Confession

Today I baked a chocolate chiffon cake with a filling of chocolate butter icing and frosted with chocolate ganache. I baked it to celebrate the birthday of one of the mum’s in my mothers’ group. The girls came home, there were six of us and there’s a quarter of the cake left. I am very glad that they liked the cake, that everyone had two servings and we had a relaxed time.

What is absolutely sickening though is that once I finished piping the icing and before I washed out the icing gun…
I ate all the remaining chocolate icing. I cleaned the bowl out with my fingers. I even put the icing nozzle in my mouth and squeezed the frosting right into my mouth.

Since Mia’s birth — and sometime before that — I have eaten umpteen packets of Timtam, many cakes, croissants with dollops of butter on them. I drink full cream milk. I also drink very sweet coffee; two teaspoons of sugar in each cup. Sometimes three cups a day.

But none of the above compares to what I’ve done in the last month and a half. All by myself, I have drank 15 litres of Coca Cola. I hate myself.

JB’s easy chicken curry

I love a dish that can be whipped up with whatever I have lying around. Well, not literally lying around (what does she feed her family?), but more like what’s in the fridge. I love such a dish more so on a day when I’m lazy to go to the supermarket. The stores are pretty close to my house and not much of a walk but packing the baby up etc. takes longer than it would take to shop.

Anyway, I particularly enjoy making something up when the whip-up turns out really tasty and does not require me to prepare a side dish/salad. This chicken curry recipe is a modification of a typical Indian chicken curry.
I made it for dinner last night and we’ll be eating the leftovers today. Since it has vegetables in the curry, I happily skipped making any salad and felt really good about serving ‘healthy’ food. The recipe uses very little oil, mild spices and can include whatever vegies you have in your fridge/pantry. I used carrots, potatoes and zucchini; you could also add capsicum, okra, beans, water chestnuts, eggplant, bamboo shoot, baby corn….the choice is endless. Hope you like this one.

JB SPECIAL: EASY CHICKEN CURRY

Prep time: 15 mins; Cooking time: till chicken and vegies are tender; Serve with rice or rotis

INGREDIENTS

Chicken thigh fillets 400-500 gms

Onions 2 medium, finely chopped

Garlic mince/paste 1 TSP heaped

Tomatoes 3-4, finely chopped

Carrot 1, peeled, diced small

Potato 1, diced small

Zucchini 1, diced small

Canola/veg/olive oil   2 TBS

Cardamom pod 1, slightly crushed

Peppercorns 4

Turmeric powder ½ TSP

Coriander powder 1 TSP, heaped

Garam masala 1 TSP heaped

Red chilli powder ½- 1 TSP

METHOD

1. Heat oil in deep frying pan/ wok. Once hot, add cardamom and peppercorns and fry for 1 minute.
2. Add the onions and fry on high heat, stirring so they don’t burn till onions turn golden and soft.
3. Add garlic paste and fry for another minute.
4. Add tomatoes and cook till tomatoes soften and start releasing water. 
5. Add the turmeric, coriander, garam masala and chilli. Mix in with the tomatoes and cook till water released by the tomatoes is almost halved and the spices give off a ‘cooked’ aroma.
6. Add chicken and vegies, mix well, reduce heat and cook for 10 minutes without covering till chicken changes colour. The vegies and the chook should release some water. 
7. Mix thoroughly, cover the pan and cook covered for 10 minutes or so (keeping in mind that the stuff should not start sticking to the bottom of the pan).
8. Mix again, cover and cook for another 10 minutes; till chicken is cooked and potatoes are soft. 
9. Add 1 cup water and bring to the boil. IF chicken has cooked, your curry is ready. If it’s still somewhat uncooked or potatoes are still hard, cover again and cook for another 5-10 minutes. 
10. Serve with roti or rice.