Tag: beetroot

• 

  Beetroot

  Beetroot is a cultivar of Beta vulgaris mostly grown for its swollen taproot (other cultivars are predominantly grown for their leaves e.g. chard or leaf beet).

  Being Australian, my favourite way to eat beetroot is as pickled slices in a hamburger served with egg. 🙂

  You can also boil, roast and puree it and it teams up nicely with carrot and celery.

  The leaves make a great flavour and colour addition to salads and sandwiches. Indeed I mostly grow beetroot for this reason.

  Dried and powdered, the roots make for an amazing natural food colouring for curries or a healthy snack if left as a chip shape.

  It is a herbaceous biennial but if grown for the root you will be planting and pulling after a couple of months.

  Taste/Aroma:

  The leaves taste like spinach. Raw, the roots taste and smell earthy. I don’t really like them raw finding that they sweeten with cooking.

  Leaves:

  

  Root:

  

  Planting/Care:

  Please see the link at the bottom of the page for when to grow this plant in my Grow It Perth calendar.

  Beetroot loves a Mediterranean climate like we have in Western Australia but isn’t so keen about us during the peak of summer. Find a slightly alkaline sunny spot that is well draining and organically enriched.

  Related Links:

  • see more beetroot posts here
  • go to all meal ingredients here
  • go the Grow It Perth calendar
  • see a work in progress map of edible plant species here

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  Written by

  PK

  ·

  November 19, 2017

• 

  PK’s Baked Chicken Sticks

  As a kid one of my favourite meals was a large serve of Ingham’s Chicken Chippies, tomato sauce and a very very optional salad :).

  The advert was hilarious:

  I am not sure if you can still buy them but I would rather make my kids the home made equivalent anyway as you can control the ingredients. They loved them and I even got my toddler in there helping me make them :).

  You will be:

  1. Prepping the ingredients.
  2. Dusting and coating the chicken sticks.
  3. Cooking the chicken sticks.
  4. Serving.

  You will need:

  • Ingredients:
    • 1 chicken breast (slightly frozen making it easier to cut and shape into sticks)
    • 1/2 cup flour
    • 1/2 Tbsp ground tumeric
    • 1 to 2 eggs (if doubling the recipe you only need 3 eggs)
    • ~1 cup Panko breadcrumbs to coat chicken strips
    • 1/2 tsp beetroot powder (optional, just for looks)
    • a sprinkle of ground paprika (optional, just for looks)
    • ground black peppercorns to taste
    • some spray olive oil
  •  Equipment:
    • a chopping board
    • a long sharp knife
    • a fork or whisk to beat the egg
    • a mixing bowl
    • several plates
    • an oven tray lined with baking paper

  Steps:

  Prepping the ingredients

  1. Take a still partially frozen chicken breast and flatten it out some what with your hands.
  2. Chop breast in to sticks (see how they look like chunky fries).
  3. In a large mixing bowl mix the 1/2 cup flour, 1/2 Tbsp ground tumeric and the 1/2 tsp beetroot powder (optional, just for looks).
  4. Whisk the 1 to 2 eggs in a bowl.
  5. Lay the panko crumbs out on a plate.

  Dusting and coating the chicken stick

  1. Spray the baking paper lined oven tray with some spray oil.
  2. Roll each stick in the flour mix, dip in the egg and then coat with panko crumbs.
  3. Place them on the baking paper as you go.
  4. Sprinkle each stick with ground paprika (optional) and ground black peppercorns to taste.
  5. Give the top of the sticks a light spray with spray oil.
  6. Pop them into the fridge for 15 minutes or so to set.

  

  Cooking the chicken sticks

  Pop the tray into a fan-forced oven (preheated to 200C) for 15 to 20 minutes or until golden brown.

  

  Serving

  They really just need your favourite dipping sauce and those optional greens I mentioned :).

  

  Enjoy,

  PK

  Written by

  PK

  ·

  April 14, 2017

• 

  Crumbed Baked Chicken Sticks

  As a kid, one of my favourite treat meals was a large serve of Ingham’s Chicken Chippies doused in tomato sauce.

  Chicken chippies were chip shaped slices of chicken coated in breadcrumbs and then snap-frozen for retail sale.

  The advert was hilarious:

  I am not sure if you can still buy them but I now prefer the home made equivalent.

  Needless to say, they are very kid friendly 🙂

  You will be:

  1. Prepping the ingredients.
  2. Dusting and coating the chicken sticks.
  3. Cooking the chicken sticks.
  4. Serving.

  You will need:

  • Ingredients:
    • 1 chicken breast (slightly frozen making it easier to cut and shape into sticks)
    • 1/2 cup flour
    • 1/2 Tbsp ground tumeric
    • 1 to 2 eggs (if doubling the recipe you only need 3 eggs)
    • ~1 cup Panko breadcrumbs to coat chicken strips
    • 1/2 tsp beetroot powder and or ground paprika (optional, just for looks)
    • ground black peppercorns to taste
    • some spray olive oil
  •  Equipment:
    • a chopping board
    • a long sharp knife
    • a fork or whisk, to beat the egg
    • a mixing bowl
    • several plates
    • an oven tray lined with baking paper

  Prepping the ingredients

  1. Take a still partially frozen chicken breast and flatten it out some what with your hands.
  2. Chop breast in to sticks (see how they look like chunky fries).
  3. In a large mixing bowl mix the 1/2 cup flour, 1/2 Tbsp ground tumeric and the 1/2 tsp beetroot powder (optional, just for looks).
  4. Whisk the 1 to 2 eggs in a bowl.
  5. Lay the panko crumbs out on a plate.

  Dusting and coating the chicken sticks

  1. Spray the baking paper lined oven tray with some spray oil.
  2. Roll each stick in the flour mix, then dip it in the egg and then coat it with panko crumbs.
  3. Place the finished sticks the baking paper as you go.
  4. Sprinkle each stick with ground paprika (optional) and ground black peppercorns to taste.
  5. Give the top of the sticks a light spray with spray oil.
  6. Pop them into the fridge for 15 minutes or so to set.

   

  

  Cooking the chicken sticks

  Pop the tray into a fan-forced oven (preheated to 200C) for 15 to 20 minutes or until golden brown.

  

  Serving

  They really just need your favourite dipping sauce and a salad.

  

  PK

  Here are some more chicken recipes and kid friendly meals: 

  Written by

  PK

  ·

  April 14, 2017

• 

  DrippyStuff: Chicken Baste #1

  This is the second in my posts on dry rubs and basting sauces for use when roasting meat, it works great regardless of whether you are using a BBQ or an oven. I used it recently on an oven roast chicken along with this dry rub as inspired by http://noblepig.com/.

  Again, I take my hat off to the people over at Noble Pig and our own Growchow, you are indeed doing amazing work :).

  You will need:

  • Ingredients:
    • 1/2 tsp ground rock salt
    • 1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
    • 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar (this stuff is amazing)
    • 1 Tbsp garlic infused olive oil
    • 1/4 tsp tumeric powder
    • 1/4 tsp beetroot powder (for colour, I make my own here)
    • 2 drops of liquid smoke (mostly because a second drop fell in accidently, yum)
  •  Equipment:
    • a small bowl for the sauce
    • a fork for mixing
    • a basting brush

  Steps:

  1. Bring all the ingredients together.
  2. Get distracted by how amazing it looks and smells.
  3. Mix everything together.
  4. Baste your chicken.

  

  Enjoy,

  PK

  Written by

  PK

  ·

  January 31, 2017

• 

  PK’s Chicken Baste #1

  This is the second in my posts on dry rubs and basting sauces for use when roasting meat, it works great regardless of whether you are using a BBQ or an oven. I used it recently on an oven roast chicken along with this dry rub as inspired by http://noblepig.com/.

  Again, I take my hat off to the people over at Noble Pig and our own Growchow, you are indeed doing amazing work :).

  You will need:

  • Ingredients:
    • 1/2 tsp ground rock salt
    • 1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
    • 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar (this stuff is amazing)
    • 1 Tbsp garlic infused olive oil
    • 1/4 tsp tumeric powder
    • 1/4 tsp beetroot powder (for colour, I make my own here)
    • 2 drops of liquid smoke (mostly because a second drop fell in accidently, yum)
  •  Equipment:
    • a small bowl for the sauce
    • a fork for mixing
    • a basting brush

  Steps:

  1. Bring all the ingredients together.
  2. Get distracted by how amazing it looks and smells.
  3. Mix everything together.
  4. Baste your chicken.

  

  Enjoy,

  PK

  Written by

  PK

  ·

  January 31, 2017

• 

  DryStuff: Chicken Dry Rub #1

  I think a natural progression from making dry masalas to make curry pastes is making dry rubs for roasting meat. This is the first one I have ever made and I used on an oven roast chicken along with this basting sauce as inspired by http://noblepig.com/.

  My hat off to the people over at noblepig.com you are doing amazing work :).

  You will need:

  • Ingredients:
    • 1 Tbsp ground rock salt
    • 1/4 tsp ground black peppercorns
    • 1 tsp ground paprika (I used smoked)
    • 1/4 tsp onion powder
    • 1/4 tsp kashmiri chili powder
    • 1/4 tsp tumeric powder
    • 1/4 tsp cumin powder
    • 1/4 tsp beetroot powder (for colour, I make my own here)
    • 1/8 tsp garlic powder
  •  Equipment:
    • a bowl for the dry rub
    • a fork for mixing

  Steps:

  1. Bring all the ingredients together.
  2. Get distracted by how amazing it looks and smells.
  3. Mix everything together.

  

  Enjoy,

  PK

  Written by

  PK

  ·

  January 29, 2017

• 

  Chicken Dry Rub #1

  This is the first attempt at a dry rub for roast chicken.

  I am pretty pleased with the taste and just look at the colours. 🙂

  Please see  PK’s Dry Rub Split Roast Chicken  where I tested it out for the first time.

  

  You will need:

  • Ingredients:
    • 1 Tbsp ground rock salt
    • 1/4 tsp ground black peppercorns
    • 1 tsp ground paprika (I used smoked)
    • 1/4 tsp onion powder
    • 1/4 tsp kashmiri chili powder
    • 1/4 tsp tumeric powder
    • 1/4 tsp cumin powder
    • 1/4 tsp beetroot powder (for colour, I make my own here)
    • 1/8 tsp garlic powder

  Steps:

  1. Bring all the ingredients together.
  2. Get distracted by how amazing it looks and smells.
  3. Mix everything together.
  4. Rub it all over the chicken including the cavity.

  

  Enjoy,

  PK

  Written by

  PK

  ·

  January 29, 2017

• 

  Beetroot Powder

  I looked everywhere and couldn’t find the beetroot powder in the shops that I needed for a butter chicken. I was in my local grocery store looking for it and about to give up when on the way out I saw some fresh beetroot.

  So I made my own dried beetroot to get the powder and along the way got lots of yummy beetroot crisps too.

  Steps:

  Take a fresh beetroot and peel it.

  Cut it into really thin slices as this will aid the drying process.

  

  I then used my oven, as it was already on from cooking the previous dish and cooling down, to slowly dry the slices out.

  You can use a dehydrator if you have one.

  

  

  Keep the crisps whole in an airtight bag. You can then munch or grind them as needed.

  Enjoy,

  PK

  Links:

  • see more beetroot posts here
  • go to all ingredients

  Written by

  PK

  ·

  December 3, 2016