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July Week 4

Kalpana Laitflang — Thu, 24 Jul 2025 01:00:00 +0000

July Week 4

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Pork & Pineapple Chilli

mixedrootadmin — Wed, 23 Jul 2025 04:08:02 +0000

Ages ago, we had a dear friend of ours stay with us. She cooked this simple and delicious pot of pork chilli that we devoured with corn chips, guacamole and of course – sour cream! What I found fascinating was that she used crushed pineapple in juice for the acidity factor (not tomatoes). As the Husband reacts rather vehemently to canned / jarred tomatoes and they’re worth their weight in gold in the winter, this has been a rather delicious substitute.

Let me know if you make this. And if you ate it with corn chips, tortillas, or even on rice!

Pork & Pineapple Chilli

Pork Mince 500 gms
Chopped Onion 1 medium
Crushed Garlic
Mixed Beans 1 can
Crushed Pineapple in Juice 1 can
Anything Mix Spice Blend 1tbsp
Chopped Coriander – handful
Neutral Oil for cooking

– Heat the oil in a heavy bottomed pan.
– Cook the chopped onions tills transparent.
– Add the crushed garlic and sauce till you can’t smell the raw garlic & onions.
– Add the pork mince and small well to cook through.
– Sprinkle the Anything Mix and mix well.
– Pour the crushed pineapples – juice and all.
– Add the can of the mixed beans – along with the “canning juice”.
– Mix well and heat through.
– Stir through the chopped coriander.

Serve on a bed of corn chips with guacomole, a red onion salsa and sour cream (personally, I don’t like cheese on my nachos, but you do you and go crazy with the cheese if that’s your jam!)

Enjoy!

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July Week 3

Kalpana Laitflang — Wed, 23 Jul 2025 02:40:21 +0000

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July Week 2

Kalpana Laitflang — Wed, 23 Jul 2025 02:39:35 +0000

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July Week 1

Kalpana Laitflang — Wed, 23 Jul 2025 02:33:13 +0000

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NZ Food Awards shortlist

mixedrootadmin — Thu, 25 Aug 2022 01:57:28 +0000

A few weeks ago, we filled in a long form that told our story and hit the “Send” button and then sent off some samples of our decadent “Nice Spice” Spice Blend to the NZ Food Awards. (And then promptly forgot all about it.) Till we got an email about bring shortlisted in TWO categories – the Artisan Foods and Pantry Essentials.

Did you know that the “Nice Spice” Spice Blend is an adaptation of a Chettinad curry, from the backwaters of Kerala in Southern India? The flavours, textures and spices are very different from those we grew up with in my Mother’s kitchen. But we’ve never known to discriminate against good food and spice!

I’m particularly proud of how “Nice Spice” turned out!
I love the fact that while it is a traditional “Curry” recipe, its complex flavours and texture don’t allow it to get slotted into a stereotypical spot. We use it as a dry for pulled pork, to season our crumbs to get the tastiest KFC (Kalpana’s Fried Chicken 😉 ) and of course – for a quick Korma Curry. It’s also been our favourite dukkah the last few months.

“Nice Spice” is definitely is a Pantry staple in our house, but we’re pleased the team at Countdown agree with us. The Senior Food Editor of Cuisine Magazine wrote to let us know “The spice mix has a wonderful complexity and … reminds me of all the delicious food in Kerala”. (Can you tell we’re still gushing?)

I’m also very excited and really looking forward to the Awards Gala Night Dinner – I feel a bit like Cinderella just thinking about it!

Just sitting tight and waiting for the results to be announced on 13 October. We shall keep you posted. We’re stoked to have made it to the shortlist (no mean feat with 180 entries! eeeeek)

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