Crispy Fried Aubergine

When I was little, I didn't like aubergine/ eggplant. Now that I'm older, I can quite fathom why... Some things that wee-Kat didn't eat, such as blue cheese, make sense (even if I'm now a fan!) or tinned-baked beans (they're still ick!!)... But aubergine? It's just so nommy!!

My two most favourite preparations of aubergine are traditionally performed by my Da; either barbecued and marinated or barbecued and then wrapped around feta and chargrilled red peppers... YUM! But those are recipes for another time!

Today's recipe results in a crispy, crunchy exterior and creamy, egg-planty interior. I learned this from the Korean house-guest of a Childhood friend of my Ma's (try saying that 10 times fast!)... But I'm not sure of the actual origins.

Rich, Roasted Ratatouille

I like my ratatouille like I like my men: dark, strong, rich, a little bit sweet and tall with blue eyes. Wait. What?

Rat-Stew, as we lovingly refer to this dish in my family is a fabulous dish! Especially useful for using up those potentially slightly dodgy veggies left over from last week's veggie market... The tomatoes, and aromatics are kinda necessary - but the bulking vegetables can be anything that's not too starchy, really.

Funny story, apparently when I was little I would eat courgette but not zucchini. The theory behind this being that my Grandfather referred to

This version, which is oven roasted, comes from my darling Sam Stern's Student Cookbook... I love that book! I have confused many a Boyfriend and flatmate by asking, broken heartedly "Where's Sam? Have you seen him? I've lost him!"... And then predictably locating the book under my bed from when I was reading it before bed...

The roasting causes it to be much richer than the, more usual to me, stove top version... I've never looked back!!

Taste & Create: Thali - Black Sesame Chutney

This is the final Taste & Create Thali recipe from Seduce Your Taste Buds... and it's the visually stunning Black Sesame Seed Chutney...

It's such a gorgeous, glossy, black colour!

PJ's chutney is very creamy looking... I'm not sure how I caused mine to look so different...? I wonder if it's because I used dried, desiccated coconut rather than fresh grated?

The seasonings are very similar to the ones used for the tomato riata and the two accompaniments complemented each other beautifully!

One factor that most excited me about this dish was that I got to make my own chutney with speed and ease rather than my usual (but fantastic) shop-bought mango chutney... :)

This one is well worth knocking up!

Taste & Create: Broccoli Soup

Did you know that in Sweden it is traditional to have soup on Thursdays? Specifically; yellow split pea soup because yellow split peas are associated with Thor and Thursday is, after all Thor's Day!

This recipe is not for yellow spilt pea soup. This recipe is for Broccoli Soup. This is because we had approximately a million (AKA 2) broccolis and no spilt peas (I used them making soup for last Thursday!)...

This soup that I made for Taste & Create this month is simple, tasty, vegan (if you let it be, I didn't) and requires very few ingredients. It's fantastic for Students and Real People alike! It also came out the most fantastic shade of green:

See?

I fried the cumin seeds and garlic in butter as PJ of Seduce Your Tastebuds recommended in butter because I like butter. And I think garlic tastes better fried in butter, over oil... But, as oil is such an easy substitute; I still think it's fair to store this recipe as a vegan option.

The potato gives the blended soup a creamy texture without the addition of milk or cream. PJ pressure cooks her potatoes and broccoli; but I don't have a pressure cooker in my student kitchen so I boiled my potato and steamed the broccoli over it... Feel free, however to boil your broccoli and potato together; bearing in mind that the broccoli won't need quite so long to cook as the potato and over-cooked broccoli is a kinda funky colour...

I really enjoyed this soup, and hope you do too!

Taste & Create: Thali - Sambar

Taste & Create Thali recipe from Seduce Your Taste Buds #4!!

For today's Sambar recipe, you will need 3 teaspoons of yesterday's Sambar Spice powder recipe...

Hand ground Sambar Spice

Sambar, as a general rule is not my favourite way to serve lentils. I chose to make this recipe in the hopes that making my own Sambar, completely from scratch, would teach me otherwise.

It didn't.

Don't get me wrong! This Sambar is lovely! My friends and family think it fantastic! It's just not to my taste...

The original recipe called for "drumstick" which is not something I'd encountered before... PJ offers a variety of alternatives at the end of her post; I used peas because that's what I happened to have at the time.

So today, I will provide you with the recipe and encourage you to come to your own conclusions...

Clockwise from top left: Garlicky Spinach Rice, Aloo Fry and Sambar

Taste & Create: Tahli - Sambar Powder

Taste & Create Thali recipe from Seduce Your Taste Buds #3!!

You're going to need today's Sambar Spice recipe for tomorrow's Sambar Curry Recipe... It's pretty simple, really - just the ingredients together and away you go!

The quantities listed here will make more than you need for the Sambar; but the spice powder will keep will in an airtight container for future use...

I had a great time blending these all together by hand with a mortar and pestle! But use a spice blender, if you have one... or whatever else you have available to you. :)

You'll need:

1/2 cup coriander seeds

1 Tbsp gram dhal

1/2 Tbsp fenugreek seeds

Red chillies, to taste (I used 1)

1/4 tsp Asafoetida (hing) - this is an anti-flatulence herb and won't affect the taste of the Sambar Powder if you can't find any to use.

1-2 tsp oil

Dry roast the coriander seeds until fragrant.

Add the oil and the rest of the ingredients and fry briefly until all oil is absorbed.

All to cool before grinding into a fine paste.

Store in an airtight container until needed.

Taste & Create: Thali - Garlicky Spinach Rice

Further catch up on my rather delayed Thali collection today... and this instalment is Garlicky Spinach Rice!

This rice comes out the most extreme, green colour - it's fantastic!! As I have mentioned before spinach is my favourite food; so this dish was always going to be a winner!

The three chillies ground into a paste (with more garlic, fresh ginger and water) give it a bit of a bite... So either label it as not for the faint of heart, or use fewer chillies to dial it down a bit...

This recipe is fairly similar to a Greek one I've presented previously; only with extra garlic and chilli and ginger added... Puréeing the spinach also make this final dish much greener than the previous one! I'd be hard pressed to pick a favourite out of the two; the Greek dish being much richer and this being more punchy - you should try them both out and see which you like better!

Taste & Create: Thali - Aloo Fry

Hej, hej!

Remember my Thali from Taste & Create way back? Well... I've been paired with PJ of Seduce Your Tastebuds once again and I feel this is the optimum opportunity for me to finally get around to posting the full recipes I made last time... thus reminding both you and me how awesome they are! (It's a sign from the Gods, I tell you!)

Top: Tomato Riata, Aloo Fry, Garlicky Spinach Rice
Centre: Black Sesame Chutney
Bottom: Sambar made with home-made Sambar Powder

Although I really liked (most) of the dishes I made... Far and away my favourite (and the one I've made most often since) was PJ's Aloo Fry...

The crunch provided by the whole spices and slightly crispy fried potatoes in this dish really blew me away. Think; pan roasted, Indian spiced roast potatoes!

*drool*

Most of the spices required here (mustard seed, cumin seed, coriander seed) are not all that "unusual" and if, as a student, you were to go out and buy a packet - I'm sure you'd find many reasons to use them again and again. (Packet curries very rarely stand up to their homemade counterparts). The fenugreek (kasuri methi) leaves are a liiitle bit more unusual... and although they definitely add an enjoyable extra dimension to the dish; I hope I'll be forgiven for suggesting that you can probably get away without them if it's beyond your means.

Do try this dish out! I'm sure you'll enjoy it!

Red Lentil and Tomato Soup

So guys, guess what? I'm still around!! Can I get a woop, woop?! :)

This is a recipe inspired by the delicious soup my cousin, Vicky served me while I was staying with her in England... It requires very few, very cheap ingredients but with the lentils providing protein and the tomatoes providing their fantastic anti-cancer qualities it's an excellent soup to keep away the Winter (or the it-really-ought-to-be-spring-by-now?!) Blues...

Gorgeous, terracotta soup garnished with crumbled feta and a drizzle of olive oil!

If you use vegetable stock (and skip the feta I sprinkled on my serving!) this soup is easily vegan/vegetarian... but because I'm perfectly happy to have animal in my diet - I made my soup with powdered chicken stock!

The recipe I used is based on this one from About.com's Low Fat Cooking Section... Because I was in Sweden for only 6 months - I was unwilling to buy all the spices I might ordinarily have in my kitchen - so I chose ground cumin over ground coriander - but use what you've got! Cooking should be a fluid action...

This was quick, easy, hearty and delicious... and it lasted for AGES (you can decide whether that last point is a pro or a con...)... I really encourage you to try it!!

Gado Gad-ish

Gado-Gado is an Indonesian dish which consists of veggies and a peanut sauce. Essentially. This is my interpretation...

So many colours!

 Okay, so basically I providing you with a "recipe" for my style satay sauce... and a serving suggestion. But! It's an excellent serving suggestion! And Gado-Gado sounds like a much more legitimate meal than peanut-butter scooped out of the jar an onto a carrot stick... and there's only a *little* bit more effort required!

Veggies? Check! Peanut sauce? Check! Extra protein kick? Check!!!

We have here stir fried pepper, carrot strips and bean sprouts on greens with a soft-set boiled egg. Probably 10 minutes effort start to finish (not counting dishes) and the peanut sauce! Oh! The peanut sauce!

Wanna see?

Taste & Create: Seduce Your Taste Buds Thali

Eugh. I feel like a Zombie. I've gone from unemployed to over-employed in no time flat! (Not that I'm complaining per se - I'm grateful for the opportunity to be earning some savings!)But I've got a looong week of 3 shifts/day for the next 7 days so this is gonna be a brief post to get the important things out there... :)

After next week I will fill y'all in on all the details!

I had fun with Taste and Create this month! I was paired with Padmajha of Seduce Your Tastebuds and my taste buds were most certainly seduced! PJ offers a lot of tasty looking vegetarian, Indian food. Rather than selecting just one recipe to try out - I decided to chose five, and make a Thali.

'Thali' refers to the plate used to serve this meal, and is basically either a metal tray with little dishes for many curries/chutneys or a single plate with indentations. The thalis we have are of the indentation variety.

Clockwise from top left: Tomato Raita, Aloo Fry, Garlicky Spinach
Rice, Sambar. Centre: Black Sesame Seed Chutney.

The recipes I chose were:

• Aloo (potato) Fry which was amazing my favourite dish of the five! Spicy, slightly crispy and the most beautiful shade of yellow. Yum yum.
• Sambar which is a sort of runny lentil dish that I'm not a huge fan of. And, although tasty, this particular recipe didn't make a convert out of me... my guests really enjoyed it though! I really enjoyed getting out the mortar and pestle to grind my own sambar powder though!
• Garlicky Spinach Rice does what it says on the package - it's the most lurid green colour! Just brilliant!
• Tomato Raita which is a little different for the cucumber/minty raita I'd usually make. It was fun and will no doubt feature on my table again!

and finally...

• Black Sesame Seed Chutney mine looked nothing like the photo - but it was super yummy!

Now, as students, some of the spices called for may be a little odd... but, if you can buy them in only the quantities you require, can be sourced quite cheaply! I especially recommend the Aloo Fry as a good flatting meal!

Final conclusion? This was fun! And with the exception of the Sambar (which is more a reflection on me, than on the recipe itself) I'll be making these recipes in the future! The Aloo Fry was the absolute star!

Sweet, Skint Lentils and Rice

I put a lot of faith into Sam when I tried out this recipe... literally all it is is rice, lentils and onions... but, as he promises it is "surprisingly gorgeous".

I made this one day, two weeks after I last went to the supermarket... my cupboards were getting pretty bare! - But we had to eat! Lentils for protein, rice to bulk it out and onion to make it taste good... truly - that's all you need!

This is a very low effort meal, even if it takes a little while to cook - but you don't actually have to do a lot to it!

I've made this since, and will do so again - whether my cupboards are near empty, or I just got back from the supermarket... Skint Lentils and Rice are here to stay!

Taste & Create: Vegan Grains and Greens

Healthy, tasty Grains and Greens!

Yay for alliteration!

This post has been a long time comin'... and despite that I made the dish aaages ago (last year, I do believe...) I just haven't gotten around to blogging it. And now, here I am, once again, pushing the deadline for Taste & Create... that wonderful, monthly challenge where I'm paired with another blogger, this month Ruby of That's So Vegan!, and encouraged to try out a recipe I've never used before...

Now, as you may have guessed from her blog's name, Ruby is vegan... which poses an interesting challenge for me as I am not. Should I go through her blog and attempt to un-veganise a carefully vegan-ised recipe? Or ought I step out of my comfort zone and try something new?

I chose to step out! And here we have, Vegan Grains and Greens, which Ruby had made previously in desperation because her college didn't appetisingly appeal to her dietary requirements.

Ruby uses a "Trader Joes" mix to get her grains... I, living as I do in New Zealand, didn't have that option - so I went for bulghar wheat instead... Make this dish as you will!

Other alterations include: using seeded big tomatoes in place of Ruby's cherries. Although, I dare say that one could stretch to tinned tomatoes outside of season and this dish would work just as well, if a little sloppily...

Also, Ruby's is a Chickpea, Tomato and Zucchini Stir-Fry - I threw asparagus in as well, along with some parsley and mint on top to up the green factor.

Random fact about me: when I was little I would eat "zucchini" but not "courgettes"... the theory being that my Grandparents would serve me "zucchini" and you have to eat whatever your grandparents serve you... eating Parent-food though? That's optional...

I served this alongside baked fish and a red pepper sauce, made by whizzing up 4 roasted red peppers from a jar with 1/4 cup of orange juice... if I were to serve the Grains and Greens as a meal rather than a vegetable/starch side, for me, it would have to be served with this, or some other sauce. Because I'm fussy like that. Yes.

Otherwise this is a tasty, healthful dish - a strong case in the argument that "vegan food doesn't mean boring food"!

Coconut Fruit Salad

Hello... I haven't forgotten about you, Blog... in fact I've been taking photos, receiving recipes cooking galore! I just haven't made or taken time to write about them...

This is a quick shot of my breakfast from the other morning... on the bathroom floor... because I liked the colours! It's Daddy's take on my muesli, natural yoghurt (something I've gotten used to in the last year because it's cheaper that fruity/Greek yoghurt...) and a fruity salad.

The salad being the purpose of today's post. It's inspired by my Ginger, Lime and Pineapple fruit salad dressing, but tweaked a little... for example, instead of grating the ginger, I cut it up reeeal small which meant that when you got a bite of ginger, it wasn't overpowering, but it still nibbled back! I've added a little citrus juice, and coconut for fun too!

The Broke Student's Cupboard Feast

Okay. So, admittedly "feast" might be taking this dish one step (or a leap) too far... but it is an invaluable cupboard scraping meal. As it's based on a Nigella "recipe" (the Exhausted Mother's tea-time special from her "Bites" series) you know it's gotta be good! (I would post a link, but apparently it's not deemed a real recipe and the internet doesn't have a copy yet?)

It's a sort of rice/lentil pasta sauce soup... Nigella tells you to simply bring a jar of pasta sauce and a jar of water to the boil before stirring in a handful of rice, cooking for 10 (ish) minutes and serving to small children with a lump of Parmesan nearly the size of their heads to grate over.

My "ingredient" list is a little more extensive, but the basic premise is the same. I added lentils for protein, and frozen spinach for greens thus making it an *almost* balanced meal...

As with my last post - you need to make sure that you use a pasta sauce you like, as it is the dominant flavour - but other than that go nuts with whatever you have in your cupboard/fridge/freezer...

eg: chick peas, broccoli, pasta, un-veggie-ise it with some chopped ham... or veganise it and leave off the cheese...

The beauty of this dish was that I could not go to the supermarket for almost three weeks (not something I recommend!) and still manage to put a tasty meal on the table... Score 1 for Kat!

Taste & Create: Chocolate Explosion Oatmeal Cookies

This month for Taste & Create I was paired with Alisa Fleming of Alisa Cooks... Alisa's blog is dairy free, not a realm in which I oft' walk so reading her blog was an interesting experience for me... further more many of her recipes are gluten-, soy-, egg- and/or nut-free... I had a great time perusing her recipes!

Eventually though, I found her recipe for Chocolate Explosion Oatmeal Cookies made with rolled oats, they are vegan, egg-, nut-, dairy- and soy free - therefore they MUST be a health food... and BOY! are they the tastiest health food EVER! :)

Beautiful, glossy, dark brown cookies...

Deliciously gooey in the centre - yes that's a broken-in half cookie... they're light enough to sit a-top a rose petal!

I was so proud of me - I was going to tell y'all about how I finally, finally followed a recipe to the letter! And then I thought about it... and how I:

•  halved the recipe...
• and then I didn't have any ground flaxseed (linseed), so I tried to replace it with wheat germ (apparently you can do that...?) but I didn't have any of that either so I used oat bran instead (I made that alternative up myself)... (ironically, if I'd been at the flat making these I would have been able to use flaxseed as directed...)
• and then I doubled the vanilla called for because we only had essence, not extract...
• and I added just the tiniest pinch of cinnamon a la Laura Vitale...
• and used all coconut cream, rather than coconut flavoured dairy-free milk and olive oil...

So, in the end, I baked like the Kat I am - to my own tune! But the cookies truly are delicious!

I do have one question though - I halved the recipe, but I made the large, 2 Tbsp sized cookies Alisa recommended... a whole 14 of them (after I ate, maybe a cookie's worth of batter... hey! it's egg free, it's all good!)... which begs the question: Have I finally found someone who enjoys eating cookie batter even more than I do? :)

Sesame Orange Salad

To round off my Nigella Feast... of Chicken Nuggets and Baked, Stuffed Potatoes I now present the accompanying Orange Sesame Salad...

Mesclun  salad leaves with an orange, sesame dressing.

Now this one, is based, very very loosely on Nigella's Garlicky Spinach Tomato Salad, in that I borrowed the idea of using the tomato, or in this case, orange as part of the dressing rather than as part of the salad... beyond that the flavouring, although not an original combination are all mine!

See, when in comes to fruit, I am a fussy bugger, and will only ever really eat it just as it comes into ripeness... drives my mother, and the occasional flatmate, up the wall! As such, I had these oranges that my loving mother had sent me, but I had yet to get around to eating them... when... DUN DUN DUN!!! They became far to ripe for human (read: Kat-line) consumption... but I didn't want to just throw them away - that would be rude! So I decided to take a leaf out of Nigella's... DVD collection?... and use it them to make a salad dressing. But rather than using just the juice - I wanted to use the whole of the flesh - as Nigella did with her tomatoes... mixed with some sesame seeds and oil, and just a hint of fresh grated ginger (*ahem* fromatube) to create a rather tasty salad dressing, though I do say so myself.

Taste & Create 2: Curried, Roasted Chickpeas

I'm Tasting & Creating twice this month!

My second entry is TL&LoG'sHB's Curried, Roasted Chickpeas:



Cruchy, protein-rich Study Noms

 They're so yummy that you'll eat most of 'em straight off the roasting pan and then have to pour what little are left into a shot glass so that it looks like you actually made a decent quantity...

And, LOOK! Books! And study notes! I am a real student who actually studies! Proof!

You believe me now, right?  I made these to be my study snacks while I prepare for my upcoming Behaviour Analysis exam... much better than the traditional chocolate and junk food route! :)

Click on for the recipe:

Taste & Create: The Life and Loves of Grumpy's Honeybuch's Broccoli Dal

Phew! What a mouthful!

Well, after this morning's vegan-less panic... I thought to myself... "Mmm... breakfast time!" so I went looking through Shelby Mae's vegan recipes for something I could submit to Taste & Create this month!

I was avoiding all tofu recipes because a) un-fermented soy freaks the bejeebers out of me and b) because of a) I don't have any tofu lurking in my fridge...

But! Only a few recipes down I found this...

Delicious, healthy breakfast? I think so!

Broccoli Dal! OM NOM NOM NOM!!!

I'm going to brutally force y'all to click on the link to get the full recipe - because I don't want you to miss out on the blogging magic that is The Life and Loves of Grumpy's Honeybunch!

But let me tell you - this is a delicious recipe!

I did make a few changes - mainly to scale down the recipe so that it'd feed only one. I quartered it.

• Also I didn't have any mustard seed, so I used prepared mustard instead.
• I may have accidentally trebled the original recipe's calling for turmeric... But it was still delicious!
• I don't have any almond milk, so I made my own by soaking LSA in 1/4 cup water!
• And I cooked it with a teeny-weeny red chilli rather than sprinkling cayenne over the top.

Also - add salt! This dish tastes good before salt and AMAZING afterwards!

Y'all should definitely make this sometime, for breakfast, lunch or dinner!

Fruit Salad... Dressing?

Om, nom, nom... Summer (or an Indian winter) is the perfect time for fruit salads!! What's always bothered me, being a saucy, dressing lovin' kinda gal, is that "fruit salad" is a euphemism for "chopped up fruit in a bowl with no unifying flavour and there for may as well be served in separate pile on a plate" yeeeah... Not quite as catchy as "fruit salad" is it?

BUT! I do not moan for the sake of moaning - the solution is out there! In the form of "fruit salad dressing" - isn't that an original name?

This particular one: pineapple lime and ginger - was particularly appropriate in India where limes are plentiful! But I guess that lemons would work too...? And the pineapple juice provides suitable sweetness without the need for added sugar - which is always a plus!

So... after the jump comes a simple recipe for Pineapple, Lime and Ginger Fruit Salad DressingYou'll need: