condiments | organised castle

As promised, here is the recipe for another sauce you can easily make. This is an excellent replica of the specialty product which is marketed as balsamic glaze, balsamic syrup or ‘aged’ balsamic. I cannot take the credit for the recipe as it was posted by Mimi on Simple Savings.

Here is the recipe:

BALSAMIC SYRUP

500ml balsamic vinegar
3/4 cups sugar
1/2 cup port

Place all ingredients in a medium saucepan and bring to the boil, stirring until the sugar is dissolved. Simmer gently until required consistency is reached (approximately 30 minutes). Watch carefully and stir regularly to ensure it does not catch or burn.

Cool and pour into small jars or bottles. This makes an excellent gift and a list of uses could be attached.

Here are a couple of serving suggestions.

A small quantity in a tiny dish with good-quality olive oil makes a perfect dipping sauce.

Mix with orange juice for a marinade for chicken.

Drizzle over your favourite salad.

It is a great addition to the festive menu and I hope you enjoy this as much as I do.

We all know how much cheaper it is to prepare a meal at home rather than eating out, however, you can take it a step further by making your own sauces and spices. I have previously posted my recipe for Worcestershire sauce (see the link under ‘Recipes’ on the right-hand side of the blog).

Curry powder is a perfect example of something you can make up yourself. You probably have curry paste in the refrigerator (maybe even a couple of different types) but this powder mix is great for any recipe where it calls for a teaspoon or so of curry powder. It is also perfect to have made up rather than trying to make a curry with 1/2 teaspoon of this and that. I originally made this as a time-saving measure because I found it so fiddly to have to measure out small quantities of lots of spices whenever I went to make a curry.

CURRY POWDER

35 g cumin (powdered)
35 g coriander (powdered)
20 g tumeric (powdered)
20 g cardamom (powdered)
15 g chilli (powdered)
1 cinnamon stick
12 cloves
5 g yellow mustard seeds
10 g black peppercorns

Place the cinnamon, cloves, mustard seeds and peppercorns in a spice grinder and grind until powdered. Combine all ingredients and store in a dry glass jar.

Use according to taste.

I buy all of my spices from Simply Good at Morayfield. They are in bulk containers so I take my own paper bags and then decant them into my jars when I get home. This helps to eliminate any packaging.