Can I use low fat natural yogurt or lite sour cream instead of the coconut milk?

This is the most yummiest meal around.  We have it once a week and its a no-fail recipe.   Sometimes on the way home I stop and get some Italian sausage and fry that up for about 3 mins on 100 degrees soft speed reverse and then commence the recipe as normal just to add something extra every now again.  Add the cooked sausage when doing the sauce mixture, after chopping the garlic etc.  Yuuummmm!!!

I  just remade it and yes it was too thick with the 250g of flour in total so I have reduced recipe back to 100g of each flour.    It is good if you wanted it as a slice that you can also freeze and eat later but if you were to eat straight away, hot with cream on top, then the less flour is fine, as the mixture tends to sink to the bottom.

You need to put more of the mixture on the bottom and then put the fruit on and then spread the remainder over the top the best you can (as its so thick to spread) once you cook it the top doesn't really matter as its nice and firm.

Hi
I also have a variation to the book.

2 garlic
2 onion
1 large potato (with skin on)
500g pumkin (skin off)
550g water
2tbs of tm concentrate stock
s & p

puree and then pour into bowls.  Pour in a bit of cream, if you like, and then sprinkle with nutmeg and basil.

Orange Braised Lamb

Serves 4

Ingredients:
500g diced lamb or beef (not a cheap cut unless you want to add cooking time)
1 onion
1 garlic clove
1pkt Hearty Beef Soup Mix
250g water
500g orange juice

Chop onion and garlic for 5 seconds on speed 7.    Add all ingredients and cook for 35 mins on 100 degrees on reverse and soft speed.

You can add choice of vegetables (baby potatoes, carrots etc into varoma  and place on TM Bowl or serve with mash potatoes.

members' comments

JD - We had this for lunch and as I thought, there was too much liquid for the amount of meat.  I did reduce the orange juice by 250 gms as I only had 320g of lamb backstrap and I thought this would compensate for the smaller quantity of meat.  However, it was still too much liquid.  I just served the meat with a slotted spoon, it wasn't a real problem.  Very tasty though and the expensive piece of meat I used was cooked to perfection.
I even steamed potatoes, carrots, beans and trombone in the varoma dish and to my surprise, they were cooked before the meat had finished so I can cut them into bigger pieces next time. Because I steamed the vegies I thought I had better cook the meat on the varoma setting instead of 100^o as per your recipe.
We will have this one again Karonjulie. I like recipes where you just throw everything in!

Note - Karonjulie reduced the amount of orange juice from 750 - 500g after this comment.

Name of Recipe: Easy Apricot Slice

Number of People:  8 serves

Ingredients:

250g dried apricots
500g water
100g sugar (or to taste)...less is better.

125g butter
125g sugar
2 eggs
100g plain flour
100g SR flour
Coconut (optional)

Place apricots in TM bowl with 500g water and 1/2 cup of sugar and cook on varoma temp for 20 + mins or until apricots stewed.  Add  more water if texture to thick.   (You can soak in hot water, until soft, prior to cooking to lesson cooking time)

Cream butter, sugar and eggs 10 seconds on speed 8.  Add flours and mix for 30 seconds on speed 7.

Spread half mixture into a small lined or non-stick lamington tin and then spread the apricot mixture over the top.  Spread the remainder of the flour mixture over the apricot mix.  May need to use a wet spoon to help spread the mixture over the apricots.   Looks a bit messy at this stage but when cooked, looks totally different.

Sprinkle with coconut (options) and bake for 15-20 mins in a pre-heated 180^oC oven or until golden brown.


***I found this recipe the other day in an old note book that I had hand written about 20 years ago!!!   I've only cooked it this once and attempted to adapt to thermomix, and it turned out pretty good

 I need to experiment with the cooking of the apricots to get the water apricot ratio perfect.   But pretty easy to just add or pour off excess water and if not cooked enough then just keep cooking until at the consistency you like.

When I make again I will adjust recipe if need to but otherwise enjoy with a big blob of ice cream or whipped cream

members' comments

JD - Made your apricot slice today Karonjulie, your first version which I tweaked a little then when I came on to tell you what I did tonight, you had already tweaked it yourself to pretty well what I did although I only added 3 teaspoons sugar, not 1/2 cup to the apricot mixture. I blitzed the apricots after the 15 minutes cooking - 4 seconds on speed 6 and I scraped down the bowl halfway through the creaming stage.

I used a tin 17cm x 27cm and the slice (when cooked) is only 2cm thick - well, mine was anyway! It wasn't all that firm when I took it out of the oven but when I reheated the leftovers the slice became much firmer so if you want it for the childrens' lunch boxes, I'd cook it 25 minutes at least.

It was really nice and I reheated a slice in the weber after I'd taken the roast out and I think it was even better reheated.  I have frozen 6 pieces for lunch visitors in a couple of weeks time.

cookie1 - I loved the texture of the apricots as they were, I did blitz them after 15 minutes.
BUT, I don't know what I did but I needed to add more flour. I felt the mix was too runny to support the apricot mixture. Should it be this runny and does it hold the apricots up or do they sink to the bottom please?
We really enjoyed it though. If it should be really thin will give it another try as is.
Thanks-lovely taste.

I made these the other week and they turned out great...yes even a surprise to me!!!!   I made the custard and chocolate sauce also out of the every day cook book and they were yummmmy

The consistency was nice and firm, my only problem was how big a dobs I put on the making tray.  I will  make again following the exact recipe

Thermo Fruit Rolls

750g fruit of choice (apricots, peaches, plums, berries, applies, pears, grapes)
1 banana peeled (optional)
juice 1/2 small lemon or lime

Preparation:

Place fruit into TM bowl (including stones and or skins, except banana peel) and cook for 10 minutes on 100 degrees on speed 2.

Strain mixture through basket to remove stones if necessary and return cooked fruit to TM Bowl.  Taste and add sweetener if required.

Add juice (strained) and process for 30 seconds on speed 9 until completely smooth.

Spread thinly onto well oiled baking tray or silicone baking mat and dry in the oven for 9-12 hours overnight at 80 degrees until it is no longer sticky to touch.

Cut into strips, wrap in plastic to keep separated and keep in pantry until use for up to to 12 months.

Tips/Hints:

You can add cinnamon, nutmeg or vanilla with the lemon juice for a different flavour.

Using the banana or apples will increase the quantity and reduce the overall price of your fruit rolls.

It is better to divide and conquer!  spread the mixture onto several small trays rather than one big one as this will reduce the drying time.

This recipe is from the Lunch Box and After School Idea's recipe book Feb 2009

members' comments

Baf65 - if you have a food dehydrator you can just spread it on  the trays and dry in there - I must brush the cobwebs off my dehydrator!!

MelissaS - Thank you so much for this wonderful recipe. I made it with strawberries for my kids and we all loved it. I dried my first batch in the over at a slightly too high heat and it got a little burnt, turned the heat down for the second batch and it was perfect.
We will definitely be making this again!

mama bel - Yum!  I've been using my dehydrator a lot lately.  The other night I made some fruit leather, rolled the whole thing into a tube and cut into spirals with the kitchen scissors.  Put each little spiral into a lunchbox so it's not stuck together, only touching very slightly.  They come out easily and are just thin, long strips, rolled up.  The kids love them!  If they're sticky, you can also toss some coconut in the container if your kids like that.
This is also another use for failed jams, if you didn't use any/much sugar in them.

CarolineW -  Probably because of the fruits I used (Apple, plums, apricots) it was hard work to strain it through the steamer basket to get rid of the skins and stones/pips.  I wished that I'd just peeled and cored them.  I then put them in the oven to dry but couldn't get the temperature low enough, even using the tea towel trick.  The result was more of a boiled sweet than a leather but it was a huge hit with DH and DD1, so that was OK. I bit the bullet and bought a dehydrator, which I've been threatening to do for years.  This afternoon I made some leather (without the straining) and it was super easy.  I've just tasted the results from the dehydrator (the trays of which I lined with baking parchment) and all I can say is Yum!  DH is of the same opinion.  DD1 will get to taste it tomorrow.  I dried some apple rings while I was at it, and they're lovely too. I used strawberries, apples (peeled & cored) and banana.  Lovely.

Brumington - I made these today with a glut of apples and pears. The kids and I thought it was lovely. Added some vanilla in with the lemon. Can't wait to try this with other fruits too.

astarra - My MIL made these for our girls using only plums and the lemon juice and they loved them!

Tasty - Made these using mainly watermelon and a little banana to make up the weight. Turned out a vibrant deep pink colour however I'm not too sure I like the taste. Prefer the apple ones I did using another recipe (I think).