I've been making lots of one pot dishes recently such as Rhubarb and Lentil Curry; Moroccan Tajine; and Mushroom Strogonoff for when the rain came down.
This Aubergine, Black eyed peas, pepper and Coconut Pot came soon after. It's been either too hot or muggy to be slaving in the kitchen for long hours, so I have been opting for one pot summery dishes using seasonal ingredients where I can. I have to say my efforts have all been appreciated.
I would describe this Aubergine, Black eyed peas, pepper and Coconut Pot closer to a Sri Lankan style curry, one that is not too spicy. It really was mildly curried and sweet from the coconut. I loved the soft nutty flavour from the black eyed peas that melted in your mouth and the aubergines were cooked perfectly. Not hard at all, but not to soft either and the green peppers still had a little crunch.
I served it with plain white Basmati rice my favourite, but if you want to ring the changes couscous would also do or even good chunky bread.
Aubergine, Black-eyed peas, Pepper and Coconut Pot
Serves 4 - 6
Ingredients
200g dried black eyed peas, soaked in cold water overnight
4 tablespoons of vegetable oil
2 aubergines
2 medium onions, finely sliced
2 - 3 cloves garlic, crushed
1/2 teaspoon of red chilli flakes, or to taste
1 tablespoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon turmeric
Salt to taste
1 x 400g tinned tomatoes, roughly chopped including liquid
200ml vegetable stock
2 green peppers, sliced length ways
1 x 400ml tin of coconut milk (unsweetened)
Method
Drain and rinse the black eyed peas, then put into a large pot and cover with water. Bring to the boil, then turn heat down and simmer for about an hour or until the peas are tender. Drain and set aside.
Preheat the oven to gas mark 6/200oc. Either slice or cube the aubergine into bite size pieces, then toss in 2 tablespoons oil and lay them in a single layer on a baking tray. Roast in the oven for 10 - 15 minutes, turning a couple of times, until they are soft to the touch and lightly charred. Set aside.
In a wide pan, heat the remaining 2 tablespoons of oil, add the onions and garlic and sauté until they are beginning to soften. Stir in the spices and salt to taste. Sauté for a few more minutes. Add the tinned tomatoes, vegetable stock and black eyed peas and bring to a boil, before turning down the heat and allowing it to simmer. As the liquid slightly begins to thicken, stir in the peppers and coconut milk. Reduce the heat to a simmer and cook for 30 minutes. In the last 5 minutes, stir in the aubergines. Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary and serve immediately with an accompaniment. Adapted from Sri Lankan Cuisine and Denis Cotter For the Love of Food.
Lassi is appearing all over now as a alternative cooling drink to milkshakes on many trend setting café menu's. Well in the last few days I have made two variations of my own. Today I will share my Strawberry and Black Pepper Lassi and later in the week my Rhubarb, Rose and Vanilla one.
Lassi - for the un-initiated is a south Asian sweet, sour and salty yogurt based drink, I guess I would sort of describe it as alternative to milkshake. It is traditionally made up of a blend of home-made natural yogurt, water or milk and seasoning and used to be made by hand with a wooden whisk/stirrer/frother, all I can say now is thank goodness for the food blender/processor as it just takes moments to make.
I grew up drinking both the savoury version flavoured with salt or cumin; or the sweet one enhanced with sugar and almonds. Sometimes my mother would vary it with fruit, namely with mangoes from Pakistan. It was always, always made with home-made yogurt, but I have to say I am not as organised as my mother and my natural yogurt comes from a tub - not the same for sure, but it will do as a substitute for my Strawberry and Black Pepper Lassi.
My strawberry and black pepper lassi was with strawberries that I had just picked from my own garden. Initially it was just going to be a simple strawberry lassi, but felt it was lacking something - so a twist of black pepper was added. It certainly perked me up.
As I was taking a photograph of my Strawberry and Black Pepper Lassi, Moggy - the cat who has adopted us came up out of curiosity, so of course I had to snap a photograph of her too.
Strawberry and Black Pepper Lassi
Serves 2
Ingredients
Handful of fresh, hulled strawberries
160g homemade yogurt or natural live yogurt such as Henna. (Its not a heavy yogurt like Greek Yogurt and is good to use in smoothies or to use for marinades)
180ml milk
Sugar, honey or maple syrup to taste
Twist of fresh black pepper (do not use the powder form here)
Optional: ice cubes
Method
Blend all the ingredients (except for the black pepper and ice cubes) in a food blender until smooth. Taste, tweak and adjust to suit your taste buds, blitz again if necessary. Pour over optional ice-cubes for a cooler drink and add a twist of black pepper, stir well before drinking.
Those of you who have been reading my blog for a while will know that I am a passionate vegetable gardener. After all it was the premise of this whole blog: allotment2kitchen, but life has changed dramatically since late 2010 and things don't seem to be improving, in spite of all my efforts. Still I hope and remain a optimist, encouraged by my husband that things will get better.
Anyway, this is a way of saying that there is not much going on in my rented garden: a small herb patch and lots of weeds. The wildlife are happy though, especially the bumble bees. And Oh and there are strawberries!
Some of you may remember in June I mentioned that I had unearthed a small patch of strawberry plants that I has planted last year when I had moved into the house. Well the delicate white strawberry flowers have now turned into juicy blood red strawberries. I enjoyed some yesterday simply with a drizzle of honey and cream, and today I made a Strawberry and Vanilla Lassi. I will share the recipe with you tomorrow
For now just gaze at these sweet deep red shapely strawberries .
