Category: Other recipes

Brown rice with spinach and tomatoes

This is another old recipe from 2009. You can use any green leaf if you don’t have spinach, it works well with New Zealand Spinach, or chard as well. New Zealand Spinach grows well here, but I’m not sure whether people know much about cooking it.

INGREDIENTS:

  • 450g brown rice, soaked in cold water and drained
  • 50g butter or vegetable oil
  • 300g spinach or similar
  • 1 can of chopped organic tomatoes
  • 1 finely sliced onion
  • 1/4 tsp turmeric
  • 1/2 tsp ground cumin
  • 1/2 tsp ground coriander
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 900ml stock or water

METHOD:

  • Steam the spinach for three minutes, and chop.
  • In a pan, fry the sliced onion in the oil until it begins to brown.
  • Add the drained rice to the pan with the spices and fry for two minutes
  • Add water, salt, spinach, tomatoes and bring to the boil
  • Cook over a low heat for 35 minutes, covered. Check ever five minutes or so to make sure it hasn’t boiled dry.
  • Turn off the head and uncover, and leave to stand for ten minutes before serving.

You can add a can of pinto beans, or fry the onion with garlic, to add a twist.

Courgette risotto

This is a delicious vegetarian risotto, although it can also be made with a chicken stock. It is adapted from a basic recipe with a few ideas stolen from elsewhere. 

INGREDIENTS:

  • 1 small onion, or shallots, finely chopped (about 2 tbsp)
  • 1 stick of celery, stringed and finely chopped
  • 40g unsalted butter, plus an extra 20g butter for the end
  • 200ml dry white wine
  • 1 litre of vegetable stock, simmering and hot (or chicken stock for a non-vegetarian version)
  • 300g risotto rice
  • salt and pepper
  • 3 tbsp freshly grated parmesan cheese
  • 2 large or 3 medium courgettes, grated
  • 2 cloves of garlic, chopped
  • A splash of olive oi
  • 1-2 tbsp finely chopped fresh mint

METHOD:

  • Start frying the courgettes in a pan with a little olive oil and the garlic. Keep the heat quite high and stir frequently. You are looking to see bits of the courgette starting to brown. When they are cooked, season with a little salt and pepper.
  • In a small pan, cook the onion and celery very slowly in melted butter, until soft and translucent. 
  •  Put the fried onion into the risotto pan, and continue to cook over a low heat. Add the rice and stir it all together, until the rice starts to get a bit shiny and translucent around the edges. 
  • Add a glass of wine, and once it is simmering, add the courgettes, and stir together, along with the chopped mint. 
  • When the mixture is simmering and looking a little dry, start adding the hot stock. Add this a ladleful at a time, and simmering and stirring until it is all hot and incorporated, before adding the next bit. Towards the end of cooking, check the flavour, and add salt and pepper to taste. Remember that the cheese will be salty. 
  • Once the rice is cooked, tender but still firm, take the risotto off the heat, and stir in the parmesan. When that has all melted, stir in the butter, cover and let the risotto sit for a few minutes before stirring and serving. 

Mole with black beans

My daughter has been staying, and she and her boyfriend cooked me this dish. I didn’t really see what they put in it, but I did some research afterwards. I was sort of watching, and then I looked up some more information about the recipe. 

First off, think of guacamole, an avocado dish. The last part of that word, that is how you pronounce mole, it means a sauce, and there are many kinds. The type of mole that was prepared for me was an especially complicated one, to celebrate the fact that we were all together for Easter.

This recipe is based on a celebratory dish that is prepared usually for the Mexican day of the dead. The spice mix is usually prepared in a spice mill, and can contain thirty or more ingredients, including several types of chillies, chocolate, nuts, sesame seeds and dried fruit. The resulting sauce is dark, unctuous and rich, fruity and spicy.

We used a small mechanical spice grinder to mix and grind the dried ingredients, and then used a soup wand to make sure the sauce was rich and smooth before adding the black beans. 

INGREDIENTS:

  • 25g Pumpkin seeds
  • 25g Pecan nuts
  • 25g Almonds
  • 1 tsp black peppercorns
  • 2 tsp coriander seeds
  • 2 tsp cumin seeds
  • 8 cloves
  • 50g Sesame seeds for a garnish at the end
  • Peanut or sunflower oil
  • A mixture of dried chillies (the suggested trio is mulato, ancho and morita, I used paprika, cayenne, birdseye and chipotle) – to taste.
  • 8 cloves of garlic
  • 1 red onion, chopped
  • 1 tin of chopped tomatoes or 8 whole tomatoes
  • 700ml vegetable stock
  • 2 tsp oregano (more authentic would be Mexican Oregano)
  • 2 tsp thyme (more authentic would be Epazote)
  • A pinch of anise powder
  • 1/2 tsp cinnamon
  • Dried white bread, or panko breadcrumbs
  • 1 tbsp smooth peanut butter
  • 1 tbsp tahini
  • 1-2 tsp date syrup, to taste and add a fruity flavour
  • 25g dark unsweetened chocolate, the expensive stuff
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 2 to 3 tins of black beans, drained
  • Chopped coriander leaves

Most of the herbs and spices are available from Seasoned Pioneers – but you’d have to be really keen to get to grips with Mexican cookery, or like a very cluttered spice shelf. 

METHOD:

  • In a large dry pan, over a low to medium  heat, toast all of the nuts, pumpkin seeds and whole spices for around five minutes. Stir all the time, and don’t take your eye off them, so they don’t burn. Set aside. Grind the toasted dried ingredients in the spice mill once they have cooled. 
  • In the same pan, toast the sesame seeds the same way, and set aside. 
  • Wipe the pan clean, and cook the peppers in oil for around three minutes, until they are beginning to char, around three minutes. 
  • Add the whole garlic cloves for the last thirty seconds and continue to cook. When done, set aside.
  • In the same pan, add a little more oil. Gently fry the chopped red onion until it is beginning to brown 
  • Add the tomatoes and bring to a simmer, you could also add soaked dried apricots or sultanas at this stage
  • Set aside the toasted sesame seeds to garnish at the end. To the pan, add in the rest toasted ingredients, herbs, cinnamon and anise powder, the dried bread crumbs, peanut butter, tahini and the stock, and blend with a soup blender. 
  • Make sure the sauce is really smooth, you may want to put it through a coarse strainer or fine mouli, just to get it smooth enough. 
  • Once the sauce is smooth enough and any stray seeds have been sieved out, bring it back to a simmer for around five minutes to cook the flavours together. Season with salt to taste.
  • Melt the chocolate into the sauce. Adjust the sweetness and fruitiness with the date syrup.  Here is the point when you can start testing the sauce and add ingredients to get it just right. 
  • Drain the beans, and add to the smooth sauce. Garnish with toasted sesame seeds and chopped coriander.

Serve with lime wedges to add some sourness, and some plain boiled rice. You could also serve guacamole as a side dish, but buying avocadoes in the local shops can be a bit of a gamble. For a less vegetarian version, you could use fried fish cakes or broiled chicken instead of the black beans. 

Huevos Rancheros

I’m really enjoying trying out south American flavours and recipes. I’ve ordered a selection of spices from Seasoned Pioneers, and I used their Central American spice mix, which includes cumin, paprika, salt, pepper, roasted garlic, roasted red chillies, cayenne, all-spice, thyme and oregano, and some onion salt. They suggested making huevos rancheros, so I made this tonight. 

INGREDIENTS:

  • Cooking oil; I used sunflower oil
  • 1 onion, sliced
  • 2 cloves of garlic, peeled and minced
  • 1 can of red kidney beans
  • 2 tsp central American spice mix
  • 4 eggs
  • 4 warm tortillas
  • 1 chopped tomato
  • Chopped jalapeno peppers (I bought pickled ones in buth Neillie)
  • Avocado, lime, coriander leaf to serve

METHOD:

  • Heat 1 tbsp oil in a pan, and gently fry the onion with a good pinch of salt, until it is soft. 
  • Add the garlic, cook for another minute. 
  • Stir in the beans, spice mix and 75ml water. Cook for 7 minutes or so. Don’t let this get dry. 
  • Roughly mash the beans and set aside to prepare the rest. 
  • Warm the tortillas and fry the eggs. 
  • On each tortilla, spread the bean mixture, and then add the chopped tomato, jalapenos, fried egg, and garnish with coriander.
  • Serve with dishes of avocado, and lime wedges. 

We didn’t have any avocados, I have not had good luck with these locally over the years, so I don’t buy them. 

Stovies

This is an excellent recipe for using up left-overs. The key ingredients are potatoes, meat and onion. The version here is my basic recipe, but it can be adapted to incorporate all sorts. 

INGREDIENTS: 

  • 30g lard, butter or dripping 
  • 1 onion, finely chopped (I sometimes add a leek too)
  • 1/2 a turnip (or swede, if you are English), peeled and diced
  • 2 carrots, peeled and diced
  • (optional, shredded cabbage, diced celery, etcetera)
  • 600g potatoes, peeled and roughly sliced
  • Around 100ml stock or left-over gravy
  • Around 200g chopped cooked meat (could be varied according to what is available, both in type and quantity)
  • A grate of nutmeg
  • Salt and pepper

METHOD: 

  • Melt the fat in the bottom of a large pan, and fry the onion (and leeks, celery, if you are using this) over a low heat until soft and almost browning. 
  • Add the potatoes and stir them in. When they are hot, add the carrots and the turnip and any other extra vegetables, and stir to mix. 
  • Heat the stock and pour it in, adding the chopped meat at the same time. Season with salt, pepper and nutmeg, and stir again. 
  • Cover the pot and simmer over a low heat for around 30 to 40 minutes, until the potatoes are beginning to break down. Check from time to time to see how the potatoes are cooking, to stir together and to assess whether any more stock needs to be added. 

Very warm, filling and thrifty. 

Aubergine, black-eyed bean and dill curry by Meera Sodha

This recipe first appeared in the Guardian in 2017, and has become one of my daughter’s go-to recipes. It is quite quick and easy, and delicious. I don’t worry about salting the aubergines that are in the shops just now, they don’t have many seeds and they are young and tender.

INGREDIENTS:

  • 4 tbsp rapeseed oil
  • 5 cloves of garlic, peeled and chopped
  • 4 large tomatoes, peeled and chopped, or 400g tinned tomatoes
  • 1 1/4 tsp Kashmiri chilli powder, or any other regular mild to moderate chilli powder
  • 3/4 tsp turmeric
  • 1 slightly heaped tsp salt
  • around 3 aubergines, cut in half lengthways and then into 1cm thick slices
  • 300g dried black-eyed beans (or two cans of cooked beans)
  • 40g fresh dill
  • greek yoghurt, salted and whipped with dill and mint.  

METHOD:

  • Rinse the black-eyed beans and put them in a lot of cold water on the hob, bring to the boil and simmer while you chop and cook the rest of the ingredients. Top up with water so they don’t boil dry. 
  • Heat the oil over a medium heat, and then add the chopped garlic. Fry for a couple of minutes until it starts to colour, and then lob in the tomatoes, turn the heat down and simmer until the mixture is soft. You should do this for tinned tomatoes as well, as it will lessen the tinny taste. 
  • Add the chilli, turmeric and salt and cook for a couple of minutes before adding in the aubergine. Stir, cover and cook over a low heat for at least 20 minutes, until the aubergines are tender.
  • Stir in the beans, bring back to a simmer, and adjust the seasoning. 
  • Just before serving, add the chopped dill. 

This is good with plain boiled rice, yoghurt and flat-breads, and possibly a side salad. For a vegan version, use a vegan yoghurt. 

Red pepper risotto

On Boxing day, I make risotto with left-over turkey. This year, the number of vegetarians has increased quite a bit, so I split the offering. I made a roasted red pepper risotto. I’m not that good at roasting the peppers, I lose my nerve a little. Also, it didn’t help that I was cooking on a Rayburn, which I was unfamiliar with. I would suggest a practice round. 

INGREDIENTS:

  • 3 large red bell peppers (don’t try this with the long pointy ones)
  • 1 large onion, finely chopped
  • 2 cloves of garlic, crushed
  • 75g unsalted butter
  • 500g risotto rice
  • 1.5 litres of stock (vegetable or chicken)
  • salt and black pepper
  • 75g parmesan

METHOD:

  • First, roast the peppers. Heat the oven to 240C. Wash the peppers and put them on a roasting sheet, and roast them until the skins are charred. You’ll need to check on them from time to time, and turn them over to make sure the skin blackens all over. This will take 30 to 40 minutes. When they are done, put them in a bowl and cover it as the peppers cool. After about 10 to 15 minutes, you’ll be able to remove the peppers from the bowl, pull out the stems and pips, and peel off the blackened outer skin. The roasted pepper will be dark and juicy. Slice the peppers. 
  • In a large pan, melt the butter, and then gently fry the onion and the garlic until the onion is soft, around 5 to 10 minutes.
  • Add the peppers and continue to fry for another five minutes
  • Add all of the rice and stir it in until the rice grains are hot and toasted, and the mixture is dry. 
  • Bring the stock to a simmer. Add the stock, one ladleful at a time, stirring each one in and cooking until it is absorbed. Continue this way until all the stock is used up, and the risotto rice is plump and tender. 
  • Season to taste and stir in the parmesan. Leave in a warm place for three minutes before serving. 

 

Lentil and Bulgar wheat pilaf

I made this to go with the lamb rib dish that I discovered. It is nutritious enough in itself not to need any meat, and it is filling. It makes a good base for adding other ingredients. Try serving it with kale seasoned with za’atar spice blend and lime juice. 

INGREDIENTS:

  • 100g green lentils
  • 150g coarse bulgar wheat
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 onion, sliced in half and then finely sliced into half-rings
  • 350ml water or stock
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • ground pepper

METHOD:

  • Rinse the lentils and soak the bulgar wheat in cold water
  • Boil the lentils in plenty of unsalted water for around 15 minutes, then drain them and set them aside
  • Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan, and cook the onions over a low heat for around 15 minutes, until they are caramelised. 
  • Drain the bulgar wheat and add to the saucepan as soon as the onions are cooked to your liking. Stir, add the lentils and stock or water. Season with salt and pepper, and bring to the boil. 
  • Cover and simmer for around 15 minutes, then turn the heat off, wrap the lid in a teatowel and replace onto the pan, and let it rest for around ten minutes before serving. 

If you are going to make this to serve with the lamb ribs, you should start making the pilau before you sort out the ribs. 

Spicy sausage burgers

The idea for this came from Madhur Jaffrey, but I wanted something much quicker and easier, based on what I had in the fridge. I started with half a pack of reduced sausages from the co-op, the tail end of a jar of garam masala, and ended up with this delicious switch. 

INGREDIENTS:

  • 4 pork sausages
  • chopped coriander leaves or parsley
  • 1 tsp garam masala
  • 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

METHOD:

  • Skin the sausages and put the meat into a bowl with the spices and herbs, and mix. This is most efficient by hand, although it is a bit sticky. A wooden spoon does a reasonable job too. 
  • Cut the mixture into four and form into small burgers.
  • Fry the burgers on each side in a little cooking oil. 

We had these as a quick scratch meal with a yoghurt dressing, flat breads, and a green salad. 

Sausage risotto

This is a favourite. It is probably not that authentic, but it is very tasty. As usual, the technique is to make a delicious stew, and then add the rice and stock to make the risotto. I allow around 60g rice per person, and 3x as much water as rice. 

INGREDIENTS:

  • 50g butter
  • 1 small onion, chopped
  • 4 sausages, chopped into chunks – around 200g
  • 250g risotto rice
  • 1 tbsp tomato puree
  • salt and pepper
  • 20g porcini mushrooms
  • approx 750ml hot chicken or beef stock
  • salt and pepper
  • around 50g grated parmesan

METHOD:

  • Melt half of the butter in a pan, and gently fry the onion and sausage until the sausage is cooked. 
  • Meanwhile, soak the porcini mushrooms in half a cup of hot water.
  • When the sausage is cooked, remove the soaked mushrooms from the water, chop them finely and add them to the pan, with the tomato puree and the mushroom water, to make a simple stew. Simmer for around 15 minutes. Keep an eye and add a little stock if the mixture is beginning to stick. 
  • Add all of the rice, stir to coat in the stew, and then cook gently. Add the stock one ladleful at the time, adding more stock only when the last bit has been absorbed. After 20 minutes, all the stock will be in and the rice will be cooked. 
  • Take the pan off the heat, and stir in the rest of the butter and half the parmesan cheese. Adjust the seasoning; I like a lot of pepper
  • Serve with more parmesan cheese on the side. 

I think the real version uses proper Italian sausages, but these are hard to come by locally.