Following a long period away from the website - we now have a one year old daughter and 2 weeks ago got married! I think that can constitute as a busy time of our lives. We are now getting into a routine which sees both of us working full-time and Olivia in full-time nursery.
This might provide an opportunity to kick-start the blog which is what I intend to do.
This might provide an opportunity to kick-start the blog which is what I intend to do.
As I just said, we recently got married and as Olivia is so young we chose not to take a long honeymoon. Instead we called on the services of nanna, grandpa and grandma, packed a couple of bags and headed North. We had a fantastic night in Glasgow visiting the fascinating Hanoi Bike Shop. Then we went even further North, onto the Isle of Skye, up to the North West of the Island for the main part of our holiday which was a 3 day break at the amazing Three Chimneys. These wonderful places will each feature in their own post shortly.
First I wanted to share a little discovery with you. Fran had mentioned to me that if we ever visited Skye, we must go to Portree and find a place called Skye Batiks. The website will tell you more but it wasn't the tie-dyed clothing Fran was interested in it was the Sri Lankan curry mixes they sell. Apparently they used to have a shop in York which is from where Fran hails and she had memories of a black pepper mix that she insisted I tried. Well we found the shop, bought a few items such as a hand crafted puffin for Olivia, but most importantly we found the curry mixes.
A couple of nights ago I tried using the Black Pepper Mix and I have to say it was fantastic. There is a recipe on the back of the packet which I followed very loosely. It suggests Chicken or Beef so I chose Turkey Thigh (frugality bites after paying for a wedding). Because of this I cooked the meat in stock to tenderise it before adding the coconut milk. Also, some of the other ingredients were changed slightly according to what was in the house, note the garlic! Here is exactly what I did:
Ingredients:
Therssy's Village Black Pepper Mix
500g Turkey Thigh - diced
2 Tomatoes - coarsely chopped
2 Medium Onions
1 Green Pepper
1 large clove Elephant Garlic
200 ml Coconut Milk
1 tsp Crushed Garlic
1 tbsp White Wine Vinegar
250 ml Chicken Stock
Vegetable Oil
Salt (to taste)
Add the curry mix to the meat, tomatoes, salt, vinegar and ginger and mix thoroughly.
Gently fry the onions, garlic and peppers until lightly browned.
Add the meat mixture and cook on a medium heat for 10 minutes. Add the stock and simmer for 20 minutes.
Add the coconut milk and simmer for a further 20 minutes. Serve with rice.
This curry mix was fantastic, not too spicy but with a warm pepper kick to it and a lovely sweet blend of cinnamon and cloves. I'm not very au fait with Sri Lankan food but this had an almost Moroccan feel about it - probably the use of the cinnamon that I found to be very moreish and I can't wait to try the other mixes we bought. I can see we will be ordering more from the website when we have finished these (which won't take long).
A couple of nights ago I tried using the Black Pepper Mix and I have to say it was fantastic. There is a recipe on the back of the packet which I followed very loosely. It suggests Chicken or Beef so I chose Turkey Thigh (frugality bites after paying for a wedding). Because of this I cooked the meat in stock to tenderise it before adding the coconut milk. Also, some of the other ingredients were changed slightly according to what was in the house, note the garlic! Here is exactly what I did:
Ingredients:
Therssy's Village Black Pepper Mix
500g Turkey Thigh - diced
2 Tomatoes - coarsely chopped
2 Medium Onions
1 Green Pepper
1 large clove Elephant Garlic
200 ml Coconut Milk
1 tsp Crushed Garlic
1 tbsp White Wine Vinegar
250 ml Chicken Stock
Vegetable Oil
Salt (to taste)
Add the curry mix to the meat, tomatoes, salt, vinegar and ginger and mix thoroughly.Gently fry the onions, garlic and peppers until lightly browned.
Add the meat mixture and cook on a medium heat for 10 minutes. Add the stock and simmer for 20 minutes.
Add the coconut milk and simmer for a further 20 minutes. Serve with rice.
This curry mix was fantastic, not too spicy but with a warm pepper kick to it and a lovely sweet blend of cinnamon and cloves. I'm not very au fait with Sri Lankan food but this had an almost Moroccan feel about it - probably the use of the cinnamon that I found to be very moreish and I can't wait to try the other mixes we bought. I can see we will be ordering more from the website when we have finished these (which won't take long).
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