Chickpea, Butternut Squash & Lemongrass Curry

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The past week I have been a little busy. Firstly getting back into the swing of work after all

that time off over Christmas, and secondly trying out lots of new savoury, vegetable packed dishes (along with a new cake recipe which is baking as I type). This inspiration behind this recipe wass from citrus&candy but as I couldn't find any kaffir limes and was worried about the suggested amount of chilli I decided to make it my own. I have to say the over all result was super tasty and I kind of surprised myself, it tasted like a really authentic Thai curry and was devoured in minutes! Its safe to say this recipe is definitely going on our dinner rotation list.

Serves 2
You will need-
Curry paste

• 1 large shallot, peeled and cut into chunks
• 2 cloves garlic, peeled
• 3 dried chillis- soak them in hot water to soften them a little then drain and roughly chop
• 1 large red chilli, deseeded and roughly chopped
• 1 inch of fresh ginger peeled and sliced
• 1/2 lemongrass with the lower bulb removed, sliced
• Drizzle of oil, I used rapeseed
• Juice of 1/2 a lime

Curry

• 1/2 can coconut milk (100ml) I used reduced fat. (Save the rest for a recipe coming in a few days)
• 125ml vegetable stock
• 1/2 can of chickpeas (100ml), drained and rinsed
• 1/2 a small butternut squash, peeled and cubed (Save the other half along with the coconut milk)
• 75g green beans, ends cut off and chopped in half
• 1/2 tbsp dark brown sugar
• Fresh lime juice to taste
• A few drops of fish sauce to taste
• Coriander to garnish
• Cooked basmati rice (see Delia for how to cook the perfect rice)

Place all the ingredients from the paste list into a food processor or pestle and mortar and mix until it turns into a thick paste. My food processor didn't do the greatest job of it so mine was a little chunkier but still gave great results.

Place a wok or a large saucepan over a medium high heat and then heat 1/2 tbsp of oil for a couple of minutes. Next add the paste ingredients and fry until it all gets fragrant but be careful not to let it burn. Then add the coconut milk and stock and bring to the boil. Once its boiling reduce it down to a low simmer and add the butternut squash and chickpeas then after 10 minutes add the beans and cook until the vegetables are cooked.


When its almost ready season with the sugar and fish sauce to your taste and serve over the rice.

Enjoy

Review- Bibimbap House, Cambridge

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Beef Bibimbap

 Last night we went and ate a Korean restaurant on Mill Road after finding out about it on twitter (thanks Nora) I had never eaten Korean before so I didn't have anything to compare it to but I have to say that if that is the benchmark then I am really excited about trying more! The owner is a nutritionalist and focuses on different types of bibimbap with the menu consisting of only around 10 dishes. This is right up my street as I can't stand restaurants that have page upon page of dishes often suggesting that the majority of what you eat is frozen. Bibimbap translates to mixed meal and consists of various vegetables, strips of meat and rice. The whole thing comes in a big stone bowl which is heated up and continues to cook everything slightly whilst you eat. This means that you end up with lovely crispy bits on the bottom of the bowl. When you receive the bowl of food you are meant to mix everything up together before digging in. I ended up going for the Bulgogi with Japchae noodles after being recommended it by Nora. This is a bowl of marinated strips of beef, sweet potato noodles, mixed vegetables and rice. 


To accompany the main dish you also get a couple of side dishes. We had kimchi & a cold mashed potato dish and also a bowl of miso soup. They were the perfect accompaniment to the hot bibimbap.


The other mention I have to make is about the accompanying sauces, they have their own home made soy sauce which is so much better than others I have tried before. Then there are the two chilli sauces, one hot and one sweet which were out of this world (I have a slight chilli sauce addiction at the moment)


I do also have to say that the staff and owner of the restaurant were so friendly and welcoming even down to little things like offering us tap water where most restaurants frown upon it a little when you ask and also the free green tea refills which weren't mentioned on the menu.


The restaurant is also really well priced working out at just over £10 p/head. Its safe to say that I am already planning my next visit!

Bulgogi with Japchae noodles

Bibimbap House
60 Mill Road
Cambridge

Blueberry Crumble Muffins

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This is the third in my mini series of Ottolenghi recipes. Its a fantastic take on blueberry muffins with an irresistible crumble topping. It would be a nice idea to make the crumble with ground up oats which I will try out next time. I halved the original recipe and I'm glad I did because I ended up with 12 muffins and a mini loaf from the mixture even though the regular recipe states that it will make 10-12 muffins. I have a regular sized muffin tin so I'm not quite sure what happened there. The recipe I have included is the halved recipe but of course if you wanted to make the regular batch you could easily double this recipe. 

You will need-

Crumble

• 75g plain flour
• 25g caster sugar
• 50g cold unsalted butter, cubed

Place all the ingredients into a food processor and mix for a couple of seconds until you get breadcrumb texture. Be sure that there aren't any lumps of butter left. You could of course use your hands instead and rub the butter into the flour and sugar but I'm just a little lazy.

I ended up with more crumble than I needed so I froze the rest for next time although you could work the mixture into a dough and then make biscuits from it.

Muffins

• 270g plain flour
• 1 & 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 free range egg
• 170g caster sugar
• 70g melted unsalted butter, cooled slightly
• 190ml milk
• Grated zest of 1/2 lemon
• 1/2 Granny Smith apple diced into 1cm cubes
• 100g blueberries plus extra for the topping

Begin by preheating your oven to 170C and then line your muffin tin with cases.

In a large bowl lightly whisk the egg with the sugar & melted butter followed by the milk & lemon zest then fold in the fruit. Next sift the flour, baking powder and salt into the mixture and fold everything in together really gently. Like the previous muffin recipe, you want it to still be lumpy.

Spoon the mixture to the top of each case and then cover the tops with plenty of the crumble mix. Pop a couple of spare blueberries on top of each muffin and then bake for 30-35 minutes. A skewer should come out clean when inserted to the middle.

Once cooked cool on a wire rack and then dig in!

Enjoy x

January Explorer Magazine

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My newest recipe is in the January issue of Explorer Magazine. If you are in the Cambridgeshire area keep an eye out for it. It is ideal for starting off your New Year diet or detox.

Pistachio & Ginger Biscotti

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Is it just me or is the combination in these biscotti perfect? Lightly salty pistachios and sweet stem ginger. This is the 2nd recipe from my Ottolenghi baking marathon the other day and there are only a couple of these biscotti left (I have been trying to practice restraint!)

Makes 25

You will need-

• 80g unsalted butter
• 110g caster sugar
• 2 free range eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 tbsp brandy - I didn't have any so I replaced it with a tbsp of the syrup the ginger was in.
• Zest of 1 & 1/2 oranges
• 150g plain flour plus a little more for dusting
• 1/2 tsp ground ginger
• 1/4 tsp salt - leave out if using salted pistachios
• 80g shelled pistachio
• 60g drained and roughly chopped stem ginger in syrup

To begin line your baking tray with greaseproof paper and dust it lightly with some flour. Cream together the butter and sugar using a mixer or some elbow grease until it turns pale and is light. Slowly add the eggs and mix until incorporated. Next stir in the the brandy (or syrup) and orange zest then the flour, ground ginger & salt if using. Finally fold in the stem ginger & pistachios.

Spoon the mixture onto the baking tray and place it in the fridge for at least 30 minutes. This will give it a chance to firm up a little and make it a bit easier for you to shape.

When the 30 minutes are almost up pre-heat the oven to 170C. Shape the dough with your hands into a log. It should be around 25cm long. It will spread out lots during baking so don't worry about it being perfect. I freaked out slightly when I saw how much it had spread but if it hadn't of it wouldn't of been the tradition biscotti shape. Bake it for 20minutes and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. I actually left mine overnight  once it had cooled and then did the 2nd bake in the morning.

Once the log has cooled preheat your oven to 130C then using a serrated knife cut the biscotti into 1cm thick slices. Lay them out on the baking tray and bake for around 40cm. They should be nice and crisp and golden. Cool them on a wire rack and store in an airtight box.

Enjoy x

My Top 5 blog recipes of 2011

Pin It So I thought I would take inspiration from some of the other food blogs I read and do a round up of my top 5 recipes of 2011. 2011 was a great year for me and marked the birth of this blog. I hope that it just keeps on growing and that I keep on being inspired with new recipes. 

1. Pad See Ew - This has become one of our staple meals. I love mixing it up depending on what vegetables we have in the house.

2. Pesto Pull Apart Bread - The most moorish thing I have ever eaten and bound to impress when made for friends and family. Honorable mention also goes to Sundried Tomato, Garlic, Pine Nut & Pecorino Pull Apart bread, a bit of a mouthful in more than one sense!

3. Flourless Chocolate Cake - This has also become a bit of a staple recipe for when a chocolate cake is needed. It was also a bit of a star of the Mill Road Winter Fair.

4. Vegetarian Pho - The perfect meal for when you're feeling a little under the weather, it is sure to perk you up instantly. Another really versatile meal so you can make it work with a lot of different things you may have in your kitchen.

5. Self Frosting Nutella Cupcakes - A complete indulgence but they did prove to be very popular on the blog. A smaller photo as this was back when I was still using my phone to take all the photos.

Wishing you all a very Happy New Year and a prosperous 2012. Thank you for reading and for all the support!

Plum, Marzipan & Cinnamon Muffins

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Happy New Year everyone! I thought I would kick off the year with 3 recipes from the newest cookbook in my collection (thanks Mr Igs) I have been a big fan of Ottolenghi for a long time now and I can't quite believe it has taken this long for me to get 'The Cookbook'. A few days ago I decided to have a bit of a baking marathon. This recipe was the first one that jumped out at me, I have never thought to add grated marzipan to a muffin/cake before but its something I will definitely be doing from now on. You could always leave out the plum compote, they're hardly in season right now but it does add a little special touch to these muffins. I ended up halving the recipe when I made it as I didn't want to end up with too many muffins but the recipe below is the original recipe.

Makes 10-12

You will need-

• 480g plain flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• Pinch of salt
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 200g caster sugar
• 2 free range eggs
• 110g unsalted butter, melted & cooled slightly
• 280ml milk
• Zest of 2 oranges
• 120g marzipan
• Icing sugar for dusting

Plum Compote

• 700g ripe red plums- stoned & cut into quaters
• 60g caster sugar
• 1 cinnamon stick

Begin by making the compote. Pre-heat the oven to 170C and then mix together the plums, sugar & cinnamon in a shallow baking dish and bake for 10 to 20 minutes. The plums should be soft & the skins should start coming away from the flesh. Once they're ready leave them to one side to cool completely. When the mixture cooled I blitzed the compote in a food blender very briefly just to break it down a little more.

In a large bowl whisk together the sugar & eggs then add the melted butter and milk and stir to combine it all together. Grate the marzipan and then add it to the mixture along with the zest of the oranges and 80g of the compote.


Now sieve the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, cinnamon & salt into the mixture and then fold it gently into the mixture. Do it till its just combined, you want it to still have some lumps in it.


Spoon the mixture into a lined muffin tin- make sure you fill them up all the way to the top, then bake for 25-30 minutes. To check if they're cooked insert a skewer in to the centre of the muffin. It will come out clean when ready.

Place the muffins on a wire rack to cool completely. To serve, dust the muffins with icing sugar and spoon a dollop of compote on top then dig in. Trust me, these muffins won't last very long in your house! They are absolutely perfect for breakfast.

Enjoy x


I am linking this post up to Sweet at Sugar Cookies Sweets for a Saturday #50. Thanks to Lisa for the invite.