Turtle Taties

Sometimes you just see something so inspired that you have to have a go at it yourself. After gazing at potato turtles for the better part of a fortnight, today was the day to put them on the menu...

I have high hope that the smallest in the house will eat dinner tonight. The turtle is perched on a bed of Japanese rice atop a vegetarian curry. The curry is fragrant and spicy, but without the heat of a normal curry paste. I make my own Garam Masala, and it totally different to any that I have bought before. It's a Neil Perry recipe, and well worth the effort.

Home made Garam Masala

¼ cup green cardamom pods, pan-roasted
1 tsp cloves, pan-roasted
1 tsp white peppercorns, pan-roasted
2 sticks cinnamon, pan-roasted
4 star anise, pan-roasted

To make the garam masala, crack the roasted cardamom pods in a mortar with a pestle and remove the black seeds. Combine with the rest of the spices and grind finely.

Japanese rice is something I don't often prepare. It's a much shorter grain and requires a LOT of rinsing, draining and soaking, but the end result is worth it. Cooked in the rice cooker it came out perfect, just the thing to mop up the curry sauce. The turtles were pretty straightforward, oven roasted for 20 minutes or so until just cooked through.

The lack of warm days in these parts has me hankering for steaming bowls of soup, stews and curries. The recent purchase of a slow cooker means we are in for a week of goodness.