Ingredients

Paste

1 small brown onion or shallot, roughly chopped

6 cloves garlic

5cm piece of galangal, peeled and roughly chopped

5 stalks lemongrass, tough stalks removed, inner part roughly chopped

2 green chillies, more or less to taste

zest of 3 makrut limes

1/2 cup of coriander, chopped

1 tbsp coriander seeds

1 tsp cumin seeds

3 cloves

12 peppercorns

1/4 tsp nutmeg powder

1/2 tsp turmeric

1/2 tsp salt

Curry

~1/2 the curry paste

500g chicken thighs, diced into 2cm cubes

3 spring onions, white parts chopped into 2 cm lengths, green tops finely chopped

Pak choi, choi sum, gai lan – a mix of Asian vegies or sub in broccoli, carrot, snowpeas, beans. Whatever is in season.

5 makrut lime leaves

1 tbsp fish sauce

1/2 tsp sugar

1 tin coconut milk

1/2 cup water

plenty of fresh Thai basil or coriander, roughly chopped

Method

To make the paste, add all the wet ingredients to a food processor and blend to a fine paste. Dry toast the coriander seeds, cumin seeds, cloves and peppercorns over a low heat until fragrant. Add to a spice grinder with the nutmeg, turmeric and salt and blitz to a powder. Add to food processor and blend until thoroughly combined.

To make the curry, heat some vegetable oil over a low heat in a wok and add the curry paste. Fry for 2 mins until very fragrant. Add lime leaves and sugar and fry for a further 2 minutes. Add fish sauce and cook for 1 min. Add white parts of spring onion and chicken and stir fry for 2 mins then add water and mix well, Cook for ~5 mins then add coconut milk and bring to a low simmer. Add vegies and cook until they are to your liking. I prefer there still being some crunch rather than soggy. Take off the heat, stir in the Thai basil/coriander and green spring onion tops and serve over steamed jasmine rice.

Store excess curry paste in a glass jar in the fridge. Keeps for months.

The post Thai Green Curry appeared first on Adelaide Hills Vegie Gardens.

One of my favourite meals that I’ve been cooking for more than 10 years. It’s the opposite of Australian Chinese restaurants. Instead of heavily thickened sauces, this is thin, clean and simple.

As always, I make it when there’s an abundance of pak choi (or bok choy) in the garden. The recipe originally called for ginger but I switch that out with galangal from the garden which is much easier to grow than ginger.

Ingredients

1 chicken breast, sliced

Pak choi and/or bok choy

3 cloves garlic, minced

3 tbsp piece of galangal, minced (sub with 1 tbsp ginger)

4 spring onions, sliced

1/2 tsp chinese five spice powder

2 tbsp soy sauce

1 tsp olive oil

Extra vegies – throw in what you have growing in the garden, Beans/snowpeas/sugar snap peas, choy sum.

Method

Mix chicken, oil, five spice. Fry until lightly browned. Add 300mL water, garlic, galangal (or ginger) and spring onion and simmer until the chicken is just cooked; about 10 mins.

Add the rest of the ingredients and simmer until they are cooked to your liking. I like them to still have a little crunch. If using beans, add them in a few minutes before the pak choi.

Add a splash of sesame oil, mix and serve over steamed jasmine rice making sure you spoon in plenty of the broth.

The post Five spice chicken appeared first on Adelaide Hills Vegie Gardens.

The key to a crispy zucchini fritter is to remove as much of the liquid as possible, Zucchinis are quite watery and this can result in soggy fritters. Adding salt helps to draw out the moisture. Squeeze as much liquid out as possible. I find it easiest to wrap the zucchini in a clean tea towel and squeeze whilst twisting the tea towel tight. Adding potato (optional) makes it a more substantial meal but they are brilliant without as well. To get them crispy on the outside, fry them on a high heat then reduce the heat to low and keep cooking for a bit longer. Twice cooked!

Ingredients

4 large zucchini, grated

3 medium potatoes, grated

180g haloumi, grated

6 shallots, finely sliced

3 cloves garlic, minced

Basil, heaps, roughly chopped

1/2 tsp smoked paprika

Chipotle powder, to taste

Pepper, to taste

2 eggs, beaten

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 cup plain flour

1/4 cup salt

Method

Add salt to the zucchini in a mixing bowl, use your hands to massage the salt through and leave for 30 mins.

Add olive oil to a hot fry pan and fry the shallots for 5 mins, until golden. Add garlic and fry for another 1 min.

Drain the liquid from the zucchini, rinse and drain again. Squeeze out as much water as possible. Add zucchini back to the mixing bowl and add potato, haloumi, shallots/garlic, basil, paprika, chipotle, pepper and eggs. Mix well. Add baking powder and flour and stir to combine ensuring there is no dry flour.

Heat olive oil in a fry pan over a high heat. Take about 1/3 cup of the mixture and shape into a patty in your hands. Place i the fry pan and repeat until you have 6-8 fritters. Cook for 4-5 mins on each side then turn the heat down to low/medium. Cook for another 3-4 mins on each side to get them nice and crispy.

Put them on a plate with paper towel and, if not serving immediately, place in oven at 70C until all the fritters are cooked.

Serve with sweet chilli sauce, bbq sauce, tzatziki or my favourite, chipotle mayonnaise (cheat – mix chipotle hot sauce with mayonnaise).

The post Zucchini fritters appeared first on Adelaide Hills Vegie Gardens.

A great way to deal with a glut of zucchini and a tasty addition to your salad repertoire. It goes great alongside BBQ meats but equally so with salmon patties or frittatas.

And if you have a preserving unit, it’s shelf stable for years.

Ingredients

4kg zucchini

3 red onions – sliced thinly

4 red capsicums – sliced

*500g pack of shell pasta – cooked until still firm ~10 mins.

4 x 440g tins red kidney beans – rinsed

1.5L vinegar – white or apple cider

0.5L water

3 cups sugar

3 tbsp mustard seeds (brown and/or white)

1 tbsp dill seeds

1 tbsp celery seeds

1 tbsp turmeric

1/2 cup salt

Method

Slice zucchini thinly. If zucchinis are very large, cut into quarters before slicing. Put in a large mixing bowl and mix through 1/2 cup of salt. Leave for 3 hours. Drain liquid, rinse and drain again.

Put into a large stockpot, add vinegar, water and sugar and bring to a boil. Add mustard seeds, dill seeds, celery seeds and turmeric and boil for 2 mins. Add pasta and red kidney beans and mix well.

At this stage you can load into sterilised jars and allow to cool. Standard advice is to store in a fridge.

To make them shelf stable, load them into preserving jars. I use a Fowlers Preserving Unit. This quantity fills 12 x #27 jars. Bring them up to 92C and hold at this temperature for 90 mins. Check seals and store any that don’t seal properly in the fridge.

The post Pickled Zucchini Salad appeared first on Adelaide Hills Vegie Gardens.