spices

Chickpea & Red Kidney Bean Curry

3 Comments

This curry is super easy to make, I always have these ingredients in my cupboard! You can use all chickpeas or use any other type of tinned pulses you enjoy. Using tinned pulses saves a lot of time in cooking.

Serves: 4

Syns: FREE

Time Taken: 20-30 minutes

Difficulty: Easy

Curry Ingredients

Curry Ingredients

Ingredients

  • 2 medium onions, chopped
  • 1 tbsp. ginger/garlic paste
  • 1 tbsp. curry powder
  • 1 tsp black onion seeds (optional)
  • 1/2 carton passata
  • 2 Maggie seasoning cubes
  • 1 tin each of red kidney beans and chickpeas
Chickpea & Red Kidney Bean Curry

Chickpea & Red Kidney Bean Curry

 

Method

Spray a pan with fry light and cook the onions till they are golden brown (around 10 minutes). Add a little bit of hot water to the pan if needed if the onions start to stick to the bottom of the pan.

Add the ginger/garlic paste and cook for another couple of minutes before adding the passata, the curry powder, crumbled seasoning cubes and black onion seeds if using.

Let it cook for a further 5 minutes on a low heat. Then add the chickpeas and the red kidney beans and cook for 10 minutes. You can serve this with boiled rice and a speedy side salad.

 

Piri Piri Seasoning

3 Comments

You can buy ready made piri piri spices or make your own. I love making my own when I have the time but if I am pressed for time my go-to piri piri spice is the Schwartz Perfect Shake one below.

Piri Piri Blend

Making your own doesn’t take much time to be honest but I sometimes get a little lazy!

If you want to give it a go making your own, all you need to do is mix together the following:

  • 2 tsp paprika (regular, never smoked)
  • 2tsp chilli powder
  • 1 tsp dried oregano
  • 3 tsp garlic salt
  • 3 tsp onion granules
  • 2 Maggi seasoning cubes, crumbled (optional)

Maggi Seasoning

For more (or less) heat, you can adjust the amount of chilli and paprika. And that’s all there is to it! I buy the Maggi seasoning from my local Asian greengrocers but I have seen it in Asda on their ‘World Foods’ aisle.

When I want to marinade chicken (or fish etc) in piri piri seasoning, I will use the above spices and add a couple of tablespoons lemon juice to it and keep it marinating for as long as I can before cooking it.

JD Seasonings

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I recently bought some spice mixes from an online company called jdseasonings.co.uk after seeing so many people using it and recommending it. I must admit I was not impressed with their piri piri seasoning. As soon as I opened the little pot all I could smell was smoked paprika. It had a strong odour, it was really off putting but I did use it hoping it would taste better than it smelled, but it didn’t!
That’s just my own personal view, I know there are a lot of people that love their products. I am not one of them, not with the piri piri seasoning anyway. I’ve used their chips and wedges rub which was nice but I think I would happily just sprinkle my chips with salt and chilli only. I also bought the fajitas blend and steak rub. I am hoping I will love one of them!

Selection of JD Seasonings

If you’ve bought anything from this company, do let me know what it was and what you thought of it.

I can’t fault the company’s service though. My order arrived within a couple of days of ordering and it was very easy to order.

Easy Stir Fry

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This is one of the easiest stir fries ever! You can add any meat/fish to it for a more filling meal. We usually have this with chicken mince.

Serves: 4
Syns: FREE
Time Taken: 15 minutes
Difficulty: Easy

Easy Stir Fry

Ingredients

  • Bag of stir fry vegetables
  • Bunch of spring onions
  • 1 red chilli (optional), chopped
  • Dark soy sauce
  • Light soy sauce
  • 1 tbsp ginger/garlic paste
  • 2 cubes of Maggie seasoning, crumbled
  • 1 tbsp Chinese 5 Spice
  • Low calorie cooking spray
  • Egg Noodles

Method

In a wok sprayed with low calorie cooking spray, add 3 chopped spring onions, the ginger/garlic paste and the red chilli (if using). Fry for about 3-5 minutes.

Add the stir fry vegetables, soy sauces, Chinese 5 spice and the crumbled seasonings and stir fry for another 3 minutes.

Add any meat or fish at this stage and cook accordingly before adding the cooked noodles and giving everything a good stir. Adjust the spices if you need more.

Yummy Stir Fry