I must have Asian food!!!!

I love Asian food and ate so much of it when travelling. I was proud of the fact I managed to eat 27 curries when I was in India for two weeks and had virtually no western food during the 6 week stints I spent in Thailand and roaming south east Asia. The joy of authentic Asian food is that it's the real deal cooked with pure, fresh ingredients and lean meat rather than the unhealthy versions we get over here...which are AMAZING once in a while but not something I eat every week!

I do though, to satisfy my curry cravings, make something Asian inspired every week. One of my favourites  is vegetable korma quinoa because it's so good for you. Google it for yourself, but quinoa is a low GI food, full of protein, good fats, amino acids, and has anti-inflammatory properties. The texture  is nice too-  somewhere between boiled white rice and couscous. I've only ever made this recipe using korma paste, so should probably experiment with some different curry pastes to see what I end up with!

This recipe was originally from the BBC Good Food website, but I have tweaked and changed it a little.

Ingredients:

1 onion
4 tbsp of Pataks korma paste
500ml of milk (skimmed, full fat, lactose free,whatever) mixed with 500ml of water to make a litre of fluid in total.
750g frozen mixed veg (I use the Aldi one with carrots, broccoli and cauliflower)
175g quinoa, well rinsed.

Method:
Fry your onion, add a splash of water to the pan and your korma paste,then allow the lot to simmer for a few minutes. Add the litre of fluid, the frozen veg and quinoa. Bring to the boil and simmer until the quinoa is cooked. The whole mixture will be thicker (see below) when it is cooked and the quinoa will have the texture of boiled rice when ready. I serve this as a side dish with baked salmon, or take a portion to work for lunch and reheat it in the microwave. It freezes too, so batch up any leftovers to put into your freezer.

My soup maker recipe I tried this week was out of the instruction book! This recipe for chicken and sweet corn soup is filling, tasty and a lot healthier than your regular Chinese take away. I just need to buy some proper ramen noodle bowls, then I'll feel like I'm in Wagamamas!

Ingredients:
320 g tinned sweetcorn
1 red onion, finely diced
250g shredded cooked chicken (I used a packet of the fresh, ready cooked chicken from Asda rather than the sandwich meat-type stuff)
100g water chestnuts, sliced (in a small tin down the Chinese aisle of big supermarkets- I think mine were Blue Dragon)
1 teaspoon ground ginger
750ml chicken stock (about 2 stock cubes made according to instructions)
2tsp corn flour, mixed with a teaspoon of water to form a paste- add a dash more water of needed.
4 spring onions, finely sliced
1 red chilli, de-seeded and finely chopped
10 g coriander (fresh or dried)
200g hot, cooked noodles (I used the ones from Aldi that are part cooked, so you boil them for two minutes in hot water).
Soy sauce to serve.

Method:
Chuck everything apart from the noodles into your soup maker and select the chunky setting.  Put the cooked noodles in bowls and ladle the soup over them when finished!  If cooking in a pan, fry the onions and spring onions first until softened, then chuck everything else in. Bring to the boil and simmer until the veg is tender.

Next post will be my slow cooked skinny chicken korma recipe and a gluten free/ dairy free/ refined sugar free ice cream recipe to use up the rest of the coconut milk!  Happy, healthy eating gorgeous people!  #notofaddiets