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Grilled Chicken Curry with Spicy Coconut Sauce

July 3rd 2009 07:10

Grilled chicken with spicy coconut sauce

Now that I have been working less and less in our little cafe due to my burgeoning writing business I have extended this blog to include my own experiments in the kitchen as well as what goes on when running your own food business.

My cousin recenlty came out of hospital after a big operation so I thought I would punish her with some of my cooking. As the days are getting cooler there is one dish that just has to be cooked at some time and that is a curry.

My choice is as the title states and it turned out beautifully according to my cousin...or was she just trying to be nice. Naaah, she's family, she doesn't need to be. Anyway, the recipe is below:

Ingredients
2Tb oil
4 chicken maryland or 8 chicken pieces
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 Tb finely chopped fresh lemon grass
2 Tb ground coriander
1 Tb ground cumin
1 tsp ground cardamom
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp chilli powder
2x400ml cans coconut cream
1 Tb light soy sauce
1/4 cup chopped fresh coriander

Method
1.Heat oil in large saucepan, add chicken, cook over high heat for about 5 mins or until chicken is browned all over, turning frequently. Remove chicken from pan.
2. Add onion to pan, stir over medium heat for about 3 minuts or until onion is soft. Stir in garlic, lemon grass, ground coriander, cumin, cardamom, cloves and chilli powder, stir over medium heat a further minute,

3. Add chicken to pan, turn chicken to coat with spice mixture. Stir in coconut cream and sauce, bring to boil, reduce heat, cover simmer for about 15 mins or until tender.
4. Remove chicken from sauce, cook chicken under hot grill until crisp and browned all over. Boil sauce uncovered, until reduced by a third, stir in fresh coriander, mix well. Serve sauce over chicken.
Serves 4.

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Posted By: Samantha Elley - Category: No Category

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Brrrr..it's Winter!

June 25th 2009 08:51

Winter is here

The temperature has dropped, the wind has picked up, it's constantly overcast and the streets are getting emptier. This translates into slow sales and shorter opening hours for us.

There's not much you can do to tempt people out into dreary weather when they don't have to be there. You can, however, cater for those who are about. The last two winters we sold soup to the masses. Unfortunately, it didn't make us much money. In fact, taking into account the time it took to make the soup we were getting no return at all so we decided not to continue selling it.

Toasted sandwiches are popular in winter as are our doughnuts and coffee. Hot chocolate sales also get quite a boost. Not so, the ice cream for obvious reasons.

Our little town does have one main event in winter that brings in the tourists during the school holidays and that is our major fishing classic. For a week the streets are alive with big (by that I mean HUGE) boats being towed along by very expensive looking four wheel drives with attachments for a range of fishing rods. It's quite a spectacular sight to see.

Most businesses tighten their belts during the cold, lean times waiting for the warmer weather, the tourists and of course, the sales that will get them through the next lean season.

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Open and Closing Times

June 12th 2009 10:15

Closed Sign

One of the great advantages about owning your own business (yes, there are a few) is that, depending on the type of business you have and whether or not the work is seasonal, you can call the shots as to when you are open and closed.

In our case with The Sandwich Shak, our busiest time is the summer months, especially the school holidays, so we choose to, and obviously need to, keep longer hours. During that time we will often be down at the shop at 7.00am and closing around 4.30pm or until people stopped walking through the door.

In winter it's a different story. Our opening and closing times are currently 8.00am to 3pm and that is mainly because, now that I have my own writing business and am not often around to pick our older son up from school, Sir has to do it.

The fact that we can do it is one of the best things about owning your own business. We can fit it in with our lifestyle and family commitments. At times we've had to shut the shop if we have a family sickness, funeral or other important commitment.

On the other side of that we try to stay open as often as possible for our regular customers and suppliers. If it's not possible, we actually will tell those customers we know will be most affected.

Sir was telling me a story the other day about a lady who came up to the doors of the shop that were shut (not locked) and even though the lights were off, the outdoor furniture was stacked inside, she came in and asked "Are you still open?"

Sometimes the hours on the front of the shop door mean nothing to some.

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Did I say 30%??!!

June 4th 2009 10:12

The magic rebate number

The last time I wrote about business equipment was when we bought our new ice cream display cabinet and it was before Treasurer Wayne Swan delivered the Federal Budget.

Since then the rebate on capital equipment was increased to 50% as long as it is bought before 31 December 2009. So with the end of the financial year approaching and then another six months to update needed equipment we have been taking advantage of the government's generosity

[ Click here to read more ]

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Dealing with the Competition!

May 28th 2009 01:27

Our main street. Picture by Joy Cooper

On our little main street there are two cafes, one restaurant, two takeaways, one bakery and a pub. Around the corner is another bakery, cafe and pizza place. That list doesn't include our shop.

What this means is that there are other businesses competing for the same dollar from the same customers in our geographic area. Being a holiday town, that's no problem in summer as there are usually lots of tourists around. In the quieter, colder winter months customers can be quite scarce

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We're 2 years old!

May 21st 2009 07:01

birthday cake

With all the excitement of being promoted and various other happenings in our lives I quite simply forgot to announce our second birthday for The Sandwich Shak.

So, hey, we turned two on the 19th May. We celebrated with free chocolate cake for every coffee sold

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We've been promoted!!

May 18th 2009 02:54

A journalist who loves her food

The powers that be in Orble have decided that it was high time The Sandwich Shak blog had it's own domain and while it would have been nice to have called it 'The Sandwich Shak', I have settled with Food Journo. It is now no longer an inactive blog.

Food Journo suits where we are at at the moment. Since I lost my part-time job last year, I was doing some extra shifts in the shop but also had planned to start up my own writing business. I have a degree in Literature and a diploma in Freelance Journalism but never really put either to good use. This was my chance

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Cockroach Bread

May 14th 2009 00:38

cockroach bread

Recently in our local paper it was reported that a local bakery had sold a loaf of bread with a cockroach in it. This happened back in November/December last year but they have recenlty been 'named and shamed' on the NSW Food Authority website that lists all food places that have been fined for not so hygienic food practices.

Every six months the local council sends around a food inspector, which the local business has to pay for, to ensure that all standards are being met in the way of food preparation, handling and serving

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Ice Cream with Delight

May 7th 2009 01:09

Our range of ice cream

The history of our shop was that before we bought it, it was mainly an ice cream shop. That's all very well in summer but even in God's holiday home it gets cold in winter and there isn't much demand for our ice confection.

So the first thing we did was expand the menu to add gourmet and regular sandwiches, however we still wanted to keep the ice cream as it was a good source of income, especially in Summer. The only problem was the ice cream cabinet was pretty old and if it wasn't freezing the ice cream, it wasn't keeping it cold enough

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Dining Al Fresco

April 27th 2009 04:13

One view of our al fresco area

On a beautiful summer's day or even a warm autumn one, nothing beats sitting out in the fresh air and watching the world go by while eating a fresh gourmet sandwich and sipping delicious local coffee.

That's my blurb as far as eating in our al fresco area is concerned. On days that I'm looking after the boys and not working in the shop I love sitting in our al fresco area and saying 'hi' to many of the locals, my friends

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July 2009

1 Posts

June 2009

3 Posts

May 2009