Aubergine, butternut squash and tinned peach curry

As I was sorting the recycling today, I noticed just how many tins I have used in the last couple of weeks. Being in the lockdown and not being able to go out shopping whenever we need some fresh produce, we rely on tins a bit too much.
Also I promise myself, after all this ends, and if I am here to tell the tale, I am not going to eat pasta for a long-long time. I'm sick just of the sight of it.
I try to vary different sauces, and pasta shapes, but it's still stodge.

Last time I went out shopping, I managed to buy a nice aubergine and a pack of cubed butternut squash and sweet potato. I do like chickpeas in a curry, but they are as rare and valuable these days as loo rolls.

Aubergine, butternut squash and tinned peach curry
Ingredients:
1 medium aubergine, cubed
1/2 red onion
4tbsp olive oil
350g butternut squash and sweet potato
1 cube Knorr stock pot kaffir lime and ginger
1tsp mild curry powder
1 tin (227g) of chopped tomatoes
1 tin (160ml) coconut cream
1 tin (410g) of peach halves in juice

Start by heating up half the oil and frying the finely chopped red onion. Stir for a couple of minutes, then add more oil and cubed aubergines (I keep the skin on, but peel it off if you prefer). Add the cubed butternut squash and sweet potato.
Season with sea salt and spices and add the Knorr stock pot.
Next add the tinned tomatoes (chopped or plum), coconut cream and stir well. Slice the peaches and add to the curry. Bring to boil, then lower the heat and cook, simmering, for about half an hour, stirring occasionally, until the aubergines and squash are soft but still hold the shape.
If the curry is too thick, you might want to add some of the juice from tinned peaches.

Serve hot, with rice or/and flatbreads.

This is a variation of a vegetarian curry, which I cook quite often. You can swap ingredients - for example, use a dairy-free coconut yogurt or plain yogurt instead of coconut cream/milk. No tinned peaches? Add raisins or chopped apricots for a sweet note. Flaked almonds or chopped cashews for extra texture.
Make it more tomatoey by using two tins of tomatoes instead of a combination of tomatoes and coconut cream. Again, play around with whatever curry spices you have.

This curry has a lovely combination of flavours, and is easy to make.

In this recipe I used a pot of Knorr Kaffir Lime & Ginger stock, which was one of the products in March Degustabox.
Knorr's range of veggie flavoured stock pots are an easy way of adding depth of flavour to meat-free dishes. They are gluten free and suitable for vegans.
You can substitute it with whatever type of ginger you have - grated fresh root, or ginger paste in a squeezy tube or from a jar.
Also add a squeeze of lime, if you have it.

Be creative and stay safe!

Butternut squash and cashew curry

Where do you get inspiration for new cooking ideas? For me it could be anything: though I don't watch many cooking shows on TV these days (apart from the GBBO, and even that I find rather tedious this year), I buy a lot of cook books, subscribe to Veggie magazine and read weekend food supplements (The Guardian's Feast magazine is my top choice for foodie discoveries).

A week ago, we stopped in Costa in between shopping trips. Eddie had his panino while I ordered a cup of latte and a toasted teacake. Looking for what to browse, while I was having a latte, I spotted a Weekend magazine, which had excellent healthy recipes. That week there was a big selection of Dr Moseley's recipes. I liked the look of a Caribbean Coconut & Vegetable Curry, and even took a photo of the recipe.

I have adapted it, skipping some of the ingredients (none of us are keen on kale. Healthy it might be, but we don't like the taste or the texture), adding some of my own, and changing quantities, but overall it's a recipe inspired by Dr Moseley's healthy-eating diet. I believe the original recipe comes from his book called The Clever Guts Diet.

As I mentioned earlier this month, I received a few products from the Whole Foods Online shop, including a bag of whole cashews. I have posted a recipe for a sweet dish, including cashews - see Cashew Apricot Slice.

Cashews are high in protein and healthy fats which could assist in controlling healthy cholesterol levels. They contain a host of vitamins and minerals, essential for daily bodily function.
Whole cashews from Whole Foods Online are raw, unsalted and unroasted. As such, they are a versatile ingredient on many sweet and savoury recipes. They also make a tasty snack.

Now it's a turn of a savoury recipe. It just happened to be a vegan recipe, but it's an accidentally vegan one.  I have cooked vegetarian/vegan curries in the past before, with the chickpeas, but it's the first time I made a curry with black eyed beans.
They make a nice alternative, but if you don't like the taste, they could be swapped for another kind of beans easily.

Butternut squash and cashew curry (serves 4-5)
Ingredients:
4tbsp mild olive oil
1/2 big red onion, chopped finely
1 medium carrot
1tsp curry leaves (optional)
1tsp Malay curry powder (or any curry powder you have)
1tsp ground turmeric
a 4-5cm long piece of fresh ginger, grated
1 clove of garlic, chopped
1/2 lime
a pack of butternut squash wedges (385g)
1 red sweet pepper
1 tin of coconut milk, reduced fat
1 tin of black eyed beans (400g, drained weight 235g)
70g whole cashews

In a large frying pan heat the olive oil and start frying a finely chopped onion, with the curry leaves and chopped carrot. Add all the spices - the curry powder, turmeric, fresh ginger and chopped garlic. Squeeze in the juice of half a lime. Cook, stirring, for about 3-4 minutes, then add the cubed butternut squash and sliced sweet pepper.
Pour the coconut milk over the squash, add the beans and cashews, lower the heat, cover the pan with the lid, and cook for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally, and adding some hot water if necessary, if the sauce becomes too thick. The squash should be cooked through.

Serve hot, with rice or without, and a wedge of lime on the side.

Disclosure: As mentioned above, I received a bag of cashews from Whole Foods Online for the purposes of using in a recipe.

Choc chip yogurt cookies

No, I can hear you saying, not another choc chip cookies recipe surely?! Bear with me please, it might be one zillionth cookie recipe, but it's a slightly different version, which might appeal to you.
Last Tuesday my younger son had a friend over.
This time his friend brought a big stash of vintage Pokémon cards, and my son was on cloud nine, looking at the old cards and comparing them to the current releases.
Often when we have Eddie's friends around, I bake some cookies. Sash is also very enthusiastic about any cookies, and watches with great interest, as I mix and shape.

Choc chip yogurt cookies
Ingredients:
100g caster sugar
50g coconut yogurt
50ml vegetable oil (I used a rapeseed oil)
1 medium egg
60g oats
200+g self-raising flour
1/2tsp baking powder
a pinch of salt
50g milk chocolate, chopped into small pieces

Cream the coconut yogurt with sugar and vegetable oil in a mixing bowl. Add the oats, flour, baking powder, a pinch of salt and beat in the egg, mix well, forming the dough. 

Chop the chocolate into smaller pieces (or use chocolate drops), and mix them into the dough.

Dust your hands with flour, so that the dough doesn't stick.

Pinch a big walnut-sized piece of dough and roll it into a ball, then flatten and place them on trays lined with parchment paper, foil or silicone baking sheet and bake for about 12 minutes until golden at 180C.

Don't overcook, they are still very soft when you take them out. If you keep them longer, they'll get crispy.

In this recipe I used a chocolate bar which was one of the products from the June Degustabox -
The Free From Kitchen Co Free From Choc Bar 100g(£1.50 Choc) - which is a gluten-, wheat- and milk-free chocolate product. These are innovative colourful chocolate bars, for chocoholics who embrace all lifestyle choices or opt for free-from products for medical reasons.
We're not on any of the above diets, but happy to try any new product.

If you don't have this particular product, any quality milk or dark chocolate will work perfectly well.

The same with yogurt, it doesn't have to be a coconut one, it's just I happened to have it in the fridge. A Greek style yogurt would be a good substitute.

Semolina Coconut cake

As Sundays go, ours is not the most exciting, but not the worst either. Eddie is feeling better, and we even did a foray into town to do a quick grocery shopping. We also visited Waterstones to get a booster pack of Unbroken Bonds for Eddie.
In the late afternoon we had tea with cake. My husband is watching What/If on Netflix and complaining about how bad it is. Why do you keep watching it then?

I've recently baked an apple semolina cake, and still had plenty of semolina left in the packet. As my guys were wandering in and out of the kitchen earlier today, looking for something sweet for tea, I said I'd bake a cake, but that they'd have to wait for an hour.

Semolina Orange cake
Ingredients:
100g dry semolina
zest and juice of 1 big orange
3 medium eggs
40g dessicated coconut
120g caster sugar
110g self-raising flour
1tsp baking powder
90ml mild olive oil
ground vanilla
for icing: 3 heaped tbsp of icing sugar mixed with orange juice
Midget gems for decoration (optional)

First mix the semolina with orange zest and juice  in a mixing bowl.
Beat in the eggs, coconut and sugar, and combine well. Sift in the flour, baking powder, add oil, mix well.
Grind a bit of vanilla if you have a vanilla pod grinder (or add a teaspoon of vanilla essence).

Oil the cake tin with the oil spray of your choice. I like to use the avocado oil spray, as it has a neutral taste.
Pour the cake batter into the cake tin and place the tin in the oven preheated to 180C.
Bake for 35+ minutes. Check readiness with a wooden toothpick, if it comes out clean, the cake is ready.

You could also do a light orange icing drizzle over the top, just mix 3 heaped tbsp of icing sugar with enough orange juice to make a runny icing. Decorate with sweets of your choice.

I used Bravura Foods Free From Fellows Vegan Midget Gems from the latest Degustabox as a decoration for this cake. Any other midget gems or chewy sweets would work.
These sweets are made without sugar, gluten, gelatine and dairy, and thus are vegan friendly. They are also egg free, soy free, GMO free, nut free and free from artificial flavours and colours.
The vegan aspect of these sweets is of no importance to us as a family, as we are not vegans.
They taste very much like the original midget gems, if I remember correctly, as I haven't bought them recently. My sons both liked the vegan midget gems.

How is your Sunday going? Are you having a relaxing day or enjoying outdoors?

Aubergine curry

I so admire people who plan their meals a week in advance, and know exactly what and when they would be cooking. I'm rather disorganised when it comes to dinners.
Often I have a vague idea of what I might be cooking, but it would depend on my mood and what I might find on offer. I suppose it doesn't help that I go grocery shopping every day.
I don't drive, and there is so much I can carry home, plus we do love freshly baked bread.
And I do often have a change of plans when I see something tempting.

The other day, while looking for some greens in Waitrose, I came across a big pile of aubergines at a reduced price (29p each) and grabbed three. One of them I used to make a pasta sauce.

Today I cooked an accidentally vegan dinner. I didn't plan for it to be vegan, but it just happened that way.
This recipe is a variation of an Indian recipe for aubergine curry (Baingan bharta).

Aubergine curry
Ingredients:
1 medium carrot
5tbsp+ olive oil
1 big red onion
1 chilli
2 cloves of garlic
1tbsp turmeric
1tsp Sri Lankan Masala
1tbsp ginger paste
2 aubergines, skinned and cubed
350ml tomato sauce (e.g. Cirio Cuor di Pelato)
a handful of raisins
170g coconut yogurt (e.g. The Coconut Collaborative coconut milk dessert)
flat leaf parsley

Peel and chop a carrot, and finely chop an onion. Heat 2tbsp oil in a big frying pan. Fry the onion and carrot for about 5-7 minutes, stirring frequently, then add the chopped and deseeded red chilli and garlic, as well as all spices.
Peel and cube the aubergines. Add them to the frying onion, carrot etc. Stir well, so that the aubergines are well coated. Add more oil, and a dash of water.
Pour in the tomato sauce.
I used a bottle of Cirio Cuor di Pelato tomato sauce with vegetables, which was one of the products in the latest Degustabox food box.
If you don't have this particular product, any good quality tomato sauce, or passata will work, or just tinned tomatoes.
Add a handful of raisins and cook simmering on low for about half an hour. For an extra creamy taste add a small pot of coconut yogurt.
You might need to add a little bit of water, if the sauce becomes too thick.

Serve hot with basmati rice. I added a tablespoon of dried barberries to rice.

Coconut rum cake

Last week I received a bottle of coconut rum in the mail. It was Cheryl from Madhouse Family Reviews who alerted her blog readers, myself included, that there was a call to review Koko Kanu rum on trnd. I think they were giving away 1000 bottles or so, and you had to apply online. I was selected as one of reviewers.

I love baking boozy cakes, and have baked with coconut rum in the past, using Malibu rum.
Koko Kanu Jamaican Coconut Rum is a new rum to me, this is the first time I have heard of it. It is very aromatic and smooth, and just great if you love coconut flavours.

My first attempt to make a boozy rum cake with Koko Kanu turned out to be a complete disaster.
Go on, have a giggle at my beautiful ruin. I used crushed pineapple in the recipe, and the cake got stuck to the bundt cake tin, while the middle section fell out in a big ungainly heap. What a disgrace!

I had no time to bake anything yesterday as we had Eddie's party at Darcy Bears' venue. He had a whale of a time, but I came back home with a headache. Let's just say, it was a wild party of around 20 7-year-olds on summer holidays.
I baked the coconut cake again, this time swapping the crushed pineapple for lime zest and juice and coconut cream. We have already sampled the cake, and it is lovely. Uff, a sigh of relief.

Coconut rum cake
Ingredients:
zest of 1 lime
200g caster sugar
4 medium eggs
150g self-raising flour
1tsp baking powder
50g cornflour
a pinch of salt
50ml coconut rum
180g butter, melted
30g coconut cream

juice of 1/2 lime
for frosting:
100g icing sugar
60g coconut cream
1tbsp coconut rum
1/2 Bounty bar, sliced and fresh coconut pieces to decorate

In a big mixing bowl mix the sugar and lime zest. Beat in the eggs, one at a time. Sift in the flour, baking powder and cornflour and mix well. Add a pinch of salt, coconut rum, melted butter and coconut cream, as well as lime juice. Mix together until you get smooth consistency. The batter is a bit on the runny side.

Pour the cake batter inside the spring cake tin, which has been lined with oiled foil.
Place the tin in the oven preheated to 180C. Bake for about 40+ minutes, check if it's ready with a wooden toothpick.
Once cooked, take the cake out and let it cool on the wire rack before adding the frosting.
For the frosting beat the icing sugar, coconut cream and rum together. Spread the frosting over the cake and decorate with a chopped Bounty bar and fresh coconut chunks, sliced thinly.

I have used an Avocado oil cooking spray, which was one of the products in the latest Degustabox. It is part of the Fry Light range. I have tried the Olive oil Frylight before. Both flavours contain only 1kcal per spray. It is good to coat the inside of cake tins evenly.

Coconut, banana and white chocolate cupcakes

"What can I say? I've never met a cupcake I didn't want to get to know better",
Jasinda Wilder, Big Girls Do It Better

And while I met my share of both delightful and horrid cupcakes - school fetes and fayres come to mind - I do enjoy baking them for my guys. Talking of fairs, recently Eddie's school ran a competition between three classes on which class will bake the most cupcakes for their fundraising project, so for three Fridays there were cupcake sales hosted by each class. Some "creative" cook decided that multi-coloured cupcakes are all the rage, but rather than adding a few drops of food colouring to the dough, she clearly added the whole bottle.
Thankfully, Eddie fancied an innocent-looking doughnut, but I did buy a jazzy-looking little horror to take home for Sasha. Don't know why but I thought he might enjoy it (I obviously haven't seen the inside, or I would have never bought it). Sasha peeled off the paper case, took one look at the alien cupcake and put it back into my hand: You eat that. I didn't. It ended up in the bin.
My friend's son though wasn't so lucky, Mummy bought it for him, and he ended up with the cramps and green runny poo. Now, whenever there is a mention of cupcakes, Eddie likes to remind me "Do you remember when J had a green poo?". Apologies if my post has put you off your cuppa, but as a Mum of boys, these days I don't bat a lid when the talk turns gross.

And on this jolly note let's proceed to the nicer aspects of baking.

Coconut, banana and white chocolate cupcakes
Ingredients:
1 banana, mashed
2 eggs
150g caster sugar
80g coconut oil, melted and cooled
100g self-raising flour
50g cornflour
1tsp baking powder
1tbsp shredded coconut
2tbsp ground almonds
juice of 1/2 orange
frosting:
1 white chocolate bar (I used Green & Black's)
2tbsp coconut oil
Mash a banana with a fork, and beat together 2 eggs with caster sugar and coconut oil. Add the flour and baking powder, shredded coconut, ground almonds and juice of half an orange, and mix well.
Spoon the cake batter into paper cases inserted into a cupcake tin. Place the tray in the oven, preheated to 180C, and bake for about 15 minutes. Check readiness with a wooden toothpick.
Take the tray out and let the cupcake cool a little before decorating.
Melt a white chocolate bar with 2tbsp of coconut oil over a boiling water bath. Pour the chocolate mix over the cupcakes and decorate with whichever toppings you fancy: cherries, coconut chunks, marshmallows or jelly beans.

Since I used the remains of the coconut and ground almonds in this recipe, I'm adding my recipe to #KitchenClearout linky run by Cheryl on Madhouse Family Reviews.

Aloo egg curry

It's been raining all day on Thursday. We even had a bit of a hail in the afternoon. Then the sun poked out for a bit before going back behind the rain clouds. My boys and I stayed at home all day. Eddie insisted on having fusilli with ketchup for dinner, Sash had his own usual meal. I fancied a meat-free dinner. Having rummaged in the kitchen, I came up with a plan of cooking a potato and egg curry.

Potato and egg curry
Ingredients:
3 eggs, hard-boiled
2 big potatoes, parboiled
2tbsp olive oil
1 medium leek, finely chopped
2 celery stalks, sliced thinly
1/2tsp ground cumin
1 clove of garlic, finely chopped
1/2tsp ground ginger
1tsp garam masala powder
salt and black pepper
2 medium tomatoes, chopped
160ml coconut cream

Cook potatoes in boiling salted water. Drain potatoes, let them cool before cutting into big cubes.
Cook the eggs to hard-boiled, once cooked, peel the eggs and quarter them.
In a deep frying pan fry the celery and leek in the olive oil, with the added garlic and spices. Cook for about 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Add the chopped tomatoes, and cook for another 5 minutes, stirring.
Add the cubed potatoes and coconut cream, mix well with the curry sauce, cook for a couple of minutes, finally add the eggs, and stir for a minute.
Serve hot.

It's a quick and easy vegetarian dish.

Ayam Areh (chicken in coconut milk)

If you read Madhouse Family Reviews blog often, you must know just how adventurous Cheryl is when it comes to cooking. Last summer she cooked Ayam Areh (chicken in coconut milk with Indonesian spices), and I thought how brave she was in trying such an exotic recipe. Well, my turn has come.
The Kitchen Trotter food subscription box is Indonesian-themed this month (see my previous post on trying Gado Gado salad).

The recipe requires several authentic ingredients which you can find in Kitchen Trotter box - combava leaves, Terasi shrimp paste, kemiri nuts and lemongrass powder.
Having read Cheryl's post, I was very careful to have the nuts cooked properly. Apparently if you eat them raw, you might suffer from "an explosive malfunction" to put it kindly.
Kemiri nuts look like big sized hazelnuts or macadamia nuts, but the taste is different. It is mostly used ground and cooked.
Also a word of warning: if possible, keep the windows open in the kitchen - the shrimp paste has a very pungent smell (this is a euphemism for stinky very smelly). I could smell it the next morning. I do buy the fish sauce for Asian stir fries, but this is 10 times stronger smell-wise.

Ayam Areh (recipe courtesy of Kitchen Trotter)
Ingredients:
4 Combava leaves (aka kaffir lime leaves)
1 tbsp shrimp paste (Terasi - Ams Koe Poe)
5 Kemiri nuts (Epices et Delices & Kitchen Trotter)
1tbsp lemongrass powder (Terre Exotique & Kitchen Trotter)

2-3 chicken breasts
2 bay leaves
2tbsp vegetable oil
2tbsp brown sugar
400ml coconut milk
3 onions
3 cloves of garlic
1tbsp fresh coriander, finely chopped
1 cube chicken stock
salt & pepper
rice to serve

In a mixer mix the onions, garlic, kemiri nuts and shrimp paste. When a semiliquid paste is obtained, keep aside.
Bring 20ml of water to boil in a saucepan, add the stock cube, stir well and set aside.
Dice the chicken and brown on all sides in a deep frying pan with oil. Cook for about 5 minutes. Pour in the paste and stir for a couple of minutes.
 (bring out your chemical warfare gas mask, sorry, couldn't resist)
Add the coconut milk, the stock and stir well. Add the brown sugar, bay leaves and combava leaves (slightly crush them in your fingers to release the flavour), the lemongrass powder, coriander and stir well.
Season with salt and pepper.
Simmer on low for about 45 minutes, until the sauce thickens. Stir regularly.
Serve with rice.

I already mentioned the strong smell. Now let's mention the appearance. Let's just say that the overall result (and it could be entirely my fault) was not exactly an Instagram material. I even said Sorry to my DH.
The sauce looks pale brown and sloppy.

I braced myself and had my first forkful. And then I was pleasantly surprised. This dish is very nice indeed. Despite the smell and the looks, don't dismiss it. It is very flavourful and tasty.
I'm glad I cooked this dish, as it was quite a revelation.

As much as I enjoyed the dish, I don't think I'm brave enough to use more of the shrimp paste jar.
Any takers?
Did you try this recipe, and what did you think of it?

Disclosure: I received a Kitchen Trotter food box for the purposes of testing the recipes and reviewing. All opinions are mine.

Coconut milk blini

My guys love pancakes in all guises, call them crepes, crespelle or blini. Quite often, as soon as I get up at the weekend, Eddie will make a cute innocent-begging face and ask me to cook pancakes for breakfast. As it is such a simple and quick meal to prepare, I often treat them to a little stash. Some days I cook proper big-sized pancakes, some days little Russian-style blini. And they all disappear faster than I can make them.

I use the word blini rather than blinis because in Russian blini means pancakes in plural, so blinis as a word is totally wrong, it's a double plural.

Coconut milk blini (makes 16)
Ingredients:
2 medium eggs
1tsp caster sugar
1tbsp soured cream
80g self-raising flour
100ml coconut milk
butter

Beat the eggs with a bit of sugar and soured cream, add the flour, keep mixing until you get thick smooth consistency. Then add the milk and whisk again. The batter is quite liquid.
Butter a pancake pan and fry for a couple of minutes on each side.
Serve hot, with whatever toppings you fancy - honey, soured cream, maple syrup, jam and cream, sliced bananas and whipped cream.

In this recipe I used a Koko Dairy Free Original coconut milk, which was part of the last Degustabox. Usually I add semi-skimmed milk. Coconut milk gave a slightly sweeter flavour to blini than the plain milk, but overall it's a good substitute for milk if you don't do dairy (obviously skip the soured cream if you are dairy-intolerant, and use coconut oil instead of butter).