Category: Food

Zesty Citrus Slices
Alliyah Dawud
November 2, 2017

Zesty citrus slices

I absolutely love citrus fruit. My favourite has to be lemons closely followed by limes. Lemons are just so versatile. From being the feature of a lemon drizzle cake to being a star of a tagine and not to forget good old lemonade.

So when I was looking for something awesome without cocoa powder citrus popped up in my mind.

These slices are great. Extremely easy to make and versatile as you can switch up the citrus fruit to suit your fruit bowl.

I’ve tried the following:
Lemon and lime
Lime
Orange and lemon
Orange
Orange and lime

So as you can see you can mix and match the citrus to suit your needs. My favourite is pure lemon which I believe goes really well with mint tea (Arabian style).

Ingredients:
180 Grams plain flour
80 grams icing sugar
180 grams margarine or other solid fat suitable for baking (softened/melted)

For the citrus filling
3 eggs
Juice of 3 citrus fruit (or two if you are using oranges. So you can use 1 lemon and 1 orange) . Don’t forget to strain the juice.
Zest of the citrus fruits
270 grams caster sugar

Extra icing sugar for decorating

1) Preheat the oven to 375F (160 C). Grease a 19cm by 19cm square square pan. I use Wilton Cake Release greaser as it has never let me down and is less messy than traditional butter and flour.

2) In a large bowl combine the plain flour, icing sugar and margarine. Use a wooden spoon. What you’ll have is a rough dough like mixture. That’s fine. It’s meant to look like that.

3) Tip the flour mixture into the pre-prepared pan and pat down (pushing into the corners too). Try to level out the mixture as much as possible.

4) Now place in the oven and bake until lightly golden (approx 25 minutes).

5) Whilst the pastry layer is baking create the filling. In a large bowl (go on; wash the bowl you used the create the first layer) add the eggs, caster sugar and zest whisk. Now add the citrus juice and whisk a bit more.

5) take the pan out of the oven. Pour over the filling mix. Return to the oven and continue to bake until lightly golden ( check after 20 minutes to ensure you don’t burn it. My slices took 30 minutes to become golden brown).

6) Take out of the oven and allow to cool completely.

7) Dust with icing sugar and slice into 9 slices.

8) Serve with a nice cup of Mint Tea/Coffee or whatever you prefer.

Keep these slices in an airtight container and eat within 5 days.

NOTES:
For an extra citrus kick add the zest of one fruit to the dough mixture.

 

 

 

 

Meatfree Monday…Carrot Burgers
Alliyah Dawud
October 23, 2017

Carrot Burgers (Meat free Mondays)

The humble carrot. Apart from being a key player in Carrot cake (and being served in sticks with hummous) does it really get the press it deserves?

So here I present to you….Carrot Burgers. A great vegetarian alternative to the soya mince burgers. You could make a batch and freeze them (post frying) for a quick midweek meal option.

Ingredients:
4 medium carrots peeled & coursely grated
1 egg (whisked)
1 heaped tablespoon chickpea flour
1 TSP ground coriander seeds
1 TSP ground cumin seeds
1 small onion (I used red) diced
1 TBSP yogurt
1 TSP garlic salt (or plain salt if you don’t have it to hand)

Oil-for shallow frying .

1) Place the carrots in a large bowl. Add the onion and stir through.
2) add the salt, coriander seeds, cumin seeds and stir to distribute through the carrots.
3) Add the egg and yogurt and stir to blend all the ingredients together.
4) Add the chickpea flour. Stir it in. You should now have a gooey mixture.
5) Heat the oil in a pan.
6) With wet hands divide the mixture into 4 and create burger patties.
7) Shallow fry for 3/4 minutes on each side.
8) Drain on kitchen paper.

Note: I’ve had no problems with the formation of these burgers. Some may prefer to form these burgers and then place them in the fridge for an hour before frying. However the egg and chickpea flour are very bindings.

To serve:

Burger buns
Lettuce
Sliced Cheese
Fried mushroom slices (optional)
Sweet potato fried (optional)
Fries (optional)
Relish or Ketchup
Fried Egg (optional)

To assemble the burger:

Warm up the burger buns. Add some ketchup or relish to the burger buns. Add the burger fillet and the slice of cheese. If you like your cheese melted you can zap the burger in the microwave for 20 seconds. Add the sliced mushrooms (if using) and the lettuce. Place the burger bun top on top and serve with fries (or a side of your choosing).

 

Chocolate Concrete Cake
Alliyah Dawud
October 19, 2017

Chocolate Concrete Cake

So if you were an 80s baby in England and attended mainstream public school there’s a huge possibility you will remember hard slabs of cake like substance served with colourful custard. The cake was fondly knows as concrete cake a nod to it’s hard texture and make up. But once you left it in lashings of custard it turned into this soft delectable delight. My old School could cut it into rectangular slabs (and sprinkle on some extra granulated sugar).

Recently my oldest asked me about my memories of School. The one thing that was apparent was I blocked out a lot of stuff (perhaps due to the constant bullying the Schools chose to ignore) but what I can remember is the delectable desserts (I was a foodie in the making from a young age). So recently we tried a few recipes and this one below in my opinion smells and tastes like the retro School dinner classic.

Don’t forget to serve it with colourful custard. I used instant custard with a bit of food dye added. Yes this is a treat so I didn’t mind injected my children with nasty food colours.

Preparation time:
10 minutes

Baking time: 30 minutes

Servings: 8 slices (easy!)

I used a 20 cm shallow pie dish to bake the concrete cake. You can use a sandwich cake tin if that’s what you have on hand. Grease the tin with butter/oil.

Ingredients:
200 grams plain flour (shifted)
200 grams granulated sugar (that’s right-granulated!) plus a little extra for sprinkling on top
60 grams cocoa powder (shifted)
110 grams butter (or substitute that is suitable for baking). softened. You could soften it in the microwave if you wish.

1) Mix together the flour, sugar and cocoa powder.
2) add butter. Stir. The mixture will start to look like breadcrumbs. Stir until all the ingredients are thoroughly.
3) Now tip the mixture into the greased baking dish. Pat down.
4) Bake in the oven at 180 c for 30 minutes on the middle rack.
5) Take out of the oven and either: allow to cool down completely (which is what I do). Or cool enough to remove from pan, slice and serve (warm). Don’t forget to sprinkle on the sugar.

I allow the concrete to cool over night. I then remove from the pan and slice. Serve with some bright coloured custard. And enjoy the walk down memory lane.
PS: if you do end up with any leftovers store them in an airtight container and you’ll be good for 4 days.

OMG OREO BROWNIES
Alliyah Dawud
October 12, 2017

Easiest Oreo Brownies like ever

Hands up who likes a good brownie. I see some of you are in denial. Well I ain’t going to lie to any of you. I love brownies. Maybe because they are easier to put together than a cake that needs decorating. Or maybe because I can adjust the flavouring ingredients to reflect what I have in my leftover chocolate jar (yup there is such a thing).

I love one bowl recipes because of the lack of post clean up required. If you have baking these for a bake sale you can even use foil disposable trays/containers so you don’t need to worry about losing your favourite platter plate post event.

I’ve used the original flavour of oreos for this recipe. Let me know if you try other varieties and how they work out.

Ingredients:

9 whole oreos (to make the stuffed oreo brownies)
3 oreos chopped up (optional to decorate your brownies)
150 Grams butter/other solid fat suitable for baking (I personally use Stork or store brand) Softened/melted. You can use the microwave to blast it.
225 Grams Castor Sugar
65 Grams Cocoa powder
Pinch of salt
1 tsp vanilla flavouring or extract
2 eggs (large)
60 Grams plain flour

1) Preheat your oven to 325 F (160C). Line a 19 by 19 cm square pan (the easiest way to line one I found was to basically take a roll of foil and place it in the pan and leave excess foil on both ends so there’s overhang. Then repeat the process to cover the other two ends. Again leave excess to create overhang. It will look a bit like a cross. Yes there won’t be foil lining right up in the corners however that’s fine. You won’t be removing the brownie until it’s cooled so it’s fine. Don’t worry!

2) In a large bowl beat together the margarine, sugar, pinch or salt and cocoa powder. As you beat it (anyone else hear MJJ song right now?!) you’ll notice it looks grainy and well not very brownie like. Don’t worry. It’s normal.

3) Add the eggs and beat further.

4) Now add the flour and vanilla. Beat to encorporate the ingredients in.

5) Now take half the mixture and pour it into the pre-prepared pan. Now add the oreos. Cover with the remaining brownie mixture and smooth over with a bread knife/palette knife or other suitable kitchen utensil.

OPTIONAL: You can scatter the crushed/chopped oreos on top if you are using them.

6) Place the brownie on the middle rack of your oven. Bake for 30 minutes (please note: I like my brownies sticky but not gooey. So 30 minutes does that. If you prefer gooey ones take the brownies out earlier around 25 minutes).

7) Once the brownie is baked take it out of the oven and allow to cool completely before removing from the pan.

If you’ve lined the pan as I do (using two pieces of foil) you’ll need to gently lift out the brownie using the handles.

8) Remove from the pan and slice into 9 pieces.

Voila. Job done.

If the calorie count isn’t enough for you you could warm the brownies and serve with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and drizzle with chocolate sauce.

Enjoy!

NOTES:

You can easily double this recipe.

These brownies freeze well for for 8 weeks. Wrap individually in greaseproof paper, and then wrap in foil and place in a zip lock style bag or airtight food box.

Quick Keema Fry
Stylemesisteradmin
August 19, 2016

I love cooking. It’s my therapy. My saviour. That’s not much more I love doing than pottering around a (clean!) kitchen experimenting. Over the years I’ve discovered some recipes are so much better than others. Why. Versatility! If a recipe can be chopped and changed to create a range of meals I’m game. And this recipe is just that. You can use the keema in a burrito, a burrito rice bowl, desi fried rice, with parathas, rotis, in Bombay frankies…so yeah it’s pretty good like that. So without wasting too much time let’s get on with it.

PS: as I use Chicken mince the recipe is ready in 30 minutes. And chicken mince works out cheaper than lamb. So consider these factors when selecting other minces.

Quick Keema Fry

Great served with parathas, naans, paratha burritos, as a filling for grilled sandwiches and so much more.

Ingredients:
500 grams chicken mince
3 tbsp vegetable oil
1 onion sliced thinly OR 3 tbsp pre fried onions soaked for 10 minutes to soften
1 tbsp grated garlic or 1 tbsp garlic paste (failing that 1 tsp garlic powder)
2 inch piece of ginger sliced thickly (note: you fish this out before serving!)
2 bullet chilies cut in half
2 tbsp fresh or frozen coriander
1 level tbsp salt
1 tbsp whole cumin (optional; leave it out if you don’t like whole seeds)
1 heaped tbsp crushed coriander seeds
1 heaped tsp
Half tbsp chili powder (increase to 1 if you like it hot)
1 tsp tumeric (haldi)
1 tsp bassar (a spice blend often labelled Kashmiri Bassar) which gives a reddish colour to the mince
1 piece of cassia bark (Chinese Cinnamon)
200 grams canned tomatoes chopped
2 fresh tomatoes chopped

Optional: fresh lemon to squeeze over at the end.

1) Heat the oil in a pan.
2) add the onions. If using fresh onions fry until golden brown. If using pre fried onions fry for 1 minute. Add the garlic and ginger. Fry for a further minute to cook out the garlic.
3) Add the spices (including the whole cumin and cassia) and stir quickly to avoid the spices catching on the bottom of the pan and potentially burning. Fry for 1/2 minutes. If the mixture sticks add 2 tbsp of water.
4) Add the coriander. Stir in. Add the chilies and tomatoes. Cook for 4/5 minutes on a low/medium heat. Once the tomato mixture ‘separates’ from the oil add the mince.
5) Break down the mince and mix it well with the spice mixture. ‘Fry’ for 10 minutes.
6) Quick Keema Fry is ready to serve.
Squeeze over fresh lemon is desired.