Coconut Thai Curry and Throwing out the Clocks

I was thinking this morning as I was rushing around and looking at the clock how wonderful it would be not to have to live by the clock.  To get up when it is light, go to bed when I am tired, eat when I am hungry and get things done in my own time.  I read about a couple who refuse to change the clocks when we move over to British Summer time, they just keep their usual routine They were retired so that made it easier, I don't think my clients would appreciate me working to a different time!  Have I said all of this before?  I seem to be repeating myself a lot lately!  I guess what I am looking for is a simpler less frazzled life, yet I continue to take on too much.  Instead of concentrating on getting the house sorted to put on the market, I decide to grow my own veg, not just a few of course, but everything from sweetcorn to squashes all from scratch. Learning basketry is wonderful, but did I have to do it now?  I have trips planned and a foraging course booked.  What is driving me?  Well I guess it is my 'live life to the full, you never know what is around the corner' attitude to life.  But it can be exhausting!

After yesterdays meltdown over the on-line training which still hasn't been sorted, a computer glitch apparently.  The assessment time should start when you press the 'take assessment' button not when you are doing the training!  It makes me nostalgic for the days of sitting in a hall when the invigilator would say 'turn your papers over, you may begin'.

As promised I have another 'Cooking the Books' recipe for you, a lovely Thai Curry, the recipe came from Deliciously Ella by Ella Woodward.  Here it is:

COCONUT THAI CURRY WITH CHICKPEAS

2 x 400 ml tins coconut milk
2 x 400 g tins tomatoes
2 - 3 cm piece of fresh ginger, peeled and grated
1 - 2 tsp chilli flakes
1 large butternut squash (1kg)
2 medium aubergines (600g)
handful of fresh coriander, finely chopped
1 x 400 g tin chickpeas drained
3 teaspoons brown miso paste
brown rice to serve
salt and pepper

*A word of warning, because this is a gluten free cookbook I assumed the miso was gf.  I have not used it before and didn't read the ingredients until after I ate the curry.  Luckily there was not enough gluten in it to affect me but if you are celiac make sure you pick up a gf version.

I also didn't weight the aubergine or squash so I had to dig out the biggest pot I had to fit it all in!

Preheat the oven to 200 C (fan 180 C)

Put the coconut milk, tinned toms, grated ginger and chilli into a large pan with a sprinkling of salt and pepper and allow it to heat until boiling.

As it heats up, peel the squash and cut both the squash and the aubergines into bite sized pieces.  Add these to the coconut and tomato in the pan.

Allow the mixture to cook for about 30 mins in the oven, at which point add the coriander and chickpeas to the pan with the miso and place the pan back in the oven for 30 mins.  It's ready when the squash is soft.

Serve with brown rice.

It can be frozen, leave out the chickpeas if you don't like them and replace any other veg with cauliflower etc if you prefer.

It is a lovely healthy recipe but even though I used a reduced fat coconut milk I'm not sure that it will help with my goal to shed the weight I gained after my various operations.  I eat very healthy food, but they are not always low fat/low calorie.  Snacking on dried fruits and nuts needs to be done in moderation, a word that doesn't apply to anything I do!!

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend, we have glorious weather here so I am bailing out the greenhouse (it floods every year) in preparation for the tomatoes and cucumber.  It was lovely to be out in the fresh air, listening to the birds singing and spotting first signs of life on my cherry trees, I love seeing them burst into flower.

I found these little beauties hiding under a tree

I will leave you with a photo of my veg plot....... no I haven't lost the plot :).  My son visited with his dogs last weekend.  They spend all their time careering around my garden with total disregard for flower beds and veg plots.  I had visions of my newly growing spinach being squashed so I took drastic action.  I have decided that it would be a good cat deterrent as well so have left them there for now.  Growing my own garden chairs :)

Welcome to Undomestic Diva and Lynda :)

Chickpea xx

Cooking the Books - Honestly Healthy

The cold that has been going around for weeks has caught up with me.  I felt really rough yesterday at work and went to bed at 8 o'clock last night.  I'm feeling a bit better today but not much like cooking, so the meal I had planned to make from this book will have to wait until another day.  So this is not technically cooking the books as there is no cooking involved.   I wanted something really simple and healthy so I chose to make this nut and berry layered breakfast.  I think it would be nice anytime of day, I'm going to have mine for lunch to give me a boost at work.  I made it with Greek yoghurt, but if you are a vegan you can make it with raw vanilla cashew cream.  I also just used blueberries.  I eat a lot of nuts and seeds so had the ingredients in my store cupboard.  You could adapt it to your own tastes.

Here's the recipe:

Serves 2 - 4

100g (3 1/2 oz/1 cup) raw walnuts
100g (3 1/2 oz/scant 2/3 cups) raw almonds
50g (2 oz/scant 1/3 cup) raw pumpkin seeds
50g (2 oz//scant 1/3 cup) raw sunflower seeds
50g ((2oz/1/3 cup) raw flax seeds
1 large punnet of blueberries
1 large punnet of raspberries
1 quantity of raw vanilla cashew cream


Soak all the nuts and seeds for 30 minutes to 1 hour and drain.  Then tip them into a food processor and pulse briefly - just enough to coarsely chop, but still retain their wonderful crunchy texture.

To serve, place a layer of berries in the bottom of a glass, place a layer of nut mix on top, and spoon over a layer of the cashew cream (or yoghurt).  Repeat the layers and decorate with the berries.



Raw Vanilla Cashew Cream

100g (3 1/2 oz/2/3 cup) raw cashews, soaked for 1 hour and drained
60 - 125 ml (2 1/2 - 4fl oz/1/4 1/2 cup) purified or filtered water
1 tsp vanilla extract.


Add 60ml of the water and blend, adding more water as necessary to make a smooth cream, then add the vanilla extract and blend for a few more seconds.

I think it looks lovely in the jars, I would even serve them like this as a dessert for a supper for friends.  It would be a little different everyone opening their jars.

The book is Honestly Healthy - Eat with your body in mind, the alkaline way.  It is written by Natasha Corrett and Vicki Edgson, and is full of 'my sort of food' lots of gluten free, veggie/vegan healthy recipes.

Hopefully I will be back to in the kitchen cooking 'proper' meals again soon.

Chickpea xx

Cooking the Books - Yotam Ottolenghi

Yotam first came to my attention with his The New Vegetarian column in the Guardian.  I used to cut out and keep the delicious, exotic sounding recipes.  Later he had a series on the television where he travelled around the Mediterranean looking at the local food. I was hooked.   In this book he has brought together many of the recipes from the column, they are all vegetarian and reflect his upbringing in Israel, and Sami Tamimi who he described as the other creative force in the company who grew up in Palastine.  He is not a vegetarian so his other books include meat and fish.

I have to  confess that despite saving the recipes over the years I have never cooked any of them.  It is the kind of food I drool over but think, well the bearded one wouldn't eat any of them so is it worth the effort.  Setting the goal of 'Cooking the Books' prodded me into action and I chose Leek fritters as I had leeks in my veg box this week.  It is a lot of ingredients but I actually had most of them already, and it is a bit of a faff, but not too difficult skill wise.  You don't have to make the sauce, a squirt of lemon or lime juice will suffice .  Here's the recipe:


LEEK FRITTERS

Serves 4

3 leeks (450g in total, trimmed weight)
5 shallots finely chopped
150 ml olive oil
1 fresh red chilli, deseeded and sliced
25 g parsley (leaves and fine stalks) finely chopped
3/4 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp ground turmeric
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 free-range egg white
120 g self-raising flour ( I used gluten free)
1 tbsp baking powder
1 free-range egg
150 ml milk
55g unsalted butter melted.

SAUCE

100g Greek yoghurt
100g soured cream
2 garlic cloves crushed 
2 tbsp lemon juice
3 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp salt
20g parsley leaves chopped
30g coriander leaves chopped

Start by making the sauce.  Blitz all the ingredients together in a food processor until a uniform green.  Set aside for later.

Cut the leeks into 2 cm thick slices, rinse and drain dry.  Saute the leeks and shallots in a pan with half the oil on a medium heat for about 15 mins, or until soft.  Transfer to a large bowl and add the chilli, parsley, spices, sugar and salt.  Allow to cool down.

Whisk the egg white to soft peaks and fold it into the vegetables.  In another bowl mix together the flour, baking powder, whole egg, milk and butter to form a batter.  Gently mix it into the egg white and vegetable mixture.

Put 2 tablespoons of the remaining oil in a large frying pan and place over a medium heat.  Spoon about half of the vegetable mixture into the pan to make four large fritters.  Fry them for 2 - 3 mins on each side, or until golden and crisp.  Remove to kitchen paper and keep warm.  Continue making the fritters, adding more oil as needed.  You should end up with about eight large fritters.  Serve warm with the sauce on the side or drizzle over.  

So were they worth it?  Yes!  I really enjoyed them, they were very light and tasty and I like the sauce with them, but they would have been fine without.  Would I make them again?  Yes I would,  they would make a really nice supper for friends served with a green salad. I did use an awful lot of dishes though!  I am going to freeze the extra fritters to see if they will be as nice re-cooked from frozen.

I went out for a walk this morning before work as part of my walking 10 thousand steps a day challenge.  It was pouring with rain and I did look a sight with my waterproofs on, it is good to get moving, sadly it isn't helping me sleep any better.

Have any of you used Greenmetropolis, an on line site where you can sell and buy used books?  I have sold and bought many books on there and this morning went on to order a book I had seen on Shrimpton and Perfect blog.  I was really saddened to see that it has closed down.  Not only was it a good way to recycle books but I also 'met' a lot of lovely people on there.

Welcome to new blogger followers Jackie and Coco Jayne,  and new Bloglovin followers Anna and Sally :)

Chickpea xx

Cooking the Books, Decluttering and Chitting

This week I have been sorting out the bookshelves and have actually put some cookery books aside to take to the charity shop.  I had to be really strict with myself as I am a terrible hoarder and always keep things 'just in case I need them'  which of course I never do.  So far I have three carrier bags of old books and c.d.s, pretty good for me.  I will have to take them soon before I change my mind.  The cookery books I have left will now have to prove their worth.  It's funny how some of us are hoarders while others get rid of things without a moments thought.

This weeks cooking the books challenge had me looking for a recipe to use up 3 huge onions from the veg box.  I decided on a Jamie Oliver recipe, it is really easy and cheap.

The Ultimate Onion Soup

Serves 4

1.1kg/2 1/2lb onion peeled and sliced
a handful of fresh thyme, leaves picked (I used dried)
6 cloves garlic, peeled and finely sliced
1 bay leaf
olive oil
a good knob of butter
1.3 litres/ 2 1/2 pints stock
salt and pepper
1 baguette or ciabatta
115g/4 oz Gruyere, or other melting cheese.


In a thick bottomed non-stick pan, slowly fry all the onions with the thyme, garlic and bay leaf in a good drizzle of olive oil and the butter.  Place a lid on the pan and slowly cook them for about 15 mins, without colouring, stirring occasionally so the onions don't catch on the bottom.  The slower you can cook them the better.  Then remove the lid, turn up the heat and colour the onions until they are light golden.  Add the stock, turn down and simmer for 20 minutes.  Serve with the cheese on toast, my gluten free bread is a sad replacement for ciabatta, but it still tasted good, warming and filling.  Perfect winter food.

I also picked up some seed potatoes, usually I buy them when they are ready to plant but this year I thought I would have a go at chitting my own.  I didn't have enough egg boxes so I used seed trays. I'm hoping this is suitable.  I'm trying to be a 'proper' gardener, but don't really have much of an idea of what to do, so any tips would be appreciated.  They are 1st earlies Annabelle and Foremost.

Chickpea xx

Cooking the Books

I have a huge amount of cookery books that sit on the shelves year after year.  This year I have set myself the challenge of using them more, otherwise there really is no point in having them take up shelf space.  If they are to survive the big de-clutter (yes yet another challenge I have set myself) then they have to show that they are worth keeping and will be used.  I have started with HFW Veg book which is sort of cheating as it is one of my favourites and wouldn't be sacrificed to the clutter cull anyway.  Next week I will try harder and choose one that hasn't been used for years.  Do you have cookery books that haven't been opened for ages? I know some other bloggers have set themselves this challenge.  How are you getting on?

The recipe I chose was a curried bubble and squeak which sounded perfect for an after work simple warming supper.  I prepared the veg before I went to work so when I got home all I had to do was stick them in a frying pan.  It was delicious and reminded me a bit of sag aloo, it was also a good way to use up the spring greens I had in the veg box.  So here is the recipe:

CURRIED BUBBLE AND SQUEAK

2 - 4 tablespoons rapeseed or sunflower oil
1 onion chopped
1 garlic clove
1 heaped tsp curry powder or paste
About 400g cold, cooked potatoes in rough chunks
About 200g of cold, cooked cabbage, greens, kale or brussels sprouts shredded or chopped ( I used more than this to use it all up)
Salt and pepper

Heat 2 tbls oil in a large, non stick frying pan over a medium heat.  Add the onion and fry for 6 - 7 mins, until soft and just starting to colour.  Add the garlic and curry powder or paste and cook for another 2 minutes.

Add the potato chunks and cook for a few minutes, stirring often, until they start to colour.  You may want to ad a little more oil at this stage and you'll probably need to use the edge of a spatula to scrape up some of the lovely crusty bits from the bottom of the pan.  Add the greens and cook, stirring for a further 2 - 3 mins.

Season with salt and pepper and serve straight away, topping each portion with a poached egg if you like.

I hope you are all surviving the storms, we haven't had any snow here but its been blowing a hooley.  I am feeling better but don't have much energy and the bearded one has come down with it now.  I'll leave you with a little sign of spring which I spotted in the garden, it really cheered me up knowing that spring is on it's way.

Stay warm and safe,

Chickpea xx