Tag: #delicious

Pimped up Rice…(Meat Free Monday).
Alliyah Dawud
August 12, 2019

Meat free Monday

My pimped up leftover Rice (using store cupboard ingredients)

Double carbs; everyone loves them but boy are they hard to get ‘rid’ of when it comes to excess weight.

I use rice quite a bit….and can sometimes cook too much rice. Well apart from serving it with daals or using them in a rice bowl or salad what else can I do with it?

A few days ago I had a bit of a ‘OMG that will work’ moment. As a rule I don’t serve double carbs (but remember from my childhood being served Mashed Potatoes and Chips in the same meal) however in this recipe it works! Just trust me.

So when you have leftover rice, a tin of potatoes, some cumin seeds and a pack of fried onions you end up with this recipe (which also works well with a fried egg on top if you have any around).

This recipe in my opinion can be served for a Brunch, Lunch or even Supper. It’s quick and easy and uses up leftover rice. And with a dollop of yogurt or a fried egg it’s got a big personality in a bowl.

To make two big bowls of my Pimped up double carbs sorry-not-sorry Rice you will need:

2 bowls pre-cooked Rice (mine were Basmati)
2 TBSP oil
2 heaped TBSP fried onions soaked in water and drained
1 heaped TBSP garlic paste
1 TBSP cumin seeds (whole)
1 heaped TBSP ground coriander seeds
1/2 TSP chili powder (for a spicier rice go up to 1 TSP)
Cooking salt-to your own requirements

Additional stuff:
2 eggs-fried
Additonal fried onions (not soaked)
1 lemon cut in half
Chili sauce-to drizzle over

1) Heat the oil in a large wok or similar pan on a medium heat.
2) Add the cumin seeds and allow to splutter.
3) Add the onions and fry for 1 minute. Keep stirring to avoid sticking/burning them.
4) Add the garlic paste and fry for 30 seconds.
5) Add the potatoes and fry for 3 minutes stirring so things don’t burn.
6) Add the salt and spices and fry for one minute.
7) Add the rice and stir/turn the rice to coat it in the spicy onion mix.
8) Tip into two bowls and serve.

Additional ingredients are a suggestion only.
Apply to face/stuff your face and enjoy.

Easy Pac Man Biscuit Favours
Alliyah Dawud
August 9, 2019

These biscuits were easy to make and ice. I used a short cut and iced these biscuits with ready made fondant. But of course you could ice them with Royal Icing if you felt inclined to do so.

We placed these yummy biscuits into cellophane bags and used gold twisty ties to finish them off.

These guys were so yummy we have no leftovers.

We used a Pac Man cookie cutter which makes these so easy to do. We used the cutter on the icing too! Result.

I made a huge batch as I gave them to the adults too. Feel free to halve the recipe if you need to.

To make 48 Pac Mans you will need:

410 grams Butter (softened)
410 grams Castor Sugar
1 TBSP Vanilla or Salted Caramel flavouring
2 egg yolks
820 grams Plain Flour-sifted plus extra to roll out

To decorate:

2 x bags of yellow fondant
Black writing icing OR a pack of black fondant (you will have loads left over)
Water-to help fondant stick
Icing sugar-to help rolling

1) Cream together the butter and sugar. This can be done in a Mixer or by hand.
2) And the egg and vanilla/caramel and beat the mixture. Do this slowly.
3) Now add scoops of flour and keep mixing to encorporate all ingredients.
4) Scoop the mixture into a ball and cling film it. Place in the fridge for 2 hours (or overnight really. I prefer overnight).

NOTE: To bake the cookies you will need flat baking sheets that have been lined with greaseproof paper.

Pre-heat the oven to 160 (oven), 325F, Gas Mark 3 or 170C (non fan).

5) Remove the dough from the Fridge. Place any dough you are not using back in the Fridge. On a lightly floured surface roll out the dough to a £1.00 coin thickness.
6) Using the cookie cutter punch out your Pac Mans. Carefully place the Pac Mans onto the baking sheets and give the biscuits space to expand. Mine didn’t expand too much so yours should either.

6) Place the biscuits in the oven and bake for 10-15 minutes until lightly golden colour. Remove from the oven and place on a cooling rack. Cool completely before icing.

To ice the Pac Mans:

1) Sprinkle a bit of icing sugar on a clean surface (I used my glass pastry board) and roll out the yellow fondant to the thickness of a £1.00 coin. Using your Pac Man cutter cut out Pac Mans and place onto the cooled cookies. I used my finger as a paintbrush and applied a bit of water to the fondant before applying it to the biscuit and it worked. The fondant stuck to the biscuit like magic.
2) Now either draw on the eye with the icing or take a small piece of black icing roll it up and apply that to the biscuit. Hey presto! You have a Pac Man iced Biscuit favour.
3) We allowed the biscuits to set and then placed them in the cellophane bags and then secured them with twisty foil fasteners.

Job done.

Notes: you can make up the biscuits up to 72 hours in advance and keep them in an airtight container.
You can also bake the biscuits in advance and keep them in an airtight container prior to icing them if you wish too.

Old Skool Lemon Cupcakes
Alliyah Dawud
August 3, 2019

There are two extremes in my home; there’s the die hard chocolate cake addicts and the zesty lemon party. There is no in between. Well maybe when it comes to a plain sponge covered in lashings of buttercream or layers of fondant.

So when I make cupcakes for Birthdays I know instantly that one of the two fierce women in the house (that would be my daughters for new readers) is going to be disappointed and scream life isn’t fair.

I’m a huge fan of citrus. From lemon cakes to lemon dressings to sitting eating half a dozen satsumas. I love it.

Nothing in my opinion beats an old fashioned lemon drizzle however I went for a lemon cupcake with a lemon icing for these beauties.

To make 18 cupcakes (I used muffin sized) you will need:

300 grams castor sugar
300 grams butter (softened-I zap it in the microwave)
300 grams self raising flour (sifted)
6 eggs; beaten (I used medium sized)
1 TBSP (level) baking powder
Zest and juice of 4 large-ish lemons.
I note bloggers say use unwaxed lemons. If those are a bit pricey you buy cheaper ones that maybe waxed, placed them in hot water and carefully give the lemons are a rub. The wax should come off.

For the icing you will need:

500 grams icing sugar
200-250 grams butter. I use 200 grams as I like a stiffer icing.
Lemon flavouring (I don’t use lemon juice because the icing becomes runny. I also so not use the lemon zest as it clogs up my nozzles).

As my cupcakes were 80s themed I dyed the icing. I used neon yellow and neon pink.
I dyed half the icing pink and the other half yellow. I then added scoops to the icing bag and it created a lovely swirly affect icing.

Nozzle of your choice & icing bag.
Pre-heat your oven to 170C/325F/Gas Mark 3.
Place 18 muffin cases in your muffin tins. I have a few baking tins so I manage to do this in one go. If you have bake in batches just remember the oven will be warm when you place the second lot in so keep an eye on them so they don’t burn.

1) Beat the sugar and butter together. You can do this by hand or in a mixer. I find both work well. Stop beating when you have a creamy consistency.
2) Add a bit of the egg mixture in and beat it. Keep adding and beating until you run out of eggs. Don’t worry if it looks a bit runny. It will work out after you add the flour.
3) Add scoops of the flour and stir in. Add the baking powder and stir through.
4) Now add the lemon juice and zest. Give it a good stir.
5) Now distribute your mixture into the cupcake/muffin cases in the tin. I generally leave a ‘gap’ at the top of the case as these babies rise. I then trim them to make them even. Yes it’s true; my cakes are not perfect.
6) Bake in the oven for 12-15 minutes. When they are ‘done’ they should be springy to touch. I do the classic ‘toothpick check’. If you insert it into the centre and it comes out clean congratulations your cupcakes are done!
7) Now allow the cupcakes to cool completely before you ice them. If you can leave them in the tin to cool down that’s good. But if you can’t tranfer them to a wire cooling rack. Don’t apply the icing whilst they are still warm. It just doesn’t work.
8) Once the cupcakes are cool give them a quick trim to even them out. This really is key to getting uniform-ish iced cupcakes (sorry not sorry).

To make the buttercream:
You can use the mixer for this or do it by hand.

1) sift the icing sugar into a LARGE bowl. Trust me the BIGGER the better. Size matters.
2) Add the butter. Now beat the ingredients together.
3) Once you have what looks like a creamy mixture (it maybe a bit rough or stiff don’t worry it’s normal) add the lemon flavouring. Stir in.
4) If the mixture is too stiff or isn’t coming together like icing add 1 tablespoon of milk and beat in. Repeat if needed. Just do it in stages as too much milk may make the mixture runny.
5) Once you are happy with the texture you can add dye if you wish to. I use gel again it helps with the texture. I find the liquid dyes make things runny and the colour isn’t as strong either (I use ClassicKool-Link here).
6) Put the icing in the bag and ice away. Get creative if you wish. Add sprinkles, glitter whatever you wish. We added themed toppers.
7) Your cupcakes are done. Don’t they look awesome? Like 80s awesome…cos everything in the 80s was awesome….

Enjoy!

Notes: You can make the cupcakes and freeze them up to a month in advance if it helps with your party prep.

You can buy ready made icing which does an amazing job too.

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

Super Green Alu Tikkis
Stylemesisteradmin
May 11, 2019

Super Green Alu Tikkis…..because green is glory.

Green vegetables in a Tikki you say? Really? Indeed! My girls love these so much we use the mixture to create Burgers too.

Getting some children to eat anything green and ‘healthy’ looking can be tiresome. This recipe takes the classic Alu Tikki (potato Tikki) and rammed it with good stuff (being spinach and peas). These Tikkis taste like Spring…so enjoy.

To make enough to serve 4 people you will need:

  • Ingredients
  • 80 grams peas or petite pois cooked, drained and cooled
  • 40 grams baby spinach cooked (I cook it in the microwave as it takes minutes. I place the spinach in a microwaveble dish, add a couple of tablespoons of water and cover with microwavable cling film. I poke a few holes in the film to let steam escape. Takes a few minutes. Job done).
  • 200-250 grams potatoes-boiled (that’s two medium potatoes if you are not fussed my weights). Mashed OR riced.
  • 2 spring onions (green onions) washed and thinly sliced.
  • Salt-to taste
  • 1 & 1/2 TBSP cornflour
  • 1 heaped TBSP coriander leaves chopped finely
  • 1 TSP cumin seed powder
  • 1 TSP coriander seed powder
  • 1/2 TSP chili powder
  • 1 heaped TSP garlic granules
  • 1 TSP amchoor (green mango powder-I add this to give a tang. If you can’t find this ingredient don’t panic and just leave it out and squeeze over some lime before serving the tikkis).

Oil-to shallow fry

1) Whiz together the peas and spinach to create a rough mixture. You can roughly chop the mixture by hand if you haven’t got a processor.

2) Place the mashed potato in a bowl and add all the tikki ingredients. Using your hands get in there and combine the ingredients (don’t forget to wash your hands properly after as there is chili in the mixture).

3) Using wet hands shape your tikkis. You can make medium ones using a walnut size amount of mixture. Or if you want to serve these as canapes/starters make them smaller.

4) In a large pan heat the oil on a medium heat. Fry the tikkis on a medium heat until lightly golden brown. Do not keep turning the tikkis over as this will increase the chances of breaking them.

5) Once brown on both sides drain off on kitchen paper (the tikkis should take about 5 minutes maximum on each side).

6) Serve with chutneys and sauces of your choice.

NOTES: the corn flour is added to help keep the tikkis together. If you cannot get your hands on it replace with Basan (gram flour).

This mixture makes great vegetarian burgers.

These Tikkis do not freeze well. This in my humble foodie opinion is down the the spinach but still. These badboys make awesome burgers (including veggie dirty burgers…recipe coming soon).