Gluten free Couscous

I have been surprised and delighted to discover that there is such a thing as gluten free couscous! Jason (Chucky) found it in our local small IGA supermarket (independent grocers association, I think) the other day along with lots of other weird and wonderful GF substitutes for everyday foods he always seems to miss out on. We can’t find it in the two major supermarket chains here in Albany, Australia which are Woolworths and Coles. They have gluten free stuff too but not this. I made some up last night to have with the GF chicken kievs Jason made for our tea. It was super yummy! It’s made out of maize flour and water and has a definite taste of corn, other than that it responds just like wheat based couscous and should go well in salads etc.

To make one serve,
2/3 cup water
2/3 cup GF couscous
1-2 tablespoons olive oil
Salt to taste
Butter

Heat the water in a saucepan till boiling. Add oil and salt.

Turn off heat source and pour in GF couscous whilst stirring.

Cover saucepan with lid and leave to absorb water for 5-6 minutes. When time is up, fluff the couscous up with a fork and mix in a tablespoon or to taste of butter.

I served this yummy couscous with the chicken kievs and it went well with the garlicky chive butter oozing from the chicken.

In a way, it’s probably a fluffy polenta but was texturally exactly the same as it’s non GF relative. Well worth a try 🙂
Bon apetit!

Butter chicken with red lentil dhal and rice.

Hello friends 🙂

Yesterday I made a rather delicious meal for our tea.  I actually found it in the state newspaper (The West Australian) in the recipes pages. This recipe was compiled by one of the duos that appeared on the MKR (My Kitchen Rules) TV show and I have to say it turned out very well for a first time try.

This amount will serve 4.

First assemble your ingredients.

For the Marinade,

400gm can of crushed tomatoes

190gm yoghurt (I used Goats milk yoghurt)

4 garlic cloves

90gm ground almonds

2cm piece of ginger, grated

6 cardamom pods, bruised

2 tablespoons brown sugar

2 teaspoons garam masala

1 cinnamon quill

1/2 teaspoon  ground cloves

1/2 teaspoon chilli powder

2 tablespoons tomato paste

1 pinch saffron threads

salt and pepper to season

1 kg boneless, skinless chicken thighs, halved

125gm Ghee

1 onion, diced

For the Red Lentil Dhal,

2 teaspoons vegetable oil ( I used Ghee again as I am in love with it!)

1 onion, diced

1 long green chilli, chopped

1 + 1/2 teaspoons cumin seeds

1 + 1/2 teaspoons black mustard seeds

1 + 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin

1 + 1/2 teaspoons ground coriander

1 teaspoon ground turmeric

3 curry leaves

1 tomato, diced ( I forgot to use it so I make this optional :D)

200 gm red lentils, rinsed, drained

400ml can coconut milk

250ml water

To make the marinade, combine all of the ingredients down to and including the salt and pepper in a six cup capacity baking dish.

Add the chicken and rub marinade all over it.

(Trust me, there is chicken in there!)

Cover and refrigerate for one hour to marinate.

Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius.

Melt ghee in a small frying pan over medium heat, add onion and cook, stirring for about 3 minutes or until softened.

Add to chicken mixture, cover dish tightly with foil and bake for 40 minutes. Remove foil and bake for a further 15 minutes or until chicken is very tender. I like cooking till those yummy caramelized bits form on top of the chicken 🙂

Meanwhile, to make the dhal, heat oil/ghee in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add onion and chilli and cook, stirring for about 3 minutes or until softened.

Stir in seeds and spices. Cook for a further 1 minutes or until fragrant.

Stir in remaining ingredients and the water.

Bring to a simmer, then simmer, partially covered and stirring occasionally, for 25 minutes or until lentils are cooked and have absorbed all the liquid. Season with salt.

Divide rice between serving plates and top with chicken. Spoon dhal to the side and tuck in!

That is my appreciative husband Jason 😀

This recipe is completely gluten free, including that Naan bread you see in the picture. So happy to have found that the local supermarket (Coles) stocks the Livewell brand for Coeliac sufferers.

Bon appetit!

Gluten Free Citrus Kisses.

I’ve been trialling recipes out of the local newspaper recently and found this one for Citrus Kisses. I have adapted it for my partner who has Coeliacs disease and it still turned out really well. I think they’re similar to melting moments in texture.

First get all the ingredients you’ll need prepped. There are not many to find  😀

180gm butter, soft

100gm icing sugar, sifted

1 lime or lemon zest

100gm GF cornflour

180gm Gluten Free Self Raising flour

NOTE : The ingredients also list the juice as well which is why you see it in this picture, however, the recipe didn’t feature it at all so I left it out and it didn’t affect the texture at all.

Butter icing

120gm unsalted butter, soft

140gm icing sugar, sifted

Juice and zest of lime or lemon

Preheat your oven to 170 Celsius and line two baking trays (I used one long one) with baking paper.

In a clean bowl, beat together the butter, icing sugar and zest until pale and fluffy, about 3-5 minutes.

The recipe said to use a spatula to fold in the flours but after trying this and finding it wanting, I just used the electric hand mixer to combine everything in quick time 😀

Roll dough into walnut sized balls and place 5 cm apart on your baking tray and bake for 20-25 minutes or until the edges start to turn golden.

I like fork marks on top of these style of biscuits so I lightly press the back of a fork into the top.

Remove from oven and allow to cool.

To make the butter icing, beat the butter and icing sugar together with the zest (and a little juice if needed) in a clean bowl until light and fluffy.

Sandwich two biscuits together with a generous dollop of the icing and try not to eat them all with a cuppa. They made 10 full biscuits all up though my walnuts must be bigger than the original recipe makers walnuts which came to 15! I think she must have been sizing macadamia nuts 😀

Bon appetit.

Spiced Crackle Cookies.

These yummy little morsels are Spiced crackle cookies and I found the recipe in the Better Homes and Garden magazine. They could easily be made gluten free by simply substituting the Plain flour with gluten free plain flour. I’ll be making a batch of these for my gluten intolerant partner on the weekend but these were for my work colleagues so I used the real mccoy 🙂

First assemble all the ingredients and do use a set of scales to weigh things with.

Spiced Crackle Cookies.

125gm unsalted butter

350gm brown sugar

1 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 eggs

1 egg yolk

75ml milk (I used pouring cream :D)

75gm dark chocolate, melted (I used Lindt 75% Dessert choc)

350gm Plain Flour (or Gluten Free plain flour)

2 tablespoons cocoa powder

2 teaspoons Baking powder (gluten free)

1 teaspoon mixed spice

100gm walnuts, chopped

1-2 cups icing sugar (Pure, gluten free)

Pre heat your oven to 180 degrees celsius. Line 2-3 oven trays with baking paper.

Put butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer. Beat on medium, using paddle attachment for 5 minutes or until pale. Beat in vanilla, eggs and egg yolk.

Beat in milk and melted chocolate. Sift in flour, cocoa, baking powder and mixed spice. Fold in walnuts. Chill the mixture in the frideg for 30 minutues until firm.

Shape tablespoonfuls of the chilled mixture into balls and roll in the icing sugar.

Arrange on the baking trays spaced evenly apart and bake for 20 minutes or until well risen and firm.

Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

Enjoy these. They are very hard to stay away from!

I actually had a really healthy Thai beef salad made by my beloved for my tea.

Bon appetite!

Mondays little Gluten Free sweetie.

I think we all need a little sweetening up today being Monday and I have just the thing to do it for you. As my beloved Chucky (Jason) is gluten intolerant, he misses out on a lot of the stuff we used to chow down on when in the need for a snack. Now, we have to put a bit more of a thought into what goes down the hatch as the side effects of Coeliac disease are not pretty when any gluten is taken into his system. I found one of his most favorite of all slice recipes and decided to tinker with it a bit and the end result was fantastic. You wouldn’t know it was now gluten free and I’ve fooled many of my workmates with this one.

Gluten Free Caramel Nut Slice

Ingredients.

BASE DOUGH

200gm unsalted butter

140gm caster sugar

1/2 vanilla pod,seeds only

300gm Gluten free Plain flour (I use Orgran brand)

1/2  teaspoon Gluten free baking powder

CARAMEL FILLING

130gm unsalted butter

400gm tin condensed milk

4 tablespoons of Golden Syrup

TOPPING

200gm raw, chopped macadamia nuts and grated base dough set aside, (see my method)

Preheat oven to 160 degrees Celsius

Line a 20cm x 30cm x 4cm slice tin with baking paper.

For the base dough, cream together the softened butter, sugar and vanilla seeds until light and fluffy, about 3-5 minutes in an electric mixer.

Sift in dry ingredients and mix until combined.

Take out one fifth of the dough and chill in the fridge in a rough cylinder shape.

Evenly press the remaining dough into the base of your slice tin, making sure it reaches into the corners. Put into oven and bake till firm to touch and slightly golden, not too cooked.

Make the caramel while the base is baking.

Put a metal bowl over a pot of boiling water and add all the caramel ingredients into it, stirring till all melted together.Set aside.

Remove base from oven and pour the caramel over the top, spreading evenly.

Grate (on a big sized grater) the remaing saved dough into the chopped macadamias and mix together gently. Sprinkle this over the top of the caramel.

Pop this back into the oven and bake for 30 minutes or until the outside of the caramel starts to darken. Remove from oven and allow to cool in the tin. Pop in the fridge for an hour to chill before cutting into slices.

Is this slice not calling from the shadows, beckoning you to eat it?

We cannot resist it’s gluten free charms at all.

My gluten free sweetie who’s charms I can’t resist either. Love him xoxoxo.

Bon appetite!

My Slow Cooked Sticky Veal.

This was our tea tonight and it was yummy! I share it with you and hope you enjoy it as much as we did.

Ingredients.
400gm sliced veal shin (osso bucco)
2 teaspoons oil
1 red onion, thinly sliced
2 cloves of garlic, sliced or minced.
1/2 tablespoon grated fresh ginger
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon sweet chilli sauce
1 tablespoon Hoisin sauce
150ml-250ml beef stock
Small bunch fresh coriander/cilantro
1 small mild red chilli, shredded

Heat a large non-stick frying pan. Rub veal with a little oil and brown over high heat. Place in a large saucepan/casserole dish. Add onion, soy sauce, garlic, ginger, stock. sweet chilli sauce and hoisin sauce over the top of the veal.
Bring to the boil, reduce heat to very low, cover and simmer for 60-90 minutes or until tender. Remove lid and increase heat to reduce and thicken the sauce if necessary. When ready to serve, scatter with coriander and shredded red chilli.
Serve with stir fried veg and steamed rice.

This is such a lovely easy to prepare dish and goes equally as well piled upon a lovely buttery mashed potato as I’ve done in the picture. I hope it’s not too fuzzy.

Bon appetit!