ROD’s not quite Kate’s not a curry

rodsislandlife

So, we’ve entered week 3million of lockdown and things have started to settle a little. The girls are on school holiday for four weeks (how long????) which makes it marginally easier to manage my work and their day in so much as I don’t have to actually manage their day! That’s not entirely true….. we have developed a ‘schedule’. The schedule gets drafted every morning and factors in activities such as painting, a daily lego challenge, outdoor play, TV and Oti’s online dance classes. Seems to be working although there have been some comedy moments when I’m on calls. I returned to my office (AKA the guest bedroom) after lunch last week to have a video call with a colleague (oh so glad it was someone I know!) who, after saying ‘hello’ said “nice teddies”! WHAT? I turned round and EEROD had built a pile of every stuffed animal we own on the bed behind my desk! Add to that when Simba decided to rub himself against my laptop screen while I was talking on a panel with an audience of over 100 and home working with kids and pets is a whole new level of fun!

As a family, we are pretty anti kids and screen time. The kids don’t have their own ‘devices’ (I mean I don’t even have my own ‘device’ apart from an ancient Kindle that does nothing except allow me to read without a backlight!) and while they watch TV, it’s not really much more than a couple of hours over the weekend so this new found digital world is challenging. We learnt early on that keeping them off things like Minecraft will remain as they just become horrid little shits after playing it. They fight, argue and then sulk for ages when we tell them to turn it off so….. while they are learning online, chatting to friends online and watching more TV than usual, we will stick to a less digital style of parenting! That being said, we’ve had great fun as a family learning TikTok dances and making stupid videos.

COD and ROD have adapted to the world of digital socialising well! Its a bit dangerous though as very easy to get horribly pissed while chatting to friends as I have found on more than one occasion. If there is anything I hope to keep up from this lockdown world, it’s using online socialising more. It’s awesome catch-up with friends I usually only see once or twice a year.

So, apart from the endless cycle of meals and snacks, we are all doing well. A friend sent me a recipe claiming that every child who has ever tasted this dish has loved it, so obviously I had to try it! So, armed with recipe, I set off to find the ingredients. The only small hitch being we’re in the middle of a pandemic and things that used to be bountiful on shelves are seemingly in short supply so, I had to adapt the recipe a bit to allow for a complete lack of spices!

ROD’s note quite Kate’s not a curry

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This is a really lovely creamy, mild curry which 2 out of 3 kids ate and I see that as a result! Feeds a family of 5

Ingredients:

10 chicken thigh fillets
2 tins coconut milk (full fat is best, don’t use reduced fat!)
1 carton passata
Grated fresh turmeric, about half a finger size (freeze it, grate from frozen so you don’t stain hands) or use 2 tsp dried. *I couldn’t buy turmeric so used 2tsp mild curry powder and a tsp of crushed cumin seeds
3tsp Minced garlic
4tsp minced ginger
1 onion chopped small
Soy sauce, about 4 tsp, though add more if you want, or add salt when serving
If you have miso, add a spoonful. *I did not have miso
1 x tin chickpeas *I could not buy chick peas so used broad beans
Olive oil
Lots of black pepper
Basmati rice and veg of your choice

Method:

  • Turn oven to 150 degrees C
  • Heat up olive oil in a deep casserole dish and fry off the onion, garlic, ginger and spices
  • Add in the chicken pieces and brown them.
  • Add the coconut milk, tomato passata, miso and soya sauce, bring to a boil and then pop the lid on the casserole dish and put it in the oven.
I left it for about 3 hours. You can throw everything in a slow cooker but if you do that, use onion granules or cook off the onion first.
Serve with basmati rice and veg of your choice. I had leftovers the following day and had it with lots of Mrs Balls Peach Chutney which was amazing!
I reckon with hotter curry powder or some chilli, this would be epic for grown ups. We all enjoyed the mld version anyway!

In other news:

  • Sewing Bee is back on 22 April – woohooo!
  • I am finding grocery shopping with all this social distancing very strange indeed. Still can’t buy yeast or usual pasta (I bought a 3kg bag of penne today as that’s ALL TESCO HAD) and having to queue to get into shops isn’t really my thing.
  • I get very excited when I see chopped tomatoes in the shops…….
  • ACOD is loving being at home with her big sisters and whilst she declares she doesn’t want to learn to read, she is picking up words every day so I have no doubt she will start school in September reading Shakespeare
  • LOD has worked her way through the Harry Potters and has loved them
  • EEROD is often found on her bed reading to the cats! Her book of choice is often the children’s bible. Simba is well versed in what Easter is really about.
  • I’ve already eaten half of my precious bag of Woolies speckled eggs and we’re still a good few hours off Easter!
  • I’m taking part in a recipe exchange chain mail thingy so am hopeful for lots of new recipes to try.

One thought on “ROD’s not quite Kate’s not a curry”

  1. Great post and I shall try the curry- although i expect it will be a hit with only 2 out of 3 people in the household (never mind 2 out of 3 kids!). I wish I had learned about Minecraft as quickly as you did…. that ship has sailed! 🙂 🙂

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