Category: Plant Eaters

Mackerel salad with lemon buttermilk dressing

Laura Nana1 Comment

Ok this is amazing! Truly amazing. It’s the dressing that does it. If you didn’t fancy mackerel you could do this just with Parma Ham or veggies alone or salmon or chicken or…or….or…. You get the picture. Try it, it’s fab. And quick, did I mention it’s just 20 minutes to lushdom?

Ingredients

2 mackerel fillets
3 slices of Parma ham (optional)
4 tomatoes. I used yellow and red varieties
2 asparagus spears
1 little gem or other preferred leaf
6-10 baby potatoes
Zest and juice of one lemon
Half tub of buttermilk (roughly 140ml)
Drizzle of Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Salt and pepper

Method

Boil your potatoes in salted water for 20 minutes. Shave your asparagus into strips with a potato peeler. Cut your tomatoes into quarters and then slice them horizontally. Tear up your Parma ham and mackerel.

Arrange all of this loveliness on a big platter.

To make the dressing add the buttermilk and lemon zest to a bowl and gradually add the juice, tasting all the time. The buttermilk will balance out the lemon for a lovely mellow taste. Add the Extra Virgin olive Oil for richness and season with salt and pepper.

Drizzle over the salad and serve!

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Kudhi – yoghurty curry

Laura NanaLeave a comment

So this is an accompaniment that is somewhat addictive! At first sight you’d think it bland and uninspiring but pair it with the right curries and you will be surprised! Its great with my Potato Fry

Ingredients

500g pot of Natural Yoghurt
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
2 tsp of whole cumin
8 curry leaves (not mandatory)

Method

  1. Pour the majority of the tub of yoghurt into a small saucepan. Reserve about 2 tablespoons or so in the pot
  2. Add the salt and sugar and stir will
  3. In a separate frying pan, heat the cumin until fragrant
  4. Pound in a pestle and mortar or grind up in your spice mill if you have one
  5. Add this to the yoghurt pan and stir it really, really well
  6. Put it on a low to medium heat and keep stirring it until its nice and warm – about 5-7 minutes
  7. You’ll find it will go much looser
  8. Keep it warm whilst you get the rest of your meal ready
  9. When you are ready to serve, add in the reserved leftover yoghurt, this will thicken it up again
  10. Add the curry leaves and serve

The idea is to pour this over vegetable curries, potato fry or plain basmati rice, you can eat it with chapatis/rotis/naan breads too if you like  – i’ll post some veggie curries up soon for you to start pairing and testing!

Potato Fry

Laura Nana2 Comments

We usually serve this as part of a medley of Indian bites on a Monday night which is usually vegetarian night in our house. Its lovely with Kudhi – a yoghurty curry sauce – and basmati rice. I like to bake mine in the oven on the premise that its less work and healthier but my husband prefers to fry it on the hob to get lots of yummy little crispy bits!! Here’s the oven based “healthy” version in the interests of keeping you all alive longer to read my blog 😉

Ingredients

1kg white potatoes
1 tbsp oil
1 tsp salt
1 tsp ground pepper
1 tsp madras curry powder
Half tsps of: ground cumin, ground coriander, chilli powder and tumeric
1tsp mustard seeds
Sprinkle of chopped Coriander

Method

  1. Heat your oven to 200 degrees.
  2. Line a large flat pan with foil and add the oil. Put it in the oven to warm up for 5-10 minutes
  3. Peel and dice your potatoes into 1cm cubes
  4. Add all your spices together, take your pan out of the oven and pour the spices on top of the oil and stir it around.
  5. Tumble in your potatoes and toss them to cover in the spice mix
  6. Put them in the oven for 30-40 minutes tossing/turning them over every 10 minutes or so
  7. For the last 5-10 minutes, add your mustard seeds to the pan
  8. Sprinkle over your coriander and serve

 

 

Coconut Daal

Laura NanaLeave a comment

This is a regular on our table because it is so full of flavour, makes you forget its veggie and is a quick one pot wonder, please give it a try, you won’t be disappointed. It’s also good to serve as a dinner party side dish with other curries. The leftovers are amazing in a sandwich or roll the next day for lunch too.

Ingredients

300g red lentils
600ml cold water
400g Can of Coconut milk
400g Can of Chopped Tomatoes
Bunch of coriander, chop the stalks and leaves separately
100g Kale or Spinach
2 tsp curry powder

2 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds
1-2 tbsp oil
8-10 curry leaves
1 tsp garam massalla

Method

In a saucepan, add the lentils, coconut milk, water, coriander stalks and curry powder. Simmer for 10 mins then add the chopped tomatoes, cook for 20 mins. After 20 mins give it a really good stir and then add the kale or spinach.

In a small frying pan warm the oil, curry leaves, cumin seeds, garam massalla and mustard seeds until they start to become fragrant, stir most of it into the daal, reserving a little to put on to at the end.

All done! I usually serve this with frozen paratha that you can get from most big supermarkets but rice, naan, wraps, chapatis etc will do just as well. Hope you enjoy it! Post your feedback and comments below

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Special Fried Rice – Your Way

Laura NanaLeave a comment

Soooooo erm this may be my new favourite thing for work lunches and easy dinners! I make a basic special fried rice recipe and then let the family customise it how they like! Its really quick to make and is light on pots and pans so no need to worry about washing up AND you can pack it with vegetables!

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Ingredients

Must haves:

2 cups Basmati Rice
Handful Peas
Handful Sweetcorn
1 Tbsp Soy Sauce
2 teaspoons Mirin
2 teaspoons Rice Wine Vinegar
2 cloves of Garlic thinly sliced
3-5 Spring onions sliced

Optional items:

Sliced mushrooms
Handful Small prawns
1 diced Red/Orange/Yellow Pepper
1 tbsp Ketjap Manis
3 Ready cooked Mackerel fillets
2 Salmon fillets cubed and cooked
2 cups Cooked chicken – strips, wings, bashed up thighs 

Handful Coriander
2 eggs, either scrambled or cooked as an omelette and sliced up
Crushed chilli flakes
Sweet Chilli Sauce

Method:

I have a fail-proof fluffy basmati recipe but feel free to use your own if you prefer.

Rinse your rice a few times in cold water if you want it really fluffy or leave it to soak in water for 30 mins. Boil the kettle, heat oil in the pan and throw in your (drained) rice , stir to cover in the oil and let it warm a little. Pour the boiling water over the rice, The water should come about 3cm over your rice. Put a lit on it with a little crack and let it simmer.

It’ll start to hiss once all the water has evaporated – this can take anywhere between 10-15 mins. Take a look at it. If it looks done, turn the heat off, remove the lid and place a tea towel/cloth over the rice and put the lid back on. Leave it for as long as you need to, it’ll keep warm and the towel will soak up excess steam to keep the rice fluffy. If it doesn’t look done, sprinkle on a little more water, put the lid back on and keep checking every 2-5 minutes.

 

The rest is just an assembly job – fry off the garlic, spring onions and any of your selected food items from the optional list that require cooking. I don’t bother with sweetcorn and peas as it takes seconds for them to warm through. Add in your sauces then add your rice to the pan to fry off. Put it all together, decant to a serving bowl and dive in!

Serve with some sweet chilli sauce on the side or some extra Ketjap Manis.

Summery Salad

Laura Nana1 Comment

We have this salad at least once a week, it’s tasty, addictive and healthy too! It’s also versatile, you can add/remove whatever you want to make this to your liking, I’ve toyed with adding a soft poached egg or a giant Rye bread crouton…

Ingredients

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1 pack of Halloumi, sliced in to bite size pieces
100g Chorizo, sliced into rings and then cut each ring in half (e.g. Half moons)
Half a bag of spinach
2 tbsp Olive Oil
Roasting veg (I use 1 pepper, 1 courgette and a handful of cherry tomatoes)

For the dressing:
Juice of 1 lemon
1 tbsp Honey
2 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Pepper

Method

Slice the roasting veg, put it in a heat proof pan with the olive oil. Smush it all together and put it in a hot oven for 25-30 minutes.

Fry off the Chorizo until it starts to release oils. Remove from the pan onto kitchen towel, keep the oils in the pan. Fry off the Halloumi in the same pan (you may need to add a little extra oil). Don’t overfill the pan, do it in batches if you need to. You’re looking for a light golden colour so keep the pan on a medium heat. Put it with the chorizo to cool down.

Put the spinach into a salad bowl. Mix the lemon, pepper, extra virgin olive oil and honey in a small bowl. Taste to see if it needs anything else, don’t add salt as the Halloumi is salty enough.

Remove the roasted veg and let it cool a little. Add the Halloumi, chorizo and roasted veg to the salad bowl, drizzle over as much of the dressing as you’d like and toss.

Eat with a nice glass of cold white wine and imagine you’re on holiday…!

Lentil curry

Laura NanaLeave a comment

My lovelies I beg your forgiveness. I confess I haven’t posted for 12 days, a hideously unprofessional faux pas. But I do have a corker for you. Staying with the curry theme for now I’d like to introduce you to our Monday night dish. This is a staple in our house. It is almost a religion. To try it is to fall in love with it….

Ingredients

1 can of Green lentils
1 small or half a medium onion finely diced
Coriander stalks finely chopped
3 cardamom pods
3 cloves
1 stick of cinnamon bark
1 cube of stock (veg or chicken)
1/4 cup (a good drizzle) of single cream
2 cloves of garlic, 1 chilli and a grating of ginger (or 1 of my frozen Massalla cubes)
1 tbsp tomato puree
1 tsp of Cumin powder, curry powder and tumeric
Coriander leaves to serve
Shana Frozen Chapatis or fresh homemade or shop bought chapatis

Method

Heat the olive oil in a frying pan over a medium heat. Add the hard spices – cinnamon bark, cardamoms and cloves. When they start to release their flavour, add the onions and allow to soften for a couple of minutes. Then add the garlic, ginger and chilli (or massalla cube) and fry for two minutes, until soft.

Add the powdered spices and cook through for two more minutes.

Add the tomato purée, lentils, and vegetable stock. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat to simmer for five minutes.Add the cream and season with salt and freshly ground pepper

 

I always serve this with spiced aubergines which I will be posting for you shortly I promise …

xxx

Goats Cheese Salad with a Giant Crouton

Laura Nana1 Comment

This is a regular in our house as we pretend its healthy. Its not. It is simply the gathering of lots of yummy items and combining them to make a rich and tasty dish.

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Ingredients

Rocket or other salad leaves
Juice of 1/2 a Lemon
About 4 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 good squidge of Honey
Disc of goats cheese
Walnuts
Thinly sliced Pear (1 should be enough for 2 servings)
Cherry Tomatoes
Bread

Method

Put the goats cheese discs on square pieces of baking parchment and a baking tray and put in the oven for about 7-10 minutes at 180 degrees for a fan assisted oven.

Whilst that is cooking, toast your bread. In a bowl add lemon juice, honey, olive oil and salt and pepper. Whisk together really well so it is nicely emulsified. If you’ve got whole walnuts break them up a bit to edible bite-size pieces. Cut your tomatoes in half and add the walnuts, salad leaves, tomatoes and sliced pear to a bowl.

Butter the toast and cut it into a circle shape to sit under the goats cheese.

Remove the goats cheese from the oven. Don’t worry if some of it is leaking out, its going to do that anyway on the plate. Put it on top of the crouton. Then add the lemon and honey dressing to the salad and toss it well. Add the salad items around the goats cheese. Drizzle some olive oil and grind some pepper on top of the goats cheese and there you have it!

I hope you enjoy it as much as we do! Its another really simple mid-week dinner.

My Green Massalla

Laura Nana3 Comments

Passed down to me by the experts, here is my green massalla which will be your flavour saviour for many a dish.

Ingredients

1kg green chilli
1/2 kg ginger
1/4 kg garlic
2 tbsp oil
1 tsp salt

Method

First don some suitable rubber gloves! Take the stalks off the chillies and drop them into your food processor. Take the skin off the ginger and chop it into a couple of lumps. Crush each garlic clove slightly to make it easier to remove the skin and add it all to the food processor. Give it a good blitz then stop, scrape down the sides and add the oil and salt and blitz again. You want it to be pretty fine.

Put the mix into an ice cube tray and freeze overnight and then pop them out of the tray and put them into a freezable bag.

You can just take one or two out each time and add it to whatever you are cooking. We use this for every curry we make including Butter Chicken Heaven and also my Hardcore Hot Ribs.