Asian fruit salad

As promised (a little late!) here is my take on fruit salad. Any fruit can be used however I always have a blend of pulpy and citrus fruits to give a zingy flavour.

Ingredients

1 large tin or small fresh pineapple
1 small melon
2 small tins or 6 fresh satsumas with juice
1 small tin grapefruit with juice
1 packet mixed seedless grapes
1 papaya
1 tin or 2 fresh pears
2 fresh plums
1 tin or 2 fresh peaches
orange juice to dilute
1 lemon
salt & pepper to taste

Method

• It coudn't be easier! Just cut all the fruit to bite size pieces, mix in a large bowl (add the juice of the tinned satsumas, pineapple & grapefruit) and cover with orange juice. 
• Add juice of lemon and salt & pepper to taste. The seasoning really brings out the sweetness of all the fruit and gives a gentle sweet & sour taste.
• Have chilled with lemon sorbet or ice cream of your choice.

Hope everyone has had a lovely Christmas. Now after all the indulgence I am in the mood for some light food so watch this space for tomato soup, Asian fruit salad and home made flat bread! I will also reveal my 3 course menu to celebrate the end of 2011. See you soon.

Christmas veg. . .

One of the best things about where we live is the brilliant garden we have got. And after growing all sorts of veg in the summer, we set about putting in some potatoes and turnips which we hoped would be ready for Christmas. And they are!

Festive take on the Strudel!

I love apple strudel but as I did not have any apples I decided to make a concoction from what I could find in the cupboard! The result was a gooey and yummy sweet pastry which can be had on its own or with custard, or ice cream or cream or ….

Ingredients

1 x packet ready rolled puff pastry

1 x small packet marzipan

½ cup glace fruit

½ cup chopped walnuts
4 tablespoons grated coconut
4 tablespoons chocolate sprinkles

2 tablespoons apricot jam

2 tablespoons golden syrup

1 egg beaten

2 tablespoons demerara sugar

Method

• Pre heat the oven to 200 c (fan oven 180 c)
• Roll open the puff pastry on a lightly floured surface
• Spread apricot jam then layer with rolled out marzipan, walnuts, glace fruit
• Sprinkle golden syrup on top
• Then start rolling in from the long side and stop halfway through – fold the other side in till it looks like a log
• Put egg wash on top and sides and sprinkle the top with demerara sugar
• Chill in the fridge for 15 minutes
• At this point you can either cut into thick rounds and lay flat on the baking tray or simply slash deep lines all across the pastry log and cook whole
• For whole pastry log cook in oven for max 30 minutes and up to 15 minutes for individual slices
• Once cooked let the log or pieces cool and then decorate with some icing before serving

Winter in the west Highlands. . .

I know it's got absolutely nothing to do with cooking, but this was the scene outside our house this morning when the sun came up. We haven't seen much of the sun lately, and as it was just a lovely picture I thought I'd put it up!

A few treats. . .

A day off and time to cook up a few treats for my team at work.
There are two types of shortbread - chocolate and vanilla - and mini chocolate cakes, which will hopefully keep spirits high during our busy run up to Christmas.

Friend of the stars!

I was rummaging about looking for something else when I came across these pictures of a couple of cooking holidays I have been on.
Anyone who watched the BBC's Island Parish series on the Scilly Isles will probably recognise the chap in these photographs. Tony Tobin-Dougan featured quite prominently in the series. He runs St Martin's Bakery on the island of the same name and in the winter runs bread and baking courses.
It was quite an adventure as to get to St Martin's out of tourist season involves travelling by helicopter and boat.
During my few days we made everything from Cornish pasties (of course) and pizza to croissants and all sorts of bread.
I can highly recommend it. Have a look at www.stmartinsbakery.co.uk for more details.

This was our merry band of bakers in St Martin's

Toby - master baker and TV star!

 Another birthday and this time it was off to Dorset and River Cottage to meet TV chef Hugh Fearnley-Whittinsgtall.This time it was a one day event - going out from Weymouth fishing in the morning and then back to River Cottage in the afternoon to cook - and eat - what we caught.

Hugh was a brilliant host and as well as leading a cooking demonstration he invited anyone who was interested to get involved. So, not being backward in coming forward, I headed into his kitchen and cooked a fish curry which seemed to go down well.

It was a pleasure to meet him and it was an excellent day. Have a look at what he's got coming up here: http://www.rivercottage.net/events/calendar/

Here I am in Hugh's kitchen at River Cottage.

And of course I had to buy the book (which he signed for me).http://www.rivercottage.net/events/calendar

Carrot cake with cream cheese icing

Here, after a couple of busy days, is the recipe to go with the pictures below! I used a mix of white and wholemeal flour to give it some texture and lots of carrots to make the cake moist. The cake will keep for up to three days but in our house it does not even last a day!

Preparation:  20 minutes             

Cooking: 1 hour

Tin size: 23 cm round or 20 cm square greased and lined with baking paper

Oven: 180C (fan 160C)

Ingredients

3 cups thickly grated carrots

1 plain flour

¾ cup whole meal flour

1 ½ teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

1 teaspoon cinnamon

½ teaspoon ginger

½ teaspoon mixed spice

¾ cup roughly chopped walnuts

¾ cup sultanas

3 large eggs

1 ½ cups dark brown sugar

¾ cup vegetable oil

Method

• Whisk oil and sugar together until combined.
• Add eggs one at a time beating well into the mixture.
• Sift flours, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda & spices over the wet mix and stir with a metal spoon until almost combined.
• Then add the grated carrots, sultanas and walnuts – mix well with the spoon.
• Pour into the prepared tin & bake for 60 minutes or until a skewer (inserted in the middle) comes out with clean/with little crumbs. Check the cake after 40 minutes and cover with baking paper if browning too much.
• Cool in tin, then tip out on a wire rack to cool completely. Once cooled, spread with icing of your choice.

Cream cheese icing

Take 250g full fat cheese and mix with a wooden spoon till smooth. Add 1 ½ cups sifted icing sugar, 1 ½ teaspoons of finely grated lemon rind and 1 ½ teaspoons of lemon juice and mix until well combined. Spread over the cake and chill in fridge for one hour before serving.

Notes

• If you don’t like icing then just give a dusting of icing sugar or simply eat plain – the cake is yummy eaten warm or cold.
• If you don’t like nuts, substitute with half a cup extra of sultanas.
• To make the cake more decorative, place whole walnuts on top of the cake mix before baking.

Carrot cake

Here's one I've just finished. . . recipe later!

Tarka Daal & Paratha

I have been meaning to put Tarka Daal & Paratha recipes which complement the Biryani recipe really well. Hope you enjoy making them and do let me know how you got on. These recipes are great when entertaining and the good part is the hard work is done before guests arrive so you can enjoy their company while final cooking is going on!

Tarka Daal (Lentil Curry)

Preparation: 20 minutes

Cooking:  1 ½ hours                

Serves 6

Ingredients

1 cup red lentil
1 cup yellow lentil
1 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp garlic powder (or paste)

1 tsp ginger powder (or paste)

1 large onion chopped
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup tomatoes chopped

Tarka
3-4 garlic cloves thinly sliced
1 tbsp olive oil

Preparation 

• Soak lentils overnight in cold water to allow them to swell up and soften.
• Wash thoroughly and drain before putting in a pan. Cover with cold water to come up half an inch above the lentils.
• Add onions, turmeric, garlic & ginger and stir to mix well. Bring to the boil & simmer in low heat for an hour, stirring occasionally.
• Add tomatoes and salt and simmer for another 15 minutes. By this time the whole mix will look mushy.
• Blend the mixture using a hand blender until it looks smooth & has a creamy texture.
• Now prepare the tarka.  Fry garlic in olive oil till dark brown.  Pour the daal in a serving dish and add the sizzling tarka on top.

 Notes:

• Use fresh garlic & ginger to have a lighter taste - just peel 2 cloves and press into a smooth paste and grate a small piece of ginger.
• Always put salt & tomato at the end to ensure lentils are cooked thoroughly.
• Add cumin seeds along with sliced garlic to make the spiced tarka.
• Extra garnish of chopped fresh coriander and 4-5 whole green chillies may be added on top of the tarka to give an aromatic finish.

Paratha

Bread is an essential part of Pakistani cuisine. Roti (chapatti) and Naan are the most widely eaten flat breads in Pakistan with Paratha a close favourite.  It is often made for breakfast and has variations to suit all sort of occasion.

Karachi the port city of Pakistan boasts of as many as 100 varieties of paratha!

The main difference between roti and paratha is that roti is made with flour and water whereas paratha usually incorporates ghee or oil. The dough is rolled out and brushed with ghee (clarified butter) or oil then folded again, brushed with more ghee and folded again. This is then rolled out to a circle and cooked on a flat hot surface. The heat makes the layers of dough puff up slightly, resulting in a more flaky texture.

They can be flavoured with different herbs & spices, rolled, stuffed or just eaten as an accompaniment to meat, fish and vegetable dishes and make an rich & luxurious addition/replacement to rice.

Time: 30 minutes plus preparation time 1 1/2  hours

Makes 6 large parathas (twice rolled bread)

Ingredients:

2 cups atta or plain white flour

½ cup wholemeal flour

1 cup lukewarm water

1 tsp salt

1 cup vegetable oil 

• First sift the 2 flours together, add salt and then add enough water to mix into pliable dough. You may need a little bit more than one cup of water but start with half the amount and see how the dough mixes. If dough is too wet then add some more flour.
• Keep aside for at least half an hour to rest.
• Divide the dough into 6 and roll in to smooth balls. Now roll each ball out to about 8 cm (about the thickness of a pound coin) and brush a little oil on top.
• Start folding from one side and once in the shape of a tube roll into a coil shape 
• Heat a dry non stick griddle pan or large heavy frying pan.
• Roll each coil shaped ball out to about 8 cm (round) and place on the heated pan.
• Turn over after about a minute (the cooked side will have started to go white) and while the other side is cooking brush some vegetable oil on the cooked side.
• Turn this side over to cook and brush the cooked side with some more oil.
• Press with a flat spoon to brown evenly and turn over a few times to ensure both sides are cooked.
• The paratha is ready when you cannot see any raw dough and it will turn a nice golden brown. Place on a plate and cover with a tea towel to keep moist.

Apple and yoghurt cake with sultanas

This cake was given to me by my sister Saira.  I was looking for a light cake which would satisfy my sweet tooth and also reduce the fat content a bit - no I am not a health freak but like to try lighter versions as they leave me satisfied and feeling less guilty!

Serves 6 generous slices

This version of the cake has brown sugar to give a
crunchy top

Ingredients

3 oz sugar

4 oz plain or all purpose flour

4 tbsp low fat yoghurt

3 eggs

1 tsp vanilla essence

3-4 hard apples peeled, cored and sliced (thick or thin - it's up to you)

1 small cup raisins

Method

	Pre heat the oven to 180 degrees (160 for fan oven)
	Grease and line an 8 inch loose bottom cake tin.
	Beat sugar and eggs with vanilla until the mixture becomes light and fluffy
	Add the flour and beat well.  Add yoghurt and beat for a couple of minutes till the mixture is smooth.
	Put sliced apples and raisins and mix together.  Pour the mixture into prepared tin and bake for 25 minutes or until firm to touch.
	Serve warm with vanilla ice cream or custard along with a nice hot cup of tea!

Note:  The mixture will be wet so don't worry about it.  If the mixture looks runny, just add some more flour before adding the fruit.  This cake is good warm or cold but always refrigerate once cooled and it will keep for two days.

If you want to give it a richer look sprinkle top with brown sugar then bake as above. This will give a nice shiny (and crunchy) finish to the cake as seen in the picture above.