Freitag, 16. September 2011

potato pulao, spinach and chickpeas

Yes, my husband can cook, too! Actually, he cooks really well, and I love it when he cooks, even more, when we cook together.
Last night, he improvised this meal which the kids loved, too.

Potato Pulao:
2 cups basmati rice
4 medium-sized potatoes, peeled and cut into cubes
2 tbsp oil
1 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp ground turmeric
salt to taste

Heat the oil in a pan. Fry the cumin seeds until lightly toasted. Add the potatoes and fry for a little bit, until they start to brown and/or soften. Add the rice, stir to coat with oil. Add the turmeric and about 4 cups of water and the salt. Bring to a boil then simmer till done (the tricky bit is to cut the potatoes into pieces that will cook before the rice goes completely mushy).

Spinach and chickpeas:
a nice bunch of spinach, rinsed and roughly chopped
2 tbsp oil
1 onion, chopped
2 tomatoes, chopped
1 can chickpeas
1 tsp chana masala (this was my idea, and it turned out nicely :-) )
salt to taste

Heat the oil in a frying pan. Allow the onion to soften, then add the tomatoes. Wilt the spinach in the pan. When that is nice and limp, add chickpeas and spices. Heat through.
Serve with the Pulao, pickle and yoghurt.

Samstag, 10. September 2011

Granny's apple cake

My granny died recently. She was famed for this apple cake of hers.

250g butter
200g plain flour
100g sugar (or less, to taste)
vanilla (sugar or essence)
1 egg
1 tsp baking powder
1 kg apples, skinned, cored and sliced

make a shortcrust pastry. (If veganising, use margarine, leave out egg. Margarine should make the dough moist enough, but if in doubt, add a few spoonful of cold water). Chill dough.
Prepare apples while dough is chilling.
Grease a springform cake tin or tarte form. Press most of dough into form. Arrange apples on dough, generously. Tear pieces of leftover dough over apples. Sprinkle with a little sugar and sliced almonds if you like.
Bake at 200 degrees for about 1 hours.
Absolutely serve with whipped cream, or custard if you must.

Vegan Pledge

As I wrote before, I have been interested in veganism lately, and at the moment I am doing the Vegan Pledge for 1 month. Check out the Vegan Society's homepage for more info: http://www.vegansociety.com/veganpledge/. If you sign up for it, they will send you a host of great info material and fab recipe ideas to get you started and going. I don't know at all yet whether I will become vegan more permanently, even on a 'vegan at home, vegetarian outside' basis, but treading lighter on our planet is an ongoing concern of mine. And in this vein, I am not sure whether a vegan diet is necessarily lower impact than a vegetarian one, considering that, e.g., the soya cheese I bought was produced in the USA, and where the soy beans were produced, who knows. Reducing food miles, however, seems to me an obvious good idea!