1 x 400g can chickpeas, drained and rinsed 4 cloves of garlic, minced 1 onion, finely chopped a big handful of parsley, chopped a big handful of coriander leaves, chopped 5ml ground coriander 5ml ground cumin 2,5ml salt 45ml flour vegetable oil for frying
Add all of the ingredients, except the vegetable oil, to a mixing bowl and blitz together with a stick blender. Lift the blender often and stir the mixture around – you want everything mixed together but not too fine. Wet your hands and scoop up 15ml of the mixture. Roll into a ball and place on a tray. Keep going until you have rolled all of the mixture into balls. Pour enough oil to come 7cm up the side of a saucepan and allow to heat up. Fry a few of the falafel balls at a time until beautifully golden and crisp on the outside. Serve with a dipping sauce as a starter or fill a pita bread with falafel, salad and tzatziki sauce.
For the bread: Add the water, salt, sugar and yeast to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook. Stir until the sugar has dissolved and leave to stand for 10 minutes. Add the bread flour and mix on low speed to form a dough. Turn the speed up to medium and mix/knead for 5 minutes. You will be left with a soft but slightly sticky dough. Place the dough in a clean, oiled bowl, cover with a clean tea towel and leave to rise for 1-2 hours or until doubled in size. Preheat your oven to 240℃ and line a baking sheet with baking paper. Dust a work surface with flour and divide the dough into 6 equal portions. Roll the dough into a 10cm diameter circle with a rolling pin. Place the dough rounds on the baking sheet and brush all over with olive oil. Top the dough with some of the spinach, mozzarella, tomato and red onion, leaving a 1cm border on the outside edge. Scatter the border of the dough round with sesame seeds and break an egg in the centre. Bake in the oven for 13 minutes. Serve warm.
500g cooked grains (choose from or combine barley, quinoa, brown rice) 100g raisins 1 cauliflower head, cut into small florets 10ml ground coriander 2 cloves of garlic, minced 2,5ml chilli flakes 55ml + 75ml olive oil 5ml salt 1 red onion, halved and thinly sliced 30g pistachio nuts, roughly chopped 30g pomegranate seeds 15ml finely grated lemon zest 30ml lemon juice a small handful of mint leaves a small handful of parsley
Preheat your oven to 200℃. Add the raisins to a small bowl and pour 60ml boiling water over it. Set aside. Add the cauliflower, coriander, garlic, chilli flakes, 55ml olive oil and salt to a mixing bowl and toss together to coat the cauliflower florets. Tip the florets into a roasting tray and spread it out in a single layer. Pour 60ml hot water into the now empty mixing bowl, swirl it around to collect any left-behind spices and then pour it around (NOT ON TOP!) the cauliflower. Cover the tray with aluminium foil and roast for 10 minutes. Remove the tray from the oven and leave to cool. Place a pan on medium-high heat, add about 30ml oil and fry the red onion for about 15 minutes, until starting to caramelise. Add the cooled cauliflower, onion, pistachios, pomegranate, lemon zest, lemon juice, raisins and cooked grains to a mixing bowl. Drizzle 45ml olive oil over and season with salt. Mix through. Mix the mint and parsley together on a chopping board and chop roughly. Add the herbs to the rest of the salad, mix through and serve.
Perde Pilavi is a traditional Turkish dish made of chicken and rice flavoured with nuts, fruit and spices and wrapped up in a delicious pastry, specked with flaked almonds.
Place the chicken in a large saucepan and pour in the stock. Cook on medium heat for an hour, until done. Remove the chicken from the stock and set aside to cool slightly. Reserve the stock. Place a large frying pan on medium-high heat, add the butter and wait for it to melt. Add the almonds and stir-fry until golden. Add the rice and cook for a minute or so, stirring all the while to coat in the butter. Now add the raisins, salt, a few grindings of black pepper, paprika and mint. Pour in 660ml of the reserved stock (add boiling water if you dont have enough), stir the mixture and cover with a lid. Turn the heat to a gentle simmer and cook until the liquid is absorbed and the rice is almost cooked. Remove from the heat and set aside. Shred the chicken into strips and discard the bones and skin. Add the chicken to the rice mixture and stir through.
For the pastry: Preheat your oven to 180℃. Add the eggs, yoghurt, butter and vegetable oil to a bowl and whisk together. Set aside. Add the salt, flour and baking powder to a bowl and whisk through. Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet. Lightly knead the pastry to bring it together. Flour a work surface and roll the pastry to a 45cm diameter circle. It should be large enough to line the dish and have enough hanging over the sides to close around the filling. Spray a 18cm diameter x 8cm deep ceramic dish with cooking spray. Scatter the almonds on the bottom of the dish. Line the bottom and sides of the dish with the pastry, leaving the overhang. Spoon the cooled rice mixture into the pastry. Fold the overhang-pastry over the filling to enclose it completely – trim off any excess. Bake for 40 minutes, until golden. Take the dish from the oven and rest it for 15 minutes. Place a serving plate over the baking dish and invert it. Serve the pilavi with a crispy salad.
500g lamb mince 4 slices white bread, crusts removed 60ml milk 1 small onion, finely chopped 10ml chopped parsley 10ml chopped mint 2 cloves of garlic, minced 5ml salt 5ml ground cumin 5ml ground coriander 100g feta cheese, cubed (1,5cm x 1,5cm)
Sauce: 1 x 400g tin chopped tomato 5ml salt 10ml sugar 60ml cream
For the meatballs: Preheat your oven to 180℃. Place the minced meat in a large mixing bowl and break it up with your hands. Break up the bread, add it to the bowl and pour over the milk. Mix well. Now add the onion, parsley, mint, garlic, cumin, coriander, salt and a few good grindings of black pepper. Mix again. Scoop 30ml of the meat into your hands, form a ball and press it flat in your palm. Place a feta cube on the mince and bring the sides up and around it. Roll the mince ball between your hands to seal. Place the balls on an oven tray and keep going until you have no meat left. Drizzle a few drops of olive oil over the meatballs and bake in the oven for 15 minutes.
For the sauce: Add the tomato, salt and sugar to a liquidiser and blitz until smooth. Pour the sauce into a saucepan set over medium-high heat and simmer for 15 minutes. Add the cream, stir through and add the meatballs. Simmer for a further 20 minutes. Serve the meatballs with rice or bulgar wheat.
45ml olive oil 600g chicken breasts, cut into 2cm cubes 1 onion, chopped half a green bell pepper, deseeded and cut into 1cm cubes 2 red bell peppers, deseeded and cut into 3cm cubes 75g tomato purée 5ml smoked paprika 5ml sugar 2 tomatoes, peeled and chopped 200ml water a large handful of parsley, chopped
Place a large saucepan on medium-high heat, add the olive oil and wait for it to heat up. Brown the chicken in batches and set aside. Turn the heat down to medium-low and add the onion and peppers. Cook for about 10 minutes until softened but not coloured. Stir every now and then and add more olive oil if needed. Add the tomato purée, paprika and sugar and cook for another minute. Now add the chopped tomato, chicken and water and stir to mix. Season with salt and black pepper. Bring the mixture to the boil, lower the temperature and simmer for 25 minutes. Take off the heat. Sprinkle in the parsley, mix through and leave to stand for 5 minutes. Serve the stew on rice or bulgar wheat.
This is a nutritious soup and is perfect to make with cooked, left-over chicken.
2 chicken breast fillets 1,5l chicken stock 10ml sesame oil 2,5ml ground ginger 1 x 375g can of sweet corn 30ml cornflour 2 eggs a handful of chopped chives one packet baby corn
Place the chicken breasts in a saucepan set over medium-high heat and cover with 1 litres of the stock. Add a pinch of salt and cook until the chicken is done. Remove the meat, but keep the stock. Shred the chicken into large strips by pulling it apart with two forks. Top up the chicken stock so that you have 1 litre again. Add the sesame oil, ginger powder and sweet corn and bring to a boil. Add the shredded chicken and bring the mixture to a simmer. Add the cornflour to a small bowl and pour in about 60ml of the stock from the saucepan. Stir to make a runny paste. Drizzle the cornflour into the saucepan in a thin stream while stirring continuously. Add the eggs to a small bowl and whisk together. Add a spoonful of the stock in the saucepan to the eggs and whisk again. Now, slowly drizzle in the egg while stirring. Remove the soup from the heat, add the corn and chives and serve immediately.
Add the two quartered guavas and 500ml yoghurt to a blender and blitz until smooth. Set aside. Add the vegetable oil to a saucepan set over medium heat. Add the mustard and cumin seeds and wait for it to start crackling. Now add the curry leaves, coriander, chilli, turmeric, salt and sugar. Pour in the guava and yoghurt mixture and add the chicken pieces. Turn the heat down to medium and simmer for 30 minutes. Add the three quartered and deseeded guavas and stir through. Simmer lightly for another 10 minutes. Serve the curry on fragrant rice.
60ml butter 1 onion, chopped 60ml flour 750ml vegetable stock 1 head of broccoli, chopped into small pieces, stems included 1 large carrot, finely diced 500ml milk 750ml grated mature cheddar cheese
Add the butter to a large saucepan set over medium-high heat and wait for it to melt. Add the onion and cook for 5-10 minutes until soft. Sprinkle the flour over the onion and cook for 2-3 minutes, while stirring. Drizzle in the stock while whisking continuously. Season with salt and black pepper. Now add the broccoli and carrot, bring the mixture to a boil and reduce to a low simmer. Cook for 20 minutes, stirring every now and then. Pour the milk into the mixture and stir to blend. Decant about two thirds of the mixture into a blender and blitz until smooth. Pour back into the saucepan and wait for the soup to come back to a low simmer. Add the cheddar and stir through until melted. Serve the soup piping hot with a crusty bread.
500g beef, sliced in strips 45ml cornstarch 15ml + 15ml vegetable oil 3 cloves of garlic, minced 5ml ground ginger 80ml soy sauce 60ml water 60ml brown sugar 15ml sesame seeds, toasted
Add the beef strips to a bowl and season with salt and pepper. Sprinkle the cornstarch over and toss together so that the steak is coated in a thin layer. Place a large pan on medium-high heat and pour in 15ml of vegetable oil. Add the garlic and ginger and stir-fry for one minute. Add the soy sauce, water and sugar and cook while stirring for 2-3 minutes. Pour the sauce into a jug and set aside. Pour the remaining 15ml vegetable oil into the pan and turn the heat to medium-high. Add the steak in batches and cook until it is browned. Add all the steak back into the pan and pour in the sauce. Simmer until the sauce is thick and glossy. It should coat the back of a wooden spoon evenly. Serve the beef on steamed rice, scatter over the sesame seeds and serve.
My Whisk and I 