“Keema” from “Feast”

This is from the menu for “Sunday Lunch after the Saturday Night Before.” We didn’t have it on a Sunday after a raucous night out. We just had it on a weeknight. I do suspect that Nigella lives a far more interesting life than we do. 

This really was quite good. If you’d like to try it yourself, Nigella has posted the recipe on her own website, so you can find that here.

Andrew (12): This is epic.

Nicholas (8): This is very good.

Maureen: The homemade naan bread that you made Tim is what really make this delicious.

Andrew: This is a nice summary of Indian food, with meat, spices, peas and naan bread.

Nicholas: Do you think we could get this at The Mogul?

Tim: Why would you want to do that when you could have it at home?

Andrew: Were the ingredients hard to get?

Maureen: Not at all. It’s all things I can find at the local store. Drings even had ready-made lamb mince. I thought they were going to have to mince it for me, but they had it standing by.

“Sticky Chilli Chicken” from “Fast, Fresh, Simple”

Ella: I could eat this every day. Forever.

Miles: I like the rice.

Ella: He always likes the rice.

Miles: This chicken is a bit coughy. But it’s a bit delicious.

Kirstin: That might be the small amount of chilli…

Miles: Chilli-lady!

Ella: (death stare)

Kirstin: This is much yummier than it smelt as I was cooking it up. Vinegar never smells good when it’s being boiled. But it was totally worth it and extremely easy to cook.

Miles: I’m going to have some more rice!

Kirstin: Should I cook this again?

Ella: Yes please.

Miles: No! Thank you.

“Stir Fried Chilli Pork” from “Bill’s Everyday Asian”

In retrospect, it was foolhardy of me to think that either of the boys would like something that has chilli in it. If you’re at all interested, see their past aversions in several previous posts. But the adults loved it, and frankly, sometimes that’s all that matters.

Andrew (11): I think this is nice. [Pause for consideration] Actually, I think it’s too spicy, even for me.

Maureen: I think this is more sweet than spicy, to be honest.

Nicholas (8): No way. It’s too spicy!

Tim: I wish it had more sauce.

Maureen: There is some more sauce, though not a lot, still in the pan. You could go get some.

Andrew: I thought it was nice, but too spicy. (Editor’s note: The boys now leave the table to take up their mother’s offer to have some cereal instead of stir fry for dinner. It’s their fall-back meal when they really can’t stand what I’ve made. The only rule is they always have to try things first.)

Maureen: I actually cut down on the chillies you were supposed to use. You were supposed to put three in there, but when it came time to adding them, I realised I only had one in the refrigerator. So one chilli had to be. I think it’s delicious.

Tim: Yes, this is really nice.

Maureen: It takes just like takeaway to me!

Tim: Is that a good thing?

Maureen: Maybe we wouldn’t want to model our culinary lives on takeaway foods, but every once in awhile, it’s a real treat.  If nothing else, it was extremely fast, which is always handy on a weekday night when the four of us have returned from four different places.

“Barbecued Pork Fillet with Vietnamese Caramel Sauce” from “Bill’s Everyday Asian”

Miles: If I like this, I would like it again please. I could smell it upstairs!

Kirstin: So, do you like it?

Miles: Mummy, I love this beef!

Kirstin and Tom: IT’S PORK!

Miles: Well, I love it.

Ella: This is the most delicious pork I’ve ever had.

Miles: I think the same.

Tom: Try the sauce, Ella!

Ella: It’s yummy!

Kirstin: This was absolutely delicious. I would make this every week. Every day!

Ella: The outside bit on the pork is all salty and crunchy. And slightly burned. It’s really good.

Kirstin: It was incredibly easy to cook.

Tom: I love it. Burnt stuff, with sugar and chilli. What’s not to love? And it smelled amazing when it was cooking.

Miles: Mummy, everyone loves this beef! This beef’s delicious!

Kirstin: IT’S PORK! Wow, look at Miles, just tucking in! He’s cleared his plate!

The following morning: 

Miles: I loved that food last night, mummy!

Kirstin: Can you remember what it was?

Miles: Um… was it beef? Hmmm…..  chicken?

Kirstin: No, it was PORK!

“Butternut Squash, Chilli & Coconut Soup” from “Bill’s Everyday Asian”

Tim: What do you think?

Maureen: I am not a fan of this. It’s not disaster, but equally, it’s not very good.

Tim: It doesn’t seem like a dinner to me.

Maureen: Soup for dinner is absolutely fine, but this is too thin to be substantial.

Tim: That’s what I mean.

“Thai fishcakes”, “Thai green chicken curry” and “Lime jelly with lychees” from “Bill’s Everyday Asian”

Tom: Wow. A Thai feast.

Anna: If we were at your mum’s, we’d have those lovely crunchy things!

Tom: Kroepoek? Yes, my mum does Indonesian ones. But yes. I know what you mean. Anyway, the fishcakes were fantastic. What was in the relish that made it sweet?

Anna: Sugar.

“Stir-fried Vietnamese lemon grass chicken” from “Bill’s Everyday Asian”

Peter: This reminds me of Szechuan chicken. It has that dry heat. Don’t look at me like someone’s put your head on wonky.

Anna: I’m just trying to understand what you mean. Is it because it leaves that hot tingle in your mouth afterwards?

Peter: Yes, that. And it’s quite a dry sauce. More of a rub some might say.

Anna: There is definitely a sauce to it it, but you’re right that the predominant flavours come from the marinade which is dry. 

Peter: The portions were definitely right here. It was a bit of a faff.

Anna: Why?

Peter: There seemed to be quite a lot of ingredients.

Anna: There really wasn’t actually. You obviously don’t cook that often! We made it together which made it very quick and easy from my point of view.  The flavours were quite unusual I think. And it was hard to know how much white pepper to put in. Maybe you weren’t supposed to get that much tingle!

Peter: Having never been to Vietnam this tasted pretty authentic…. it certainly wasn’t Chinese or Thai.

Anna: I really can’t be bothered with celery though. If we make this again I will be getting rid of the celery.  Would you like this again?

Peter: Yes, I’d eat it gladly.  Besides which, you’ve bought an enormous thing of white pepper.

“Classic Stir-Fried Chicken with Basil” from “Bill’s Everyday Asian”

Kirstin: So, what did you all think of this stir-fry?

Ella: Yum!

Tom: This was great. Especially with that lovely sweet chilli sauce again.

Miles: Mummy, do you eat everything, even when you don’t like something?

Kirstin: Yes, I do. But I don’t like oysters. And I’m not very keen on snails.

Miles: What about olives? Or lettuce?

Kirstin: I like olives. And lettuce.

“Pad Thai” from “Bill’s Everyday Asian”

Peter: Bloody hell! I’m full! Were we making that for all of Bangkok?!

Anna: You like a good noodle, I’m surprised you’re complaining……

Peter: I do love a good noodle, but as the commentator on German Eurosport says: ‘this is EXTREME’.

Anna: I see. There certainly is a lot to go round.  I’m just pleased that we’re finally getting to eat Pad Thai together. Usually I can’t order it at a restaurant or takeaway because it has peanuts in it. Do you remember the grief you gave me at that takeway in Sydney when I ordered it? You’d had a few pints that night, and you were quite vocal in your disgust at my order!

Peter: A) they were schooners, not pints. And b) you know I don’t like peanuts so you just ordered it to annoy me.

Anna: Well this recipe only had the peanuts as a garnish so you were able to eat it.  Did you notice it was vegetarian?

Peter: Yes. It wasn’t like a proper Pad Thai. It was more like a Pie Thai. It was so dense. I thought it would be lighter.

Anna: To be fair, it was light it’s just there was a lot of it.

Peter: You know me, I’ll never walk away from a noodle.

“Salmon with Spicy Rice Noodles” from “A Taste of Home”

Anna: Where’s the broth?

Peter: There doesn’t really seem to be enough of anything in this recipe.  That said, when we you ate it it was reasonably filling.

Anna: It doesn’t look anything like the picture in the book. That suggests a big steaming bowl of salmon and noodles in broth. In reality the noodles were just a little moist.

Peter: I think she has special photographic bowl, like those pint glasses you can tip upside down even though they look like they are full.

Anna: You doubled this recipe anyway, didn’t you?

Peter: Yes, I made it for 4, even though it was just the two of us. Apart from the salmon of course.

Anna: You had to, otherwise we would only have had one baby sweetcorn each!

Peter: It was really easy to make though. No issues, no complications, only 3 paragraphs of instructions. I think you would agree that I didn’t screw this up.

Anna: I don’t always think that you screw recipes up. In fact, left to your own devices as you were tonight, you often get them spot on. In fact it was Angela who screwed this up, from an ingredient quantity point of view.

Peter: I think you could customise this recipe. For example, bean sprouts.

Anna: Yes, we’ll be making this again. Just with more broth. And veg.