I thought I had posted my recipe for "suit everybody" dip but I hadn't - will do that later. Here is my truly excellent recipe for Butter Chicken - it tastes much better than the meal I was served in Sydney a week or 2 ago.

Ingredients (serves 4)
• 125ml (1/2 cup) natural yoghurt
• 1 tbs lemon juice
• 1 tsp turmeric
• 2 tsp garam masala
• 1 tsp chilli powder
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 2 tsp grated fresh ginger
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1kg chicken breast or thigh fillets, chopped
• 125g cashews, roasted
• 60g unsalted butter
• 1 tbs sunflower oil
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 1 tsp ground cardamom
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 tsp paprika
• 425g tomato puree
• 150ml chicken stock
• 250ml (1 cup) cream (can use less)
• Steamed basmati rice, to serve
Method
1. Combine yoghurt, lemon juice, turmeric, garam masala, chilli, cumin, ginger and garlic in a bowl. Add chicken and stir well. Cover and refrigerate overnight.
2. Reserve half the cashews and place remaining cashews in a food processor. Process until finely ground.
3. Heat the butter and oil in a pan over medium heat. Add the onion, cardamom, cinnamon and bay leaf and cook for 2 minutes until the onion starts to soften. Reduce heat to low, then add chicken and marinade, paprika, tomato puree, cashew powder and stock. Simmer for 15 minutes. Stir in cream and cook for a further 10 minutes.
4. Garnish with cashews, chopped coriander and serve with rice.


I have lots of family and friends with all kinds of food issues so I set out to find a party recipe for a dip that would suit everybody - this one is free from gluten, salt, lactose and is vegetarian. It is also low GI and low fat! What a tremendous recipe. It really tastes good and is quite a good starter with lots of vegies and other dippers. It makes a really good bowl full and it keeps well. I am now calling this one the "suit everybody dip". Visual amenity of this one is ranked high by me - bright green and very cheerful. I will put the leftovers in a nice dish and take a photo tomorrow!


Leak and pea dip.
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 small leek, halved lengthways and thinly sliced
2 cloves garlic (crushed)
300 g frozen peas (2 cups)
80 ml chicken (or vegetable stock if vegetarian) stock (1/3 cup)
125 g can chick peas
¼ cup finely shredded mint
2 teaspoons lemon juice
Fresh pepper

Heat oil, cook garlic and leak.
Add peas and stock then cook.
Cool.
Blend leek mixture, lemon juice and chick peas until almost smooth. (you may need a little more liquid)
Add mint.
Season with pepper
Top with mint and serve accompanied by vegetable sticks of your choice.

Facebook friends and food

One of the things I have really been enjoying on Facebook is the contact with people all around the world. It is amazing how many people talk about what they are having for dinner and I am learning so much! I often am asked by family and friends for some of my recipes and one of the problems is that most people who have cooked for a family have their own little twists and peculiarities that are often not recorded in the recipe book. Similarly we all have different ovens and utensils and precise instructions sometimes do not work at all. I have decided to put a few of my favourites on here from time to time. BUT - remember they are the things I do and there are NO absolute guarantees about anything!

I have a La Germania gas oven - it has numbers instead of temperatures and sometimes I think we have "cold gas". (That makes no sense as the oven is thermostatically controlled....but.......)

One of the things I often make for parties and to take away camping are these muffins. I call them Marea's Muffins because she gave me the original recipe - where it originally came from I have no idea. It is a great recipe for using up little bits and pieces and it is good because you can do substitutes - e. g. wholemeal flour, sugar substitute and low fat cheese.

MAREA’S MUFFINS

1 cup of self raising flour
2 teaspoons of sugar
½ teaspoon mustard
1 cup of grated cheese
1 egg beaten into ½ cup of milk
2 tablespoons of chopped parsley
1 teaspoon of chopped chives
1 tin of pink salmon with the bones removed, keep the juice.( You don’t need it but keep it anyway – well that is what the recipe said!!!!)


Method
Mix flour, sugar, mustard and cheese in a bowl.
Add salmon, parsley and chives.
Mix well.
Add egg and milk

Spoon into muffin tops and cook at 220 degrees for 15-16 minutes
Or in normal muffin tins for 20-25 minutes.
Cream cheese can be placed into a slit on the top

Use mini muffin tins or similar. ( Barb’s oven - Middle shelf Setting 4 for 14 minutes)
You can add all sorts of bits, the odd chopped mushroom, carrot peeled with the peeler, little bits of broccoli, bit of chopped spinach etc – not so much that you change the total texture or then you will need a little bit of that juice!!!!

I begin another!

My life is full of activity!
I have a travel blog to keep family and friends updated on where we are but that doesn't give me space or opportunity to talk about the things I do - this new blog is much more about the other parts of my life. Hopefully it will provide a pathway to contact my crafting friends and relatives about other interests.

One of the things I really enjoy is photography and living in this part of the world there is always something at which to point the camera. Wildlife, landscapes and our garden are all valuable sources for me. This beautiful black cockatoo had a great time destroying our Mountain Devil plants.