New Zealand is under Lockdown for at least four weeks. This blog intends to avoid the bad news about rising numbers of victims. It focuses instead on food, and the challenges of cooking fresh meals every day – with the ingredients from my larder. A much nicer message.
Day 2 – Friday; Baking and Russian Roulette with green chillies?
I baked today. Leftover and tired blueberries went into a Blueberry Muffin flat cake, and over-ripe bananas made two Banana loaves, one of which went into the freezer. The Blueberry Muffin flat cake is a regular muffin recipe, but baked in an 8-inch metal pie tin. Quite delicious.
Blueberry cake: https://www.injennieskitchen.com/2018/08/honey-blueberry-muffin-cake/
Bill Grangers banana loaf: https://fatmumslim.com.au/bill-grangers-melt-mix-banana-bread/
For dinner, I had some fresh runner beans that I wanted to use, and a packet of chicken tenderloins, so after a bit of googling, I adapted the following recipe:
https://www.deliciousmagazine.co.uk/recipes/gujarati-style-runner-beans-with-spiced-chicken-skewers/
Instead of cooking the chicken on skewers, I pan-fried the chicken pieces in a cast-iron skillet, keeping them warm in the oven as they were done. I served it with warm roti breads and steamed basmati rice.
I didn’t have any fresh chillies, but I had a bag of frozen whole green chillies bought from a local Indian grocery store, and I used 3 in this recipe. I let them thaw, top-and-tailed them, and then finely chopped ‘em. The cooking smells were amazing. Fresh crushed garlic and fresh grated ginger sizzling together with a little cumin… Mmmm. Then I added the chopped chilli.
I have to say, it was WAY hotter than I expected, with little clusters of blistering heat clinging to the green beans. It was a bit like Russian Roulette to eat. One bean was mild and flavour-filled, the next made my head sweat. Yowza!
Sofia Grey 