BBQ Chicken Drumsticks

I know, a post. 

I'm almost as shocked as you are.

This post was on the site before the makeover, and now it's back (new and improved! with revisions and a picture!) and just as delicious as before.

Ingredients:
(I obviously made mine for just me, but all the below amounts are for 8 drumsticks/4 people - of course, it depends on the amount of drumsticks per person you want and how much sauce you like as to how you change the amounts. The more, the merrier, IMO)

One tin plum or chopped tomatoes (400g)
3 garlic cloves
Half a large white onion, finely chopped
Dark soy sauce (about 100ml)
Sugar
Honey (tbsp)
Salt
Black pepper
Olive oil
Chilli powder
CorianderTarragon
8 chicken drumsticks

As usual, use your best judgement when determining how much of something to chuck in if I haven't provided a guide. 


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Put everything but the coriander and tarragon in a blender. Blend. (Yes, it is this easy.)
Warning: my blended/uncooked sauce smelled like it was 90% garlic and wasn't hugely tasty when I tried it, but once cooked it was delicious!

Fry each piece of chicken on both sides to seal, and layer in a large over-proof bowl.Pour the sauce all over the chicken, and add coriander and tarragon over the top. Cover the bowl with a lid of some sort and cook at around 180 degrees for about an hour and a quarter.* 

About 20 minutes before they're due to come out, uncover the pot and turn the oven down a bit. 

It's all ready when the chicken juices are running clear when poked, as usual. The chicken/BBQ sauce mix should be stirred every now and then so the herbs mix around and the sauce doesn't form a skin, especially when it's uncovered.

If you just want the sauce, follow the steps but cook in a large saucepan - I can't guarantee it'll be as good without the meaty juices, but I'm sure it'll be just lovely as a dip.

Note - I've cooked this a couple of times, and have softened the onions in a frying pan with a little oil before adding them to mix and blending, or used different types of tinned tomatoes, or forgotten to cover the chicken/sauce mix in the oven, and it's always turned out alright. So don't panic; just enjoy.


*Again, if using more/less drumsticks/sauce, adjust times accordingly. 3 drumsticks with around 1/3 of the sauce the recipe makes took about 40 minutes to cook.

Chicken & Chickpea Curry, & Saag Aloo

So Jenn and I cooked a curry. A big curry. Seriously, there was enough for 4 people but we destroyed it all anyway! We decided on a basic chicken curry as the main element of the meal, with sides dishes. This is a chicken curry recipe I learnt half of my mum, half of the good old "that spice smells indian-y, stick it in"

CHICKEN AND CHICKPEA CURRY


2 chicken breasts cut into bitesize pieces
1 red onion
1 tin of chickpeas
1 tin of chopped tomatoes
2 tsps coriander seeds
4 tsps garam masala mix
2 tsps dried chillis
salt and pepper

pre heat the oven to 180
Heat up 4 tbsps of oil in a frying fan and add the coriander seeds. gently fry for a couple of minutes then add the chicken.
Fry the Chicken until colored, but not fully cooked. It will finish cooking in the oven later.
Add the diced onion and fry until soft.
At this point add the spices, the garam masala, salt, pepper and dried chillis.
When the spices have coated all the chicken add the can of drained chickpeas, stir until the peas are coated in the spices then add the tomatoes.
Fill the empty tomatoe can up with water, swill it round then add to the curry. Give it a good stir and decant into a oven proof dish. Cook for half an hour.
When it has been in for half an hour serve. However the longer the curry cooks the better the spices will cook, so turn down to around 100 and you can cook it for as long as you need.

SAAG ALOO


1 large potato
1 bag of baby spinach
1 white onion
2 tsps coriander seeds
salt and pepper

Heat up 3 tbsps of oil in a frying pan and gently fry the coriander seeds. Half the onion, then thinly slice. Cut the potatoes into half cm cubes and boil in salted water until soft. Fry the onion with the seeds until they are cooked through and soft. Add the cooked potatoes and the bag of spinach and wilt. Once the spinach has wilted, stir well into the onions and add the salt and pepper.

Lemon & Mustard Chicken

Yeah yeah, another chicken/potatoes/spring greens recipe. But y'know, spring greens come in big packages so you'll have to do lots of different things with them.
So there.

This recipe comes from here (if you need more spring greens recipes, while 'tis the season) and I pretty much stuck to it, as much as I ever stick to recipes (read the first instruction before I start cooking, then forget the recipe exists and do whatever I feel like.)

For those of you who are disinclined to click links, here's the recipe (+ the tweaks/tips I added).

(Serves 2)

Splash of olive oil
Knob of butter
2 chicken breasts
1 medium red onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, crushed
2 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons wholegrain mustard
Large handful of spring greens leaves, chopped
Lemon juice
3 tablespoons double cream
Salt
Pepper
Thyme
Worcester sauce

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We served it with creamy mash (rice or couscous also come recommended) - peel and chop the potatoes and set them away to boil before you do this...

Add butter and olive oil to a frying pan (I used a grill pan. 'Cos I like the way the chicken looks when it's cooked in there). Flatten out and score the chicken breasts. Place them score side down in the pan. Cook for around 5 minutes, then turn them over and add the mustard and honey to the cooked sides.
Add the onions, garlic and thyme and cook for another minute or two, then add the spring greens, salt, pepper, and a squirt of lemon juice. Cover and cook for another 5 minutes or so.
When the chicken is cooked, take it out of the pan and plate up. Add the cream and  worcester sauce to the pan/rest of the mixture and stir in.
Serve on top of the chicken.

Creamy Tarragon Chicken (& Spring Greens with Bacon)

(Serves 2)

We have a lot of spring greens in the fridge. I came across the SG&B dish on the BBC Good Food site, so they can take the credit for that (though I'm still typing it out here), but the chicken and potato goodness was one of those 'chuck it in, see what happens' sort of ventures that I enjoy so much.

It turned out well.

My Mam (who is my only customer) said it was delicious and probably the best thing I'd ever cooked for her. So there's a good review for you.

For the Chicken

2 chicken breasts (or 4 goujons, as we used), cut into slithers

5 or 6 new potatos, cut into bitesize chunks

1/3 red onion, sliced

50g Philedelphia

1 chicken stock cube

1 tsb honey (ours has lemon in it, I recommend a few drops of lemon juice if yours is normal honey)

a few drops of worcester sauce

1 garlic clove, crushed

tarragon

coriander

salt

pepper

For the side

Half a head(?) spring greens, thinly sliced

2 rashers back bacon - the BBC recommended a smoked, thick cut bacon. But we like/only had normal, unsmoked back bacon. So there.

1/2 veg stock cube*

A knob of butter

Black pepper

*Again, the BBC says to cook the greens in veg stock water for 5 mins but I think this made it a bit soggy. Perhaps it just needs to really drain, for a few minutes even, but if you like your spring greens really crispy, in more of a 'crispy seaweed' sense, then forego the boiling/veg stock part and just hoy 'em in the frying pan with the bacon.

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Chuck the chopped chicken and potatoes in an overproof dish with the herbs, salt and pepper and rub the herbs into them. Add the onions to the dish, and put all the other ingredients (except the Philly) into a jug with around 400ml of water until the stock cube dissolves. Pour the mixture over the ingredients in the dish and stick it in the oven on about 200º for about 40 mins (or until the chicken is cooked and the potatoes are soft).

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Chop the greens and pop them in veg stock water to simmer for 5 mins.

Chop the bacon and add it to the butter in a frying pan. Add the greens and fry away until everything is crispy. Top with black pepper and serve.

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When ready, take the dish from the oven and pop it on top of a medium heat hob. Add the Philly and stir it in, leaving it on the heat for a few minutes until it's mixed into the sauce and thickened it.

I had to leave the dish on the hob for quite a while as I found my sauce to be a bit thin, but I had put more water in than I've noted here so hopefully you won't have the same problem!

Enjoy!

Tortillas.

decided on a whim that i'd like a wrap for tea the other night, but had no change on me to pop to the corner shop for tortilla wraps. a quick google told me i had all the ingredients and so i set about making em from scratch!

scroll down for tortilla recipes and some filling suggestions inc. one veggie/vegan option...

chicken & avocado tortillas with spicy rice

tortillas

this is really still in trial and error phase - i've made them on two occasions, both producing great tortillas, but of different sizes and amounts of tortillas. as such, this will, i think, make 2 decent sized tortillas (about 10 inches across, but very unlikely to be circular!)

4 heaped tablespoons plain flour

large dash of salt

1 tablespoon olive oil

warmed up milk (add as necessary)

pepper (optional)

you can also add other herbs/spices/flavourings as desired, but these make great plain tortillas!

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add flour, salt, pepper and olive oil to a bowl and stir together with a spoon. gradually add the milk (i heated a little through in the microwave) and stir or whisk 'til you have a slightly sticky dough. turn it out onto a floured surface and knead, knead, knead for a few minutes - it should take the stickiness out of the dough! split the ball into smaller balls (one for each tortilla) and leave to rest in the fridge for about half an hour.

heat a little olive oil in a non-stick frying pan.

flour up a rolling pin and a bench and roll out your tortilla - they should be as thin as possible, and you're trying to get them round (but mine were either square or wonky; no matter). you can also pick them up and let gravity do it's thing if they're thin enough! whack them in your pan for about a minute on each side (they should crisp up a bit and, well, look like tortillas!) then stick them on a plate. they can then either be filled or you can cover them in cling film and leave them in the fridge for a couple of days - great if you like to eat wraps instead of sandwiches!

**the website i got this from also included baking powder but i had none and didn't notice a difference!

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now you've got your tortillas, you can fill 'em. these are three fillings i've had in my tortillas over the last couple of days - 2 chicken-y numbers for tea (with homemade fries and spicy rice, respectively) and one for veggie lunch option.

chicken and humous - fills two tortillas (or one large one)

one small chicken breast, cut into strips & marinated

half a tomato, thinly sliced

1/2 a small white onion, sliced

1/3 red pepper, sliced

1/3 yellow pepper, sliced

a big dollop of humous

1 heaped tablespoon natural yoghurt

mint

for the marinade: olive oil, plus squirts and splashes of ketchup, honey, worcester sauce and fish sauce, and some chilli powder, basil, salt and pepper.

- slice your chicken and stick it in the marinade (i did this while my tortilla dough was resting), then put it in the fridge.

- the mint yoghurt is THE EASIEST THING EVER and is great. literally, sprinkle mint into some natural yoghurt. keep tasting it to get to the desired mint-y level and leave to one side...

- fry your chicken in a little olive oil for a minute, then add in the peppers and onions and continue frying until cooked through.

- spread humous on the tortilla - you should keep your fillings to the centre of the tortilla, leaving space at the bottom too! - then lay the sliced tomato on top. if you want to add salad (spinach is a great choice) put this on too, then top it off with your chicken-y mixture. dollop the mint yoghurt on top then fold the bottom up and the sides over each other! (i'm keeping mine together with skewers in the pic...)

chicken and avocado - fills two tortillas (or one large one)

one small chicken breast, cut into strips & marinated

half an avocado, sliced

dollop of cream cheese

relish:

half a tomato, roughly chopped

1/3 large red onion, sliced

2 small mushrooms, roughly chopped

chilli powder

large squirt of ketchup

a little worcester sauce

marinade:

tablespoon natural yoghurt

tablespoon lemon juice

teaspoon honey

big sprinkle of coriander

little sprinkle worcester sauce

pepper

salt

- as before, slice and marinade the chicken.

- for the relish, add the onion and tomato to a little olive oil in a pan and fry for a minute, then add the mushroom and fry for another minute. add the other relish ingredients and keep it simmering until the rest is ready.

- fry the chicken for a few minutes; until cooked through.

- spread the cream cheese as before. add the sliced avocado and the chicken on top of that, then place

the relish on top

and wrap. this was my favourite wrap of the three! the chicken marinade is wonderful.

(leftover relish goes into spicy rice, along with some peas. alternatively you can leave it in the fridge for another time!)

humous, tomato and avocado - fills one tortilla

one big dollop of humous

half a tomato, thinly sliced

1/4 avocado, thinly sliced

a little salad

this is simple - just layer up the ingredients, starting with the humous (i find wraps are best when they go like this: spreadable things/slices of things/chunks of things/sauces&relishes).

add some basil or pepper if you'd like!

this would probably be great with some cheese on top too!

Testing, Testing: Thai Style Chicken

of the couple of food blogs i follow, or recipes i come across that make me go "YES. I AM TRYING THAT." i very rarely actually get around to making them.

this one is different.

thai style chicken legs, from smitten kitchen:

pic from smitten kitchen

aka the first time i ever used fish sauce, a sentiment shared by Deb of SK.

the ingredients listed?

5 garlic cloves, coarsely chopped
1/4 cup chopped cilantro (or flat-leaf parsley if you are cilantro-averse)
1/4 cup Asian fish sauce
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 tablespoons hoisin sauce (I accidentally doubled this and can only advise you do the same)
1 1/2 teaspoons ground coriander
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black or white pepper
8 whole chicken legs, split, or 8 drumsticks and 8 thighs (about 5 pounds total)
Thai sweet chili sauce, for serving

of course, i am but one person, so i took one chicken thigh and added it to a dish which had 1 finely chopped garlic clove and significant splashes of fish sauce, olive oil and hoisin sauce, plus large sprinkles of coriander, salt and pepper. i rolled the chicken around in the sauce and whacked it in the oven for about half an hour (until the juices ran clear when poked), occasionally taking it out and splashing the sauce over it a little more.

verdict: delicious. i'd recommend fish sauce and might look for more recipes involving it, cos it has a nice taste and isn't overly fishy. you can find it in supermarkets, but i got mine from one of the asian stores in town on a whim. really delicious, and perfect for a summer dish.

tips: keep the dish covered or the sauce will burn a little. leave the chicken to marinade overnight if you have the time.

serving suggestion: SK had hers with mango coleslaw (of which there is a recipe on her blog), but i had me with potato... cubes? (boiled for a little while then fried in shallow oil. essentially, chips, but in cube shapes) and with mixed pepper and onions, fried, and with the excess sauce added. delish.

Murder Mystery - A Meal.

another day, another meal for 8 people.

we played a murder mystery game called 'the champagne murders' which i decided meant something classy with a hint of 'france' about it.

menu+pics+recipes, PLUS tips for cooking for a large group of people, you ask?

step this way...

starter

potato and courgette fritters with hot red onion relish

no pics of the starter - apologies - but this was so easy. as with most of the menu, a lot of it was prepared beforehand - all relish ingredients were chopped and stored ready to chuck in the pan, and the potatoes and courgettes for the fritters were pre-cooked and left to cool in the fridge. AND the batter was mixed ahead of time.

for the fritters - serves 8

8 small/medium potatoes, mashed

2 courgettes, chopped into small batons

flour

bicarbonate of soda

water

herbs and spices: basil, salt and pepper

for the relish

2 large red onions, chopped into long strips

one box of cherry tomatoes, diced

2 garlic cloves, crushed and chopped finely

2 small chillis

half a tin of chopped tomatoes

herbs and spices: salt, pepper, coriander

extras: heaped teaspoons of honey, worcestershire sauce, ketchup

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cook and mash the potatoes, and fry the courgettes in butter until soft. mix together, throw in the herbs&spices, and leave to cool.

mix a little flour and water in a bowl until smooth but quite thin, then add 2 level teaspoons of bicarb and mix again.

when it comes time to serve, throw all the relish ingredients apart from the tinned tomatoes into a hot pan with oil in it (i use olive oil). you'll need to stir this mixture every couple of minutes - don't forget or it might burn, but you can turn the heat down a little. its good to get someone to stir for you....

also, add plenty of oil to a separate pan. keep the oil handy for topping this pan up!

with your hands, mould the potato and courgette mixture into coin-shaped pieces, dip both sides in the batter, and plonk them in the oil in the empty pan. they can be any size you like, but i made them approx 2 inches (??) in diameter and they ended up serving 3 fritters per person, which is pretty good.

fry for around a minute on each side, then transfer to another plate (we put them all on one big plate which was warmed through to keep them hot, and dished them up once they were all cooked. highly recommended.)

when there's only a little mixture left (meaning you're probably on the last batch of fritters), add the tinned tomatoes to the relish and stir in. this should mean both are ready at the same time.

plate up the fritters and the relish - we choice to put all the relish in one big bowl and let people help themselves. which was a good idea, because some people LOVED it and though I thought this might be too much for 8 people, it was just right.

main

creme fraiché chicken + creamy mash + broccoli

again, serves 8

8 chicken thighs*

one large tub of creme fraiché

coriander

salt+pepper

9 medium potatoes, with skins on, mashed

butter

double cream

salt+pepper

one large head of broccoli

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*chicken thighs are, IMO, the perfect cut of chicken. they aren't too big, they're easy to cook, and they're CHEAP, CHEAP, CHEAP! (or, £1.50 for 4 in Morrisons). they're on the bone, of course, but they have the wonderful taste of chicken quarters without being as big or fiddly. AND they have the skin on. yumyumyum.

before the party: brown the chicken thighs in a grill pan, then put them in a shallow tray for the oven - sprinkle a little olive oil on them, plus the coriander, salt and pepper, than pour the whole tub of creme fraiche over them and leave in the fridge.

you could also chop the potatoes and the broccoli and leave them in pans ready to cook, but you should keep water in the pans so they stay fresh.

this is such a simple main, though - once the party is going, all you need to do is bang the chicken in the oven and set the veg off to cook when needed. i recommend turning the oven on to warm up as you serve the starter, as the chicken takes about half an hour to 40 minutes to cook.

the chicken can then be plated up, one to a plate. we poured the sauce left in the tray into a jug for those who wanted extra sauce.

the butter, double cream and salt and pepper just need to be chucked into the pan with the potatoes and mashed until smooth. again, we served the veg in large dishes for everyone help themselves. we also served a jug of gravy...

note: a little more mash (10 potatoes worth?) and more veg (either 2 medium instead of one large head of broccoli, or perhaps a packets worth of baby carrots) wouldn't have gone a miss, according to our guests. although i thought my portion was just right, given that we had a 3 course meal!

dessert

crème brûlée with strawberries dipped in chocolate

easier than it sounds, honest. but, a cooking torch is advised. i got mine from ebay (plus butane gas from amazon) for under a tenner....

i cooked ours in one big cake tin and cut it into smaller portions before creating the caramelised sugar topping - because we didn't have any ramekins, let alone 8. if you have them, or have more time to collect small tins*, then i recommend that. purely because it doesn't matter if the crème sticks to the pan/tin foil, then...

for one large but relatively thin crème brûlée, which just about serves 8...

5 egg yolks (i used the whites to make a white chocolate mousse)

one tub of whipping cream (300ml?)

double cream (about 150ml, i think)

200g sugar (of course, i didn't weigh this out)

one vanilla pod

sugar for topping

one punnet of strawberries

50g-ish of milk chocolate

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i prepped this first, because it need to cook and then cool in the fridge.

separate your eggs (the whites, if you're keeping them for mousse/meringues/whatever, can be put in the fridge...) and beat the yolks, then add the cream and the sugar and whisk until smooth.

slice the vanilla pod sideways and scrape all the seeds into the bowl. warning: they will get everywhere. i had them under my nails for hours. at least they smell nice. (note: i've lost the recipe i used, but the bbc site recommends cooking the mixture first and adding the vanilla case to the pan then straining it....it all sounds very complicated, but you could read that method either by clicking the above link)

done! see how simple? pour into a lined cake tin and cook in a medium/low oven for about an hour and a half, or until you can stick a knife in the middle and it comes out clean.

as for the strawbs, melt the chocolate over a pan of boiling water, then dip the bottom of each strawberry in it and leave to cool in the fridge. simple, but delicious.

when it comes to serving, remove the crème brûlée from the tin (as best you can**), cut into desired portions***, and sprinkly with sugar until unleashing your shiny-magic-torch-gadget on them.

thumbs up from our dinner guests!

** i lined my tin with tin foil, and it got well and truly stuck to the brûlée, which is, of course, not ideal. maybe try lining with baking paper next time?

*** yes, you CAN make a large brûlée and cut into smaller portions. i looked all over for an answer to this question before committing to it anyway, but i'd recommend not caramelising until afterwards because the top will crack when you cut into it. purely aesthetic reasons....

and * i'm currently collecting small tins (i.e. the single portions of baked beans, kidney beans, etc. small, quite thin, about ramekin sized, y'know?), washing them, and taking the top and bottom off them. i reckon they'd be a great, cheap way of making ramekin sized food without the ramekin, or forming 'stacks' for nice presentation. you know, like on 'come dine with me' when they make seafood stacks, or something.

also something i made: candle/old wine bottle table pieces. pretty, simple, and they don't take up too much room on your table!

Creamy Lemon Chicken.

d00dz, it's been a while.

yo sup?

so yeah; this is actually (modified) from a book - "The Classic 1000 Student Recipes" by Carolyn Humphries, which my mam bought me when I moved away for uni, and which really cemented my love of cooking. You could do much worse - there are some really simple recipes in here; it literally tells you how to poach an egg (pretty much the only way I eat them now), but also gives you much more complicated and expensive recipes, including dinner party menus.

And yes, students do do dinner parties, kthnx.

I used to make this all the time in first year, and decided, when wondering what to do with some chicken, that I would bring it back for 3rd year.

ingredients

chicken (preferably a chicken breast, and I will write the recipe for this, but I cut the meat off of a thigh)

one portion rice (i used brown rice)

a handful of peas

for the sauce

a few splashes of lemon juice

1 tsp honey

a splash of double cream (about 2 tsps, so sez the recipe, but really, depends on how creamy you want it)

half of a chicken oxo cube

cornflour, made up in 2 tablespoons of cold water (opt)

some splashes of water

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set your rice off cooking, then move onto the chicken-y goodness.

whack the chicken breast in a pan (any will do; no oil needed) and swiftly add the water, lemon, honey, and oxo cube, plus some salt&pepper. You only need a little splash of water (again, recipe sez 5 tablespoons) but you can keep topping it up a little every now and then.

simmer with a lid on until the chicken is cooked through; topping up the water as necessary.

once that's done, add the cream to your liking, and the cornflour if the sauce is too thin at this point.

add the peas to the rice pan.

carry on simmering for a few mins, then drain the rice&peas and serve, resting the chicken breast on top and pouring over the sauce.

quick; simple; delicious.

The Old Foil Bag Approach.

this is a genuine Mother Ana method of cooking y'all. I've seen a lot of people use it and i don't blame them, it's simple the easiest way of cooking fish and meat in the easiest way. Basically you bake your chosen food in a foil bag with olive oil and seasoning. it stays tender and juicy and the flavour stays in the bag as theres no evaporation. it's my favourite way to cook salmon.

i used a tattie peeler to get thin slices of courgette, and lay them on the bottom of the foil. topped with a salmon steak, brocolli, mange tout, black olives, olive oil, seasoning, garlic and a touch of water. seal the foil up with a little room for steaming and pop in a 180 degree oven for 20 minutes

i ate a little before i realised i should document what it looks like cooked

please do try this method of cooking, it works well with all fish and chicken. obviously cook it a little bit more :)

Curries! Galore

i know jenn has already posted a curry recipie (am i spelling that right?) (no, you are not, it is recipe. loveforyou - jenn) but here are 4 of my favourites...

Tikka Chicken (per person)
1 chicken breast
3 tablespoons natural yoghurt
2 tsps Tikka seasoning (this is available from most supermarkets, its bright red)
4 cherry tomatoes
fresh coriander
1 tsps garam masala
salt and pepper
squeeze of lemon

combine all the ingredients on a bowl, mix well and leave in the fridge for no less than 6 hours. mix everything but the chicken first and taste and add more spice the spicier you like it.
heat some oil in a frying pan, and pick out the chicken pieces and fry until they turn a darker colour. bung in the rest of the sauce and stir. add a little more yoghurt if it looks dry. preheat the oven to 180. put the chicken and sauce in a overproof dish and put in the oven for half an hour. when serving, blop on about a table spoon of yoghurt.

Vegetable Curry
for the basic curry sauce:
2 cloves of garlic
2 tsps Garam masala
1 tsps chilli powder
squeeze of lemon
seasoning
half an onion
half a can of chopped tomatoes

fry the garlic gently in oil, make sure you dont burn it. add chopped onion, and fry to soften them. add the garam masala and chilli powder, stir into the garlic and onions. add a little bit of water if it looks dry. add the lemon juice and seasoning, stir then add the tomatoes. at this point you can add any precooked veg you like. butternut squash is particularly good, and even spinach. when you've added the veg, pop the curry in the oven at 180 degrees for half an hour

Bombay Potatoes
follow the basic vegetable curry recipie, except cut out the chilli powder and tomatoes. add par boiled halved new potatoes. if the curry is too dry, use water to make the sauce less thick. still bake in the oven at the same temperature and time

Spiced Rice
enough brown or white rice for one person (half a cup)
1 tsps tumeric
1 tsps garam masala
2 tbs chopped onion (pre fried)
2 tbs peas

prepare the rice as usual. when cooked, add the spices, onion and peas. continue to heat through until all the ingredients are hot.