Georgina Hayden

Feeding since 1982

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Batch, budget cooking – Beef Rendang

01.08.2019 by georgie // Leave a Comment

Oh January you funny month. When pay day can’t come soon enough, no one can be bothered to leave the house (SO COLD), and an empty diary is a dream – or is that just me?

And now for slight digression (bear with me). I get asked to do lots of interesting things via the weird and wonderful world of Social Media, brands that you wouldn’t necessarily associate with a food writer. I mostly end up saying no because, well, authenticity. However last year Voucher Codes got in touch to ask me if I’d be up for filming a budget friendly family recipe for them. Interesting. Whilst they are not a food brand I appreciate their aim to help people save money and be more savvy. I am constantly trying to be less wasteful, for the environment and for our pockets. So I said yes, and gave them one of my favourite batch cook recipes.

At the time I had just cooked this beef rendang for friends that had come to stay. There were 4 adults in total and 3 children, aged 9, 5 and 16 months. I actually made it with chicken thighs, which you can very easily do. And left out nearly all the chilli, as Persephone was due to eat it too (I sneaked in a very little bit). I simply added chilli oil to the adult portions at the end.

So, here you go, if you can face it, theres a video below of yours truly demonstrating how easy it is to make said Rendang. Perfect for all ages (just adjust the chilli), great to make in advance, little involvement and it freezes really well. I hope you like it.

BEEF RENDANG

  • 4 – 6 dried red chillies
  • 2cm piece of ginger
  • 2 lemongrass stalks
  • 2cm piece galangal (if you can’t find galangal replace with an extra piece of ginger)
  • 4 cloves of garlic
  • 3 shallots
  • 1kg beef shin or stewing beef
  • 1 x 400g can of coconut milk
  • 4 kaffir lime leaves
  • 50g desiccated coconut (unsweetened ideally but don’t worry if not, just soak it in boiling water for a few minutes first)
  • Basmati rice, to serve
  • ½ bunch of coriander

Store cupboard ingredients:

  • 1 tsp turmeric
  • Groundnut or vegetable oil
  • 1 star anise
  • 1 stick of cinnamon
  • 1 tbsp soft light brown sugar
  • Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

 

Method:

  1. Place a large casserole pan on a medium heat and toast the dried chillies for a minute.
  2. Meanwhile peel and roughly chop the ginger, galangal (if using), garlic and shallots.
  3. Add to a food processor along with the turmeric and toasted chillies.
  4. Blitz the spices to a paste, adding a splash of water if need be.
  5. Trim the lemongrass stalks and bash them gently in a pestle and mortar.
  6. Pop a large casserole type pan on a medium heat and pour in a couple of tablespoons of groundnut oil.
  7. Add the star anise, cinnamon and lemongrass and fry for a minute.
  8. Spoon in all the spice paste from the food processor and reduce the heat a little.
  9. Gently saute for 10 minutes to soften, stirring often so it doesn’t catch.
  10. Chop the beef into 3cm pieces, removing any large pieces of fat, and add to the pan.
  11. Fry for a few minutes to brown then add the coconut milk along with the kaffir lime leaves.
  12. Turn the heat up and gently bring to the boil. Stir in the brown sugar and a good pinch of salt and pepper.
  13. Once boiling cover the pot and cook on the lowest heat for around 2 – 2.5 hours.
  14. Check the beef, it should be tender and falling apart. If using shin it may take longer, up to 4 hours.
  15. While the beef is cooking toast the coconut. If your desiccated coconut is sweetened, soak in a small bowl in boiling water for a few minutes, then drain it in a sieve to remove the excess sugar.
  16. Toast the coconut in a dry frying pan over a low heat until lightly golden, then keep to one side.
  17. When the rendang is ready, remove the lid and stir in the toasted coconut.
  18. Turn up the heat and bring the rendang back to the boil. You want to cook it over a medium- high heat for a further 15 – 20 minutes, so that the liquid completely cooks away and you are left with a sticky and gnarly curry, that is coated in the coconut spice mix.
  19. Don’t be afraid to let it catch slightly as it cooks, you want it to darken and caramelise.
  20. Cook your rice according to packet instructions and serve alongside the rendang, garnishing with the chopped coriander leaves.

Categories // Batch Cooking, Family, General, Main meals, Stirring Slowly

Slow Cooked Spiced Lamb Shoulder with Pomegranate

03.28.2018 by georgie // Leave a Comment

It’s Easter week! English Easter that is. Greek Easter is another week away yet, and I’m so glad if I am honest. I like to extend the festivities as long as possible, and having them on different weekends does make it all a lot more fun. And easier with visiting families (we get to see Pete’s this weekend then mine next weekend). Double the celebrations. 

Spiced Pomegranate Lamb

[Read more…]

Categories // Celebration, Greek and Cypriot, Main meals, Stirring Slowly

Batch cooking Turmeric and Coconut Dhal

11.07.2017 by georgie // 10 Comments

A few weeks ago I posted a photo on Instagram of a large vat of dhal that I had made for a friend going through chemo. When I asked him what he’d like me to cook he told me he was very interested in the healing properties of fresh turmeric and gentle spices, so this seemed like the perfect recipe. Enough people asked for me to share it to give me the kick up the arse that I needed to do my 2nd post-baby blog post. No rambling thoughts this time though, just a straight up recipe. And a line to say that this recipe is brilliant on many levels: it is wonderful for you, perfect for the freezer and particularly good for sharing. It is as therapeutic as cooking can be and full of good stuff (and just happens to be vegan).

Turmeric + Coconut Dhal

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Categories // Main meals, Pregnancy and Parenting, Stirring Slowly, Vegan and Vegetarian

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Meet


Georgina is an award winning food writer, cook and presenter from North London.
Read more about Georgina

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Lamb and pistachio kofta with houmous
Hello 👋🏼 just wanted to come on here and say hi and also to apologise. This week has been a bit crappy and I had to do something I’ve never done before, which was cancel a big event. I had been so excited about my talk at @helleniccentre (with the wonderful @toniabuxton . Over 150 people had tickets and the excellent team at @bbcradiolondon were going to have me on to talk about it). But it’s been a bit of a scary week health wise within the family and I had to pull out. I absolutely hate letting people down, I’m a total people pleaser, and this was something I was so excited about. Please know it’s something I wouldn’t do half heartedly - hopefully we can reschedule for a later date. But at the moment I just need to be with these guys.
Yesterday I received a card from a friend who has sent me one every Mother’s Day since I had Archie. It had a pack of wildflower seeds attached and she wrote ‘if you plant these now they might grow in time for Archie’s birthday, to cut and put on his bench’. (Obviously I cried).
Patates antinaxtes! Top 3 potato recipe right here. Pleeeeeease please trust me when I say these taste far better than they look/ sum of parts etc.
45 years! A day late, but yesterday my folks celebrated 45 years of marriage. They’ve been together since they were 17 (17!!!). They’ve stuck by each other through thick and thin and are proper couple goals.
(Vegan) Rizogalo with roasted strawberries

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