Sweet potato and red kidney bean chilli

The day after baby S's first birthday, a Sunday, he and I went up the road to the airbnb house that Dad, S and sisters were staying in. S made us dinner. It was lovely. It suddenly felt like a long time since I'd had a proper home-cooked family dinner, and it was soooo nice. She made a chilli based on this one (with reduced chillis to make it baby-friendly) with tortillas and sour cream and she made guacamole too, and it felt a bit like being back home. It was really tasty, I loved the sweet potatoes and the kidney beans - and so did baby S - he ate loads, and revelled in being the centre of attention while everyone sang and made a fuss of him. And I saw how much he gets out of being around family. And anyway, I am making this again now, to try and stave off anxiety about my surgery tomorrow, and to make sure we have something nice and nourishing to keep us, especially me, going through the next few days.

500 g sweet potatoes (1 massive one or 2 normal sized ones), peeled and chopped into big chunks
1 level tsp cayenne
1 heaped tsp ground cumin
1 level tsp cinnamon
olive oil
1 onion, peeled and chopped
2 red bell peppers (or 1 red and 1 yellow), chopped into big chunks
2 cloves garlic, peeled and finely chopped
1 bunch coriander, chopped with stalks and leaves approximately separated
1 red chili and 1 green chili, deseeded and finely chopped (skipped this to make it baby-friendly)
2 x 400 g tins red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
2 x 400 g tins chopped tomatoes
salt+pepper

Heat oven to 200C. Put sweet potato chunks onto a baking tray, sprinkle with pinches of cayenne, cumin, cinnamon, sea salt and black pepper, drizzle with olive oil and toss. Roast for 40 min, until golden and tender. Remove when ready and set aside until needed.

Meanwhile, heat 2 tbsp olive oil in a large pan, medium-high heat. Add onions, peppers and garlic and cook for 5 min. Add the coriander stalks, chillis if using, and the rest of the spices, and cook for 5-10 min. Add drained beans and tinned tomatoes, stir and let simmer for 25-30 min until thick and reduced. Stir in sweet potato chunks and coriander leaves, taste and season, and scatter a little coriander on top before serving.


Thinking about making cornbread to go with it.

Yellow cauliflower and chickpeas

Yellow potatoes has been a favourite of ours for some time. It's a most speedy and excellent way to use pre-cooked potatoes - essentially dry-fried; spicy and delicious. For some reason it had never occurred to me to cook anything other than potatoes like that, but S steamed a lot of cauliflower the other day and a lightbulb came on. Wouldn't cauliflower be delicious this way too? While preparing the spice paste chickpeas also came to mind - I usually have a supply of pre-cooked chickpeas in the freezer, so it was easy to throw some in. It made for an excellent combination.

approx. 1 1/4 lb mixed steamed cauliflower and pre-cooked chickpeas
fresh ginger ~2 x 1 x 1in, peeled and coarsely chopped
3 cloves garlic, peeled
3 tbsp water
1/2 tsp ground turmeric
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
5 tbsp veg oil
1 tsp whole fennel seed (optional)

Chop cauliflower into approx 1 in chunks. Put ginger, garlic, water, turmeric, salt, cayenne in blender and blend to a paste.

Heat oil.  Add fennel seeds.  Sizzle for a few seconds, then add the paste.  Stir and fry for 2 min.

Add cauliflower and chickpeas (direct from freezer is OK).  Stir and fry for 5-7 min over a medium-high flame til they have a golden-brown crust.

Berbere lentils

I've made berbere lentils before, but at the weekend was browsing my precious weeks-old Guardian Weekend (that Y shepherded carefully over from Beccles for me), and found someone professing this berbere lentils recipe (that I had noticed then forgotten about previously) to be the best thing. And I had exactly the 250 g of red lentils it called for, so off we went.

2 medium onions, chopped
sesame oil (untoasted) or peanut oil, for frying
2–3 garlic cloves, chopped
250g red lentils
2 tbsp berbere spice mix (recipe below)
400g tin chopped tomatoes
400ml water
salt and black pepper

For berbere spice mix:
2 cloves
1 tsp fenugreek seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tbsp coriander seeds
1 tsp cayenne
2 tbsp paprika
2 tsp salt
1 tsp ground turmeric
½ tsp each of ground allspice, black pepper, ground cardamom, and ground nutmeg

To make the berbere, toast the cloves with the fenugreek, cumin and coriander. Grind and then mix with the cayenne, paprika, salt, black pepper, cardamom, nutmeg, turmeric and allspice.

Fry the onions. When softened, add the garlic, lentils and berbere. Mix, then add the tomatoes and water. Bring to the boil, turn down the heat and simmer for 30 minutes, adding more water if necessary.


Pretty good. Was a bit salty - I've reduced the salt a little above (as well as tweaking spice levels to my taste).Very similar to the recipe I tried before (except a bit saltier).

Roasted carrots, chickpeas and cauliflower with yoghurt-tahini sauce

More cauliflower. I fancied roasting some chickpeas, and roasting carrots with coriander and spices. They all got roasted together and it was very very good.

Roast:
5 large carrots, scrubbed and top-and-tailed
2 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
1 1/2 tbsp coriander seeds, toasted and ground
1 tsp cumin seeds, toasted and ground
1 tbsp paprika
1-2 tsp sumac
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp cayenne
1-2 tsp nigella seeds
1 tbsp sesame seeds
salt+pepper
2-3 tbsp olive oil
1/2 cauliflower, broken into florets
about 1 cup cooked chickpeas

Sauce:
4 tbsp yoghurt
1 tbsp tahini
1 tsp lemon juice

Heat the oven to 230C. Put the carrots in a large baking tin along with all of the spices and seeds, salt and pepper and the olive oil (be generous with these - remember the cauliflower and chickpeas will be added partway through and they want to be coated with goodness too). Mix well and put in the oven for 10-15 min. Take out and mix in the cauliflower and the chickpeas. Put back in the oven and roast for another 20-30 min, until everything is tender and starting to crisp. While it's roasting make the sauce just by mixing together the yoghurt, tahini and lemon. Serve together.


Both roast and sauce are definite make-agains. S particularly loved the roasted chickpeas.

Lazy vegetable and red lentil curry

Since we're subletting I haven't really felt like I settled in, foodwise, yet. The kitchen has most everything we need but not all, and I'm conscious of trying not to mess things up. And since we move again soon (to a different sublet) it feels like it would be silly to buy up lots of foodstuff. Not to mention that there is a whole lot of exciting food out there to buy / eat - baked goods especially are making us happy. And there's just a lot of adventuring / work etc to be done, so spending time doing anything very involved in the kitchen doesn't feel quite right. But then again, just eating pasta or salad all the time doesn't feel right either.

This has been my solution: simple curried vegetables, with red lentils to thicken and deepen. No weighing or measuring and minimal effort; but feels hearty and hygge (and yes not much different from that soup - just a few more spices, less varied vegetables and less liquidy).

(Note: partly inspired by our favourite food place discovery since getting here: Grød - all kinds of sweet and savoury porridge (including dal, barley-otto); perfect for a Danish winter and quite near work.)

~1 tbsp veg oil (or olive oil)
2 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
2 in piece ginger, peeled and chopped
1 onion, peeled and chopped
2 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp ground paprika
1 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp cayenne
1/2 tsp chilli powder
1/4 tsp cinnamon
few grinds black pepper
1 tsp curry powder
4 medium carrots, peeled and chopped
chunk of celeriac, peeled and diced
~1 cup red lentils
1 veg stock cube made up with 2 cups boiling water
smallish piece of broccoli, washed and separated into florets
~1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
~1 tsp salt
~2 tbsp chopped coriander
brown rice and skyr / yoghurt* to serve

Heat the oil in a medium lidded saucepan. Add the garlic, ginger and onion. Cover and cook until softened and slightly browned. Add the spices and mix / toast for a minute. Add the carrots and celeriac and mix. Add the lentils and stock and stir. Cover and simmer for ~15 min until the veg and lentils are nearly tender. Add the broccoli and simmer for ~5 more minutes. Check everything is done and add vinegar and salt to taste. To serve, mix through some of the coriander and scatter some more on top. We ate with brown rice and some skyr*.


This keeps well to become work lunches etc as well - perhaps even improves with a day in the fridge. Usually I would have added tinned tomatoes to something like this, but (a) I didn't have any, and (b) I found that red lentils+stock work well in their place to create a sauce as well as adding texture and earthy flavour.

*I have been having a bit of a break from veganism since getting here - it's tricky to figure out what is / isn't vegan when there's a language barrier. So I am making the best of it and eating lots of all my favourite non-vegan foods (mostly yoghurt; occasionally cheese / eggs / non-vegan baked goods) - no meat! Hence the skyr - I always loved how natural yoghurt goes with spicy curry and brown rice. But this is just fine without it too.

New Year's Hygge Soup (chunky spiced red lentil and root veg)

We live in Denmark now. Since last Sunday. Crikey: nearly a week. After a rush of moving and flying and packing and cases and goodbyes and Christmas and birthday and everything, there we were. It snowed. Amy arrived from Berlin for New Year's Eve - hurrah. We explored a bit. Walking: the Mermaid and the busbies in Amalienborg. 360 degrees of Round Tower. Half-electric bikes to look at the Carlsberg elephant gate. Looks like we can swim and sauna at the harbour baths, but we didn't know in time to achieve it on New Year's Day. Sooo many fireworks.

Discovering supermarkets. Nearest is Rema 1000 (seems to be mid-range), also Aldi; Irma (seems to be more fancy / økologisk). After some foggy outdoor explorations on New Year's Day it felt like enough activity and we went home to create some hygge. With a bag full of red lentils and root vegetables. Soup.

(this served 3 good appetites, with bread, for dinner)

~2 tbsp olive oil (olivenolie)
3 cloves garlic (hvidløg), peeled and chopped
2 medium leeks (porre), sliced
4 medium persillerod (aka petersilienwurzel aka parsley root aka my new favourite thing - seems quite easy to get here; alternatively use parsnips, pastinak), peeled and diced fairly small
6 medium carrots (gulerod), peeled and diced fairly small
1/4 celeriac (knoldselleri), peeled and diced fairly small
2 tsp paprika
1 tsp ground cumin (kommen)
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon (kanel)
1/4 tsp turmeric (gurkemeje)
pinch of cayenne pepper
1 tsp ground thyme (timien)
1 cup red lentils (røde linser)
1 veg stock cube dissolved in boiling water
more boiling water
6 baby pattypan squash, chopped
6 mushrooms (champignon), chopped
splashes of balsamic vinegar (eddike)
splashes of soy sauce (sojasovs)
salt+pepper (salt og peber)

Heat oil in a large lidded saucepan. Add garlic and leeks, cover and cook for a few minutes. Add the chopped root vegetables, cover and cook for a few minutes more until everything is slightly tender and just starting to soften. Add the spices and thyme and stir for a few minutes until you can smell them. Add the lentils and stir, then add the stock and enough water to achieve a consistency a bit runnier than you'd like to end up with (the lentils will absorb some). Turn down low, and simmer for 10-15 min, until the lentils and vegetables are almost tender. Add the squash and mushrooms and cook another 5-10 min, until everything is done. Taste, and add vinegar, soy sauce, salt and pepper to taste. Eat warm with bread (brød). Would be good (perhaps better) reheated the next day, if there is any left.


This came out just as I wanted, and really hit the spot. A big pan of it went down real well.

Easter eggs: Shakshuka with fennel

Yesterday we made a trip to Brattleboro. It's a little town just over the border in Vermont, and we first went there on a rainy weekend during our first Spring here. That time we pretty much just picked our destination by closing our eyes and poking the map - it was in Vermont and we'd never been there, but was close enough for a day trip (two hours drive). We found a pretty little place next to the wide Connecticut River, with a smaller river running energetically over rocks right through town (reminds me of the Lynn in East Linton). It's nestled among the beginnings of the Green Mountains, and full of interesting secondhand clothes shops, outdoor gear purveyors, a striking Art Deco hotel (Latchis), a great coffee stop (Mocha Joe's - grinds just down the street), and hippies. We love it, and can happily potter around there for hours. But the dealbreaker that really blew our minds the first time, and keeps calling us back again and again, is the Brattleboro Co-op. It is hands-down the best supermarket I've ever been to, especially its gigantic dried stuff by weight section.

Since it was Easter weekend and we were out in farm country, in the best supermarket ever, it seemed very appropriate to buy a half dozen happy, local eggs. Since eggs are such a rare occurrence in my kitchen these days I was more excited about those eggs than about any chocolate ones - just right for Easter. I spent some time today doing justice to those beautiful eggs - first for lunch (brunch?), shakshuka (nb second, clafoutis).

I wanted to make something kind of special but very egg-centric (no pun intended...). Shakshuka had popped up a few times recently - on brunch menus, at dinner at N+G's the other night... Time to make one myself. I used Yotam Ottolenghi's recipe, with a few modifications (like fennel).

(makes enough for a meal for two fairly hungry people, with bread)

½ tsp cumin seeds
2-3 tbsp grapeseed oil
1 large onion, peeled and sliced
1/2 a bulb of fennel, washed, trimmed and sliced to similar dimensions as the onion
3 1/2 tsp demerara sugar plus 1/2 tsp molasses
2 bay leaves
2-3 tsp dried thyme
2 tbsp parsley, chopped
1 bunch fresh coriander, chopped
1 tin chopped tomatoes plus 1 tbsp tomato puree
½ tsp saffron strands
pinch of cayenne pepper
salt and pepper
up to 250ml water
4 eggs

In a large, wide saucepan, dry fry the cumin on high heat for a minute, until fragrant. Add the oil and sauté the onion for two minutes. Add the fennel, sugar, molasses, bay, thyme, parsley and two tbsp chopped coriander, and cook on high heat for a few more minutes until light golden. Add the tomatoes, tomato puree, saffron, cayenne, salt and pepper. Cook on low heat for 15 minutes, adding enough water to keep it the consistency of a pasta sauce. Season to taste. You can prepare this mix in advance. Turn the heat down to very low, then make four evenly-spaced hollows in the mixture in the pan*. Break the eggs one at a time into a small mug (try not to break the yolk), then pour each egg into one of the hollows in the mixture. Sprinkle with salt, cover and cook very gently until the egg just sets (this took at least half an hour although YO said it would be more like 10 min). To eat, sprinkle with coriander and have some bread on the side.

*The elegant way to do this would be to use one pan per person; I didn't feel like making that much washing up; perhaps the eggs would have cooked quicker in a smaller pan though?


This was really good - kind of a perfect combination: eggs, tomatoes, herbs, fennel, bread, plenty of salt and pepper. Great for any time of day. Other additions I was tempted to make include chives, olives, capers, fennel seed, sumac, chilli, oregano, peppers...

Spiced cocoa rice pudding

J left half a bottle of milk in the fridge. I wondered what to do with it, then thought I may as well cook with it. With the days getting crisper and the nights colder, rice pudding suggested itself. And, when it did, I couldn't resist putting all sorts of things in it - I guess I fancied hot chocolate or chai as much as I did rice pudding. I didn't feel like switching the oven on or waiting a long time so used a stovetop method, based on this rice pudding recipe.

150 g risotto rice
500 ml milk
500 ml water
4 tbsp brown sugar
2 tbsp cocoa powder
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp grated nutmeg
pinch ground cayenne
pinch desert salt
1/8 cup raisins
1/8 cup toasted flaked almonds

Put rice, water and milk in a pan and bring to a steady boil. Boil (uncovered) for about 15 min. Add sugar, cocoa, spices and salt and simmer gently for another 15 min, until thick and creamy. Mix in the raisins and almonds before eating. Store in the fridge and eat whenever you like, warm or cold.


Well, it's what I wanted. All those spices and additions might not be everyone's idea of a good rice pudding but I'm enjoying it. I was thinking of the rice pudding at my first primary school - either chocolate (we loved the skin) or plain with jam swirled through (I ate some today with added plum jam). Probably the only thing I remember liking from school dinners.

Chickpeas with amchoor

I bought a bag of amchoor (powdered green mango) yesterday. It had been on my mental shopping list for a while, and although it was a rather big bag, when I found it I couldn't resist. So here is something with amchoor (which seems to be something fit for a similar kind of role to tamarind: sweet / sour flavour depths) - basically this recipe.

4 cups cooked chickpeas (+ keep 1 cup cooking liquid)
2 tbsp oil
1 tsp cumin seeds
2-3 cardamom pods, crushed
1 cinnamon stick, broken in half
1 tsp ground cumin
2 tbsp amchoor
1 tbsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp ground cayenne
1/2 tsp turmeric
2 chopped tomatoes or 2 heaped tsp tomato puree plus 1 tsp red wine vinegar and 1/2 cup water
1/4 cup chopped fresh coriander
1 1/2 tsp salt

Heat the oil over medium heat in a medium-large saucepan. When hot, add the cumin, cardamom and cinnamon, and cook for 1 min. Add the ground spices, stir, and pour in the tomatoes / tomato puree plus 1/2 cup water. Cook, uncovered, stirring often, until for 5-10 min or until the tomatoes are reduced. Add the chickpeas, cooking liquid (or sub water if you don't have), and half the chopped coriander. Cover and simmer, stirring occasionally, for 20 min or until the sauce has thickened. Remove from heat and add salt, and vinegar if it needs it. Serve with the remaining coriander.

Wheat berries, roasted veg and harissa-style dressing

Wheatberries:
1 cup wheatberries
1 tbsp parsley, chopped
juice of 1/4 lemon
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp honey
salt and pepper

Roasted veg:
1 red pepper
1 medium courgette
1 medium onion
2 handfuls small cherry tomatoes
5 cloves garlic
2 tbsp basil, chopped
1 1/2 tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar

Harissa-style dressing:
juice of half a lime
1 1/2 tbsp olive oil
1 1/2 tbsp tomato puree
1 1/2 tbsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp ground cayenne

Cook wheatberries in 2 cups water for about half an hour / until done.  Mix lemon juice, olive oil, honey and salt and pepper in the bottom of a medium bowl.  Add the cooked, warm wheatberries and mix together.  Allow to cool a little and then add the chopped parsley and mix.

Chop the pepper, onion and courgette into chunks.  Peel and chop the garlic.  Put into a medium baking tray and sprinkle with chopped basil, olive oil and salt and pepper.  Roast at 375F for ~45min, tossing occasionally to avoid uneven cooking / burning.  Remove from the oven, cool a little then add the balsamic vinegar and toss.

Mix the ingredients for harissa-style dressing together, tweaking quantities to taste.

Eat together, mixing to taste.

The harissa dressing is an old favourite - Delia Smith via Shireen.  The rest was just simple bits and pieces.  A good supper.