Is it a marinade, a paste, a dip…or all three???

 

 Some of you will have seen that I recently bought a selection on spices from a new source.. 

…these are all from the Spice Kitchen, based in Birmigham in the UK.  This is a new company, set up by Sanjay and his Mum, sharing her many years of cooking and their love of spices. They have a lovely range of fresh, ground spices, lots of different selections, plus spice tins, like you see above, and a selection of cooking products. 

Before I go on…

Disclaimer: This post is not sponsored by the Spice Kitchen, or paid for by them in any way, I bought the spices myself and made the paste and wanted to share my findings…

So, your order arrives with business cards and leaflets from the Sanjay and his Mum, including one of her family recipes for a curry paste/marinade, which I immediately made, and used, and made again!!! This has also finally got me trying, and liking, tamarind paste; I’ve seen lots of you use it, but I hadn’t until now. 

  I have permission from Sanjay to share the recipe with you, which is great, and I can tell you how I used it..  

I made it the first time with tomato paste, and the second time with red pepper, and both were good. I used it to marinade chicken and cook chicken curry for my boys but it went too quick to photograph!  But what I did get, are shots of aubergine marinating.. 

 I simply stirred it through chunks of raw aubergine the pan cooked it, adding a little water to cook the aubergine and some extra paste to make a sauce… 

I then threw in some mushrooms and created a dish for my dinner.. 

With some leftovers, I did what I do: I blended them up with tahini and created a dip, and it was very tasty. It’s the first time I’ve used mushrooms in a dip and they created a real lightness to it.. 

  

 The second time I made the paste, I did the same but just with mushrooms, then drizzled tahini over the top tomato some protein..this was my lunch today..  

 

  

 And whilst these were cooking, I spread a spoonful of the paste on a piece of wholemeal spelt sourdough that I’d made this morning…Nice!!!  

     So many ways to use one recipe!!! And I’m sure there’s lots more 🙂 to be honest, I also ate it on its with a spoon! I really like that there’s no oil in the recipe, it’s just pure great ingredients, really healthy and flavoursome. And the longer it sits in the fridge, the more those flavours develop. 

I really like the company and their products and enthusiasm, and the small packets are ideal for someone just starting out or for trying out new spices, or for someone who doesn’t have the room for a whole great pile of them like me!!! 

I hope you don’t mind me sharing this with you? I’m now going to bring all of my dishes plus a bowl of the paste and some carrot sticks over to this week’s Fiesta Friday party, co hosted this week for you by the wonderful Loretta and Steffi.. Enjoy!!! 

Have a great weeknd xx