Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Help!

My house needs attention. The washing is moving towards out of control. There's no food in the house. I'm working tomorrow. I'm flying to Sydney early Friday morning. And I have 10 people coming to dinner tomorrow night.

I can get the place under control tomorrow afternoon if I can get dinner for tomorrow organised tonight.

What do I feed everyone?

It can't include chicken or egg. It has to be something I can make 24 hours in advance.

8 comments:

  1. Lasagne? It's always better when it's made 24 hours in advance.

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  2. This always goes over well.
    The recipe is quite a generous quantity.
    I hate to say it, but you could substitute a couple of tablespoons of curry powder for the dry ingredients, if pushed.

    Sweet Potato And Chickpea Curry

    2 medium red onions, peeled
    1 clove garlic, peeled or ¼ teaspoon of yellow asafoetida powder
    1 small chilli
    6 cm piece of ginger, peeled and cut into chunks
    3 tablespoons of olive oil
    ½ teaspoon chilli flakes (optional)
    ½ teaspoon ground ginger
    1 teaspoon ground coriander
    1 teaspoon ground turmeric
    3 cardamom pods, lightly crushed
    ½ teaspoon salt
    1 kilogram sweet potato, peeled and cut into 1-2cm cubes
    13/4 cups coconut milk
    1 tablespoon tamarind paste
    2 ¼ cups vegetable stock
    3 400gram cans of chickpeas
    2 tablespoons chopped coriander leaves

    In a food processor, combine onions, garlic/asafoetida, chilli and ginger. Pulse until finely chopped. Place oil in a large saucepan over medium/low heat. Add chopped onion mixture and sauté gently until softened, about 5 minutes.

    Add chilli flakes ground ginger, ground coriander, cumin, turmeric, cardamom pods and ½ teaspoon of salt. Stir to mix.

    Add sweet potatoes and stir until well covered with spices.
    Stir in the coconut milk.
    Dissolve tamarind paste in stock and add to saucepan.
    Bring to a boil then reduce heat and simmer, partially covered, until sweet potatoes are just tender, (about 25 minutes)
    Add chickpeas and simmer until heated through, (about 5 minutes).
    Season to taste.
    Serve and sprinkle with chopped coriander.


    Nigella Lawson
    The Age, Tuesday, August 1, 2006-08-21
    Epicure, page 4

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  3. BBQ. Buy nice flavoured sausages. Make your husband cook.

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  4. Thanks guys.

    Michael - I'm not convinced about the let-husband-cook BBQ thing. Not convinced it saves anyone any time. Sure, it makes him feel useful, but there's still the salads etc to prepare. I'd rather have Andrew clean the bathroom!

    Lara - Lasagne was the plan. Then I remembered I smashed my nice big lasagne tray.

    Gary and Al - I'm doing curry! Thanks! Not yours, though, gary. I've got a mixed dahl thing cooking and a beef korma. Hopefully they will taste okay.

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  5. See us before buying another lasagne dish - we have several very large dishes that we were given when we married (honestly, did people think we were about to leap into breeding an army?!) that we have rarely if ever used.

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