Category: Food

Meat Free Mondays…
Stylemesisteradmin
July 29, 2019

Easy Lobia Masala

As part of my Meat Free Mondays I am featuring Curries. Why? Because I love cooking Curries.

One of my favourite lentils/daals is the classic Black Eye Pea aka Lobia. I love the earthiness of it. It’s a robust bean and is versatile. You can mash it up for burgers and nuggets, cook it in a curry or add it to salads.

I usually pre-boil the peas and freeze them. I find this the most economical way. However if you don’t have freezer space yet have a Slow Cooker you can utilise that and pre-cook the peas the night before. It’s not much work but it keeps costs low.

This is a rather spicy dish. Feel free to adjust the spices to your own taste buds.

I do serve my daals/pulses with plain boiled rice or naans. You can select what works for you.

To serve four you will need:

225 grams pre-cooked Lobia aka black eye peas (or raw lentils, washed and soaked in BOILING water for 1 hour prior to cooking).

ALTERNATIVE: 2 x 400 grams (Approx) cooked Black eye peas. Rinse and drained. If you take this option you need to reduce the cooking time by a few minutes (so around 5 minutes) rather than a full 10 minutes. This is to stop turning it to mush.

1 heaped TBSP garlic paste (or 4 cloves of fresh garlic; crushed)

4 TBSP pre-fried onions soaked in water and drained (or 1 medium onion; peeled and finely sliced)

2 TBSP oil

3 green chilies-sliced in half

150 ML of passata (or half a tin of tomatoes; chopped)

750 ML (0.75 litre) water

1 small piece of ginger-sliced (you could use half a TSP of ginger powder if you wish. I generally fish out the ginger before serving)

4 TBSP fresh coriander (including stalks) finely chopped

Cooking salt-to your taste

1 heap TSP turmeric

1 TSP amchoor aka mango powder. If you can’t find any you can use the juice of two limes. Amchoor is a souring agent.

Please note: the measurements given are in line with what I like. Please feel free to adjust according to your own needs. I avoid telling people how much salt to add as it really is down to your own daily consumption and needs.

1) Pre-heat the oil in a large pan on a medium heat. Add the onions and fry for 30 seconds. If the onions stick stir and add a little water if needed (I TBSP at a time). If you are using fresh onions fry until lightly golden.

2) Add the garlic and ginger. Fry for 1 minutes stirring well.

3) Now add the salt, turmeric and chili powder. Stir well. Fry for around 1 minute to cook the spices through. Add a TBSP of water is the mixture sticks.

4) Add the green chilies and stir in. Fry for 1 minute.

5) Add the passata. Stir well for around 5 minutes. This step creates the masala for the Lobia.

6) Add the lobia and coriander and stir to cover the lentils in the sauce. It will look dry but don’t worry. Now add the water and bring to the boil.

7) Reduce the heat and simmer until the lentils are tender. Now if you used pre-cooked lentils it takes around 15 minutes for this to happen. But it can take longer or less time depending on your lentils and how much you cooked them in the first place.
If you are using non-pre cooked lentils I find it takes over 3.5 hours to become tender and I don’t have the patience for this! What you can do is if you have a Slow Cooker you could transfer the daal at this point to the cooker and let it simmer away. I’ve done this a few times and find it works well. But ask me to keep an eye on lentils for hours on a stove and I will literally cry.

Remove the ginger pieces (if you used slices).

8) Garnish as you wish or serve as is. Lobia Masala is ready to eat.

Orange drizzle and Chocolate Loaf
Alliyah Dawud
July 27, 2019

We’ve all heard of how amazing Lemon Drizzle is but have you tried Orange drizzle loaf? Like the real good home made stuff. It’s pretty amazing and today I’ll share the recipe with you.

For the ‘icing’ I’ve basically melted down good old chocolate with a bit of orange juice and drizzled it over.

Let’s get down to business shall we….

To make a standard sized loaf you will need.

Ingredients for the LOAF:
3 large eggs beaten
180 grams self raising flour (sifted)
1 TSP Baking Powder
180 grams butter (softened-I zapped it in the microwave)
180 grams castor sugar
Zest and juice of 2 large oranges

The drizzle:
Juice two more oranges (put the zest in the cake batter for a extra orange punch).
60 grams castor sugar

The chocolate drizzle:
200 grams plain chocolate (we used the cheap chocolate from Aldi and it worked).
Juice of 1 orange
1) Pre-heat the oven to 170/325/Gas Mark 3. Grease or line a standard loaf tin.
2) Place all the loaf ingredients in the bowl (I used a mixer but this can be done by hand). Beat together until you get a lovely smooth batter. I always ‘scrap’ the bottom of the bowl to ensure there’s no dry ingredients that got missed from the batter process.
3) Pour the batter into the tin. Give it a gentle ‘tap’ to let out any air bubbles. Smooth the top over with a butter knife (or a palette knife).
4) Bake for 35 minutes. Whilst the loaf is baking whisk together the castor sugar and orange juice. The sugar should dissolve into the orange juice creating a slightly thick syrup.
5) Take the loaf out of the oven and insert a tooth pick into the middle of the loaf. If it’s clear the loaf is baked. If its not clear you will need to place it back in the oven for 3-5 minutes and repeat the test.
6) Remove the loaf from the tin and allow to cool slightly. Pierce all over with a skewer. Pour over the syrup. Now allow to cool completely.
7) Once the loaf is completely cooled you can drizzle it with the chocolate. I melt the chocolate in the microwave and then add the orange juice. You can so it the old skool way over a bowl of simmering water. I however look for shortcuts. If you find the mixture is too grainy or dry add a tbsp of milk or yogurt. Stir well and drizzle over.
8) Your loaf is ready and tastes bloody amazing with a cup of Mint Tea (or standard British Tea).

Leftovers?
Wrap individual slices in greaseproof paper and then place in an airtight container or ziploc bag.
Leftover cake would be amazing in a Trifle….

Leftover Kebab Biryani
Stylemesisteradmin
July 26, 2019

Eid-ul-Adha leftovers Biryani

Now before you turn away from this recipe HEAR ME OUT.
For some of us Eid-ul-Adha is very meat heavy due to the nature of it (Qurbani Meat overload). There’s only so many Kebab recipes you can plough through.
Over time I must have tried lots of Kebab recipes with various chutneys. However I’ll be honest; I get fed up of food and so do the girls. In the end is sits around in the fridge drying out.

So last year (or maybe the year before) I decided that I wanted to create a recipe to use up leftover kebabs from the platters I create. A Pulaw in my humble opinion wouldn’t have worked so I considered it’s cousin; Biryani.

The way I would explain the different between a Biryani and Pulaw is this: A Pulaw is a one pot rice dish where you create the base and cook the rice in the stock created. A Biryani is where the rice is steamed between layers of the meat/vegetable base. A lot of Biryanis are tomato sauce based and can be tangy and very fiery.

This is a medium heat tangy Biryani which I serve with a range of Raitas and Chutneys.

The kebabs I’ve used this Biryani include: Tikkas (chicken and meat), Seekh kebabs and even liver kebabs (just shows how versatile this recipe really is).

So to make enough to serve 5/6 you will need:
450-500 grams (Cooked) leftover kebabs
300 grams rice
250 ml passata
150 ml low fat plain yogurt
5 TBSP oil
6 heaped TBSP fried onions pre-soaked and drained
1 TBSP garlic and ginger paste or just garlic paste.
3 TBSP fresh coriander leaves-chopped finely
Cooking salt-to your own requirements
2 heaped TBSP mint leaves-chopped finely
5 dried plums (available in most South-Asian food stores).
2 heaped TBSP ground coriander seeds
2 heaped TBSP ground cumin seeds
2 heaped TBSP chaat masala
Juice of 2 limes
.4 green chilies sliced (lengthways)-I prefer bullet chilies as they keep their shape well.
3 heaped TBSP fried onions (Do not pre-soak)
4 TBSP Screw pine water (Kewra water)
Powdered food dye (available in Asian food stores; I use a little bit of red and orange to compliment the original colours. You can leave out the dye is you wish to).

1) Heat the oil in a large pan on a medium heat.
2) Add the onions and fry for one minute.
3) Add the garlic paste and fry for 30 seconds.
4) Add the salt and spices and fry for 1 minute.
5) Now add the passata and stir well. Add the dried plums.
6) Now add the yogurt and stir well. Cook the mixture for 5 minutes. You’ll notice it gets thicker and you may see a bit of oil separation. Don’t worry that’s normal .
7) Add the kebabs, half the coriander leaves and chilies. Stir well to cover the kebabs.
8) Add the water and bring to the water. Then reduce the heat to simmer.
8) Reduce the heat and allow the mixture to simmer for 5 minutes.

Meat Free Monday Curry….
Stylemesisteradmin
July 22, 2019

Meat free Monday

My Fast Spinach Curry

Growing up with Popeye it took me a while to acknowledge that large doses of leafy greens did not automatically equate to biceps that would make Dwayne Johnson jealous. Lucky for me though I’m a patient type of chick and I’m steadily changing my body to look the way I want (muscles and all).

This is a super quick curry that I really love. I’ll be honest. The portion sizes here are 250 grams each and feel it’s worth having a larger portion as spinach wilts down a lot.

Like I said it’s quick and actually easy to get onto the table. I use pre-fried onions and frozen spinach….and well the lack of fresh stuff means the food is quick to get on the table. Result!

Of course you can use fresh onions and spinach and adjust amounts and cooking time to reflect this. But like I always say my Meat free Monday recipes are designed for speedy Monday meals.

To make two portions of this amazing curry you will need:

500 grams frozen spinach defrosted and drained
2 TBSP oil
4 TBSP pre-fried onions soaked and drained
1 heaped TBSP garlic paste
1 heaped TBSP ground coriander seeds
1 heaped TBSP ground cumin seeds
1 TSP chili powder
Cooking salt-to your own taste
150 ml (and a bit more just in case) water
Juice of one lemon

1) Heat the oil in a large pan on a medium heat.
2) Add the onions and fry for about one minute stirring well to ensure it doesn’t catch/stick or burn. If you find the mixture is sticking too much just add 2 TBSP of water.
3) Add the garlic and cook for 30 seconds.
4) Now add the salt and spices. Fry for about one minute to cook out the spices. Keep stirring though. No one likes a curry tinted with burnt spices.
5) Add the spinach. Stir well to coat the spinach in the spicy mixture. Fry the spinach for 5-6 minutes.
6) Turn the heat off; your curry is done.
7) Before you serve the curry add the lemon juice.

Enjoy

Leftover Cake Pudding
Stylemesisteradmin
July 19, 2019

No this is not an April Fools joke. Recently we had THREE cakes to mark the youngest child’s 6th Birthday and when you have that much cake sometimes you have leftovers. And when you have leftovers they can be somewhat drying.

When we think leftover cakes we think Cakepops. But this time I wanted to make something less laborous (we all know I like shortcuts).

So after a bit of experimenting I opted for this….Cake Pudding…like Bread and Butter Pudding but with leftover cake.

This is amazing. I know I’m biased but it really is amazing!

To make enough Pudding to serve 4 you will need:

1/2 a double layered 20 CM cake. Ours was Chocolate flavoured and was ‘filled’ with Caramel flavour frosting.

500 ml milk

2 eggs

50 grams castor sugar (plus an extra TBSP for sprinkling).

100 grams chocolate chips

Optional: a tub of Caramel or Chocolate Frosting (we didn’t add any extra as the cake already had a layer in it OR about 3 heaped TBSP of Nutella or other chocolate based spread.

1) Remove the icing/frosting off the cake. Slice the cake up. Generally the thinner the slices the better. Just don’t make them too thin or they’ll fall apart.
2) If you wish to use the optional ingriedent of Nutella/Caramel spread it on half the slices. Then make ‘sandwiches’. So one slice of nutella’d cake with 1 slice of non-nutella cake.
3) Place the cake in an ovenproof dish (I used an old fashioned rectangular tin). I placed them so the point of the rectangle was at the top (and would be a bit crispy when I sprinkled on the sugar).
4) Whisk together the eggs, milk and sugar. Pour over the cake slices.
5) Sprinkle on the chocolate chips.
6) Place in the oven at 170C/Gas Mark 4 for 35-40 minutes.
7) Remove from the oven and serve with cream…ice-cream or whatever takes your fancy.

Alternative: if you wish to make a ‘chocolate’ custard mixture you could add the nutella to the milk mixture and whisk it in. Or if you want even more chocolate you could still apply nutella to the cake and also make the chocolate ‘custard’ mixture too.