Something Savoury: Bacon and Onion Quiche (Wheat Free)

Bonjour, mes amis! Aujourd'hui, j'ai un repas pour vous: quiche, au bacon et onion!

I did French to leaving cert when I was 17, so by now it's a little rusty. However, my delight in French cuisine has not faded.

Having said that, I've never been the world's biggest fan of quiche. I've always been fed shop-bought varieties that are somehow simultaneously gelatinous and dry. But, my companion loves to eat it as a lunch.

Quiche is something that is quite present in the lives of English (and somewhat English) people, as English cookery is actually quite heavily influenced by French and German cuisine. Seeing that English renditions of European foods tend to be quite heavy and stodgy, I assumed that it was the same for quiche.... until I saw a quiche being made by a French woman.

I have a close friend who I visit often, and her housemate it French. I saw her making a quiche for herself, and when I asked her how she was making it her response was quite simply: It's like omelette in a pastry, and the pastry it has to be made with butter, otherwise it's not good. She didn't seem to be using any scales or measurements either, except to say that you use roughly twice as much milk as egg, and the quiche that resulted looked quite tasty!

Turns out that French people also like stodge, it seems. And it also seems that quiche is quite forgiving, and doesn't need precise measurements.

Although I heard straight from the horse's mouth that the pastry has to be made with only butter, I've never been the biggest fan of all butter pastry in savoury food. It's something I associate with sweet tarts, and find way too heavy going for a savoury dish, especially something as heavy as quiche (sorry, French housemate). As such I use a shortcrust pastry made in part with sunflower oil, which I know it completely blasphemous, but hey ho.

INGREDIMENTS
To make one 9 inch (22 centimetre) quiche

For pastry,

• 10 ounces (280 grammes) white spelt flour, cold
• Pinch of salt
• Pinch of sugar
• 2½ ounces (70 grammes) butter, cold
• 2½ fluid ounces (5 tablespoons, 75 millilitres) sunflower oil
• Cold water, to combine

For the filling,

• 4 ounces (115 grammes) bacon rashers cut into little pieces, or lardons
• 1 medium red onion, sliced thinly
• 2 ounces (55 grammes) medium chedder cheese, grated
• 3 medium eggs
• Half an imperial pint (1¼ cups, 285 millilitres) whole milk
• Salt and pepper, to taste

HOW-TO

First, make the pastry

• In a large mixing bowl, mix the flour, salt, and sugar together. Grate in the butter, dipping it in the flour every few strokes and tossing the flour around to stop everything from sticking. Once the butter is grated in, gently rub with your fingers until it looks like breadcrumbs. Alternatively, which is what I do, you can keep running handfuls of the mixture through the grater instead of rubbing with the fingertips.
• When the butter is rubbed in, add in the oil. Rub again gently, only to mix the oil through.
• Mixing with the tip of a knife, add the water gradually until it forms a nice soft dough.
• Form into a disc, wrap in cling film, and refrigerate for an hour.

Next, prepare the fillings

• In a non-stick frying pan set over the hob with the heat off, add the bacon and turn the heat onto medium.
• Once the pan has fully heated, cook the bacon until well browned and all visible fat is thoroughly cooked.
• Remove the bacon from the pan, leaving the oil it has rendered behind in the pan. Add in the onions and cook over medium heat until well browned and fragrant.
• Allow the bacon and onion to fully cool.

Then, blind bake the pastry case

• Roll out the dough on a floured surface and fit into a 9 inch (22 centimetre) straight sided pie dish. My one is ceramic, but a metal or glass one would work so much better.
• Trim the edges, and prick the base and sides all over with a fork. Put in the fridge for about half an hour. 
• While it's chilling, preheat the oven to 200°C (400°F, Gas Mk.7), with a flat baking tray in the oven on the centre shelf. Make sure the tray is large enough to accommodate your pie dish.
• Now it's time to blind bake the pastry case. Take out of the fridge, and line the whole case with a piece of tin foil, pressing it into every nook and cranny. Crumple any excess into the middle, making sure the foil is still covering all the pastry.
• Place in the oven directly on top of the preheated tray, and bake for about 15 minutes.
• After 15 minutes, remove the foil and bake for a further 8 to 10 minutes, or until the crust is lightly golden and fully cooked.

Finally, assemble and bake the quiche

• Remove the blind baked case from the oven and let stand for about 5 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 180°C (350°F, Gas Mk.4).
• Sprinkle the bacon and onion evenly on the bottom of the quiche, then top with about half the cheese.
• In a jug, beat together the eggs and milk, and season it to taste (I personally have no problem with tasting raw egg, but that's up to you).
• Pour the egg and milk mixture into the quiche, and then sprinkle the remaining cheese on top.
• Return to the oven, on top of the tray as before, and cook for 35 to 45 minutes, or until the top is lightly browned and crispy, the filling is slightly puffy, and when you touch the centre it feels set and no longer liquid.
• Remove from the oven and cool for about 20 minutes before serving, to let it set a little more. Or, you can let it cool to room temperature, chill it, and serve it cold.

THIS TIME IN 2016: American Style Chocolate Chip Muffins (Wheat Free)

THIS TIME IN 2015: Treacle Tarts, without Breadcrumbs (Wheat Free)

No blog from this time in 2014

THIS TIME IN 2013: Gingerbread of the Gingeriest Proportions (Wheat Free)

Something Savoury: Peanut Satay Sauce (Gluten-, Dairy-, and Egg Free)

After a weekend of St Patrick's excess, I think we all need a good meal. So here's another savoury dish for you all: peanut satay sauce!

In Limerick there is a popular Asian fusion takeaway chain called Wokking, which sells cheap and cheerful Westernised gloop for under a tenner a piece. The one in the city centre is painted luminous orange, and plays exclusively chart tunes on the radio. When you order your food, you get a little piece of paper with your order number on it, and wait at your table until the number is shouted at you in a wonderful local twang.

One of the most popular orders is a "3-in-1": usually it comprises of fried rice, chips, and curry sauce. However, you can have a combination of two of the side dishes--boiled rice, fried rice, chips, or fried noodles--and a serving of curry sauce, sweet and sour sauce, satay sauce, or black bean sauce. For an extra euro or euro-fifty, you can add some meat and make it a "4-in-1".

Whenever I go to Wokking, I usually order a 4-in-1 of satay chicken with boiled rice and fried noodles. I love the combination of the chewy noodles, the soft rice, and the sweetly salty peanut sauce slopped all over some oddly wiggly chicken breast strips. It's delicious!

I have read many, many recipes online about making satay sauce, but for years I could never quite find the right one. They all used coconut milk, which is nothing like the Chinese takeaway satay. Eventually, I gave up.

Then I went to have dinner at the home of a Dutch friend, and she prepared some satay meatballs, which tasted even better than my favourite takeaway satay sauce: it was utterly scrumptious! I asked her for the recipe, and she willingly supplied it, but it contained some Dutch ingredients that I had never come across before. Apparently, as a result of Holland's colonial relationship with Indonesia, Dutch people use a lot of Indonesian ingredients in their cookery, including ketjap manis and sambal oelek.

I took to the internet and did some research about how to approximate the Dutch ingredients. I also cross referenced a few already existing recipes for Dutch style satay meatballs. Turns out, my prior research had been too focused on actual Indonesian and Malaysian satay, and not its Western approximation.

The following recipe is one that I have formulated after a serious amount of trial and error. It can be altered in accordance to taste: add more salt, sugar, soy sauce, or vinegar according to your liking. This is just how I like it done.

INGREDIMENTS
To serve 3 people, or 2 hungry people

For the sauce,

• 1 tablespoon (15 millilitres) dark soy sauce
• 2 teaspoons (10 millilitres) white vinegar
• 1 tablespoons (15 grammes) brown sugar, dark or light, to taste
• 2 tablespoons (30 millilitres) peanut butter, smooth or crunchy
• ¼ teaspoon chinese five spice powder
• ½ teaspoon hot chilli powder
• 1 inch (2 centimetres) peeled ginger root
• 2 large garlic cloves
• Half an Imperial pint (1 cups, 285 millilitres) water
• ¾ pound (350 grammes) meat or alternative of your choice, cut into chunks
• 1 tablespoon (15 millilitres) cornflour
• Oil, for frying
• Optional: chopped mixed vegetables, such as red onion, pepper, or baby corn

To make fried noodles

• Dry fine egg noodles, or gluten free noodles, enough for two or three people
• Sesame oil, for tossing, or flavourless oil
• 2 teaspoons (10 millilitres) dark soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon (5 millilitres) white vinegar
• Finely sliced coriander, to garnish

HOW-TO

First, prepare the sauce

• Finely chop or grate the ginger and garlic, and in a small bowl or cup mix together the soy sauce, vinegar, sugar, peanut butter, five spice, and chili powder to make a paste.
• Heat about a tablespoon (15 millilitres) of oil in a medium saucepan, and gently fry the ginger and garlic until fragrant. If you are using vegetables, add them to the pot and stir fry for about 2 minutes. 
• Add in the paste and cook until smooth, then add in the meat and cook until sealed on the outside. Pour over the water, and simmer for about 10 minutes to cook the meat through. (If you are using a vegetarian alternative, cook accordingly.)
• Mix the cornflour with some water in a small bowl or glass to make a slurry, then add to the pot, stirring all the time. Bring to the boil and cook at a boil for a full 3 minutes.
• Taste the sauce, and adjust for seasoning: I like my sauce quite salty, so I add more salt, but you may like to add more vinegar or more sugar. It's up to you!

Then, prepare the noodles,

• In a large mixing bowl,pour hot water over the dry noodles and allow to stand for 30 seconds. Then, separate the noodles with two forks to prevent clumping.
• Drain and rinse the softened noodles in cold water to further prevent clumping. Return to the bowl and toss in about a teaspoonful of sesame oil or flavourless oil.
• In a small bowl or glass, mix together the soy sauce and vinegar and set aside.
• Heat a large frying pan on a medium heat, and add the noodles to the pan dry. Fry until they start to go dry, and then pour in the sauce. Toss and stir with a fork to keep the noodles separated so they cook evenly.
• Test the noodles: if they are too firm for your liking, add a splash of water and continue cooking.
• Serve the noodles straight from the pan with the satay sauce and meat. If you like, you can serve with steamed white rice and steamed green vegetables.

No blogs on this day in 2014, 2015, or 2016

THIS TIME IN 2013: Wheat Flour Alternatives

St Patrick's Day 2017: Beef and Beer Pie (Wheat Free with Dairy- and Egg Free Option)

Looking for a hearty meal for your table this weekend? Here is a delicious pie made with super flaky pastry, succulent tender beef, enveloped in a rich beer gravy.

(I did take a photo of the whole pie, but my new phone sometimes

forgets to save photos, for some reason)

It's no lie: Irish people love beer, and they love beef; and on St Patrick's Day, we love to celebrate our Irishness by buying into our own cultural stereotype heart and soul. So, I decided to mix our two great loves together in a pie, with the addition of another great love of ours: butter.

However, here is where I make a little switcheroo. As any of my long term readers, and people who know me personally, will know, I am a bit of a mongrel: I'm Irish, but I'm also English. Being the child of two nations who have a very difficult historically colonial relationship is challenging, it has to be said.

So, to bring a little bit of my own Englishness into this dish, I swapped the usual Irish pie topping of mashed potato for a flaky pastry, more commonly associated with English cookery. As much as I love mashed potato, my companion—who is also a mongrel like me, being a little bit Roscommon man, and a little bit Birmingham man—loves a good English style pastry pie, so I thought I'd do it for a change.

I use the same kind of pastry as in my cherry pie recipe, however I reduced the sugar to a pinch or two, added some black pepper, used a pound (455 grammes) of flour and scaled all the other ingredients accordingly.

The other thing I will say about this recipe is that I use my slow cooker to make the stew. If you don't have a slow cooker, that's perfectly okay. You can cook the stew on the stove top in a pan, or in a pot in the oven. It really doesn't matter, as long as the meat is appropriately cooked.

This recipe takes a long time, about 6 hours, but it's well worth it in the end!

INGREDIMENTS
For one 9 inch (22 centimetre) square, or 10 inch (25 centimetre) round pie, ie. 4¼ UK pint (5 US pint, 2½ litre)

For the stew filling,

• 2¼ pounds (1 kilogramme) diced stewing beef
• 1 large onion, white or red, sliced thinly
• 6 ounces (170 grammes) passata, or 2 tablespoons (30 millilitres) tomato purée
• 1 bottle (500 millilitres) pale beer, or gluten free beer
• 2 teaspoons (10 millilitres) Worcestershire sauce, or fish sauce
• 1 teaspoon (5 millilitres) brown sugar
• 1 rounded teaspoon (7 millilitres) dried parsley
• A small pinch of dried rosemary
• 1 beef stock cube
• 4 ounces (115 grammes) button mushrooms, cut into halves
• 1 medium sized carrot, sliced into coins
• 2 tablespoons (30 millilitres) cornflour
• Salt and pepper, to taste

For the pastry,

• 1 pound (455 grammes) white spelt flour
• 4 ounces (115 grammes) butter, or margarine, very cold
• 4 ounces (115 grammes) block vegetable fat, or lard, very cold
• 1 teaspoon (5 millilitres) caster sugar
• About 5 ot 6 fluid ounces (150 to 180 millilitres) cold water
• Salt and pepper
• An egg, for egg washing, or milk, or omit

HOW-TO

First, make the stew,

If you have a slow cooker,

• Put the meat, passata, beer, onion, Worcestershire sauce, sugar, dried herbs, the stock cube, and about half a teaspoon (3 millitres) of salt. Stir well once more, then cover and cook on High for 3 hours until the meat is almost tender.
• Add in the mushrooms and carrots, and cook for a further hour with the lid off to allow the sauce to reduce.
• Mix the cornflour in a small bowl or glass with some water, and stir into the pot well. Cook on High for a further 15 minutes until the sauce is well thickened.
• After cooking, allow to stew to cool down fully to room temperature.

If you don't have a slow cooker,

• Preheat the oven to 150°C (300°F, Gas Mk.2), and place the  meat, passata, beer, onion, Worcestershire sauce, sugar,
•  dried herbs, the stock cube, and about half a teaspoon (3 millitres) of salt in a large casserole dish with a lid.
• Cover with the lid, and place in the centre of the preheated oven. Cook for 1½ to 2 hours, or until the meat is almost tender.
• Add in the mushrooms and carrots, and continue to cook without the lid for a further 45 minutes to an hour until the vegetables and meat are tender.
• When the meat is cooked, place the casserole dish over a medium flame, and mix the cornflour with a little water in a small bowl or glass. Add to the stew and bring to the boil, mixing continuously, until the sauce is thickened.
• After cooking, allow the stew to cool down full to room temperature.

While the stew is cooking, prepare the pastry,

• In a large mixing bowl, add the flour, salt, and pepper, then grate in the butter and the fat on the coarse side, dipping the grating side in the flour between strokes to prevent clumping.
• Very gently rub and break up the strands of butter and fat between your fingers to make the pieces smaller, about the size of peas.
• Add in the lemon juice or vinegar, then add in a tablespoon or two (15 or 30 millilitres) of the water. Use the tip of a table knife to mix the water through. Continue this until you get a nice soft dough. It shouldn't be sticky. I added about 8 tablespoons in total myself, but it depends a lot on humidity and flour quality.
• Make the dough into a disc, wrap in clingfilm, and chill in the fridge for half an hour.
• Take out of the fridge, and roll out to a thickness of about half an inch (1 centimetre). Fold one outer third into the middle, then fold the other third over on top, like folding a letter into three. Roll out and fold in the exact same way.
• Wrap up and return to the fridge once more until ready to use.

Finally, assemble the pie,

• Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F, Gas Mk.4), and get your chosen pie dish.
• Take the dough out of the fridge, and divide into two pieces: two thirds, and one third. Wrap the smaller piece up and return to the fridge.
• Roll the larger piece of dough to roughly a quarter inch thick (5 millimetres), and drape into the pie dish, pressing into the base and edges. Leave the overhang intact for to make adding the lid easier.
• Gently scoop in the stew, and brush the edge of the crust with egg wash, milk, or water.
• Roll out the other piece of dough in exactly the same way, and drape over the top. Press together the base and the lid with your fingertips, or a fork. Trim the overhang.
• Brush the top of the pie with egg wash or milk, and pierce the top to allow steam to escape.
• Cook in the centre of the preheated oven for about a 45 minutes to an hour.
• Serve hot with steamed or roasted vegetables.

No blogs on this day in 2016, 2014, or 2013

THIS TIME IN 2015: March Afternoon Tea Party: St. Patrick's Day

Shrove Tuesday: "Crepelloni", Italitan Style Spinach and Cheese Rolls with Tomato Sauce (Vegetarian Friendly)

This is the last weekend before Lent, and that means only one thing: Shrove Tuesday is just around the corner! So to mark the occasion, I will be sharing a variety of recipes to try out this year. Starting with this one: Italian style 'Crepelloni'!

Here in Ireland, we celebrate Shrove Tuesday with pancakes, as such it's mostly called Pancake Tuesday. We generally speaking eat crêpe style pancakes, not American style thick pancakes (drop scones), and they work for sweet or savoury toppings. They are particularly nice with lemon juice and sugar, which is traditional in Ireland and Great Britain, for sure.

According to my mother, and her mother, and probably her mother too, to make pancakes you use quarter of a pound of flour, half a (UK) pint of milk, and an egg (which is 115 grammes, 285 millilitres, and an egg). So, that is how I've always made them for my whole life, and they've never done me wrong.

However, I thought I'd do something a little different this year, which is inspired greatly by the work of Delia Smith. On one of her cookery programmes from 20 odd years ago, Delia made some Italian cannelloni using pancakes rather than traditional tube pasta (in more recent books and programmes, she uses cooked lasagne sheets), and it works really well. When I tried to find a reference for the book or programme, I couldn't find the original publication, but I did find that a few other people have tried this and written about it. The only reference I could find is a 21 year old newspaper article from the British Independent.

There are so many things you could put in these, but this time I went for something vegetarian. Spinach and soft cheese filling with tomato sauce is one of my all time favourite Italian combinations, and good for veggie boys and girls, it contains no meat whatsoever.

This means you can have pancakes for breakfast and dinner on Shrove Tuesday!

INGREDIMENTS
Makes 6 cannelloni

• 4 ounces (155 grammes) white spelt flour
• ½ UK pint (1¼ cups, 285 millilitres) milk, or milk alternative
• 1 egg, medium or large
• Butter, or margarine, for frying

For the filling and sauce,

• 6 ounces (170 grammes) spinach, cooked and finely cut
• 8 ounces (225 grammes) soft low fat cheese, such as ricotta, cottage cheese, or quark
• 1 medium egg
• 2 ounces (55 grammes) grated mozzarella
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• 8 or so ounces (225 grammes) tomato pasta sauce of your liking
• Grated mozzarella and cheddar cheese, for topping
• Butter, or margarine, for greasing

HOW-TO

First, make the crepes,

• In a mixing bowl, sieve the flour and make a well in the centre. Add the egg, and then mix in the milk a little at a time using a wire whisk until all the milk is added, making sure to mix well after each addition to get rid of any lumps.
• Allow to the batter to sit on the work surface for about half an hour to relax.
• When you want to fry them, heat a large frying pan over medium heat. Add about quarter of a teaspoon of butter, or margarine, and swirl it around the pan until it has melted.
• Add about a third of a cup (85 millilitres) of batter to the pan and swirl it around the cover the base of the pan. Cook for about 45 seconds to a minute, until the top is dry and set, and underneath is lightly browned
• Flip the pancake, and cook for a further 45 seconds to a minute, until it has browned also.
• Continue cooking the pancakes until you have used all the batter. You should get about 6 or 7 large pancakes.

To complete the dish,

• Grease a 6x8 inch (15x20 centimetre) baking dish lightly, and preheat the oven to 200°C (400°F, Gas Mk.6).
• In a mixing bowl, mix all the spinach, soft cheese, egg, and grated mozzarella until smooth and well mixed. Season to taste with salt and pepper (you can skip this if you have a problem with eating raw egg).
• Take a pancake, place a sixth of the filling in the middle. Fold in the sides a little, then roll the pancake around the filling to make a parcel.
• Repeat this with six pancakes in total, then place the rolls in the dish. Pour as much sauce as you like on top of the the rolls, then top off with the cheeses to your liking.
• Bake for 20 to 30 minutes, depending on the level of crispiness you want on top, then serve hot in warmed pasta bowls, or plates.

THIS TIME IN 2016: No blog

THIS TIME IN 2015: Doing Filming for Community Documentary: Be Back When Work Is Less Mental

THIS TIME IN 2014: No blog

Something Savoury: Japanese Style Curry with "Breaded" Chicken (カツカレー) (Gluten and Dairy Free with No Added Sugar)

Happy Valentine's Day! As you can probably tell, I've been on a meals buzz recently. Today, my offering is Japanese style curry, with breaded chicken!

Seeing as my birthday and Valentine's Day are quite close together on the calendar, my companion and I went to a Japanese restaurant around my birthday to combine the two events into one celebration. We both ordered something with curry: I got a curry chicken katsudon, and he got curry ramen. Japanese curry is essentially like what I'd call a chip shop curry, but much spicier and darker.

I decided I would try and make it at home, but with all natural ingredients, or at least as many as possible. I didn't want to use any refined sugar or processed stock cubes, to make it as clean eating as I could. In the same way I did for my tomato soup recipe, I use an apple in this for natural sweetness.

However, because it kinda involves making a stock from scratch, it's a little time consuming. I'd say the whole curry takes about 90 minutes to two hours to prepare from start to finish, including chopping. But, it's very flavourful, and you get to revel in the satisfaction of making a takeaway meal in a mostly healthy way. Don't be overwhelmed by the long list of ingredients: you probably already have most of them.

For a Valentine's day twist, I cut some of the pieces of carrot into heart shapes using a little fondant cutter. You could cut the vegetables into any shape.

And as for the "breaded" chicken, it's actually not bread at all: it's crusted used flaked almonds, which means it's completely gluten free! The almonds are naturally dry and crunchy, so when used as a coating they stay super crusty and crispy, and crunch like glass when you eat them. They don't go soggy after five minutes of frying. So satisfying. So dangerously addictive. I think I may make more recipes using the almond breaded chicken.... (whenever making gluten free food, always check ingredient labels for allergens).

INGREDIMENTS
Serves four people

For the base gravy,

• 1 medium sized sweet green apple, peeled and diced
• 1 large onion, white or red, diced
• 1 small carrot, peeled and cut into small dice
• 2 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
• 2 inch (5 centimetre) piece of fresh ginger, peeled and grated
• 1 tablespoon (15 millilitres) tomato purée
• 1 pint (2½ cups, 570 millilitres) water
• 1 tablespoon (15 millilitres) cooking oil
• ¼ teaspoon (1 millilitre) fine salt

For the curry,

• Up to 4 teaspoons (20 millilitres) curry powder, spiciness of your choice
• 1 tablespoon (15 millilitres) soy sauce, or tamari for gluten free option
• 1 teaspoon (5 millilitres) white vinegar, or lemon juice
• 1 small carrot, peeled and cut into thin coins
• 1 medium potato, peeled and cut into one inch (2½ centimetres) chunks
• Optional: Half a small onion, cut into slices
• Optional: 1 or 2 teaspoons (5 or 10 millilitres) cornflour, depending on desired thickness

For the chicken schnitzel,

• 4 chicken breasts, roughly 5 or 6 ounces (140 or 170 grammes) each
• Cornflour, for dusting
• 2 medium eggs
• Roughly 5 ounces (140 grammes) flaked almonds, or crushed cornflakes if you cannot eat nuts
• Salt and pepper

For serving

• 4 servings of steamed white rice, long grain or Jasmine
• Optional: Sesame seeds, for garnish
• Optional: Thinly sliced spring onion, for garnish

HOW-TO

First, make the base gravy,

• In a medium sized saucepan, heat the cooking oil over medium heat. Stir fry the ginger and garlic for about a minute or so until fragrant.
• Add the onion, carrot, apple, and the salt, and continue to cook until softened. Add the tomato purée, and cook until caramelised and the bottom of the pan is slightly brown. Get a good brown layer—called a fonde—going on the bottom of the pan: this will add more flavour to the finished curry.
• Pour the water over the top, stir briefly, and reduce the heat to low. Cover then simmer until all the vegetables and apple are tender, about 30 minutes.
• Once cooked, allow to cool slightly and then blend in a blender or food processor until completely smooth. (What if I don't have a blender? Cook for a full hour until completely broken down, then push a little at a time through a sieve into a large bowl).

Then, complete the curry,

• Return the gravy to the saucepan, and add the soy sauce and vinegar, or lemon juice. Mix the curry powder with a little water in a cup, a teaspoon at a time, then stir into the curry. Add as much curry powder as you like.
• Add the carrots, then cover and simmer the sauce over low heat for about 10 minutes. Add the potato, and onions if using, cover and simmer again for another 15 to 20 minutes, or until the potato is tender but still maintaining its shape, and the carrot is tender.
• The naturally occurring starch in the potato will thicken the curry a little bit, but if you want to adjust the thickness you can add cornflour. Start with mixing one teaspoon in a cup with a tablespoon of water, and adding to the curry. If you want it thicker, add another teaspoon mixed with water, and so on.
• Keep covered until while you prepare the chicken, and it will keep its head very well.

To make the chicken schnitzel,

• Place the almonds in a sandwich bag, and crush them gently with a rolling pin. Get a good range of texture, from fine crumbs to bigger flatkes: this will make it more crispy.
• Put one chicken breast at a time into a sandwich bag, lie flat on the work surface, then bash with a rolling pin until it is roughly half an inch (1 centimetre) in thickness. Repeat with the other fillets. Place all the pieces onto a large plate or tray. You can use the same bag for all of them, unless is splits.
• Set up two wide shallow bowls: place the almond crumbs in one, and beat the eggs with a tablespoon of water.
• Sprinkle the fillets with cornflour on their tray and completely coat on both sides (a pastry brush is helpful here). Take one fillet at a time, dip both sides in the beaten egg, then cover both sides with the almond crumbs. After crusting, season on both sides with salt and pepper.
• Heat a frying pan and add enough cooking oil to coat the bottom of the pan in a good layer. Test the heat with a spare almond flake: if it bubbles immediately, it's hot enough.
• Fry one chicken fillet at a time—or two, if you have a large enough pan—for about three minutes on each side, or until golden brown on both sides.
• As you fry the fillets, keep the cooked ones on a tray in the oven on the lowest temperature setting, to keep them warm.

To serve,

• Divide the rice between four wide bowls and keep to one side. 
• Cut each chicken fillet into strips and lie on top of the rice, then pour the curry onto the empty side of the bowl.
• Sprinkle with a garnish of sesame seeds or spring onion, if you like.

I think I may do a few more recipes using the "almonded" chicken approach, because it was seriously tasty. Maybe a nice chicken burger? Or American style tenders? We'll see...

UPDATE 18/04/17: Instead of flaked almonds, you can use crushed cornflakes.

THIS TIME IN 2016: No recipe

THIS TIME IN 2015: February Afternoon Tea Party: 3 Recipes!

THIS TIME IN 2014: No recipe