Soya Mince Chili

There is nothing like a bowl of hot Mexican tantalizing chili on a Winter’s day, when your mood is low as it is soo dark outside! All you want to do is hibernate in your home.

This dish has definitely lifted my spirits and I’m about to get a second serving.

It is super easy to make it doesn’t take much time and at the end you will be one happy bunny!

Ingredients

300g Quorn Soya Mince frozen

2 medium onions diced

1 tin chopped tomatoes

1 tin kidney beans

4 garlic cloves crushed

2 dried red chili

1 veg stock cube

Salt to taste

1 tsp smoked paprika

1 tbsp sunflower oil

1 tsp cumin seeds

Fresh lime juice to taste

Method

🌟Heat the oil in a large saucepan on a medium heat sprinkle in the cumin seeds, drop in the chili, onion and crushed garlic. Stir until onion looks translucent

🌟Toss in the tin of crushed tomatoes along with the paprika, crumble in the veg cube and season with salt, bring them to the boil gently.  Put in the soya mince into the tomato sauce and mix well.  Throw in the Kidney beans with the brine

Lower the heat and cook the chili for 30 minutes stirring occasionally, squeeze in a little fresh lime

🌟Serve piping hot with tortilla chips and a dollop of sour cream or creme fraiche

The Carrot, An Orange Delight

The carrot…not one of my vegetables of choice but now is, as both my boys love them as does our pet house rabbit Alfie!

I’m just about getting myself to eating them raw, like them in a fruit & veg juice mix and now I have made them a little tangy to add them as a side dish to any Indian meal

INGREDIENTS

3 medium carrots, peeled and sliced into thin rounds
½ tbsp sunflower oil
1 tsp cumin powder
½ tsp black mustard seeds
Salt to taste
Fresh lime juice to taste

METHOD

In a medium saucepan, heat the oil and mustard seeds. As soon as the seeds start to pop, gently add in the carrots

Sprinkle with the cumin powder, mix well so that all the carrots are coated. Cover and reduce the heat. Cook for 5 to 7 minutes til slightly soft

Season with salt and fresh lime juice, cover and cook until the carrot is a little more tender.

Serve with your favourite Indian meal

Quorn Protein & Peas Curry

If you want something healthy, tasty and low fat, don’t go anywhere! I have created my non guilty version of the classic Indian matar paneer dish without the guilt! And the paneer?!
Fully packed with protein, which will keep you going for longer and stop you from snacking, especially if you have this curry for lunch. But don’t worry I know this maybe to healthy for some of you so my apple crumble recipe is coming up soon…

Enjoy, hope you’re all well…I am sooo excited as I have a lot more creative vegetarian dishes on the way!..until then, much love, D x

INGREDIENTS

300g Quorn chicken style pieces or soya chunks
2 cups frozen peas
1 medium onion diced
2 cloves garlic crushed
½ tsp minced ginger
250g crushed tomato passata
Pinch of mustard seeds
Pinch of cumin seeds
1 tsp garam masala
¼ tsp turmeric powder
2 tsp ground cumin & coriander
Salt to taste
½ tbsp sunflower oil
Water for sauce

METHOD

In a large nonstick saucepan,  heat the oil on a medium heat with the mustard and cumin seeds.  Once they start to sizzle,  add the onion, ginger and garlic into the pan.  Sauté until translucent

Sprinkle in the garam masala, cook through for a minute or so. Stir in the tomato passata along with all the seasoning.  Let the sauce bubble then place the chunks of quorn into the saucepan.  Mix well, you may need a little water to help the tomato coat the quorn

Reduce the heat, cover and simmer the curry for 10 minutes.  Add the peas, stir and simmer for a further 7 to 10 minutes

Serve up with some rice or chapati

Roasted Red Bell Pepper Chapatis

A tasty and healthy flat bread…One of our family favourites!

Shivaay Delights

Peppers give immense flavour in cooking especially when it’s roasted! Packed with vitamin C, it’s great for when you have a cold. With both my little ones sniffling away and always comforted with a rolled up chapati in their hands when playing. I thought why not introduce the pepper to the chapati?

I was sooo happy with the result and so were they. A soft orange chapati with strong notes of pepper and coriander. I sent a couple for my Mum to try and she loved them. She wants the recipe! So this one is for you my dearest!

INGREDIENTS

1 red bell pepper
2 garlic cloves
Handful fresh coriander
¾ tsp salt or to taste
1 tsp coriander & cumin powder
½ tsp turmeric powder
½ tsp garam masala
250g chapati flour
1 tbsp sunflower oil
Boiling water to bind
Extra flour for rolling
Butter

METHOD

• Preheat the…

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Potatoes Purèe ~ Family Recipe

This looks beautiful! Can’t wait to try it!

Black Salad

Who doesn’t love smashed potatoes?They are not the lightest side dish, but they taste amazing. This recipe is my father’s, it’s light and delicate. It is perfect to be served not only with meat, but also with fish. Be prepared to the fact, that once you get used to fresh purèe, you won’t be able to eat the pre-cooked one sold in the supermarket.

One trick: you can always boil potatoes with the skin: when you smash them, the skin get trapped in potatoes masher and doesn’t pass through.

Time:  1 hour preparation + 15 min cooking

Ingredients:  [ 4 portions]

• 700 gr boiled potatoes
• 50 gr grated Parmesan cheese
• 2-3 glasses milk
• 2 spoons butter
• pepper, salt, fresh parsley,nutmeg

1. Boil the potatoes until they are soft. You can use normal pots or, if you own it, a pressure cooker.

2. Smash the potatoes directly inside a…

View original post 59 more words

Quinoa with Spinach & Balsamic Glazed Tomatoes

This has to be my most favourite quinoa salad dish to date! Last night we wanted something really light and healthy and this ticked all the boxes. Recently you may be noticing that I have been creating a lot of Mediterranean recipes. I just love the flavours and am probably secretly craving the sun, sea and sand!
A taste of the Med will hopefully keep me going! Until I get there!

An excellent vegan dish also, just leave out the feta and use an alternative if you wish. The balsamic vinegar helps mingle all the flavours and really brings out the sweetness in the juicy cherry tomatoes. I need to go buy some more quinoa today to make some more. Have a stunning day! Much love D x

INGREDIENTS

150g baby spinach
12 asparagus spears chopped
16 cherry tomatoes halved
1 tbsp olive oil
1 garlic clove minced
½ tsp salt or to taste
½ tsp dried oregano
Dash of Balsamic vinegar
1½ cup pre cooked quinoa
Feta cheese (optional)

METHOD

• Heat up the oil in a deep pan with the garlic on a medium heat. Once the oil is hot add the asparagus and cherry tomatoes

• Season with the salt and oregano. Stir fry so that everything is coated in oil. Lower the heat and cook for 5-8 minutes until the asparagus is tender

• Splash in a little Balsamic vinegar and mix well. Place the fresh spinach on top of the cooked asparagus and tomatoes and turn off the heat

• This way the spinach will wilt a little but largely remain soft and fresh. Leave to sit for 10 minutes

• Place the quinoa in a large mixing bowl, mix in the asparagus, tomatoes and spinach. Making sure you get all the juices and dressing in

• Combine well and serve warm with some crumbled feta cheese

Rupa’s Salsa Verde…

Salsa verde is a green salsa, it can be quite chunky but the one that was prepared by my youngest sister in law last Saturday, was something extremely special.  Rupa had called us round for dinner and  Oh my did we enjoy ourselves!  She had prepared grilled vegetable and golden halloumi skewers with a jewelled vegetarian couscous along with the salsa that tantalised our taste buds and made all the the different ingredients on the plate sing!

The consistency was very smooth and the colour so very vibrant.  I just deeply regret not taking a picture to show you all, I was too busy eating away! Sorry!
I have however, found a picture that shows the type of consistency of the salsa we had.  The colour here, is more a lime green but the colour you will achieve with this particular recipe will be slightly darker due to the mint. I hope you all enjoy it as much as we did.

Thanks to R & V for a wonderful evening and for this lovely recipe!

INGREDIENTS

1 bunch parsley, chopped leaves only
1 bunch basil, chopped leaves
1 bunch mint, chopped leaves
2 tbsp capers drained
2 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
1 tsp dijon mustard
Olive oil as required
Sea Salt & Ground fresh pepper to taste

METHOD

Simply blitz all the above ingredients together in a food processor, grinder or Nutribullet if you have one

Pour into a bowl and leave in the fridge until your ready to serve

Picture courtesy of https://fortheloveofyum.files.wordpress.com/2010/07/img_5766.jpg

Peppered Paneer With Peas

My husband keeps buying paneer! Maybe it’s a big hint for me to make him some. So on Saturday, I decided to make a paneer curry! This time I made the pepper the star of the show and it really adds a gentle warmth to the curry. There are still two blocks of paneer, so I’m sure you all will be seeing another paneer incorporated recipe here this week

I hope you enjoy this version…Take care and have a lovely day friends! Much love D x

INGREDIENTS

1 red bell pepper chopped
250g panner cubed
2 cloves garlic crushed
1 green chilli finely chopped
½ tsp ginger paste
1 onion sliced crescents
1 small green bell pepper sliced strips
1 cup frozen peas
200g tomato passata
1 tbsp sunflower oil
¼ tsp mustard seeds
¼ tsp cumin seeds
Salt to taste
¼ tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp coriander and cumin powder
1 tsp shahi paneer masala

METHOD

Heat up the oil in a medium non stick saucepan along with the mustard and cumin seeds. Once they start to pop throw in the the red bell pepper with the garlic and ginger paste. Stir fry on a medium for a couple of minutes

Gently pour in the tomato passata with all the spices and seasoning. Stir, cover and cook through on a slow heat for 5 minutes

Place in the cubed paneer and mix well, ensuring all the tomato masala is coating the paneer. Mix in the onion and green pepper with the chilli. Cover and cook for 10 minutes.

Stir in the peas and cook for a further 10 minutes. Serve with some naan bread

Shahi potato curry

The Potato curry is a much loved dish in Indian food. The usual Bombay potatoes always appears on an Indian menu.
I thought I would make this curry tangy and spicy, with the warmth of ginger that comes through with every mouthful. The aromatic Shahi masala transforms this potato curry with its blend of cardamom, pepper, nutmeg, mace and star anise to name but a few, into a stunning and original new potato curry ~ Enjoy x

INGREDIENTS

15 new baby potatoes
1 medium onion
3 garlic cloves
1 inch piece of ginger peeled
1 small green chilli
1 1/2 tbsp sunflower oil
1/4 tsp mustard seeds
1/4 tsp cumin seeds
2 cloves
pinch of asafoetida
200g tomato passata/crushed tomato
1 level tsp salt
1 heaped tsp shahi masala
1/2 tsp garam masala
2 tsp ground cumin & coriander powder
pinch of turmeric
1/2 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp sugar
A little water

METHOD

1. Parboil the potatoes until slightly tender, should take about 10-12 minutes. Drain and crush potatoes a little and set aside

2. Grind the onion, ginger, garlic and chilli in a food processor to a paste consistency

3. Heat oil in a large saucepan with the mustard, cumin seeds, cloves and asafoetida. Once seeds start to pop mix in the onion paste. Throw in the salt this will stop the paste from catching. Reduce to a low flame and cook for 2 minutes

4. Sprinkle in the rest of the dry seasoning, cook and cover for a further 5 minutes.

Pour in the tomato passata and stir in sugar, to take the edge off the acidity from the passata. Bring to a boil and reduce to the lowest flame, cover and cook for a further 5 minutes

5. At this point you may need to add a little water to loosen out the sauce. Combine the par boiled potatoes into the sauce and gently combine, avoiding breaking the potatoes. You may wish to crush them a little further to ensure better infusion of flavours

6. Cook curry covered on a low flame for 20 minutes stirring occasionally. Once done serve with buttered pitta bread

Spicy Spinach & Cheese Omelette

How lovely is it that the tables have turned and you are able to cook for your parents now. It was so lovely when my mum came to spend time with me last Friday and requested me to make her a spicy spinach and cheese omelette! She loves loves chilli, don’t know where I  get that from? 😉

So to heat up the flavours, I decided to shallow fry off the 2 chillies in the oil base.  This way the oil started to infuse the spicy heat and this then transferred itself to the whole yummy omelette!  Such a simple and tasty dish yet so satisfying.  Mum was happy and so was I!
Here’s to more foodie requests from our families for us to make for them!

INGREDIENTS

2 eggs
1/2 cup shredded spinach
1/3 cup grated mature cheddar cheese
1 green chilli finely chopped
1 tbsp milk
Salt to taste
1/3 tsp ground cumin powder
Pinch of turmeric powder
1 tbsp olive oil

METHOD

Heat the oil in a non stick frying pan on a low heat. Beat the eggs and milk with a fork. Add the rest of the ingredients and combine well

Pour into the frying pan and still on a low heat let it set. Once set, place a lid or plate onto the pan so that the top of the omelette cooks in its own steam

Wait a few minutes, making sure all of it is cooked through

Serve with some buttered toast and savour the spiciness!