Category: Peas

Root Vegetable Samosas for BBC Radio Leicester’s Food Friday

April 9, 2015

We Love Indian food a great deal in our house and one thing we really like is a good tasting Samosa.  We mainly opt for vegetarian ones as you always have the ingredients in but also means it costs less which is a bonus.

  For this particular Food Friday on BBC Radio Leicester,  I wanted to show just how versatile these can be.  Not to mention how incredibly easy and quick they are! On this recipe, I went with what I had in and to use up of course…and it worked perfectly. The earthy yet sweet taste that came from the celeriac among the bursting sweet petit pois was quite something and what I also love is the crunch of the pastry when you bite into these little delicacies which gives it great fun when you can’t possibly eat them without a cascade of flakey, crispy pastry going all over your Kitchen floor.

   Listen here where you will hear Myself showing Ed Stagg just how quick and easy the Samosas were to make. 

  I did send a tub full of them back to the BBC Radio Leicester team, however I don’t think they quite reached there as Ed loved them so much! 


Root Vegetable Samosas:

Ingredients: ( Makes approximately 14 samosas)

–  Approximately 4 white potatoes Diced Finely (1cm cubes)
–  1/4 Celeriac Finely diced
–  1 Carrot Finely Diced
–  1 small Parsnip finely diced or 1/2 larger one
–  100g of Petit Pois (Defrosted)
–   1 Onion finely diced
–  1 Hot Green chilli Finely Chopped or more if you wish ( Mine were a hot kind )
–  1 Level Tsp Mustard seeds (My Spices are from Spice Kitchen) 
–  1 Tsp Garam Masala
–  1/2 Tsp Hot chilli Powder
–  1 Tsp Mango Powder (Amchoor) 
–  small Handful of Chopped Fresh Coriander
–  Fresh Ginger Grated (Small finger end size)
–  Salt to season
–  A large pack (550g) of Spring Roll Pastry defrosted, keep under a damp tea towel (I Buy from Asian/Chinese Supermarket)
–  Sunflower oil for deep frying plus some for frying your onions and spices
–  2 Large Eggs beaten to use for egg wash



Method:

–  Boil Vegetables except the peas and onions for about 5 mins as you still want a little crunch to the veg.

–  Fry of the chopped onions for a minute or two to soften, then add your fresh chilli, Ginger and dry spices coating all the onions.

– Once the Vegetables are cooked add them to the spiced onion mix leaving a bit of the water they are boiled in as you will need this to loosen some of the dry spices in the Pan.
–  Add your Defrosted peas and chopped Coriander.Stir, coating everything.Put to one side to slightly cool.

–  On a clean flat surface place your Pastry sheet each one by one and slice with a knife into the middle length ways to make a rectangular shape. Using a Pastry brush, brush the edges with the egg wash.

–  Fold the bottom right hand corner to the top of the rectangle,  Diagonally left to make a triangle shape.
–  Fold again towards the left and you will have a bit of excess, this is your last flap for your Samosa. 

–  Hold the Pastry up so you can make a cone shape, Pull away the first fold and fill 1 Tbsp of your mixture. 

–  Place back down on the surface, finish with more egg wash and seal. Continue this process.

–  Once all made, deep fry for a couple of minutes until just turning golden brown. Place onto Kitchen paper to dry off excess oil.

–  Then serve with Chutneys and Pickles of your choice.


Seasonal Scrumptiousness

June 27, 2014

A Couple of weeks ago, Friday 13th of June to be precise, Ben Jackson at BBC Radio Leicester popped over to my house to do another Fab Food Friday recipe.
  My Kitchen Garden was an array of  fresh herbs and the start of seasonal vegetables, so what a lovely way to pop into the garden and see what we could salvage.
  I decided to do a dish that Families or anyone could get involved in the making of these little beauties. I chose to do Chicken Goujons but made them more exciting with the use of all the herbs that went in there. One in particular that I feel makes this recipe stand out is the lemon verbena. If you like growing herbs, please go and get some now as its fab! 

  I find it really hard sometimes when I hear families say they don’t have time to make these because in the same time I made them, it would take longer to open a frozen packet job  *cringes*  and cook them in the oven. Children AND Adults will love making these.
  This is a Great Dish for this time of year. Its Seasonal, Zingy, Vibrant and using up herbs and vegetables from the Garden. 
  Lots of Sport going on at the moment, So just the Goujons alone with that dressing and an Ice cold beer is great when having your mates round. This certainly has gone down a storm for my Friends and Family already. 

Just click on this link to hear Ben and myself preparing, cooking and more importantly EATING this recipe…

 Herby Chicken Goujons with Seasonal Salad and a Ranch Style dressing:


Here is a photo AFTER we dived in there!

Ingredients:

Chicken:

–  1 x 460g pack of Skinless Chicken Thigh Fillets
(6 Thighs will make approximately 20 Goujons)
–  2 slices of stale bread (I used Sourdough)
–  A Handful of a selection of fresh herbs;
         -Lemon Verbena
         -Lemon Thyme
         -Sage
         -Rosemary
         -Oregano
–  1 1/2 spring onion (only green parts)
–  Sea Salt and Cracked Black Pepper to season.
– 2-3 eggs whisked
–  3 Tbsp of Plain Flour
–  Tbsp of Rapeseed oil or any oil of your choice

Salad:

–  Jersey Royal Potatoes or New if you can’t get
–  Fresh fine British Asparagus (still in season now),Blanched and chopped into inch and a half pieces.
– A selection of Salad Leaves such (I used a “Living Salad”) Spinach, Watercress, curly etc would all work fine also.
–  A Handful of Fresh Broad Beans
–  A handful of fresh Radishes Sliced
–  Fresh Peas podded, could always use Frozen if need be
–  Edible flowers to decorate:
    – Borage
    – Sage
    – Rosemary

Ranch Style dressing:

–  2 Tbsp of Greek style Natural Yoghurt
–  2 Tbsp of Mayonnaise 
–  1 Tbsp of cider Vinegar or White wine vinegar
–  2 Tbsp of Finely grated parmesan cheese


Method:

–  Preheat your oven to 180-190c 
– Cook your Jersey Royal potatoes for about 15 mins
– Whilst they are cooking away, pop your herbs, bread, Spring Onions and seasoning into a Hand Blender or Processor and Blitz
–  Take 3 bowls, Place whisked eggs in 1, Flour in the other and your breadcrumb mixture in the 3rd.
–  Slice your chicken thighs into 3-4 pieces per thigh (long strips)
–  With one hand place the chicken into the flour, then egg, then Breadcrumbs. Repeat the process and put all onto a plate.
–  Heat up a frying Pan with a drizzle of your oil. Fry off the Goujons for a minute or 2 until starting to colour, then turn over and repeat.
–  Pop into the Oven on a baking tray for approximately 12 minutes
–  Drain off your Potatoes and Blanch your asparagus in boiling hot water for no more than 1 minute.
– Drain and rinse with cold water to stop the cooking process
–  Make up your dressing by mixing all ingredients together
–  Arrange your salad “rustically” with the added Peas, Broad beans and Radishes. Place the Goujons on top, drizzle with the dressing and decorate with the edible flowers! Done!








A Great affordable meal from leftovers :-) !

May 9, 2013

Ok so I was “umming and Arring” , (debating), on wether to put this recipe on.  But in actual fact I realised it was a great little number to write about.  
  Now this recipe isn’t one to “wow really” at first glance (please excuse the poor photo!),       and there are so many versions of this recipe,  just purely because I suppose it is very versatile.  However, one Vital point I have to make about this recipe, is that it is cost effective or even so, thus can be created from the brilliant leftovers from the day before! 
 One thing all of My readers out there will probably agree with, is that we all like to save a few pennies. To buy maybe the finer foods we enjoy to eat?  Or Fine wine?  Or even for that break away to maybe have them all ha ha! Here it is…

 Beef Keema Matar Curry:











Recipe: For 2-3 people (approx)

If you dont like dishes too spicy, just go easy on the chillies ok!

300g Minced Beef Or Lamb Mince (or if you had left over lamb or beef from a roast you could use)
1/2 tsp of Ginger
2 Garlic cloves finely chopped or minced
1 Onion Diced finely
salt and pepper
1 chopped green chilli (add more if you like it hot but we are adding hot chilli powder aswell)
1 tsp of hot chilli powder
1 tbsp of Mild curry powder
1/2 tbsp of Garam masala – Normally bost of these spices wouldn’t work quite well together and you could just use Tumeric powder, but I took the chance and it worked.
1/2 tin of chopped tomatoes or fresh
1/2 tbsp of Tomato puree
about 4 medium sized potatoes 
Frozen Petit pois or garden peas
A little beef stock with water just to keep a nice sauce and to enhance the Beef. Use Chicken stock or lamb if it is Lamb meat.
Chopped Coriander to serve.

Chop your potatoes into small chunks or quarters and blanch them off. Do not boil totally as you want them to still have a crunch as they are going into the curry.  Then defrost your peas.

Fry off the Onion, Garlic, Ginger, chillies and dry spices for a few minutes. Add the meat and the seasoning until the meat has browned and cooked through.  Add the Stock, Tomatoes, puree, and cook on the stove for about 10 minutes, checking that it wont go too dry or stick etc. Add the potatoes and cook for a further 5-10 mins and a few minutes before it is done, add the defrosted peas.
Serve with the chopped Coriander on top.  I served this with Basmati rice but you could just have this with lovely Chapatis…your choice!