Curry gets creative.

One of the things I feel truly blessed about, living here in the inner west of Melbourne, is being able to shop at the wonderful Queen Vic Market. As a rule I avoid buying fresh food (meat & veg) from either Coles of Woolies. It used to just be about the price, but now its more to do with ideology. Recent media coverage of unsustainable $1 per litre milk and 'the war of fruit and veg prices' makes me wonder what kind of an agricultural industry we could maintain in Australia if the big 2 totally monopolised the market. Following on from my weekend away- I was faced with the challenge of coming home to an empty fridge as its impractical to go to the market during the week. I needed to come up with some creative menu items. My starting point was various bits of left over steak in the freezer and some pre-cut potatoes left over from when my friend had been a bit ambitious around her menu planning during the weekend down at the Peninsula . Searching through my recipe book of Age mag cuttings and Curtis Stone 'feed your family' brochures (what was I saying about Coles) I came across a recipe 'Spicy Lamb and Sweet Potato Curry' (Neil Perry). This recipe had caught my eye as it uses fresh turmeric.(one of my purchases from my annual free loaders trip to the Melbourne Flower and garden festival.

My very first piece of home grown turmeric!

 I figured with a little imagination (sweet potatoes/ potatoes - no one will know the difference? beef/lamb?) a successful exploratory dig in the turmeric pot, home grown chillies and kaffir lime leaves from my friends tree (these store well in a tupperware container at the bottom of the fridge and/or in the freezer) and a trip to the new Asian supermarket up the road, I could pull it all together with the following result- fresh and delicious!