Weekly new recipe thread

[SarahJessicaParkin]

I've decided to try out a brand new recipe every week this year. I seem to make the same things on rotation all the time, so hope this will drag me out of my recipe rut and improve my not great cooking skills!

Would anyone like to join me?

Asparagus and Peas in a Bengali Mustard Sauce, Meera Sodha, Fresh India
This was a hit and felt like perfect for the time of year. Very unusual, it had the heat of mustard, tang of yogurt and lemon, freshness of the vegetables, and a silky creamy sauce. Already added to my successful meals list. Paired really nicely with naan (I love Meera Sodhas recipe). It was labelled as “Serves 4 as part of a main course” - I found this a little confusing and vague, so I made about 2/3 of the total recipe to serve me and DH as a main meal and that was about right. Had I been making a dal, or extra dish of some kind then directly halving probably would have been right for 2 adults.

Singapore Noodles, Felicity Cloake with Homemade Char Siu Pork, Marion’s Kitchen
I enjoyed and would make again, amping up the chilli as the noodles were a little tame for my palette. There was something else missing, can’t put my finger on what, but they were definitely inferior to my local Chinese, Singapore noodles are a long time favourite so they did have a high bar. However, it is quick, simple, tasty, and can use up leftover veggies in the fridge. The char siu pork was wonderful, not something I eat much so I can’t comment how it compares to restaurant, but am looking forward to using up the leftovers (frozen) in stir fry’s and fried rice in the coming weeks.

I made Jamie Oliver's broccoli and cheese pierogi a couple of weeks ago and really enjoyed it. My edges weren't quite so pretty but still looked impressive www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/broccoli-recipes/broccoli-cheese-pierogi/

Love this thread, it’s given me some great ideas.

I’m hoping to cook Nisha Katonas keema pie this weekend 😋

I made a new year's resolution to try out new recipes and make others more often.

I've not been in the best of health this year, so thought I'd try out some recipe delivery services such as gousto and hellofresh. I figured it would help whilst I was unable to drive and was an easy way to try out some new recipes. I got an offer for both, so it made financial sense too.

Some of the meals I've had so far are:

Chicken Soup with Garlic bread
Chermoula spiced lamb
Teriyaki sesame chicken
Spicy beef Empanadas
And the others that you can see in my screenshots.

All of them have been tasty and quick to make, and I will definitely be adding them to my repertoire.
You receive a recipe card with each, which you can keep for future reference (I prefer a paper/hard copy to using my phone to look online at recipes, although you also get online access).

As it stands atm, I prefer the meals we've had from Gousto.
So far I've found it hard to find 4 I like every week from hellofresh as their meals are heavily based around pasta and I resent paying £7 per meal for something I have in the cupboard and could make much more cheaply, plus I don't really eat pasta that often.
I had an offer with hellofresh for 4 meals/week for 4 weeks and we've just finished week 2. This offer has so far been spread out over 4 weeks as I find their meals quite repetitive so I'm ordering a box every other week until my offer is done.

I don't think I'd use these kinds of services regularly, but with an offer I'd certainly use them occasionally when I don't want to think too hard or can't get out as much when my health is bad as it's very convenient. I like that there's very little food waste.

These are the other meals we've tried. As you can see they're very heavily rice based, which is why I've not been so keen on Hellofresh as opposed to Gousto. I wouldn't usually base meals around rice and pasta, and doing that was easier with Gousto.

@FloBot7 That recipe sounds amazing! I love broccoli, cheese and dumplings so will add that to my list of recipes to try.

I made Korean Egg Bread (East - Meera Sodha) today. I got back from holiday yesterday and I'm bogged down with a cold, and it's a nice recipe. It's clear from the recipe and the method that it's more cake like than bread like (no yeast), but it's soft, spicy and smoky. Probably not one I'll rush to make often, but it's easy and tasty.

Quick Peshwari Roti, Meera Sodha, Made in India
Really enjoyed this with my meal today. As the name suggests, quick in preparation and cooking time, and it tastes great. Will make again. My one note would be that found I preferred a different method to the one in the book to roll and fill the bread. Meera suggests rolling, filling half, then folding to create a half moon, and sealing the edges. I preferred to roll out partially, fill the centre, join up all the edges and pinch to create a ball with the filling trapped inside, then roll into a normal flatbread shape. I think I have seen Chetna use this method on her YouTube channel.

Sorry for being quiet the past couple of weeks, I have been sticking firmly within my comfort zone - I will be back on it next week with more new recipes. I like the accountability to try new things this thread gives me.

Beluga Lentil Moussaka - Gousto
I have several packs of beluga lentils and made this to help use them up. While it didn't match my favourite moussaka recipe (though subbing meat for cooked red lentils) it exceeded my expectations and was very tasty. I found the potato: aubergine ratio way higher than suggested though, maybe my potatoes were bigger. I love potatoes though, so not really a problem!

Southwestern Corn Chowder - Cookie + Kate
I was looking forward to this and really enjoyed it. Unfortunately my corn was a bit tasteless which was a shame (I might try frozen this time of year if I make it again as I don't think prepping corn on the cob was worth it), but the recipe was still fresh, creamy and spicy. It was really easy as well, and I'll make again.

Royal Bengal Fish Fingers, Meera Sodha, Made in India
Really nice and will make again, turned out lovely and crisp despite being baked. I don’t feel I eat enough fish so am always looking out for nice fish recipes to add to my repertoire.

Gougères, Alain Ducasse
Simple and really delicious, a nice savoury bake/snack. Might try this more indulgent, involved version next time.

toast - I have found that Gousto consistently underestimate cooking time for potatoes, and consistently overestimate the amount required per portion!

Asparagus and Peas in a Bengali Mustard Sauce - Fresh India (Meera Sodha)
I tried this and I didn't find it as much of a hit as the poster above. My finger chillis were disappointingly mild, so this recipe probably didn't have spice level it should have done, and. think would have worked with it. I also found the lemon overpowering, but I think that's an issue with me, because I tend to find citrus flavours very dominant. I liked the idea enough to try it again with decent chillis and a citrus level to suit my palette.

Cuban Black Beans / Frijoles Negros
I really used a mix of recipes for this and averaged out the result, but the one linked above was close. I love black beans and these were really good. Tasty, but also simple enough to work as a side for other meals.

Wild Mushroom Pilau, Meera Sodha, Made in India
I had really high hopes for this as I adore both rice and mushrooms, but this fell a little flat for me. It was nice enough, but won’t make again as I have other rice based dishes I much prefer - kedgeree, winter pilau (upthread), and my grandads carrot rice recipe - so I can’t conceive a time where I would choose this again.

Oven-Roasted Chicken Tikka, Meera Sodha, Made in India
Strictly speaking this is not a new recipe, I have had this book for 6 years now and will have almost certainly made it before, but so long ago I don’t recall. Simple, classic tikka marinade and resulted in really tasty chicken. I mis-timed slightly so didn’t have as much charring as I would like, and I used breasts rather than thighs which are not as succulent or flavourful, but these are easy changes for next time, and there will be a next time.

Coconut Fish Curry, Meera Sodha, Made in India
Really lovely and very quick, definitely Southern Indian feel with curry leaves and coconut. A vibrant, light, fresh curry which felt really appropriate for the changing season and sunnier weather. I served with rice noodles which worked well. Sadly I couldn’t get hake, which Meera recommends, but was delicious with haddock. Will be making again.

Sausage cassoulet with sweet potato mash. Recipe was crafted to use up ingredients I have lots of or need to use up (vegetarian sausages, beluga lentils, tomato passata, sweet potatoes, carrots). It was quite nice, not one I'd go out of my way to make again (and not a patch on Delia's braised sausage in red wine which is divine even with vegetarian sausages) but if I were left with a similar bunch of ingredients it's a nice meal and easy to do so would repeat it.

Murgh Malai, Dishoom Cook Book
I live close to a Dishoom, and this is one of my absolute favourite dishes there, so have been meaning to recreate it for a little while. My version probably wasn’t quite as good but, as far as is realistic for me, replicated the restaurant dish. It’s a very different style of tikka to the classic version by Meera I did last week, so nice to have both in my arsenal, will absolutely be making again.

Cauliflower, Cashew, Pea, and Coconut Curry, Meera Sodha, Made in India
I had seen this recommended on the vegetarian curry thread so decided to give it a go. Really happy with the outcome, felt like a comfort food curry.

Japanese Spinach Salad with Sesame Dressing
This was a great side dish, full of flavour and low effort. However, the flavours in the dressing are quite strong and I found it a little much, next time I would make 2/3 of the dressing for same amount of spinach.

Caramelised Onion, Coconut and Egg Curry - Made in India
Very simple recipe, light on the spices and with tamarind which is always welcome. It was good, uses ingredients I almost always have in, and I’ll make it again, though I think it would work well served with lime wedges or fresh coriander to give it some acidity.

Corn on the Cob with Chilli Garlic Butter - Made in India
I feel this almost shouldn’t count as it just butter, chilli, garlic and corn, but it was in a recipe book! Really tasty, as expected. The recipe suggests lime which I totally forgot about when it came to serving, but it was good without.

Thai Yellow Curry
A few months ago I picked up some Mae Ploy Thai yellow curry paste at the Chinese supermarket, then put it in my cupboard and only remembered I had it when I had slightly over half a tin of coconut milk to use up. Really good flavour and I’ll definitely make again (which is a good thing as the pot is huge for how much I need).

And not a new recipe, but I tried the tandoori broccoli from East upthread on the barbecue rather than the oven, which was really delicious.

Griddled Asparagus with Coconut Yoghurt, Rosie Birkett, The Times
A Sri Lankan inspired dish, ridiculously quick and easy, and so full of flavour. Curry leaves, mustard seeds, coconut… I knew reading the recipe it would be a winner for me. Could probably only be improved by cooking the asparagus on the barbecue instead of griddle (or in my case George Foreman).

Aubergine Pollichattu, Meera Sodha, East
Meera doesn’t specify the size of aubergine, and mine were pretty standard for UK, but it took significantly longer in the oven than the suggested 40 minutes. Mine had 50 minutes and still felt quite hard, so I opened the parcels up and arranged the stacks into shorter ones and gave a further 15 minutes. Although that was really annoying the dish (when it was ready) was well worth it - so tasty, sharp, tangy, fresh, with silky aubergine. The effort was fairly low with the majority of the cook time being handsoff. I obviously have barbecues on the mind as I thought when eating this would be wonderful wrapped in foil and cooked nestled in the coals.

Hot Green Bean, Cashew and Coconut Salad - Fresh India, Meera Sodha
I’m not the biggest lover of green beans, but this recipe was a surprising hit. A simple recipe where everything works together beautifully. I still wouldn’t call myself a green bean fan, but will be making this again.

Sweet potato in tomato, lime and cardamom sauce - Yotam Ottolenghi, Flavour
As suggested in the introduction to this recipe, I also added chickpeas to make it more substantial. I really enjoyed this recipe. The cardamom came through strongly, the dark edges on the sweet potato were lovely and the garlic and chilli oil was delightful on top.

Asparagus salad with tamarind and lime - Yotam Ottolenghi, Flavour
This recipe was nice enough and I liked the shaved asparagus, but overall I didn’t rate this enough to make again. I find it interesting looking at the recipe name now, because I found the parsley and mint the most dominant flavour over the tamarind (which I wouldn’t have picked out in the finished product).

20-minute Dumpling Noodle Soup - Marion’s Kitchen
I used broccoli as a replacement green vegetable because that’s what I had in. This was a solid ok for me: not the tastiest meal I’ve had but I can’t really complain for the effort involved. Just a note that the recipe is missing a few steps (straining broth and assembly) and assumes that a soft boiled egg is an ingredient rather than a process step.

Oh dear it looks like it's just me here! I'm enjoying this thread anyway as it's keeping me motivated.

Coconut rice with aubergines and pickled onion - Meera Sodha, East
I enjoyed this one, though I did substitute cucumber for onions as I really dislike cucumber. It was easy to make, and I'd make it again, but I might increase the water to coconut milk ratio in the rice as I think I'd prefer that.

I'll join you again @toastofthetown! Been following the thread still but not very adventurous of late... But i have actually tried a few new things this week so here goes:

Tonight - Cauliflower, sugar snap & almond curry from the 30 minute Mowgli cookbook. Didn't work out particularly well tbh. It tasted ok, though could have done with a bit more heat for me. Cooking times were way off though - it's supposed to be a dry curry & according to the recipe the veg should cook in its own steam with no added liquid, but mine just didn't! Cooked for twice as long and had to add a bit of water as it just kept sticking to the pan. Not sure I'd bother with this one again, I've had much nicer cauliflower & potato curries (which is basically what this is).

Also made a Hairy Bikers roast vegetable lasagne (from Veggie Feasts) at the weekend which, although nothing out the ordinary, was very tasty.

And finally Nadiya's chicken shawarma thehappyfoodie.co.uk/recipes/nadiya-hussains-chicken-shawarma/ - this has been on the menu plan for weeks and not happened for one reason or another but I finally made it on Wednesday. I didn't have quite enough chicken so made up the weight with biggish mushrooms - it went down very well indeed and sure I will make it again soon. Think it maybe had a bit too much liquid because of the mushrooms but it didn't really matter. Made her broccoli slaw too and this Lebanese slaw www.feastingathome.com/lebanese-slaw-salatet-malfouf/ which made a nice change from the mayo / yoghurt based slaws I usually make.

Sorry for briefly abandoning the thread, I was on holiday, but I am back with new recipes today! Good have someone new join us, it’s gone very quiet from everyone other than toast. @LittleFriendSusan that shawarma recipe sounds right up my street so may be trying it in the coming weeks.

King Prawns with Garlic and Mustard Seeds, Meera Sodha, Made in India
So easy, and very fast as there was hardly any prep at all. I really enjoyed this and prawns are normally not my favourite. I can see myself making this again.

Corn on the Con with Chilli Garlic Butter , Meera Sodha, Made in India
This was mentioned up thread and inspired me to try it. Delicious, but given simplicity of ingredients I knew exactly what to expect so no surprise there!

I’m enjoying this thread! Not very impressive but made this for myself and my young kids, easy, tasty and fairly successful with the 3 year old! recipes.sainsburys.co.uk/recipes/easy-chicken-and-apricot-tagine?meal_plan=155

Hi everyone! Great to see new people here.

Junjaro (Kidney Bean Curry) - Meera Sodha, Made in India
This recipe caught my eye when I first read the book and I’ve finally got around to cooking it. Another hit, I loved the cinnamon flavour running through it. This was so quick as well - it beat the fast cook setting on my rice cooker!

Black Stone Flower Lamb Chops, Kricket, The Pass
Kricket is a restaurant I have been to a couple of times, and really rate it, so when I saw they had some recipes on The Pass I knew I had to try one. However, as they have a regularly changing seasonal menu this dish was not available either time I went so, unlike Dishoom, I can’t compare my efforts to theirs. Regardless, I was very happy with the outcome (I only made the lamb part without the accompanying raita and chutney), and felt it was fairly low effort for a great end result. The marinade it uses is pretty different in flavour to previous tikka and tandoori recipes I have tried, so nice to add this to my options depending how I feel/what ingredients I have in.

n.b. The Pass is a website that has recipes from lots of different restaurants, while you have to create an account to view the methods of the recipe it is free to do so.

Bump - I'm bored with our meals. DH is fussy and doesn't like any veg except carrots and peas! He also doesn't like any fish. His DM cooked him traditional meals and he hasn't wanted to expand his tastebuds, he is 51! So our meals are based around chicken and minced beef. He does like a lot of junk food but obviously I reign him in. Ha ha, its like cooking for a toddler

I'm a vegetarian but this got rave reviews from my neighbour's children www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/honey-mustard-chicken-thighs-spring-veg

Needs more potatoes in my opinion but that might be my Irish-ness peaking through.