Sweet Potato Cumin Soup

I've woken up to snow this morning, the rooftops of the terraced houses in front look like a festive card with the hills and trees behind. And from the back, the garden view is a little more lively, with the birds on the search for berries and nibbles. They have been considered, as D has filled the bird feeder with seeds.  No seeds for us though, we have this deep orange, bordering on golden Sweet Potato Soup enhanced with warming spices, namely cumin.  

Ideally I would liked to have put some fresh coriander to the soup as I think it would have cut through some of the sweetness, a little like lemon.  But i cannot remember the last time we had fresh coriander at home; and I will confess its one soft herb, I struggle to grow at home.  Nevertheless, it was still a good soup to eat with homemade bread, albeit from the bread machine.

Its been a busy week and weekend, as i attended a workshop of my accord (not work-related yesterday).  I won't say what the topic was, as it may be triggering for some readers, but it was intense, insightful and valuable to my own mental health and wellbeing.  My only regret was not adding my voice to the discussion; and i wondered why this was and i have been reflecting on this.  Some voices do tend to get lost in a room, even more so on zoom. 

Forest Bouquet and Chilli Peanut Carrot Soup

Exercise for me has been by green prescription: being in the garden, weeding, toiling and sowing seeds in the sunshine.  I know i am lucky. 

I have not ventured far from the house or garden though, but yesterday I left the house for 'exercise' reconnecting with nature, but also to collect some 'sticks' to build bean frames for the vegetable plot.

Red Swiss Chard and Nutmeg Gratin

The Rainbow Chard in my garden is plentiful and still adorning the garden plot, that I am loathing having to pull them out, as they are adding a bit of colour to space that is otherwise a blank dirt canvas, excluding the odd green weed popping here and there.  

But I have - I have leaned over the garden fence, arms stretched outright and shared some with neighbours.

I made this Red Swiss Chard Gratin last week to use what up what we are growing, as well as an excuse to join in with Harvest Monday hosted by Dave over at Happy Acres who hosts every week. 

I know it is not the prettiest of dishes, but it was one of the most flavourful side dishes i have ever had.   The nutmeg really lifts the gratin and on first glance you could almost be forgiven for thinking this is a dessert or even rhubarb crumble.

The Swiss Chard recipe is adapted from  Spice Trip by Stevie Pearle and Emma Grazette, this is the same cookbook that I made the  Cumin and Orange Madeira Loaf.  There is a wonderful looking Pistachio and Nutmeg Cake in the cookbook, but it required Greek yogurt of which I have none, so maybe next time; or maybe I can substitute that with Double Thick Cream. 

Orange Cumin Madeira Cake

The  oranges I picked up well before quarantine are still rolling about in my fruit bowl, as D has failied in his duty as orange juice crusher. They are still super juicy and tasty, so can be eaten naturaly, but I find that I am left to be creative with them. Regular readers will know that I have already I made Orange Ginger Apple Loaf Cake early this April.   

Today I have this Orange and Cumin Madeira Cake to share; and tomorrow I have a Orange Carrot Soup for you. 

This recipe for Cumin and Orange Maderia Loaf comes from a cookbook called Spice Trip by Stevie Pearle and Emma Grazette. I had not heard of either of these chefs before, until I bought the cookbook from Oxfam second hand bookshop about 6 years ago. And although many of the recipes are meat based, there is lots of good stuff to read around medicinal use of spices.

For those of you who want the recipe, well its essentially a Orange and Caraway cake with cumin instead.  It was wonderfully buttery. 

I hope your all keeping well and are finding things to keep you occupied, by the way let me know what you have been baking? 

Hot Chocolate Beluga Lentils with Rainbow Carrots

This is not the most attractive looking of dishes that I have shared on my blog, but I think its the perfect time for to pretend and say that I made it for a Halloween party and what you are seeing here are some damn ugly zombie or monster fingers coming out of the earthy ground.  

Truth is, this is spicy beluga lentils chili or sorts enhanced with chilli chocolate and the so called fingers are actually rainbow carrots. I guess to make this dish look even more horrific, I should have only used the purple carrots, that appear to be more effective in resembling fingers with the wrinkles. 

Despite the way it looks, it actually tasted okay.  

I don't cook that much with Beluga lentils as Puy lentils tend to be my go to in terms of sturdy lentils that keep their shape and do not disintegrate upon long cooking, but don't let that stop you from making this dish (if you dare),  you can use brown lentils, I find them just as tasty, if not more so. 

I served these with sweet potato wedges, soured cream to dampen the hotness, and even for me it was really hot  I am sharing this with My Legume Love Affair #121 hosted by Jagruti Cooking Odyssey.  The challenge was started by Susan from The Well Seasoned Cook and continues thanks to Lisa's Kitchen.  

Other Beluga and Puy Lentil Recipes
Beetroot Bourguignon with Puy Lentils
Leek and Puy Lentil Flan
Gratin of Cabbage with Puy Lentils
Strawberry, Tomato and Puy Lentil Curry
Beluga Lentil Salad with Avocado

Peri Peri Roasted Cauliflower and Chickpea Couscous Salad

I made this Peri Peri Roasted Cauliflower Couscous last month after we had come back from Glastonbury.  

The Peri Peri Roasted Couscous is studded with nutty chickpeas and garnished with baby kale that tasted more like rocket than kale.  Its not much of a recipe, I coated the cauliflower in a little olive oil and doused it with Peri Peri spice blend and then put it in the oven to roast. You can make your own Peri Peri Spice Mix or buy it.  The couscous was made according to the packet instructions and then combined together along with a tin of cooked chickpeas.

From Weed to Dinner Plate: Eating Dandelion Leaves

The weather was fantastic over the weekend and like many people with gardens or allotment plots, I was out working in mine.  Between the two of us, we got loads done including a lot of weeding including dandelions.

The potatoes have gone in.  I have sowed many seeds.  The seeds I sowed two weeks ago have germinated, tomatoes, courgettes, chard, broad beans and some have not.  I will up-date my Sowing The Seeds page to let you know what I am attempting to grow this year, but today, I am sharing my dinner plate of vegan meatballs on a bed of wilted dandelion leaves.

 I was inspired by a recipe for Fried Dandelion Greens with Lemon and Garlic Potatoes I saw in Street Vegan by Adam Sobel.  My food presentation is not good, a little corny I think but the finished dish was delicious.  The meatballs were zinging and the spicy herby coating infuse the crispy brown exterior of the veggie meatballs.  The sauteed dandelion greens were not at all bitter, but the flavour was completely transformed.

Other Wild Week Recipes on Allotment2Kitchen
Wild Weed 'Eccles' Cake
Wild Weed Tortilla
Stinging Nettle Hummus
Stinging Nettle Gnocchi
Stinging Nettle Risotto

Foraging Eyes

Fresh India Sweet Potato Vindaloo

This Sweet Potato Vindaloo is the second recipe I cooked from the cookbook Fresh India: Quick, easy and Delicious Vegetarian Recipes For Every Day by Meera Sodha which I was gifted at Christmas.   

When I think of Vindaloo, I wrongly and stereotypically think of old classic Bollywood movies with Catholic Indian characters called De Sueza or D'Silva living near a beach or a fishing village in or near Goa, India.  Vindaloo came to India via the Portuguese and was known as carne de vinho d'alhos (meat marinated in wine and garlic). I don't ever recall any of the movie characters ever making or eating a variation of vindaloo, but I sort of romanticised it in my mind growing up and tried to make sense of the popularity of the burning hot Vindaloo in the UK.  I still don't understand it, but what I do know is that I miss those old fashion Bollywood movies.  I find Bollywood movies to be just a long pop video and am very selective of those I watch.  those I watch are often recommended by family and close friends.  

Vindaloo is traditionally made with pork.  I like spiced food but not ridiculously hot either, so the appeal to make a vegetarian or vegan version of it never occurred to me.  There re a few Sweet Potato Vindaloo recipes around, as well as a popular variation of Two Potato Vindaloo by Ottolenghi, but I am trusting Meera Sodha's Sweet Potato Vindaloo version as the flavours may be more authentic.  

Aloo Tikki Bagel

It been an extremely busy week at work, so my blog post this evening will be short.  My evening dinner today is Pizza, don't diss me - its homemade pizza!  Check out my Instagram for the photograph, I promise you it will be very different from other pizzas you've seen.

Right now though, I am sharing a fusion snack of Aloo Tikki Bagel.  I am constantly amazed at how much i eat is accidentally vegan.  Aloo Tikki is a South Asian snack made from spicy oniony mashed potatoes (aloo) that is shaped into cutlets or burger shapes, then coated in a spicy blend of chickpea batter and deep fried.  It important to eat it whilst it is still hot as that is when it is at its most deliciousness.  

You can eat the Aloo Tikki as you wish, we and I mean my siblings would often stuff it in roti aka chappati slathered in tomato sauce, it had to be a red sauce to temper the spices, then rolled up like burrito and munched on.  These days I tend to either stuff it in a burger bread bun or a bagel; and my siblings children in a tortilla wrap.

Like my Samosa Soup recipe: a combination of Dal and Samosa, Aloo Tikki is another firm favourite comfort food and not one I indulge in that often as it requires deep frying, but when I do, I ravish it within minutes.

This blog post is part of Vegan Month of Food.  The theme is memories and traditions. I am also sharing this with Soups, Salads and Sammies and this is kind of a sandwich hosted by Kahakai Kitchen;  

Chilli Chocolate Salsa with Spice Herb Baked Potato Wedges and 'Meatballs'

A lot more cooler today, thank goodness - but I still didn't really want to be in the kitchen.  

I made something relatively simple: I baked these Spice Herb Baked Potato wedges in the oven. 

I was just going to serve them with some beans, but then changed my mind after finding some ready made veggie meatballs in the freezer.  To make my life easy, I decided to throw the vegetarian Quorn* 'meatballs' into the oven with the spice herb coated wedges.   

I would normally have Sriracha and D goes for brown sauce, but  I had already planned to serve these wedges with a  Salsa, but no ordinary tomato salsa.  No these potato wedges were going to be served with Chilli Chocolate Salsa.  I was prompted to make this recipe after finding a bar of Dark Chilli chocolate, so the whole meal ended up revolving around this.  Chilli Chocolate Salsa is an acquired taste.  It was devilishly rich.

This plate is further enhanced with salad greens from my garden.   

I am sharing this Chilli Chocolate Salsa with We Should Cocoa hosted by Tin and Thyme. The theme is Anything Goes. 

A Bakers Dozen: Turmeric Recipes

2016 seems to be the year of the Turmeric. Turmeric boasts a number of health benefits: digestive and antiseptic, but as a person of South Asian heritage Turmeric known as Haldi has been part of my heritage and not seen as a trend.  Turmeric is traditionally used in South Asian curries, pickles, thrown into chappati's aka roti's, rice, Dals, soups, but also as a beauty treatment.  

However as a vegetarian experimental cook, even I have succumbed to the recent attention turmeric  has been getting in the foodie world.  The past couple of years has seen the rise in turmeric consumption in the Western world doused in vegan tofu scramble to give it that ochre egg yoke  colouring, stirred into breakfast oats, as well as in drinks such as turmeric lattes, turmeric smoothies and turmeric teas - all of which seem to be the rage right now.  

Today I bring you my bakers dozen: 13 meatless vegetarian and vegan recipes that make turmeric the golden star it is, not an accessory. 

It would be wrong not to start with the much beloved vegan Turmeric Tofu scramble from Post Punk Kitchen.  Tofu Scarmble has become a staple in every vegan home.  I am not vegan and I love it. 

Turmeric Garden Vegetable Piccalili made with green beans, runner beans, cauliflower and carrots.  This Piccalili is perfect next to a good home-made pie. 

This  unctuous Tangerine Turmeric Jam by Tropical Homestead is a little like marmalade, perfect for crusty or toasted homemade bread.

An awesome and original Dairy Free Turmeric Butter from Refresh.  I love the crackers too. 

A handsome Turmeric Masala Bread from the beautiful Preena who blogs over at A Teaspoon A Turmeric - a blog about Turmeric and Indian cooking. 

A change from Baked Bean, try these Turmeric Butter Beans with Dill and Garlic

Turmeric Pasta Salad with Blood Orange Chilli Oil.  The pasta is simply boiled in water infused with ground turmeric, I have also done this with New Potatoes.  

Curried Tofu with Turmeric Rice inspired by Moosewood Collective 

Fresh Turmeric Root Vegetable Curry from Archana's Kitchen.  This is an amazing vegetarian recipe.

Jamaican 'Patty' Pies with Turmeric Pastry - Here the vegan pastry is infused with ground turmeric and thyme.

Something different for when you have the munchies - Turmeric and Mango Flapjacks

Another fantastic turmeric recipe from A Teaspoon Of  Turmeric, this time its a Turmeric Til Ladoos, an Indian sweet covered in sesame seeds.  This would be so easy to make vegan by substituting the ghee with coconut butter. 

And finally, a pretty  Middle Eastern Turmeric Cake aka Sfuf, Sfoof  by Reinventing Nadine. I hope you have enjoyed this Turmeric blog post and are inspired to make it more of a star ingredient in your recipes.  Do you have any turmeric recipes that you would like to share with me. 

Turmeric Pasta with Blood Orange Chilli Vinaigrette Dressing

This marigold yellow pasta with marmalade coloured roasted peppers and butternut squash was lunch for work - twice, last week.  

As I was tucking in, it got some of my colleagues all intrigued and curious 'Gosh, that pasta is glowing'.

The pasta is simply infused with turmeric powder.  I've also tried this method with beetroot See HERE.   Although I have used ready made penne pasta here, you could easily make vegan Turmeric pasta from scratch too, just add a teaspoon or half to the flour when your mixing and kneading. 

Anyway, the turmeric pasta on its own was a bit bland, so I decided to make make a vinaigrette dressing for it with some Blood Oranges that were mingling with the lemons in a bowl.

The Blood Orange Chilli Oil was spicy and quite tasty elevated by the addition of my bottle of Welsh Blodyn Aur Rapeseed Chilli Oil.   Of course, you can make your own Chilli Oil at home and I probably would had I grown my own chillies, but sometimes when you have excellent produce on your front door why would you not want to make the most of it. 

The Turmeric Pasta with Roasted Squash and Peppers and Chilli Oil was blooming delicious and I'd happily make it again for lunch or evening meal. Probably best served with some salad greens, but that is optional. The only thing I was very disappointed in my supermarket bought Blood oranges.  Once sliced they were not as blood red inside as I had expected...oh well.

Butter Beans and Kale Curried Turmeric Rice

This yellow turmeric infused rice with butter beans is inspired by a family Pilau  - Savoury Rice recipe. I make a variation of this rice dish with whatever is in season or what I have to hand every other month.  

As we are going away for a long weekend to my mother in laws, we have been raiding the fridge and vegetable basket, so there was not much in the way of fresh ingredients, other than some curly kale which I wish was from the garden.  I always have some dried beans, lentils and pulses so decided to make this dish last night when I put some butter beans to soak overnight.

Homemade Green Chilli 'Doritos' Chips and Guacamole

I quite like Chilli Heatwave Dorito crisps, and can often be found munching on them either a Friday Night or Saturday nights, so I was really thankful to Krys who I have been friends with for a long while for sharing a recipe link to make homemade Doritos. 

Krys said was going to make a vegan variation of this recipe; and I responded back that I would make a vegetarian version as the recipe used Parmesan cheese as a flavouring.  Parmesan cheese is not suitable for vegetarians as it is made with animal rennet.  I found a good alternative: Old Winchester which is made in the UK and makes for a good vegetarian alternative to Parmesan.

So when I started to pull together the ingredients to make this recipe including chillii and paprika, I was reminded of a packet of Peruvian Jalapeno green chilli powder that I have had for a long time unopened.  I decided to use that instead of the chilli and paprika.  I was rather impatient coating the green chilli concoction over the sliced triangular tortilla wrap pieces and it shows, but the taste result was awesome.  It was really spicy.  I can handle chilli kicks, but this was super duper spicy so to calm it down a little instead of my usual red salsa, I decided on making some guacamole. 

You know what, I make guacamole all the time, but have never ever shared it on my blog.  I guess because blogosphere is covered in the green stuff, why bother with another guacamole recipe which is much of a muchness.  Anyway, the green guacamole did tone down the heat.

So last night, when we settled down to watch Game of Thrones - we are watching the whole released series in readiness for the new series to be released on DVD.  (No I don't want to know that Jon Snow died in it - Spoilers!)  

We also ripped open  a packet of the Chilli Heatwave Doritos too and you know what, we could hardly taste the spice (compared to my home-made green version) as the sugar dominated. Its amazing the difference when you make something at home and compare.  We would never have noted the overwhelming sweetness had we not made them at home.   I am sharing this with Credit Crunch Munch hosted this month by Travels for Taste and often co-hosted by Fuss Free Flavours and Fab Food For All. 

Garlic - Chilli Kale and Butternut Squash Spaghetti

I love the voluptuous shape of the butternut squash.  I often describe it as the curvy red head of the vegetable world.  I also love the wrinkles and crinkles of the curly kale, so it excites me when I can bring these two together as they would make a perfect combination like strawberries and cream.  

The last recipe with this combination was my Butternut, Kale and Sweetcorn Stew, This evening its a far more simpler recipe of Kale and Butternut Squash Spaghetti dish, but there is no compromise on flavour, this dish warms you all over and that's even before you tucked in.

This is essentially Spaghetti Pasta Aglio, Olio e Peperonicino or chilli flakes dressed up further with butternut squash ribbons and shredded kale.   

It was a  relatively simple quick delicious meal and just what we both wanted after a long slow day at work.   
Now I am off to laze.  
Enjoy the rest of your day, I am really tired. 
Goodnight.  

Turmeric Cream New Potatoes

Yes, I know the colours appearing on my blog are a bit in your face , but honestly its not been intentional on my part it just happens that the dishes I have been making want to show off.  Such as the Black Sesame Seed Butter and my various Beetroot Curries, and now Atomic Yellow new potatoes described this way by my husband.  

I would describe these shockingly yellow potatoes as Dauphinoise style potatoes coated in a rich cream turmeric sauce.   Although not necessary, I think it needed a bit more substance, so I stirred in some veggie meatballs and I was pleasantly pleased with the way the whole dish turned out.  All that was required was some greens on the side to tone down that yellow glow warming your face.

Ethiopian Berbere Injera Crisps - Chips

I had some Injera - Sourdough flatbread  left over from the weekend's Ethiopian Supper of Tibs 'Soya Beef' with Berbere and Cherry Tomatoes and Caramelised White Cabbage, Carrot and Potatoes.

I don't like waste, so I wondered what else I could do with them?  I saw a recipe for a savoury Injera porridge but I have to be honest that did not appeal, then I was inspired by Injera Chips from defunct blog The Berbere Diaries.   Only three ingredients, the Injera, Berbere and Vegetable oil - so there was no stopping me from making these.

I wasn't that generous with the Berbere and thank goodness as it was still quite spicy on the lips.   These Injera crisps are proper crunchy too like toasted corn snacks, so if you have tooth fillings, then I would advise eating them with caution or don't make them at all - you have been warned. How do I know this...take a guess?!  

I am sharing this with Elizabeth's Kitchen Diary No Waste Food Challenge hosted this month by  Its Not Easy Being Greedy. And here is a link to More Injera Please who has further ideas of what to do with left-over Injera, but I have to say - the crisps are high on my list.  Oh and just in case your wondering how Injera is made from scratch, then follow this link from The Guardian. 

Ethiopian Berbere Injera Crisps - Chips
Ingredients
1 - 2 left-over Injera
60ml vegetable oil
Berbere powder to taste
Method
Preheat oven to gas mark/275oc.
With a brush, coat the Injera in the oil, 

Liberally ssprinkle over the Berbere or to taste.
Either slice the Injera or rip it into pieces and arrange on a lightly oiled baking sheet.
Bake in the oven for 30 minutes, then turn off the heat and allow it to cool and crisp up.
You may need to bake longer depending on the thickness of your Injera and your oven.