‘Left over’ Veg and Lentil curry

In my final year at university nearly all I ate was curry (wow I must have stunk...). I cooked a big batch every week or two then divided it up into tupperwear to freeze so I’d always have a healthy ‘ready meal’ on hand. It’s a great way to use up left over vegetables, add whatever you like – aubergine, turnip, sweet potato, mushroom...play around with the lentils too. I normally go for puy if I can find them for a reasonable price but any others will do. 

The following recipe is a guideline for a basic curry. The following quantities are based on what I had in my kitchen at the time, add as much spice as you want!

Serves 2-4 (when served with side of rice etc)

Ingredients:

1 small celeriac

1 potato

1 carrot

1 courgette

1 ½ small onions

4 tomatoes

200g puy lentils (rinsed but not soaked)

1 ½ litre veg stock

1 ½ tsp cumin

1 tsp turmeric

1 tsp coriander

½ tsp chilli powder

½ tsp ginger

½ tsp garam masala

3 tsp medium curry powder

Handful of fresh coriander

Salt and pepper to taste

Method:

1. Heat up the oil in a large pan. After a minute or two add the onion and gently cook till translucent. Add the garlic and all the spices apart from the fresh coriander, salt and pepper and mix together for another minute.
2. Add the ‘soft’ vegetables (tomato and courgette in this case), stir so they’re coated in oil and spices and cook gently for another minute.
3. Now add the ‘hard’ vegetables (carrot, potato and celeriac) and lentils, stirring again to coat and cook for a further minute or so before adding the stock. Bring to the boil then simmer for 20-30 minutes or until the lentils have softened (note: puy lentils don’t lose their shape so test if they’ve softened by eating a few). About 5 minutes before finishing add the fresh coriander, salt and pepper.
4. Serve with rice/cous cous/quinoa/bulgur wheat/[insert other awesome grain here] and mango chutney!

Note: When I say 'left overs' here I mean uncooked vegetables lurking at the back of the fridge. You could use cooked veg too, just reduce cooking time.

Mulled Wine

Okay okay, so this post is really just an excuse to try out my new camera. I don’t have a ‘set’ recipe for mulled wine, I always just adjust it to my taste at the time, tasting and adding bits as I go along. For the past few years I lived in a student house with four other people so we would buy a box of wine but this year I made it with just one bottle, so here’s a rough guide for one bottle’s worth. 

Ingredients:

1 bottle red wine

2 sliced oranges or a glass of orange juice

some lemon peel - approx half a lemon

1 tsp cloves

2-3 star anise

1 -2 cinnamon sticks

1 grated nutmeg

100g Demerara sugar

Method:

1. Gently heat up the wine in a saucepan. GENTLY. Put it on the lowest setting, you don’t want all the alcohol burning off!
2. Add all the other ingredients. Keep heating but don’t let it boil, you should start to see steam rising but you want it at a drinkable temperature so test throughout ;) Add more ingredients to taste.
3. Serve in awesome Christmas Market mugs! (Got this one from the Edinburgh Christmas Market, definitely worth losing the deposit!)

Notes/tips:

• As you can see in the photo, we also tried adding cardamom pods this year but I didn’t think they really added anything to it. Go for it though if you want to try something different!
• Also – do NOT use a blood orange like we did. Ugh, so bitter. We had to compensate by adding tons of sugar.
• A note on the sugar...I actually never measure how much I put in. I worked out the quantity above by doing a bit of internet browsing and finding an average amount, then increasing it. I like it pretty sweet so would just keep adding it till it tasted right!
• If you want something a bit stronger, add a few shots of dark rum to make ‘fire punch’. Might be doing this for Hogmanay to prepare myself for the Edinburgh cold!

A Salad Without a Name

So I haven't posted in AGES. I could bore you with the details of how I now have a job and was too lazy/tired to document recipes for a while, but instead I'll just get on with it. Here's a salad recipe!

Serves 2-4 (2 as a main meal, 4 as a side dish) 

Ingredients:

2-3 tbsp olive oil

2-3 tbsp white wine vinegar

1 onion, finely chopped

1-2 cloves of crushed garlic

handful of cherry tomatoes, chopped into halves/quarters

kale (as much as you want! I went with about half a bag first time round but think I'll do more next time 'cos I'm obsessed)

handful of black olives

400g drained can of butter beans or similar bean (could alternatively use 125g of dried beans and soak them beforehand)

100g puy lentils

 salt and pepper to taste

Method:

1. Rinse, drain, and boil the lentils for 20 minutes or until soft enough to eat (unlike most lentils, puy lentils retain their shape when cooked so eat a few to check they're soft).
2. Gently boil the kale for 5 minutes, co-ordinating it with the lentils so they're done at the same time.
3. Heat approx 1 tbsp oil in a pan and add the garlic, drained lentils and kale. Mix together so everything is coated in oil. Lightly fry for 5 minutes then leave to cool.
4. Once the lentil/kale mixture has cooled, transfer to a big bowl and add all the other ingredients, mixing thoroughly so they are coated in the dressing. Chill then serve!

This is a wonderfully refreshing and filling salad, I recommend making a big batch in advance and using it for quick, nutritious lunches!