Grub Up

As promised, here is a food & recipe post...

We love food...

Millet bake, steamed veg, dry baked potatoes & miso gravy.

We cook millet the same way as rice, one cup of millet to two cups of water, bring to the boil, cover & simmer until the water is absorbed - which takes about 20 minutes with millet.

This bake was just made from millet & leftover home made pasta sauce. We just mix it together & bung it in the oven for 20 minutes to warm through.

We don't have a photo of the pasta sauce, but here's a nice simple recipe for this time of year:

Bake 8 large tomatoes & 2 bulbs of garlic in the oven on a low heat for about an hour - we slice a cross in the top of the tomatoes & sprinkle in some dried basil.

Whizz them up with about 3 tablespoons of red wine vinegar, a good handful of fresh basil, salt & pepper to taste. This just coats the pasta & is lovely with some roasted veggies too!

We dry roast our veg, sprinkled with smoked paprika & give the pan a shake every 15 minutes to stop them from sticking.

Spinach, beetroot & tofu lasagne...

I based this on the recipe from the video below, but added some grated beetroot & made my own sauce.

I've always made a white sauce before, but it's really delicious without.

 We've been asked a few times about a curry recipe, so here is the chickpea one:

Sime reckons the secret to a good curry is to use plenty of onions... So we usually chop up 2 large or 3 medium. Place in pan with a little water & add 2 cloves of chopped garlic & a knob of fresh ginger (chopped or grated). Simmer for about 10 minutes on a low heat with a teaspoon of turmeric. Sometimes Sime also adds a scant teaspoon of asafoetida. 

In a mortar & pestle - grind a mixture of your favourite spices. At the moment, Sime puts in  a teaspoon each of coriander seeds, cumin seeds & chilli flakes, then a sprinkle each of cardamom, fenugreek, star anise, cinnamon, nutmeg, pepper & 1 clove.

Add the ground spices to the pan & continue to simmer for another 5 minutes.

We would start adding whatever veg - we like butternut squash, sweet potatoes, cabbage, cauliflower, peas, mushrooms & if we're hungry we also add potatoes (usually leftover from the day before or precooked).

 Sometimes we add tinned chopped tomatoes & red lentils which we precook.

But this curry just had a little extra water & some salt added at the end.

I'm waffling, but add your vegetables to be cooked & add boiling water - enough to stop the veg from sticking, simmer for another 20 minutes. Add any leftover veggies, some extra chopped garlic (we add a couple more cloves) & about 200g (6oz) of cooked chickpeas. Simmer again for at least 15 minutes...

We don't usually add any stock, unless we have some soup or stew leftover, but if you find this dish is not tasty enough - then you can add some tomato purée or stock near the beginning &/or some grated creamed coconut is nice added before serving.

We usually make a big pan full, which will feed the 3 of us for 2 days & it always tastes better the next day!

Our recipes are a bit vague, as we've said before - we just chuck everything in & see what happens... 

But hopefully, you get a rough idea & can experiment with your favourite ingredients.

Have fun!

Kay & Sime

xx