Thursday, December 19, 2013

My Savoury Flour: Magic Dust in the Kitchen

My Savoury Flour 

This is an absolute Must-Have in my pantry!!! There isn't a week that goes by that I don't use it in some way or another... Which is why I refer to it as - Magic Dust in the Kitchen!

I call this My Savoury Flour because I make it myself using a recipe to my liking. You can make it to suit your own taste. My Savoury Flour has a wide variety of uses and will feature in a lot of my recipes. 

All these ingredients are available at Fruitworld Whangaparaoa  It's my One Stop Spice Shop! 
 Fruitworld Whangaparaoa      Go and see Sam the owner for friendly advice and spicy bargains  Here are the directions: Fruit World Whangaparaoa Map  
Ingredients: 
2 cups Plain Flour
1 Tablespoon Cajun Powder
1 Tablespoon Smoked Paprika ( plain Paprika will work too)
1 Tablespoon Hot Curry Powder ( for some heat, use Mild Curry Powder if you don't want the heat kick.)
1 Tablespoon Onion stock Powder
1 Tablespoon Beef Stock Powder ( for a vegetarian option use Vegetable Stock)
1 Teaspoon Cumin Seeds ( I don't bother to crush them but if you can if you want to)
I Tablespoon Turmeric - more for colour than anything else. The Spices together make it look fabulous!
1 Teaspoon Salt & Pepper (a generous pinch of Salt and several turns of a pepper grinder is near enough) It's all done to taste anyway - your own taste! Follow this baseline recipe to start with and then tweak it to suit yourself once you have used it.
TIP: I keep a teaspoon in My Savoury Flour - sometimes the contents settle and you need to shake it or stir the mixture up again. Also if you want to add some to anything the spoon is already on-hand - right inside the container.


http://rosespantry.blogspot.co.nz/

Storage: 
I keep mine in a Square container and keep it in the FREEZER! Yes that's right, the freezer...
I do this because I like to use it COLD. The mixture always stays loose in the freezer so no worries there.

Uses:
I use this in a variety of ways, like I said I am never without it. It goes with everything savoury - Vegetables, meat, fish, eggs.

As a Coating: put some in a deep dish and use to coat...

Chicken: coat then fry - (KFC eat your heart out, after this, your Chicken will be #1 with your family! )
Fish: Coat the fish and fry, or you can wrap in non-stick foil and bake. Use baking paper if you want to steam in the microwave - either way you get the flavour from the flour mix through the fish. Try adding Lemon Pepper to the mix for fish for an extra zing. 
 Vegetables: Roasting - Place the vegetables in a bag, add 1 Tablespoon olive oil and massage into the           vegetables. Then add 1 tablespoon of My Savoury Flour to the bag, coat the vegetables evenly and pour them into a baking tray. Roast as you would normally - makes super tasting, spicy vegetables.
Meat Balls/Patties: Coat them in My Savoury Flour to impact more flavour and also to help them stay together while cooking.
***My Special Fish Coating: Combine: 1 cup of plain flour, 2 tablespoons Lemon Pepper, 1 Tablespoon Onion Powder, 1 tablespoon fennel seeds (crushed if you can), 1 teaspoon of salt and pepper.  Use for any type of fish including shell fish. For heat - add 1/4 teaspoon chilli powder or flakes. Store in the freezer.

As a Sauce:

My Savoury Flour makes the perfect base when you want a quick flavoursome roux sauce.
After frying steak, chicken breast, sausages etc, Immediately remove from the hot pan and add a knob of butter (margarine works too). This combines with the juices from the meat and starts to bubble. Add 1 tablespoon of My Savoury Flour and with a spatula work it into the butter. Add cold milk about 1/3 cup and work this into the the mixture. You will see the sauce taking shape. Add a little more milk and stir in each time until you have a creamy sauce mixture, not too think. It should only take about 3-5 minutes to do make sauce then you pour it over the already cooked item and enjoy. No need to buy packet sauces when this is so easy and as quick as boiling the jug anyway!

As a Thickener: 

Casseroles, Stews, Savoury Mince - Whilst cooking : My Savoury Flour is the perfect thickener for any savoury dish that has cooked but appears a little thin (watery). For a Casserole or a thin Savoury Mince simply spoon a little of the thin liquid into a small cup and add a teaspoon of the flour mixture. Stir into a paste - don't worry too much if there are lumps, it happens sometimes, Pour the paste back into the casserole or mince and stir through. Keep stirring and you should see and feel the mixture thickening up.
Alternatively you can simply sprinkle a teaspoon over the top of the hot mixture and slowly stir it in - sometimes you get more lumps this way, sometimes not. But, it is easier and seriously the lumps simply disappear in a large pot of delicious slow cooked hearty food. Unless they are huge, you won't notice any lumps after a couple of minutes. It will thicken nicely and you won't get that 'undissolved flour taste' you sometimes get with adding plain flour.

Casseroles, Stews, Savoury Mince - Before Cooking: Simply place any Meat pieces into a bag, add 1 tablespoon of My Savoury Flour seal the bag and really massage the flour mixture into the meat. Tip the meat into a large pot add other ingredients and cook as you would normally. Using My Savoury Flour will give any meal an extra depth of flavour.

 There are tons of ways to utilize My Savoury Flour -
I am sure you will find many more ways to use yours...
Share your favourite Flour-based blend. 
I enjoy hearing about the way people do things. Rose :)

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