Thursday, July 17, 2014

Coconut & Prawn Curry with home grown spice..

Have been teasing folks with pictures of our Coconut & Prawn/Shrimp Curry on Instagram & FaceBook so thought I would put a bit of a clip together as well ;-) While its great to be able to walk out the back & pick the spices fresh it can also be made with store bought ingredients as well.. 


Curry paste..

Chillies to taste (we use 2) + some for garnish if desired
Large thumb sized piece of ginger or about 2tsp of ginger paste
2 Large thumb sized  piece of galangal OR 3 heaped tsp powdered (not necessary but a favourite spice of mine)
2  Large thumbs of turmeric OR 3 heaped tsp of powdered
3 med cloves of garlic OR 2 heaped tsp garlic paste
¼ tsp salt
½ Tbsp oil

Chop spice into small pieces then pound all ingredients into a paste with a mortar & pestle OR you could cheat & use a food processor like me ;-)
A few tsp of water can be added if you are using powdered spice..

Coconut Prawn/Shrimp Curry..
Serves 2

oil for cooking
Curry paste from above or a good quality yellow curry paste..
¼ cup Shredded coconut 
1 med onion sliced into thinly
150-200g peeled prawn/shrimp  
10 water chestnuts, sliced or ½ small tin
½ med head of broccoli, cut into small florets & stem sliced thin
1 large handful of honey pod/sugar snap peas, sliced in half
½ capsicum/red pepper, sliced
200-250ml of coconut cream
salt

- Heat 2 Tbsp oil in Wok/large fry pan. 
- Fry curry paste for 1 minute then add shredded coconut, cook for another minute.
- Add onions & cook for 1 minute.
- Add in prawns & mix well with curry paste/onions. Some extra oil can go in if needed as well.
- When Prawns look ½ cooked add in veggies & mix well for 1 minute.
- Pour in coconut cream, mix through well then cover top of wok/fry pan & let curry simmer for 3 minutes to heat veggies through & finish off the prawns..
- Serve garnished with more chilli..
- ENJOY!!

Some optional extras to add would be a stalk of lemon grass added into the curry paste & a kaffir lime leaf added into the main dish with the onions

Hope you enjoy the dish as much as we do if you have a crack at it..
Cheers all :-)

Tuesday, July 15, 2014

Backyard Aquaponic system build vlog.. 15th July 2014

Thought we would post a few mini updates on the new Backyard Aquaponic System build.. This 2000L/350gal system will probably be built over the next month or so & hope to do at least 1 update a week.. Will do a proper walk through at the end once all the beds are made up..





Feel free to make suggestions as nothing is set in concrete at this point..
Here is an explanation of "Modern Man" & other styles of systems from Paul at Earthan Group..
The Earthan Group website as it has loads of useful articles & calculators that can help folks wanting to build their own backyard system..

You can also find Bits Out the Back on Facebook, Instagram & G+ if you would like more regular updates on how we're going on our backyard farm.. We post mini updates on the aquaponics/aquaculture, chooks, worms, wicking bed gardens & other small tidbits..

Have a great one everyone...