Mia's Makings

Today I fancied a mild rogan josh curry and I had chicken fillets to play with. As we recently had rice three times in one week, I decided to use root rice this time in order to be kind to my waistline. I got the recipe and all the ingredients out and started peeling the onion... only to realise that I had the wrong recipe out. I was looking at a recipe for jollof rice, which is a dish in which the rice is cooking with the meat and sauce, similar to a biryani but with different flavours. Quickly I swapped to the correct recipe and stopped in my track when there was no rice in the rogan josh. How could I have remembered the recipe so wrong? The meat was to be cooked in a sauce and served with a side dish, such as rice, which is exactly what I didn't want. I find root rice as a side dish a little lacklustre. What was I to do? How about adding the root rice anyway and combine the two recipes? Surely that would work. There was only one way to find out. Guess what. It worked! As

Springrolls, lovely crispy springrolls! I have always loved them, apart from my very first try at a Chinese restaurant when I was small enough to barely reach above the table. I had no idea what it was, but it sounded fabulous, like spring in a roll. I asked if I could have one. It wasn't a small springroll like the ones I have made here, but large enough to make a meal alongside a pile of rice. Nope, I didn't like it. Luckily my parents had guessed as much as and also ordered something that I was more likely to enjoy and we swapped. A year later we were back at the same restaurant and I wanted a springroll again. But I didn't like it last time, my parents reminded me. I know, but I will this time. Big sigh! I loved it, honestly I did. Somehow I knew I would and I did. Since then my love affair with springrolls have flourished. I grew up around the corner from a camp site by the beach. At the reception area was a fast food hole-in-the-wall, where you could get hotd

Noodles, noodles, noodles... with a kick. I could probably live on noodles, if I had to. There are so many way of varying the dish with different vegetables, protein and seasoning. You can even make noodle free noodles, should you wish to. Shredded cabbage, left with a fair bit of crunch, is a great substitute and you are unlikely to miss the actual noodles. Sounds strange, but it is true.  There are of course a wide range of noodles to choose from. My two favourite are thin egg noodles and rice noodles and they are easy to get hold of. I once tried thick Japanese noodles in a restaurant, but although they were nice, they moved on their own in the bowl and made me think of worms, so I think I'll give them a miss in the future. For home cooking I'm happy to stick to my favourites. When it comes to picking a noodle dish, think of what you are going to serve it with. If is a simple side for something that's full of flavour, I'd recommend going for something fa