Can we start a thread about all our unanswered food Q's and recipes?

[fallenempires]

I'm hoping that the collective culinary wisdom of MN might solve some of those mysteries!
I'm still searching for a recipe that replicates Nandos spiced rice.
What food q's do you need answering?

[notso]

Thanks for pastry will give it a go.
Am racking brains for rice brand, would have said Batchelors but obviously not if you've tried it.

[fallenempires]

A shameless bump as I'm still looking for that Nandos rice recipe

[ItsAllTLAsToMe]

When you freeze ripe bananas to use later, do they defrost as a brown blob in brown liquid? What am I doing wrong?

[ItsAllTLAsToMe]

Also, will I use a MagiMix? I'm a pretty crap cook, but like to batch cook, make bread, bake etc. Well, I'm an okay cook, probably just a bit lazy .

[bakingaddict]

For Nandos rice I would say you probably need to do a spice mix. Tumeric will be one of the key spices and i'd try a bit of cumin, ground coriander, nutmeg, celery salt etc.

Fry off your dry spices with a bit of garlic and then toss in your rice, stir till the rice is fully coated and then transfer to a large pan and boil in the normal way. I'd also put a chicken stock cube in the water to give more flavour and then when it's cooked add your chopped peppers

[Xiaoxiong]

ItsAll yes they do defrost as brown mush. And for that reason it's best to freeze them peeled as trying to peel brown mush is grim. But it's ok, because when you make banana muffins or whatever you're supposed to mush them, so I promise it will work. When I make banana bread I usually take three frozen bananas out of the freezer and put them in a mixing bowl - then when they are defrosted brown mush, I stir in the wet ingredients, and then the dry ingredients.

I have a Magimix and I love it. I use it to make pizza dough, pastry, grate things (cheese, cucumber for raita, carrots for moroccan salad, courgette and potatoes for latkes etc), slice things (potatoes and turnips for dauphinoise/boulangere), make hummus and pesto and rouille and marinades...the list goes on!

fallen I wish I could help, I've never had rice at Nandos!

[shufflebum]

Great thread! My question, how do I make home made Higgidy Moroccan pie?

[Xiaoxiong]

Hmmm...the website describes it as "roasted Aubergines, feta and lentils with a spiced tomato sauce in a seeded shortcrust pastry case dotted with caraway seed".

So I would think putting caraway seed in the shortcrust pastry would be easy, then blind baking the case.

As for the filling...maybe something like mashed up imam bayildi with lentils instead of peppers?

You could try just roasting an eggplant, scooping out the flesh, mashing together with cooked brown lentils and caramelised onions, spicing with chili, cumin and sumac, and then mixing in cubes of feta and tomato sauce spiked with chili and cumin and cinnamon. Then packing that into the shortcrust case, and topping with a star cut out of the shortcrust pastry.

Probably not massively helpful...I haven't had one of those pies in ages, now craving one.

[ItsAllTLAsToMe]

Thanks Xiao! I threw away the last brown mush .

[fallenempires]

Thank you bakingaddict I will give it a try
I had wondered about using piri piri seasoning but as we all like rice I can carry on experimenting until I get it right!
Another request I have is for a decent naan bread recipe please.

[BornToFolk]

Sorry, can we go back to quiche for a bit?

I've tried and tried but whenever I make it, the case (I blind bake it) always shrinks, even if I treat the pastry very gently and don't over-roll it. I always use ready made pastry as I am shit at making it from scratch. What am I doing wrong? I use a metal, loose-bottomed tin - could that be the issue? I notice that other people use ceramic dishes.

[fallenempires]

Do you trim the pastry to fit the tin before you blind bake?I only experience shrinkage when I do this so I leave some excess pastry then trim before adding the filling.

[BornToFolk]

No, I leave it hanging over the edges but it still shrinks so it kind of pulls up from the base, if that makes sense? And if even if I leave some over the edge, it sometimes shrinks so much that I end up with gaps!

[fallenempires]

Do you chill the pastry in the tin before blind baking?

[BornToFolk]

Yep! I'm beginning to think it's just my rubbish oven.

[anklebitersmum]

ExitPursuedByABear If your potato ricer looks like this then you can make spaghetti ice-cream with it..

Scoop or three of vanilla ice cream put through the ricer onto a big bowl, add raspberry/strawberry coulis or sauce and a sprinkle of white chocolate over the top and it looks like <a class="break-all" href="http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_l9ah9kV5Qv1qzfl5vo1_500.jpg&imgrefurl=prettytasty.tumblr.com/post/1183427569/spaghetti-ice-cream-spaghetti-vanilla-ice-cream&h=334&w=500&sz=74&tbnid=K6P5xHmMOXmTkM:&tbnh=90&tbnw=135&zoom=1&usg=__Nim2F_Fi47fzrV89aBW0GlyyNLU=&docid=fWKgoNqQEYMX0M&sa=X&ei=JmGKUerhAuqY1AWSqIDIDQ&ved=0CDcQ9QEwAQ&dur=1737" rel="nofollow noindex" target="_blank">spag bol ..adults and biters love it

[ExitPursuedByABear]

Shit. I paid double that in Sainsbo's.



Will try the ice cream spaghetti

[SconeInSixtySeconds]

Spaghetti ice cream I am equal parts horrified and desperate to dish it up to someone!

[anklebitersmum]

Be aware there'll be no going back once the biters have had it

[fallenempires]

BorntoFolk I'm truly stumped then,hopefully someone will come along with a solution.What pastry do you use?

[anklebitersmum]

Possible Nando rice for ya fallenempires
Haven't eaten in Nando's but did try this rice and it's nice

all measurements are approx as I'm a 'bung it in' cook

1/2 mug finely sliced spring onions
1/2 mug fine fine chopped carrots
1/2 mug fine fine chopped red pepper
1 jalapeno and serrano pepper whizzed
1 tbsp mild olive or ground nut oil
2 mugs cooked rice (cook in chicken stock or cheat & use a savoury chicken rice not as nice but workable )
2 tbsp ish snipped coriander
1 tbsp ish lime juice
1 tsp ish soy sauce
Hot pepper sauce to taste (Encona's the best)

Heat oil in large pan whack in the onions, carrots, red pepper, jalapenos and seranno. Fry off on medium heat until soft and starting to colour but not burn. Stir in the rice, coriander, lime juice, soy sauce, and add a couple of drops of encona hot pepper sauce and cook until piping hot.

Add to ribs/ prawns/ spicy chicken/ bbq or other non meat food groups

[fallenempires]

anklebiters you're a star...

[anklebitersmum]

fingers crossed you like it..be very very careful with the encona hot sauce mind otherwise you'll look like but not be cross

[fallenempires]

I will let you know!I'm contemplating next week's meal plan atm so might squeeze it in with some chicken.

[Bakingnovice]

Re shrinking pastry - when putting in into the dish you have to gently put the pastry in and kind of lift it in to the corners making sure its not taut. It's difficult to explain but basically you make sure it's placed in and not pulled tight. Also try trimming after blind baking and to keep it from lifting use baking beans.