On-Sale Monday April 16, 2007
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Each week Woman’s Day Beauty Editor, Mary Zavaglia answers your beauty questions.
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Question
I was given a tagine as a present from my daughter and am a bit nervous about cooking on my stove top. Can I put it in the oven?
Answer
Tagine is the Moroccan word that refers to both the conical earthenware vessel and the food prepared in it. The tagine is used for both cooking and serving.
Used by nomads as a portable oven, it was used over charcoal braziers for cooking stews containing meat.
The conical shaped lid helps preserve the moisture in the food. The steam condenses on the inside of the lid and drips back into the food and is self basting. This method of cooking is excellent for less expensive cuts of meat which require long slow cooking.
The shape also creates circulation of flavours and spices within the food. The lid needs to fit the base correctly to form a complete seal.
There are two types of tagine:
One is just for serving. These are usually highly coloured and patterned and not suitable for cooking.
The other type is made from glazed terracotta and require seasoning before use. It can be used on stove top with a diffuser on low heat or in large ovens.
How to season your tagine before use:
Submerge tagine in water for at least one hour. Remove and dry.
Rub the inside of the base and lid with olive oil.
Put tagine in a cold oven and set temperature at 150°C and leave for 2 hours.
Remove from oven and cool completely.
Your tagine is now ready to use!
To use your tagine on the stovetop, place it over a low heat with a diffuser over the flame. Layer ingredients in the base and stock or water over them. Cover with the lid and cook for 1-2 hours.
If you’re using it in an oven, preheat the oven to 160°C and position the oven shelf to its lowest position. Make sure you remove the top shelving. Layer ingredients into the base of the tagine, pour stock over the ingredients and cover. Cook in the oven for 1½-2 hours.
Question
When I buy Asian ingredients, I always end up with some left over chillies or too many kaffir lime leaves. What can I do with them other than throw them away?
Answer
Here are some good ways to use up your asian ingredients:
Green curry paste
Quick ideas:
Mix a small amount of curry paste and mayonnaise together for a sandwich spread or crudités dip.
For a spicy dumpling filling, blend some paste with minced pork or add to beef mince to make spicy burgers.
For a quick soup, add a little paste to good chicken stock, some rice noodles and Asian greens.
Storage solutions:
For ready to use small portions, freeze in an ice cube tray.
Spoon dollops of paste on a paper-lined tray and freeze until solid. Remove from tray and place into a freezer bag.
Hot chilli sauce
Quick ideas:
Goes well with any grilled meat and vegetables.
Stir into sour cream to make a quick sauce for potato wedges or chips.
Mix a little with lime juice, fish sauce and palm sugar to make a quick Asian dipping sauce you can use with fish cakes. Serve with rice or steamed greens.
Storage Solutions:
Even after opening, this will keep for months without refrigeration.
Kaffir lime leaf
Quick ideas:
Add some lime leaves to stock or broth to give a lime flavour.
Finely shred lime leaves and add to stir-fries or as garnish to soups.
Infuse a bottle of vinegar with lime leaves to add a wonderful taste to salads or use them to infuse a lime flavour into a pot of tea.
Storage solutions:
Kaffir lime leaves can be stored in snap-lock bags in the freezer and will keep indefinitely in this state. Leaves can also be dried.
Lemongrass
Quick ideas:
Add a bruised lemongrass stick to sugar syrup and drizzle syrup over tropical fruit.
Can be used as a skewer for beef, lamb, chicken or seafood.
Use it finely chopped in marinades and to impart flavour in pickles.
Storage solutions:
Lemongrass will keep for weeks in the refrigerator if kept in a plastic bag or frozen for up to 6 months if well wrapped.
Dried shiitake mushrooms
Quick ideas:
Throw some dried shiitake mushrooms into a casserole.
Chop and add to a vegetable burger mixture.
Grind mushrooms in a coffee grinder and add to dishes where you don’t want to add the actual dried mushroom to give a great mushroom flavour.
Storage solutions:
Store in an air-tight container for 10 to 12 months.
Ginger
Quick ideas:
Add to coffee or tea as an infusion.
Shred old ginger and preserve it in oil. Use the oil for stir fries or curries.
Add a little finely grated ginger to cookie dough or cake batter.
Storage solutions:
Fresh ginger keeps best in a paper bag for a few weeks. After that, divide ginger into knobs and drop into a bottle filled with sherry vinegar. Refrigerate.
Star anise
Quick ideas:
Grind and add to a smoking mixture when smoking fish or meat.
Infuse with lemongrass or kaffir lime leaves in sugar syrup.
Break up and use to stud a baked ham at Christmas time.
Add to broth, stock or tea as an infusion.
Storage solutions:
Store in an air-tight container for 10-12 months.
Tamarind concentrate
Quick ideas:
Add to curries and stir fries or use as part of a marinade.
Add a little to the liquid when making fruit preserves or chutneys.
Mix with sparkling water and sugar to make a quick refreshing drink.
Storage solutions:
Freeze the strained liquid in ice cube trays. You can also freeze the concentrate you buy in Asian stores.
Pics: Rodney Macuja/ bauersyndication.com.au
Every week Dr Chris Brown answers your pet questions — submit your own or browse our archives.
It was to be the trip of a lifetime. My boyfriend Connor and I were to spend two years travelling around Europe after finishing school. We had spent six months saving so we could do some travelling before settling in London to earn some pounds to fund our future travels.
Three weeks into our trip, somewhere on the train between France and Switzerland, it all went wrong. They say travelling together helps you decide whether you are meant to be together, and it became clear that we weren’t. Little disagreements turned into big fights and by the time we reached Zurich, Connor was going on to Italy and I wasn’t going with him.
The next day I scraped together some precious euros to fly back to London, and straight away I found a share flat with a French girl, Leticia, and a Scottish bloke, James. We soon became close friends. I found plenty of temp work with my great administrative skills and within a couple of weeks was earning quite good money.
I was so busy socialising, working, discovering all the new things London had to offer, that it took me a few weeks to realise that my period was late. Very late. The tests showed that I was nearly three months pregnant, and it was clear that it was Connor’s, as I hadn’t been with anyone else since we broke up. I had received a few e-mails from Connor. He was partying hard in Greece and planning to go to Turkey the following month. I knew he didn’t want kids for a long time yet and telling him about the pregnancy wasn’t going to accomplish anything.
The deadline for me to have a termination came and went, and I realised that, although I wasn’t ready to have a baby, I had to give it a chance at life. I contacted some adoption agencies and received plenty of advice and information.
Leticia and James were really helpful throughout my pregnancy, helping conceal it from my family back in Australia and covering the rent for the three weeks I had off work. Leticia held my hand as my daughter was born, two days early, healthy and beautiful. I held her, kissed her gently and cried as I handed her over. I knew she was going to a family who could give her far more than I could.
A year later I returned to Australia with enough pounds to put a deposit on a house and memories to last a lifetime.
Connor and I got back in touch a few years ago and he confided that he had needed a couple of years travelling and seeing the world before he settled down. He had always known I was the love of his life and our break-up was one of the hardest things he had ever done. We married three years ago and I am now pregnant with our third child. I always count our first daughter to myself when I think of my children, although I have never told Connor about what happened in London — he still thinks we only have our son and another baby on the way.
Perhaps one day I will tell him, but for now I plan to make the most of the family I have got.
Picture posed by models.
By Judy Davie
**”Can you please help? I seem to be a yoyo when it comes to losing weight. I lose it, then go back to my original weight and get all depressed about it. Each time I think, ‘This is it and I’ll never put it back on,’ but I always do. Any ideas?”
— Christel**
To lose weight and keep it off you have to change your attitude to food and exercise. The word “diet” is associated with a weight loss eating plan that is started one day and stopped as soon as the weight loss goal is achieved. It’s a word that most of us associate with negative feelings such as denial, restriction and sacrifice. Most people can’t wait for their diet to end as soon as it’s started. That’s the main problem.
The second problem is they see “the diet” as something far removed from their current eating habits. In other words what they eat day to day on the diet is very different to what they eat day to day when they’re not on a diet. Most good weight loss eating plans contain very healthy eating advice but there are some that eliminate whole food groups, or suggest eating the same thing for a week. These are restrictive, hard to stick to and quite simply horrible.
The only way you’ll manage long term weight loss is to assume healthy eating and exercise habits forever, and the only way to do that is to forget the idea of temporarily dieting and re-educate yourself with what to eat, why to eat it and most importantly how to make it taste great. It might mean investing some extra time in the kitchen, but you can’t achieve your goal unless you do.
I have two slightly older clients who were both over 100kg when I met them. They have since changed their eating habits completely, they love trying out new recipes and ingredients, enjoy what they eat, and look and feel great. Collectively they have lost around 25kg and that’s only by changing their eating habits and increasing their level of exercise. There’s no diet plan to follow, all they do is follow the guidelines to healthy eating.
By Judy Davie
**”I was wondering what an average calorie/kilojoule intake should be for me and my partner who are looking at losing weight and are both 26.”
— Natalie**
Without your current weight it’s impossible to tell you off the top of my head. If you are both quite large, with a lot of weight to lose, your kilojoule intake is higher than someone with much less to lose. Your height is another factor as is the difference in sexes. A man’s energy intake is usually greater than a woman’s.
To find out exactly how many kilojoules your body burns to maintain its current weight you need to find your basal metabolic rate (BMR). This is quite a complicated scientific calculation factoring in your age, height and weight. Free BMR calculators are available on the internet.
Once you have a figure from one of these calculators, deduct 2,000kJ or 500 calories to give you the amount of energy to consume for weight loss.
