A spoonful of curry powder.

Unless you had a severely deprived childhood, I'm sure you all remember Mary Poppins twirling around the Banks' bedroom teaching us all about how 'just a spoonful of sugar' is so freakin' great.

Sadly, I don't have a magical umbrella or Julie Andrews' singing voice. All I have is a pinch of curry powder, a bottle of wine and three supercalafragalisticexpealaditious recipes that are almost TOO easy to whip up. So sit down and listen up kiddies!

Along with my favourite Sunday night dinner, Curried Sausages (found on my second blog post, 'Slowly spiralling into poverty'), these recipe is possibly the best for using up whatever you've got left in your fridge at the end of the week. It's a recipe I learned from my Dad, who used to cook this up every Boxing Day with all the Christmas lunch leftovers.

Boxing Day Curry:

Ingredients:
- 2 tablespoons margarine
- 1 ½ tablespoons plain flour (roughly)
- ½ brown onion
- 1 clove garlic
- 2 cups mixed vegetables (carrot, broccoli, shallots, peas, corn, etc)
- 1 cooked sweet potato/1 cup cooked chicken/1 cup peeled cooked prawns/etc
- 1 tin coconut milk
- Curry powder, to taste
- ½ cup rice (cooked with 1 cup boiling water in the microwave for 10 mins)

Method:

1. Melt the butter in a saucepan. Chop the vegetables, onion and garlic finely.
2. Sprinkle in the flour a little at a time to make a paste, stirring with a fork the whole time to ensure the paste doesn't turn lumpy.
3. Add the diced onion and garlic and fry gently until onion is soft.
4. Add the vegetables and fry for a few minutes.
5. Pour in the coconut milk and sprinkle in the curry powder. Make sure you taste the sauce as you go to make sure it's not too spicy for you! Bring to the boil.
6. Turn the stovetop heat back down to low and add the potato/chicken/prawns/whatever you're using.
7. Simmer for 10 minutes.
8. Serve over cooked rice.

If you can get your little Masterchef hands on it, lamb mince works best with this dish. I believe Coles sometimes has specials on lamb mince for $9/kg. You only need 250g for two people, but you can freeze the rest and use them for other recipes. Unfortunately, I don't have a picture for this one because I was starving when I cooked it and hooked in straight away. Oops.

Garlic Curry Rice:
Ingredients:
- 250g mince
- 3 cloves garlic (if you're worried about having stinky breath, you can use less. I just flipping love garlic!)
- 1 brown onion
- 1 carrot
- 2 chillies
- Peas and corn
- Curry powder, to taste
- Pepper, to taste
- 1/2 cup rice (cooked with 1 cup boiling water in the microwave for 10 minutes)

Method:
1. Chop onion, carrot, chillies and garlic finely.
2. With a little oil, cook onion and garlic until onion is soft.
3. Add mince and fry until brown all over.
4. Add carrot, peas, corn and chillies.
5. Sprinkle curry powder and pepper in, tasting as you go to make sure it's not too spicy!
6. Stir in rice and fry for a few minutes before serving.

 Whether you're vegetarian or just low on cash this week, this recipe is perfect for you :)

Curried Parsnip and Sweet Potato Soup:

Ingredients:

-          3 parsnips

-          ½ sweet potato

-          1 brown onion

-          2 cloves garlic

-          2 tablespoons honey

-          1 teaspoon thyme

-          1 tablespoon curry powder

-          1.5L chicken stock

-          250mL light cream

-          Salt and pepper to taste

Method:

      1. Chop onion, garlic, parsnips and sweet potato into small chunks. Place in a large saucepan with chicken stock.

      2. Bring to the boil and add honey, thyme, curry powder, salt and pepper. Simmer until parsnip and sweet potato is soft.

3. Using a potato masher or handheld blender, mash/blend until the soup is a desirable consistency (some like chunky soup, some like smooth soup – it’s up to you).
4. Serve with crusty bread.



Although curry powder is a touch on the exxy side at the supermarkets, generally Asian supermarkets and local markets (West End Markets especially) sell 100g pouches for about $2.

Hopefully you've found something in here you like, but if you're not a fan of curry powder, stay tuned for my next installment, 'Just a spoonful of Mexican seasoning'.

Lots of love

(broke) Masterchef Mel