Chicken satay

A rich and tasty dish. Rich enough to be suited to small quantities, as a starter or side. Very easy though.

Fry a chopped onion, then chicken pieces until browned. Add a jar of satay sauce and simmer to let the flavors mingle. If you want extra richness, stir in a spoonful of peanut butter. If the sauce is smooth and you want a bit of crunch, crush a handful of roasted peanuts and add them in. Near the end, add some chopped red pepper.

Serve with rice or noodles.

Not for people with nut allergies!

Tikka / tikka masala

Chicken tikka masala is reputed to be Britain's most popular dish, ousting such favorites as roast beef & Yorkshire pudding. I can't vouch for the authenticity of this particular recipe but the result is a rich and creamy dish well worth the effort.

The tikka part of the recipe is simple (and authentic). Blend together the following: a generous spoonful each of pulped ginger and pulped garlic, 1 or 2 teaspoons each of ground coriander, cumin, and chili powder, 1 teaspoon of salt, 3 tablespoons of natural yoghurt, 2 of lemon juice, and 1 of tomato puree. Add the meat - diced chicken or lamb - and leave to marinate for a few hours at least.

Place the mixture on a bed of sliced onion, drizzle with oil, and grill until cooked and browned.

This alone is great as a starter or side dish.

To "masala" the tikka, make up a separate sauce of fried onions, spices (a good spoon each of ground cumin, coriander, curry powder, turmeric, and a dash of curry paste). Cook the spices then stir in a cup of cream. Leave to stand (or on a very low heat) to let the flavors mingle.

When the meat and the sauce is ready, drain any excess liquid from the meat and decant into the sauce. Stir and heat through.

Pork & clams

This is an easy dish but needs a generous amount of time to prepare. It's something we enjoyed on a visit to a Portuguese restaurant many years ago, and did our best to reverse-engineer and recreate at home. Not sure how successful we were in recreating that restaurant dish, but nevertheless it's a tasy favorite for special occasions.

The recipe is over here ...

The simple version is as follows:

Fry a chopped onion until golden. Add some cubed pork and fry until browned. Add a couple of chopped tomatoes and saute until they start to mash down. Turn the heat down low, cover and simmer for at least an hour to make sure the pork is tender.

Meanwhile, boil and simmer some cubed potatoes for a few minutes - be careful not to let them go too soft. Drain and saute in oil and butter until golden.

About half an hour before serving, add a generous squirt of tomato ketchup to the pork to thicken the sauce, and stir in a can or two of drained clams. 

Ten minutes before serving, stir in a dash of cream and the fried potatoes.

Banana bread

We had some bananas that had gone rather ripe for enjoyable eating. This recipe is a great way to use them up. The nuts give it crunch, while the sour cream makes it super moist.

See the link for full details, but here is a quick summary.

Melt 1/2 cup of butter, and mix in 1 cup of sugar then 2 eggs and a tsp of vanilla extract. Combine 1 1/2 cups of flour, 1 tsp baking soda, and 1/2 tsp salt then stir the dry ingredients into the butter mixture. Finally fold in 1/2 cup each of sour cream and chopped walnuts, and 2 mashed bananas. You should end up with a creamy batter. Pour into a baking tin and bake on 350F for about an hour.

Try to at least let it cool a bit before you scarf it all down.