on the monkey trail

kitchen and garden diaries

Tag Archives: ginger


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roast chicken, ginger and coconut curry and buttery, gingery, sweet sticky chicken sticks

If you are having a bit of a trying day then it is an excellent idea to get a chicken in the oven roasting. If for no other reason than the fact that the smell of roast chicken is extremely reassuring. It is a nourishing hug of a smell that allows you to potter around dealing with all manner of dramas, safe in the knowledge there will be something good to eat come the end of the day.

I wasn’t sure what the afternoon was going to bring yesterday, there were some pretty dicey moments in the day let me tell you. However, as it turned out there was enough of a a lull in the poxter fiesta to throw together a very quick roast chicken curry. This is not the stuff that masterchef dreams are made of. Just look at those great hacked up lumps of carrot. Neither is the photo very stylie or artfully lit.. but it tasted just fine, almost as good as the well deserved glass of wine that accompanied it.

Fresh chilli, garlic, lots of fresh grated ginger , turmeric, fried in coconut oil. Add roast chicken, carrots, celery, tin of chopped tomatoes and tin of coconut cream. Salt, pepper, simmer and add some baby spinach at the end.

As you know then I’m usually a big believer in adapting the adult meal for the kids .. however, I’m also of the opinion that when kiddos are poorly then you do your absolute best to make food special in a kid friendly special kind of way. My guys are usually pretty happy with some plain roast chicken but it’s  too common a meal to be world rocking stuff around here. So I put some of the roast chicken to one side to make some buttery, gingery, sweet chicken sticks. I make them by melting a good chunk of butter and into it grating some garlic, fresh ginger and palm sugar. The palm sugar is the secret ingredient. It gives the chicken a sticky sweetness. You toss the chicken chunks around in the pan until they get a brown, slightly caramalised coating. Then thread a couple of pieces onto bamboo sticks.

Of course another benefit of having a roast chicken on the go is that you get to make chicken stock. The stock was doubly useful today. Firstly to bulk up the leftover curry into a soup for lunch and then as a base for a quick risotto with hot smoked salmon and peas tonight.

All that from one bird. It’s kind of a miracle really, and the irony of the bird being a chicken is not lost on me.


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amidst the chaos of the day, dark chocolate, almond, ginger and pear cakes

Melt a few rows of dark, dark chocolate with some chunks of fresh ripe pear, a little grate of fresh ginger and 50g of butter. While it’s melting whisk 4 eggs with 1/2 cup raw organic sugar, 2 cups ground almonds, 1/2 cup of cocoa and 1 tsp of baking powder. Pour in the chocolate etc and beat it all together. Bake in muffin cases for about 15 minutes in a 180 oven.

Just because the kids are poorly, and work is frantic, and visitors have gone home, and sleep is hard to come by, doesn’t mean you need to go without your pud.


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lamb and pumpkin broth with lacto-fermented ginger carrots

Hard to think of a healthier lunch, and it was pretty tasty too (at least the adults of the house thought so – kids were more into their post footie pastries and fair play to them).  Made with left over slow cooker lamb casserole (bone-in lamb leg steaks, pumpkin, carrot, garlic, onion, fresh ginger, red lentils, a random selection of spices that included turmeric, star anise, cinnamon stick, paprika, cumin and possibly more besides but was throwing things in pre-school drop off so wasn’t exactly keeping notes. Seem to recall a tin of chopped tomatoes going in, some cider vinegar, red wine….you get the idea, slow cookers are seriously forgiving of general acts of randomness)

Leftover casserole mixed with some leftover pumpkin soup (see last post) with some fresh baby spinach leaves added just before serving,  topped with lacto-fermented ginger carrots (recipe from Nourishing Traditions). For more on lacto-fermented veg read this post. The ginger carrots are just made with grated carrot and ginger using same method.

Now, must be time to think about chocolate cake again after all that crazy healthy stuff….


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lemon-y, ginger-y, nutmeg-y apple and blueberry crumble with coconut flour and puffed amaranth topping

Does anyone else spend as long thinking about what they’re going to have for pudding….on a daily basis? I think probably not. I think I’m a bit weird to have four young kids and still expend so much headspace considering what I will be tucking into when they are all safely tucked up for the night. I guess it makes me either pretty lucky that I don’t have more pressing things to worry about…or possibly it means I have a really bad sense of perspective.

The actual food preparation is usually very quick. It’s the thinking.. the chocolate – fruit- chocolate fruit – chocolate and fruit  type dilemmas that I find myself consumed by for lengthy periods. I don’t mean to give the impression that I’m sitting around tormented, staring into space. No, no, I’m  cracking along with my day, it’s just there at the back of my mind.

Today I decided to try out my new obsession with puffed amaranth, in a crumble.. Another tick for the amaranth – excellent flavour when paired with coconut flour – quite dry with a bit of a crunch. Nutmeg, lemon zest and fresh ginger all additions worthy of the low level pondering time spent on them.


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chili, ginger and cinnamon spiced apple

Another of Jake’s creations – inspired by a dessert eaten in India recently and with a flash little apple carving on the side  - because once you start thinking about making the food look lovely then you start doing all kinds of crazy stuff!

Melt a little butter in a pan with some soft brown sugar – add some chunks of apple and cook till starting to soften, then add some fresh chili, a cinnamon stick, black pepper and fresh ginger – a splash of water and cook for a while until apple is soft but still with a bit of bite. For the apple flower you need to do a day course at a cooking school in Vietnam so that bit’s optional – it does look very pretty though. Good with ice-cream or yogurt.


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dark chocolate, fresh ginger and plum and almond muffins (gluten free)

We had 2 plums leftover in the fruit bowl from yesterday’s plum upside-down cake and this afternoon I found myself seized by the compulsion to bake some chocolate plum and ginger something – I find it’s always good to roll with these compulsions so started melting about 60g of dark chocolate over boiling water (baby under one arm – don’t worry was careful not to get the baby near the hot water.. the point being these muffins are so easy they can pretty much be done with a baby under one arm!) . Put about 50g of butter into the chocolate and grated in a decent size chunk of fresh ginger (had to put the baby down at this stage). While the butter and chocolate melted whisked up 3 eggs, half a cup of soft brown sugar and 2 cups of ground almonds – also added a tsp of gluten free baking powder. Added in the chocolate mix and then right at the end the plums cut into small chunks – baked for around 15 mins and lucky me because when I get the compulsion to eat some chocolate, plum, ginger something (in a few minutes time ) then I’ll have just the thing.


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pumpkin, carrot, kumara, ginger, coconut and mint soup

A pre-birthday party soup based on the coconut, carrot, ginger and orange recipe I’ve made a few times this summer .. only without any orange as we didn’t have any so replaced with lots of orange veg – pumpkin and kumara made it pretty filling and autumn-y which suited the weather.

Start by cooking garlic and a heap of grated ginger in coconut oil with tumeric. Add all the other vegs and stock and simmer for an hour or so. Add a tin of coconut milk and some mint just before blending.


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chocolate, chia, plum, ginger miracle muffins (gluten free)

The name miracle muffins reflects the weight of expectation I had from them to make me feel better. A week of chronic sleep deprivation with teething snuffly J has left me feeling really run down.

8 sqs dark chocolate and 6 squares milk chocolate, pulp of 2 small plums, big chunk grated ginger, 1/2 cup chia seeds, 50g butter – all melted together over hot water.

4 eggs, 1/2 cup soft brown sugar , just over a cup of ground almonds, 1/2 cup rice flour, 1 tsp gf baking powder. Beat together then mixed in the chocolate / butter mix. Baked for about 10 mins.

Slightly more spongey then the little cakes that only use almonds – rose nicely. One fresh from the oven perked me up enough to get through the afternoon and now having one with greek yogurt.


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little chocolate almond cakes with plum and ginger

grate 2 plums into the chocolate melting bowl – add 50g butter, grated ginger (about 2cm cube) and 12 sqs dark chocolate. Melt over hot water. Meanwhile whisk 4 eggs, add 1/2 cup raw brown sugar and whisk more, add 2 cups ground almonds then pour in the chocolate mix – made 10 little cakes (cooked in muffin cases in oven at 180 for about 15mins)


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orange, ginger, carrot and coconut soup

Have made a few versions of this soup over the last month – it’s a perfect summer lunch – even young J had a bowl today. This time I put more ginger and more orange in – about a 2cm sq chunk of grated fresh ginger and the whole zest and pulp / juice of an orange. Also added tumeric.

Soften onion and garlic in coconut oil, added grated ginger and orange zest and tumeric, add chopped carrots and a sweet potato, cover with veg stock and simmer for 20 -30 mins then add a tin of coconut milk and blend. Served with oil drizzle and parsley.

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