Paprika Chicken with Creamy Paprika Sauce (an easy all-in-one Thermomix dinner)

Last night I got home late after a busy day and didn't have dinner organised, so it was 'Thermomix to the rescue' once again! I had a quick think, and this is what I came up with. Nothing fancy, just an easy and tasty dinner with basic ingredients, that took all of 25 minutes to make. Sometimes that's just what we need when we can't be bothered, right? (It is really yummy though, and the chicken breasts are amazingly tender and juicy when steamed!)

This fed our family of six and there were plenty of leftovers, which is always a bonus since everyone generally wants dinner for breakfast at our house. :)

This recipe is gluten free, and egg free, and if you omit the butter is also dairy free. The sauce is blended with cashews to make it creamy, but if you can't have nuts, see the nut free variation below. I've added some tips for those of you without a Thermomix, so you don't miss out.

Paprika Chicken with Creamy Paprika Sauce

(Serves 6-8)

Ingredients:

Rice
900g water
380g basmati rice

Veges (these are just suggestions, use what you have)
3 carrots, peeled and sliced thinly
200g green beans, topped and tailed
1-2 zucchini, thinly sliced
150g frozen corn

Chicken
600-700g chicken breast fillets, sliced in 2cm thick pieces
smoked paprika powder (approx 1 tsp)
herb salt (eg. Herbamare)
garlic powder (approx 1/2 tsp)
1 Tbsp butter or ghee (optional)

Sauce
60g raw cashews
60g water
2 tsp chicken or vegetable stock paste (my chicken stock paste recipe here)
1 tsp smoked paprika powder

Method:

Pour water into mixing bowl.

Weigh rice into steaming basket and rinse well, then place basket inside mixing bowl.

Place chicken pieces onto Varoma tray and sprinkle with paprika, herb salt and garlic powder, and dot with butter or ghee if using.

Place Varoma into position with lid on.

Turn speed dial to speed 5 for a few seconds to wash the water through the rice. (That's my little trick to make sure the top of the rice cooks well and you don't end up with crunchy bits.)

Begin cooking for 20 mins/Varoma/speed 2 while you cut up the veges, adding them to the dish as you go. (It takes about 10 minutes for the steam to really start filling the Varoma, so it's easy enough to get the veges cut up in that time.)

At the end of the cooking time, check that the chicken is cooked; add a couple more minutes if not.

Remove chicken, vegetables and rice to Thermoservers or serving dishes. (Or if you're having an 
"I don't feel like doing heaps of dishes" night, just leave them in the Varoma and basket and set aside.)

Add all the sauce ingredients to the little bit of liquid left in the bowl. (There should only be about 3cm of water left as the rice has absorbed most of it.)

Blend 1 min/speed 9. Scrape down lid and sides of bowl with spatula and blend again if needed, until smooth. Season to taste.

Serve the rice onto plates, top with veges and chicken, and drizzle with sauce.

Easy peasy! :)

Variations:

Nut free version: I haven't tried this yet, but I think it would be simple to leave out the cashews and add a can of Ayam coconut cream instead, with the 2-3 tsp vege stock paste and 1 tsp paprika powder. Warm it up a bit, 1 min/90C/speed 4. Season to taste.

Non Thermomix version:  Pour 100ml boiling water over the raw cashews and allow to soak (covered) while the meal cooks. Cook the rice in a rice cooker or on the stovetop. Cook the chicken and vegetables in two layers in a steamer, or in a large frypan with a lid, over med-low heat, until done. Blend the soaked cashews with soaking water and remaining sauce ingredients in a powerful blender until smooth and creamy. Season to taste. (Massel stock powder can be used instead of stock paste.)

Christmas Breakfast Casserole

I often feel a bit overloaded with all the sweet stuff at Christmas, and the kids tend to dig into their Christmas stockings first thing and start in on the homemade sweets, so a savoury breakfast/brunch on Christmas day makes a lot of sense to me. (I prefer a savoury breakfast any day, actually.)

This year, we're having our traditional Christmas dinner of roast turkey and all the trimmings on Christmas Eve. Christmas day we're having a lazy breakfast after the kids open their presents, then getting together for dinner with friends on Christmas night. So this is the breakfast I'm making for Christmas day - a 'prepare ahead' brunch casserole. Oh, and mum is bringing Monkey Bread too, so that should keep everyone happy. :)

This casserole might not look like much (it was hard to photograph!) but the kids love it - it's very tasty. The bottom layer is homemade hashbrowns, made with a mixture of potato and orange sweet potato. Then there's a layer of egg, then a spicy American style turkey or beef mince layer, and egg and zucchini on top with a sprinkle of herbs and savoury yeast flakes. You can use grated parmesan instead of savoury yeast flakes if you don't need it to be dairy free.

You can prepare this the day before if you like, and bake it on Christmas morning while the family is opening presents. Easy.

P.S. This is obviously also just a great midweek dinner with a salad!

Christmas Brunch Casserole 
(Gluten Free, Grain Free, Dairy Free, Nut Free)

Serves 6

Preheat oven to 180°C.

1kg potatoes, roughly chopped (I use a mixture of potatoes and orange sweet potatoes)
1 brown onion, halved
2 garlic cloves
3 Tbsp ghee or coconut oil
2 tsp herb salt
Freshly ground black pepper
500g turkey or beef mince
1/8 tsp sage, ground
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp oregano
2 Tbsp tamari
2 Tbsp tomato sauce
10 eggs
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
1 zucchini, quartered
2 tsp savoury yeast flakes

1. Place potatoes, onion, garlic, 1 tsp of herb salt and some freshly ground pepper into mixing bowl and chop 30 sec/speed 4.
 
2. Melt ghee or oil in a large frypan and add potato mixture. Stir and fry until lightly browned and cooked through, approx. 10 mins. Spread over base of a 34 x 22 cm rectangular baking dish and set aside.

3. Meanwhile, place mince, sage, cayenne, 1/4 tsp oregano, tamari and tomato sauce into mixing bowl and mix 10 sec/reverse/speed 3. Cook 4 mins/Varoma/reverse/speed soft with MC off (until barely cooked). Remove to a bowl and set aside.

4. Place eggs, 1 tsp herb salt, garlic powder and onion powder and some freshly ground black pepper into mixing bowl. Mix 5 sec/speed 4, then drizzle half the mixture over the potatoes.

5. Sprinkle mince over the egg layer. 

6. Add zucchini to remaining egg mixture in mixing bowl and chop 3 sec/speed 5. Spread over mince layer and sprinkle with 1/4 tsp oregano and yeast flakes.

6. Cover with foil and bake in preheated 30 mins, then remove foil and bake a further 30 mins, or until set and browned.

OR

To Prepare Ahead:

Cover casserole with foil and place in fridge overnight. In the morning, place in preheated 180°C oven and cook 45 mins, then remove foil and cook 30 mins or until set and browned.

Spicy BBQ Chicken All-in-One Dinner

 



One of the things I love most about my Thermomix is that it makes super-delicious and super-easy 'all-in-one' meals! (You may have noticed that. There's quite a few on my blog.)

Who doesn't love a meal that's quick to put together, doesn't use up every pot in the cupboard, saves electricity by cooking everything at once, and tastes delicious to boot? Not to mention the fact that steamed veges are much better for you than veges boiled to death in a pot of water. So I tend to make a lot of these 'all-in-one' meals, just varying the layers to use whatever I have. When the cooking time is finished, if there's liquid in the bowl, I often use it to make a sauce to pour over the top so nothing is wasted.

Here's one I made up the other night - chicken thighs cooking in a spicy BBQ sauce, with veges and either rice, potatoes or quinoa cooking in the basket in the bowl, and a sauce made with the juices that are left in the bowl at the end. Very simple, a great mid-week meal. It's a little bit spicy, so adjust the chilli powder to taste!

Spicy BBQ Chicken All-in-One Dinner

1. Mince garlic in Thermomix bowl on speed 7 for 3 seconds:

- 2 cloves garlic

 

2. Add remaining sauce ingredients and mix on speed 5 for 10 seconds:

- 80g tomato sauce

- 60g apple cider vinegar

- 30g butter, ghee or oil

- 2 tsp seeded or Dijon mustard

- 2 Tbspns Tamari

- 2 Tbspns lemon juice

- 20g Rapadura or 15g honey

- 1 tsp herb salt

- 1-2 tsp chilli powder

- 2 tsp smoked paprika

 

3. Pour over chicken thighs in a bowl and marinate for half an hour. (If you don't have time you can just go ahead and cook them.)

- 1 kg chicken thighs, fat removed

 

4. Pour water into bowl, insert rice basket, and weigh in rice/quinoa/potatoes.

- 900g water

- 400g basmati rice

    OR

  350g quinoa (rinsed)

    OR   

  fill basket with thickly sliced potatoes (skin on)

5. Put lid on bowl, with Varoma on top. Add veges to lower Varoma tray, and place the upper Varoma tray on top. Line with wet baking paper, and arrange chicken on paper, drizzling with some of the sauce. Set remaining sauce aside for later.
- sliced veges: carrots, broccoli, green beans, red capsicum... or even just frozen peas and corn if you're in a hurry
- chicken in BBQ sauce

 

6. Start cooking for 20 minutes at Varoma temp, speed 4 for rice or quinoa, or 25 minutes for potatoes. When cooking time is finished, remove Varoma (set it on it's lid to catch drips) and remove rice/quinoa/potatoes and cooked veges to a Thermoserver or covered serving dish to keep warm. The chicken will need a little more time to cook.

7. If you cooked rice/quinoa, there won't be much 'juice' left in the bowl. Add some more liquid by carefully draining the juices off the chicken into the bowl. Also, add the reserved BBQ sauce to the bowl (from marinating the chicken). Replace lid and Varoma (bottom tray will be empty), and cook for another 10 minutes at Varoma temperature, speed 2. Chicken should be done - cut a thigh in half to check.

    If you cooked potatoes in the basket, there'll be lots of water left in the bowl. Tip all but about 2 inches of water out. Add juices from chicken and reserved sauce, replace chicken in Varoma tray, and cook as above.

 

The juices left in the bowl - BBQ marinade is added and it is thickened to make sauce.

8. Remove cooked chicken to another Thermoserver or covered serving dish. Make the sauce by adding cornstarch/arrowroot mixture to bowl and cooking at 100C for 4 minutes, speed 4.
- 2 Tbspns cornstarch or arrowroot, mixed with 2 Tbspns water in a cup

 

 

9. Serve chicken, veges and rice/quinoa/potatoes together, drizzled with the sauce.

 

As you can see, it's very handy to have more than one *Thermoserver!

They'll keep your food hot for up to three hours, so you can make dinner ahead of time and keep it in the servers until everyone's ready to eat. No more cold dinners.

 

* A Thermoserver is a double insulated stainless steel serving dish valued at $60, available only through Thermomix home demonstrations in Australia. 

 

* Special Deal for January 2013 *

You can receive TWO Thermoservers for free by purchasing a Thermomix in January,

and holding your home demonstration before the end of February!

Visit the Thermomix website for more details.

Quinoa Salad, Thermomix Style!

Summer. The weather's so hot, the last thing you feel like doing is slaving over a hot stove, cooking. Green smoothie for dinner? Hmmm, don't know about the guys in your house, but mine wouldn't be too happy. What to do? Quinoa Salad! It doesn't take a lot of effort (especially with the Thermomix), you can pretty much chuck in whatever's in the fridge (bonus: it's different every time!), and everyone likes it. (Well, except for the pine nuts in this one - my eleven year old picked those out... Oh well. Can't win 'em all.)

This salad ticks all the boxes - quick, easy, healthy, yummy and there's lots of variations possible. Sometimes I add meat - chicken, tuna, or salmon - sometimes I leave the meat out. Eggs are optional too, but are an easy filler. You can try different dressings - for my quickest of quick versions, I just drizzle over some balsamic vinegar and my specially good extra virgin olive oil that I save for salads, plus a little herb salt. Other times I use my homemade mayonnaise, which is made with seeded mustard, honey, garlic and herbs. Beck from Thermosisters made a version with a dressing consisting of flaxseed oil, garlic, seeded mustard and honey. Yum!

Just a note on quinoa (pronounced 'KEEN-wa'): I've had some people comment that they don't like quinoa as it has a bitter taste. If the quinoa you are using is bitter, it needs to be well soaked and/or rinsed to remove the natural saponins coating the seeds. Quinoa grown in Australia is usually sold un-rinsed, whereas quinoa from Peru or Bolivia is usually pre-rinsed and ready to use. If you have Australian quinoa, follow these guidelines before cooking:
     - Rinse quinoa in a fine strainer for 1 to 2 minutes under running water, the evening before using it, then soak in a bowl of water overnight.
     - In the morning (or before cooking), rinse again under running water for another minute.
If you follow these steps, you shouldn't have a problem with bitterness.

So here's my 'chicken & pumpkin' version of quinoa salad - see what other variations you can come up with.

1. Weigh dry quinoa into a bowl and cover with water, then set aside to soak for 7-12 hours. Drain and rinse in a fine seive under running water. Or, if you're in a hurry, pour boiling water over quinoa and let sit for 10 mins or more, then rinse.
- 350g quinoa, weighed when dry
- 500g water

2. Weigh water into Thermomix bowl, place quinoa in steamer basket and insert into bowl. Place eggs on top of quinoa in steamer basket.
- 800g water
- 4 eggs, preferably organic free range, well rinsed

3. Place the lid on the bowl, with Varoma on top, and place chicken and pumpkin in Varoma dish, leaving some spaces for the steam to get through. Cook for 20 minutes, Varoma temperature, speed 4. (Check chicken and pumpkin in last five minutes of cooking time and break apart with the spatula so it cooks through evenly.)
- 3 chicken thighs, cubed
- 250g pumpkin, sliced thinly (about 5 mm)

4. When the quinoa, chicken & veges are cooked, remove eggs from quinoa (scraping off quinoa from shells) and peel and quarter eggs.

5. Prepare salad ingredients in a very large salad bowl. I like to use:
- a bag of mixed salad greens or baby spinach
- sun-dried tomato strips
- kalamata olives
- thinly sliced shallots or red onion
- boiled eggs, quartered
- cubed sheep or goat milk feta (optional)

6. Add quinoa, chicken and pumpkin to salad ingredients. You can wait until they're cool if you like, or use straight away for a warm salad.

7. Drizzle with balsamic vinegar and a good quality cold-pressed extra virgin olive oil, or whatever dressing you prefer.

8. Sprinkle with toasted seeds and serve. I like a mixture of sesame seeds, sunflower seeds and pine nuts, toasted in a dry skillet until they're starting to pop, then drizzled with tamari and toasted a little longer. They give a lovely 'crunch' to salads.

Another variation we love is smoked salmon, avocado, olive, sun-dried tomato or cherry tomatoes and baby spinach. What variations do you like to make?

Share your versions in the comments below!

Bolognese Sauce in the Thermomix

I've heard people say they don't like bolognese sauce made in the Thermomix, because it's bland, and turns to mush. Well, I beg to differ. You can't blame the Thermomix for lack of flavour - that depends on what you put in, just as it does when you cook in a saucepan on the stovetop. And if it's the texture that's bothering you, let me reassure you it doesn't have to be 'mush'!

This is basically how I make my bolognese sauce; you can add to or subtract from it to make it the way you like it. You can use lamb, turkey or chicken mince instead of beef if you like. Or if you want a vegetarian version, leave out the meat and add extra veges (eggplant and/or orange sweet potato is nice), and more mushrooms. For a grain free version, serve on raw zucchini 'noodles', or steam thin strips of cabbage in the Varoma while you cook the sauce in the bowl.

If you like, you can mince your own meat first. I find I can often get a bulk rump cheaper per kilo than minced beef, so this is a great way to save money. It also means you can get a 'chunkier' sauce if that's what you want. (And it's also good to know that your mince is just 'meat', and doesn't have lots of fat, gristle and water mixed in to bulk it out... and maybe other hidden additives and preservatives as well!)

To mince your meat: Cut the meat into 2 cm cubes (semi-frozen is easiest), weigh in 300-400g, and mince by setting the speed dial to the closed lid position and pressing the Turbo button 3 or 4 times. This will be chunkier than you probably want it, but remember it will break down a little during cooking.

Serves 6-8.

1. Chop onion & garlic on speed 5 for 3 seconds:
- 1 large onion, halved
- 3 or 4 cloves garlic (to taste)

2. Add oil and cook for 3 minutes at 100C, reverse, speed 1:
- 30g olive oil

3. Add vegetables & herbs and chop roughly - speed 5 for 8 seconds; or chop longer for 'grated' veges:
- 500g vine-ripened tomatoes, halved
- 150g carrots, quartered
- 1 celery stick, quartered (including leaves)
- 100g zucchini, quartered
- half a red capsicum (opt)
- a large handful fresh basil, some fresh oregano & a sprinkle of fresh rosemary
OR 2 tsp of dried Italian herbs

4. Add remaining ingredients and cook for 25-30 minutes at 100C, reverse, speed soft:
- 400g minced beef (or lamb, turkey or chicken)
- 100g thickly sliced mushrooms
- 60g semi-dried tomatoes (opt.)
- 100-150g sliced Kalamata olives (opt.)
- 120g tomato paste
- 1 tsp balsamic vinegar
- 1 Tbspn Rapadura
- 2 Tbspns vegetable stock paste (or a meat stock paste like the one in this recipe)
- 50g red wine or water

While the pasta sauce cooks, I cook the pasta on the stovetop. Or if I'm doing a grainfree version, I use my Benriner to make zucchini 'noodles', or thinly slice cabbage and steam in the Varoma while the sauce cooks. (Use Varoma temp and add 50g more water, cooking for 25 minutes.)

If you're cooking for less people, you can halve the recipe, add 100g water, and after 10 minutes cooking time add 250g raw pasta to the sauce and cook for 8-10 minutes more. (Make sure it's on reverse, or you WILL have mush!)

So there's some bolognese-sauce-making hints - tweak to taste!

Quick Egg Curry with Quinoa... plus how to make Coconut Milk

 

 

This is one of those 'last-minute-slap-dash' recipes that are pretty much my trademark. Sometimes those are the best kind of recipes. Here's how it happened...

 

One dark morning, I stumbled out of bed at 5.30am to try and find something my hubby could take to work for lunch, and there was just nothing. No bread, no leftovers, just a few basic ingredients and some eggs. My fuzzy brain did a quick search and came up with 'egg curry'. I dug through the cupboard looking for the curry powder, but it was all gone. Typical. That'll teach me to menu plan more carefully. Okay, no big deal - I had the basic ingredients for a curry powder and I had a Thermomix! So I revved up Thermie and quickly ground some spices to make some homemade curry powder, using the recipe in the Indian cookbook. (No, the kids didn't wake up - they're used to me Thermomixing at all sorts of odd hours!) Then I made a quick egg curry. Hubby was out the door and on his way by 6am, and I stumbled back to bed.

 

So a month or so ago I shared this simple recipe on Facebook, and was surprised to find that lots of people loved it! I hadn't blogged it because it didn't seem to be anything out of the ordinary... but maybe that's why people like it. It's simple, tasty, quick, and cheap. And really, that's what most of us want for everyday meals - right? Now and then a fancy meal, but mostly it's 'get it on the table and get 'em fed with as little fuss as possible'!

 

Have a look at the variations at the end if you'd rather chicken instead of eggs, or more veges, or a vegetarian version.

 

Quick Egg Curry with Quinoa

 

1. Curry powder: if you want to make your own, do that first. You can of course just use bought curry powder, but homemade has lots of flavour, and no anti-caking agents. The recipe I use is the Madras Curry Powder from the Thermomix Indian Cookbook but I leave the salt out. Or I just use the Garam Masala recipe from the Thermomix Everyday Cookbook - that's nice too, and very simple.

 
2. Coconut milk: if you're not in a hurry and you really want to go back to basics, you can make your coconut milk first. This saves money, and it's very simple. Here's how.

- Grind up 300g dried, shredded coconut for 10 seconds on speed 8 (in the Thermomix). You can use fresh coconut instead if you have it.

- Add 1200g water and cook for 15-20 minutes at 100C, speed 4 - until the temperature reaches 100C. (If using fresh coconut, only add 900g water.)

Blend on speed 8 for 30 seconds; strain through a nut milk bag. (I use tongs to squeeze the milk out because it's hot!)

 

 

[Optional: Return the pulp to the Thermomix bowl, add another 1200g of water, and repeat. You'll have a thick milk and a thinner milk. You can either mix them, or just use the thinner milk in smoothies/baking. ]

If you like, you can also dehydrate the pulp in a dehydrator for 6 hours on low temp, then grind it for 2 minutes speed 9 to make coconut flour! But I'm getting off the track here, back to the egg curry...

 

3. Quinoa & eggs: The next step is to cook the quinoa and eggs.

 

Weigh water into bowl:

- 900g water

 

Add rice basket and weigh dry quinoa into basket. (Don't stress if a little bit falls through the holes - not much will.)

- 300g white quinoa

 

[Note: Most of the quinoa I've bought is pre-rinsed, it doesn't have a bitter taste. If it's not pre-rinsed (or you're not sure), rinse well in a fine strainer under running water for a couple of minutes, rubbing grains through your fingers to remove saponins. (That's the natural bug-deterrant on quinoa that makes it taste bitter.) Soaking quinoa: If you're thinking ahead, you can weigh the dry quinoa into a Thermoserver or other dish, cover with water and a tsp of apple cider vinegar, and leave to soak over night or for a few hours.]

Wash eggs well and place on top of quinoa, in the rice basket:

- 6 eggs, organic free range

 

[OR place the eggs in the Varoma if you don't like the idea of them being in with the quinoa. But it's perfectly fine, as long as the eggs are clean. Some people grind up eggs shells and add them to food for a calcium supplement - egg shells are non-toxic!]

 

Cook for 20 minutes at Varoma temperature, speed 4.

 

 

Remove eggs from quinoa with tongs (scrape off the quinoa) and set aside. Tip quinoa into Thermoserver or covered serving dish to stay warm. Rinse & dry bowl.

 

4. Curry sauce: (don't worry, this is quick!)

Chop onion, garlic and coriander in Thermomix bowl on speed 5 for 3 seconds.

- 1 brown onion, halved

- 2-3 cloves garlic

- a handful fresh coriander (or parsley)

 

Add olive oil or ghee and cook at 100C, 2 minutes, speed 1:

- 30g olive oil or ghee

 

Add curry powder and lemon juice. Cook 100C, 2 minutes, speed 1:

- 2-4 Tbspns curry powder (depending how hot you like it)

- 1 Tbspn lemon

 

Add coconut milk/cream, vege stock paste and frozen peas, and cook 5 minutes, 100C, reverse speed 1:

- 400g coconut cream or milk

- 1 Tbspn vege stock paste

- 150g peas (frozen is fine)

 

Meanwhile, peel eggs and cut into quarters. Arrange on top of quinoa. When curry sauce is ready, pour over the quinoa and eggs, and serve.

 

*     *     *     *     *

Variations: You could easily jazz this up a bit by steaming chicken breast pieces in the Varoma on top while the quinoa is cooking, as well as a bunch of sliced veges. Or you could add in any leftover veges from the night before instead of the frozen peas - I tend to do things like that. If you can't have eggs, just leave them out and use chicken or veges instead. Maybe add a tin of chickpeas with the veges. Play around with it and see what you come up with. Hope you like it! :)

 

*     *     *     *     *

Black Bean Mole (Chilli Beans with Chocolate)

I love Mexican food. Well, maybe I'm really talking 'Tex-Mex' food, as that is what I was raised on.  My parents are from south-west Texas, and my big sister was born down on the border of the southern tip of Texas, where it pokes into Mexico, in a town called McAllen. Down there, you have to look hard to find signs in English; the shop assistants greet you in Spanish (much to my confusion as a teenager) and the food is awesome! (Albeit rather SPICY!!) 

My big sister & I at our friend's house in Mexico, 1978

My family moved to Australia just before I was born, and I grew up mostly in Far North Queensland, with occasional trips back to Texas. My friends always found the food we ate quite fascinating. Most of them had never even heard of tortillas (which is NOT pronounced tor-till-uhs, but tor-tee-ahs!), let alone refried beans, fajitas or enchiladas. They didn't have leftover cornbread for breakfast like we did, either mushed up with milk, or toasted and dripping with melted butter and maple syrup. And if you mentioned jalapeños, chimichangas, huevos rancheros, hominy or tamales, they just looked puzzled. Unless they'd been over for dinner before... then they looked hungry! They knew if Mum was cooking Tex-Mex, they'd better find a way to get invited to stay. Same as when she was cooking fried chicken. But that's getting off the topic...

Sauteeing capsicum for fajitas, while cooking up some spelt tortillas

So fast forward to 2012, and Mexican food is much more well-known in Australia. In fact, it's quite 'the thing', with authentic Mexican restaurants popping up around the country, online suppliers selling everything from ancho chillies to masa harina (for making corn tortillas), and Mexican food trucks cruising the city streets. Hey, I can even buy masa harina, hominy and tomatillos from my local IGA, and I live practically in 'the sticks'!! I'm loving this new awareness of Mexican (and Tex-Mex) food, because this is the home cooking I grew up on, and it says 'comfort food' like nothing else does.

Being an incurable chocoholic, one of my favourite Mexican dishes is the national dish of Mexico, 'mole poblano' (pronounced 'MOH-lay') - a thick chocolate chilli sauce, complex and delicious, which is usually served over turkey or chicken.

Many legends surround the origin of mole poblano. The most common one goes like this. Sometime in 1680's at the Convent of Santa Rosa in Puebla, the convent nuns heard that the archbishop was going to pay them a visit. They went into a panic because they were poor and had almost nothing to feed him. They prayed, and brought together the little bits of what they did have: chillies, spices, day-old tortillas, nuts, a little chocolate and more. They made a thick sauce out of these ingredients, killed an old turkey they had, cooked it up and served it with the sauce. The archbishop loved it. Mole poblano was born. [via this article and Wikipedia]

Every region of Mexico seems to have their own version of mole. It can be anything from dark, thick and chocolatey, to soup-like and bright green. There are red, yellow and black moles, some are served with turkey, chicken or pork, and some with vegetables. "All mole preparations begin with one or more types of chili pepper. The classic moles... such as mole poblano and mole negro, include two or more of the following types: ancho, pasilla, mulato and chipotle. Other ingredients can include black pepper, achiote, guaje (Leucaena leucocephala), cumin, cloves, anise, tomatoes, tomatillos, garlic, sesame seeds, dried fruit, hoja santa and many others. Mole poblano has an average of 20 ingredients; mole almendrado has an average of 26, and Oaxacan moles can have over 30. Chocolate, if used, is added at the end of cooking." [Wikipedia] Some moles contain ground up nuts or pepitas, ground up cacao nibs or beans instead of chocolate, cinnamon, jaggery (similar to Rapadura), and even plantains! As you can see, there's lots of room for experimenting, so feel free to add to my recipe and tweak it to your taste. I don't have access to Mexican chillies where I live, so I just used regular red chillies - but if you can find ancho, pasilla and mulato chillies (lucky you!), try those. This recipe will give you an idea of how to use them - they're not super hot, they're kind of smokey.

Traditionally, mole takes days to make. The ingredients are roasted and ground up first, which, if done by hand, takes a full day in itself. The resulting powder or paste (depending on the ingredients in it) is mixed with broth and simmered in a heavy clay cauldron until it becomes a thick sauce. It has to be stirred constantly so it doesn't burn. That's the traditional way, which obviously isn't done so much these days. Mostly people just buy a mole paste in a jar and add stock, a bit like making a curry from a jar of curry paste.

Slow-roasting the tomatoes, onions and garlic

As you know, I'm all for making quick and quirky versions of my old favourite recipes, using basic ingredients and my trusty Thermomix. (See for example Spelt Tortillas, Mexican Quinoa, Fajitas, Dairy Free Sour Cream and Mexican Black Bean & Chorizo Soup.) My version of Black Bean Mole won't take you days, although it IS more time consuming than most of my recipes. But it's totally worth it.

Note: If you're looking for black beans (also called turtle beans), you'll most likely find them at your local health food shop, or maybe in the International aisle of your grocery store. But if you can't find them, try kidney beans, or even a mixture of beans. In the mole below, I used a mixture of green lentils, black beans, and pinto beans. Still tasted great!

Black Bean Mole

1. First you need to pick through the dry beans and discard any that are shrivelled or have holes in them.

- 500g black (turtle) beans (uncooked)

Put them in a big stockpot and cover with water. Bring to the boil, simmer a minute or two, then turn off heat and leave the beans covered for 1-2 hours. (Alternatively, you can do an overnight soak by covering the beans with water in a large bowl and leaving to soak for 6-8 hours.)

2. While the beans are soaking, begin slow roasting the tomatoes, garlic and onion. You'll need:

- 5 large vine-ripened tomatoes, halved

- 1 or 2 Spanish onions, peeled and halved

- 4 large garlic cloves, in their skins

- Olive oil

- sea salt

- dried oregano

   Place the vegetables onto an oiled tray (onions cut side down) and drizzle all with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and oregano, and roast at 140C for 3-4 hours. (Take the garlic out after 2 hours, or when it's soft - don't let it cook too long or it'll go crunchy.)

3. While the veges continue to roast, drain the soaking water off the beans and place them in the Thermomix bowl. Add to bowl:

- 1/2 an onion (not chopped up)

- 2 garlic cloves (whole)

- 1 tsp of dried oregano

- 1 tsp olive oil

     Cover with water to the 2 litre mark. Cook at 100C for approx 2 hours (you'll have to reset the timer after 60 mins) reverse speed soft, with the rice basket on top instead of the MC. If it starts to bubble up, turn the heat down to 90C for a few minutes, then back up to 100C. Cook until beans are cooked through but not falling apart. It may take longer than 2 hours, depending on how old the beans are. They need to be cooked BEFORE you add any salt or tomatoes or they'll end up tough.

4. When beans are done, strain the cooking water off to a jug and reserve for the chilli. Toss out the garlic and onion.

5. Tip beans into a bowl and set aside for the moment.

6. Rinse and dry Thermomix bowl. Toast the chilli/es at 100C for 2 minutes, speed 1. Chop on speed 7, scraping down and re-whizzing if necessary.

- 1 or 2 large red chillies, deseeded and halved (or your choice of chillies, to taste)

7. Add and chop in tmx on speed 5 for 3 seconds:

- 1 carrot, quartered
- 1 stick celery, quartered
- 1/2 yellow capsicum, halved again
- 1 handful fresh coriander leaves (optional)

8. Add oil or ghee and cook for 5 minutes, 100C speed 1:

- 50g olive oil or ghee

9. Add spices and cook for another 2 minutes, 100C speed 1:

- 2-3 tsp ground cumin
- 3 tps smoked paprika
- 1-2 tsp dried oregano
- 1 tsp celtic sea salt or Himalayan salt

10. Add roasted veges to bowl (removing skin from garlic) and chop roughly on speed 5 for 5 seconds.

- roasted tomatoes, onions & garlic

11. Add beans to Thermomix bowl, along with:

- 250g of the reserved cooking water
- 2 tsps balsamic vinegar
- 2 tsps Rapadura
- 50g tomato paste
- 2 Tbspns vege stock concentrate

12. Cook at 100C for 15 mins, reverse speed soft - until water is bubbling and reducing. Grate in the chocolate and cook for another 15 mins at 100C, reverse speed soft, adding the extra cooking water as needed to keep the beans wet but not too soupy. (Remember, only fill the Thermomix bowl up to the 2 litre mark.)

- a couple of tablespoons grated dark chocolate (65-80% cocoa, dairy free, bittersweet)

13. Taste for the balance of flavours, add salt or spices or a splash more vinegar if needed. The flavour will improve as it sits. You'll notice it tastes even better the

next day!

Note: You can reheat it in the Varoma, on wet baking paper, with 500g of boiling water in the bowl.

Here's some suggestions of what to serve these beans with:

- corn bread
- brown rice cooked with a little turmeric and a tiny pinch of saffron
- guacamole
- roasted sweet potatoes
- grilled corn on the cob
- spelt tortillas
- corn chips

Black bean mole, roasted sweet potatoes, grilled corn, and cornbread

Enjoy!

Chicken Pasta with Zoodles {oh, and a bonus Chicken Zoodle Soup Recipe!}

Chicken pasta sauce with 'zoodles' (zucchini noodles)

I've had a few requests for this simple-but-delicious recipe, (mostly from my friend Sue-Ellen, who won't stop hassling me!) so here it finally is. ;-) I've been a bit absent on my blog for the last couple of weeks due to overwhelmingness of all sorts, but I'm determined to get this posted... I had thought of keeping it up my sleeve for my cookbook, but that's going awfully s-l-o-w-l-y (inducing some of the aforesaid overwhelmingness) so I thought I might as well post it.

This is one of those recipes that is great to make when you want a chicken to 'stretch' a long way. If you buy organic and/or free range chicken like I (usually) do, it's nice to have recipes that only need 300g of chicken but still feed six people. If I'm starting with a whole chicken, I cut off the thighs and brown meat from the legs and use that. I use the breasts for another recipe, and then I use the meaty carcass to make soup from.

However, this time I did things a bit differently. It all started with a crazy day and no menu plan, which I wouldn't usually recommend, but somehow it worked out...

At 5.30pm I realised everyone was going to be bugging me very soon for dinner, so I dashed out to the freezer to see what I had. I dug around and found a kilo of chicken thigh fillets, which were of course frozen into a solid block. I have no microwave (yep, I'm one of those weird people who refuse to have one), so I chucked the frozen block of chicken into my big stock pot on the stove, covered it with about 4 litres of water and turned the heat on full blast. I roughly chopped an onion, a leafy celery stalk plus some extra celery leaves, a couple of carrots, a handful of parsley and a few cloves of garlic, and chucked them all in (Jamie Oliver style - well, I like to think so anyway), splashed in a couple of tablespoons of apple cider vinegar, added a bay leaf, some Italian herbs and a couple of teaspoons of Celtic sea salt, and popped the lid on. Then I started the pasta sauce in the Thermomix for the chicken pasta. As soon as the thighs in the soup pot were cooked a bit on the outside and I could pry a few off the 'block', I added them (slightly frozen still) to the Varoma to steam above the pasta sauce. (Oh, and I turned the heat down on the stove so the chicken soup was simmering more gently, and left it for a couple of hours.)

So here's the pasta recipe - I'll get back to the chicken soup in a minute...

Chicken Pasta with Zoodles
(Serves 5-6)

1. Chop in Thermomix bowl on speed 5 for 3 seconds:
- 1 brown onion, halved
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1/2 half a red capsicum, deseeded

2. Add oil or butter and saute for 3 minutes at 100C, reverse speed 1:
- 30g olive oil or butter

3. Add tomatoes and chop at speed 6 for 6-10 seconds, depending how chunky you like your sauce:
- 800g fresh, ripe tomatoes, halved (preferably organic vine ripened for extra flavour!)

4. Add mushrooms and chop on speed 3 for 5 seconds (or less if you like them chunkier):
- 150g mushrooms

5. Add remaining ingredients (except chicken) and cook at Varoma temperature for 30 minutes, reverse speed 1. Place Varoma tray on top, with chicken thighs (halved) inside (more if you like) to steam while the sauce cooks:
- 100g tomato paste
- 100g water
- 2 Tbspns chicken or vege stock paste
- 1 tsp Italian herbs (dried) or some fresh oregano & basil, chopped
- 1 tsp Rapadura
- 1 tsp balsamic vinegar
- 300g chicken thigh fillets

6. While the pasta sauce is cooking, make the zoodles (zucchini noodles). If you have a Benriner (pictured above) or other type of vege spiralizer, you can use that - I highly recommend them, they're awesome! You just pop the raw veges in and turn the handle, and you can use different sized blades for different types of 'noodles'. Here's Miss C making the zoodles for me...

If you don't have a Benriner, don't despair - you can just use a potato peeler to peel thin strips of zucchini for the 'pasta'. (See this recipe for 'Raw Pasta Sauce' for a picture of zucchini noodles made with a potato peeler.)

7. When the pasta sauce is finished cooking, pull chicken apart roughly with two forks and add to the sauce. Serve over the raw zoodles.

Okay, back to the soup...

After dinner was done and cleaned up, the soup had been simmering for about 2 hours, the chicken was spoon-tender, and the liquid was reduced by at least half. I turned off the heat and added a couple of handfuls of raw zoodles (which were leftover from dinner), and left it to cool. Because the liquids had reduced so much, it had become a condensed soup, which is perfect for me as I never have much room in my fridge. A condensed soup takes up less room, and you just add some water (to taste) when you are ready to heat it up again.

We ate the soup the next day for lunch, warmed gently on the stovetop with a bit more water added. (Sorry, don't remember how much, but just taste and see how strong you like it.) Let me just mention here that the Celtic sea salt makes a big difference in flavour - regular table salt just won't be the same. If you don't have Celtic sea salt (the chunky, grey, wet kind of salt that's hand harvested), you may want to add a little stock paste for more flavour.

Chicken Zoodle Soup

And I caved in and made spelt bread to go with it, which totally negated my 'grain free' idea, but anyway - this chicken soup and hot-out-of-the-oven spelt bread is the best comfort food there is, in my opinion. Even better than chocolate. And that's saying something for a chocoholic like me!!

I hope that adequately explains how to make the soup and pasta - I'll make it again soon and check if I wrote that down correctly - it was all a bit slap-dash at the time, as usual. Please tweak to taste!

Jo :-)

Soup Weather. And Old Favourites like Chicken & Fresh Turmeric Soup

It seems to be 'soup weather' in most parts of Australia at the moment. I know I've been craving it, especially after driving through misty rain and fog to get to Thermomix demos...

...dodging potholes the size of small lakes, skidding down muddy driveways, and finally arriving home cold, damp and hungry at the end of the day. (Don't get me wrong, I love my job - I just don't love this weather!!)

Yep. Definitely soup weather.

Whipping up a quick, comforting pot of soup is so easy with the Thermomix - it usually only takes twenty to thirty minutes, and I can go have a hot shower while it cooks!

I have lots of favourite Thermie soups...

creamy chicken & brown rice soup;

meatball, vege & bean soup;

creamy smoked salmon soup;

coconut lemon chicken soup; <---- this soup has fresh turmeric in it too!

Mexican black bean & chorizo soup;

pea & lettuce soup;

corn & potato chowder with chorizo... 

... not to mention the old favourites from the Thermomix cookbooks - pumpkin soup or cauliflower soup (EDC), red lentil & sweet potato soup (GF cookbook) and chickpea & spinach soup (Full Steam Ahead cookbook).

If you usually just go crack open a tin of 'cream of' soup when you're in a hurry, save money and make your own healthier, yummier version with the tips here: 

Can the Canned Soup!! Too easy.

This Chicken & Fresh Turmeric Soup is one I've made for years, usually in a big pot on the stove where it spits and bubbles and makes a big mess and has to be stirred and watched so the rice or quinoa doesn't stick to the bottom. The other day I decided to make it in the Thermomix to show that chicken legs still come out whole cooked in the bowl. It worked beautifully and was so easy, and much tidier. So here's my converted recipe - hope you like it.

Turmeric is an amazing food with many health benefits. It's related to ginger, grown the same way, and where I live many people grow it in their backyards. It has anti-inflammatory properties, is a natural antiseptic, antibacterial agent, liver detoxifier, pain-killer, is great for fat metabolizing, and is used to treat depression and just about everything else from Alzeimer's to cancer! Of course, raw turmeric is best, so whizz some up in your next boost juice. Or you can do what I often do when there are colds and flus around - double the amounts of garlic and turmeric at the start of the recipe, remove half of it from the bowl once you've minced it, cook the soup as per the recipe, then add the reserved raw garlic and turmeric in at the end. It will have a lovely flavour and a bit more of a 'bite', and the 'goodness' won't be all cooked out.

[Note: if you can't find fresh turmeric, you can use powdered turmeric - just use 1-2 teaspoons of the power and saute with the onion and garlic. But fresh is the BEST!]

Chicken & Fresh Turmeric Soup

1. Mince garlic and fresh turmeric on speed 7 for 3 seconds:

- 2-4 cloves of garlic

- 1 'finger' of fresh turmeric, halved

2. Add onion and chop at speed 5 for 3 seconds:

- 1 brown onion, halved

3. Add butter/ghee/oil and saute for 3 minutes at 100C, speed 1:

- 40g butter/ghee or olive oil

4. Add and chop on speed 5 for 5 seconds:

- 1 vine-ripened tomato, halved

- a large handful of celery leaves

- a few sprigs of fresh thyme

    Scrape bowl down.

5. Insert butterfly. Add remaining ingredients, arranging chicken legs around butterfly, and making sure water doesn't go above the 2 litre mark on the bowl.

- 800g chicken legs (about 6 or 7 chicken legs)

- 80g quinoa or brown rice

- 3 Tablespoons chicken stock paste

- 600g water (or until it reaches the 2 litre mark)

6. Cook at 100C for 30 minutes (quinoa) or 40 minutes (brown rice) on reverse blade, speed soft.

Do you have a favourite soup recipe of your own that you'd like to convert for the Thermomix?Check out the tips in the front of the soup section of the Everyday Cookbook. If you need help, feel free to ask on my Facebook Page, or over at the Recipe Community Forum.