A Feast of Serendib by Mary Anne Mohanraj #BlogTour an exclusive recipe from the book & giveaway

I'm a little bit embarrassed to say just how many cook books I have. Let's just say, enough to stock a small library.
Yet a new cook book is always a cause of excitement.

A Feast of Serendib by Mary Anne Mohanraj is a type of cook book I enjoy to read, as it's not just a selection of recipes, but a story of the author's ethnic background and family history including old photos and lovely snippets of personal stories related to recipes. You get to know the author, as she describes her favourite food and her family history.

Synopsis:
Dark roasted curry powder, a fine attention to the balance of salty-sour-sweet, wholesome red rice and toasted curry leaves, plenty of coconut milk and chili heat. These are the flavors of Sri Lanka.
Sri Lanka was a cross roads in the sea routes of the East. Three waves of colonization - Portuguese, Dutch and British - and the Chinese laborers who came with them, left their culinary imprint on Sri Lankan food. Sri Lankan cooking with is many vegetarian dishes gives testimony to the presence of a multi-ethic and multi-religious population.

Everyday classics like beef smoore and Jaffna crab curry are joined by luxurious feast dishes, such as nargisi kofta and green mango curry, once served to King Kasyapa in his 5th century sky place of Sigiriya.

Vegetable dishes include cashew curry, jackfruit curry, asparagus poriyal, tempered lentils, broccoli varai and lime-masala mushrooms. There are appetizers of chili-mango cashews, prawn lentil patties, fried mutton rolls, and ribbon tea sandwiches. Deviled chili eggs bring the heat, yet ginger-garlic chicken is mild enough for a small child. Desserts include Sri Lankan favourites: love cake, mango fluff, milk toffee and vattalappam, a richly spiced coconut custard.

In A Feast of Serendib, Mary Anne Mohanraj introduces her mother's cooking and her own Americanizations, providing a wonderful introduction to Sril Lankan American cooking, straightforward enough for a beginner, and nuanced enough to capture the flavor of Sri Lankan cooking.

Review:
Mary Anne started writing a Sri Lankan cook book as a present for her Mum, writing down some of her recipes. Her mother had had to make many adaptations when she came to the States in 1973, for example, using a tomato ketchup instead of coconut milk. Then Mary Anne herself kept changing the recipes further, adapting them to her tastes.
As Mary Anne says in the Introduction: "But I try to accept the truth, that I will likely never cook exactly how homeland Sri Lankans would. My adaptations of my mother's adaptations are still tasty".

Let's look at the list of contents:
Appetizers and Snacks
Eggs, Poultry and Meat contents
Fish and Seafood
Vegetables
Accompaniments
Grains
Drinks
Sweets

There is a good selection of recipes for meat eaters and vegetarians. I had a quick look at the section with Vegetable dishes (22 recipes), and most of them include coconut milk, and no dairy, so are suitable for vegans as well.

There are a couple of recipes in this section which include a Maldive fish as one of the optional ingredients. It is a staple of the Sri Lankan cuisine, but obviously that would change the recipes from vegetarian to pescatarian. I have tried to google for the vegetarian/vegan substitute for the Maldive fish, and it looks like a dark miso might be a possible candidate, but don't take my word for it. I haven't tried Maldive fish, so am not an expert on its taste or alternatives.

This book celebrates the best of the Sri Lankan cuisine.

I have bookmarked several recipes to try, like Milk toffee with cashews, Golden rice pilaf, green mango curry, mango pickle and others.

So far I have tried only one recipe from the book - Cashew Curry, which is a rich vegetarian/vegan dish. It would be great as part of a curry night, with several different curry dishes to mix and match.

I'm looking forward to expanding my curry repertoire. The recipes in the book seem easy to follow, and there are lots of little tips on the possible alternatives, if you cannot source the right ingredients.

This is a book for everyone who would like to be able to cook real Sri Lankan food. It includes a comprehensive and fascinating collection of mouthwatering recipes. Lovingly compiled, this cook book will appeal to both amateurs and committed foodies.

My only slight niggle is that I would have liked more photos in the book, as for me they are often the first thing which draws me to a recipe.
Another thing to keep in mind: as the cook book is written by an American author, the measurements are also American (i.e. cups, stick etc).

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I have an exclusive recipe for Ginger Garlic Chicken from the book.

Ginger-Garlic Chicken (recipe reproduced with permission from the publisher)
(30-90 minutes, serves 6-8)

The timing on this is so variable because you can either do it the long way described below, the way my mother recommends, which is definitely a bit tastier - or you can do a much faster version, where you mix the spices with the chicken, skip the marinating, and then just sauté the chicken in the pan on medium-high until cooked through and serve. I use both methods, mostly depending on how much of a hurry I'm in. Regardless of which method you use, this dish is best served fresh; if it sits, the chicken will tend to dry up and not be as tasty.
NOTE: This is my daughter's favourite chicken dish, and one she always greets with delight; she started eating it when she was about five, with no added chili powder. Over time, I've added a little more chilli powder when feeding it to both kids, serving with milk to help them along, you can also use black pepper if you'd prefer.

Photo credits: Mary Anne Mohanraj

Ingredients:
1 heaping tsp ginger powder
1 heaping tsp garlic powder
1 heaping tsp turmeric
1 tsp salt
12 chicken thighs, about 2 lbs, deboned and cut bite-size
vegetable oil for frying
1/2 to 2 heaping tsp red chili powder (to taste, optional)

1. Mix first four spices in a large bowl, add chicken pieces and rub with your hands until well coated. Marinate 1/2 hour.
2. Heat oil on high; add chili powder (if using) and cook 15 seconds, stirring.
3. Add chicken and sear on high, turning to brown all sides.
4. Reduce heat to low and cover; cook approximately 15-20 minutes, until meat is cooked through.
5. Uncover and cook until all the liquid is gone.
6. Tilt pan and push chicken pieces to one side; allow excess oil to drain to one side for 5 minutes. Remove chicken to dish and serve hot.

NOTE: If reheating a day or two later, I recommend reheating in a pan with a little coconut milk; just simmer 5-10 minutes, enough for the milk to thicken with the spices into a nice sauce. Or serve dry chicken with a nice coconut-milky vegetable curry, like carrot or beetroot curry.

About the Author:
Mary Anne Mohanraj is the author of Bodies in Motion (HarperCollins), The Stars Change (Circlet Press) and 13 other titles. Bodies in Motion was a finalist for the Asian American Book Awards, a USA Today Notable Book, and has been translated into six languages. The Stars Change was a finalist for the Lambda, Rainbow, and Bisexual Book Awards.
Monhanraj founded the Hugo-nominated and World Fantasy Award-winning speculative literature magazine, Strange Horizons, and also founded Jaggery, as S.Asian & S.Asian diaspora literary journal.
She received a Breaking Barriers Award from the Chicago Foundation for Women for her work in Asian American art organizing, won and Illinois Arts Council Fellowship in Prose, and was Guest of Honour at WisCon. She serves as Director of two literary organisations, DesiLit and The Speculative Literature Foundation. She serves on the futurist boards of the Xprize and Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry.

Mohanraj is Clinical Associate Professor of English at the University of Illinois in Chicago, and lives in a creaky old Victorian in Oak Park, just outside Chicago, with her husband, their two small children, and a sweet dog. Recent publications include stories for George R.R. Martin's Wild Cards series, stories at Clarkesworld, Asimov's, and Lightspeed, and an essay in Roxane Gay's Unruly Bodies. 2017-18 titles include Survivor (a SF/F anthology), Perennial, Invisible 3 (co-edited with Jim C. Hines), and Vegan Serendib.

Social Media Links
Facebook - Mary A. Mohanraj
Twitter - @mamohanraj
Instagram - @maryannemohanraj
Website: www.maryannmohanraj.com and http://serendibkitchen.com

Disclosure: Many thanks to Mary Anne Mohanraj, Serendib Press and Rachel's Random Resources for my copy of the book!

This post is part of the blog tour, you can discover more recipes from the book here, for example, a recipe for a vegetarian Beet curry on ShortBookandScribes:

Giveaway:
If you enjoy exploring the world cuisines and love the sound of this book, the lovely people from Serendib Press have offered an e-copy of A Feast of Serendib as a giveaway prize for my blog readers.

T&Cs:
1. The giveaway is open internationally.
2. Giveaway ends on 3 July 2019 (midnight).
3. To be in with a chance of winning, please leave a comment, answering a question:
Have you tried Sri Lankan food, and what is your favourite Sri Lankan dish? (If you haven't tried, which dish would you like to try first?)
4. If you are leaving a comment as Anon, make sure there is your name or username so that I can get in touch with you. If you have a Twitter name, that's the easiest way to contact you if you win.
5. I will contact the winner regarding their email address after the closing date. If they do not reply within 7 days, the prize will be allocated to another person.

Good luck!

Sweet and sour peppers (agrodolce di peperoni)

I was planning a meat-free menu for our Italian guests last weekend and browsing online for ideas for side dishes that would go with the main which was a baked risotto layered cake. I wanted to cook a dish with sweet peppers, and needed something hassle-free as the main was rather time-consuming.

Gennaro Contaldo's Agrodolce di peperoni on Good Food Channel looked easy and simple. Actually the Russians cook something similar with sweet peppers, only without anchovies. The Southern Russian cuisine is an amalgam of its southern and western neighbours, with the flavour influences from Moldova, Romania, Ukraine, and of course the Greek and Jewish communities from the Crimea.

I have slightly adapted the recipe, changing the method - cooking in the oven rather than fried - but the changes are minor (for a full recipe see the link above)

Sweet and sour peppers
Ingredients:
4tbsp olive oil (2 +2)
3 sweet peppers (red, orange and yellow), deseeded and cut into big slices
2 anchovies
1 clove of garlic
a handful of olives stuffed with garlic
1tbsp salted capers, rinsed
1tbsp caster sugar
2tbsp apple cider vinegar

Slice the peppers in half, deseed them and then slice each half into 3-4 pieces. Place the pepper in a deep ceramic dish or tray, drizzle with 2 tbsp of oil and place the dish in the oven preheated to 180C for about 25 minutes.
Heat 2tbsp of the olive oil in a frying pan, add the anchovies and garlic, and fry the garlic for about 3-4 minutes. Remove from the heat.
Add the sliced olives, capers, sugar and vinegar and mix into the peppers which should be cooked through by now. Leave the peppers in the oven, which has been turned off.
You can eat these peppers warm or cold. They make a tasty side dish, or a snack to go with cheese and bread.

You don't need salt, as the anchovies give it a salty taste. For a vegetarian version, omit the anchovies. I have searched online what's the best substitute for anchovies in vegetarian dishes, and there is a product called an umeboshi paste. I haven't used it myself, so cannot say what it tastes like, but apparently chefs use it in vegetarian recipes. I'll see if I can find it locally.
Does anyone use it, and would you recommend it?

I used the remains of Willy's Apple Cider Vinegar, which was one of the products in the January Degustabox. It's a tasty vinegar from the Herefordshire countryside.
It adds a lovely sour note to the peppers.
If you don't have this vinegar, any good apple cider vinegar will work well.

Pea pesto spaghetti

When the weather outside is grey and miserable, there's nothing better than coming home to a hot comfort meal. Pasta is nearly everyone's favourite. It's quick, delicious and easy to adapt to any diet preference.
The latest Degustabox's bounty included a pack of Delverde spaghetti (£1.99). This is a premium durum wheat semolina pasta, made with a rough surface to better hold sauce.
It is traditionally made in the area around the river Verde, which flows through the Majella National Park, in the Abruzzo region of Italy.

We love fresh pesto, it is so easy to make, and you can play with the ingredients, choosing different cheese, nuts or herbs.
Pesto made from fresh peas has a vibrant green colour.

This pasta dish will be enjoyed by vegetarians (if you use a vegetarian cheese) and meat eaters alike. I'm not sure what's the best substitute for cheese, if you're a vegan. Possibly skip cheese alternatives altogether, and use more nuts, like cashews. All the vegan cheese alternatives that I've tried so far are pretty grim, they taste nothing like cheese (and even those which are supposedly the award-winning ones).
Just want to add that Grana is not a vegetarian cheese, as it's made using a cow's rennet. I googled, and if you want a more authentic Italian recipes, you can use Italian cheese like aged Asiago or Romano.

Pea pesto spaghetti:
200g fresh peas
25g fresh basil leaves
1 clove of garlic (or more)
50g pine nuts
50g Grana Padano cheese or a vegetarian hard cheese
90ml olive oil
50g+ dried spaghetti per person

Place all the ingredients except oil in a deep bowl and blitz with a blender (or use a food processor). Pour the olive oil, and keep blending, until you get a smooth pesto.

Serve stirred into cooked spaghetti.

This pesto will keep well in an airtight container in the fridge for 2-3 days. It can also be frozen.

Very garlicky roast peppers

I'm still catching up on the last weekend's stash of newspapers. Reading Feast magazine while sipping my coffee, I nodded in agreement with Fiona Beckett who wisely says "I know it's an unfashionable view these days, but January is not a time for abstention. Moderation maybe, but no booze at all? That makes an already miserable month even more dismal."

It's not that we drink much. Certainly not on par with numerous Insta and Twitter posts, announcing it's Gin o'clock to the world. A couple of days ago, when I was sorting out the recycling, I realised we only had 2 empty bottles to put in the black box after Christmas - from the sweet dessert wine we opened for Christmas, and Aperol, which my husband has been drinking for a while and only just finished. Nothing like the full, overflowing black bins some of our neighbours have. They must have been partying at full steam (she says wistfully, remembering the parties of old.)

As it's an Orthodox Christmas today, I asked my husband to open the bottle of prosecco yesterday night. I bought a set of The Modern Cocktail Champagne Toppers (in 4 flavours) in Lakeland (reduced to £3.49), and was curious to try it. Alas, two flavours we have tried were rather disappointing. If I had to pay a full price, I'd be pretty peeved.

Then on the 14th the Russians will be celebrating the so called Old New Year (the start of the new year according to the Julian calendar). It's not a formal holiday, but is traditionally observed with parties and having family get-togethers. I might raise a glass of something like G&T to mark the occasion.

So, not a Dry January for me then.

And while we don't do the Veganuary either, here I am with yet another vegetable recipe.
The original recipe appeared as one of the recipes of the day on the Russian food site Povarionok, which I mentioned recently. The author of the Fried peppers à la Odessa says his grandma used to cook the sweet peppers like that. The origins of the recipe are from Odessa, a port city on the Black sea, in what is now Ukraine. The cuisine is heavily influenced by the Greek and Jewish heritage.

I have slightly adapted the recipe. The original recipe asks for 6 cloves of garlic. I used 3, and even then found it way too garlicky. I think 2 would be better, unless you are a garlic fiend, then go full Monty.

Very garlicky roast peppers
Ingredients:
about 6 Romano (long-pointy red) peppers
3 cloves of garlic, minced
2tbsp olive oil
1tbsp apple cider vinegar
1/2tsp sea salt
1/2tsp black pepper, ground
1/2tsp caster sugar (optional)

First roast (or fry) the sweet/Romano peppers, sliced in half and drizzled with 1tbsp of oil, for about 20 minutes. Take the peppers out, put in a bowl, cover it with a cling film or plastic bag, and let them cool. Peel off the skins and discard.
In the meantime make the garlic paste - crush the garlic using a garlic press, add the salt, and combine together, then add the oil, vinegar, black pepper and a pinch of sugar and mix well.
Mix the peppers with the garlic paste, cover the bowl, and place it in the fridge for 3-4 hours (or longer).

It is tasty with plain boiled potatoes or rice.
Be warned though - if you are planning to go on a date, don't eat these peppers.

Freekeh with aubergine and cashews

Since my husband announced he doesn't eat meat any longer, I started  searching for more varied vegetarian meals rather than the usual suspects like pasta, pizza or soups.
I have a huge library of cook books, yet I could never resist looking at newly published cook books.

New Classics by Marcus Wareing (Harper Collins) has a selection of attractive recipes, and I might buy it, once it appears in The Book people or Sainsbury's.

One of the recipes which has caught my eye was a Vegan aubergine, freekeh and cashew tagine (you can find the full recipe at Great British Chefs site).

I have adapted the recipe, skipping some ingredients, and adding the other. The overall dish is a tasty and flavourful vegetarian/vegan meal, so many thanks to Marcus for the inspiring recipe (please check out his full recipe and step by step, following the link above).

I have never cooked freekeh before, and didn't know what to expect, but taste-wise it is similar to the Italian grain farro.

Freekeh with aubergine and cashews (serves 4-5)
Ingredients:
100g cashew nuts
200g freekeh
a good glug of mild olive oil
1 big onion, finely chopped
2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1 big tomato, sliced (optional)
1tbsp ginger paste
2tbsp tomato paste
400ml of passata
1tbsp balsamic vinegar
250ml vegetable stock (made with 2tsp of vegetable bouillon powder)
a big handful of raisins, or sultanas
a handful of dried apricots, chopped (optional)
2 aubergines, skinned and cubed
1tbsp maple syrup (optional)
fresh mint leaves
sea salt
for the spice mix:
2tbsp ground cumin
1tbsp fennel seeds
1tsp coriander seeds
2tsp ground turmeric
1tsp ground cinnamon
1tsp smoked paprika
1/2tsp sea salt
2tbsp plain flour

First place the cashews in the oven preheated to 180C and bake for about 6 minutes until golden.
Remove from the oven, chop and set aside.
Cook the freekeh following the instructions on the box in 500ml water, for half of the stated time. I didn't drain it, as there was not much liquid left.
In a deep frying pan heat up 2tbsp of olive oil and add the chopped onion, saute for about 10 minutes, stirring frequently, then add the garlic and ginger paste and cook for another 3-4 minutes.
Add the tomato paste and passata (I used Cirio), a chopped tomato, vegetable stock, vinegar, chopped apricots and raisins.

The original recipe asks you to heat fry the spices and then crush them with a mortar and pestle. I used the spices without crushing them.
Mix together all the spices with salt and plain flour, and pour them over skinned and cubed aubergines, and mix well so that the aubergine is coated on all sides.

In a deep frying pan heat up the oil (a very generous glug, as aubergines soak up the oil, and not the suggested 2tbsp, that wouldn't be enough). Cook the aubergines, stirring frequently for about 10 minutes.

Pour the tomato and onion sauce over the aubergines and add the freekeh. Mix well, bring to boil, then lower the heat and cook on low for about an hour, stirring often, until the grain is soft.
Serve hot, with a few chopped cashews on top and a bit of chopped mint (coriander or flat leaf parsley).
While the freekeh was cooking, I tried the sauce and found it slightly on the sour side. I was debating in my mind whether to add a teaspoon of sugar or maple syrup, and opted for the maple syrup.

I have completely skipped saffron and black treacle from the recipe. Black treacle has such an overpowering taste, I don't think it would necessarily work in this recipe, though it would add a sweet note. And saffron would also quite disappear among the other strong spices.

Cashews could possibly be swapped for flaked almonds. If you cannot find freekeh, use quinoa or farro.

In this recipe I used Greenwheat Freekeh from Artisan grains which I found in the local health shop.
It is lightly toasted, cracked grains of young wheat with a distinct nutty taste. It is a source of fibre and is high in protein. This re-discovered ancient grain is one of the latest food trends.

Have you tried freekeh? Which other recipes using this grain would you recommend?

Roasted and Stuffed Butternut Squash with Brown Basmati, Quinoa & Goat's Cheese

There are many reasons why people pick January to set up new resolutions. And then not stick to them, or stick for a little while to abandon later. I don't want to run with the crowd and have given up on taking resolutions a long time ago.
I do know it would be much better for me to cut down on caffeine, chocolate and generally reduce the calorie intake, but I also know that I won't stick to any particular plan. Ideally I'd love to lose some weight, so we'll see, but no resolutions...

If, however, you decided to eat healthier and get more fibre, you might have thought of alternative grains like quinoa. If you take brown rice, it houses more fibre than white rice, while quinoa wins with even higher content of fibre.
Quinoa has quite an acquired taste. While appreciating its health benefits, I am not that keen on pure quinoa. But if it is mixed with the other grains or rice, plus added vegetables, then the quinoa takes on their flavours.

Tilda rice has a selection of steamed basmati and quinoa like brown steamed basmati rice & quinoa, quinoa pumpkin & sunflower seeds steamed basmati rice as well as vegetables & quinoa.

Last week I have tried a wonderfully moreish recipe for Roasted and Stuffed Butternut Squash as created by Dr Sarah Schenker for the Tilda Genuine Goodness initiative. It was so delicious, that I am going to cook it again soon.

Roasted and Stuffed Butternut Squash (recipe courtesy of Tilda rice)
Serves 4
Prep time 15 mins
Cooking time 1 hour 15 mins
Ingredients:
1-2 pouches of Tilda TSB Wholegrain Roasted Vegetable or Wholegreain, Quinoa, Pumpkin & Sunflower
1 large butternut squash
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
2tbsp butter
drizzle olive oil
75g walnut pieces, roughly chopped
200g goats cheese, diced or mashed
2tsp fresh thyme leaves, chopped (or dried)
1tbsp honey

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 190C. Cut the squash in half lengthways and scoop out the seeds and soft fibres. Place on a baking tray, add the garlic and 1tbsp butter to each cavity. Drizzle with oil, season well and place in the oven. Bake for 60 minutes until the flesh is soft.
2. Scoop out some of the cooked flesh and juices into a large bowl, leaving a 1cm layer of squash attached to the skin so the squash keeps its shape.
3. Heat the rice according to pack instructions.
4. roughly mash the butternut, stir in the rice with the thyme, most of the walnuts and cheese, season with salt and pepper.
5. Spoon the filling back into the squash halves and scatter the remaining cheese and walnuts.
6. Drizzle with honey and bake for another 15 minutes.
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Now that's how I cooked it. It's not very easy to cut a butternut squash, as it is pretty hard. The way I do it is wrap the squash in foil whole, and cook in the oven for half an hour at 180C. Take it out of the oven, let it cool and then cut in half and scoop the seeds and fibres. Much easier.
I then spread the minced garlic, olive oil and salt mix over the open halves, and put back in the oven to cook for another 25 minutes.
Take out of the oven, scoop the soft flesh into a bowl, leaving a 1cm rim around the squash, to make a container for squash and rice mix. Add the chopped walnuts, dried thyme, goats cheese and mix well. Ladle the contents back into the squash halves, back in the oven for 15 minutes. Drizzle with honey before serving.

The butternut squash I used was about 900g in weight, it wasn't big enough to use two pouches of Tilda rice. Depending on the size of the squash you choose and the number of people you are cooking, you might want to increase the amount of rice, or reduce it.

I used Tilda Brown Basmati & Quinoa which includes natural brown basmati rice, natural yellow and red quinoa, sunflower oil, vegetable stock powder (rice flour, salt, onions, parsnips, carrots, olive oil, turmeric, parsley). Like all Tilda products, it is free from artificial colours, flavours and preservatives. Quinoa adds a bit of crunch and nuttiness to the rice mix, but doesn't overpower it.

If quinoa doesn't rock your boat, any Tilda basmati rice would work in this recipe. We love the coconut flavoured basmati rice mixes from Tilda, and jasmine (dry rice, not steamed) is fabulous too.

You might have seen Tilda rice ads in the magazines recently. Just this weekend I spotted them in the Guardian and Observer magazines. They show brand new Genuine Goodness packaging, expressing all the goodness of naturally gluten-free, low GI basmati.
I like the new design of packaging, with stylised hands made of rice. The new designs are colourful and modern-looking.

For more hearty recipes and information on the Genuibe Goodness initiative, visit Tilda where you can download the Big Hearted cookbook, created by Sarah Schenker exclusively for Tilda.

Disclosure: I received a selection Of Tilda rice for the purposes of testing the recipe. All opinions are our own.

Portuguese-style chicken for World Cup

To continue with our World Cup foodie challenge, I am cooking today a Portuguese-style chicken meal. Apart from cooking a themed meal, I am giving myself a break from football and plan to go to bed early after a couple of mini-disasters in the kitchen. We had guests around lunch time today. And while the grown-ups were chatting in the garden, my little man and his new friend sneaked into the kitchen and placed a lemon, a bowl of grapes and 1/3 of a bottle of olive oil in the washing machine and switched it on. When I realised they were too quiet and went to have a look at what was going on, I found them gigging in the kitchen, while the washing machine was blinking alarmingly. I have stopped it, and later gave it an eco-wash, so far it looks like working. Then later in the evening, as I left the anchovies tin on the kitchen counter, I discovered that my older son has disposed of them by tipping the tin in the sink, and pouring the washing liquid over it, just in case (maybe he thought they need washing because they smell?).

Portuguese-style chicken
Ingredients:
4 chicken thighs
2tbsp olive oil
juice and zest of 1 lime
juice of 1/2 orange
1tsp brown sugar
1 pot of Knorr Flavour Pot/garlic (or use 1heaped tbsp of finely chopped garlic)
chilli flakes (as hot as you like it)
1tsp paprika
sea salt
2 anchovies (optional)
to serve with lemon wedges and salad of tomatoes, cucumber, avocado, gem lettuce and olives, drizzled with a dressing of lemon juice, olive oil and Maille mustard.

Mix the olive oil with the zest and juice of 1 lime, half an orange, brown sugar, Knorr Flavour Pot (Garlic), chilli flakes (I added a small pinch, if you like it hot, adjust the quantities), 1tsp of paprika in a medium bowl. Place the chicken thighs in and coat them well. Leave in the fridge to marinade for a couple of hours.
Put the chicken thighs in a baking/roasting dish, and pour the marinade over them. Add a couple of anchovies to the sauce.

While the chicken dish had Portuguese origins, the salad was just a mish-mash of whatever I had in the kitchen, it was vaguely Southern European, with a bit of a Mediterranean spice sumac. I just didn't fancy any more stodge like potatoes or rice. But I think this chicken dish would be lovely with home-made potato wedges or roast sweet potatoes with orange wedges.

Chris from Cooking Around the World has challenged the foodies to take part in a culinary-football-themed game this month. Read all about the rules of the game in his linky Bloggers Around the World.

Cevapi for the World Cup kick off

To celebrate the World Cup kick off today, when Brazil plays the opening match with Croatia, I have cooked a Croatian recipe Cevapi, and we'll raise a glass of a Brazilian beer too.

I have come across the cevapi recipes in last week's Family section of the Guardian (see Cevapi with Mum'sAjvar, sorry cannot post the link, as you have to pay for it now. Since when did the Guardian started charging for the online version?). There was also another Cevapi recipe in the Jamie Oliver magazine, which thankfully you can read online).
My version is a mix of both, with some adjustments.

Cevapi
Ingredients:
500g minced beef
400g pork sausage meat
3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1tsp paprika
100g pancetta, finely chopped
1tsp baking powder
5 leaves of fresh sage, chopped
1tsp mixed herbs (with marjoram)

Mix the minced beef with the pork sausage meat in a big bowl. I used the sausage meat rather than the minced pork because I simply couldn't find any while doing my grocery shopping, and had no time to go elsewhere. Crush the garlic cloves through the press and add to the meat. Add the paprika, very finely chopped pancetta, baking power (not quite sure why, typically I never add it to the meatballs or burgers), herbs and mix well.
Place a bowl of cold water next to you on the working surface. Divide the meat into 12+ pieces, and using your hands shape them into mini torpedoes.
Or just plain burgers.
As I was shaping the first few torpedoes, my younger son watched me and commented: "Mummy, they look like poo".
Not quite the effect I was after. But he had a point. So, I made 6 torpedoes and 9 mini burgers to have a more aesthetic appearance.

Preheat the grill and cook the burgers/torpedoes on the oiled grill for at least 15 minutes, turning occasionally.
You could also cook them on the BBQ for the smoked flavour.
Serve with Ajvar, i.e. an aubergine relish. I was dead sure we had a jar at home, but it turned out I have a jar of Luteniza which is much spicier than Ajvar.
So, I am going to serve the cevapi with a bit of Luteniza and some roasted butternut squash sprinkled with cinnamon.

Are you planning to celebrate the World Cup?

Chris from Cooking Around the World has challenged the foodies to take part in a culinary-football-themed game this month. Read all about the rules of the game in his linky Bloggers Around the World.

Check out the delicious Croatian recipes which Cheryl from Madhouse Family Reviews and Chris from Cooking Around the World have cooked today:
Kiflice
and
Fritule

Just Add range of squeezy tubes

I'm a busy Mum, and holidays are always a pretty hectic time for me, when both of my guys are at home and demand my attention. I'm not the biggest fan of takeaways or ready-made meals and prefer to cook most of our meals from scratch. As I don't want to compromise on taste or quality, I appreciate the shortcuts which allow me to spend less time in the kitchen and still prepare decent dishes. Just Add range of squeezy tubes consists of squeezy Ginger, Coriander, Basil, Chilli, Garlic and Sun Dried Tomato and is available from ASDA and OCADO.

I do grow my own herbs and have a chilli plant in the greenhouse. The problem with the chilli I have is it is pretty hot, so even one chilli turns the meals into a fire-eating experience. What do you do? use only half a chilli? The answer might be to use just the right amount of chilli paste from Just Add tube, it allows you to measure exactly as much as you like it to be. Some like it hot. Some, like me, are wimps and prefer a milder flavour.

And if you want to spend more time enjoying the garden or reading to your kids, "Just Add removes the fiddly task of chopping when cooking meaning that you can simply reach for the squeezy tube or one shot sachet to add your desired taste sensation".
The choice of squeezy tubes allows you to cook a wide selection of dishes, from many world cuisines.
Just perfect for a fuss free meal, full of flavours.

Pasta with clams is one of my most favourites types of pasta. Typically I would chop the fresh herbs like parsley or coriander, add the chopped garlic or onion and sometimes a bit of a chilli too (see my previous post Pasta with clams and sea beet). This time I was testing the squeezy tubes, using them instead of the fresh herbs.

Pasta with clams
Ingredients:
spaghetti (75-100g dry pasta per person)
clams (about 250g per person)
2tsp Just Add coriander
1tsp Just Add garlic
1tsp Just Add chilli
a handful of baby tomatoes
salt, pepper
80ml white wine

The other day I bought a bottle of Sicilian wine Inycon Terre Siciliane Fiano 2012. Having treated myself to a set of Montalbano books, I really fancied a bit of a Sicilian wine for dinner (we also had a guest coming). To be honest, I expected more from a bottle priced at £7.79. It was OKish but rather boring and totally forgettable. But it was fine for cooking. If you cook pasta with clams, choose a nice dry white wine.
Anyway, as usual, I digress.
Cook the clams in a deep pan (wash them first and check if they are all broken, if you find any broken shells, discard them.). Add the coriander, chilli and garlic and pour in the white wine. Scatter a few baby tomatoes around. Add the salt. Cook until all the clams are open (to speed up the cooking, you might put the lid on the pan). If any clams remain closed, discard them.
Cook the spaghetti as specified on the pack in the salted boiling water, it should still be al dente. Drain the pasta and mix it well with the clams in their sauce. Serve immediately.
Do not add any parmesan if you want an authentic flavour.

I have been enjoying "The snack thief" by Andrea Camilleri, and laughed aloud reading the scene when Montalbano has lunch with his second-in-command Mimi Augello:
"When the spaghetti arrived, Montalbano had fortunately finished his hake. Fortunately, because Mimi proceeded to sprinkle a generous helping of Parmesan cheese over his plate. Christ! Even a hyena, which, being a hyena, feeds on carrion, would have been sickened to see a dish of pasta with clam sauce covered with Parmesan!" (The Snack Thief, page 33)

I laughed because I think in the past I have committed the same "crime". Mea culpa.

If you have fresh herbs like parsley or coriander, scatter a few torn leaves on top.

Taste-wise, it was really good. Looks-wise, I think I would still like to see the freshly chopped herbs. Just Add squeezy herbs were a good substitute for the fresh herbs and delivered a flavourful meal, and it was completely fuss-free too.
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Another recipe that might inspire you to try Just Add squeezy tubes is
Chicken with kohlrabi and fennel

As I mentioned more than once on my blog, I am often having only a vague idea of what I am going to cook for dinner, it rather depends on what I have at my disposal or what catches my eye when I go shopping. I saw this pretty purple kohlrabi in Waitrose on offer, and got it for the chicken dish.

Chicken with kohlrabi and fennel
Ingredients:
4 chicken thighs
1 kohlrabi (a turnip could be a good substitute), chopped
1 fennel bulb, sliced
2 medium carrots
1 garlic bulb, divided into cloves
3 tbsp olive oil
2tbsp Just Add basil
1tbsp Just Add coriander
a handful of baby tomatoes
salt, pepper
1tsp freshly squeezed lemon juice

Chop all the veg. In a big tray place the chicken thighs and all the chopped veg. Scatter the tomatoes and garlic cloves. In a small bowl mix the oil, Just Add herbs, lemon juice and salt with pepper. Pour in the tray over the chicken and veg, mix well, all the pieces should be coated evently.
Place the tray in the oven preheated to 180C and cook for about 45mins-1 hour. Stir all the veg and chicken a couple of times when they are cooking, so that the food is browned evenly. Check that the chicken is cooked through with a wooden skewer.
If you don't have a kohlrabi or fennel, substitute with a turnip and a big onion, or add parsnips as well as baby potatoes. The choice is yours.
Just Add herbs add a lovely flavour to this easy dish.

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You could add the squeezy herbs to all sorts of dips and sauces.


Carrot and orange soup
Ingredients:
3 medium carrots
2tbsp red lentils
1 orange (juice)
1 small potato
1 vegetable stock cube
2tbsp Greek style yogurt (e.g. Chobani)
1tbsp Just Add Coriander

Roughly chop the carrots and put them in the medium sized pan with the chopped potato and red lentils. Add the stock cube as well, and a bit of salt if you want. Squeeze the juice of 1 orange and add to the soup. Once the carrot is cooked, blitz the soup until it is consistently creamy.
In a small bowl mix the plain yogurt with Just Add coriander (basil would work as well). When you serve the soup, add a generous dollop of the yogurt-coriander mix to the soup.
Very easy, light, low calorie and delightfully satisfying. All the flavours sing together, and the touch of yougurt with coriander adds a lovely sour and herby note to the sweet soup.

To find our more about this range, look at Just Add Facebook page.

Disclosure: I received a selection of Just Add Squeezy Tubes for the purposes of testing and reviewing. All opinions and recipe suggestions are mine.

Spring borscht with beet leaves and nettle

I was pondering whether to make this spring soup with just the beet leaves or fresh nettle tips from the garden, had some suggestions from foodie bloggers on Twitter and then decided to combine two ingredients as an experiment. I love freebies, and nettles come into that category. This plant is a totally free foodstuff which is easy to cook and which has more minerals and vitamins than spinach and broccoli.

Spring borscht with beet leaves and nettle 
Ingredients
2 beetroots, thinly sliced
leaves from 3 beets
a bunch of nettle tips (can't say a handful, ouch)
1 cube of vegetable stock
1 tbsp of Heinz tomato ketchup with balsamic vinegar (as my usual tomato paste has finished)
1 big tomato
1 small onion, finely chopped
3 cloves of black garlic (optional)
1 small carrot, sliced
1 medium potato, chopped
1tsp olive oil
1/2 tsp of sugar
spring onions, chopped
salt

Start by peeling the beets and slicing thinly. Fry them on low in the olive oil with the chopped onion until the onion is translucent. Put the beets and onion in a medium sized pan, cover with water and cook for about 30 minutes (at this stage the beet still has a bite to it, if you prefer it softer, then cook for longer).
My beetroots were delivered with the other veggies by Abel & Cole, and the green leaves were so fresh and nice looking, they are a lovely addition to any soup.
Add the chopped tomato, carrot, black garlic, 1 tbsp of tomato paste or Heinz ketchup with balsamic vinegar, a pinch of sugar, crumble a cube of vegetable stock. Finely chop the beet leaves, add to the soup. In goes the chopped potato, season the soup and cook for about 10 minutes, until the potato is done.
If you are using the nettle tips, be careful handling them, I was wearing the kitchen gloves when picking them   in the garden. You want only the tips, the first 4-6 leaves of each spear.
Use the scissors to cut the nettles in small bits. The nettles should be added a few minutes after the potatoes. Add the chopped spring onions just before you turn the cooker off.

It is a lovely spring soup, full of flavour and colour. Don't forget to add a generous dollop of the soured cream or plain Greek style yogurt.

If you are not a big fan of beets (and why not?), you can cook a nice green nettle soup with courgettes, leeks  and white rice.
The nettle tips are also fabulous in a green risotto.

If you liked this recipe using the nettle, you might want to see some of the other recipes with this ingredient. Now it's a perfect time to forage for the nettles in the garden, when they are still young and not stringy.

Soup with nettle and ground elder

I'm adding my recipe to fabulous foodie Karen from Lovage and Lavender blog's linky Herbs on Saturday.