My New Favourite Curry with Naan - Lamb In Karhi Sauce

This Curry is really easy and if you leave out the chillies and halve the cayenne pepper it is not at all hot but very very tasty.  Karhi Sauce is essentially a yogurt sauce thickened with chickpea flour that is ideal for dunking naan or soaking into plain rice.  This creates a lovely creamy curry without cream or nuts and you can use any protein or go vegetarian if you like.

Lamb in Karhi Sauce

2 Tbs Chickpea Flour
1 C Unsweetened Yogurt
1/4 Tsp Cumin Seeds
1/4 Tsp Nigella Seeds (Black Onion Seeds)
1/4 Tsp Fenugreek Seeds
1/4 Tsp Fennel Seeds
4 Tbs Vegetable Oil or tallow
1/4 Tsp Brown Mustard Seeds
2 Brown Onions
2 Tsp Fresh Ginger finely chopped
4 Cloves of Garlic crushed
700 gm Diced Lamb
1 Tsp Ground Cumin
1/2 Tsp Ground Turmeric
1/2 Tsp Cayenne Pepper
1 1/2 Tsp Salt
A handful of fresh Curry Leaves (or re-hydrated dried ones)
4 - 5 whole Chillies 

In a bowl mix the chickpea flour with the yogurt and set aside while you prep your other ingredients.
On a saucer measure out your cumin, nigella, fennel and fenugreek seeds and on another saucer measure out you ground cumin, turmeric, cayenne and salt.  Dice your onion.
Heat your oil in a heavy based pan with a lid and once hot add your mustard seeds, they will start to pop and sizzle and as soon as they do add the other whole spices and fry for about 30 seconds before adding the diced onion.  Cook until the onion starts to brown around the edges then add the ginger and garlic and cook for a further minute.  Add the salt, ground cumin, turmeric and cayenne pepper and stir through followed by the yogurt mix until you have an even colour then add the lamb.  Bring to the boil then reduce and cook for an hour or until the meat is tender.
While the meat is cooking soak your dried curry leaves in cold water.
After an hour cooking add the whole chillies and curry leaves and cook for a further 10 minutes before serving over rice or with naan.

This is the best Naan recipe I have used and it not at all difficult and you do not need any special equipment and they get cooked under a grill so nice and easy.

Naan - Makes 4

2/3 C Warm Water
1 Tsp Dried Yeast
1 Tsp Sugar
2 C Bakers Flour
1 Tsp Salt
2 Tbs Unsweetened Yogurt
Melted Ghee
2 Tbs Nigella Seeds (Black Onion Seeds)

In a jug mix together the water, yeast and sugar and set aside to activate the yeast.  Once it is frothy add to a bowl that contains the flour, salt and yogurt.  Mix well the turn out onto a floured bench and knead for 5 - 10 mins or until the dough is elastic and smooth.  Set aside to rise for an hour or so.
When you are ready to cook line your grill tray with aluminium foil and grease it with melted ghee. Divide the mix into 4 and gently stretch each portion out until they are between 5 mm and 10 mm. Lie the first naan out on your foil and brush the top of the naan with ghee then sprinkle with Nigella seeds.  Grill under a medium to hot grill until lightly browned then flip and cook the other side.
Once cooked repeat the process for the other 3 portions of dough and keep the cooked ones warm on a plate wrapped in a tea towel.

Naan before cooking

Cooked and golden

Back From Our Big Trip

We are back from our big trip and now that I have regular and reliable internet I can share the last part of our journey and all the other goings on from here, which if I am honest is a lot.

I am off on long service leave and will then transition to maternity leave so I am looking forward to being able to catch up on all the blog posts and your goings on that have occurred in the past month.

Hope you are all well.

Daylesford - Our Last Two Days

The week in Daylesford was so good and ended up on a high.

Friday saw us take a day trip to to Trentham to visit friends of Hubby's parents who Hubby worked for after leaving school.  On the way we called in at Red Beard Historic Bakery which is an amazing sourdough bakery.  We picked up some bread rolls for lunch the next day and a fruit loaf for toast each morning.  It was a cold and rainy day so prefect for visiting friends and staying warm by the fire.  We had a lovely long lunch of local meats, cheeses, bread, pickles and pate (not for me sadly as it is one of the foods off the pregnancy list).  It was late by the time we got back but a piece of the delicious fruit toast with butter was all that was needed for dinner so it was no issue.

One of my friends who I went to high school with and have not seen since 1996 now lives in Australia too.  She drives trucks for a living, saw my facebook post about where we were and let me know she could come and visit on her way to her new job for a different transport company.  As it was a weekend Daylesford was pretty booked out but I was able to arrange a cabin for her at the same campground we were staying out which was great and the owners let me pick up the key before she arrived and go and turn the heater on as it was only 4 degrees at 5pm.  After getting her settled in we all went out for dinner and Hubby patiently let the two of us reminisce all night talking about people we went to school with and what we have all been doing since we left.  It was a late night for all of us as we knew we all had to pack up and head off at about 9 the next morning.  But it was so worth it.

Yep both looking a little tired after a big night of talking

Daylesford and the surrounding towns are really worth a visit and as we found you can easily fill a week in this little part of the world.

Having spent a week here we decided not to push our luck and head down to South Australia which is disappointing but you cannot do it all.  From Daylesford we head north to Mildura, then Menindee and  Broken Hill.  After that we head back east to Bourke, Burren Junction, Uralla then home sometime around the 7th of August.  We need to be home for appointments on the 11th but other than that we can be a little flexible.

Not sure when I will have coverage again but will post when I can.

Daylesford And Surrounds Monday - Thursday

We spent nearly a week in Daylesford from last Monday until today staying in a caravan with a permanent annex, and it was such a good decision to stop here for nearly a week as we are both feeling well rested, we have been warm and toasty ( for the most part) despite the cold weather and we have been lucky enough to have some lovely experiences and sample some tasty food as well.

Daylesford is just over an hour north of Melbourne and is very touristy but hey that's what we are so all the better for us.  The fact we arrived on a Monday and had a number of days free from the mass influx of tourists that happens every weekend all year round was great as we did not have to wait, queue or fight the crowds.

Tuesday morning we headed off to the local information center to get the low down on everything there was to do and experience.  After collecting a lot of brochures, local recommendations and all the tips on local knowledge we headed off to one of the local cafes to have a hot drink, as it was quite cool, and sort out a plan for the week.  Jessie was so well behaved and sat next to us outside the cafe in her double coat combo and lots of people stopped to comment on how cute she was and how warm she looked. We decided Tuesday would be a good day to wander the town and check out some of the stores.  There was lots to see we managed to fill most of the day before heading off to the Mill Markets which is the secondhand/antique center of epic proportions (think aircraft hanger full).

Wednesday we enjoyed a lazy morning with a sleep in a late breakfast followed by a drive out to the Diggers Club Garden of St Erth.  We had intended to do a walk through the garden but it was freezing and starting to rain and after speaking to the staff who were trying to deal with the aftermath of all the recent rain they had had we decided not to.  It was not really the best time of the year to see the garden but that did not stop us enjoying the store and me coveting all the different seeds that sadly I couldn't take home as we will not get to plant them. 

 After that we headed off the the local mineral spa for a good long soak.  I have been cold my entire pregnancy so far which has not helped with our trip south so any opportunity to sit in a hot bath, pool or have a hot shower is very welcome. However before going in I checked on the water temperatures as being pregnant it is not wise to get overheated.  Thankfully the temperatures were perfect and it was soooo good to be soaking in the pool for an hour or so.



We followed our soak in the pool with a shared woodfired pizza of local lamb, rosemary, olive and fetta in front of a fire at a local cafe Koukla.  After lunch we headed to one of the local lakes to take Jessie for a walk and burn off some of the pizza.



 After walking for 45 minutes we went just out of town to the chocolate mill.  We arrived about 30 minutes after a tour bus full of day trippers from Melbourne which was good timing because by the time we arrived they had all watched the movie about the chocolate making, see the process in action, purchased their chocolates and were wrapping up their hot chocolates in the cafe leaving us time to do all of the above with jut one or two other visitors.  We are not sweet tooths by nature so we chose to share a hot chocolate which was delicious but a bit sweet for us along with one truffle each.  Hubby chose the chilli chocolate and I had a quince and white chocolate cream filled truffle.  We also purchased 4 others each to take away which may not seem a lot but they are so decadent that one is all you need at a time.  By the time we were finished we were well and truly satisfied.

Thursday was Hubby's birthday and started with a trip to a local art gallery,







A trip to the Creswick Woolen Mills was interesting but too pricey for me, morning tea was a coffee and cake at an amazing french patisserie.  After a wander around Creswick we headed back to Daylesford for a walk round the Daylesford botanical gardens followed by lunch at the Wombat Hill House then a trip to the Daylesford Cidery.  The cidery was a really great experience and we learnt that traditionally cider was not a fizzy style drink and was flat like a wine.  We tried a range of ciders (all alcoholic so I only had the smallest of sips which in total was probably less than a 60 ml shot glass in total).  I really liked the still ciders and think they will make a good substitute for a col white wine in summer which I might be able to enjoy after peanut arrives.

Over the week we did quite a bit of eating out which is not normal for us but it really made us feel like we were on holiday.

I will post about the last few days tomorrow.

The Channon, Nimbin, Coopernook, The Wattagens, Moss Vale and Wagga Wagga

We set off on this trip know it would be cold and that at the end of the day we would do what we could, what I felt up to doing and if it all get too much we would just turn around and head for home.
Just over a week in and so far so good, we are all travelling well and other than a few cold nights for which we were prepared with lots of thermals and warm clothes we have been happy with our trip.

Our first stop was The Channon where we were camped adjacent to where they hold the markets which made it very convenient and we picked up a few goodies.

We also got up close and personal with a local Koala who came down from her tree with a joey in her pouch and ran through our campsite.  We think the smell of our campfire might have made her think there was a bush fire.  Sadly no pictures of her joey.

We spent an afternoon at Nimbin wandering around and having lunch before visiting their candle factory.

All the wax down the front of the vats was really very pretty.

We also did a bush walk out around the Rocky Creek Dam.

From there we headed south to Coopernook which was just a planned rest stop for a few days to sity around read and crochet.  On the way though we got stuck in a huge traffic jam as a result of an accident on the highway.  We were 15 km back on a single lane section of the highway from the site of the accident and spent an hour at a stand still and there was another 15  km of traffic behind us on a double lane section of the high way.  We ended up setting up in the dark but thankfully we can do that pretty quickly.

After two days of rest we set out for the Wattagens just north of Sydney.  We knew this would just be a sleeping spot for us as we had family to visit in the area.  After a day spent with Hubbys family we packed up again and this time headed to the Balangalo State forest just south of Sydney.  On the way we called in a say my Great Aunt who has knitted a cute little outfit for Peanut when he is about 1.  It is quite an Aussie little outfit for him to wear in New Zealand.

After lunch with my Great Aunt we headed south to set up camp and it was freezing, quite literally. In the morning it was -4 and everything was covered in frost.  It had warmed up to -2 by the time we had breakfast and were packing up.  Time to move on to Wagga Wagga.

While at Wagga Wagga we had wonderful weather and spent a couple of days visiting The Thirsty Crow a Micro Brewery and the Junee Licorice and Chocolate factory which produces all organic products and was well worth the visit and we had a delicious Organic Lamb burger for lunch.

We are now down in Daylesford Victoria where we are spending nearly a week in a cabin relaxing and it looks like good time as there is rain on the way.  We might stay a bit longer and do some day trips further a field instead of heading for South Australia but at this stage have not decided.

Hope you are all well and warm especially if you are in the southern part of Australia like us.