Last night we had Indian...

25th August 2016

Own your today!

Well I'm not gonna lie, I could've stayed asleep this morning, especially as I was in a really good dream and it'd just got to the good bit!  Anywho, I woke up 15 minutes before my alarm clock instead knowing that I've got a lot to do before I leave at half seven this morning, on top of the usual, I've got to load the car with ingredients and kit for this morning's cooking demo's, last  night was Indian influenced, this morning we're going Chinese in one meeting and Italian in the other!  Who needs easy when you can make your busiest day even busier, tonight we're going for Malaysian and American, well, why not we did Chinese and Caribbean on Tuesday, we may as well go global!

Last night I cooked a speedy biryani and Saag Aloo, after doing the demo I think I'd parboil the potatoes for the Saag Aloo for a bit first.  The beauty of the speedy biryani was you can mess with the ingredients to your own tastebuds, add more or less paste (just remember to alter the Smart Points for the recipe) and you could add other vegetables that you have to hand.  Here are the recipes.

Speedy Biryani

Serves 4, 9sp per serving
This delicious dish takes just 30 minutes to prepare and cook.

200g Basmati rice (20sp)
1 x 15ml tablespoon vegetable oil (4sp)
2 chicken breast fillets (about 260g) (3sp)
Small bunch fresh coriander
1 medium red onion
100g French beans
4 x 15ml tablespoons Balti curry paste (5sp)
130ml water
4 tomatoes
2 hard-boiled eggs (4sp)

Cut the chicken into 2–3cm diced pieces and place in a bowl.

Cook the rice according to the instructions on the packet. If you haven’t already hard-boiled the eggs, pop them in a separate pan in cold water, bring to the boil and simmer for 5 minutes. Then drain through a colander and leave to stand in fresh cold water to cool. When cooled peel, and quarter

Using a different chopping board and knife, peel and finely chop the red onion.

Wash the French beans, tomatoes and coriander.  Finely chop the coriander. Top and tail the French beans and cut them in half. Cut the tomatoes into quarters.

Heat the vegetable oil in the large saucepan, then add the chicken, half of the chopped coriander and curry paste. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring all the time. The chicken will change colour from pink to white.

Add the chopped red onion and French beans and cook for a further 3 minutes.

Add the tomato quarters, and add the water gradually – you may not need it all. Your Speedy Biryani should be moist enough for the flavours to spread through evenly, but it shouldn’t be wet. Cook for a further 3 minutes. Keep stirring.

Add the cooked rice. Mix well, cover and simmer for 2 minutes. You might want to add a little bit more water now.

Spoon the Speedy Biryani onto plates and garnish with egg quarters

Saag Aloo

Serves 4, 2sp per serving or 8sp as 1 main dish. Take 25 minutes

Calorie controlled cooking spray

1 small onion, diced

350g potatoes, peeled and cubed.

1 tablespoon mild curry powder

1 teaspoon ground coriander

100g baby spinach leaves

Salt & freshly ground black pepper

Heat a medium lidded saucepan over a medium heat.  Spray with the cooking spray and cook the onion, covered, for 5 minutes until softened.

Add the potatoes, spices and 200ml water and bring to the boil, then reduce the heat, cover and simmer for 8 minutes until the potatoes are tender. 

Add the spinach in three batches, stirring between each addition, until combined.  Season and cook for 2 minutes until the spinach is wilted, then serve.  Nice as a side dish or served with a piece of grilled white fish or chicken breast.

Keeping it short this morning because of how much I've got to do, I am proving you can stay on track though even when you're ridiculously busy, it's all about thinking before you're eating! 

Here's to a day of thinking ;)