Menu Plan Monday

So much to do after a holiday but here is this weeks menu plan. Holiday pics and replying to emails will get done soon!

Monday (vego night) - Spinach crepes with blue cheese (and mushrooms for me), roast capsicums, Tempe Goreng Tepung (fried tempeh in batter).

A bit of a labour intensive dinner but if I can get the chance I will make the crepes earlier in the day. I'm trying tempeh for the second time. I wasn't sure what to do with it the first time and it wasn't that nice. This time I'm using a recipe from someone in the know - a New Zealand Malaysian food blogger Arfi Binstead who has some gorgeous recipes on her blog accompanied by lovely photos. Tempeh is supposed to be good for bones.

Tuesday - Chicken noodle soup
Wednesday - Malaysian Beef Crockpot, rice, stir fried veges
Thursday - Pasta of some kind
Friday (DH's request) - Lamb rogan josh, our favourite tomato/potato curry, rice. Might even bring myself to make some roti since I have some atta flour. The flour is in short supply here in New Zealand so I'm reluctant to use it up!
Saturday - pizza and some left over soup (recipe below) from the freezer
Sunday - inspired by Nigella I'm going Keema, rice and then sticky toffee pancakes.

Last night I made Yellow Split Pea and Frankfurter Soup from Nigella's Feast book. It is a yummy option for these autumnal evenings. You can substitute vegetarian frankfurters if you wish.

Yellow Split Pea and Frankfurter Soup
from Feast / by Nigella Lawson pg. 114 Serves 6-8 (freeze the extra if that is more than you need)

1 onion
1 carrot
1 clove garlic
1 stick celery
2-3 T oil
1/2 t ground mace
2 1/4 cups yellow split peas (I used a mix of red lentils and moong dahl because that is what I had)
5-6 cups chicken or vege stock
2 bay leaves
approx. 8 frankfurters

Peel the onion, carrot and garlic and cut the onion and carrot into rough chunks. Put them all, along with the roughly cut up celery stick into the food processor and blitz it until they are finely chopped.
Heat the oil in a heavy based pan and put on med heat. When warm, add the chopped veges from the processor and saute until soft but not coloured.

Add the ground mace*. It really does make a difference to the taste so if you don't have any, try adding some nutmeg. Stir well and add split peas. Stir until they are coated and mixed with the other ingredients. Pour over the stock and add bay leaves, then bring to the boil. Cover and turn down the heat. Cook for about an hour or until everything is tender and sludgy, adding more stock as needed. Taste for seasoning.

You can add the sausage when you want. I cut it into chunks and toss it in towards the end of the cooking. Nigella heats hers in the microwave and puts it into the individual soup plates before serving the soup in them. Both my kids really like this soup.

*Mace is the outer covering of a nutmeg and is stronger in taste than the nutmeg. Replacing mace with nutmeg is possible but doesn't entirely replicate the taste. I buy it from Mahadeos in Mt Eden, Auckland.

I also made this (it's jolly good):

Chilli-cinnamon Chocolate Pudding
from Feast / by Nigella Lawson pg. 229 Serves 6

This is a "self-saucing" pudding. Great with ice cream.

1 cup flour
2 t baking powder
1/2 t baking soda
pinch salt
1 t ground cinnamon
1/4 chilli powder
1 cup caster (super fine) sugar
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa
1/2 cup milk
1 t pure vanilla extract
1/4 cup oil (e.g. canola or rice bran, not olive oil)
1/2 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup boiling water
1/4 cup dark rum (Leave this out if you want. It makes a nice addition, but it's not vital).

Preheat oven to 180 deg. C (350 deg. F) and butter an approximately 8 cup capacity round baking dish.
In a large bowl, mix the flour, baking powder, baking soda, pinch of salt, cinnamon, chilli, sugar and half the cocoa. Beat the milk, vanilla and oil together in a jug and pour over the dry ingredients. Mix into a smooth batter. Spoon into the greased dish.
Combine the remaining 1/4 cup cocoa with the brown sugar and sprinkle over the batter in the dish. Pour 3/4 cup boiling water over the batter/sugar and then tip in the rum.

Cook for 30 mins by which time the cake will have risen to the top and the sauce will be lurking underneath in it's unctuous chocolate chilli glory.