Kangaroo Korma

The "Kangaroo Korma" is a recipe I've adapted from a Jamie Oliver Chicken Korma recipe. The use of kangaroo was inspired by the delicious slow roasted lamb used in the Punjabi Palace lamb korma. I was forced to learn to cook this dish after searching Sydney for 2 years for an Indian restaurant as good as Punjabi Palace, without success. Kangaroo is an awesome meat. It has so much flavour and when it's slow roasted it's super tender. It's also environmentally and ethically friendly. The kangaroos need to be culled, and they don't damage the land like cattle and sheep.

Curry always seems to taste better the next day, so for this recipe ideally you'll roast the kangaroo and marinate it in the curry paste overnight, then cook the curry the next day. That said, if you're desperate for curry immediately, which any curry lover can appreciate, this 2 day process isn't essential.

Ingredients

Curry Paste
2 cloves of garlic
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon garam masala
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
2 tablespoons groundnut oil
1 tablespoon tomato puree
3 fresh green chillies (reduce if you're soft and don't like spice)
2 thumb sized pieces of fresh root ginger
Small bunch of fresh coriander
5 heaped tablespoons of desiccated coconut
5 tablespoons ground almonds
1 x 400g tin of chickpeas
Spices for roasting: 2 teaspoons cumin seeds, 1 teaspoon coriander seeds

Curry
800g Kangaroo Rump - Buy the "Macro Meats Mini Roast" from Woolies. Picture to the right.
2 medium onions
Small bunch of fresh coriander
groundnut or vegetable oil
A knob of butter
1 x 400ml tin of light coconut milk
A small handful of flaked almonds
Sea salt
Freshly Ground black pepper
5 bay leaves
500g natural yoghurt
1 lemon
Oven bag
350g basmati rice

Day 1
Curry Paste
First peel the garlic and ginger
Put a frying pan on a medium to high head and add the spices for toasting to the dry pan
Lightly toast them for a few minutes until golden brown and smelling delicious, then remove the pan from the heat
Add the toasted spices to a pestle and mortar and grind until fine
Put the spices and all the other ingredients into a food processor and whiz until you have a smooth paste

Kangaroo
Pre-heat the oven to 120*
Place the kangaroo in an oven bag

Use 3/4 of a cup of water to wash out the juices from the kangaroo container and put the liquid in the oven bag with the kangaroo.

Seal the bag and place in the oven for 3 hours

Open the oven bag carefully capturing the remaining liquid and place it in a jar. You'll use this in the curry tomorrow.

Allow the kangaroo to cool, then remove the string and break it apart into curry sized pieces.

Mix the curry paste through the kangaroo and marinate in a fridge overnight.

Day 2

The Curry

Peel, halve and finely slice your onions

Pick the coriander leaves and finely chop the stalks

Put a large pan on a high heat and add a couple of lugs of oil

Add the onions and coriander stalks into the pan with the butter, cook for 10mins stirring frequently until the onion and coriander and evenly cooked and golden in colour.

Add the kangaroo and curry paste into the pan

Add the coconut milk

Add the kangaroo liquid

Add the flaked almonds

Add the bay leaves

Stir together and bring to the boil, then turn down the heat and simmer for 30 minutes with the lid on. Check the curry regularly to make sure it's not drying out and add water if necessary.

Stir every 5mins

Season with salt and pepper to taste and remove the bay leaves

The Rice
Put a large pan of salted water on a high heat and bring to the boil
Rinse the rice in a colander under running water for about 2 minute, or until the water runs clear (this will stop the grains sticking together later)
Add your rice to the boiling water and wait for the grains to start dancing around
From that point boil for 5 mins
Drain the rice in a colander
Pour 2.5cm of water into the pan, put it back on the heat and bring it to the boil again, then turn down to a simmer
Cover the rice in the colander with foil or a lid
Place the colander on top of the pan of simmering water and let the rice steam over it for 8 to 10 mins
Remove from the heat and serve.

Raita

Slow Roasted Chicken

This chicken is not suitable for cooking

This recipe is how Jodie's mum Lucia has always cooked her roast chicken. I added the slow roasting bit because I'm too lazy to chew.

Ingredients
1 free range chicken
6 bacon rashers
4 cloves garlic
2 twigs of rosemary
Salt
Pepper
1/3 of a pumpkin
2 large onions
4 potatoes
3 beetroots
6 carrots
1 large oven bag, or roasting pan with sealed lid

Instructions
1. Lightly salt and pepper the bacon rashers. Roll them and use these to stuff the chicken. Add some rosemary, 1 garlic clove and 1/2 onion with the bacon as stuffing.
2. Use a knife to cut 4 knife width tunnels under the chicken skin over the breast. Insert 1/4 garlic clove and some rosemary into each tunnel, this helps flavour the chicken.
3. Cut, peel and wash the vegetables. I like to leave the pumpkin skins on.
4. Place the chicken and vegetables in the oven bag or roasting pan, season with salt, pepper and the remaining rosemary and garlic cloves.
5. Add 1 cup of water.
6. Place in the oven at 120 degrees for 4 hours.
7. Remove from the oven and capture the remaining liquid to use in the gravy.
8. Add hot water to a table spoon of cornflower in a cup. Mix until the cornflower dissolves. Gradually add to your chicken liquid stirring as you go, stopping adding the cornflower liquid once the gravy thicken.
Serves 6.

Pizzas

The pizza base recipe comes from the most wicked Italian cook book I stumbled across. The topping recipes just developed all by themselves with a little help from Mark and a little inspiration from ye olde Jamie Oliver.

Pizza Base

400g of plain flour
100g of semolina flours (or just an extra 100g of plain flour)
5g of dried yeast
325ml of tepid water
2 teaspoons of salt

1. Add the yeast to the tepid water and mix.
2. Combine the flour and salt in a bowl and form a well.
3. Add water and yeast mix to center of the bowl and mix with a fork to combine.
4. Once a ball has formed tip out onto a floured bench and knead for 10 minutes.
5. Shape into a ball and place in a oiled bowl covered with glad wrap in the fridge over night (or on the bench for 1 hour.)
6. Half an hour before you are ready to make the pizzas, separate the dough into even size balls and leave to rise on the bench covered with a tea towel.
   
7. To cook the pizzas put pizza stone in a cold oven and heat to 250*C.
8. Roll dough out to desired thickness ~7mm (the ultimate is to just push the dough out with your fingers to keep the air in.)
   
9. Sprinkle semolina flour onto the stone (makes it easier to slide the pizza off the stone) and place dough on top.
10. Place toppings on pizza and cook for 7-10mins.

You can freeze any unused dough in glad-wrap for 6 months.

A pizza stone is the best way to cook the pizzas, it makes the base deliciously crispy and cooks the pizza a lot faster. The stones are sold at kitchen stores/myer for around $15.

If you are not using a stone the bases can be cooked on a large up-side-down oven tray so that they can slide off. They will need to be cooked for around 15 minutes.


Tomato Sauce

500mL Bottle of tomato passata/tinned tomatoes
2 cloves of garlic
1 teaspoon of dried oregano
1 tablespoon of olive oil

1. Heat olive oil in saucepan and cook garlic for 30 seconds.
2. Add oregano and tomato passata and simmer on low heat for 30mins-1 hour.
3. Season with salt and pepper to taste
   

This can be made in advance and kept in the fridge/frozen.

An assortment of pizza toppings
Making up your own toppings is way more fun but here are some suggestions.
Follow the instructions above on how to cook the pizzas using the pizza stone

A most delicious prawn

100mL of tomato sauce (above)
8 green prawns
1 long red chili
1 clove of garlic
Grated mozzarella
1 teaspoon of olive oil
1 lemon
1 teaspoon of finely chopped parsley

1. Marinade prawns in oil, 1/2 the chili, half the lemon juice and the garlic (for 30mins)
   
2. Spread base with tomato sauce, sprinkle on the other 1/2 of the chili and mozzarella
   
3. Cook for 5 minutes
4. Remove pizza from oven and add prawns
5. Cook until prawns are JUST cooked through - they will become opaque (approx 4 minutes)
6. Remove from oven, squeeze over the rest of the lemon juice and sprinkle on the parsley

A cow on a barbecue

200g of eye fillet steak (or any other delicious cut)
1.5 medium red onions
3 tablespoons of bbq sauce
1 teaspoon of fresh thyme and rosemary (dried would probably work too but just add a little less)
2 rashers of bacon
Grated mozzarella and parmesan
2 torn boconcinni balls
1 teaspoon of olive oil

1. Heat olive oil in frying pan and cook onions over low heat until translucent (10 mins.)
2. Add barbecue sauce and the thyme and rosemary and cook for a further 10 mins then transfer into a bowl.
3. Cook bacon on the same frying pan, cut into small pieces and add to the bowl of onion.
4. Season steak with salt and pepper and rub with olive oil.
5. Cook on a hot pan for 1 minute on each side then leave to rest on a plate (1o mins) before slicing into very thin strips.
   
6. Spread onion mixture onto pizza base, top with the mozzarella and parmesan.
   
7. Cook in the oven for 7 minutes until done.
8. Remove from oven, add steak strips and then cook for 1 minute or until steak is cooked to your taste.
9. Remove from oven, top with torn boconcinni and serve.
   

Note: the onion sauce and steak can be prepared a few hours in advanced and kept in the fridge till required.


Margherita with prosciutto

100ml of tomato sauce (see above)
5 strips of prosciutto torn in half length ways
5 large fresh basil leaves torn into three
Grated mozzarella (optional)
2 torn boconcinni balls

1. Spread base with tomato sauce
2. Top with proscuitto and then a thin layer mozzarella.
3. Cook in oven for 7-10 minutes until cooked through.
4. Remove from oven, top with basil and boconcinni and serve
   

Vegetarian Muck

Hopefully your pizza doesnt look like this

100ml of tomato sauce
1-2 tablespoon of Mark's pesto (see other recipe)
2 zucchinis sliced lengthwise into 5mm strips
1/6th of a kent pumkin sliced into 5mm thick pieces (large in the other dimensions)
1 red capsicum cut in half with seeds removed
No mozzarella (optional)
5 large leaves of torn basil
2 teaspoons of oil

1. Heat oven to 180*C
   
2. Rub oil on capsicum halves and place skin side up in oven until skin is brown (approx 45mins). Place hot capsicum into a plastic bag until cool. Peel the skin off and slice into thin strips.
   
3. Place the pumpkin and zucchini onto an oven tray with oil and cook at 180* for about 20mins or until just coloured.
4. Spread tomato sauce on base and place 5cent piece spots of pesto all over.
5. Top with vegetables and the mozzarella if desired.
6. Cook in oven at 250*C for 7-10mins.
7. Remove from oven and add a little more pesto if desired and sprinkle with basil leaves.
   

Note: The vegetables can be cooked in advance and kept in the fridge for a few days till required.

Uber Rich Chocolate Cake

This recipe comes courtesy of my friend Kate. I made this birthday cake for Jodie's 28th birthday and she assumed one of my sister's made it!

You probably wouldn't want to eat this cake every day if you plan on living a long healthy life, but it is insanely delicious...

Ingredients
250g unsalted butter
250g dark chocolate - 70% Lindt works nicely.
85g sifted dutch processed cocoa
6 eggs
1.5 cups caster sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/3 cup brandy or cognac (or use milk if you prefer)
200g roasted pecans or walnuts

Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 180C and grease and line 23cm springform tin
2. Dust tin with flour and tap out excess
3. Melt butter. Add chocolate and whisk until also melted.
4. Take pan off heat and whisk in cocoa till smooth
5. Process pecans or walnuts in food processor as fine as possible without becoming a paste - set aside
6. In a large bowl, whisk eggs and sugar together until just blended, then whisk in chocolate mixture. Add brandy and vanilla, and then finally the pecans. Batter will be quite sloppy at this point
7. Pour mix in tin and bake for 40-45 mins or until the side is set but the middle 15cm of the cake is still just a little wobbly
8. Cool cake in tin completely.
9. Dust with icing sugar or coverwith chocolate ganache to serve. Best with cream or icecream