Recipes - Koh’s Kitchen

Welcome to our online Cooking with a Chaplain series.

What I am trying to do is teach students how to survive on basic staples made interesting and palatable with some tiny luxuries - and keeping the costs to a bare minimum. This is a passing on of knowledge from my two grandmothers who were children in the Depression - one in Australia and the other in Malaysia and China. They passed their knowledge on. BTW - Koh was my ‘maiden name’.

Once upon a time, I was a student supporting myself in a foreign country and struggling to survive. I was studying in France where food is important but also pretty expensive. I am trying to help people see they really can make nutritious meals for $2-$3 and enjoy them.

My best advice to you is to learn 5-6 basic recipes that can be modified according to what ingredients you can get hold of. A few spices can make things more enjoyable and make you feel as if you are still exploring adventures.

If you are struggling to find ingredients, I will make suggestions about what you can substitute. AND - I can send you some mini ziplock bags with samples of spices and herbs so you can try them out. Note: I pack these myself out of my own stock, so these will be in limited supply and depend on my capacity to do this myself.

Some weeks I am hoping to get guest cooks in... Cooks and Youth workers from all over the place.

Hoping you can join in!

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Join Zoom Meeting https://zoom.us/j/472329307?pwd=RGpaeHlhQnBpN3VIdlQ4YkFJL0FKQT09 
Meeting ID: 472 329 307 Password: 055802 

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Week 3 Thursday 16th April

Tuna Pasta - 2 variations

Version 1 (tuna, peas, lemon verbena and garlic)

Version 2 (tuna, tomato, Italian herb pack or fresh oregano and garlic)

Any kind of cheese can be grated on top.

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1-2 large cloves garlic minced
• 1 (5 ounce) can tuna or sachet
• Version 1 - lemon verbena, a squeeze of lemon if available
• Version 2 - tomato pasta sauce, Italian Herbs, fresh oregano if available
• Salt & pepper to taste
• 4 ounces uncooked pasta (I used spaghetti)

Instructions

1. Boil a salted pot of water for your pasta and cook it al dente according to package directions. Prep your other ingredients while it cooks.
2. When the pasta is close to being ready, add the oil to a small pan over medium heat. Once the oil is hot, add the garlic and cook it for 30 seconds.
3. Version 1 - Stir in the tuna, lemon juice, and lemon verbena. Let it heat through. 

   Version 2 - Stir in the tuna, tomato, Italian herbs or oregano and garlic. Heat through.
   Note - Thanks to Craig Mitchell in Melbourne who heard about our project and sent us Fresh Herbs From his garden!!! What a legend!
4. Once the pasta is done, add some of the pasta water (a couple tablespoons) to the sauce and then drain the pasta and toss with the sauce. Season with salt & pepper as needed. Optional: serve pasta with freshly grated parmesan (or other) cheese and lemon zest.

Tuna pasta with peas and Lemon verbena 

Tuna pasta in tomato and oregano sauce

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Week 2 Thursday 9th April with a TENEBRAE Service(Easter Week)

CHANGE OF RECIPE - because some students didn’t get soup mix!

DAAL (or Dahl) and Rice

Note: I use a commercially available Garam Masala mix in a box packet. The most common spices in the mix are:

• Cumin
• Coriander
• Cardamom
• Cinnamon
• Nutmeg
• Cloves
• Bay Leaf
• Peppercorn
• Fennel
• Mace
• Dried Chilli

(Some mixes have other things)

All this tends to be toasted and then ground up into a powder... it is time consuming to make, which is why I buy it in a pack pre-done.

• Red Lentils (or other lentils)
• Dried Fried Onions (or fry some up)
• Garlic (can also be fried up)

Variations

• A small spoon of yoghurt
• A dessert spoon of Tomato paste or a tomato
• potato or sweet potato or carrot
• Mushrooms or peas
• Whatever other veggies you can get
• Meat or Fish or Tofu or nuts can be added as you like

 

I will also teach you how to make an Easter egg with an egg, some string and some tea!

METHOD

Generally,  I rinse any lentils and rice before cooking...

Boil water (1 part lentils to 4 parts water) - add lentils and stock/coconut milk powder/spices packet
Simmer for 15-20 mins

Prep any other veggies to add

Put on rice (1 part rice to 4 parts water) to boil
Simmer for 10-12 mins - then drain

(If you are cooking any meat or fish or nuts, now is the time to do it, but these are not needed to make this dish nutritious and yummy.)

Cook Veggies - these can be added to the Lentils OR fried for more flavour.
I will show both methods

Add Onions and Garlic and Methi (Fenugreek leaves) And anything else you wanted to add and cook/heat through for the last couple of minutes...

Serve


Here is a good link for decorating Easter eggs with tea...
https://blog.numitea.com/tea-dyed-easter-eggs/

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