German Potato Egg and Onion creamy bake

I've cooked this many many times over the years, since I first ate and learned it from my Aunt in Germany when I lived with her and my Uncle during my university year abroad.

It's good solid, tasty, traditional food, and I love it, but for a couple of reasons I hadn't made it in a while.

1) the kids only recently really got into actual eggs, like the kind of eggs that LOOK like eggs.

2) Maggi is owned by Nestle, and we don't buy from baby-killers.

Anyway, I was really craving this, and I thought I'd give it a go.

Ingredients needed:

• about a kilo of white potatoes 
• 6 eggs
• 2 - 3 onions
• 300ml cream
• an indecent amount of butter
• something to replace Maggi seasoning - Kikkoman soy sauce along with a splash of worcestershire or hendersons will work, and since you probably don't know what it's supposed to taste like, it won't matter too much!

Method:

Start off by hard boiling the eggs (put in pan, cover with water, boil for 8 - 10 minutes.)

Slice the potatoes into half thick centimetre rounds.  I like to microwave them for around 10 minutes, but you can also boil them in a pan until just done.

Slice the onion into rings and fry slowly in a mix of butter and ghee or oil until soft and a little browned.  Add a little salt near the end.

Now you are ready to assemble.

Butter a dish that will go in the oven, I have a shallow cast iron round pan from Aldi which is a dupe of a popular Le Creuset casserole but honestly, anything will do!

Make a layer of the cooked potato circles using around a half of them.  Salt and pepper the layer.

Now add the cooked, buttery slightly salted onions and spread them over the potatoes.

Now add the hard boiled eggs, sliced into discs also. Spread out in a layer and salt and pepper this layer too.

Finally add the remaining potatoes, season with salt and pepper and dot with more butter.

Now, open the cream, and carefully add 2 - 3 tablespoons of the not-Maggi seasoning, until the cream looks an odd grey/brown and tastes decidedly SAVOURY.

Pour the whole tub gently over the layers, making sure you cover every bit.

Now pop it in an oven for about 40 mins.  You can put a lid on for the first 10-15 minutes, but then uncover it so it dries slightly and goes wonderfully brown.

Serve with green beans or a salad or any other green vegetable you feel like.

Ebly with gammon and cream

 

Our recent quick family weekend in Calais reminded me of how much we like Ebly, which is a part-cooked whole wheat berry and they are delicious, quick cooking and full of fibre and very nutritious.

Serves 4

225g ebly

4 gammon steaks - 150 - 200g each 

2 - 3 shallots

3 cloves garlic

100ml white wine (optional)

1tsp stock powder

1 tsp tarragon

750ml water

1 tsp Dijon mustard

Green beans to serve.

Fry the gammon steaks until browned. Peel, halve and slice shallots and peel and mince garlic.

Remove gammon once browned and golden in places and set aside to cool slightly. Once cool, chop into bite-size pieces.

Add shallots and then garlic to pan, adding ghee, butter or oil to fry.

Fry gently until soft.  Add ebly to pan and stir to coat.  Add wine if using and simmer until almost absorbed.

Add stock powder, tarragon and mustard and stir and mix well.

Then add water and stir well. Bring to boil again and simmer for 10 - 12 mins.

Test a grain, it should feel soft all the way through.

Take off the heat and finish by stirring through 100 -150ml cream. 

Serve with steamed green beans.

Fen-style garlic slow braised aubergines with hand smashed noodles

Inspired by a naughty lunch delivered to my work place from Fen noodles in Old Spitalfield Market, I aspired to recreate their glorious and unctuous garlic aubergine and hand pulled noodles.  One of my vegan pals had really loved it and it was their birthday this week, so I thought I'd have a go at home and bring some in for them.

Serves 4 - 6

Ingredients:

3 to 4 medium aubergines (yes, it's a lot - it shrinks down)

1 to 2 TABLESPOONS of finely chopped garlic (yes, it's a lot, it is honestly not overpowering

1 teaspoon salt (or more to taste)

1 tablespoon lao gan ma crispy chilli oil or chilli bean paste

crushed chillies (optional) 

2-3 tablespoons soy sauce

2 tablespoons Chinese black vinegar, or balsamic vinegar, or rice vinegar with dumpling dipping sauce mixed

2 tablespoons ground nut oil (or more as needed)

some spring onions, finely sliced, divided into white and green parts.

350 - 500g dried lasagne sheets 

Side note about garlic:  I usually buy peeled garlic cloves in bulk from Costco or Booker and then chop half in a food chopper/processor and freeze it and I freeze the unchopped garlic separately also.  If you can be bothered, you can freeze the chopped garlic in ice cube trays initially and then pop them out into bags, but I can't usually be bothered and I don't like the garlic residue on the ice cube trays (yes, I've tried keeping some separate just for this purpose but that really only works if you live alone as no-one in a family or house share listens to these sorts of rules) and I quite like smashing up the frozen lumps of chopped garlic to get however much I need.  It's cathartic.

I start by cubing up the aubergine and heating the oil and frying the aubergine at quite a high heat.  Unless you have a catering size wok, you may need to do this in batches until the cubes are nicely browned on all sides and the skins look browner rather than purple.

Once they all fit in the wok at once, add the garlic, the white part of the spring onion and the salt. and then continue to stir and toss so that the garlic doesn't catch or burn.  Once the garlic is soft, and the aubergine is starting to collapse on itself, add the chilli paste (either lao gan ma or chilli bean paste - I've seen both in supermarkets) and stir well, coating all the cubes with the shiny, red oil with its deliciously savoury chilli or soybean and chilli bits.  You may wish to add some crushed chillies at this point, it rather depends on your tolerance and the fierceness of your chilli paste.

Once it is all nicely mixed, add the soy sauce and vinegar, pouring around the edge and tossing it all well.  

Now, reduce the heat and let the aubergine cook down.

Now for the carb element.  I really liked the hand pulled noodles we had from Fen.  I do not, however, have the time or energy - or even inclination on a weekday - to make hand pulled noodles myself, but I really wanted to get that chewy, irregular pasta/noodle mouthfeel.  Inspiration struck me quite literally when a box of dried lasagne sheets fell out of the larder onto me! I got the kids to break the sheets up into irregular pieces and then I cooked the pieces in plenty of salted water just as I would any other pasta shape.

Once they were done - around 11 mins - I used a slotted scoop and tongs to lift them out of the water and drop them straight into the aubergine (once that was done).  I mixed them all together and scattered the green part of the spring onions on top and served!  If I had needed to, I could have used some of the noodle cooking water to lubricate the dish, but it wasn't needed this time.

Now, it wasn't anywhere near as FIERCELY spicy as the Fen noodles one, but we all loved it, and my pal was over the moon (despite the moderated chilli levels) and said it was an amazing birthday gift!

Traybaked chicken with clementines and courgettes

Traybaked chicken with clementines and courgettes

As part of my quest to find interesting and delicious new meals for the family, I stumbled upon an interesting sounding recipe on the M&S app. It, however, featured fennel, of which I am not a huge fan following overloading via Abel and Cole boxes over the years.  I decided to use celery and courgette instead to up the veggie quotient and I'm happy to say it was a great success.  Ok, Papa still pulled a face, but the kids had no such qualms.  

The M&S app recipe was written TERRIBLY and I've made enough tweaks to say that I've made this my own, so here goes:

1 pack of chicken thighs (6 - 8 thighs in the pack)

3 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp Dijon mustard

4-6 clementines or other small peelie oranges

1 -2 red onions

half a head of celery

2-4 courgettes

4-6 (or more) unpeeled garlic cloves

rosemary or thyme (optional)

a handful or a cupful of frozen peas (optional)

100ml chicken or veg stock (I use the granules in a tub)

Heat the oven to 190 degrees/gas 5

Juice 3 of the clementines and mix with the oil and mustard in a large glass bowl.

Add the chicken thighs and mix well with salt and pepper and leave to marinate for 30 mins if you can spare the time.

While this sits, cut the onions into half moons, and roughly chop the celery and the courgettes. Reserve the celery leaves (also chopped) for a garnish.

Spread on a roasting tray with some rosemary or thyme and the unpeeled garlic cloves.

Add the chicken and marinade on top and then add the stock.

Cook for 45 mins until chicken is fully cooked.

If using the peas, add them to the tray and cook through for another 3 mins.

While the chicken is cooking, slice the remaining clementine(s) and char onto a griddle pan for around a minute until they caramelise.

Use to garnish along with the reserved celery leaves.

Serve with airfried baby potatoes - I like to dress a pack of baby potatoes with salt, pepper, paprika, dried rosemary, olive oil and lime juice and then airfry for 20 mins.
 

Sone's Tandoori lamb chops and Nate's tasty rice

 

As we enter the barbecue season, some supermarkets put together meat packs which can be great value, and Papa managed to score an amazing value lamb pack which happened to include some beautiful lamb chops.  I decided to use my amazing sister (in-law)'s way of tandoorifying food, and so I marinaded the chops in the early afternoon and then cooked them in just a few minutes on the Ninja Max grill.  They were astounding!  I paired them with some steamed broccoli and some tasty buttery pilau style rice using the secret tip imparted by Big'Un's amazing boyfriend, Nate.

As I'm brown, I often get asked how to tandoori things, and I've never really done much this way, so never been able to suggest much other than "buy some tandoori powder?" so I'm really pleased to be able to share this.  I recall I used to avoid tandoori because of the bad colourings used, but it's now pretty easy to find packets of tandoori powder that are safe. Do check the labels!

To serve 4-5 people, you will need:

6-8 lamb chops or cutlets

*about 150g plain yoghurt

*3 tbsp tandoori powder

*salt, pepper

*1 tbsp chaat masala

*about half a cup of onion/garlic/ginger paste (I used 2 blocks of (defrosted) frozen ginger garlic paste, and one small bitzed up onion) 

*a drizzle of oil

2 cups rice

1tsp ghee/butter/vegetable oil

3 tsps Kucharek Polish seasoning

a small piece of cinnamon

3 cardomom pods

1 bayleaf

broccoli

- optional to serve - Costco Jalapeno hummus

To make this:

First, marinate the lamb.  I did this around 4pm and I grilled them at about 6pm.  You can do it for longer or for as little as 30 mins.  Mix all the starred ingredients (these are Sonia's amazing flavour combinations) together and then add the lamb and mix and coat well.  Cover and leave.

When you are 30 mins away from your meal time, heat the ghee (or inferior alternative) in a large saucepan and add the spices (bayleaf, cardamom and cinnamon.) After a few minutes, they will start to release a lovely fragrance.  Now add the rice, and the Polish seasoning, (this is the secret Nate gave me) and stir to coat well.  

A minute later you can add the water, you will need 2 and a half cups of water for this amount (2 cups) of good quality basmati rice. Cover and bring to the boil.  As soon as it boils, turn the flame down as far as possible and let it simmer for 15 minutes.  You know the drill, as soon as the timer goes off, switch off the hob, and then set another timer for 5 minutes and DO NOT TOUCH THE PAN.  When the timer goes off again, then you can lift the lid and gently fluff the rice with a fork.

Back to the lamb.  While the rice is simmering, heat up your grill.  You can use a griddle pan, or a barbecue, or the grill setting of a gas or electric oven, but I used the Ninja Grill Max (which is known as the XL in American and some other countries.)

I heated the grill with the grill plate in to high, and then added the chops well spaced.  I had to cook them in 2 batches , but they didn't take long, so it really wasn't a problem.  I used tongs to lift them out of the marinade and I made sure I didn't drip the marinade all over the  place.  I closed the grill and left it alone for about 4 - 5 minutes to sear and stripe.  Then I turned the chops and closed the lid again.  After another 4-7 minutes depending on thickness of chop and size, they were all charred and striped and really delicious.  

I served the chops with some steamed broccoli, and the rice, and some amazing jalapeno hummus I found in Costco!  If you like some yoghurt and pickles or chutneys could also be nice on the side, or a crisp salad if that's more your thing.  

Air fryer Buffalo wings, with (mild) blue cheese sauce

During lockdown, I jumped on the airfryer bandwagon, and now I seem to have ended up with a Ninja Foodi and a Ninja Grill Max.  They do honestly make some things so crispy delicious and they are much easier to clean up than pots and pans, and they do cook with a LOT less oil or fat.

One of the things everyone raves about is the old Buffalo wings, so here's my version (with some help from Godpapa) which is in part from this BBC Good Food one, and in part from a lot of reading around various air fryer online communities and working out what we liked best.

Buffalo Wings

1 pack of chicken wings

a few tablespoons of self raising flour, or cornflour with gluten free baking powder added.

2 tablespoons of avocado oil

salt and pepper

50g butter

5 tablespoons hot sauce (I prefer Frank's Buffalo Wings Sauce)

1 tablespoon red or white wine vinegar

1) split wings into drums and flats

2) pat dry

3) lightly oil (avocado oil)

4) toss in seasoned SR flour

5) air fry for 20-35 minutes at 200C, stirring occasionally

6) While the chicken is cooking, melt the butter in a pan, and add the vinegar and hot sauce. Stir to emulsify. When mixed, put in the bottom of a large bowl or serving dish.

7) put hot chicken directly into bowl/dish of sauce, toss gently to coat.

Mild blue cheese sauce

Crumble about an ounce of blue cheese into a small dish.  Add 3 tablespoons of plain set yoghurt, 2 tablespoons of soured cream, 1 teaspoon of celery salt and half a teaspoon of paprika.  Stir well

to mix and blend and evenly spread the cheese through the sauce.  

Serve the chicken with the sauce, some potato wedges and some sticks of celery - and plenty of napkins!

Paneer and sweetcorn curry

I haven't made this dish in a while and so I was looking through my blog to refresh my memory as to how I made it, and I was horrified to find I hadn't blogged it ever yet!

As Big'Un is at Uni and sometimes turns to Mama's blog to find the recipes for the dishes she misses, I thought I'd better get it blogged.  Turns out Middl'Un LOVED the dish and talked about needing me to "post it to her" when *she* goes to Uni, so I thought even MORE reason to get it written down! (So that she can cook it so I don't have to explain why I won't be able to post it...)

Ingredients:

• one pack of paneer (around 225-250g)
• 1 teaspoon of cumin seeds
• one small onion, finely chopped
• 3-4 cloves of garlic, sliced
• half a tin of chopped tomatoes
• 250g sweetcorn (I use frozen, but tinned would also be fine)
• pinch of turmeric if wished 
• salt to taste
• ground black pepper to taste

Method:

Cut the paneer block into smallish cubes, about the size of playing dice.  Fry gently in a little vegetable oil or ghee.  Keep turning until they are crispy and brown on all (or most of) the sides.  

Add the cumin seeds and when they start to sizzle, add the onion and garlic and fry gently until soft.  Add the turmeric if using.  Continue to fry until the rawness of the turmeric is gone, and the garlic and onion are very soft and translucent.

Add the tinned tomatoes and a little water.  Cover and cook until the tomatoes are "melted" down.  Stir well and add the sweetcorn. Season with the salt and pepper and cover.  Allow to simmer for 10-15 mins.  Stir well when done and serve with hot buttery chapatti.

Kimchi Fried Rice with fresh pickled veg

My lovely extended family had kept mentioning having cooked kimchi fried rice, and I was intrigued.  Having made a Sunday pot roast chicken, I had deliberately kept some meat back to use during the week.  Some went in sandwiches, as having 4 people at home for lunch every day means we want to have interesting and varied lunches, and some I had earmarked for a chicken fried rice.  

I had found this recipe online with some really lovely fresh crunchy pickled vegetables as a salad to go with the rice, and my lovely nephew sent me the video that he uses for the recipe, and so using what I had I cooked a mashup of the two that suited us perfectly.  However, I didn't want to lose the combined method so what better thing to do than blog it! 

You will need:

2 cups of cooked and cooled rice.

1 cup of kimchi, drained, liquid reserved, chopped

1 - 2 tablespoons of gochujang (Korean hot pepper paste)

2 cloves of garlic, sliced

3-4 spring onions, sliced, green and white parts kept separate

leftover cooked chicken

If you want to do the vegetables as well, you will need:

half a bunch of radishes, thinly sliced

150g baby cucumber, thinly sliced

1 carrot, cut into matchsticks

60ml (1/4 cup) cider or red vinegar

1 tsp caster sugar

1 tsp salt flakes

First make the pickle by dissolving the sugar and salt in the vinegar and adding all the thinly prepared veg and tossing well.  Leave to absorb the pickling dressing.

Next, heat the oil in a wok and fry the chicken.  After a minute or two, add the garlic and white parts of the spring onions.  

When it is starting to brown at the edges, add the chopped kimchi.  Continue to stir and now add the cooked, cooled rice.  Stir through the gochujang and also the reserved liquid from the kimchi.  Mix very well so all the rice is coated evenly in the sauces.  Once the rice is thoroughly heated through, serve, with the pickled vegetables on the side.  Sprinkle with black and white sesame seeds if liked.

Meatless Monday Courgette and Haricot pasta

This filling and veg packed pasta dish is really satisfying and moreish.  You don't HAVE to serve it on a Monday, obviously!

Ingredients :

1 medium to large onion

3 large courgettes

1 can of beans (haricot, borlotti, cannelini etc)

400g pasta twists or similar shapes of your prference

salt and pepper to taste.

1 tsp mixed herbs

1 tsp Marigold

red chilli flakes to taste

grated cheese if desired, or Engevita flakes

double cream if you want or have it, or Oatly cream.

Method:

Finely slice the onion and fry in a good glug of olive oil, on a medium heat.  

Cut the courgettes lengthwise and slice thinly - I'll admit I used a food processor for this and it was a boon.  Once the onions are soft and starting to mellow, tip in the courgettes and stir well to coat.  Turn the heat up and keep stirring for a few minutes.  

Add the salt and pepper, mixed herbs and chilli flakes and keep stirring and mixing.  Lower the heat very slightly, and allow to soften and cook down.

Boil the water for the pasta, salt the water once it's boiling, and then cook the pasta for 10 minutes.

Once the courgettes are softer, sprinkle in the Marigold powder and add a little of the water from the can of beans.  Mix well.  Drain the rest of the can and add the beans to the courgettes.  Mix thoroughly, lower the heat and cover.

When the pasta is done, drain it and add it to the courgette mixture.  Stir well to mix, and add the cheese or Engevita flakes.  Finally add the cream if using.

Peanut noodles with smacked cucumbers

 

If we are busy on the weekend or if Papa is working and we don't have a chance to go shopping, I get to get creative with my storecupboard for Meatless Monday!

The kids are not big fans of daal and rice and I find I'm often hungry again soon after rice anyway, so I was thinking of something different to do.  I remembered that we'd had some peanutty noodle dishes from Hello Fresh which had included chicken and I'd felt the chicken was not really adding flavour, and I also remembered a dish from a book we used to use a lot: The Wolf in the Kitchen which was simple and filling, so I sort of smushed the 2 ideas together.  I had a bendy half head of broccoli and a lovely organic cucumber in the fridge, so I googled a nice smacked cucumber recipe as I've been wanting to try this for ages and lo and behold I even had some fresh veggies for the meal!  This was filling and tasty! The kids  also didn't ask where the meat was...

NB This is only vegan if you use non-egg noodles and make sure the chilli oil is vegan/vegetarian as some types have fish or prawns in!  As you know I am NOT vegan, but if you are, I don't want to inadvertantly cause a problem.

Noodles:

Ingredients:

2 cloves of garlic
3 or 4 spring onions
2 tbsp peanut butter (crunchy works well)
25g  creamed coconut
some broccoli or other green veg. Mange tout, green beans, pak choi, cabbage etc
4 leaves of medium egg noodles or similar
100ml boiling water
soy sauce, ketjap manis, salt, sesame oil, sriricha - to taste

Method:

Slice and fry the garlic and spring onion on a low heat to soften and mellow the garlic.  

In another pan, cook the noodles.  Drain when done and keep ready.

After a few minutes of frying the garlic and spring onion, add the broccoli or whatever green veg you have if it is at all robust.  Once that has started to soften, add the peanut butter and creamed coconut and the 100ml water to dissolve and spread.  

If you are using green leafy veg, add it now.

When the veg is almost done, add the drained noodles to the pan and mix well.  Add the flavouring sauces and seasonings to your preferred taste.

Serve with the smacked cucumber.

Smacked Cucumber:

Ingredients:

1 (organic) cucumber
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tsp salt
2 tbsp rice vinegar
1 tbsp soy sauce 

1 tsp sugar 

2 tsp chilli oil

1 tbsp sesame oil
optional 1 tbsp toasted sesame seeds

Method:

Using the flat of the knife blade, or a meat mallet, or a rolling pin, whack the cucumber all along its length. Take your time to enjoy this. Imagine it's (insert name of currently relevant idiotic politician)'s head or face. 

Once it is good and split, chop it into 2cm pieces and put the pieces in a bowl and add the salt. Leave aside for 30 mins.

When it has sat in the salt, reverse drain it with a sieve or colander and pat dry with kitchen paper.  DO NOT RINSE.  

Mix the dressing ingredients in a small bowl or jug and pour over the cucumber.  Top with the optional toasted sesame seeds.  Use any left over dressing with the noodles, or with some steamed edamame in pods for a tasty side dish.

spicy meat pulao

Papa had a whole load of super cheap reductions from the meat counter one evening shift at work, and so we put a load of steaks and similar in the freezer for future "pay it forward" use.

I defrosted a beautiful sirloin one day, and had intended to add it to a salad, but it turned out to be a cold and gloomy day and so I decided we needed something warmer and more comforting.

I trimmed the fat off and rendered as much as I could down in a very hot non-stick pan.  I cubed up the beef into quite small dice (1-1.5cm) and then seared them quickly in the hot fat.  

Next I added a teaspoon of ground cumin, one of onion salt and a heaped teaspoon of coarsely ground black pepper. Then I added a bay leaf and once that was nice and fragrant, I put in 2 cups of washed basmati rice.

I sprinkled in some Marigold powder and stirred it around and finally added in 3 cups of boiling water.

I put the lid on and once it was boiling again, I turned the heat down to allow it to simmer and then set a timer for 13 mins.

Once the timer went off, I simply switched off the heat, and set another timer for another 5 mins.

Once THAT timer went off, I added a little grinding of salt and served it with butter.

It was delicious and an amazing way to make one steak go a LOT further.

Easy on the go breakfast cups

The quest for acceptable holiday breakfasts continues.  I've tried a few online recipes, and found many that are suitable, but the kids either get bored or find some issue with the results quite quickly.  I don't want to compromise, and I want a handful of solutions that I can put on rotation.  After a lot of trial and error, I came up with this iteration which is a mix of a couple of different recipes.

1 and a half cups of oats

2-3 tbsp of ground flax seed or similar (I used Aldi's ground linseed with raspberry and blueberry powder)

3 small brown bananas

3 tbsp smooth peanut butter (I used Whole Earth)

2tbsp coconut oil

half a cup of dark chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 180°C and lightly oil 10-12 silicon muffin cases.

Mash the bananas as smoothly as you can in a small bowl.  Add the peanut butter and mix until well blended.  Now add the coconut oil.  If you've used a peanut butter that is even more natural and separated, you may not need as much or any coconut oil.

In a bigger bowl, mix the oats and the flax seed.  You could add some chia as well if you like.

Stir through the choc chips.

Add the banana peanut butter mix and combine well.  Divide between muffin cups and bake for 15 mins.

Remove when done, they should be browned and slightly crisp around the edges.  Allow to cool for a few mins and then turn carefully onto a cooling rack.  Store in an airtight container.

Serve with berries if liked.

Toor daal

You can find these glossy oil-coated split pigeon peas in most supermarkets here in London.  Many recipes exist as the lentil is used both in the north and the south of India.  I've seen different spellings on recipes that reflect the language or dialect spoken - tuar, toovar, tur, and its also known as arhar dal, but the most common spelling and word is toor, so I'll stick to that here.

I have used 2 different recipes frequently.  One was told to me by my mother, and the other is one I used to use from the side of the lentil packet! I copied it down because I realised I might one day have to get a different brand, or the manufacturers might change the packaging!  I have another recipe stashed away that's a Parsi recipe which I'll add to this blog at some point in the future.

This daal is usually a medium thickness and served with rice.

My Mum's version:

1 cup of toor daal

handful of redskin peanuts (unsalted)

1 whole tomato

1/4 teaspoon of turmeric

salt to taste.

Add the above to a small pressure cooker.  Add 2 cups of water and give pressure for 7 minutes.  Allow the pressure to release naturally to avoid it spitting and frothing at you, and then open the lid.  Now you need to add some jaggery/gur to the dal, to taste.  I have used muscavado sugar in place of this, but it doesn't have the complexity of flavours and is much sweeter than jaggery.

While the lentils are cooking, make a tarka (tempering) of 1tsp mustard seeds, 2-3 sliced garlic cloves, a pinch of asafoetida, a few curry leaves, 1 whole green chilli and one whole dried red chilli.

Add the tarka to the lentils and garnish with chopped coriander leaves (if you hate me.)

Serve with simple steamed basmati rice and a smile.

Packet side recipe

228g oily toor

114g chopped yam or sweet potato

75g redskin peanuts

2 tbsp ghee

1/4 tsp cumin seeds

1/2 tsp asafoetida

3 chopped plum tomatoes

1 tsp ginger paste

1/2 tsp chilli powder

1/2 tsp turmeric

salt to taste

1 tbsp jaggery

juice of half a lemon or 1 tbsp tamarind paste

Wash and drain the lentils.  Place in a pan and add 750 ml water, the peanuts and the yam.

Bring to the boil and simmer for 15 mins.  

Heat ghee and fry cumin until brown.  Add asafoetida, tomatoes, ginger and chilli powder and fry gently.

Add this to the dal mixture.  Stir well and simmer until the grains and yam are soft and fully cooked.  

Add water if needed, but be sure to cook it in.  Finally add the lemon or tamarind  and jaggery and stir well.  

Serve with rice.

Bengali style chana daal

I really never loved this daal when I was growing up. It's thick and sweetish, and the grains are still very slightly firm to the bite and separate, not completely liquid, like more well-known daals.  This is often eaten with luchi or puri - the small round deep-fried discs of featherlight bread often reserved for less day to day meals in Bengal.  Luchis are the plain white breads, that taste both soft and crispy, and taste like flaky, fatty, slightly chewy morsels of joy.  Puris are no less delightful, albeit made with the slightly more healthy partly wholemeal chapatti flour.  The taste is slightly less guilt-inducing, but just as delicious.  

I am not practiced at making these, so I am not making any attempts to blog recipes for the breads, but there are many recipes and videos for them out there.  So here is the chana dal recipe my mother taught me.  The main reason I used to eat this was for the sneaky nuggets of juicy fried coconut that hide in amongst the lentils, now I have learned to love the dish for itself.

Chana daal 

These are split polished chickpeas, NOT split yellow peas, but I have been told those work very well as a substitute if you can't find chana dal.  I have seen it in most supermarkets, however, so if you can get it, do try it with the correct thing.

First, boil 2 and a half cups of water in the pressure cooker.  Then add one cup of chana dal, half a teaspoon of turmeric, a teaspoon each of coriander, cumin, garam masala and salt and also a pinch of sugar.  Stir well and cover and bring to pressure.  Cook for 9 minutes.

While this is cooking, gently fry some finely chopped fresh coconut until it is lightly toasted.  Set aside.

When the dal is finished, and the pressure has released, open the lid, mix the dal well and keep it simmering.  It should be thick enough to eat with torn up flatbreads, it should not be so thin that it can mix with rice.

Now heat some ghee and fry a couple of bay leaves, a stick of cassia bark, 2 cardamom pods and a clove.  Pour this over the dal.  Finally, add the fried diced coconut.  

Serve with luchi and enjoy.  

Moong/Mung Daal - Yellow Mung lentil

When my mother fell seriously ill last year, she was in hospital for some months.  She really hated the food, and I tried to cook for her and take it to her in the evenings so she could eat home-cooked hot food at supper time.  There were no heating up facilities, so I used to either cook it freshly and put it in a food thermos and drive there at dinner time or I'd cook it earlier/ the day before, and heat it up and put it in a food thermos and drive to the hospital at dinner time.  We would also take a metal bowl and a plastic spoon for her to eat from and with, as the hospital only had plates in the evenings and the metal spoons they had were too heavy for her to use comfortably.

Doing this was an honour and a privilege and I will always be grateful that I could do her this one small service as often as I could.  I would honestly give anything to cook one more time for her or for my dad.

One day she asked me to make this specific daal, mung daal.  It is often given to patients and the elderly, as it is supposed to be easy to digest.  As it was never one I liked as a child, I had never asked her how to make it, so I sat with her and took notes as she described how she cooks this.  I'm glad I did that then because soon after that, she lost a lot of the capacity to have told me any more recipes, although she did not die for some months after.

Since that time, I've learned to love this dish and I often cook it now for my vegan and vegetarian friends and colleagues, as well as for the family.  The quantities below will serve 1-2 people and rely on using the measurement of the ubiquitous Asian "rice cup" - a plastic cup that comes with most rice cookers - I have since found that the volume of those rice cooker cups is the same as the volume of 2 rice-portion scoops from the Love Food Hate Waste campaigns.

Mung/Moong Daal

half a rice cup of yellow mung lentils

quarter teaspoon turmeric powder

half teaspoon salt

half an onion, roughly chopped

2 green chillies, one left whole, one broken in half

2 cloves of garlic, sliced.

First, soak the lentils for half an hour.

Drain well and put into the pressure cooker.

Add slightly more than double the volume of water. (About 1 and a quarter rice cups of water.)

Add the turmeric, salt, onion and green chillies.

Give pressure whichever way you normally do for 8 minutes.

If possible, allow pressure to release naturally - otherwise, a quick release will be ok, but messy.

Mix well to smash the lentils. I've seen some Indians use a really cool piece of very simple equipment to do this - it looks like a star on a stick, and the star is put in the lentils and the stick is spun between the palms to whisk up the lentils!

Fry the sliced garlic in ghee or vegetable oil until it just starts to brown.  Add to the daal.  Check the salt and the consistency.  If you need to add more water, be sure to continue to heat the daal or the water won't mix in properly.  If it pleases you, garnish with chopped fresh coriander.  This does not please anyone in my family.

Enjoy with rice or chappati.  Think of me and my darling mother.

Daal daal daal - starting with masoor (red lentils)

It came to my attention recently that tho I mention daal often, and I certainly used to cook it often, I don't have many daal recipes actually IN my blog.  This is pretty ridiculous as I'm from a south Asian background (my mother was Bengali, my father was Sindhi, I was born in north London) and I do love daal, and apart from the fact that one of my kids isn't always mad about daal - I did used to cook it often!

Since both my parents died very close together about 4 months ago, even my reluctant kid has asked for daal and rice - perhaps it's a link to the much-missed grandparents, a comfort connection, a taste from memories linked to the older generation, I don't know, but we've started cooking daal again recently and when I realised that my recipes are handed down from my mother, sister-in-law and grandmother, then I knew I must share them with the world so their love can continue to spread around the world.

You can spell it dhal, daal, dahl or however you want, the word just means "lentil".  There are probably as many recipes as there are cooks, but every family has their preferred way of cooking each lentil and there are definitely regional trends.  I'm not going to write an essay about this now, as many people have covered it far better than I could.

These are not cookbook recipes with measurements, tho I'm sure I will revisit them in the future when I have time to measure properly for the western cook, but for now, I want to get them down quickly for people to use the way they were taught to me.

Starting with the first I learned when I was at university and craving home-cooked food:

Masoor Daal (red lentil daal) (potentially vegan)

Take one large handful of red lentils per person and put it in a pressure cooker.  This will work the same in a traditional hob top or an electric type like Instant Pot.

I have very small hands, so I tend to do 6-8 handsful for 4 - 5 people.

Add 1 tsp of coriander powder (for this amount of lentils - less for less, more for more, you will learn your tastes over time)

Add a pinch of turmeric powder and a teaspoon of salt (see above for amount variations)

Add water from the tap until the surface is about an inch to an inch and a half above the top of the lentils in the pan.

Close the cooker and bring to the boil and then turn the heat down when the pressure is up and cook for 5-7 minutes.

If using Instant Pot, close the lid and use manual, 6 minutes.

If you don't have a pressure cooker, you can also soak the lentils overnight and then simmer for half an hour instead.

While the lentils are cooking, you make the "tempering".  This is a flavouring for the lentils, basically.  
First, slice one small onion and start it frying on a low flame in your oil/butter/ghee of choice.  When the onion is nice and soft, add 2 sliced garlic cloves and a finely chopped inch of peeled ginger.

When these are browned and the onions are sticky looking, add half a tin of chopped tomatoes, or 2 chopped fresh tomatoes if you prefer, and about a tablespoon of tomato puree.  Stir into the onions etc. By the time those are fully cooked in, the lentils should be cooked and the pressure can then be released if it hasn't already.  Now add the tempering to the lentils and stir well.  You may at this point want to add water, and perhaps salt, or if it's thinner than you wanted, allow it to cook without the lid to let it thicken.

If I'm serving this to guests, I often add cream and butter at this point, but then it's DEFINITELY not vegan, but there are obviously vegan creams or "butters" you could add if you want that richness.  None of it is necessary.

All you need now is some steamed basmati rice, a bowl, and a spoon if you want it.

Easy peasy creamy pasta

A very simple dish that I've cooked regularly but never blogged is so simple that I'm almost embarrassed to blog it.  But with Big'Un heading to uni in a few weeks, it seems important to note down even these obvious recipes so she can use them when she needs them.  This is one she loves and is easy and quick and satisfying.  I used to cook it whenever we stayed in a caravan or anywhere self-catering due to the simplicity and low number of ingredients.

1 pack of boneless chicken of choice
olive oil or butter to fry
1 pack of cream cheese (flavoured if you like - I used black pepper this time; I've used garlic and herb in the past too)
1 onion
half a teaspoon of garlic granules (optional)
1 heaped teaspoon of Marigold (yes, I always take this with me on self-catering holidays)
a splash of white wine
a bowlful of frozen veg of choice (peas, sweetcorn, a small bag of mixed veg, whatever)
(if you don't have a freezer, a tin of sweetcorn would also work)
splash of green Tabasco.
salt and pepper to taste
300 - 500g pasta shapes


Begin by getting the water on to boil.  Then chop up the chicken into bitesize pieces and fry them until golden in the oil or butter.  Chop the onion while that is frying.  Once they are done, remove with a slotted spoon and put the chopped onion into the pan.  Fry slowly until translucent.  

Once the water is boiling, add salt to the water and boil the pasta shapes for the time stated on the packet.

Once the onion is soft, add the chicken back in, with the garlic granules and the Marigold and finally the wine.    Stir it all well and add the veg and then pop a lid on and simmer until the pasta is done.

Once the pasta is cooked, scoop a mug of water out and reserve and then drain the pasta. While that is draining in the colander, add the pack of cream cheese to the chicken and stir it about and let it melt evenly through the chicken.

Carefully mix in the drained pasta and if needed add some of the reserved pasta cooking water to help loosen the whole thing to coat the pasta in the creamy sauce.  Season to taste with salt, pepper and the very important green Tabasco.  I haven't found anything that makes this dish quite the way that green Tabasco does, it's the sour tang I just love!  Honestly, I love the flavour of it almost as much as I love Marigold; I'm pretty sure my kids don't recognise foods cooked without one or t'other!!

courgette and bacon pasta

Well, we are a nation in a very different place than the last time I blogged.

Covid-19, lockdown, social distancing, queues for entering supermarkets, supply shortages. No pasta, no toilet paper, no flour, no eggs, no ketchup, no tinned tomatoes... Strict limits on purchases of the above if you CAN find them, as well as on hand-wash and hand sanitiser.

I'm lucky that I've always been a bit of a hoarder, and I like to buy in bulk anyway, and also I'm lucky enough to have a fantastically well-stocked local corner shop - so I can get a lot of basics practically on my doorstep when I need them.  Including pasta!

This dish was quick and simple, and veg packed and frugal.  Everyone enjoyed it, including Papa who is usually very mistrustful of courgettes.

I used:

2 courgettes
1 medium onion
125g bacon
one teaspoon of butter
half a teaspoon of salt
half a teaspoon of coarsely ground black pepper
one teaspoon Marigold powder
splash of white wine if you have it, otherwise just splash in some water
50-75g plain cream cheese

400g pasta 
grated cheese to serve


First I chopped up about half a pack of unsmoked back bacon from the corner shop and dry-fried it until golden.  This is the point that Papa filled a large pan with water and put it on to boil for the pasta.  We used 400g of mixed fusilli - half wholewheat and half tricolori, basically because wholewheat is a bit more filling so goes further and the tricolori is interesting and also its what I found in big bags in Sainsbury's a few weeks ago.

Next I topped and tailed and halved and quartered 2 courgettes lengthways and then sliced the quarters up thinly.  They weren't at their best, but this didn't really matter.  I then halved the onion and sliced one half very thinly and chopped the other half finely.

Once the bacon was nicely golden, I removed it from the pan with a slotted spoon, and tipped in the courgettes.  I left it to brown slightly and soften, and then added the onion and the butter and sprinkled in the salt.  I turned the heat down slightly and left it to soften.

Meanwhile, at some point the water came to the boil, and so Papa put the pasta on to cook around when I was taking the bacon out.  Papa asked me if the sauce would take as long as the pasta, and I wasn't sure, but both were done around the same time in the end!

Once the veggies were nice and soft, I added the Marigold powder and the splash of wine.  Honestly, water would be fine, or cider, or dry sherry if you happen to have it!

Once the pasta was cooked, I put the bacon back into the pan with the courgettes and also a ladleful of the pasta water.  Finally, I stirred the cream cheese into the courgettes and bacon.

Tiny had at least 2 helpings, not-so Littl'Un loved it, not-really BigUn enjoyed it too and added it to her plan of things to cook at Uni....