Potato salad with a mint sour cream dressing

I get scared by potato salads that are heavy on the mayo dressing and each bite coats the inside of my mouth with an oily, mayo lining.  I wanted a non-mayo potato salad for a small barbeque I had organised, but still wanted something creamy-ish.  Thus, decided on sour cream, light sour cream if I must add.  It was well received and I've added it to my repertoire for future pot-lucks.

When I first made this, I had planned to just boil my potatoes, but after 2 lots of boiling, the inside was still uncooked but the outside was starting to break away.  Not wanting to be left with potato mash, I cut them into pieces and roasted them in the oven to cook.  The result was lovely roasted and cooked potatoes (plus proved to me that boiling the potatoes first before roasting makes crunchy roast potatoes!).  Of course, if you have much better luck I use a combination of boiling and roasting the potatoes

You can serve this warm or cold.  

Potato salad with a mint sour cream dressing

Serves 5-6

Ingredients

• 5-6 medium sized waxy (eg. Lady Christl) potatoes
• 2 slices of bacon, rind removed
  
• 200 g light sour cream
  
• 1/2 medium red onion, diced 
• A handful of mint leaves, sliced
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• Salt and pepper

Method

1. First make the dressing by combining the sour cream, diced onion and sliced mint leaves in a bowl.  Add the lemon juice, season with salt and pepper, have a taste (you want a bit of tang and a bit of onion heat to come through but not too salty).  Adjust if necessary.  Place in the fridge to allow the flavours to develop.
   
2. Wash potatoes well.  Place in a saucepan of cold water (enough water to just cover them).  Add a teaspoon of salt and bring the water to a boil.  Once the water is boiling, boil the potatoes for about 8-10 minutes.  Drain and refresh under tap water.
   
3. Preheat oven to 180oC.  When potatoes are cold enough to handle, cut into 2 cm pieces and place on a lined baking tray.  Place in oven to roast until cooked through (about 20 minutes).
   
4. Meanwhile, dice bacon, and cook in a saucepan until crispy. Add to a large serving bowl.
5. Remove potatoes from oven, and place in the same bowl as the bacon.  Toss.  Allow to cool to lukewarm, and once cool, add about a third of the sour cream dressing tossing so that it's coated evenly on all the potatoes.  
6. If you are serving warm, add the rest of the dressing and allow to coat well. If you want to serve it cold, place the dressing and the potato salad back in the fridge to cool for a few hours and just before serving, mix the rest of the dressing through the salad. 
   

Green chicken curry

When I first started cooking for myself, I used to make curries quite frequently using Mr Lee (Kum Kee's) Portugese curry sauce that came in a glass jar.  I learnt it from my mum, who'd been making it from the days before we came to Australia and I absolutely loved it.  When production stopped in Australia (for whatever reason, I don't know, and can't see why), I also stopped making curries as frequently -- LKK's Portugese curry sauce was the curry sauce I had literally grown up with and had to find other ways to satsify curry cravings.  This is a green curry that I now make relatively regularly, using a Thai green curry paste.  It's flavoursome and has become my standard recipe for a quick midweek curry and usually makes enough to last me for 3-4 meals.  Like all curries and foods packed with a myriad of flavours, with each day, the dish becomes more flavoursome.  The photo doesn't do it justice to the intensity of flavour this dish has -- when I go around to making it again, I might take another photograph of it.

The purpose of frying off the curry paste is so that the fat from the paste is separated and floats to the top (which I learnt off watching too many episodes of Ready, Steady, Cook), thereby allowing the spices that are in the paste to get cooked and therefore to really come out with a punch.  As with the sugar, I've always been told by my mum that sugar enhances and complements a curry, I've never asked why ... maybe I'll find out one day

Green chicken curry

Serves 2-4



Ingredients

• 400g chicken thigh, cut into roughly 2cm pieces
• salt and pepper
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch, optional
• 2 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 medium brown onion, sliced
• 2 potatoes, peeled and cubed into 1.5 cm pieces
• 2 carrots, peeled and roughly chopped
• 1 1/2 tablespoon green curry paste
• 300 mL coconut milk
• 100 mL chicken stock
• bit of sugar
• 1 teaspoon of chilli oil or chilli flakes (as I like a bit more kick in my curries)

Method

1. Marinade chicken in soy sauce, salt and pepper for about 15-20 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, fill a medium pot with cold water and place potatoes and carrots into the pot.  Bring the pot to a boil and turn the heat down so that it is just simmering.  Stir occasionally to ensure even cooking.  Simmer for 15 minutes, drain and set aside.
3. Heat a non-stick frying pan on med-high heat, add the oil and swirl around to coat the pan.
4. (Add the cornstarch, if using, to the chicken)
5. Add the curry paste, being careful as it can splatter, and cook for about 30 seconds.  Add the chicken and let it seal on both sides.
6. Add the onions, and once the onions have softened slightly, add the coconut milk and stock.
7. Add the drained potatoes and carrots, and bring to a simmer.  Add about a teaspoon of sugar and the chilli oil or chilli flakes.
8. Cooking for another 10-15 minutes to allow the flavours to develop.  Serve with steamed rice.

Pistachio, fig and lemon biscotti

Baking isn't something that is automatically considered to be healthy, and generally speaking, it isn't.  I mean, who are we kidding when we know exactly how much butter, sugar, flour went into making that cake.  But over the last couple of years where people have become more health conscious, I think baking has become healthier -- there are recipes that have less sugar, less fat, use whole wheat flour or try substitute ingredients to deliver the cake, muffin or cookie as we know it but healthier.   I think it's amazing -- not only in the 'progression' of baking sense but the fact that everyone can still enjoy baked treats a bit more freely.

I was trying to find something to bake for someone who was diabetic, and there are certainly a lot of desserts out there.  However, a lot of them suggested using Splenda in replace of normal sugar.  After researching a few reviews for these recipes, I was a bit skeptical of how it would turn out as most of them talked about an odd aftertaste with Splenda and I had never cooked with Splenda before.  In the end, I went to my trusty recipe source (Taste.com) and found this recipe under a diabetic friendly recipe collection -- a pistachio, fig and lemon biscotti.   The bonus with this is that I didn't have to use butter!

Shelling the pistachios was awfully tedious, but worth it for the bright green colours dotted in the biscotti.  They didn't turn out as crisp as I like my biscotti, but they still tasted pretty nice, and the natural sugar of the figs gave the biscotti enough sweetness.  Having it with a nice pot of herbal tea made it a great afternoon snack.

Pistachio, fig and lemon biscotti

Makes about 30



Ingredients

• 1/3 cup pistachio kernels
• 3 egg whites
• 1/3 cup caster sugar
• 1 tbs finely grated lemon rind
• 3/4 cup plain flour, sifted
• 1/3 cup finely chopped dried figs

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180°C.  Brush a 7 x 25cm (base measurement) bar pan with melted butter to lightly grease.  Line the base and 2 long sides with non-stick baking paper, allowing it to overhang.
2. Place pistachios in a heatproof bowl.  Cover with boiling water and set aside for 5 minutes or until skins soften. Drain.  Peel off skins and dry on paper towel.
3. Meanwhile, use an electric beater to whisk the egg whites in a clean, dry bowl until soft peaks form.  Add the sugar, one spoonful at a time, whisking well after each addition, until sugar dissolves.  Add the lemon rind and whisk until combined.
4. Combine flour and figs in a bowl. Use your fingers to separate figs and coat in flour. Fold fig mixture and pistachios into egg-white mixture until just combined.
5. Spoon mixture into prepared pan and smooth the surface. Bake in oven for 30 minutes or until cooked through. Turn onto a wire rack and set aside for 1 hour or until cooled to room temperature.
6. Preheat oven to 160°C. Use a serrated knife to cut loaf crossways into 5mm-thick slices. Place in a single layer on a baking tray. Bake in oven for 10 minutes or until crisp and golden. Cool on tray.