The Spice of Life

Welcome back to another week with Heart 2 Heart Challenges.

This week, the theme is The Spice of Life: maybe a spicy color combo, a spicy recipe, a spicy night out?

I absolutely love to cook, and so when I created a curry recipe from scracth I was really proud of my efforts. My hubby says this is the best dish I have ever made so it deserves its own scrapbook page!



I used Studio J to create this layout- the paper is Enchanted, which is retired from the catalogue but still available in Digital Format. The spicy colours work really well with the photos.

For those of you interested, here is the recipe.

Roast Pumpkin and Cashew Chicken Curry 
1/4 cup raw cashew nuts
1/2 crown pumpkin
400g chicken breasts
200ml light coconut milk
2 tablespoons garlic infused olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons curry powder
1/2 teaspoon minced coriander
10 grinds fresh black pepper
1 teaspoon ground flaxseed (optional)
cooked rice, to serve

Soak the cashew nuts for at least one hour in boiling water then drain.

Chop the pumpkin into wedges and season liberally with salt and pepper. Spray with oil and bake in an oven at 180 degrees C for 30-45 minutes until the pumpkin is golden and cooked through.

While the pumpkin is cooking, prepare your rice. I always use a rice cooker but the usual method you use for cooking rice is fine. 

Once the pumpkin has roasted, leave to cool and then mash with a fork.

Chop the chicken breast into strips. Place in a frypan with some more oil spray and brown. Add the  pumpkin mash and coconut milk.

Place the soaked cashews, coriander, curry, flaxseed, salt and black pepper in a food processor. Pulse several times to break down the cashews then drizzle the oil in and pulse until smooth. The flaxseed is optional- I pulse it into the curry mix for some added fibre. Mix into the pan with the coconut milk, chicken and pumpkin, and add 1/4 cup hot water.

Leave this mix to boil for 5 minutes, then serve over rice.

I hope you enjoy the recipe and my layout! Please feel free to join up your Spice of Life inspiration with us.