Woman & Home's Pumpkin and Cauliflower Curry

I have a confession to make.  This recipe was originally for a Thai curry, but I made it into an Indian curry, because I believe pumpkin and cauliflower is better suited to Indian flavours.  So I replaced the Thai red curry paste with Indian curry paste, and seasoned the dish with salt instead of fish sauce.  I also tried my hand at making my own chapatti's from Food and Home magazine.  It tasted so much better than any store-bought version and you'll be surprised at how easy it was to do.  Give it a go - it may be a bit more fiddly than taking something out of a packet and popping it in the microwave, but it tastes amazing!

Serves 4

For the curry, you will need:

500 g pumpkin cut into chunks, or 1 butternut peeled, deseeded and cut into chunks
1 medium cauliflower, broken into florets
1 red chilli, sliced (and deseeded if you prefer less of a kick)
3 tbsp. sunflower oil
6 shallots, peeled and chopped (I used 6 pickling onions)
2 tbsp. Indian curry paste
400 g can coconut milk
1 tsp light brown sugar
coriander to garnish

Heat the oven to 220 degrees Celcius.  Mix the pumpkin, cauliflower, chilli and 2 tablespoons of the oil in a large roasting tin.  Season and roast for 20 to 30 minutes, stirring once or twice, until cooked.

Meanwhile, fry the onions/shallots in the remaining oil with the curry paste for a few minutes (or until the curry paste smells fragrant).  Add the coconut milk, a pinch of salt and sugar, bring to the boil and then reduce the heat to allow the mixture to simmer for 15 minutes.  It should reduce by a third. 

When you are ready to serve, stir the vegetables through the sauce, check the seasoning and sprinkle with coriander.

For the chapatti's, you will need:

2 cups of cake flour (sieved)
a pinch of salt
30 ml olive oil
180 ml hot water (3/4 cup)

Combine the flour and salt in a mixing bowl and make a well in the centre.  Pour in the olive oil and mix in just enough water to make a soft dough (I used the whole lot). 

On a lightly floured surface, knead the dough until it is smooth and elastic.  Cut into 8 or 10 evenly sized pieces, cover and let the dough rest for at least 30 minutes. 

Roll each piece of dough out into a round-ish disc.  Heat a large, heavy-based frying pain to hot and coat lightly with oil.  Fry each chapatti until it's nice and golden with "brown spots" (around 30 seconds on each side). Cover the cooked chapatti to keep warm.

Wenresepte: Fish in sour cream

Let's be honest:  this is not the most attractive dish you'll ever see.  But if it's cheap, tasty fish dish you're after, you can't go far wrong with this recipe.  I served mine with some jazzed up rice (sweat an onion in a little butter until soft, mix in fresh corn and peas, cook for a few minutes and stir through cooked rice).  I often add vegetables to starches like rice and couscous.  Not only does it add some important nutrients to the dish, it also makes a somewhat boring element on the plate interesting and colourful.

Serves 4 (although my husband I finished the whole lot between the two of us...)

 

You will need:

 

800 g of sustainable white fish fillets

milk

salt and freshly ground black pepper

fresh bread crumbs

250 ml sour cream

1 tomato, sliced (I used a couple of cherry tomatoes sliced in half)

150 ml cheddar cheese, grated

freshly chopped parsley (to garnish)

 

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celcius.  Grease a medium-sized ovenproof dish with butter or spray with cooking spray.  Dip the fish fillets into the milk and light season with salt and pepper.  Role the fish in the breadcrumbs and place in the prepared dish.  Pour the sour cream over the fish.  Add the tomato slices, season with salt and pepper and sprinkle the cheese over the top.  Bake the dish in the preheated oven for 25 - 30 minutes, or until the fish is cooked and the cheese has melted.  Garnish with fresh parsley and serve.



Bill Granger's Moroccan Chicken Pies

This is another recipe by Bill Granger - one of my favourite foody personalities.  It's a delicious chicken pie with just a hint of Morocco thanks to the cinnamon, apricots and green olives.  Don't worry about the big flavours of cumin and coriander bashing you over the head - this is Morocco Light!  I served mine with baby marrow and mushroom couscous, mixed with chopped fresh parsley and goat's cheese, only because these had to be used up. 

Serves 4 - 6

For the pies, you will need:

50 g plain flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon turmeric
750 g skinless chicken thighs, cut into cubes
2 tablespoons of olive oil
1 large onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed (I couldn't be bothered crushing them and only chopped them finely)
2 teaspoons grated ginger (I used ginger paste)
500 g butternut squash, peeled, deseeded and cut into chunks (a little bigger than a dice)
100 g dried apricots, roughly chopped (the packet I had was 125 g, so I just chucked the whole lot in!)
100 g pitted green olives
375 ml chicken stock
1 tablespoon preserved lemon rind, finely chopped (couldn't find the ingredient so left it out)
375 g ready-made puff pastry
1 egg, lightly beaten

Combine the flour, cinnamon and turmeric in a bowl or Ziploc bag and season with salt and pepper.  Toss the chicken to coat, shaking off any excess flour.  Heat the oil in a large, deep frying pan (or pot - which I used as it has to be quite deep).  Add the onion, garlic and ginger and cook, stirring occasionally for 5 - 6 minutes, until soft.  Add the chicken and cook for 2 -3 minutes, until the chicken is lightly browned.

Add the squash, apricots, olives, stock and preserved lemon (if using), bring to the boil, then reduce the heat to low and simmer for 10 minutes, or until the squash is soft and the chicken cooked.  Remove from the heat and set aside to cool.

Heat the oven to 180 degrees Celcius.  Bill suggest using six 250 ml ramekins or ovenproof dishes, but I made the pie in one large dish.  Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured surface until about 4 mm thick.  Spoon the chicken into a large casserole dish, or cut out six pastry circles and spoon the chicken into the six ramekins.  Brush the rim of the casserole or ramekins with the egg and cover with the pastry lid, pushing down lightly around the rim to seal.  Brush the top with more egg and bake for 35 to 40 minutes until golden brown.  My pie baked for about 25 minutes and it was done!

Spicy Fish Tortillas

I found this recipe in the Food and Home Entertaining (one of my favourite magazines!) January 2013 issue.  Wraps are one of the most versatile things you can make for dinner and you can eat it with your hands, which is the best part! 

The dish consists of three components:  the crunchy salad, the fish filling and the spiced yoghurt.  The fish filling is quite spicy, so maybe halve the amount of cayenne pepper if you prefer yours less spicy, or maybe leave it out all together if you are making this dish for kids.  The great thing about this dish, is that you can prepare all the ingredients beforehand (except for cooking the fish) and then just cook the fish quickly and assemble the dish when you are ready to eat.

Serves 4

For the crunchy salad, you will need:

60 ml olive oil
7,5 ml soya sauce
10 ml freshly grated ginger
1 medium-sized clove chopped garlic
30 ml white wine vinegar
60 ml castor sugar
1 baby red cabbage, thinly sliced (I didn't have cabbage, so I used half a cucumber peeled into ribbons with a potato peeler)
3 carrots, peeled and thinly sliced (I also peeled them into ribbons with the potato peeler)
100 g of mange-tout or sugar snap peas, thinly sliced
salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
15 ml of sesame seeds, lightly toasted (I didn't have, so I left them out)

For the fish filling, you will need:

5 ml cayenne pepper
10 ml paprika
10 ml ground cumin
olive oil for frying
400 - 500 g hake, sliced into strips
4 tortillas, warmed (to serve)
coriander leaves (optional) to garnish
lime wedges (optional) to serve

For the spiced yoghurt, you will need:

250 ml plain yoghurt
5 ml ground cumin (I used the last of my cumin for the fish filling, so substituted with ground coriander and it was fine)
5 ml honey
5 ml fresh ginger, grated

To assemble the salad, place the olive oil, soya sauce, ginger, garlic, white wine vinegar and castor sugar in a bowl and mix to combine.  Add the freshly sliced vegetables and toss gently to coat in the dressing.  Season with salt and pepper and sprinkle with sesame seeds (if using).

To make the spiced yoghurt, add all of the ingredients for the yoghurt together and stir to combine. 

To make the fish filling, place the cayenne pepper, paprika and cumin in a bowl and mix to combine. Toss the fish strips in the spice mixture. When you are ready to eat, heat the oil in a frying pan and cook the fish briefly, until just done (this won't take long at all - a few minutes at best). 

Combine all of the elements in the tortillas and garnish with coriander (if using).  Serve with lime wedges.

Bill Granger's Light Butter Chicken

My husband and I love Asian cuisine.  I especially love this Bill Granger recipe, because it is a much lighter alternative to regular butter chicken.  You'll find it in his book, Easy.  Enjoy!

Serves 4

You will need:

2 tablespoons light-flavoured oil (I used plain old sunflower)
1 large onion, finely chopped
2 tablespoons tandoori curry paste
750g skinless chicken thighs, cut into 2cm chunks
400g tin chopped tomatoes
125ml chicken stock
100g cashew nuts
125g thick Greek yoghurt (I used fat free Bulgarian yoghurt and got the same, creamy result)
1 tablespoon lemon juice (I used lime juice, because I just love the zing of lime with Asian food)
1 tablespoon soft brown sugar
Basmati rice to serve
Chopped spring onions (to garnish)
Coriander leaves (to garnish)

Heat the oil in a large wok or frying pan over medium heat.  Add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, for 6-8 minutes, or until golden and softened.  Add the curry paste and cook for a further 1-2 minutes, stirring, until fragrant.

Add the chicken and cook, stirring to coat, for 2-3 minutes.  Add the tomatoes and stock and stir to combine.  Bring to a simmer, reduce the heat and cook gently for 15 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked through (mine was cooked in about 12 minutes).

Meanwhile, blitz the cashew nuts in a food processor until finely ground.  Add to the chicken and simmer gently for a further 5 minutes.  Remove from the heat and stir through the yoghurt, lemon or lime juice and sugar.

Serve the curry with steamed rice, dressed with spring onion and coriander.

My take on Huevos Rancheros

The following recipe came about when my husband, who usually only have coffee and a few rusks for breakfast, asked me to cook him "something nice" over the weekend.  I've made Huevos Rancheros before using the recipes of different cooks (by no means did I develop the recipe myself!), but on this particular day, I combined various recipes to come up with my own take on it. 
Serves 2

You will need:

3 small pickling onions or 1 red onion (chopped)
1 t olive oil
1 red pepper (chopped)
a handful of cherry tomatoes (halved)
a tin of baked beans in tomato sauce
1 dried chilli or 1 fresh chilli (optional)
2 eggs
a handful of parmesan cheese (grated)
coriander leaves (to garnish)

Cook the onions and red pepper, with a pinch of salt, over a medium heat in the olive oil until they become soft, around 4/5 minutes.  Add the cherry tomatoes and cook for another minute or two.  Add the chilli (if using and according to heat preference) and baked beans and cook while stirring for another few minutes.  Season with salt and pepper to taste. Divide the mixture between two terracotta or other oven-proof dishes.  Break an egg over bean and tomato mixture and place under a hot grill.  Cook the eggs until the desired preference (soft, medium or hard).  Take them out of the oven, season with a pinch of salt, sprinkle the parmesan cheese over the egg and garnish with a few fresh coriander leaves (or chives if preferred).

Welcome to my blog!

I have always loved food and cooking. 

I know, I know, that is how most blogs of this nature begin.  But I do believe that you are either born with a love of cooking, or you are not.  Regardless of whether you enjoy spending time in the kitchen or not, everyone has to eat.  That means, sooner or later, you will have to find your way to the kitchen.  Unless, of course, you have an insatiable appetite and unlimited budget for take-away food!

I'm not really a fantastic cook myself, but I do like to cook.  Sadly, however, improvisation in the kitchen has never worked for me.  I always admire those "natural" cooks, who can conjure up a stunning meal using just a few things from the fridge and pantry.  Not to mention the contestants on Masterchef, who make fantastic food from a mystery box of ingredients.  My mom was that sort of cook.  She never followed a recipe and her food was always brilliant.  It was no use asking her to write a recipe down either;  it would be full of "a bit of this" and "some of that". 

When I cook, I use the billions of recipes developed by far greater cooks than me.  Most of the time, the results are great.  These are the recipes I would like to share with you.  Sometimes, I have found that adding a little something here or there, or leaving a hard to find ingredient out, also works.  However, I cannot lay claim to any of the recipes in this blog.  As the saying goes, "I stand on the shoulders of giants!"

I enjoy a wide range of cuisines, and hopefully, this will be reflected in the blog:  Indian, Italian, Spanish, French, Asian and of course, our beautiful local dishes.  I hope this blog will inspire you to cook something different, or maybe just a different version of something you know.

Happy cooking!