Meals On Speed

I blended the following ingredients for a quick baba ghanoush with a strong coriander flavour-profile:

• 1 aubergine (Peeled and sliced into chunks. I cooked this with a little water in the microwave for 4 minutes)
• lemon juice to taste
• about 1 tablespoon of olive oil (use a variety with a rich full-bodied flavour)
• salt to taste
• pepper to taste
• about 1 tablespoon of ground coriander seeds
• half a fist-full of fresh chopped coriander
• 1 jalapeno pepper

Use as a sandwich spread, on wraps or as a dip.

Cross-blogged on www.saaleha.com/mealsonspeed

As the Mayet family’s ‘Designated Drinks Maker’ (it was just yesterday that I was officially conferred the title by my sister-in-law Naqiyah), I look forward to Eid celebrations and family get-togethers as a chance to party-up the tablescape with interesting drink combinations.

This Eid I wanted to honour Summer by using whole fruits in my preparations. Not only do the make a great base, blended frozen fruit add a wonderfully textured mouth-feel to your mixed drinks.   

About two weeks ago, a generous friend invited a group of us to raid the bounteous boughs of the mulberry trees in her backyard. I poured a simple sugar syrup (mildly spiced with star anise, cinnamon and cardamom – inspired by Ayesha’s marvelous mulberry pancake topping) over my pickings and froze them.

To prepare the drink, I first liquidized the frozen berries with a little bit of Rose’s Black Cherry cordial.

I then topped this up with a Lime and Lemongrass sugar-free fizzy from Woolworths. Served ice-cold, it made for a refreshing and not-too-sweet sipper.     

For the Litchi Crush, I decanted two cans of preserved litchis and froze the fruit along with its syrup.

I blended this into a slush, topped up the mixture with soda water and a Litchi-flavoured fizzy from Woolworths and added mint for additional cool-cred.

Cross-blogged on www.saaleha.com/mealsonspeed

While Eaton Mess or good old stock-standard strawberries and cream are good for no-brainer take-along desserts, I wanted something a little more thoughtful for my niece Zeenat’s 3rd birthday party. I call this the Strawberry Triple, as it’s exactly that; three layers of strawberried variation.

First layer:

Prepare a packet of strawberry jelly and pour into a large serving bowl/individual serving bowls. Put aside to set.  

Second layer:

Macerate 700g of thickly chopped strawberries in a little vanilla sugar. Spoon over set jelly.  

Third layer:

In a heavy based pot, warm 500ml of cream. Pop 25 pink marshmallows into the pot; a few at a time, waiting for them to melt before further additions. Stir in 250g of thinly chopped and macerated strawberries. Flavour the mixture with one teaspoon of strawberry essence and one teaspoon of cardamom (I overkill this combo sometimes but I also can’t get enough of it). To achieve a warm pink colour, add a drop of red food colouring. Allow the mousse to cool for about five minutes before pouring over the second strawberry layer.  

Set the dessert overnight.  

Cross-blogged on www.saaleha.com/mealsonspeed

I flush with a warm pride whenever I make good with leftovers.

I had some encore-deserving red pepper and tomato chutney* on hand as well as a quarter chicken from the Nando’s takeout we had last night.

I’d also picked up a pack of mini-wholewheat pitas from Woolworths the day before.

It had all the makings of good quick nosh that would hit home at Iftaar.

I arranged the pitas on an oven tray; piling each one with chutney, shredded chicken, a square of mozzarella and a sprinkle of chives.

If you find your leftover meat to be a bit dry, mix in a favourite sauce. I used a bit of yoghurt and herb salad dressing because I like how it set off the roasted flavour of the chicken.

They went into a pre-heated oven (180 degrees celsius) and I waited for the cheese to melt and the chutney to warm through before serving.

I really liked how it all came together. So much so that I would consider making this up from scratch (mostly). I’d still order an extra portion of chicken from Nando’s though, just for that smoky peri-peri flavour.

*A really simple chutney to prepare; with onions, tomato, sweet red pepper and garlic at its core, spiced with; cumin, coriander, black pepper, cardamom and a dash of green chili masala.

Also blogged here: saaleha.com/mealsonspeed

Of all the ways to subdue this hardy squash, making a soup out of mashed butternuts is my favoured application.

Spiced up or seasoned simply, creamed or fortified with other vegetables; the versatile butternut soup in any incarnation is a soul-soothing addition to our supper table.

During winter, I like to pep up our meals with ginger for its immune system support and thought it would also give a pleasing zing to the butternut.

Cumin, coriander and the dash of garam masala added towards the end add some spicy complexity to this soup’s flavour profile.

The garnish of roasted yellow pepper and haloumi pan-fried in sesame oil provide a sweet and savoury play against the heat.

As usual, I used my fingers instead of measuring spoons and this makes for messy directives.

As I don’t have the daintiest of digits, you will have to taste as you go along.  

Begin by de-seeding and quartering a yellow pepper. Place the pepper pieces into an oven tray, drizzle with a bit of oil and grill until the skin starts to blacken. Remove from the heat and set aside.

I used a medium-sized bag of cleaned butternut and blitzed the pieces to softness in the microwave.

In the soup pot, I heated three tablespoons of canola oil and added crushed garlic (six cloves), two teaspoons of cumin seeds and a knuckle’s worth of grated ginger.

I allowed this to fry for a short while before adding a teaspoon of green masala (aka leelo masala, a preparation of green chillies, garlic and ginger).

I added the soft butternut to the pot, mixing it in with the other ingredients and mashing it as I stirred.

In went a generous pinch of dhana-jeeru (a mix of ground cumin and coriander seeds) before the addition of one cup of vegetable stock.

After a good mix, I removed the pot from the heat and used a stick blender to smooth out the soup (you may prefer to transfer the contents of the pot to a blender).

With the pot back on the heat, I added more vegetable stock to achieve a thinner consistency and seasoned with salt, pepper and a generous pinch of ground cumin to really amplify the flavour.

Once the soup reached the boil, I poured in a bit of reduced-fat cream and stirred through a dash of garam masala powder to finish.

Just before serving the soup, I thickly julienned some haloumi cheese and pan fried it with a bit of sesame oil until soft.

On plating up or bowling out as it were, I garnished each serving with the haloumi, strips of roasted yellow pepper and fresh coriander.  

Also blogged at www.saaleha.com/mealsonspeed

I don’t know what the going rate is but these muffin wrappers seemed a steal at R15 for 10 at the Fordsburg Square Market in Johannesburg.

I loved that they required no pre-greasing and were sturdy enough to be filled with batter and plonked straight on to a baking sheet.

A hat tip to Nafisa who put me on to Ryan’s Baking Blog. His recipe for Chocolate Chip Muffins was the perfect base for these Chili Chocolate Muffins.

My adaptation included the addition of more sugar, cocoa and chili powder and the substitution of the chocolate chips with chunks of chili chocolate.

Chili Chocolate Muffins

(adapted from Ryan’s Baking Blog)

For 12 muffins:

• 1 and 1/2 cups flour
• 1/3 cup good quality cocoa
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder (A heaped measure gave these babies a good rise)
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon chili powder (This quantity was suitable for a very subtle kick, up this if you’re feeling gutsy)
• 2/3 cup granulated sugar (I added more sugar to offset the addition of the cocoa as well as the substitution of the chocolate chips with the dark chocolate chunks)
• 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted & slightly cooled (Stork margarine works just as well)
• 1/2 cup full-cream milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 slab of dark chili chocolate broken up in small chunks (Lindt makes a really good bar)

Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius.

Sift together flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, chili powder and salt.

Whisk in the sugar, making sure that all lumps are broken up.

Mix the eggs, butter, milk, and vanilla together in a separate bowl.

Add to dry ingredients, mixing until just combined.

Fold in the chocolate chunks Fill muffin wrappers 2/3 full with batter.

Bake for 20-22 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean.

Serve warm.

If eating later or the next day, nuke for 10 seconds in the microwave for oven-fresh faux.

Also blogged at www.saaleha.com/mealsonspeed/

These are great for when you have a surplus of carrots or bananas veering towards an unpleasant ripeness.

For the cakes, I used this recipe for carrot and banana bread. I substituted brown sugar for white and used walnuts instead of pecans.  Preparing these as cupcakes decreased the baking time substantially. Check on these about 20 minutes into oven time.

For the cream cheese frosting I looked to this recipe. I used cottage cheese and found that this made for a runnier topping.

To finish, use a bit of citrus sugar ground over each cupcake to accent the tanginess of the cheese.

–

Also posted on www.saaleha.com/mealsonspeed

I’ve had a container full of liquid glucose sitting in the grocery cupboard for ages.
An impulse purchase, it joined the jar of lemon curd, basil seeds, candy thermometer, silicon butterfly cupcake moulds and other kitchen porn and paraphernalia on the just-in-case shelf.

So when I saw someone post a recipe for homemade Almond Roca on Facebook, it was the Universe vindicating me for my hoarding ways.

You will need:

3/4 lb butter (that’s about 1 and 1/2 cups or 340g)

1 and 1/2 cups of sugar

3 tablespoons water

2 tablespoons liquid glucose

1/2 cup of chopped almonds

Topping: Melted chocolate (I used a bar of Lindt’s A Touch of Sea Salt for a grown-up spin)

Chopped almonds

Melt butter in a pot.

Add sugar.

Stir until the sugar dissolves.

Add the water and liquid glucose.

Stir until mixture turns slightly brown.

This will take a while, so just keep stirring until the mixture thickens and boils.

At one point, I was quite certain that I had messed up really simple instructions.

Instead of the brown the recipe indicated, a buttery yellow glared back at me.

I kept at it though, and once the mixture started a rolling boil, I could see it developing into a toffee.

Add almonds and continue stirring until the colour changes to a deep caramel and pulls away from the sides of the pot.

Spread in foil tray and cover with melted chocolate and more chopped almonds.

Allow to harden for a few hours.

I placed my batch in the fridge overnight and cut them into the squares the following day.

Bundled up in cellophane, they make great gifts.

A lesson from toffee-making; in the face of imminent disaster, keep doing what you need to do, and everything will pull together.

Also blogged here.