Lentil, coriander and tomato spiced soup

This is a little bit of a cheat, what with reusing previously cooked food - but it was so wholesomely warming. Also starting to realise the wonder of making extra food as I go along.

1 portion frozen dahl (still much embued with fresh coriander and lime)

Dilute coconut milk (Kara is rather all-purpose and useful)

1 chopped tomato

2 handfuls spinach

Seasalt

Mango chutney

Chapati dough (sorghum, potato and tapioca flours with ground almonds)

Defrost and heat the lentil curry in a pan, with a 1/4 cup of the coconut milk. Bring to a simmer.

Chop one good sized flavoursome tomato, and add to the pan. Let cook through, then stir in the spinach. Let it wilt, then season with seasalt to taste.

Meanwhile pinch out one chapati, and lightly fry both sides over a medium heat.

Serve up curry soup with a bit of mango chutney, and the chapati.

Carbonnade à la Flamande & Stoemp

Changes to cooler weather, and all the ensuing sniffles that brings. Heartier foods found amongst Belgian cuisine appealed, and so Carbonnade à la Flamande with Stoemp was decided upon. The recipe for the former is a fairly close copy of one found in a book "Everybody Eats Well in Belgium", which I will remember to snaffle a copy of at some point. Stoemp is essentially mashed potato with extra things - I'm probably bending the description a little here. Carbonnade is a (Flemish) Belgian beer and beef stew.

Carbonnade à la Flamande

1 450g pack (half lb) of stewing steak, roughly cubed

1 small onion, finely chopped

Vegetable oil

Butter

Cornflour (or wheat flour if available)

1/2 bottle dark Belgian beer

1/2 tsp dried thyme

1 small bay leaf

Black pepper

Seasalt

Hot water/beef stock

2 - 3 tsp redcurrant jelly

Heat the oil and add a little butter to a pan on medium heat. (Use all butter if a stronger flavour is preferred.) Dredge the beef in cornflour before browning it in batches, removing to a bowl until all is done. Scrape up any burnt bits from the pan, and add to the bowl too. (Remove stubborn ones with a little beer to deglaze, if necessary.)

Wipe pan clean, add a little more oil and butter, and sauté onion until a little browned. Then return beef to pan, and stir to heat through.

Add beer to pan, stirring as you go. Bring contents to a simmer, and boil off any alcohol remaining.

Add thyme, bay leaf, pepper and a pinch of seasalt to taste. Stir, then pour enough hot water or beef stock into the pan to completely cover the contents. Bring to a gentle simmer and leave for 45mins - 1hr, or 'til the beef is tender.

Shortly before serving, stir in the redcurrant jelly and adjust to taste. Any cornflour originally used will have broken down by now, so make a cold water cornflour slurry (1 - 2tbsp cornflour) and add to thicken as desired.

Stoemp

2 - 3 baking potatoes

1 carrot

Handful of spinach

Grapeseed oil

Rice milk

Butter or "Pure" spread

Black pepper

Seasalt

Peel and dice the potatoes into large chunks, add to a pan of cold water and bring to the boil. Remove when fully cooked.

Very finely dice the carrot, and tear up the spinach leaves. Add carrot to potatoes shortly before the latter are cooked.

When the potato is done, drain and rinse. Return potato and carrot to empty pan, and roughly mash. Splash in a little rice milk and a tsp or two of butter/spread, and combine. Stir in spinach, season with pepper and salt.

Serve Stoemp along with a generous helping of Carbonnade, and enjoy!

Thai yellow curry

There were vegetables, and chicken, and coconut milk, and it had been at least three days since I'd had some jasmine rice. The following appeared:

2 dsp grapeseed oil

1 tsp madras curry powder

1/4 onion, finely sliced

1" ginger root, finely sliced

2 cloves garlic, finely sliced

1 bruised stick of lemongrass, cut into 3 pieces

1 kaffir lime leaf

Thin coconut milk

Chicken thigh (cubed meat + bone)

1/2 small sweet potato, diced

1/2 aubergine, diced

1 small green pepper, cubed

1/2 red pepper, cubed

1 sliced carrot

1 - 2 tsp lime juice

1 tsp palm sugar

2 tsp fish sauce

3 tbsp raw grated coconut (frozen)

Heat oil over a medium heat in a pan, and add curry powder. Let oils release, then add onion for 5mins. Stir in garlic, ginger, lemongrass and kaffir lime leaf, and fry until all is a little softened.

Add chicken pieces and the bone, stir, and cook until meat has lost its pinkness. Add thin coconut milk to cover, stir in grated coconut, and let simmer for 15mins or so.

Stir sweet potato and aubergine into the pan, and let simmer for a few minutes more. Add more coconut milk if required.

Some 10mins before serving, add the peppers and carrot. Season with lime juice, palm sugar and fish sauce - adjust to taste.

Serve over steamed jasmine rice, preferably with a sprinkling of fresh coriander.

Treacle pancakes

Based loosely upon a Dora Yaki recipe (Japanese mini pancakes, akin to Scotch pancakes), I thought I'd try out treacle instead of syrup. (I was out of syrup.) Sweetly soft, chewy, and just the littlest bit dense - good with sweet chestnut spread.

5 tsp sugar

1 egg

1/2 tsp dark treacle

1/2 tsp agave nectar

1/2 cup flour (I used 2 dsp ground almonds, 1/4 cup rice/tapioca/potato starch mix, and 1/4 cup sorghum flour)

1/3 tsp bicarbonate of soda

1/4 cup water

Whisk the egg, sugar, treacle and syrup lightly until smooth. Sift in the flour and bicarbonate of soda. Whisk to incorporate some of the flour, then pour in water and continue to mix until a slightly stiff batter has formed. Leave to stand for a few mins.

Heat up a frying pan to medium heat, and wipe with a paper towel holding a bit of grapeseed oil. Spoon in one dessertspoon of mixture, and wait until the top surface has some bubble holes and has solidified (2-3mins). Flip, cook for another 30sec - 1min. Remove onto handy plate.

Serve with chestnut spread, an (sweet red bean paste, Japanese style), sirop de liège, honey etc. Good with a cup of spiced tea.

Spiced chickpea ragoût

Twas a cool and wet evening, and the wild winds did blow! "Stew," I thought to myself, and went shopping for such.

Olive oil

1/2 tsp cumin seeds

1/4 tsp coriander seeds

1/4 tsp dried chilli flakes

1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp ground nutmeg (or 5-6 sweeps of a nut over the grater)

1/4 tsp harissa paste

1/2 onion, minced

2 cloves garlic, finely sliced

1/2 aubergine, cubed

1 small green pepper, diced

2 small red peppers, diced

1/4 vegetable stock cube, dissolved in 1/2 cup hot water

1/2 tin tomatoes

1 tin chickpeas

Sultanas

Lemon juice

Black pepper

Pinch of seasalt

Optional:

Spinach

Rye bread

Goat's milk soft cheese

Fresh coriander

Toast whole spices in a dry frying pan on medium heat, then grind up before dropping into a pan of medium-heat containing a splash of olive oil. Add chilli flakes, cinnamon and nutmeg, and let the oils release for a minute or so. (Take care not to scorch the spices on too high a heat, or you'll have to start again.)

Stir in the harissa paste, then add the onion and let sauté for a few minutes.

Add in garlic, aubergine. Stir for a minute, then add peppers and let cook for another minute or so.

Now stir in the tomatoes and chickpeas, and pour in the vegetable stock (can just use water or a meat stock if you prefer.) Stir everything well, sprinkle in a 1/4 handful of sultanas, squeeze in a wedge of lemon, and add some black pepper and a pinch of seasalt. Let simmer for 15mins or so.

Check for seasoning (the sauce will taste a little sweet/sour, but this is balanced by the chickpeas.) Vegetables should be cooked but not overdone - for well cooked chickpeas, cook for longer but I'd reserve the peppers and add 10-15mins before serving. (I only remembered this right at the end, however.)

Serve over a few handfuls of fresh spinach, alongside some toasted rye bread with goat cheese. (The La Soignon brie is pretty good.) Add a little fresh coriander if desired.

Enjoy!

Strawberry feta salad

I hadn't thought of putting strawberries in a salad until someone prompted me to reconsider the humble fruit - and so, this was created!

Feta cheese

Strawberries

Avocado

Almonds

Baby leaf spinach

Chicory

Baby gem lettuce

Balsamic vinegar

Extra virgin olive oil

Seasalt

Tear up lettuce and spinach, add finely sliced chicory and cubed avocado. Drizzle on a bit of oil and vinegar, a pinch of salt, and lightly mix up. Cube some feta cheese, slice up some strawberries and add to the salad. Then very finely chop some whole almonds (with skin) into wafer-thin slithers, and scatter on top.

Recipes

This is mostly a place to remind me of what I've cooked, as much of it is newly invented or an adapted recipe that may prove to be handy inspiration later on. (There are a lot of mystery photos for which I can no longer recall the particulars.) As such I've taken to describing the cooking process, as I find it simpler than composing a quantitative list of ingredients followed by a precisely timed set of instructions. (You may note a lack of baking entries, dear reader.)

It seems to be working quite nicely so far, we shall see how it goes! I am thinking an ingredient list at the beginning is a handy shortcut to see what the post is all about though. Hm.

I should add that while most recipes will be things from within the previous day or two, a few others for now will be catch-up work. Should at least be appropriate for the season, though!

Ginger sesame salmon with strawberry salad

The evening called for something very lightly seasoned and with plenty of raw crispy salad. Salmon it was!

1 salmon fillet
Ginger root, spring onion
Green (bell) pepper
Lettuce, baby leaf spinach, celery, cucumber, red chicory, etc.
Strawberries
Lime juice, sesame seed oil, soy sauce
Grapeseed oil

Slice up 1/3 of a green pepper into long thin slithers, and sauté over medium-high heat in some grapeseed oil.

Meanwhile very finely slice some crisp heart of romaine lettuce (2 - 3 leaves), and arrange in a dish. Sprinkle on a handful of torn baby leaf spinach. Check and stir green pepper.

Slice up and add half a stick of celery, about 2" of cucumber and a bit of red chicory.

Finely julienne a 1/2" piece of ginger root (into discs across the root, then into thin matchsticks.) Cut a spring onion into 2 or 3 pieces, then slice these into long thin slithers.

Green pepper should now be a little softened and have taken on a bit of colour, so remove from pan into a small bowl and let cool a little. Add some extra oil to the pan; once warmed up throw in the ginger and stir.

Rinse and pat dry one piece of salmon fillet.

Ginger should be a little translucent after 30 - 60 seconds, so then turn the heat down to low-medium and spread out spring onion pieces across the middle of the pan. Lay the piece of salmon skin-side-up onto this. Let fry for a minute or so, then pour a few tbsp of water into the pan and cover with a vented lid. Leave to poach for a few minutes.

Arrange cooled green pepper onto the salad so far, and core and quarter a few strawberries.

Check on the salmon, it should be mostly done with the additional water gone now. Flip to skin side down, and continue to cook uncovered to preferred doneness.

Slide salmon (with ginger and spring onion pieces) onto salad, and surround with strawberries. Squeeze 1/8th lime over fish and salad then drizzle on a 1/2 tsp of sesame seed oil, and a 1/2 teaspoon soy sauce. Enjoy!

Dahl with lime and coriander

The wind and rain have been blowing all day; cold weather food it was. Alas, the fridge was full of salad. "Never fear!" cried my stomach, "We have lentils!" We also had some motley spices that resulted in throwing away the first attempt and wasting half an onion. (Apparently not all spices keep so well after 5 years or so.) The second attempt turned out better, though.

Green lentils
Onion, garlic, ginger root
Madras curry powder, mustard seeds, ground cinnamon
Vegetable stock
Sliced carrot, celery
Green pepper, tomato
Fresh coriander
Lime juice, coconut milk
Pinch of seasalt

Soak and simmer half a cup of green lentils (this is not at all necessary, but I find it makes them more digestible.) Meanwhile heat up some oil in a pan over a medium heat, and add half a chopped onion. Cover pan with a lid. Boil 1 - 2 cups of water in the kettle for use later.

When the onion has softened a bit, sprinkle in 1 - 2 tsp of madras curry powder, a 1/4 tsp of mustard seeds, and a 1/4 tsp of ground cinnamon. Stir and let lightly sizzle for a minute or two.

Add 2 - 3 minced cloves of garlic, and a minced 1/2" piece of ginger. Stir for a few minutes, then tip in mostly drained lentils. (At this point I also added a half cup of reconstituted soy mince, as I'm having a cupboard clear-out.) Add hot water to cover, and bring to a simmer.

Slice up two small carrots, and a large half stick of celery. Add to pan, and continue to simmer.

Mix up 1/4 of a vegetable stock cube with some hot water, and stir it in. Add a good few grinds of black pepper too. (Pondered a bay leaf, but didn't add one this time.) Let this simmer for 15 - 20mins, until everything is tender but the carrot and celery are far from mush.

Finely dice a 1/3 of a green pepper, and add this to the pan. Then stir in a handful of chopped fresh coriander, squeeze in a small wedge of lime (to taste), and splash in about a 1/4 cup of thin coconut milk. Stir, and let simmer a few minutes longer.

Shortly before serving, add a tomato cut into 1/8ths and a pinch or two of seasalt. Check seasoning, adding more coconut milk or lime juice as desired.

Serve with an additional bit of fresh coriander and devour in smug delightedness, all vestiges of attempt no.1 quite forgotten. Later discover that fiddling somewhat chaotically with f number settings on the camera made for a far prettier photo than usual, too.

Grilled cheese, à la Américain

I assumed that American grilled cheese was cheese, on bread, put under a grill and retrieved a little later. But no! For their grills are barbecues, and their broilers are grills.

Grilled cheese can simply be made with a frying pan and a few simple ingredients. Yes, it is a fried cheese sandwich, as far as I can tell.

Bread
Butter (or preferred spread)
Cheese
Gherkins, tomatoes, pickle

Take some sliced cheese, something akin to a mild cheddar works well (I actually tried out Monterey Jack, and found it was similar to that.) Place the cheese upon one piece of bread, sandwich it with another slice of bread.

Now butter the top of the sandwich, and place this butter-side-down in a frying pan over a low-medium heat. Butter the new topside.

After a few minutes, flip it. There should be some light golden-brown toasting on the new topside, and the cheese should be looking a little melty around the edges. Leave for a few more minutes until toasted on the second side. Do not hurry! This is the trick of it.

Serve with pickled gherkin, and some cherry tomatoes don't go amiss. And pickle, if you are a fiend for it such as I am.

Hoi sin chicken over ginger sesame vegetables

* 1 chicken thigh

* 2 - 3 tbsp hoi sin sauce

* 1" piece root ginger

* 2 carrots

* Handful sugar snap peas

* 2 small spring onions

* Sesame seed oil

* Soy sauce

* Vegetable oil

* Half cup jasmine rice

* Toasted black sesame seeds

Preheat oven to 180C. Place chicken thigh in a pyrex dish that fits it, smooth on hoi sin sauce with a spoon - under and over. Cover dish with foil, bake for 45mins.

Rinse and set the jasmine rice cooking.

Finely julienne the ginger (taking care to cut against the fibre growth), scrape/peel carrots and julienne too. Top/tail (and de-string) sugar snap peas if desired.

Heat 1 - 2 tsp or so of vegetable oil in a wok. Bring to a medium-hot heat, add ginger, stir fry for 1min or until slightly translucent. Add carrot, cook for 1min or so, then add spring onion and sugar snaps. Stir fry for another 2 - 3mins.

Add 1 tsp sesame seed oil, 3 - 4 tsp soy sauce to the wok. Stir and continue cooking to softness preference.

Lift foil from chicken before end of cooking for crispy skin. Cook for another 15mins as required, checking for cooked-ness before serving.

Serve up jasmine rice, stir fried vegetables and place chicken on top. Spoon over additional hoi sin flavoured cooking juices from the pyrex dish, then sprinkle on toasted sesame seeds.

Tilapia, salsa and cauliflower curry with chapati

Take one frozen portion of mung bean curry soup. Leave defrosting to a simmer, after adding a little extra thin coconut milk and lemon juice.

Pan fry small florets of cauliflower until turning a little golden brown, then stir into curry.

Place one tilapia fillet over curry, and let steam.

In a small bowl, mix up chopped fresh tomato, squeeze of lemon juice, sea salt, torn fresh coriander.

Mix up some sorghum (jawar), millet and tapioca rice flour with water to form a thick dough. Pinch out as thin as you can into a disc, then place the chapati in a frying pan on a medium heat with some grapeseed oil in it. (Smoosh out to further thinness with the back of an oiled spoon, if you wish. It's fun when you realise to oil the spoon.) Cook for a few minutes on either side, 'til both have a bit of golden brown colouring to them.

Serve up cauliflower curry mung bean soup, tilapia, add some salsa and serve alongside chapati. Cucumber, mint and yoghurt raita would also be good.

Turkey basil salad

A light lunch that I had a sampling of for tea, and it works rather nicely.

* 2 - 3 romaine lettuce leaves
* Handful baby spinach leaf
* 6 - 8 slices cucumber
* 1 - 2 tbsp finely sliced red chicory
* 1 heaped tbsp cubed sweet pickled beetroot
* 1 slice roast turkey, cut into short diagonal slithers
* 5 - 6 leaves of fresh basil, finely sliced
* 1 tsp mayonnaise
* 1 tsp lemon juice
* Black pepper

Mix up spinach, lettuce and chicory in a dish, or on a plate (the dish allows for later mixing more readily.) Arrange cucumber, turkey and beetroot over leaves. In a separate bowl mix up mayonnaise, lemon juice, black pepper and basil, then drizzle over salad.

Keeping some notes on food adventures

There are quite a few photos, and (what are to me) nifty food ideas. This place will hopefully collect up a few of them, and provide some inspiration when I'm wondering what to do next.

Now, on with the food findings and photos!