Pimp Your Veg part 2: spices are your friend!

 If you have ever read any of my blog then you know that I love spices; these beautifully coloured aromatic powders have the power to not only nourish and heal our bodies, but to completely change any meal. 

Just a teaspoon of the right spice can take a dish from bland to grand! 

When it comes to embracing vegetables and learning to add more of them to your meals, I think spices are your secret weapon. You can bring all the flavours you love to your plate via your vegetables and make them sing.

Likewise you can use dried herbs, but for me, it’s all about spices, that’s where I would begin…and again, I know that lots of you use spices regularly and know far more than me about them, so please pass this onto to anyone you think might find it useful 🙂

Please keep in mind, this is a starting point for anyone looking for ways to pimp their vegetables. And of course, spices can boost any dish, for now, it’s just all about the veg! 

So, where to start? If you stand in front of a selection of spices in any shop it can be overwhelming so this is my advice…

You don’t need to have a huge library of spices immediately; my vast collection has grown over a number of years, but to begin with, I only bought those I needed for particular recipes; as I am not talking about anything so prescriptive, I would start with spice mixes. You don’t need to make your own like I do, (not to begin with anyway, you might fancy trying that later?) for starters I’d look at what is available in your local shops. All I would say is, for me, shop bought spice mixes usually have too much salt, but that’s just me and my tastes, try some and see what you think. 

If you think of the flavours that you like, go with them:

If you like Indian flavours, buy spice mixes with names that you recognise – tandoori, korma, madras, rogan josh, tikka, garam masala (masala means mix). Think of dishes you’ve enjoyed and choose based on those flavours.

If you like Mexican or South American food, try taco/fajita mixes, or creole or cajun, or just smoked paprika. For me, a creole mix is really user friendly, I don’t know anyone who doesn’t like it. 

If you like Middle Eastern flavours, try baharat, ras el hanout, za’atar or harissa. Or try some lovely citrusy sumac. As a note…many Middle Eastern flavours include cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice and/or cloves, what we might consider Christmassy spices in the UK. If you try baharat or ras el hanout you’ll find these flavours, and they can be quite strong so don’t be heavy handed with these spice mixes until you get to know them .

If you like spicy food, try some chilli powder. 

I would also pick up some cumin powder, it’s a lovely starting point, and some paprika, as it’s so useful.

Be drawn by flavours and names you recognise. 

Where to buy spices? 

You will find lots of spices mixes in supermarkets, but I would also suggest visiting an Asian or Middle Eastern supermarket if you have one nearby, their spices are good quality and they have a fast turnaround, or look online at www.spicekitchenuk.com – they have perfect sized little sachets for an ideal introduction to spices (definitely try their Mexican blend!) and their fresh spices are lovely. 

As a basic starting point for using spices, ignore the directions and recipes on the packets for now and go back to my post about roasting vegetables; once you’ve sprayed the vegetables with oil prior to roasting, sprinkle over a tablespoon of your spice mix and stir it through the vegetables then roast as before. 

Alternatively, in large bowl, add a tablespoon or two (depending on your quantity of vegetables) of olive or rapeseed oil, stir in your spices, then add the prepared vegetables and toss them in the oil and spice mixture. Then roast as before.  

I will come onto other ideas for marinating and seasoning vegetables, but for now, why not throw some spices over your vegetables this weekend and see what you think? Try it with vegetables you’ve never really liked and see how they become something wonderful – for example, try roasting brussel sprouts (outer leaves removed and each one cut in half) in one of the Indian spice mixes, they’re so good! Make sure you roast them until the edges get crispy 😉 

These pics from my kitchen might also give you some ideas…

Above are carrots roasted with cumin and Aleppo chilli flakes. If you’re not a chilli fan, just try carrots with cumin. 

Above are aubergine slices about to be roasted with chermoula spice mix over them. Alternatively try these with ras el hanout or Harissa spice. 

Above…I roasted courgettes and aubergines with a selection of spices…try any one of the Indian spice mixes and see what you think..

Above is kohlrabi, carrot, sweet potatoes and shallots roasted in my own Moroccan spice mix. Try it with cumin, paprika and a sprinkle of salt. Replace the kohlrabi with parsnip or swede (rutabaga) and see just how different they can taste.  Above is mushrooms, red onion, leeks and kale roasted with olive oil, nutmeg, cinnamon, cardamom, salt, pepper and lemon juice. Try a good sprinkle of sumac as something different (for sumac I’d sprinkle over a couple of tablespoonfuls). I threw this together the other day with our dinner..mushrooms, red peppers, red onions and garlic cloves with paprika. Nice with a sprinkle of chilli powder? 

This butternut squash above it roasted with za’atar spice. Butternut squash and sweet potato are great with a Mexican spice mix, especially a creole or Cajun mix. If in doubt, just try a sprinkle of paprika or smoked paprika as a first step and see what you think. 

Basically, be brave! A little makes a lot of difference and you can build it up as you get more confident. If in doubt, just ask 😉 

I’m sharing my spiced vegetable ideas with everyone at Fiesta Friday this week – I hope they like them! Check out what everyone is cooking this weekend with co hosts Judi and Quinn.

Have fun! 

Coming next in the series: getting crunchy! 

Spiced spinach, buckwheat & cheese baked flatbreads/pancakes/pizza bases…

Welcome to Friday!!! Or…depending where you are, I hope you’ve had a good Friday and a good week? Let me share with you a recent creation from my kitchen..colour, goodness and flavour all in one go..

Basically, these concoctions could be used for so many things, hence the title…what they truly are, are tasty, healthy rounds of goodness that you could eat on their own or as a base for something else..

It all began with some leftover cooked buckwheat groats, a bag of spinach and some cheese…
Ingredients 

250g baby spinach

1 cup (when uncooked) buckwheat, cooked

80g mature cheddar 

Harissa spice mix – I just threw it in but probably around 2 heaped tablespoons would do – and if you don’t have this spice mix, throw in any spices that you like 

Method

Blend it all together in a food processor then place in a bowl to use immediately or refrigerate for later

Preheat the oven to 180C (160C fan) 

Press several spoonfuls of the mixture onto silicone paper sprayed with olive oil until about 2mm thick

Bake for 15-25 mins until you start to see the edges dry out

  
  Above shows before cooking..

Below shows after cooking..
  They should happily slide off the paper or you should be able to turn out onto a plate in one piece 

I spread various dips and sauces over mine and ate them like pizzas..

But they would be good with just melted cheese, or a tomato sauce and cheese, or so many other things, or just eaten on their own..

  

  
I was so pleased with these and I had made enough of the ‘dough’ to enjoy them for a few days 🙂 sometimes, leftovers make the best meals!! Plus, the flavours developed further over a few days so maybe these are best made ahead anyway? 

I am bringing these babies to this week’s Fiesta Friday, I missed last week’s, so look forward to seeing everyone this week 🙂 

My Indian feast with spiced bread rolls..

   
 
This was my Saturday night dinner, an amalgamation of tried and trested recipes plus some experimentation. I spent the whole afternoon cooking these dishes plus some meat dishes for my family…and then the whole dinner was eaten in about 20 minutes!!! That tells me it was a success 🙂 
   
Aubergine Madras

Note: this is lovely when first cooked, and even better if made then eaten later in the day, or even the next day, as the flavours have even more time to develop. 

Ingredients

10 baby aubergines, cut into 1.5cm slices or 2 medium aubergines chopped into chunks 

3 small green chillies (optional)*

5 tbsp oil

3 cloves

2 cardamom pods

2 large onions, finely chopped

2.5cm piece root ginger, finely chopped

4 garlic cloves, crushed

1 tsp red chilli powder

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp ground coriander

1 tsp turmeric

salt to taste

1 tsp ground nutmeg

1/2 (400g) tin chopped tomatoes, pureed

handful coriander leaves

1 tsp garam masala

  
Method 

Heat the oil in a large non-stick pan, add the cloves and cardamom and wait till they sizzle.

Add the onions and fry until dark brown.

Add the ginger and garlic and cook for 30 seconds.

Next add the red chilli powder, cumin, coriander, turmeric and salt and stir frequently.

Finally add the nutmeg and tomatoes.

Take off the heat and blend with a stick blender still in the pan (do this carefully otherwise your whole kitchen will get splattered!). Keep to one side. 

*I add the chillies now so that I have the option to remove them. If you like a spicier curry, add them with the garlic and ginger and then they will be blended into the sauce.

Chop the aubergines (or whatever vegetable you prefer) and cook in another pan until soft then stir them into the sauce.

Simmer, covered, all together for 15-20 mins. 

Finish with garam masala & chopped coriander to serve.
   
 I made the onion bhajia using Naina’s recipe, however, I shallow fried them in vegetable oil as I do not have a pan like Naina’s, yet!  Great flavours 🙂

   
 Bread 

I literally threw this bread together, trying to make a note of what I was doing as I went along. I split the dough in half and cooked half as bread rolls and half as flatbreads under a grill, and both worked well. The flatbreads came out with a crunch and the rolls were nice and soft and kept for the next few days. 

Ingredients 

500g flour – I used a mix of atta flour and plain flour (you may need more if the dough feels too wet) 

15g fresh yeast

300ml warm water

2 heaped tbsp plain yoghurt 

1tsp salt

2tbsp olive oil

1tsp ground cumin

1tsp ground coriander

1tsp turmeric

1tbsp nigella seeds

  
Method

Add the yeast to the warm water and stir until dissolved. Keep to one side.

In a large bowl, add the salt, then all of the flour over the top of the salt. 

Add in all of the spices, seeds, yoghurt and olive oil and loosely stir all together.

Pour in the yeast water then get your hands in and mix it all until it comes together as a dough.

Turn out onto a lightly oiled surface and knead for 5-10 mins until the dough is smooth.

Place in an oiled bowl, cover with a plastic bag and leave to prove for an hour. 

After the hour, the dough should be well risen. Punch it down then turn out onto the counter again.

Split into 8 portions and either roll out to make flatbreads and/or shape into balls for rolls. 

Place the portions onto a lined baking sheet, with space in between for expansion as they cook, and cover with oiled cling film and leave to raise again for half an hour.

Bake the rolls in an oven at 200C for 12-18 mins, or, grill the flatbreads under a medium heat grill until the surface browns then turn the bread over and grill the other side. Keep an eye on them as they can brown very suddenly, very quickly.  

   
Before grilling, you can press your fingers into the surface of the flatbreads like I did if you fancy, or leave them as they are. 

I also made some roasted potatoes as a side dish. 

Serve it all together whilst it’s hot.

  
The following day, I had the leftover aubergine madras with some soft goats cheese and a couple of the bread rolls for lunch..nice! 

   
 I am taking my Indian feast to Whitney’s new Monthly Masala Link Party – why not join in or check out everyone’s recipes 🙂 

Selma’s romanesco, feta and za’atar cakes..

   

Another of Selma’s recipes that has stuck in my mind are her romanesco, feta and za’atar cakes…this week I made my version..

 

I haven’t been able to find romanesco so, as Selma suggests cauliflower as an alternative, that’s what I used. I also used a crumbly goats cheese instead of feta as that is a staple in my fridge (and I confess I’m not a huge feta fan…sorry…too salty for me!). I also roasted the cauliflower instead of steaming it as my oven was on anyway and it worked well. 
  

The week after Selma died I confess I did a lot of ‘consolation shopping’; I don’t eat cakes or chocolate or anything sweet, and I don’t drink alcohol, or have any of those typical consoling foods in my diet, so shopping became my emotional tool, including buying these new measuring cups and little plates…I thought that maybe Selma would like the plates, so I used them to serve these cakes..I quite like the idea that they might represent the tree of life..

  

The cakes are lovely and everything I knew they would be, and simple to make. I enjoyed them with some of my homemade homous into which I stirred through some of the chemoula spice mix I made for one of Selma’s other recipes. 

Visit Selma’s wonderful blog for the recipe and check out all of her lovely other offerings whilst you’re there 🙂 

  

  

  

The Fiesta Friday Tribute page to Selma remains open so this is where I shall be sharing this post. Later I will be back with a whole mezze including these savoury cakes for this week’s Fiesta Friday party. 

 
Enjoy! 

Butternut squash, kale and ‘creamy chermoula’..

Last nights dinner was borne out of experimentation and it worked beautifully. I knew what flavours I wanted to create and so it evolved in the pan to great success..here’s what I did…

Ingredients

1 red onion, chopped

2 large garlic cloves, chopped

1 very small butternut squash, peeled and chopped into small chunks

1 bunch kale, stripped from spines and roughly chopped

1 tsp sweet paprika

2 tsp roasted cumin

Salt & pepper to taste

Olive oil

Method

Heat oil in a pan and add the chopped onion, cook for a few minutes until it starts to soften.

Add garlic and cook for 1-2 minutes.

Add chunks of butternut squash and cook on over medium/low heat until it’s starts to brown and cook through.

This could take a little while depending how big you chunks of squash are. Add extra oil if necessary.

Once the squash has virtually cooked through, add the spices and salt and pepper and stir through.

Add the kale and stir well and cook until the kale is cooked/wilted to your liking.

Top with sauce below to serve. 

A creamy kind of chermoula

Ingredients

1 large bunch flat leaf parsley, roughly chopped

1 large bunch coriander, roughly chopped

2-3 cloves garlic

1 tbsp paprika

2 tbsp ground roasted cumin

Juice of 1 lemon

150ml olive oil

200ml natural yoghurt of your choice

Method

Whizz it up all together in blender. Store in refrigerator.

Boy it was good!!!!!

Roasted radishes, ras el hanout mushrooms, za’atar aubergines & tahini drizzle..

  

This evening I am sharing my super tasty lunch from earlier today! Not exactly a recipe, but hopefully an inspiration 🙂

 
I’ve never been a radishes fan but since Naina used them in her dish for me, and I’ve seen other people roasting them, I thought it was time to give them another go…and when I went to the market yesterday, there was a huge tray of fresh bountiful radishes…

  

…so I gave them a go. 

I just chopped the biggest ones in half and left the others whole and threw them all in a pan with some olive oil and salt and pepper and roasted them. They cooked quite quickly, and as they did, they became lighter pink.. 

  

 

At the same time I quartered some mushrooms, drizzled them with olive oil, sprinkled with ras el hanout spice mix and roasted them in another pan, then chopped some aubergines into wedges and drizzled them (again) with olive oil and then threw a load of za’atar over them and roasted them in yet another pan! I left all the pans in the oven to do their magic until they were all wonderfully roasted, then piled them into a bowl and drizzled with lovely tahini… 

What a lovely collection of flavours 🙂 the radishes were an interesting addition, they become very soft and their flavour really mellows. I’m glad I tried them, finally.  

 

I’m bringing my lunch to this week’s blog party supremo, Fiesta Friday,  co hosted this week by the lovely Juju and Amanda, do pop over and check out all the fab recipes. Enjoy!

Just to tickle your tastebuds, here was my lunch from yesterday, my favourite roasted marinated cauliflower dish.. 

 
Have a great weekend xxx

Wild garlic flowers, tahini and yoghurt dressing & za’atar roasted butternut squash..

  

Can I be honest? I love this photo (above), I think it has to be one of my all time favourites, assisted by the fact that it’s a dish full of flavour! 

Having played with wild garlic leaves recently, I wanted to use the flowers as well; the flowers have a lovely flavour, a bit stronger than the leaves, but still not as strong as a bit of standard raw garlic. I chopped up some butternut squash, skin and all, sprayed it with oil and sprinkled with za’atar, and put it into the oven at 200C to roast.

I then made a dressing using the wild garlic flowers with tahini…(don’t the flowers look lovely swimming in tahini? I’d love to swim in tahini….!)…

   

…plus some greek yogurt, lemon juice and water, as needed…

  
 

Mine was quite thick, probably more akin to a dip, you could add more water to thin it out. Once my butternut squash was roasted and lovely…

   

  

…I drizzled and plopped it all over the dish..

 

Yum yum yum!!!!!!! This is literally a bowl of heavenly flavour as far as I’m concerned; it’s what I typically eat for lunch on any given day; I do love my own food 😉 

Happy Sunday from a beautiful sun shining UK – there really is little more beautiful than English countryside in the  sunshine. This is the view from my kitchen window right NOW… 

 

Red lentil dahl and an experimental gluten free flatbread…

  

Having recently had fun with spices that I purchased from Spice Kitchen and throughly enjoying their curry paste/marinade recipe, I have been chatting to Sanjay from the company and asked him what he and his Mum, Shashi, would feed me if they took part in my ‘What would you feed me?‘ series..he sent over this red lentil dahl recipe of his Mum’s and is very happy for me to share it with you. 

Firstly, meet Sanjay and Shashi from Spice Kitchen…I love these photos; theirs is a new company, with an online shop and social enterprise, and the whole family is working together to build it and share their love of high quality hand blended and home ground Indian spices…’always sold with love’…

   

So, onto the recipe..

 

Red lentil dahl

Ingredients – for the lentils 

200g red lentils

750ml water (approx)

1tsp salt

For the masala

1tbsp ghee or vegetable oil (I used coconut oil)

1tsp cumin seeds

1 onion, chopped (I used a red onion)

1 clove chopped garlic

2 chopped tomatoes (in the absence of fresh tomatoes, I used 2tbsp tomato purée) 

1tsp ginger, grated

1tsp turmeric

1 chilli, finely chopped

1tsp fenugreek leaves

1tsp garam masala

Handful coriander 

   

 Method

1. Wash the lentils throughly, ideally leaving them to soak. When the water runs clear you know the lentils have been washed properly.

2. Place the lentils in a pan with the salt, cover with the water and bring to the boil. 

3. Remove the froth if there is any, reduce the heat and put the lid on the pan – leave to simmer for 10 minutes. Check the lentils are cooked by squeezing them between your fingers. Once soft remove from the heat. 

4. In a frying pan heat the oil or butter.

5. Add the cumin, onion, chilli and gsrlic and fry until lightly browned. Reduce the heat and add the tomatoes, ginger, turmeric and fenugreek. Gently let the ingredients cook down for about 10 minutes to make a thick masala paste.

6. Add the masala paste in the frying pan to the lentils. It should have the consistency of a thick soup but if it’s too thick just add a little boiling water and remove from the heat. If you prefer it thicker just leave it on the heat to reduce until you get the consistency you want.

7. Check the seasoning and add a little salt if required. Stir in the garam masala and coriander. Add extra chilli powder if needed. 

 

I ate this across two days, and, as is often the case, the flavour had developed even more by day two. I ate it with some roasted cauliflower and a ‘flatbread’ that I had had an idea about whilst walking Bob!  

The ‘flatbread’ was basically, a couple of tablespoons of natural yoghurt mixed with almond flour, coconut flour and gluten free baking powder to make a dough, then cooked on a tawa over a medium heat until cooked through. It’s definitely a success in the making…this first attempt held together quite well in parts, but not as a whole. As you can imagine, I’ll be working on it! It tasted good though 🙂 

I hope you like the recipe and enjoy meeting the face behind the Spice Kitchen – please note – I have not been paid or recompensed for the post in any way. 

I am bringing my red lentil dahl and flatbread to this week’s Fiesta Friday – yes, it’s that time, let you hair down and join the party (that’s a bit hard for me with so little hair, but I’m sure some of you can make up for me!!!) – this week co hosted by the fabulous Jhuls and Justine, both great ladies,with great blogs. Have fun! 

A couple of shots from my week to make you smile.. Enjoy xx