Ginger and Turmeric.

Purchased new plants to add to my herbs collections and fragrant lemon myrtle for my herbal tea and flavoured cake are now sitting in the box, resting inside the house.  It is too hot for planting.
Having fresh turmeric and ginger are a treat for everyday cooking.  You could do so much with turmeric, from colouring the dishes to add to other spices for flavouring curry dishes.  I am looking forward to having them freshly picked from my garden. I hope the plants will grow well in Victoria Melbourne climate.
I was so excited when I got a potted saffron plant, I planted to the ground, and It stayed for a year also, but it has gone now, it did not grow very well in my garden.  For this precious herb, I prefer to buy instead of planting the plant.  It's too difficult.

What I do with turmeric in my cooking, one of them is to flavour rice. Also, I love spiced turmeric chicken. You could follow the recipe on how to cook chicken flavoured with the turmeric as quick cooking.  It is an excellent dish to serve on a warm day.

Cooking with Turmeric
Yellow Rice and Turmeric Chicken.
(I retrieved from my older post under the title: Easy Day posted 1-12-2011)
Quick, simple cooking which can be done in such a short period.  What you need are fresh vegetables, a lean cut of meat and some carbohydrate.  This cooking does not include dessert.  Dinner is served at 6.30
Ask one of the family to fix the table and organise the drink.

Twenty Five Minutes Cooking 

Serving for Three Dishes

Cooking   Procedures:

Multi-Tasking

6.00   -   6.16         to cook the rice 
                              (leave the rice in the pot until serving time)

6. 05  -  6.09          slice and spice the chicken

6. 10 -  6.15           to do the salad-attend to the rice for a few seconds

6.16 -   6.25            to cook the chicken, pan-fry thin slices

6. 27                       Plating up- Place the dishes on a large platter

6.30                        Dinner is Served


Recipes

kaffir lime leaf

Simple Yellow Rice  -  (Time 6 -- 6.16)
2 cups level, basmati rice
2 cups of water
1 teaspoon turmeric powder
2 kaffir lime leaves
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 cup of water
1/2 teaspoon salt

Method
In a heavy-based pot, saute the turmeric, kaffir lime leaves with oil just for a few seconds
Add in the one cup of water, bring it to simmer 
Add in the rice and the two cups of water, cook until boiling and stir it from time to time.
When the water is all absorbed, add the salt, stir and fold thoroughly, cover the pot and lower the heat.
Keep on cooking over the low heat covered for 9 minutes.
In the meantime, prepare the salad!
Switch the heat off, fluff the rice then cover it again, until serving time.
Avocado Salad  --  (Time: 6. 11 - 6. 15)
Peeled  avocado, slice then sprinkle with lemon juice
Blanch asparagus, keep aside to cool
Mix with greens-lettuce, any leafy greens
1 minute before serving; place the salad on a dish, add some fresh chopped herbs that you like, add in extra lemon juice then drizzle with vegetable oil or olive oil.

Turmeric Chicken -- (Time 6.16 - 6.24)
375 g chicken breast fillet, sliced thinly

Yoghurt mixture:
(1 tablespoon yoghurt, 1/2 teaspoon turmeric
crush one clove garlic with 1 teaspoon salt)
1/2 cup of vegetable oil 
Turmeric Mixture:
1 tablespoon dried turmeric powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
a pinch of  dried chilli powder
(Place in a small bowl, mix them together ), keep aside
Method
Put the yoghurt mixture to the sliced chicken, mix them until the chicken pieces are coated 
Pan-fry the chicken in hot oil (use heavy-based frypan), do it in small quantity at a time,  until golden brown, transfer the cooked chicken to a plate then sprinkle it with some of the dry turmeric mixtures.
Repeat these process until all chicken is used up (about 2-3  batches all together depending on the size of your frying pan)
Transfer the chicken to a serving dish, serve hot
To Serve:
Serve the three dishes: rice, chicken and the salad on a large platter.
Now you have it, before half-past six, the dish is on the table.  Dinner is served!

Plain Yoghurt and chilli powder go very well with the dish.

Cooking with Ginger.

Ginger is essential in Asian cooking, especially meat dishes or to add to curry pastes.  Ginger tea is excellent to calm stomach problems, simply boil the water and fresh ginger to simmer and strain to serve. Dried ginger powder is added to cakes and biscuits.  I have baked ginger fluff sponge cake in the past, and you could find the recipe and the details on the older post.  Ginger Fluff Sponge. Posted 8-10-12.   Type Ginger to search.

It is going to be good for me if I could plant these potted ginger and turmeric successfully.  Visit my backyard garden to pick them fresh to add to my cooking that would be great.   I do hope they will grow in the climate and flourish well.

Enjoy cooking and try to follow the cooking procedures to cook your dinner. Have fun exploring older posts.

Until Next Time

Susy