Kale and Mint Salad

I had some kale in the fridge that needed using up, and I was searching the internet for inspiration when I came across a recipe that I managed to doctor enough to fit in the Slimming World Plan. Normally I would just fry the kale in some Fry Light until crispy, so this was the first time we've had it raw. 

 

Serves 2

Less than ½ syn per person*

* providing you use the cheese as your Healthy Extra A

1 packet kale, picked over to remove the thick hard stems

1 packet of mint, leaves roughly chopped

Dressing

zest and juice of 1 lemon

1 small garlic clove, very finely chopped

1 tsp Dijon mustard

¼ tsp red chilli flakes

30g finely grated Parmesan cheese

2 tbsp plain fat free yogurt

1 tbsp red wine vinegar

Mix all the ingredients for the dressing together and add water until you get a dressing-like consistency. Add salt and pepper to taste. Stir in to the kale and mint leaves until thoroughly mixed.

I served mine with some chilli and garlic grillsticks from Joe'sSausages for an almost syn free lunch with lots of superfree.

We both found the texture of the raw kale a little unusual, but agreed that its chewy consistency was not unpleasant. I would definitely have it again. 

 

Pulled Beef Chilli

More leftovers for dinner tonight. Using the pulled beef from last night, I added tinned tomatoes, passata, kidney beans, cooked leeks, red pepper, yellow pepper and onions; chopped red chilli, cumin powder, oregano and garlic. 

 

I was going to serve it with twice cooked jacket potatoes, but we'd been out for the afternoon and got back so late I wanted something quick and easy. If I have to wait too long for dinner in the evening when I am hungry, it becomes a bit of a danger area for me for snacking. There are times when you can wait, and times when you need instant gratification. 

 

The jacket potatoes can wait until later this week - there is plenty of leftover chilli (leftover of the leftovers) to go inside the potatoes, so that's another easy meal sorted. 

 

Black Pepper Chicken Pasta

I used Joe's Black Pepper Chicken Fillets for this, but you can of course use just a standard chicken breast and just add more pepper. 

 

Serves 2

Syn Free on Extra Easy

1 pkt Joe's Black Pepper Chicken

2 onions, chopped

1 tin chopped tomatoes

2 tsp bouillon powder

60g parmesan cheese

fresh grated black pepper

1 small chilli, chopped (optional)

1 tsp sweetener

150g pasta, boiled

Grill the chicken fillets/breasts for 7-10 minutes, or until cooked through but not dried out. Meanwhile sauté the onions in Fry Light until soft. Add the tinned tomatoes, bouillon powder, chilli and sweetener. Slice the chicken and add to the sauce with the pasta. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese and extra black pepper before serving. 

 

Mulligatawny Soup made from Leftover Chilli Con Carne

Nice and quick, nice and comforting, nice and easy, nice and warming, nice and healthy. What more can you want on a miserable day? 

 

Serves 2

Syn Free on Extra Easy

1 cup leftover chilli con carne (syn free of course)

½ cup red lentils

2 onions

2 stems celery

2 tsp bouillon powder

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp ground coriander

½ tsp ground turmeric

½ cup cooked carrots, chopped

a few drops food colouring

a small handful chopped coriander leaves

1 red chilli (optional), finely chopped

Finely chop the onion and celery and onions and sauté in Fry Light until soft. Add the lentils and bouillon powder and enough water to make it a soup consistency. Boil rapidly for ten minutes. Turn the heat down, add the leftover chilli con carne and spices and simmer for another 15-20 minutes until everything is cooked through and the lentils are soft and mushy. Add the carrots and fresh coriander and heat through. Add a few drops of food colouring if the soup looks a little insipid. Serve topped with some chopped coriander. 

 

Lobster Piri Piri

Frozen lobsters were on special offer at Costco a while back, and continuing with my 'international week', I adapted an original Nigerian recipe for this.

Many years ago I inherited 12 solid silver lobster forks – not the most useful of kitchen implements, not for me anyway: I think I have served lobster at home a total of four times including today! So at least the forks got a quick polish and an outing into the real world. The place mats with the fish motifs came from Bali. 

 

For some reason I wasn't expecting a great deal from this meal, but it was absolutely delicious! 

 

Serves 2

Syn Free on Extra Easy

1 cooked lobster, halved

200g cooked prawns

1 red onion

1 green pepper

200ml passata

small knob fresh ginger, cut into thin strips

1 red chilli, finely chopped

1 tsp bouillon powder

½ tsp sweetener

boiled white rice to serve

Sauté the onion, pepper and ginger in Fry Light until soft. Add the passata, and chilli with some water to dilute to a thinner consistency. Simmer for a few minutes, then add the prawns and heat gently.

The recipe suggests adding the lobster to the pan to heat, but I decided to leave it cold until after we'd picked the meat off it, then mixing it all in with the sauce and rice, the lobster meat heated through that way. I find it difficult enough to get the meat out of a lobster without the shell burning my hands! 

 

Sambal Kecap

I made this to serve as a separate dip to go with the Indonesian satés (for Husband and me) as my dad doesn't like spicy food. I amended the original recipe to avoid the deep fried onions, and also wanted to thicken the sauce a little, so liquidised some of the onions after frying. I left the seeds in the chilli for extra heat, but you can remove them if you like your food less spicy. If you don't have tamarind powder, you can use lemon juice instead. It sure was potent! 

 

Syn Free on Extra Easy

1 onion, quartered, then thinly sliced

1 fresh red chilli

3 cloves garlic

1 tsp tamarind powder

4 tbsp dark soy sauce

Sauté the onion in Fry Light for around 10 minutes, until it is quite brown and sticky. Liquidise half the onion with the garlic, chilli, tamarind powder (or lemon juice), and soy sauce. Mix it all together with the other half of the fried onions and leave for at least an hour for the flavours to develop. 

 

Kuku

I am continuing my 'international week' with a tangy chicken stew from Kenya.

Serves 2

Syn Free on Extra Easy

2 chicken breasts, each cut into 3 or 4 pieces

1 tsp ground ginger

100g mung beans

1 onion, chopped

1 garlic clove, crushed

2-3 tomatoes, de-seeded and chopped

1 green chilli, seeded and finely chopped

1 tbsp lemon juice

1 cup rice

1 carrot, grated

1 courgette, grated

Boil the mung beans in plenty of salted water for 35 minutes, until tender, then mash. Cook the rice with the grated carrot and courgette for 10 minutes. Sauté the chicken pieces and onions in Fry Light for 10-15 minutes, then add the tomatoes, chilli, garlic, ginger and lemon juice. Add the mashed beans and enough water to make a thick sauce. Simmer for 5-10 minutes until the chicken is cooked through. Serve with the vegetable rice. 

 

Steamed Pork Cups

This is my adaptation of a Thai recipe – substituting coconut flavoured yogurt for coconut milk and sweetener for palm sugar to make the recipe more Slimming World friendly. I used a chilli from my Aji Hot plant for this, and was disappointed by how mild it was, so next time I will increase the quantity.

Serves 2

Syn Free on Extra Easy

250g extra lean minced pork

½ tub Müllerlight coconut and vanilla yogurt

4 spring onions, chopped

juice of half a lime

1 tsp sweetener

1 chilli, chopped

handful coriander leaves, chopped

1 egg

stir fried vegetables to serve

Blend or process the pork, yogurt, spring onions, lime juice, sweetener, chilli and coriander leaves until combined. Transfer the mixture to a bowl. In another bowl, beat the egg until thick and creamy and fold into the pork mixture. 

 

Spoon the mixture into 4-6 small cups – I found the Chinese tea cups perfect size for this, but egg cups would be a good alternative. Steam the cups in a bamboo or electric steamer for 20 minutes until cooked through. Serve with stir fried vegetables of your choice – I used a packet of ready cup vegetables as I knew I was going out for the day and wouldn't have much time when I got back. 

 

Jerk Turkey with Coconut Mango Salad

I cut a couple of chillies from my Bulgarian Carrot plant today to create this dish. For the jerk marinade I left the seeds in and for the salad took them out. On a hotness scale of 1-10, we both agreed the dish scored a 5-6 with an afterburn of up to 8.

Serves 2

Syn Free on Extra Easy

2 turkey steaks

For the marinade:

2 tbsp white balsamic vinegar

1 chilli, chopped

4 spring onions, chopped

a few stems of fresh thyme

1 tsp ground allspice

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp ground nutmeg

1 tsp ground ginger

1 tsp sweetener

For the salad:
2 mangoes, chopped

2 shallots, finely chopped

1 chilli, finely chopped

small handful fresh coriander, chopped

2 tomatoes, de-seeded and chopped

handful of rocket leaves

1 tub Müllerlight coconut and vanilla yogurt

Mix together all the ingredients for the marinade and whizz though food processor, liquidiser or spice grinder until it resembles a smooth paste. Spread on both sides of the turkey steaks and leave in a cool place to marinade for several hours. Grill for 7-10 minutes, or until cooked through, which will depend on the thickness of the steaks.

Mix together all the ingredients for the salad. Divide the salad between two plates and top with the jerk turkey steaks. 

 

Mixed Onion and Tomato Pasta

I had a little accident in the greenhouse today, one of the chilli plants became top heavy and toppled over onto the floor, breaking off a branch in the process. There were four unripe chillies on the branch, so I had to find a dish to add them to. My first dish cooked with my own, home-grown chillies! Not knowing the strength of the Goat Horn chilli, I only risked one in the dish – but wish I'd used more, as it was very mild.

Serves 2

Syn Free on Extra Easy

1 onion, chopped

1 leek, sliced

4-5 shallots, sliced

1 tin chopped tomatoes

200ml passata

1 tsp bouillon powder

1 chilli, chopped

1 tsp dried oregano

1 tsp dried basil

150g pasta shapes

fresh basil to serve

Sauté the onion, leeks, shallots and chilli in Fry Light until soft. Add the tomatoes, passata, herbs and bouillon powder and simmer for a few minutes. Meanwhile, boil the pasta until cooked to your liking. Stir the pasta in the sauce and serve sprinkled with a little fresh basil. 

 

Mexican Rubbed Turkey Steak with Roasted Tomato Salsa

Serves 2

Syn Free on Extra Easy

2 turkey steaks

1 tsp ground cumin

½ tsp chilli flakes

¼ tsp garlic powder

1 tsp oregano

1 tsp paprika

zest of ½ lemon

4 large tomatoes

6-8 shallots, peeled and halved

2 twigs rosemary

zest and juice of 1 lemon

1 dried chilli

1 tsp sweetener

Mix together the cumin, chilli flakes, garlic, oregano, paprika and lemon zest. Use to rub on the turkey steaks. Leave for a couple of hours for the flavours to infuse.

Quarter the tomatoes and place in a shallow oven proof dish with the shallots. Spray with Fry Light and bake at 160°C for about an hour until the tomatoes are beginning to dry. Leave to cool, then chop the tomatoes and shallots roughly. Remove the leaves from the woody stems of the rosemary, chop and add to the tomato and shallot mixture, with the lemon juice and zest.Rehydrate the dried chilli in boiling water for ten minutes, then chop finely. Add to the salsa. Stir in the sweetener and leave in the fridge to chill for at least an hour before serving.

Fry the turkey steaks for 5-7 minutes each side until cooked through. Serve with the salsa. 

 

Sweet Chilli Chicken

Having searched the net for recipes for sweet chilli sauce, I finally made up a recipe for a sauce that will fit in with the Slimming World plan. It was easy and quick and you can make it as spicy (or not) as you like. 

 

Serves 2

Syn Free on Extra Easy

2 chicken breasts, skin and fat removed

200g passata

½ cup sweetener

¼ cup of rice wine vinegar

2 tbsp dark soy sauce

1-2 tsp chilli flakes

Place all the ingredients except the chicken in a small saucepan and bring to boil while stirring. Boil rapidly for a few minutes until the sauce has thickened and reduced slightly. Adjust seasoning and allow to cool.

Cut the chicken breasts in small trips and coat with the sweet chilli sauce. Place on a wire rack over an oven proof tray and grill at a high heat for 7-10 minutes until the chicken is cooked through and nicely brown on the outside. 

 

Serve with rice or couscous. I like to add some grated carrots and courgettes into mine for the last few minutes of cooking, to bulk it out and add superfree.