Sri Lankan Workshop

At the weekend I attended a Sri Lankan cookery workshop - run at the same place where I take my Italian cookery lessons. (Which I know I have yet to blog about - but don't worry, it will happen, this week we're making Osso Buco!)

The tutor was Martyn Grover, Head of Department at a nearby College, and it is his recipes I have recreated here.

The whole morning was very enjoyable (despite the fact I almost didn't make it following a slight overindulgence the night before at a dinner party...) The pace was laid back, and there were lots of opportunities to chat with fellow foodies, and to hear stories from when Martyn lived in Sri Lanka. The dishes were all very simple, and straightforward to prepare... but the flavours certainly packed a punch!

We got to make 3 dishes:

Tomato Sambal

Paripoo

Coconut Rotis

I loved them all, and could hardly wait to go home and scoff it all! Rather bizarrely, coconut falls into Boyfriend's cream&cheese loathing, so I got to eat it all to myself! :)

Unfortunately I have to cancel my Lebanese course with Martyn, but I will definitely be signing up for some more. Watch this space!

Sri Lankan Workshop: Coconut Rotis

To accompany the spicy, piquant tomato sambal and creamily delicious paripoo, we made some coconut rotis.

I'm not usually a fan of coconut meat (although I adore coconut milk and coconut based curries!) but these were really good - and complimented the two sauces very well.

The biggest challenge is trying not to eat them as they come out of the pan ;)

Coconut Rotis

225g plain flour
1/2 tsp salt
180g freshly grated coconut (use a processor for this if you can - otherwise it'd be a lot of hard work!)
30g softened butter (optional)
2/3 green chilies - finely chopped (optional)
2 tbsp finely chopped onions
Coconut oil for frying

In a bowl, mix together the flour, coconut and salt, then add just enough water to form a dough. If you have any of coconut milk left you could use some of that here (either from the paripoo, or the real stuff from cracking the coconut open!). The tutor used some 'real' coconut milk, with some coconut milk from a tin, mixed in with a bit of water.

You want the mixture to be very soft, but not so sticky that it sticks to the work surface.

Work in the onions, butter, and chilies (if using). You may need to add a bit more flour now if the mixture is too wet.

Knead for 5 minutes, them leave to rest for about 20 minutes.

Divide the mixture into 10 balls.

Heat a heavy-based frying pan until very hot, and add some coconut oil. If you don't have any oil, then you could use ghee instead. As you do each ball, only add oil if required, you probably shouldn't need to for each one.

For each ball:

1. Roll out until about 5mm thick. The way we did this in class was to place a ball between two sheets of greaseproof paper, then used our fingers to spread it out.
2. Peel the roti from the paper and place in the centre of the pan.
3. Cook for 1 minute
4. Turn with the spatula and cook for a further minute on the other side.
   

Serve with a Sri Lankan curry (or curries!) of your choice!

Sri Lankan Workshop: Paripoo

At the Sri Lankan Cookery workshop I recently attended I fell madly in love with this simple, easy and gorgeous curry! It was sooo good - creamy, spicy, comforting, and above all, packed with flavour.

My pictures just don't do justice to the vibrant colour of this dish (although thanks to some great feedback from Jill over at Simple Daily Recipes, I will hopefully be getting more real light to them soon! Thanks Jill!)

Paripoo - Sri Lankan Dhal!

• 90g red lentils
• 1/2 tsp turmeric
• 2 dried red chilies, left whole.
  
• 8 curry leaves
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced
  
• 1 onion, finely chopped
  
• 100 ml water
• 1/2 tin coconut milk

Ok, so how simple is this???

Are you ready?

Put all the ingredients into a pan, except the coconut milk.
Simmer for 15 minutes (stirring frequently to prevent the lentils sticking)
Add the coconut milk
Cover and simmer for another 15 minutes.

There you go - a gorgeous curry, made from scratch in half an hour!

Sri Lankan Workshop: Tomato Sambal

This was the first dish we made in the Sri Lankan workshop I attended recently. I got to use an ingredient I hadn't seen before - coconut oil. Apparently coconut is widely used in Sri Lanka and neighbouring counties - it isn't until you go further north that the use of coconut oil begins to be replaced with ghee.

It is lovely stuff - and not too difficult to find! I managed to buy a bottle of it from the first wholefood store I went to. Check out the link above to read about other uses it has!

Tomato Sambal

• 3 large ripe tomatoes (approx 225g)
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp chili powder - adjust according to taste and strength
• 4 cloves of garlic
• 5cm cinnamon stick
• 2 tbsp coconut oil
• 1 onion
• juice and zest of one lime
• 1 tsp sugar

Slice the tomatoes and arrange them on a plate. Sprinkle with the chili powder and salt and leave to marinate while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.

Slice the garlic and finely chop the onions.

Heat the coconut oil in a saucepan to medium. Once hot add the sliced garlic and fry until starting to change colour. Add the cinnamon and continue to fry until the garlic has turned golden brown. Don't let it burn though, or it will turn bitter!

Add the onions and continue to fry until soft.

Now add the marinaded tomatoes and gently simmer for 15 minutes.

Remove from the heat, allow to cool slightly then add the lime juice, zest and sugar. Boiling the lime juice will lose a lot of its punch, so only add after cooking.

Serve as part of a Sri Lankan meal - usually alongside curry.

11-a-Day Roast Veggie Stew!

I've no idea if this is in fact a stew, or a thick soup, or a chunky sauce.

What I can tell you is it is healthy, filling, versatile and tasty!

Every couple of weeks I get an urge to eat a huge portion of vegetables. Usually on a Monday, and usually after a particularly unhealthy weekend! This generally takes one of two routes - go to local greengrocers and buy lots of gorgeous veg and make a mammoth stirfry... or go to local greengrocers and buy lots of gorgeous veg and roast them all into a sloppy, tasty mess! Admittedly the first option is healthier - but the second is much more comforting! I use olive oil spray to cut down the amount of oil I use.

So I wandered home from work on Monday night fully intending to make a spanish fish stew (which will just have wait!) but got sidetracked by the idea of veg and instead ended up with...

... My 11 a Day Roast Veggie Stew

You can use any veg you want in whatever quantities you want - just pick what you enjoy/have available. There are lots of additions - I often fry up some chorizo (at the same step I fry the mushrooms here), or add some type of legumes to pad it out.

Veg I roasted:

• 2 large tomatoes
• 3 parsnips
• 2 red onions
• 1 red bell pepper
• 1 yellow bell pepper
• 3 red turkish chilis
• 1 mild green turkish chili
• 2 carrots
• 2 courgettes (zuccinis!)
• 1 head of garlic

Veg I pan cooked:

• 2 large tomatoes, roughtly diced
• 150g chestnut mushrooms, halved
• 1 scotch bonnet chili, finely chopped

Other:

• 3 tbsp balsamic vinegar
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 tbsp tomato paste
• salt/pepper,dried chili flakes
• 150 ml vegetable stock

Lightly spray two oven trays with olive oil. (Or you could do three if you have three shelves in your oven!)

Decide what veg you want to roast - then cut it into pieces such that it will all become ready at the same time. As the greengrocers had another good deal on garlic, I also used this opportunity to roast up 6 heads of garlic. Alternatively, chuck a crushed clove or two in with the mushrooms!



Lay the veg out on the greased trays, the mist in olive oil again. Season and spice as required! This time I used white pepper, salt and red chili flakes, either singularly or all, depending on the veg (i.e. I don't salt carrots or peppers, but other veg can take a lot of seasoning.)


Put in the oven at about 200c for about 40 minute. Turn or shake the veg as appropriate during cooking!

Meanwhile, spray a little oil into a medium hot pan, and toss in the halved mushrooms. Fry for a few minutes until cooked through. Add the other pan veg and tomato paste and allow to cook for a few minutes.

Add the balsamic vinegar and sugar and allow to reduce slightly, then add the stock. allow to simmer for a further 5 minutes. Take off the heat until the other veg are roasted.

Once the oven veg is ready, tip it all into the pan and stir to mix. Heat through, and adjust seasoning if required (remember the roast veg were well seasoned, so don't season sauce until this stage!)

You can serve this as it is - with lots of crusty bread.

You could also blend it up and add more stock to make a nourishing soup.

Or split in half, blend one half, and mix back together to make a lovely roast veg sauce!

Whatever you do with it - enjoy!

Baked spicy saffron macaroni!

I can't believe I've got yet another pasta dish for Ruth's Presto Pasta Night over at Once Upon A Feast! I'm sure I've cooked more pasta this month than usual :) But it tastes so good, and is so comforting on a cold January evening!

Anyway, as a variation on a theme, this week I've prepared a spicy pasta bake. It was based on an episode of Come Dine With Me (one of the best Sunday afternoon reality/cookery shows EVER! If you haven't seen it, you're missing out...!) I think the woman decribed it as a baked pasta paella!

Oven baked spicy macaroni

• 500g cherry tomatoes
• 1 red onion, halved and sliced
• 2 cloves of garlic - crushed
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 11 oz small macaroni
• 4 boneless, skinless chicken thighs, quartered
• 6 merguez sausages (original recipe specified chorizo - but when I saw these in my local sausage shop, I had to have them!)
• Small handful fresh chopped rosemary (I got mine from my garden - yay!)
• 300ml chicken stock
• Pinch of saffron
• 200g cooked prawns - the original recipe used large raw prawns - but these were what I had!
• Handful of basil leaves, torn, ready to serve
• Salt and pepper

Put the cherry tomatoes into a casserole dish and sprinkle with olive oil. Roast in a preheated oven at 220c for 15 minutes. Then add the garlic and red onions, and place the sausages on top then cook until the tomatoes are soft.


Remove from the oven. Take out the sausages, and cut into chunks. Add the macaroni, chicken, and sausage pieces rosemary, stock, saffron, salt and pepper. Mix well and return it to the oven to bake for 30 minutes.

Add the prawns, stir and allow the prawns to warm through for 3/4 minutes. You don't want to put it back in the oven at this point or the prawns may go tough.

Sprinkle with basil and serve.

My Ultimate Chili Con Carne!

This is one of the dishes of my life!

I remember when I was young I used to be excited when my mum was away for the night - because it would mean that Dad would cook his Chili Con Carne for me and my sister. Mum wasn't a fan, so this was a rare treat! Fast forward a few years, and it became one of my student day staples - either to cook up a vat of it and freeze in single portions - or to cook up a vat and feed a group of starving students for about £5 (I bought food, they brought beer - good deal!)

Though I don't cook it as much now, it is still one of my ultimate comfort foods - spicy, tasty and soft - easy to make and easy to eat! So I am throwing it over to Meeta's Monthly Mingle at the lovely What's for Lunch, Honey?.

I do like it pretty spicy, and add different types of heat to give a more interesting burn! Please feel free to adjust the chili and spice quantities to suit!

Apologies for the lack of pictures - the only one I have is from during the cooking time - I forgot to take more when serving up!

My Ultimate Chili Con Carne!

• 500g lean beef mince
• 4 chicken thighs - trimmed and small diced, should be about the same size as a kidney bean!
  
• 2 medium onions, medium chopped
  
• 4 cloves of garlic, crushed
  
• 1 beef oxo cube
  
• 3 Thai red chilies, finely chopped - I leave the seeds in ;)
  
• 1 heaped tbsp smoked paprika
• 1 tsp chili powder
• 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
  
• 1 heaped tsp ground cumin
• 1 heaped tsp ground coriander
• Good shake of tabasco sauce
• 2 400g tins of peeled plum tomatoes (I sometimes replace one of these tins with a carton of sieved tomatoes)
• 1 large tbsp tomato puree
  
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 tsp salt
  
• 1 400g tin of kidney beans, drained and rinsed
  
• 200ml water
• oil for frying
  

Begin by frying the onions in a little oil over a medium heat until starting to go soft, then add the garlic and Thai chilies. Fry for a further couple of minutes, then remove from pan and set to one side.

Turn up the heat, add a spot more oil to the pan and add the minced beef and diced chicken. Fry til browned.

Add the paprika, chili powder, cayenne, cumin, coriander, crushed oxo cube and fry for another minute. Put the onions back in and fry for yet another minute!

Add both tins of tomatoes, the tomato puree, tabasco, sugar, salt and water. Stir.

Leave this simmering away for a couple of hours, adding the kidney beans 10 minutes before the end of cooking. It will be ready enough to eat after about 45 minutes, but tastes even better with a long cook. It is also really good to make a day in advance, then let the flavours develop overnight!

I usually serve mine with plain steamed long grain rice, and toasted pita breads. also good with the usual suspects - baked potato, tortilla chips, potato wedges...

This time I actually served mine as a chili bake. The day after I cooked it, I heated it in a casserole dish, added about 500g rice and a pint of boiling water. I then covered it and cooked it in the oven at about 200°c for about 25 minutes. Make sure you check it frequently to ensure it doesn't dry out - and to adjust seasoning if required. Once it was ready, I smoothed the top of the bake and covered it with finely sliced tomatoes, scattered over a mix of slightly crushed tortilla chips, cheddar cheese and pecorino. Whacked it under the grill for 5 minutes til the top was bubbling and gorgeous then served... yum yum yum!