In My Kitchen

I love to cook, good food is really important to me.  If you are anything like me you may spend a large amount of your life in the kitchen preparing good nourishing food to eat, this is what has been going on in my kitchen this month.  If you would like to join in you would be most welcome, leave a link in the comments section.

It has been over three years since I have shared with you what has been going on in my kitchen, in that time there has been some fairly radical changes to what we eat.  In the mid 90s I was diagnosed with Crohns disease whilst this can be a very debilitating disease for some, I am so thankful that I have not been seriously ill with this chronic condition.   In the early days, the medication that I was taking to keep this check gave me further problems due to side effects I made the decision to stop taking them and started my long slow journey into alternatives, that was in the days before the internet was there at a click of a button.  Around that time I had a food intolerance test which transformed my life, within a week of excluding my list of foods my symptoms had all disappeared.  Life ticked on and I continued to exclude my list of 'no' foods until a few years ago, when it occurred to me that it was great that my symptoms had not come back but after so long excluding these foods I was still unable to reintroduce them without side effects, was I really 'better' then or just managing a different status quo?  I hadn't stopped reading and researching in that period but I knew that I needed to try something different.  I eventually decided that I would try giving up wheat and sugar for a whole year and see what happened, if that didn't work I would try something else.  Both of these ingredients formed a integral part of our diet, although sugar less so, I gave up all sugars including refined sugar, sweeteners such as honey and maple syrup and all fruit.  Yes you did read that right all fruit too.  I spent at least a month before I started planning and finding new recipes.  It made a huge difference to me, I felt much less sluggish, less bloated and I slept so much better, but even more amazing was that during that year I started to reintroduce some of those foods that I had not eaten for nearly twenty years and I suffered no side effects.

That was back in 2017, now we eat a wheat in maybe one meal a week or less, sweeteners are used sparingly and fruit is very much back on the menu.   When I look back through my old In My Kitchen posts there was a lot of baking going on then, that has all been much reduced.  It has been a big change.  I didn't think, before I gave it up, that I was eating a lot of wheat until I started to look at a week of meals rather than each meal individually, I am a huge believer in every thing in moderation but that was not an ingredient we were eating in moderation.  It has been surprisingly easy to bring about this change, rather than look for alternatives, using gluten free flour to make pastry or bread for example, we ate differently.  We now eat a lot more vegetables than we used to and with a teenage boy in the house our veg bill is large!  Now I can eat out, share food with friends and family and not worry about the ingredients for the first time in so, so long.  It has made a huge difference to my life and I am so glad I gave it a try even though at the time it felt like a really extreme thing to do!

When you make a fairly radical change to your diet it can mean that many of your cookbooks are full of recipes which are no longer used.  I have given away many of the books on my shelves, particularly the bread baking ones of which I had quite a large collection.  This has been a good excuse to buy some new ones and last year I was given two amazing cookbooks for my birthday, one (fourth book on this link) of which I use a lot and has become a firm favourite for us.  We have yet to try anything from this book that has not been loved and made again, it is a book that really suits what we love to eat, a particular favourite is a Mediterrean Tray bake a dish based on roast veggies.

I am going to leave you now with a recipe for a meal that you could make for dinner* or tea, we usually eat this for dinner.  It is my favourite kind of recipe as it is a collection of possibilities all thrown together to make a really tasty meal which means that it tastes different each week and each season depending on what you have in the house.  If the flavourings don't appeal to you then add your own.  These quantities serve two so increase/decrease accordingly.

Shakshouka (Serves 2)

1 tablespoon butter
1/2 onion or a leek or 3 spring onions
3 cups of whatever green vegetables you have
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon chilli flakes or a few drops of Tabasco
juice of 1/2 lemon
2 handfuls of leafy greens and herbs
salt and pepper
eggs
4 tablespoons of any cheese you have and like crumbled or grated

Melt the butter in a frying pan over a medium high heat, add the onion/leek/spring onion, green vegetables and cumin.  Cook for 5-7 minutes.

Add the chilli/tabasco, lemon juice, leafy greens and herbs and cook until wilted.

Season with salt and pepper if desired.

Create divots in your mixture and break in the eggs one by one (as many as you want), sprinkle with cheese, turn heat to low and cover.  Cook for about 5 - 7 minutes until the eggs are set.

Printable Recipe

*****

*Where I live dinner is the meal that you eat in the middle of the day

Traditions

The last month is a time steeped in traditions some of them very old, my understanding is that you only have to do something twice for it to become a tradition.  The food eaten as part of the celebration varies across the world but it is usually the same food each year.  In the UK a Roast Turkey is the centre piece of a meal on Christmas Day, this was popularised by the Victorians although it was eaten by some for many centuries prior.  The Christmas Pudding most usually served for dessert is thought to date back to medieval times.

As a vegetarian I don't eat turkey and I have to confess that I have never really been a fan of Christmas pudding or cake, minces pies or trifle.  I can well remember spending the period after eating on Christmas day in bed not because I had eaten too much but because the food is so and rich and my digestive system complained.  I have been mulling over thoughts about Christmas food lately. We spend alternate years at home, the other year is spent with parents/grandparents.  When we go away for Christmas we eat the traditional food of the season (not me!) but if we are at home I don't prepare any of them.  My oven is big enough to take a turkey but not much else so I usually cook a ham or chicken.  I have a lot to do when we have Christmas at home so I prefer not to use my time preparing food that I will not eat, as this means I have to make double the amounts so that I have something to eat too.  December can become a month of excess on so many fronts, I always strive to keep things simple so cooking double food quantities does not sit well with me.

I have worried that my particular diet means that my children are missing out on the traditional food of Christmas until I realised that every other year they get offered that food at their grandparents houses.  We can make our own 'traditional' food at home creating new ones of our own and giving the children the best of both worlds which they can choose from in their future.  So I think our new tradition will be a roast dinner based around a ham or possible a chicken with a Spicy Lentil Loaf as a veggie option and an apple pie for pudding. If we are in want or need of cake, then the wonderful rich and light Rosemary Loaf Cake, Nigella Lawson's take on the Madeira cake and Maids of Honour another Nigella recipe in place of the mince pies.

So what is on your menu at Christmas do you have your own traditions or stick to the old ones?

Choices

We make many choices in life, many of them we forget about in minutes but those major ones, the important sometimes life changing ones that we don't make in minutes and can last a lifetime what are they based on.  We can agonise and think deep based on our past experiences, our beliefs, who we are and how we are.  It is interesting to find out what lies behind a choice but when they are different it seems that others think they have the right to question and criticise but I don't believe we should ever sit in judgement.

Over 20 years ago I made the decision to stop eating meat.  I was a student and had compete control over what I was eating after years of my mums wonderful cooking.  I found myself buying the same sort of food that she cooked including meat which I realised I did not really enjoy eating that much, so I stopped buying it.  I remember well cooking my first packet of lentils, they tasted revolting.  I cooked them in water and nothing else, they are pretty bland without an added flavour of some kind.  It was a steep learning curve, cooking anything involved a bucket of ingredients and more time.  Although my initial decision was based on dislike I did eventually give up fish and then food with animal products such as gelatin and isinglass as I came to think more about the ethics of the food I was eating.  I am not a massive fan of labels but I am vegetarian, I eat eggs, cheese and yogurt (pure milk makes me ill) which apparently makes me a lacto-ovo vegetarian.

There are many choices we can make when it comes to the food we eat, I have chosen a vegetarian diet but I would not, ever, try to persuade anyone to do the same. I really struggle with vegetarians who get on their high horse and ram their diet down others throats.  It is important to me that anyone making such an important decision has done so for their own reasons not mine.  I am not bringing my children up as vegetarians and in my household I am the only one who doesn't eat meat and fish.  I cook it, occasionally.  The meat we buy always comes from a farmers market and we have visited some of these farms.  At the moment I am wrestling with milk, not physically that would be rather messy and ultimately rather smelly.........., no it is the ethics of its production, keeping a cow in an endless cycle of pregnancy or birth in order to ensure a continuous supply and after four to six years they are, unsurprisingly, exhausted.  But it is so easy to be so far removed from our food these days isn't it.  However we buy our milk it is just a white liquid we keep in the fridge we have bought it and know nothing about the life of the cow that has produced this for us.  But not buying milk would for me mean no more cheese and yogurt both of which I love and eat in large quantities, choices are never easy are they?

For now I will continue as I am, partly because to not make a choice is in fact a choice in itself but also because I need an alternative.  Cheese is an important source of protein for me and more importantly for my growing children.  If we stopped eating dairy cheese the alternative is cheese made with plant ingredients including soya, I am yet to be convinced that these are a better alternative.  So I continue to give it some occasional thought along with the thoughts that all the pulses I eat are not produced in the UK and the food miles they rack up to get to me are probably way too high................hmmm I  am off to do my shopping!

Colcannon

We get a veg bag delivered every week.  It comes from a collective of farms, a grower's cooperative about five miles away.  The bag always contains carrots, potatoes and onions plus five other seasonal vegetables.  In the weeks leading up to Christmas we had brussel sprouts in the bag every week.  I confess to loving brussel sprouts the rest of the family like them a bit, enough to eat them on their own occasionally but not week in week out.  A trawl through my recipe books and online and I could not find a recipe where they were not the dominant flavour/main ingredient.

Thinking laterally I looked at cabbage and kale recipes, brussel sprouts are a mini cabbage after all.  I never have to hide cabbage as my children love eating it, I usually just steam it to soften, then heat up a little sesame oil in a frying pan, add a crushed garlic clove and fry gently for a minute or so then add the steamed cabbage and fry gently coating in the garlicky oil.  I cook kale and any leafy greens in this way too.  So back to the brussel sprouts......a search again in my recipe books and I found a recipe for colcannon.  I had cooked this recipe before and had found it rather uninspiring so I decided to add a few extra ingredients and swap the cabbage for brussel sprouts.  This is what I have ended up with, a tasty dish which I usually serve with a lentil Dahl.

Colcannon

1kg potatoes, peeled and chopped
Approx 200g brussel sprouts, or a small head of cabbage or kale finely shredded
1 medium onion finely chopped
2 cloves garlic crushed
Butter/cream/milk
100g cream cheese

Preheat the oven to 190°C/375°F/Gas Mark 5

Boil the potatoes and steam the brussel sprouts/cabbage/kale which ever you are using.

Fry the onions in a little oil or butter add the garlic and cook for a minute or so remove from heat.

Mash the potatoes with butter, cream and or milk whatever you prefer it is best if the mixture is soft and moist.  Add the cream cheese and mash to mix.  Add the onions, garlic and greens and stir to mix.

Put into an ovenproof dish and cook for about twenty minutes until top is slightly brown and the mixture is heated through.

I entering this recipe in the Shop Local Challenge over at Elizabeth's Kitchen Diary.

Casserole

I have always thought this was an odd name for a recipe.  I have been doing some research into its origins,  the recipe it seems is named after the dish that is used, there is not a consensus about how the dish came to be so called.  Some believe it is from the Latin others from a language called Mozarab spoken in Spain in the 12th century.  Whatever the route it is a recipe of many ingredients that are all cooked together in one dish, in an oven or over an open fire.  They need a bit of preparation but once in the oven are left to cook a useful recipe to go and do something else!  I found a recipe for one such casserole in a lovely book that I was given for Christmas what I actually cooked bore little resemblance to the original, I changed many of the ingredients to accommodate my food intolerances.

Bean and Wheat Casserole

360g mixed beans,  I used 120g each of haricot beans, red lentils and puy lentils.
1 large onion
1 large potato
3 carrots
1 large clove garlic
1 bay leaf
1 tsp mixed herbs
150g bulgar wheat
1 litre vegetable stock

Topping:
Breadcrumbs
Butter

Soak, drain, rinse and cook any beans that you are using that need to be pre cooked.
Preheat oven to 190°C.
Chop the onion and potato into small pieces , slice the carrot and crush the garlic.
Fry the onion in a large pan in 3tbs oil until clear, add the rest of the vegetables and the bay leaf and cook for about 15 minutes.
Remove from the heat and stir in the remaining ingredients.
Place the contents in a greased dish that has a lid and put in the oven with the lid on, cook for twenty minutes.
Remove from oven and sprinkle to cover with breadcrumbs, dot with butter and return to oven for a further 10 minutes.

This made a big meal, it would be sufficient to feed six to eight I would estimate!

Eating

Sometimes it is the simplest meals that are the best.  The ones where you have a handful of ingredients put together to make a wonderfully tasty, simple and nourishing meal, by chance most of the meals I have cooked this week have been like this.  We have had Root Vegetable and Blue Cheese Bake, Red Cabbage Salad and Garlic Beans.

Garlic Beans
250g dried pinto/borlotti type bean
4tbs olive oil
2 cloves garlic
Balsamic vinegar
1tsp oregano

Soak the beans overnight in cold water.  If you forget to do this you can do the quick(er) soak method.  Place the beans in a deep pan and fill the pan with water, bring to the boil and boil rapidly for two minutes before tuning off the heat leave to stand for a minimum of two hours.

Which ever method you use drain the beans and put in a pan, cover with water and cook for at least two hours until the beans are very soft, drain any remaining liquid.

Heat the oil in a frying pan.  Peel and crush the garlic, fry in the oil for a couple of minutes taking care not to burn.  Add the beans and cook until all the liquid has gone, this usually takes a out five minutes.

Add a splash of balsamic vinegar and the oregano, if you are using fresh then chop finely, stir to mix and serve.

Kale

I have masses of this at the moment, it is growing in my garden and I had some delivered in my veg box.  I also still have a glut of courgette despite the fact that we are experiencing regular frosts ( they are warm and cosy in the poly tunnel).  I searched through all my recipe books to find something that I could cook with both and found nothing, a search in the net was also to no avail, not one to be stumped by such things I made something up.  Lasagne.  I did not write down the quantities so I leave you to decide I was feeding one adult and two small children there was a fair amount left.

Courgette (I used about 300g, I think, it was a section of a large one)
Kale (I used about 400g)
Ricotta approx 125g
Feta approx 100g
Soft Goats Cheese approx 100g
Oil/Flour/Milk to make a white sauce
Mustard 1tsp
Grated Parmesan
Lasagne Sheets

Chop the courgette into bite sized pieces and cut the big stalks from the kale leaves and shred.  Steam both vegetables until soft (courgette) and wilted (kale).  Drain water and put the veg in the pan.

Mash the ricotta, chop the feta and goats cheese into small pieces and mix with vegetables.

Put oil and flour into a pan and mix into a paste.  Add milk gradually until mixed.  Put on gentle heat and stir occasionally until starting to thicken, add mustard.

Put half the vegetable and cheese mix in a dish and spread to make a flat layer.  Top with lasagne sheets and some of the mustard sauce.  Repeat and cover the sauce with a thin layer of grated Parmesan.

Cook at 180°C for about half an hour.

You could use any combination of cheeses to make this, and change the vegetables with the season.

Courgette

Yesterday before my husband left us yet again he returned from a forage in the garden for salad leaves for lunch with this:

Not quite sure how we have managed to miss this.  It was lurking on a plant behind the poly tunnel door, behind it when the door was opened.  It weighs over a kilo so it going to take some eating especially as my husband eats half the food in our house.  So I have been working my way through may recipe books to find intersting recipes using courgettes.  As we needed a picnic today and quick cos I got up late I thought I would make courgette muffins.  I could not find a recipe in any of my books but found this one which I had all the ingredients for.  They made a huge batch and most got eaten for lunch.  I did not have any self raising flour so used plain and added my own raising bit.  They make great picnic or snacking food and I will make more to use the huge courgette up, think I will try freezing some.

Ricotta

I have recently started to buy this cheese on a regular basis as it is an ingredient in one of my favourite pasta dishes.  I buy it in a small tub (250g) and the recipe only uses half the tub so I love to find ways of using the other half.  The pasta dish I use it for is really quick and easy to make.  Like so many of the dishes I cook this is an adaptation of one I find in a recipe book.  I usually adapt the, because they contain ingredients that make me ill, on this occassion I forget what I miss out and why as I no longer refer to the recipe.  The quantities I have given are approx, I do not weigh anything out for this recipe any longer, you may prefer more spinach.

Spinach and Ricotta Sauce

125g ricotta
50g finely grated Parmesan or similar type cheese if you are vegetarian
15g butter
250g fresh spinach shredded
3 good sized cloves garlic crushed
15g butter

Put your pasta on to cook.

Heat oven to 100°c.  Put the ricotta, Parmesan and butter in a bowl and place in the oven to melt them together forna few minutes stir and return to oven.

Melt the butter in a saucepan and gently cook the garlic for a few minutes add the spinach and cook until reduced.  Add the cheese mix.

Mix the sauce with the cooked pasta and eat.

Couscous

I have spent a lot of time cooking in the past week getting ready for camping trips.  I prefer to take my own home cooked food when I camp as I find that I cannot eat most processed foods due to the preservatives in them.  They raise the histamine levels in my body and causes outbreaks of urticaria which are painful and uncomfortable.

This weekend we are going to camp at a music festival.  There will probably be plenty of opportunity to buy food whilst we are there, but as I can never be sure of the ingredients again I prefer to take my own.  I find the planning of supper really easy as I do this every week, but lunches are more difficult. My husband is not keen on sandwiches and I would not want to eat them everyday even though they are easy.  Eventually I came up with enough meals and decided to make a couscous salad.  I made this recipe up, I have tried it and it tastes good to me!

100g dried chickpeas
375g couscous
20g butter, melted
375ml boiling water
Vegetable stock
1 medium courgette cut into small cubes
2 spring onions finely sliced
4tbs olive oil
2tbs white wine vinegar
2 cloves garlic crushed

Soak the chickpeas overnight in water.  Change water and boil for 1 1/2 to 2 hours until soft.  Drain and leave to cool.

Place the melted butter in a bowl with the couscous and mix to coat the grains.  Mix the water and stock and pour over the couscous and leave to soak, I cover with a tea towel.

Make the sauce by combining the oil, vinegar and garlic cloves and whisk well.

When the couscous has absorbed all the water, stir through with a fork to separate the grains.  Add the chopped courgette and spring onions and the cooked chickpeas and mix.

Pour over the sauce and mix well.

Chill (the salad that is) and enjoy when cool.

Lentils

This is an adaptation of a recipe from Ethiopia.  It is really quick to make.  My children love eating this, it is suposed to be eaten cold but we always have it hot!

Lentil Salad

300g red lentils
1/2 tsp salt
Pinch cayenne pepper
1 - 2 tsp brown mustard seeds (we find it is as bit too hot with 2tsp)
6 black peppercorns
3 tbs olive oil
3tbs white wine vinegar

Put the lentils in a pan with 600ml of water, being to the boil and cook gently for about 20 -30 minutes or until tender.

Put the salt, cayenne, mustard seeds and peppercorns into a grinder, and grind finely.  I use a coffee grinder that is only used for that purpose.  Put into a bowl and add 2tbs boiling water and mix.  Add the oil and vinegar, beat well to mix.

Stir into the lentils and enjoy.  I serve this with new potatoes.

Beans

I made some fritters during this past week using soaked black eye beans.  I had not made them in ages and remembered that last time I made them the children loved them and there were none left.  It was the same this time.  You need to remember to soak the beans overnight as you will be using the raw soaked beans.

Black eye bean fritters

225g dried black eye beans
55g chopped onions
Freshly ground black pepper
Pinch cayenne pepper
Oil for frying

Soak the beans in plenty of water in a large bowl for at least 16 hours.

Drain the beans and put them back in the bowl with fresh water.  Rub the beans between your fingers to loosen any skins, you may not loosen them all.  Leave the stubborn ones, remove the floating skins.

Drain the beans and place in a food processor with the chopped onions and peppers.  Process on a slow speed, stopping to push the mixture down with a spatula.  Process until you have a grainy paste. Slowly add 5 tablespoons of hot water, processing all the while until you have a paste of dropping consistency.  It will remain grainy.

Heat the oil in a frying pan, when it is hot drop teaspoons of the mix into the oil and fry.  Fry until golden brown and turn.  Remove to a plate and continue cooking until all the mix is used up, you will need to stir the mix each time.

Lettuce

This last week I have had a lot of lettuce that needed eating.  My garden is producing masses of it at the moment some of which had, sadly, gone to seed.  It goes a bit bitter at this stage so I wondered if I could cook it to take the bitter flavour away.  I remember some years back that a friend had cooked lettuce soup with some tired looking lettuce.  I had a look through my cookery books with no success, so I turned to the web.  I could not find a recipe I liked the sound of, so I used bits from several recipes and made this, it was delicious.

Lettuce Soup

25g butter
1 tbs oil
1 onion chopped
1 lettuce shredded
500g frozen peas
750ml vegetable stock
Salt and pepper
Fresh mint finely chopped

Melt butter and oil, fry onion until soft, add lettuce and fry for a minute.

Add peas and cook for five minutes, add stock and bring to a simmer.

Remove from heat and liquidise.  Season with salt and pepper, stir in chopped mint and serve.

Spinach

I have not made these tasty burgers for ages. I wanted something different on the menu this week, and after flicking through the cookery books on my shelf decided to add these. They are filling and tasty. If you do not have any fresh coriander you could use any dried spice powder that you like the flavour of.

Spinach and Rice Burgers
300g brown rice
Water
1 onion chopped
150g frozen spinach
2.5cm fresh ginger, peeled and grated
30g fresh coriander
1 egg beaten
Freshly grated nutmeg

Put the rice and water to cover, in a saucepan bring to the boil and turn heat very low and cook until all water is absorbed and rice is nearly dry.

Heat a little oil in a sauté pan, add the onion and fry until soft, add the spinach and cook until all the moisture has evaporated. Stir in the garlic and ginger and cook for one minute. Remove from heat and allow to cool a little.

Stir the spinach mixture into the rice and add the coriander and rice. Season with salt, pepper and nutmeg. Shape into burgers.

You can either fry these burgers in a frying pan for a few minutes in each side, or as I do cook in an oven at 180 degrees centigrade for about twenty minutes.

Courgettes

It is that time of year when the garden is producing a glut of courgettes. Sadly for us not yet this year it has been too cool. I have yet to harvest one but they are on their way, growing slowly in the chill. In the meantime we continue to enjoy this lovely recipe with the courgettes that come in our veg box. It has a peculiar name, but I have yet to think of anything better, it is not quite a soufflé, definitely not a pie or a gratin, more a mélange and definitely delicious. We often have some left as it make  quantity and is very filling, it makes good snacking or picnic food the following day. This is from an American cookbook so the cups are American cups.  

Courgette and Cheese Bake

3 cups/400g grated courgette
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups/225g plain flour
1 tbs baking powder
1 onion finely chopped
2 cups/180g grated cheddar
2 tsp fresh thyme leaves or 1 tsp dried thyme
Pepper to taste
1/2 cup sunflower oil
3 large eggs beaten

Put the courgette and salt in a colander and mix. Set aside for 30 minutes. Squeeze out the excess water, I do this in a clean tea towel. If you don't like your food very salty you can rinse the courgette first and then squeeze.

Preheat the oven to 180 centigrade and grease a 7" by 11" dish or one of a similar size.

In a medium sized bowl, stir together the flour and baking powder. Add the onion, courgette, cheese, thyme, and pepper if desired. Mix well with a fork.

Whisk together the oil and eggs in a small bowl. Pour into the courgette mixture and mix well. Spread evenly in the baking dish.

Bake for about 35 minutes, until golden.

Let it cool for 5 minutes before cutting into squares, as the name of the dish requires!

Fritters

I have started to make fritters pretty much every week. To me they are grated vegetable with batter and flavourings. They are quick and easy to put together and fairly quick to cook. On the rare occasion that there are any left they are delicious cold and make a handy snack or lunch of the children. I have made them with potato, courgette, carrot and broccoli so far.

The potato fritters were amazing, I was sceptical when I found the recipe that so few ingredients thrown together could taste good but they did, there were none left!

Potato Fritters
2 American cups grated raw potato
1 small onion grated
2 eggs beaten
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp rice flour
1/8 tsp bicarb

Put grated potato into a dry clean tea towel and squeeze excess moisture out.
Place in bowl with rest of the ingrdients and mix well.

Heat oil in a frying pan on a medium to low heat and drop a tbs of mix in and flatten with back of the spoon.

Fry on both sides until golden.

The courgette recipe again had few ingredients but really tasty.

Courgette Fritters 
225g grated courgette
75g chopped onion
70g plain or rice flour
 2 eggs beaten
75g grated Parmesan
125g grated mozzarella

Combine all the ingredients in a bowl.

Heat oil in a saucepan on a fairly low heat.

Drop in a tbs of batter and flatten. Cook until you you are able to lift the fritter, if you try too early the fritter will fall apart, turn and cook on other side.

The carrot fritter recipe comes with a delicious sauce that can be made in advance and led tin the fridge to chill.

Sauce 
5tbs yogurt
2shallots finely chopped
1cm piece of fresh root ginger, finely grated
Pinch chilli powder
1/4tsp caster sugar
20g fresh mint leaves finely chopped
55g fresh coriander leaves finely chopped

Put all the ingredients in a bowl and mix, chill until required.

Carrot Fritters
2 eggs
85ml milk (I never use cows milk but sure it will work, have use soya, rice and oat milk)
15g butter melted
100g plain flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp ground turmeric
Pinch cayenne pepper
1/4 tsp salt
340g grated carrot
2 tsp coarsely crushed coriander seeds
6 spring onions chopped

Beat the eggs, milk and butter together in a bowl, add the flour, baking powder, spice and salt and mix.

Add the carrots with the coriander seeds and spring onion and mix well.

Heat oil in a frying pan on a medium heat, scoop desert spoons of mix into the pan and flatten slightly, fry to cook on both sides.

The broccoli fritter recipe that I have been using was a bit bland and tasteless, each time I cooked them I changed the flavourings and now have a really tasty fritter, in my opinion anyway!

Broccoli Fritter 
1 head of broccoli (I usually use a fairly large one or two small ones)
150g gram flour
1/4 tsp asafoetida
1/4tsp ground turmeric
Pinch chilli powder
1tsp coriander powder
1tsp cumin powder
2 eggs beaten
170ml cold water
1 medium onion finely chopped
2 cloves garlic crushed

Cut the broccoli head(s) into a few pieces and steam for a few minutes, pour cold water over to stop cooking and cut the broccoli florets into very small pieces, peel and cut up the stalk into similar size pieces

Sift the gram flour into a bowl, this makes the flour easier to mix with the wet ingredients later otherwise it will be a very lumpy, mix with the spices.

Make a well in the centre and pour in the eggs and mix to a smooth paste.

Gradually add the water to make a smooth batter.

Stir in the chopped broccoli, onion and crushed garlic.

Heat oil in a frying pan on a medium heat, drop desert spoons of mix into the pan and flatten slightly, fry to cook on both sides.

You could also use Cauliflower for this recipe, although I have yet to try this.

With all these fritters you will have more mix than you can fit in a frying pan at once, unless you have an industrial sized pan.  I heat the oven to 100 degrees centigrade and put the fritters on a plate to keep warm.  If you are already using the oven for something else just put them all in at the end to warm up slightly.

Khitchari

Is a mix of rice and beans, and is the origins of kedgeree.  It is a great recipe to cook when you are camping which we have been this week.  Although you have to put together lots of ingredients to take with you it all cooks easily in one pan.  You do not need to pre soak the mung beans.  I try to put together a menu of food which involves taking only one pan.

225g mung beans
225g long grain brown rice
1 large onion
3 tbsp oil
4 cloves garlic
1/2 tsp turmeric
1 tsp grated fresh ginger
1 tsp ground cumin
Pinch chilli powder
1 large potato peeled and cut into chunky pieces
900ml water
1/2 tsp garam masala

Wash the beans and rice.

Chop the onion and fry in the oil in a medium sized saucepan for 5 minutes.

Add the garlic, turmeric, ginger, cumin and chilli and fry for a further 3 minutes, site from time to time.

Add the beans, rice and potatoes, fry for 2 minutes to cost in the oily spicy mixture, then stir in the water, bring to the boil. Cover, turn heat low and cook gently for 45 minutes, until the rice and beans are cooked.

Turn off the heat and add the gram masala and leave to stand for a further 10 minutes by which time all the liquid should be absorbed.

if you like your food slightly spicier you can add cardomon pods, 4 or 5 cloves or a small piece of cinnamon stick with the other spices.

Millet

I have only ever used this grain in making bread, this week I tried for the first time cooking it as part of a meal and it was delicious there were no leftovers! I found this recipe in my one of my cookery books as I wanted to cook something different with carrots. It is a Korean dish, this quantity served two adults and two young children. My husband eats a lot so it would probably serve 3-4 adults.

Millet with sesame seeds, carrot and chard

3 tbs groundnut or corn oil
250g millet grains 2tsps sesame seeds
2spring onions (white and green parts) cut into very fine rounds
85g carrots, peeled and cut into very small dice
3-4 swiss chard leaves (mine is not ready in the garden yet, so I used spinach instead) cut into fine strips
1tbs soy sauce
2tsps toasted sesame oil
1 tsp sugar

Have 475ml of boiling water ready.

Put a tbs of the oil in a small frying pan over a med high heat. When hot put in the millet, stir and fry for 3 minutes, pour in the water, cover, remove from heat and set aside for one hour.

Put the remaining oil in a saucepan over a med high heat. When hot put in sesame seeds, stir until they pop then add the spring onions and carrots, stir and fry for a further minute.  Now add chard (or spinach if using) and stir until wilted.  Add the soy sauce, sesame oil and sugar and stir well.

Add the millet with its soaking liquid and 2tbs of water, bring to the boil. Cover and turn the heat very low and cook for 40 minutes, check for liquid content I had to add a further tbs to prevent the millet catching.

Remove from the heat and leave covered for 10 minutes before serving.

Serve with this sauce:

1tbs of sesame seeds 
4tbs soy sauce
2tbs toasted sesame oil
1tsp sugar
1 spring onion, white part, chopped into very fine rounds
1/4 tsp of cayenne ( or less depending on how spicy you like your food)

Put the sesame seeds in a small frying pan and dry fry to toast the seeds.  They will pop all the over the place so use a lid.  Once toasted put in a grinder or use a mortar and pestle and lightly grind.

Put the seeds in a jug with all the other ingredients and mix well.

Pilaf

A pilaf is a rice dish.  Strictly one that is cooked in a seasoned broth with vegetables or meat.  I cook a pilaf using red rice from the Camargue region of France, it is recent hybrid developed during the 1980s.  It takes a long time to cook and has a slightly nutty flavour.

I was going to make a salad with the rice this week, but I decided it was too cold so I decided to make this instead:

Red Rice Pilaf

1 large onion thinly sliced
2 cloves of garlic thinly sliced
1/4 - 1/2 tsp chilli powder (depending on how spicy you like your food)
340g Red Rice
55g Raisins
340g Broccoli
225g Feta
Freshly ground pepper to taste.

Heat 2 tbs oil in a frying pan and fry the onion until clear.

Add garlic and chilli powder and fry for a further two minutes.

Add rice and stir in to cover with oil and onion mixture.

Add one pint of water and stir in with the raisins, season with pepper.

Cook covered on a low heat until rice is tender, this will be approx one hour, checking for water every now and again.

Chop the broccoli into small florets and peel and chop the stalk, steam until tender.

Chop the feta into small chunks.

When the rice is cook stir in the cooked brocolli and feta and serve.

This is also tasty eaten cold, if there is any left, the next day.