Lamb, aubergine and cardamom curry

A few months ago I visited the spice shops in Petone and picked up lots of whole spices, including cardamom pods. Cardamom seems to be enjoying a revival at the moment and I feel like I'm constantly coming across new recipes - both savoury and sweet - that call for a few of the little green pods. Or perhaps it's just because I now have them in the pantry.

This delicious curry has a few pods thrown in but if you don't have any you could use ground cardamom. Just a little though - a quarter teaspoon or so - as you want the cardamom flavour to be subtle. It's a difficult flavour to describe - I've heard it described as "medicinal" and "camphorus" which I think sounds awful but really it's not... it's aromatic and ever-so-slightly aniseed-y and together with the other spices in this curry it's just perfect.

The curry and accompanying bean recipes are based on a recipes from last August/September's Dish magazine. I've simplified the curry, added aubergine, and used diced lamb instead of chops. I've never been a chop fan. So much work for so little meat. The original recipe is also garnished with golden brown onions - something I've never been able to make without burning and I don't really like anyway so left them out. Enjoy!

The curry

400g diced lamb

2 small aubergine, diced

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

2 onions, sliced

1 teaspoon salt

3 whole cardamom pods, lightly crushed

1 cinnamon stick

1 cup water

1/2 cup cream

spice paste - blend in food processor to a smooth paste:

1/2 cup raw cashews

3 cloves garlic

2 tablespoons ginger, chopped

1 teaspoon each ground cumin, coriander, garam marsala, chilli & tumeric

1 tablespoon tomato paste

1/2 can chopped tomatoes

to garnish...

fresh coriander

1/2 cup roasted cashews

Heat a large casserole over a medium heat and add the oil, onions and salt. Cook for about 10 minutes until the onions are soft. Add the spice paste and cook for another few minutes stirring frequently. Add the diced lamb to the pan and stir to coat in spices.

Add the cardamom, cinnamon stick, water and cream. Combine well, cover and simmer over a low heat for 1 hour. Stir from time-to-time. Uncover and add the diced aubergine. Cook for another 20-30 minutes, uncovered until the lamb and aubergine are both very tender and the sauce is nicely reduced.

Serve in bowls with rice, a scatter of fresh coriander and cashews and these colourful beans...

Green beans with coconut & chilli

1 small onion, finely chopped

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

1 teaspoon yellow or black mustard seeds

1 teaspoon cumin seed

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1 teaspoon tumeric

1 red chilli, seeded and finely sliced

400g green beans, topped, tailed & diagonally sliced

1/4 cup long thread coconut

water

salt

Heat the oil is a large sauté pan over a medium to low heat. Add the onion and cook until soft - about 10 minutes. Add the spices, chilli and garlic. Cook for about five minutes, stirring. Add the coconut, beans, water and salt. Toss everything together and cook until the water has evaporated (add extra water if needed) and the beans are tender but crisp.

a few of our favourite things

Miriam: Mike and I have just come back from a lovely weekend in Wellington, being very well looked after at Libby & Jabez' place. As well as the many culinary delights (special highlight was being treated to these hot cross buns for breakfast), I also enjoyed a green tea on our flight back to Auckland. Although not quite as good as a happy hour wine, it felt quite nice and cleansing after a great weekend of overindulgence.

Libby: Yes, it was a weekend of overindulgence with lots of Wellington food highlights... little garlicky rolls at Vivo and dosai at Roti Chenai on Friday night... bomboloni at Floriditas and haloumi at Nikau on Saturday... and a Sunday morning spend-up at Moore Wilson followed by Caffe L'affare mocha.

Becs: Coincidentally my favourite thing this week is beverage related too. These dutch stroopwafels are made in Waihi, and were recently recognised in the Cuisine Artisan Awards - according to their website "they're typically enjoyed as 'lids' for hot beverages - you place the biscuit atop a cup of hot tea or coffee, leave it for a few minutes to allow it warm through, then enjoy it in all its sweet and gooey deliciousness." They are lovely and not too sweet like the imported ones I've tried.

a few of our favourite things

Libby: It might officially be autumn but I've been enjoying the last of summer's sweet corn this week. I love it sliced so the kernels stay together and added to colourful salads like this one. The trick to getting the kernels to stay together (so it doesn't look like to tipped the corn out of a can) is to lie the cob on its side and using a large knife slice closely, but not too closely, to the cob. You want the "root" of the kernel to stay on the cob.

Miriam: On a trip to Sabato recently, I sampled these Pinoli pine nuts. Wow. So big, fresh and tasty, and none of that nasty papery end (I'm sure there's a name for it) that the supermarket pine nuts often have. I felt compelled to buy some. Sadly, at $10 for a 70g packet, these will not become an everyday item, but definitively worth it for a special meal.

Becs: Fresh figs are here! I bought a couple last week for $3 each, they were enormous, perfectly ripe and pinkly sweet inside. They went on top of a pita-based pizza with caramelised onions, blue cheese and a balsamic dressed salad with toasted walnuts.

a few of our favourite things...

Becs: I had a visit to Auckland last week, where I enjoyed the comforts of Miriam's lovely new home. Daisy is allergic to peanuts, so on a trip away sans Daisy I am always accompanied by a jar of Pic's peanut butter. Breakfast is inevitably Vogel's bread toasted until crunchy, cooled (I like toast to be cool enough so the butter doesn't melt) then spread liberally with a layer of butter then Pic's. I enjoyed the above breakfast two mornings in a row, sitting at the sun-basked table. While I enjoyed some delicious bites in Auckland (a Mexi-kai pulled pork taco, a Little and Friday custard doughnut, a Kohu Rd ice cream cone with scoops of their banana and dark chocolate icecreams, and some incredible homemade kokado) humble peanut butter on toast still ranked right up there.

Miriam: I love Katherine Smyth ceramics. Mike's sister Sarah used to have a design store and before it closed we were lucky enough to get in an order of six 'duck egg blue' pasta bowls. They are so nice to eat out of, and having six means there's normally a couple available for serving sides out of too. However, rather than satisfying my pottery desire, it has only further fueled it; I've been eyeing up the ceramics on this website here.

a few of our favourite things

Miriam: My parents are hoarders. I don't often have a lot of appreciation for this behaviour. However, there are gems to be discovered in the depths of the cupboards, bedrooms, or even lounge. Today I received an email from Mum entitled "what I came across when searching for air bed". Attached was my art work and fishing story I wrote more than 20 years ago! I gave me quite a thrill to read, and made me feel like fish for dinner.

Libby: Another mention for Karikaas buttermilk. I love this stuff! Great for pancakes... muffins... these scones... it's going to become a regular fixture on my shopping list. There are two choices of buttermilk at my supermarket, Karikaas and Tararua. While there's nothing wrong with the Tararua product, I was interested to note that at $4/litre Karikaas was heaps better value - almost twice the size for an extra $0.60 compared to the competition. Makes you think about how tough it must be for small artisan dairy producers like Karikaas up against the likes of Goodman Fielder and Fonterra. I know who I'd rather support.

Buttermilk scones for morning tea

I bought a litre of Karikaas buttermilk with the intention of making pancakes this weekend. It didn't happen but instead I made these buttermilk scones with a lovely, tender crumb. We ate them while still warm from the oven with softly whipped cream, lemon curd and the company of my Aunty and her husband.

This recipe makes 18-20 scones which was more than I needed so in hindsight I should have halved it. I'll give the full amount and leave it up to you. It's based on a recipe from one of my most used baking books - Mix & Bake by Belinda Jeffery - though my scones looked flat and biscuit-like and not at all like Belinda's well-risen beauties. Delicious if a little compact!

4 cups self-raising flour

160g cold butter, cubed

500mls buttermilk

1/4 cup caster sugar

1 tsp salt

Place the flour and butter in the food processor bowl and pulse to "rub" in the butter (do this by hand if you prefer). Tip into a large bowl and use a whisk to incorporate sugar and salt. Make a well in the dry ingredients and add in buttermilk. Mix until the flour is well moistened then tip out onto a floured bench and knead lightly into a 4-5cm high mound. Use a scone cutter to cut into rounds and place close together on a heavy, baking-paper lined tray.

Bake at 200 degrees Celsius for 20 minutes, by which time they will be risen and golden. Remove from oven and wrap in your best, clean teatowel. Leave to sit for five minutes then serve.

a few of our favourite things

Miriam: While visiting Tauranga & Rotorua recently, we stopped in at Okere Falls Store. This is the most upmarket general store around, and as well as an extensive range of gourmet goodies for sale, they also have a lovely sunny beer garden. Their smoothies are not to be missed, with my friend Lewi claiming they're the best in NZ. Mike and I passed Okere Falls on two occasions during our trip and both times we couldn't resist leaving without a smoothie for the road. Oh and cup is 100% biodegradable, so there's no need to feel guilty about the take-away packaging.

Becs: I love my 2012 calendar illustrated by Victoria Griffin. Miriam does too, hence we managed to buy one for each other and also ourselves for Christmas, resulting in four identical calendars between the two of us. Each month is whimsically but simply illustrated; February features a sweet recipe for raspberry jam. If you are still calendarless for 2012 they still have a few on sale at Felt for just $15, snap up a bargain. (Credit to Victoria's blog for this beautifully styled picture too by the way)

two ways with mince

A rather boring title for my first proper blog post for 2012 I know, but here are a couple of tasty dinners we have enjoyed lately. I am not too much of a meat snob, and provided it is decent mince I quite enjoy cooking with it.  A recent visit to Nikau inspired this dinner above - crispy Moroccan-style lamb on hummus.  The trick to getting it crispy is having a hot hot pan (cast iron would be best) and not cooking too much mince at once as it cools the pan down and ends up stewing.  So tempting I know to chuck it all in, but don't.  My rendition was more heavily spiced than Nikau's, so suit yourself in that regard, but it was still delicious.  We ate it with warm pita and a salad of roasted eggplant and red pepper.

To make a quick hummus in the food processor I blend a tin of drained, rinsed chickpeas with the juice of a lemon, salt, a clove of garlic and a spoonful of tahini if I have it. Then I add little pour of olive oil and a good dollop of yoghurt to loosen it; I like my hummus to be fairly sloppy in texture and sharp in taste.

crispy spiced lamb with hummus and herbs

 rice bran oil

1 onion, sliced

1 tsp ground coriander

1 tsp cumin seeds

1 tsp cinnamon

400g lamb mince

chopped fresh mint and Italian parsley to serve

roasted almonds/pistachios/pinenuts or dukkah to serve

Slowly cook the onion until golden and tender, add the spices and fry gently for a few minutes. Put aside.

Just heat oil in a pan until smoking hot, add the lamb, breaking it into little bits with your spoon and fry until dark brown, stir through the onion mix and continue cooking.

Tip onto a plate spread generously with hummus, scatter with the herbs and nuts and serve with pita bread.

Pork mince is another favourite starting point for a quick dinner. The pork spring rolls below Mum made; don't let the fact that the recipe comes from Food in a Minute put you off,  they are very tasty.  I think homemade spring rolls are the only way to go - comfortingly you can rely on the filling being identifiable, and ensure a good ratio of filling to pastry.  This version is brushed with oil and baked in a hot oven, so they are pleasantly free of excess grease. You can find the recipe here.

a few of our favourite things...

Libby: I LOVE my new chopping board - a belated birthday gift from my sister Sarah. It's good and sturdy so it doesn't slide around on the bench but is light enough to pick up and move around as required. It makes my old plastic boards look especially old and decrepit! It's made by Bec's friend Marc Zuckerman of MZ Design. We're also fans of his remarkably useful toast tongs.

Becs: I have rediscovered greenshell mussels lately when just cooking for myself, they are such an easy meal for one and so cheap. I think their low price makes us take them for granted a bit here in NZ. These ones I steamed open in a covered pan with a little white wine, then removed the top shell, lay them on a lined baking sheet and drizzled them with sticky thai sauce before grilling for a few minutes. (To make the sauce just simmer 50ml each of lemon juice, soy sauce and fish sauce together with 2 chopped red chillis and 1/4c each of fresh mint and coriander - thicken with a little cornflour and store in the fridge - it will keep for ages.) These make a great pre dinner pass-around too when piled up on a platter.

a few of our favourite things...

Libby: I usually like to buy vegetables a few times a week depending on what I feel like eating but this week I'll be using up the huge array of veges from the mixed box delivered by Epicurean Supplies on Friday (via a daily deal voucher). I was impressed by the selection - lots of salad leaves and other leafy greens, chioggia and red beetroot, carrots, capsicums, cucumbers, bok choy and a great mix of herbs - and most importantly, all lovely and fresh. 

Becs: Daisy and I are up in Wellington for a few days, so we paid a visit to the City Market on Sunday morning.  Libby and I loved the beautifully packaged honey-based syrups from Bees blessing; she chose an Elderflower and honey cordial while I bought a bottle of the Mulled lemon and honey.