Taro Leaves in Coconut Milk

Having decided we were well overdue for a little research shopping, Mo and I popped down to Rusholme the other day - not quite as exotic as Kerala, but equally vibrant and bursting with tempting vegetables.  Heading straight for our favourite store, Ravi’s, I got rather side-tracked by the wonderful purple carrots (so much more flavour) and fresh curry leaves (so addictive and fortunately easy to freeze) while Mo  as usual, left to her own devices, made new friends. The result…. a great recipe from ‘The Reverend’ using an ingredient I had never heard of before – taro leaves. Hard to describe, but rather like a larger, tougher spinach leaf and a lovely delicate flavour.

Ravi Rev’s Rusholme Recipe

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Ingredients

10-12 taro leaves

1 can coconut milk

2 large tomatoes, sliced

1 lemon sliced

1 bunch spring onions, sliced

2 chillies, sliced (or to taste!)

salt & pepper

Serves 3-4

First of all wash the leaves and remove the tough stem. Pat dry. Roughly shred the leaves, they will reduce in much the same way as spinach.

Line a medium sized casserole dish with plenty of foil so that you will be able to enclose all the ingredients as if in an envelope. Then place all the taro leaves on the bottom, then place in layers on top the tomatoes, lemon slices, spring onions and chillies. Finally pour over the coconut milk to cover (make sure you shake the can well before opening so that there are no big blobs of coconut cream) and season.

Bring the foil up over the dish so that it completely covers the ingredients and then fold the sides together to seal in the flavours.

Bake in a pre-heated oven (Gas4/180C) for about 30-40 minutes. This works perfectly as a side dish, but make sure you also have some carbs (noodles or rice are best) to absorb the luscious juices.

Red Bean and Beetroot Cakes

Time for a change of continent – and an excuse to recall Kerala, where I fell in love not only with an exciting new cuisine (far removed from the curry houses adapted to British tastes) but also a whole new palette of flavour combinations. I also discovered that my liver has a low tolerance for the huge amount of coconut milk used in Southern Indian cooking! Of course this didn’t hinder me from trying as many dishes as possible, often thali style as presented below (dessert – a wonderful dish called Paysam – came on the same tray)

So now, a favourite recipe from northern India, which is a wonderful variation on the ‘rissole’ – a regular vegetarian nightmare (closely followed by stuffed peppers). It also gives me a chance to use both beetroot and pulses, which is quite a feat.

Red Bean and Beetroot Cakes

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Ingredients

2 tsp groundnut oil

¼ small red onion, very finely chopped

1 small green chilli

2 tsp curry paste (preferably Pataks Korma or Rogan Josh)

50g carrot, grated*

175g red kidney beans, cooked (or canned, rinsed and drained)

1 tbsp lemon juice

1 clove garlic, finely chopped

25g white breadcrumbs

25g ground almonds

50g raw beetroot, grated (if desperate use organic vac-packed, but pat dry)

4-5tbsp gram flour (for coating)

3-4 tbsp groundnut oil (for frying)

Makes 12 small cakes.

* rissoles with random large lumps are just not nice, so do grate the vegetables finely (but not with a microplane)

First of all sauté the onion in a small frying pan until soft and then add the chilli and curry paste. Then cook for another few minutes.

Then pop the beans, lemon juice and garlic in a small processor and pulse to a rough mash not a puree – please avoid the effect of nasty canned refried beans.  (We always try and use some citrus with pulses and wholegrains to help release the calcium, iron and zinc). If fresh garlic is too strong, just sauté some with the onion.

Take a large bowl and tip in the paste, bean mixture, carrots, breadcrumbs and almonds and mix really well.  You’ll find a lot of rissoles use breadcrumbs as a binder but I prefer using ground nuts which not only give a more interesting flavour, but also add a bit of protein (and vegetarians tend to be given rather a lot of wheat anyway). Finally stir in the beetroot. There is usually plenty of salt in commercial curry pastes so I tend not to season further – but it’s up to you!

Now form 12 cakes – large walnut size, but a bit flatter. Roll in gram flour, shaking off any excess and chill for 30 minutes. Plain flour can be used at a pinch, but gram flour (which is made from chickpeas) is far more sticky and works very well in sealing the surface of the cakes.

To cook, cover the base of a large non stick frying pan with the remaining oil and when hot add the cakes gradually so as not to reduce the temperature of the oil too drastically (that’s how rissoles fall apart). Fry gently on each side for approx 3-4 minutes (gentle is the operative word here, they can burn a little if the heat is too high). Drain on kitchen paper before serving.

Instead of serving with raita (which is rather predictable) try making a fresh relish with coriander, mint, mustard, lemon juice and oil and perhaps a garnish of cucumber and onion for a bit of crunch.

Spiced Rice Filled Squash

This post features one of Mo’s lovely winter recipes, and here she is, doing what she enjoys most – making bread - once she decides which are her favourite doughs we’ll be posting those too.

We’re sticking with orange vegetables and middle eastern flavours, but moving on to squash, which can often be tricky not only to attack, but also taste-wise (personally I’m not a big fan of pumpkins apart from their seeds, so if you have any astounding ideas for making them taste interesting you must let me know).

This recipe only requires that you cut a squash in half, usually pretty achievable without accidents, using a big, sharp knife. Then it’s filled with a delicious, moist rice mixture.  Don’t be tempted to substitute couscous – it’s far too dry, and anyway vegetarians get fed far too much wheat!

Spiced Rice Filled Squash

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Ingredients

2-3 medium squash (eg. Acorn or Onion)

1 tbsp olive oil

1 tangerine, juice only

1 tsp allspice

Filling

50g white basmati rice

50g red rice

50g wild rice

1 ½ tsp vegetable stock powder

1 tbsp olive oil

1 medium onion, finely chopped

2 stalks celery, finely chopped

2 tsp ground ginger

1 tsp ground coriander

½ tsp ground cardamom

50g dried cranberries

25g dried apricots

50g pumpkin seeds

1 tbsp cold pressed pumpkin seed oil

Serves 4-6

First of all, preheat your oven to Gas 5/190C.

Cut your squash in half and scoop out all the seeds. Combine the oil, juice and allspice together and brush or rub over the flesh. If you have the ‘bulb’ end of a butternut squash left over, these are also great for stuffing. Place on a baking tray, cover with foil and bake for around 30 minutes until the flesh is soft. Take out of oven and set aside.

Cook the rices separately according to instructions, each with ½ tsp stock powder. Drain and combine. Wild rice will take the longest time, and is in fact a seed. It’s also a bit pricey but we love the chewy texture. Red rice has all the benefits of brown rice (easy to cook, not stripped of nutrients) but the bonus of a rather more exciting colour.

Heat the oil and sauté (I hope you’re using that word now) the onion and celery until soft. Then add the spices, dried fruit and seeds. Scoop out a little of the cooked flesh and add to the mixture.

Combine this with the rice and fill each squash half. Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes until completely heated through.

ps. the filling makes a lovely pilaf on its own with roasted cubes of squash and/or courgettes together with chopped herbs (although if making this for Mo, make sure you leave out the coriander!)

Sweet Potato Salad

The first post is the hardest I guess, but the best way is just to jump in. So far I’ve not told you very much about myself but gradually I expect I’ll reveal all my loves, hates and foibles.

My second great passion, after food is travel, which seems incredibly common with food bloggers, so I make no apologies for my first theme – Morocco. Why? Well, next weekend our ‘Casablanca’ course runs at Cordon Vert, being born with Californian blood I’m also reminiscing about last year’s winter trip to Marrakech and finally my new year present to myself of a digital camera hasn’t turned up yet, so instead of a picture of my recipe you’ll find my photos from the medina.

I’m always fascinated by how simple peasant food becomes an exotic cuisine once transported back to the UK. Is it really just the herbs and spices? Anyway Morocco was no exception, so of course I went with high expectations, which were a little dampened after the 5^th or 6^th vegetable tagine. But you know what? It just reminded me that the most challenging culinary problem in this country is usually vegetables. So here is a fabulously easy warm salad made with one of our favourite vegetables for vegetarians – the sweet potato. It’s not just the colour (we try to avoid too much brown) but it’s also full of beta-carotene (did I tell you I spent 5 years studying nutrition?).

Moroccan Sweet Potato Salad

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Ingredients

1 ½ tbsp olive oil

1  medium onion, finely chopped

½ tsp ground ginger

½ tsp ground cumin

1 tsp paprika

½ tsp tumeric

450g/1lb sweet potatoes

½ tsp stock powder

1 tbsp lemon juice

1 preserved lemon, skin only chopped

8 green olives, stoned & chopped

3 tbsp flat leaf parsley and coriander, finely chopped

Serves 4

Sauté (I prefer that to ‘fry’) the onion gently until soft in a large pan. Then add the spices. We’ll have a whole section on spices soon, but for the moment, trust me, the best way to get the most flavour is to add them at this stage.

Peel and cut the sweet potatoes into thick wedges (the exact shape isn’t vital, but make sure they’re a similar size so they cook evenly). Add to the pan and coat with the onion and spice mixture.

Then just cover with water and add the stock powder (we like to use Marigold, but we can’t agree on which variety to use – the green label is easiest to find and is also yeast & gluten free, but a wee bit salty). Anyway, bring to the boil, turn down to a simmer and cook for 15 minutes until the sweet potatoes have softened but are still keeping their shape.

Add the remaining ingredients. These are what will give the dish it’s wonderful balance of flavours – a bit of saltiness and a bit of sourness (the umami is in the sweet potato – but I digress). Reduce the sauce a little with the lid off and add the herbs. I prefer to serve at room temperature.

ps. Preserved lemons are a wonderful addition to any North African dish but please don’t ever be tempted to use the flesh – no one told me so sadly I avoided them for years.