Korean Beef Kimchi Jjigae (stew) in the Instant Pot Pressure Cooker or Slow Cooker

A deliciously spicy and comforting stew that's quite simple to make.

Bored of your traditional beef stew or beef curries? Fancy trying something a bit different for a change, that's easy to make and really tasty? Oh, and pretty healthy too, especially if you serve it with fresh kimchi which is full of probiotics and low in calories (my recipe is 48 calories per 100g, so no need to be shy!)

You can either cook this in the pressure cooker to save time, or leave it to languish in a slow cooker overnight or during the day. If you're not into gadgets, you could just simmer it on the stove top for a couple of hours instead, before the final hour's simmer.

Whichever way you cook it, it's incredibly tasty, and although it is a spicy dish, despite the different forms of chilli, I really don't think it's too spicy - I'd call it medium. Delicious served with kimchi (especially if fresh), and steamed or boiled rice on the side. Fast day? Serve yours with cauliflower 'rice' at only 38 calories per 100g.

Makes 12 servings, easily halved, or perfect for freezing in portions for future easy meals in minutes.

364 calories per serving.

Luxury Sourdough Hot Cross Buns (incudes Thermomix tips)

Using a sourdough starter instead of commercial yeast makes these hot cross buns much easier on your digestive system, and gives them a lovely depth of flavour.

It hasn't become that apparent on my blog yet, but I've become an avid fan of sourdough baking. I've just posted how to get your own simple sourdough starter off the ground in four days, so that now I can share some of the things I've been baking - you can find the instructions here - and there's no special equipment needed, you'll be glad to know, just (rye) flour and water!

You can, of course, 'cheat' and beg, borrow or buy a sourdough starter rather than getting your own going, but it's easy enough to do, and I think more satisfying! So, it took a little experimentation to get the spicing levels and amount of dried fruit to my tastes, and I've given you the option to include some wholemeal flour in the final dough if you want, which is more absorbent and gives you a firmer dough which is a little easier to work with, and has a little more depth to it - but they're delicious either way!

Simple Four Day Sourdough Starter... that might just change your life!

Sourdough is nothing to be scared of, and it might just change your life a little bit!

Personally speaking, I've suffered most of the time when I've eaten bread over the last decade (and a little bit more), and discovering sourdough has been a revelation of almost biblical proportions for me. Not only can I eat, nay enjoy, nay... consume in ecstatic rapture (is that OTT?) bread - it's become the tastiest, most delicious, full-of-flavour bread I've eaten.

I now have an understanding of why some artisan sourdough bread is soooo expensive in the shops. Out of my price range, to be fair - and yet, now I can make it myself. Last night, I ate the most delicious bread I've ever eaten in my life - and I made it (and that's really saying something for me)!

A selection of breads made from my sourdough starter, and I'm quite new to this!

What's so special about sourdough? It's the long, slow ferment. This allows the natural wild yeasts that you capture in your starter to slowly work their magic in your dough over a long period of time. There's a lot written about the health benefits of sourdough, and the fact that it's better for diabetics, and for those who suffer eating wheat and gluten because of the way the gluten is broken down over the long ferment (unlike commercially made breads, and even home made bread made with commercial yeast), and the healthy bacteria in the bread, and all sorts of things. There's a really interesting article here which will give you a great insight into what is so good about it. And I'm buying into it, not least because from my own personal experience, I can actually eat this delicious bread without any ill digestive effects. And it's not just bread - you can make pancakes, muffins, crumpets, croissants, hot cross buns (more later!) and all kinds of things - it's amazing!

Lactose Free Thick and Creamy Yoghurt - with Thermomix and Easiyo method

Delicious lactose free yoghurt without the hefty price tag and with only two ingredients!

If you'd like to make your own lactose free yoghurt (if you're catering for lactose intolerance - this is not the same as dairy free though), it's no more difficult that making normal dairy yoghurt - you just need to get hold of a lactose (or dairy) free yoghurt with live bacteria in it, to start it off.

Having a few dairy yoghurt fails myself when I first started making my own in the Thermomix was what prompted me to do a bit of research on why, and then perfect my method in order to get the same result every time. Then I met someone who used lactose free products to cater for one of their children and was interested in making their own lactose free yoghurt, so decided to give that a go, after a little reading as to whether lactose free milk was viable to make yoghurt with (it is!).

This is my third post on making yoghurt, as the first one was quite long because it included reasons why your yoghurt could go wrong, and how to make it using various methods. So if you don't have a Thermomix or an Easiyo, have a look here for other ways to make it - the methods are the same, it's just the ingredients which are different (see below), although without the temperature controls you have with the Thermomix, and by using an Easiyo as per my method, you're not necessarily guaranteed success every time, as this method has proved to be foolproof (although if you have a yoghurt-making machine I'm sure that will do the job!). For regular, no-fail thick and creamy dairy yoghurt in the Thermomix, see here.

Water Kefir - getting started with live grains.

So, making your own water kefir can all seem a bit daunting - like it's some kind of exclusive club?

Well, fortunately the process is actually really easy, and there are lots of places and people out there full of information! Not only that, you're getting your own fantastic and refreshing probiotic drink for a fraction of the price of buying expensive little bottles of drinking yoghurt full of additives.

As I happily share my surplus grains (when I can find people to share them with, living in the UK!), I've just put together this little post to help those starting out with live grains - once you get going, you'll find it's simple and you just need to drain the kefir water from your grains once every day or two (depending on the ratio of grains to water and sugar and the temperature of where they're stored) - you can tell when the kefir water is ready, as it no longer tastes sweet.

So, first things first - what equipment do you need, and which ingredients?

No Fail, Deliciously Thick and Creamy Thermomix Yoghurt

Perfect results every single time, with only two ingredients and yoghurt so thick you can stand your biggest, heaviest spoon up in it!

Are you fed up of playing 'yoghurt roulette'?

Disappointed with thin or sloppy home-made yoghurt? Getting grainy results, or finding you end up with more whey than yoghurt? 

Well here's how to get the perfect result every time with only two ingredients - just milk and a yoghurt starter!

Having a few yoghurt fails myself when I first started making my own in the Thermomix was what prompted me to do a bit of research on why, and then perfect my method in order to get the same result every time.

Served with fresh raspberries, a drizzle of honey and toasted almonds

This is my second post on making yoghurt, as the first one was quite long because it included reasons why your yoghurt could go wrong, and how to make it using various methods. So after being asked to provide some recipes to an e-magazine, I decided to blog a straightforward and short set of instructions (well, short for me!) of how to make it in the Thermomix - if you want to see the longer version, which includes how not to make it, straining it to make Greek style yoghurt (although the yoghurt you will get using this recipe is so thick, that step is unnecessary), and making it into 'yoghurt cheese' and some of the science-y stuff, have a look here.

The other equipment I recommend using for perfect, no-fail yoghurt every time, is an Easiyo to incubate it in, and some kind of thermometer or temperature probe to check when your milk has cooled down to the right temperature before adding your yoghurt starter. Both these things are pretty inexpensive, yet essential, and you will have saved the cost of them in making your own yoghurt after just a handful of batches, and continue to save - I save 80% on what I would pay for two 500g pots of my favourite brand of Greek yoghurt every time I make a litre, which is a lot! The bacteria are also incredibly good for your gut health, so it's well worth having a go on both counts. If you're counting calories, it will be pretty much the same as the calorie count per 100ml/g as the milk you use, give or take a calorie or two.

Easy Homemade Kimchi (includes Thermomix method)

With just a few simple steps, you can have your first batch of kimchi ready in just a day or two, with a couple of large jars in the fridge for later...

If you're familiar with kimchi, you most probably know it as a spicy-sour, extremely tasty cabbage or radish dish, often eaten as a side dish, and also used as an ingredient in various Korean dishes.

          

If you're not that familiar, kimchi, also known as kimchee or gimchi is known as Korea's national dish and your average Korean consumes 40 pounds a year! It is mainly made with napa cabbage (also known as Chinese leaf  lettuce) and/or a large white Japanese radish known as daikon or mooli (or a few other things), brined or salted and then flavoured with other ingredients such as red pepper flakes, fish sauce and/or anchovy sauce, garlic, ginger and spring onions (scallions). It is frequently a hot and spicy dish where the ingredients are left to ferment (although not all varieties include red pepper / chilli).

         

There are many different recipes for kimchi, including other ingredients such as salted shrimp (available in jars), oysters and squid (brined seafood is more commonly found in Southern varieties) - this is a recipe for 'mak kimchi' inspired by Maangchi (do have a look at her website, there are some fantastic traditional Korean recipes, as well as lots of tips about kimchi too!), which is an easy cut cabbage version (rather than stuffing the sauce into cuts made in whole cabbages as in the autumnal baechu kimchi, although the sauce has the same flavours) which does not include any brined seafood, only fish sauce. If you've never made it before - don't worry, this is easy!

Home Made Smooth, Thick and Creamy Yoghurt, Greek-style Yoghurt and Soft Cheese (includes Thermomix method)

All of the above are deceptively easy, and full of the good bacteria you want in your system - having the right bacteria in there is a contributing factor that has been recognised as a part of keeping 'lean' within the confines of a healthy diet...

Although I 'cooked' my milk in the Thermomix, you don't need one to make yoghurt, or any specialist equipment or ingredients - just an accurate thermometer, milk and a starter (e.g. plain organic yoghurt, which you can buy in little pots for pennies - I like Yeo Valley) will do, and all you need to turn your set yoghurt into Greek-style yoghurt or soft and creamy (yoghurt) cheese is some muslin cloth, as a minimum (although there are more compact ways to do it).

If you just want to get making yoghurt, rather than reading about how not to make yoghurt, then scroll down to the ingredients, to get started, and go to the parts of the method in bold, if you want to skip the 'why' bits! (Well, that's what I'll be doing when I re-visit my own post, to remind me of temperatures, timings etc.!). If you want a shorter Thermomix-only version of this recipe, click here.