Recipes by Feather Boa

Hello everyone, sorry this took so long. I hope you all like spicy food; we're all immune to spices at home, but if you're sensitive you can play with the amounts you put in so you don't burn the roof of your mouth off.

Marty's Chilli

My mum went out with a man named Marty, who later married an American Indian. I have a big brown and orange sofa in my bedroom which was made out of a rocking chair which she owned, but the sofa was too big for their house, so it's in my room. Marty disappeared out of our lives a long time ago, but his chilli and his sofa (which for a long time was in our sitting room because my dad has views on "the kind of people who buy their own furniture") are still family favourites.

Marty's chilli works fine with either quorn mince or beef mince, the quantities should be the same (this feeds about 4 people), it should be served with rice. If you're feeding more people, or they're really hungry, try putting it over hot dogs (veggie or otherwise) to make chilli dogs.

Here's what you need:
2 tbsp oil
2lb quorn or beef mince
1 chopped onion
14oz tin of chopped tomatoes
1/4 cup vinegar
1/2 can red kidney beans
1/2 tbsp cayenne pepper
1 1/2 tsp ground cumin
1 1/2 tsp celery salt
1 tbsp oregano
salt and pepper

Here's what you do:
Fry the onion in a large saucepan until it's soft but not brown. Add the mince and cook it until it's brown and disintegrating. Add all the other ingredients. Simmer it on the hob for about an hour.

Quote:
"I wanna lick the platter; the gravy doesn't matter. It's a cold bowl of chilli when love lets you down, but it's the neighbour's wife I'm after."
Neil Young, "Saddle Up The Palomino" (hee hee I'm not a fan, but this just made me laugh)

Bombay Fish Curry

When I was 12 and taking home economics at secondary school, we all had to come up with a dish that would feed four, cost less that £5 and take no more than 40 minutes to prepare and cook. Amazingly I won (my tie breaker was "this dish should win because it is an interesting vegetarian dish. Surprised? My Bengali ancestors considered the fish a vegetable" apparently), I still have an apron which says "Godolphin and Latymer Masterchef 1994". Then I had to go to Birmingham for the Good Food Exhibition, and cook there! In preparation, I cooked this at least twice a week for about 3 months. Initially, I couldn't understand why my home ec class thought it was too spicy, but I realised I was adding a teaspoon of chilli powder instead of a half. Oops. I didn't win that one, but I was in the local paper. Oh the fame! With inflation (and the fact that I like to use salmon), it doesn't quite cost £5 any more. But it's still quick and quite easy to cook. Serve it with rice again.

Here's what you need:
2 tbsp oil
2 tbsp finely chopped onion
2 cloves finely chopped garlic (you can crush it, but it's not as efficient, and those things are buggers to clean)
1 tbsp finely chopped root ginger
1/2 tsp chilli powder
4 green chillies (the smaller ones are stronger, so use a big one if you don't like too much spice)
1/2 pt (300 ml) this coconut milk (comes in tins, don't confuse it with coconut cream, which is way thicker)
salt
4 fish cutlets (coley and cod are cheapest, but I used to use salmon, because the sauce is a really nice pink and it all kind of goes together)

Here's what you do:
Heat the oil in a saucepan, add the onion, garlic, ginger and chilli powder and fry it until the onion's soft. Add the chillies (uncut), coconut milk and salt to taste and simmer until it's thickened. Add the fish, spooning the sauce over, and cook, uncovered, for about 5 minutes, or until it's tender. When you serve it, you can either take the chillies out and chuck them (they're not for eating), or put them on the plate for decoration.

Quote:
"It's OK to eat fish 'cos they don't have any feelings"
Nirvana, "Something in the way" (again I'm not a big fan, but it seemed relevant)

Plain Boiled Rice

It does exactly what it says on the tin. I'm crap at cooking rice, but this is fairly foolproof. This is enough for four again. Washing the rice stops it from sticking together, always a bonus.

Here's what you need:
12oz (350g) long grain rice (basmati for the curry if you can find it, good ol' American for the chilli)
3/4pt (450ml) water
salt

Here's what you do:
Wash the rice thoroughly under cold running water, then soak it for half an hour. Drain it. Put the rice in a pan with the measured water and salt, bring it to the boil, cover and let it simmer gently for 20 minutes, at which point the rice should be tender and all the liquid absorbed. If it isn't tender you can add more water, if the water hasn't been absorbed leave it for a bit longer. Rice isn't an exact science, unfortunately.

Quote: some food-related lyrics that I actually like:
"Are you going out? Or are you staying at home, eating boxes of Milk Tray?" - Pulp, "Razzmatazz"
"Dan wen to his local burger bar, 'I want McNormal and chips or I'll blow you to bits, give us it!'" - Blur, "Dan Abnormal"
"Mother tries to choke me with roast beef, and sits savouring her sole ryvita" - Manics, "4st 7lb" (er, yeah!)

Pip pip,
FB
X