Urban QLD Homestead — Food Savings Series

Welcome to the Food Savings Series from Urban QLD Homestead, where we’re learning how to save money, reduce food waste and make the most of what we already have.

Join me as I share practical, budget-friendly ways to cook from scratch, preserve food, build our pantry and stretch our groceries further — all from our urban Queensland homestead.

From turning inexpensive ingredients into multiple family meals, making our own spice blends and sauces, baking and preserving, to growing, harvesting and storing food, this series is about finding realistic ways to feed the family well without spending a fortune.

In this episode, we’re also making fermented fruit drinks using fresh fruit and ginger bugs. I’ll be making several different fruit-based drinks, bottling them up and getting them ready for the shelf. We’ll also open a recently made batch and test the alcohol content to see how much alcohol has developed during fermentation, sharing the results along the way.

We’ll explore homemade drinks, fermentation, seasonal produce, pantry building, food-saving tips and plenty of old-fashioned skills that can help us become more self-reliant.

🌿 Cook from scratch
🌿 Reduce food waste
🌿 Stretch the grocery budget
🌿 Preserve and store food
🌿 Build a well-stocked pantry
🌿 Learn practical homesteading skills
🌿 Make delicious food for less

Whether you’re living on acreage, in the suburbs or simply trying to make your grocery budget go further, I hope the Food Savings Series gives you ideas, inspiration and practical skills you can use in your own home.

Urban QLD Homestead — growing, preserving, cooking and saving our way towards a more self-reliant life.


Kashmiri Chicken — 1kg Chicken Breast
Ingredients

Chicken

1 kg chicken breast fillets, diced
Coconut yoghurt or natural yoghurt, enough to coat the chicken
Oil, for cooking

Spice Paste

1 onion
1 whole tomato
1 tbsp tomato paste
6 cloves garlic
1 piece fresh turmeric
1 piece fresh ginger
2 tbsp coriander seeds, ground
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp garam masala
Salt, to taste
Sugar, to taste
1 tsp paprika
2 tsp Kashmiri chilli powder
Vegetable stock, as needed for blending

To Finish

Reserved yoghurt from the chicken marinade
250 ml milk or condensed milk
2 cups cooked green peas
1 tsp ground nutmeg
Method
Marinate the chicken
The night before, dice the chicken breast and coat well with coconut yoghurt or natural yoghurt. Cover and refrigerate overnight.
Make the spice paste
Add the onion, tomato, tomato paste, garlic, fresh turmeric, fresh ginger, ground coriander seeds, cumin, garam masala, salt, sugar, paprika and Kashmiri chilli powder to a blender. Add enough vegetable stock to help everything blend into a smooth paste.
Cook the chicken
Heat a little oil in a large pan and cook the marinated chicken until cooked through and lightly browned. Remove the chicken from the pan and reserve.
Fry the spice paste
Add the prepared spice paste to the same pan and fry it over medium heat, stirring regularly. Cook until the paste has reduced and the spices are fragrant.
Add the yoghurt
Turn off the heat and add the reserved coconut yoghurt or natural yoghurt from the chicken marinade to the spice paste. Stir thoroughly until completely combined.
Simmer the sauce
Increase the heat and bring the sauce to a gentle simmer. Cook for approximately 5 minutes, stirring regularly.
Return the chicken
Add the reserved chicken back into the sauce along with 250 ml milk or condensed milk. Stir well until everything is combined.
Finish cooking
Turn up the heat, bring to a gentle simmer, then cover and cook for approximately 10 minutes, allowing the chicken to absorb all those beautiful spices and the sauce to thicken.
Add the peas and nutmeg
Finally, stir through 2 cups of cooked green peas and 1 tsp ground nutmeg. Heat through for another minute or two.
Serve
Spoon the Kashmiri Chicken generously over cooked rice, making sure to get plenty of the creamy, spiced sauce over the top.

Serves: Approximately 10 portions
Chicken: 1 kg
Cooking time: Approximately 30 minutes, plus overnight marinating




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