Dinner 16.03.2011

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Last night we decided to cook using the 'Fifty Great Curries of India' book by Camellia Panjabi. I hadn't used it before, but it's a good one- the recipes seem pretty authentic and there's a good variety.
We varied the chicken Dhansak recipe, using pork instead- and butternut squash in place of pumpkin.
The recipe called for lentils, ginger, aubergines, turmeric and fresh mint, amongst a wide range of spices and created a mild and creamy curry, that was delicately flavoured and gentle.
I really love this dish! The slow cooked dish has a lot of vegetables in, but with the lentils, the result is a thick and smooth curry with very little bite.

To accompany it, I made chapatis. It was my first attempt since I made them in India, but using only three ingredients and none of the proving of traditional western bread, they are incredibly simple and turned out really well - a very good accompaniment for the curry.

We also always serve our curries with a salad of chopped tomatoes and raw white onion, and a dish of chopped banana and squeezed lemon. I don't know where this stemmed from, but I like the sweetness of the banana with the sharpness of the lemon. The banana is always soothing with a hot curry and the lemon spices up a mild one.

I realised mid meal (to great great excitement, as ever) that I could use my new found skill to make roti wraps, as appears to be the fashion right now! I'll follow this post with another with a guide to chapati making and some home mad rotis to rival the likes of Chaiwalla and Mooli's!

According to Camellia Panjabi Dhansak is a Parsee dish The word originates from dhan meaning wealth and sak, meaning vegetable. In Parsi, Dhaan mans rice. It is often eaten on Sunday's and is customarily served at funerals.

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Autumn Eats

From knitwear and layers, to red hair and Bonfire Night, autumn is easily my favourite time of the year- fleeting as it is, I love it.
It is also my favourite time of the year for food. I absolutely adore root vegetables- Beetroot, Swede, and above all, the abundance of pumpkin and squash. I am a huge fan of pumpkin and tend to put it in everything whilst it’s about.
Being an intuitive cook, I throw together soups and experiment with casseroles, both of which lend themselves to the sturdy and comforting seasonal winter produce.

Here are a few of the things I’ve been cooking the last couple of weeks:

Yam and Sweet Potato Samosas

Having Brick Lane just down the road, I love to shop in the huge Bangla Cash and Carrys. I love the aisles upon aisles of spices, lentils and curry powders, as well as the stacks of plantains and nameless exotic vegetables.
On my last shopping trip I picked up and few yams and some samosa pads. They were surprisingly easy to do- I simply boiled the yam and sweet potato and then broke down into small chunks with chopped onion, chilli and curry powder. Its also good to add a few peas.
We then spooned a small amount of the mixture onto one end of the samosa tabs, folded into triangles and shallow fried for a few minutes each, draining on kitchen paper.

Pumpkin Curry



Not content with just getting yam and sweet potato into our meal, I made a pumpkin curry to go with the Samosas. This was a typical Lou-style throw everything into the pot; curry spices, pumpkin, coconut, baby thai apple aubergine and plenty of cumin seeds and turmeric.

White Fish Baby Squash Curry with lime, coconut and ginger

You may recognise this! For more details on this curry, made with white fish, yellow thai curry paste, fish sauce and a mix of lime, ginger, garlic and spices, check out http://loulovesfood.blogspot.com/2010/11/dinner-squash-bowl-curry.html

Toasted Pumpkin Seeds


If you’re making as many pumpkin based recipes as me, you’ll also have pleny of left over seeds. When you hollow out your pumpkin, set them aside on a piece of kitchen paper to drain. Once they have dried out, spread them on some kitchen foil on a baking tray and drizzle with oil. Give them a shake and sprinkle with chilli, powdered garlic and paprika. You can also use powdered cumin or any other spice that you fancy. Toast them in the oven for about ten or fifteen minutes- but keep an eye on them as they can burn fast! They should be slightly golden but not browned, and crunchy to chew on.

Butternut Squash, Chickpea and Chorizo Soup
This recipe has been the highlight of my autumn so far! Taken from the Cooking with Pumpkin and Squash by Brian Glover, it's really rich and flavoured. I high recommend it!
This soup involves roasting the butternut squash in oil and garlic whilst frying the chorizo with onion and then adding to chopped tomoatoes and stock. Only blending half of the this mixture with the squash ensures that it stays thick and chunky. It’s a perfect recipe for the miserable weather.

Homemade Rolls




If you’re going to be making this much soup, you will be wanting fresh bad to go with it. The highlight of the season for me has been learning to make bread- granary loafs, white rolls and herb or tomato bread. I love knotting them into a variety of plaits and twists.

Chesnuts
A-ma-zing. Early in the season we went out and found our own in the woods. Its so easy to simply slash a cross in them and toast for about half an hour. They don’t need any flavouring- they’re perfect as they are.

Apple and Maple Cupcakes (with a maple glaze)
According to my sister, who I saved one back for, these are “the perfect muffin”; moist and soft and spicy. Apple and spices have a very autumnal flavour, and the maple glaze is lovely. They aren’t too sweet either, and the flour is mixed with oatmeal so they have a lovely thick texture.
The mix is a basic muffin mix, with half the flour being replaced with rolled oats. Simply tip in chopped and slightly stewed chunks of apple with a spoonful of cinnamon, a pinch of mixed spices and half a cup of maple syrup.
The glaze is made by drizzling icing sugar mixed with maple syrup over the muffins as they cool from the oven.

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I hope you enjoy what’s left of autumn! If you have a recipes or autumnal ideas you would like to share than please do leave a comment and suggest it. If you have any recipes you would like me to try, or you have tried anything pretty special yourself and would like to send the recipe or some photos, just email them to loulovesfood@mail.com

Thanks!

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Dinner 14.05.10

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Warm, cosy, the day-after-the-night-before food.
Yet again created when using left overs...








Butternut Enchilada-

Butternut squash, spinach, baked beans and onion in a tomato curry, wrapped in tortilla, topped with spinach, beans and cheese, and baked in the oven. C'est simple.

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