Ok, so only one crappy photo. Sorry. My bad. Not even a complete Thermomix. Oops.
I call mine Thelma. She’s awesome. For a wide range of things. Some days she’s a glorified blender while other days I use the cooking function for multiple dishes. The steamer part – not so much so far. But hey, there’s time. I use the cooking function for risotto, soups, curry, dahl, and a variety of sauces for pasta and other. The blending function I use for baking, grinding, milling, beating and whipping.
This particular meal was home made soup – made with a little left over curry as the base that I’d done the night before – in Thelma. I added a few fresh garden veggies, 1ltr of home-made stock and some home made 30 min rolls and you have dinner. Typically I didn’t take a photo of the delightful fresh bread or hearty soup. That’s how I roll. Useless. (ignore the strawberries in the pic, Moo ate them within 2 mins of the photo being taken)
A few comments on my over all impressions. I don’t like the sales process. We didn’t buy mine through a demo. Hubby called up and just ordered one straight off. They are not hard to use. It’s not rocket science. The slightly cult type following. Not interested. The actual machine – for us – great.
At the most basic they are a fancy blender, if you don’t use its capacity to cook that is what you bought, a big fancy, very costly blender. The scales. Yeah, they are ok. Pretty accurate. I’m a kind of free hand cook, theres not a lot of measuring that goes on on this kitchen!
If you use the cooking function its a huge help in the kitchen, particularly when you have busy afternoons or little ones about. It’s not going to turn you into Nigella Lawson. But it will help create great meals from scratch if thats your thing. And it will quietly work away while you do jigsaws or read books with small people before dinner. Mine genuinely makes certain meals for me, I put the ingredients in, blitz, start cooking and I wander off. Water the veggies, play on the trampoline with Moo etc. Is it worth the cost. Yes, I think so, but only if you utilise the cooking function.
For example on the last couple of days Thelma has made – mango chicken curry, leftover veggie soup, choc cookies, banana bran muffins, green smoothie, and banana pancake mix. Oh and lemonade.
I don’t tend to follow any recipes, thats just me. I like cook books for inspiration but then I strike out alone. Its taken me a while to perfect some dishes. A good example of bolognese – a staple in our house. Made exclusively in Thelma it comes out unpleasantly watery. I make the tomato/veg base in Thelma, fry off the mince and combine to two in the pan. simmer for 5 mins and voila. Perfect bolognese – Like stir in sauce, only homemade.
I will make a big effort to put more of what we make on here.
What happens elsewhere while I cook.
I’m not a curry person at all, but I’ve got 2 who love curries and love mangos – so your mango chicken curry sounds really interesting. Is that one that you sort of make up as you go along? (A lot of my cooking tends to be like that too!) If so could you give me a bit of a basic idea what you put in it so we could give it a go?
Yup, definitely a bit of a make up as you go. I think I googled a recipe one time, had a quick look at it then just did my own thing.
Fry up onion, garlic and either a bit of curry powder or I use a ‘butter chicken’ spice mix, I use approx. a small teaspoon so its got flavour but isn’t hot. I make sure the spices are well fried up so they aren’t bitter. Then add approx. 1/2 tube of tomato puree and a can of mango (drained) – at this point I use thelma to blitz it into a lumpy puree texture, so if your using a frying pan just batter the hell out of the mango before adding so its not too lumpy.
Cook up for a few mins until its a smooth, rich looking sauce and then add diced chicken (and any veg you wish, some days I don’t really add any, on the occasion above I added courgette, cauliflower and pepper. Basically whatever in the bottom of the fridge. Probably not a very authentic approach for Indian cooking, but we love veggies)
Cook up for about 15 mins, sort of simmering away. Then add a decent dose of coconut cream 5 mins before serving – I add a bit, stir through, simmer, check the taste/consistency and add a bit more etc.
I use 1-2 chicken breasts, a standard can of mango and a small can of coconut cream. that feeds 2 adults and a 3yr old, with some left for hubbys lunch the next day and sauce for a soup base.
Hope that helps 🙂 You can also swop the mango for banana if you want.
Ps sorry that was a long windy reply!