lamb shoulder ...  

But this is a family blog, so I won't go on.  What I will do however, is offer two points of advice:

1. Cardamom pods smell pretty nice, but if you munge on one you'll be tasting only cardamom for the rest of your meal ... and possibly the rest of the evening.  You have been warned.

2. Knowing the spice threshold of my cricketer friend versus us mere mortals, I halved the amount of chilli powder in the recipe (I used 1 teaspoon), but if you like the sweats add the full amount, or even more if you're feelin' crazy.

Thanks for the recipe Mrs. Cricket!  I'm off to the fridge now for some killer leftovers.  For the rest of you - cook this, your friends will think you're all that and a bag of chips***!

* If it's on the ABC it's not crap right?

** I didn't really watch it for 2 hours.  If I did I'd expect to be toddling myself off to a psych unit.

*** Apparently another saying popular in the 1990s?

                                Recipe provided by Mrs. Cricket

Ingredients:

900g lamb shoulder on the bone – ask your butcher to cut it into 5cm cubes on the bone

1 white onion sliced

1cup natural yoghurt or greek style yoghurt

3 cinnamon sticks

8-10 cloves

8-10 cardamom pods

2tsp turmeric powder

2tsp chilli powder

2tsp coriander seeds

2tsp coriander powder

2tsp cumin powder

2tsp pepper

1tsp crushed cardamom seeds

4-5 star anise

1cup finely chopped coriander

½ cup finely chopped mint

2 tsp garam masala

Juice of 1 lemon

1 cup of rice

Pinch of saffron soaked in ¼ cup of warm milk

2 tblsp flaked almonds roasted

  Raita

1cup natural yoghurt or Greek style yoghurt

½ cup finely chopped mint

  1.       Sweat onions with pinch of salt until translucent. Add meat and brown.

2.       Add cup of yoghurt to meat mixture until mixed through.

3.       Add cinnamon sticks, cloves, cardamom pods, cardamom powder, turmeric, chilli, coriander seeds and powder, cumin, pepper, star anise. Season well with salt. Add water until meat is almost covered and cover pot.

4.       Continue to add water if it is evaporating too fast. Cook until the meat can easily fall off the bone but there should still be at least ½-1 cup of liquid in the pan. (approx. 90 minutes)

5.       Meanwhile cook the rice and add the milk and saffron whilst cooking.

6.       This isn’t necessary but I prefer my rice without bones so I shred all the meat off the bones and add it back to the juices. I also strain the liquid through a sieve to ensure all bones, cloves, cardamom pods are removed. If you’re okay with bones then simply ask your butcher to cut the meat into smaller cubes.

7.       Add ¾ of the rice to the meat mixture with coriander, garam masala, lemon and mint and ensure everything is stirred through well. Add the remainder of the rice and gently mix so that rice has a marble look.

8.       Mix yoghurt and mint together for the raita. Add salt if required.

9.       Sprinkle biryani rice with flaked almonds and serve with raita.

*All spices can be found at Coles/Safeway

[deejafood-blog]

Salsa Verde Dipping Sauce w/ Parmesan & Lemon Baked Chicken Goujons

        + Recommendation: Definitely Try It! (the sauce, not the chicken)

+ Serve With: Anything that needs a little fancy-ing up.  Salmon steak, avocado on toast, chops, grilled fish, an otherwise boring salad.

+ Food Consumption Environment Mum's place!  

+ Topic of Conversation: The Julia & Tony quarrels and the goujon.

Now maybe I'm uncultured, but until last week I couldn't definitively tell you what a 'goujon' was.  As it turns out, 'goujon' is really just a fancy French name for the 'nugget'.  But 'nugget' doesn't really have the same swagger as the 'goujon' now does it?

In any case, the French 'goujon' is typically fried.  These chicken strips are baked.  Having not actually tried the fried version, Mum was adamant that she'd prefer the baked version.  I on the other hand, believe shallow frying-ness is next to godliness.  Most delicious meats are often fried or at least substantially oiled before entering a pan/BBQ/hotplate/rotisserie.  

But we're not here to debate the pro's and pro's of frying.  We're here for the sauce, and the sauce that accompanied these glorified nuggets was tremendous and super easy to make.  All you do is throw everything into an electric mixer and hit blend.  Ta da!  

One thing Mum and I did agree on was that the sauce also doubled as a great salad dressing.  I'll bring her round to the frying another time.

In the meantime - goujin!* and give this sauce a go! 

*go on!

                        Recipe sourced from What Katie Ate