Quorn Tikka Masala (adapted from The Hairy Bikers)

Last weekend I tried a recipe from a UK book which a few of my friends have been raving about, the book is the Hairy Dieters Eat for Life which I had to buy the kindle version of (rather than paying extortionate postage costs to get it shipped to Australia!).

One of the reasons I was interested in this particular book was that I knew it contained a section entitled 'Fakeaways' which revolves around creating low calorie versions of favourite takeaway dishes. I was curious how I might be able to adapt any of these using quorn to further enhance the 'good for you' element.

So, last weekend, while I had time on my hands, I decided to try the low fat 'tikka masala' curry. I actually made two versions simultaneously, a chicken version (true to the recipe) and a version made with quorn pieces which worked astoundingly well!

First off, I made a marinade which consisted of:

2tbsp medium curry powder
1.5 tsp smoked paprika
1tsp salt
15g chunk of ginger, peeled and finely grated
2 garlic cloves, crushed
6tbsp plain fat-free yoghurt

This mixture I added to a whole bag of quorn pieces and mixed until they were completely covered. I then left it in the fridge for a good 5/6 hours

Marinading quorn pieces

For this recipe there is a little extra effort required because you make the sauce separately and need to use a hand blender for that part too ahead of the actual cooking - but it is well worth it, the flavours and textures are the closest to a proper Indian restaurant (British Indian) I have ever been able to create at home.

So, for the sauce stage you need:

1tbsp oil

2 medium onions (I only used 1 in the quorn version but use 2 if you really like them)

15g chunk of ginger, peeled and finely grated

2 garlic cloves, crushed

1tbsp medium curry powder

2tbsp tomato puree

2 tsp caster sugar

1 tsp salt

350ml water

2tbsp single cream

fresh coriander to taste

1. Heat the oil in a large pan and cook the onions until softened then add the garlic and ginger and cook for another few minutes until it is all translucent and fragrant.
2. Add the curry powder and cook for another 2 mins, stirring continuously.
3. Add tomato puree, caster sugar and salt and stir for another minute.
4. Pour the water into the pan and let it simmer for 5 minutes - do not worry that it looks very watery at this stage (I was convinced it was not going to work at this stage because the consistency was all wrong - but it comes together later, I promise).
5. After 5 mins of simmering, take it off the heat and blitz it with a hand blender (or tip it into a food processor) and blend until it is smooth. Leave this to one side.
6. I then used the same pan (less washing up) to heat a small amount of oil and saute the marinaded quorn/chicken pieces. Let them brown up and caramelise a little so you get some colour and stickiness in the pan.
7. Now, pour the masala sauce back into the pan and and bring it back up to a simmer.

It starts to look more like a curry at this stage...

8. Finally, add the cream and the coriander and there you go - fab tikka masala.

I tried to get a picture before my husband dug in but the smell was driving him crazy!

Amazingly, based on 4 portions, this works out at only 302 calories per serving which means you can have a measured portion of rice with it and still come in around the 500 calories mark. Pretty incredible when you taste it and realise how indulgent it seems!

This was a real winner in our house, I tried both versions (the chicken was awesome too) and can testify that the flavours really are amazing. The quorn seems to soak in the intensity of the spices quite well and it is definitely a recipe I will be making again.

If you could get hold of the quorn beef or lamb pieces (I cannot in Australia unfortunately) then I reckon this recipe would be equally impressive with those too.

This recipe is best followed on a weekend due to the various stages and need for time - but it is well worth the effort.

Enjoy!

Feta, Spinach and Tomato Filo Pie

Ok, so this recipe technically does not involve quorn, but it is vegetarian and I am going to be expanding this blog to include other recipes too.

This recipe was actually from the Good Food magazine and it can be found online here. It so happened that I had everything in the house to make it with and seeking a recipe for a light Sunday night dinner it seemed to fit the bill perfectly.

One thing I loved about this is that it is rough and ready and quick to prepare, we really enjoyed it - these are classic flavours that work well together and I would likely make this again and probably adapt it, maybe throw some pine nuts in for a bit more texture.

The recipe calls for: 

3/4 sheets of filo pastry
175g sun dried tomatoes in oil
100g feta
200g spinach
2 eggs

1. Line a 22cm springform pan with filo - I used the oil from the tomatoes as recommended and brushed it on liberally. I used 4 sheets instead of the 3 in the recipe and staggered them around the pan. It doesn't matter if you get the odd tear as long as it is covered by the other layers, this is the beauty of filo pastry!

2. Wilt the spinach (I just tipped a kettle full of boiling water over it instead of 'cooking' it - worked perfectly fine!). Drain it - I used a heavy bottomed saucepan to apply pressure to the spinach while it was in the colander draining, it always amazes me the amount of water that comes out.

3. Roughly chop the spinach and tomatoes and chuck in a bowl, crumble over the feta and mix the eggs in thoroughly then pour the mixture into the centre of the prepared pan and fold/scrunch over the pastry.

This is what my pie looked like before I folded the pastry back over:

4. Stick it in the oven (160 gas - see recipe for other temps) for about half an hour until it is golden - to be fair I probably should have left mine in a bit longer but we were hungry and impatient and I could see it was cooked. 

This is what mine looked like when I pulled it out and cut into it:

Cooked but not overly golden

I really enjoyed this as a light tea, Stu had it with a jacket potato but it was plenty for me on its own. Each portion contains 250 calories and 5g sat fat, the Weightwatchers propoints per portion is 7.

Slow Cooker Cashew Quorn

Hello all

It's been a while and I hope you have had a fab Christmas and new year. One of my new year resolutions is to start creating new recipes for this blog because I have been overwhelmed by how often it gets pinned on pinterest and searched and visited still, every week, even when I am not updating it! You deserve better than that and so I will endeavour to make 2014 the year of new and exciting quorn based recipes (as well as posting some non-quorn veggie offerings).

I actually found this recipe on pinterest - the original version is here and was intended for use with chicken (and I can confirm it is AWESOME) with chicken. I realised it could quite easily be adapted for use with quorn pieces and accordingly decided to give it a go. It is a pretty simple throw-it-in-and-go slow cooker recipe (my favourite kind!) and also uses lots of store cupboard ingredients so you shouldn't have to buy too much to make this.

I have turned the measurements for this recipe into the English versions (ie not in cups) as this is what I use and you can see the cups version at the above link.

Anyway, here is what you need for my version:

1 bag quorn pieces (could use chicken or beef/steak strips or even sliced up fillets)
1 yellow pepper chopped
60g flour (I used self raising)
1/2 tsp (about 6/7 good turns of a grinder) black pepper
60ml soy sauce
2 tbsp rice wine vinegar
2 tbsp ketchup
1 tbsp soft brown sugar
1 garlic clove crushed
1/2 tsp fresh grated ginger (a piece about the size of the top knuckle of your thumb)
1/4 tsp red chilli flakes (I doubled this as we like it hot)
60g raw cashews (just a big handful really)

The method with quorn is easier than with chicken as there is absolutely no need to brown it. You DO want to coat it in the flour/pepper though as you want the flour to thicken the sauce slightly and make it go to a fudgey consistency - so:

1. Put the flour and pepper in a bowl and mix around to ensure evenly distributed. Chuck the quorn pieces into this (defrosted will work better than frozen as the moisture will pick up the coating better) and toss around to coat.

2. In a small bowl mix together the soy sauce, wine vinegar, ketchup, sugar. garlic, ginger and chilli flakes.

3. Put the quorn into the slow cooker with the chopped pepper and pour over the sauce, give it a good stir then add around 50ml of water (this replaces the juice that would naturally come out of the chicken and stops it drying out). This is what mine looked like ready to switch on.

4. Switch on to low and leave for 3-4 hours then add the cashews and leave for another half an hour.

And there you have it!

Served over egg fried rice

I served mine with some egg fried rice and it was lovely. The quorn really sucks in the flavours and there was enough to portion up a few for the freezer too.


In new Propoints, this makes four portions and each portion is 4 points (as per the calculator on the ww website).

Enjoy!

Dragon Noodles - Cheat's Phad Thai

Hello

Sorry, I know it has been a while again, safe to say we are starting to feel very settled in our new Australian lives and slowly, now that the house and the job are sorted, I am starting to have the time to blog again.

This recipe is one which I found on the amazing Budget Bytes website and which I have tweaked slightly for ease of finding the ingredients in Australia, this really is a fantastic veggie recipe though for quick and easy noodles which are very tasty indeed and evoke the spirit of a quick and dirty phad thai. I cook this all the time now, it is our go-to Saturday lunch and I can knock it out in around 15 minutes so it has quickly become a favourite in our house.

Basically you need:

1 200g pack of dry rice noodles (I use Erawan brand in Aus, you could use ready cooked to save further time, this serves 2 so buy enough for that)
3/4 spring onions
1tblsp soy sauce
1 tbslp sugar (I use soft brown)
1 tbslp hot sauce (I use the standard chilli sauce sold here but the original recipe uses Sriracha which I cannot find)
1 egg - beaten
Chilli flakes
a splash of oil
Chopped coriander 
Half a fresh lime
Chopped nuts

And what you do is: cook the noodles for the necessary 6/7 minutes and while they are boiling mix the sugar, hot sauce and soy sauce together into a sauce (I always dip a finger and adjust to taste, usually adding a further small amount of sugar or soy), put this to one side and chop your spring onions and coriander ready for use later. 

By now your noodles should be done so drain them and heat your wok or a large pan with a splash of oil (orig recipe uses butter but I am trying to lessen the calories a little), add your chilli flakes and heat until the oil is hot then drop in your beaten egg and LEAVE IT ALONE for about 30 seconds. At this stage you should give it a stir to break it up into nice chunks.

Turn the heat down and chuck in your noodles and then immediately add the sauce and stir it all together until the noodles are coated. Whack in the spring onions and coriander, give it another stir and bob's your uncle. Very tasty noodles.

I then add a bit of lime juice and also some chopped nuts if I have them (I didn't in the below pictures but it further enhances the phad thai feel).

In the wok at the end of cooking....

Bowl of tasty noodles!

In terms of health, each portion, based on the above ingredients, is around 460 calories and 3.7g of sat fat (11.5g overall), 88.7g of carbs (as calculated by Myfitnesspal).

Vegetable (or Quorn) Tandoori Masala

G'day all

I know it has been a while - I have been in the process of emigrating to Adelaide and it has therefore been rather a manic time...but things are starting to settle down and I have every intention of maintaining this blog as a place to find great, tasty vegetarian recipes.

I have to say there is a much more limited range of Quorn available in Australia (I am finding so far) and also that it is VERY expensive. Around $6 (£4) for a standard bag of frozen pieces or mince - I have yet to find any of the chilled ranges either.

We were aware from previous visits that finding decent Indian food - at least UK style Indian which is fabulous - is very difficult indeed. We have never on any of our trips found a curry house worth mentioning and in general the curries we have tried have been bland, watery and weird or dry and sauce less (much like Indian food in India but not the UK variant we are used to and love). It makes you realise how blessed the UK is with a fabulous British Asian identity and cuisine.

So - anyway - after two more disappointing curries in the last week I decided that enough was enough and ad libbed this Tandoori Masala from what I know of cooking curries - I did it with loads of veggies I needed to use up but it would work equally well with a bag of Quorn pieces (just chuck them in frozen) although I would also add veggies to the quorn version for a bit of texture.

We really enjoyed this and it scratched the curry itch we had so here is the recipe:

2 onions

3 cloves garlic

1 long red chilli or a couple of short ones

5 tblsp Pataks Tandoori paste (or other brand)

1 tin coconut milk

400g passata

Then I added:

1 large sweet potato cubed

1 yellow pepper cubed

2 small courgettes sliced

2 large field mushrooms chopped

Handful of chopped fresh coriander.

or you could add a bag of quorn pieces and some of the above veg to suit - just use up what you have to hand.

Method:

Chop the onions and stick them in a tbsp of oil on a low heat to sweat down while you finely chop the chilli and the garlic. I left the seeds in as we like it medium/hot but remove the seeds if you want it milder. Chuck in the garlic and chilli and sweat it all down until softened and fragrant.

Add the curry paste - amount is approximate, I used about a third of a jar. It should be sizzling away, stir it around the onions etc into a thick paste. Let it sizzle for a few minutes until you can smells the spices out of the paste.

Add the passata and give it a good stir, let it come back up to a simmer then add the coconut milk a little at a time (I did it in thirds) stirring in completely each time and bringing back up to simmer (doing it this way makes the sauce a very even colour). Add a can full of water and repeat.

Now if you are using any harder veg which require longer cooking add them now (sweet potatoes for me) and bring back up to a simmer, leave for ten minutes simmering then add everything else, give it a good stir and simmer for 20-30 mins until your veg is tender (or your quorn is cooked through).

Keep tasting it - does it need more chilli? A pinch of any salt?

Right before you serve it stir through the chopped coriander and there you have it!

Easy, tasty, UK style curry. Enjoy!

Quorn Slow Cooker Beef Madras

Hello all

It has been a while, I do apologise - we are caught up in preparing to emigrate and all the chaos that goes with it. I have not forgotten my pledge to continue blogging quorn versions of classic meals though and this one, I am proud to say, is entirely my own creation!

I wanted to make a slow cooker curry, having not done so before, and I had made a beef one with some cheap and cheerful stewing steak a couple of weeks before with moderate success. I knew, however, that a) it was nowhere near hot enough for my husband and b) it would need to be tweaked as no actual 'browning' would need to go on.

I am pleased to say that having balanced the spices (the slow cooker tends to cook the heat out of chilli so I had to allow for this) and changed the method somewhat, this version actually made a very nice, hot curry - I used steak strips for my beef but you could happily turn this into a 'chicken' version using the pieces or even fillets cut into chunks. I have noticed quorn have started selling lamb strips too - so maybe give that a go!

Anyway, this is what it looked like served up over some basmati rice:

You can see that the sauce is pretty thick - which is exactly how we like our curry, but you could aim for a thinner curry by adding extra water at the relevant point.

So, this is my recipe for a beef madras, Quorn style....

Makes 5/6 portions

2 medium onions
4 garlic cloves
square inch of fresh ginger, peeled
3 fresh chillies (whole)
4tsp ground cumin
4tsp ground coriander
2tsp ground turmeric
1tsp hot chilli powder
2tsp garam masala
2 cans of chopped tomatoes

fresh plain yoghurt and fresh coriander to taste

Method:

1) In a blender blitz the onions, garlic, ginger and chillies into a paste, you want it finely chopped and you leave the seeds in the chilli for a madras level strength (tweak accordingly if you do not want so much heat).

2) Heat a frying pan until very hot and then add the paste and cook it for a few minutes until the paste smells very fragrant and is sizzling.

3) Add the cumin, ground coriander and turmeric and stir into the paste for a minute or so until you have a dryish mixture which smells amazing.

4) Tip your bag of quorn pieces/steak strips into the slow cooker and add the onion mixture, tomatoes and half a can of water (or a full can if you want a thinner sauce),the chilli powder and then mix well. Switch on to low and leave for 8 hours or put on high for 4/5 hours.

5) Stir at intervals whenever you get the chance throughout the day.

6) 30 minutes before you are ready to serve, add the garam masala and a dolllop of fresh yoghurt, stir, taste and get it to the heat/taste you want.

7) Just as you serve stir through a handful of chopped coriander.

And there you have it!

Enjoy! 

Slow Cooker Quorn Sausage Casserole

Hello all

It's been a while I know - sorry about that, we have had a lot going on - not least of all organising and preparing to emigrate in March next year and lots of things associated with that. 

Anyway, I have a number of recipes ready to go on here and now I just need to get round to posting them. Those that I post now will be my own take on various recipes, usually using quorn or other veggie products. I love to create veggie versions of traditional dishes and proving that they can be equally tasty and I promise I will get back on the horse and start posting again!

So, as the days are getting shorter and the nights are closing in I have been using my slow cooker - A LOT!! I love being able to bang stuff in there in a morning, leave for work and come home to a fantastic, aromatic dish all ready to serve. I use my slow cooker for meat stews quite often and decided to wing it with a quorn sausage casserole, it turned out brilliantly and therefore I share it with you here.

The beauty of this recipe is also that you can ad-lib with whatever you have to hand, I used mushrooms, sweet potato, onions and some borlotti beans but you can use whatever veg and/or pulses you have to hand to bulk it out. This is a wonderfully hearty dish and makes 4 large, filling portions.

I used a packet sausage casserole mix but completely ignored all the instructions etc and just used it as a shortcut to a casserole base. You could also stick this all in a standard casserole dish for around 60 mins on about 180 degrees (for a fan oven) and achieve the same result.

Here goes:

In your slow cooker place two chopped onions, your quorn sausages, whatever veg you fancy (I used mushrooms and a large sweet potato), a tin of beans/chick peas (I used borlotti) and a tin of chopped tomatoes.

Fill the empty tomato tin with boiled water out the kettle and then stir the sausage casserole mix into this and sling it in the slow cooker, half fill the tin again and chuck that in too.

Add either a stock cube or stock pot in and stir everything together thoroughly (I used a knorr veg stock pot).

Switch the slow cooker to low for 8 hours or high for 4 hours and leave.

About an hour before you want to eat your casserole you can add some veggie dumplings by mixing 50g atora veg suet with 100g self raising flour and binding with 5-6 tbsp of cold water. Make a soft dough and split into 8 pieces then roll each piece into a ball and sit on top of your casserole. My husband is always starving (he runs a lot) and hence you will notice from the photo below that there are more than 8 dumplings - I do one and a half times the dumpling recipe to make it 3 dumplings per portion and try to fill his hollow legs. The propoints values below are based on this so if you only make 8 dumplings you can knock a point or 2 off the total (I haven't calculated it so this is a guesstimate).

Casserole with dumplings in towards the end of cooking (I promise that is not a deliberate placement of the Quorn cookbook, that's just where it lives!).

A hearty portion of casserole.

And there you have it! No added fat in this dish at all (aside from the suet in the dumplings) and it tastes amazing! I serve it either on its own as it is incredibly filling but my other half mops up the tasty juice with crusty bread. This recipe makes 4 substantial portions.

On it's own the weight watchers propoints value of each portion of this casserole is 14 (so a sufficient meal anyway!) broken down as follows: quorn sausages (4), beans (2), sweet potato (2), suet (2), flour (2), stock pot (1), casserole mix (1).