West African style sweet potato and peanut stew

A few weeks ago I had the privilege of co-hosting a Friday night for Wandering Jews.  Wandering Jews is a groups organized by the amazing Jo and Jude, with the simple premise of getting together once a month with old friends and new and sharing in delicious vegetarian potluck in a different venue each month.  As my housemate Hannah and I are pretty new to the scene, we decided to give the evening a theme of Shehechiyanu, or newness.  The translation of the prayer blesses our g-d for having ‘granted us life, sustained us, and enabled us to reach this occasion.’  I like to think of it as a way not to take life for granted, to see the excitement in every day and to, as often as you can, really push yourself to trying something new.

I wanted to bring this emphasis on newness into my cooking with the event.  I needed something vegan and warming, which could feed a lot of people.  My fall-back dish for this kind of thing would be some kind of red and yellow dahl, but I wanted to break out of my comfort zone.  I started looking into West African recipes as I knew from various cookery programmes (mainly the hairy bikers I think) and friends’ travel experiences that it was a style of cooking which would incorporate all the things I wanted: vegan, protein, complexity of flavour, and warmth.  The following is the recipe for the dish I made, which is an amalgamation of many different peanut stews that I found online.

Feeds a lot of people

2 - 3 very large white flesh sweet potato –with purple skin, peeled and cut into large-ish chunks

3 - 4 yellow flesh sweet potato, peeled and cut into slightly smaller chunks

a couple of carrots, if you happen to have them, peeled and sliced

1-2 aubergines, diced

2 red peppers, diced into quite large chunks

1 onion, cut into large chunks

1 onion, diced very fine

2 cans of chopped tomatoes

1 can/tetra-pack of sieved tomatoes

approximately 4 tablespoons of peanut butter (depending on how much you have), smooth or chunky depending on personal preference

1 inch lump of fresh ginger, peeled and grated

2 garlic cloves, crushed

2 fresh chilis (I used 1 red and 1 green) deseeded if you want, finely diced.

½ teaspoon cinnamon

2 heaped teaspoons cumin

1 heaped teaspoon coriander

salt

a packet of roasted, salted peanuts, roughly chopped

the juice of 1-2 limes

big bunch of fresh parsley, washed and chopped.

You can also add in a can of chick peas for some additional bulk.

In a microwaveable bowl or small saucepan, combine the small diced onion, ginger, garic, chili and peanut butter with 1 can of tomatoes and a little water.  Cook, stirring from time to time until the peanut butter has amalgamated with the other ingredients and created a sauce. 

Add the sauce and all remaining ingredients except for the peanuts, lime and parsley to a large pot.  Top up with water – just a little, add more if it looks a little dry halfway through cooking – and cook for about 40 minutes-1 hour, until everything is cooked but not falling apart.  Just before serving, add the lime juice, parsley and peanuts, adjust the seasoning and warm through.

Peanut Butter Fudge

This is a Sophie Dahl recipe, its absolutely fantastic, and easily adaptable to vegan. This recipe was on her bbc tv series, called something wonderful like ‘Miss Dahl’s voluptuous delights’ and I actually really enjoyed it, such a nice change from Nigella, and Jamie, who’s later shows have them becoming almost parodies of themselves.  Sophie’s cookbook is pretty great too.  Although the recipes aren’t exactly earth-shattering, it is a really lovely read.  This fudge recipe isn’t in the book, but it is available online.

I have made this a few times and it is pretty foolproof.  Just make sure that you are really patient with boiling the sugar and milk, and give it the time it needs.  While it does seem like a lot of sugar, it does make a lot of fudge.  In the past I have made it with a layer of chocolate on the top (melt the chocolate with a bit of butter or cream to stop it from hardening too solid and snapping when you cut the fudge), which is great, but it is equally delicious without it.

Ingredients

                  125g/4½oz butter/ vegan margarine 

                  500g/1lb 2oz dark brown sugar

                  120ml/4fl oz milk / soy milk

                  250g/9oz crunchy peanut butter

                  1 vanilla pod, seeds only (I didn’t bother with this)

                  300g/10½oz icing sugar

.                 Melt the butter in a saucepan over a medium heat.

.                 Stir in the brown sugar and milk, and bring to the boil for 2-3 minutes, without stirring.

.                 Remove from the heat, and stir in the peanut butter and vanilla seeds if using.

.                 Place the icing sugar in a large bowl, and pour the hot butter and sugar mixture on top. Using a wooden spoon, beat the mixture until smooth (careful not to burn yourself).

.                 Pour into a 20cm/8in square baking tray, and set aside to cool slightly, then place in the fridge to chill completely.

Cut the fudge into squares and store in an airtight container.

recipe and image from http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/peanutbutterfudge_93630

Butternut Squash Soup with mango powder

As some of you know I have a somewhat odd obsession with very big, very sharp kitchen knives.  A few weeks ago I managed to freak out quite a few of my friends by getting slightly more enthusiastic than normal over a knife sharpener.  Of course, there is no prescribed level of normalness when it comes to knife-sharpening enthusiasm, I think the strangeness was mainly due to the fact that I don’t tend to get enthusiastic about stuff.  Of course I know that really appreciating sharp knives isn’t odd, actually perfectly sensible. Try and chop a butternut squash with a small vegetable knife that isn’t sharp anymore and you will know what I mean.  Having the correct knife that is sharp enough is actually safer as you need much less force behind it.  Once you get over the fact that they might look a bit scary, you will never go back.  About 4 or 5 years ago I was making sushi with a friend at their house and asked for a very sharp knife, and was given some global brand ones to use, and my life was never the same again. 

I’m never very good at buying ginger, despite really knowing better. I always accidentally let it go moldy and have to throw it away (which is really stupid of me – fresh ginger freezes really well).  When you buy ginger go for the fattest chunk you can find.  In general in the ginger box in the supermarket/shop, there are massive hand-sized roots, and tiny little broken blobs.  It isn’t widely known, but it is perfectly acceptable to break a chunk off a big root to get the piece you want the most (although I still tend to do this quite subtley, in case I get into trouble).  The little broken bits are thinner and you have no idea how long they have been separated from the main root, slowly drying out.  This soup really does need ginger, I didn’t have any and so borrowed some of my housemate’s slightly odd-looking ginger she found in the amazing Indian supermarket in Kingsbury.  The ginger was so odd in fact, that it was turmeric.  If you want to know what fresh turmeric looks like, see here.  My hands were yellow for the rest of the day.

These quantities are pretty vague, and this soup will make one big pot full.  The veggies can be increased pretty much exponentially depending on how many people you need to feed.

1 butternut squash, peeled and cut into chunks

1 Leek, thoroughly washed and sliced

2 carrots, peeled and sliced

1 large sweet potato, peeled and cut into chunks

1 large onion, diced

about 1 inch of fresh ginger, peeled and diced or grated

1 or 2 garlic cloves, crushed

flavourless oil

1 can of coconut milk

½ teaspoon chili powder

1 heaped teaspoon ground cumin

1 heaped teaspoon ground coriander

1 teaspoon curry powder

Salt

Amchoor powder – this is dried sour mango, ground to a powder.  It is used in parts of India as a souring flavour, like lemon juice, especially in places that don’t necessarily have fridges.  I bought it in an Indian supermarket in Kenton and its really fantastic, tasting a bit like sherbet! I think it is pretty easily available, if you know where to look!  

Fry the onions on a medium heat for about 10 minutes, and then add the garlic and ginger.  After 2 or 3 minutes add the spice powders and fry for a few more minutes.  Then add the veggies and stir to coat in the spicey onion mixture.  Add the coconut milk and another can-full of hot water.  You want the liquid to come up almost as high as the veggies, but not covering them entirely.  Leave to simmer for 30-40 minutes, or until everything is cooked through.  Leave to cool slightly and then blitz with a hand blender.  Season the soup and reheat as required.  Serve with the mango powder sprinkled on the top, maybe with a little dollop of yogurt and some dried chili flakes too if you want.

Potato salad redux

More things should be called redux.  According to Wikipedia it is a post-positive adjective to describe bringing things back.  It probably doesn’t really apply to potato salad and just makes me sound like a bit of an idiot.  Who am I to say whether or not potato salad was ever ‘out’ to begin with? Or if my variations even have that potential?  All I know is that potato salad drenched in mayonnaise is just depressing, especially when it has those tiny, soggy pickled cucumber pieces in it.  Sometimes its really watery and taints everything else on your plate, sometimes with that horrible slightly split look like the potatoes were mixed in when they were too hot, mainly its just boring.  Here are 3 alternatives which I really like. 

For each salad buy nice quality salad potatoes of equal sizes, and boil them in their skins in salted water until done but not disintegrated.  Peel their skins off (or not) when they are just cool enough to touch and toss them in their dressings while still warm.

Harissa potato salad

Incredibly simple.  Mix the potatoes with a big spoonful of harissa paste.  That’s it and its delicious.  You could dress it up with some chopped parsley, toasted pine nuts and orange zest (as I have done in the past) but actually, it doesn’t really need it.

Pesto potato salad

Mix together pesto with a little lemon juice until you have the consistency of salad dressing.  Toss with the potatoes.  When the potatoes are cooled add rocket leaves and toasted pumpkin seeds.  This is also very good with cooked broccoli and peas added in too.  Some halved cherry tomatoes would also make a lovely addition.

Grain mustard and sundried tomato potato salad

Make vinaigrette with 2 parts olive oil, 1 part cider/white wine vinegar, a spoonful of wholegrain mustard and a few drops of water.  Shake well and dress the potatoes.  Add some sundried tomatoes (chopped depending on their size) and finely sliced spring onions.  This salad is one of the staples of my family’s Shabbat table in the summertime, and so I cannot recommend any extras, it would just be wrong.

Salmon with spicy tomato sauce and sweet potato chips

This didn’t start as a blog post.  Like the multi-coloured spicy rice recipe, I was staring into the fridge wondering what to eat, and this just sort of evolved out of the different ingredients I managed to find.  And I really do mean evolve – sometimes if I start cooking when I am really tired I forget what I was planning on making halfway through and do something completely different.  Usually this really doesn’t work, in a ‘that Friends episode with the shepherd’s pie trifle’ kind of way, but this time it really did.  I have never combined fresh tomatoes with ginger in this way before, and I really love the way that it turned out.  Having such few key ingredients means that the flavour is really defined and punchy.  If I was really pretentious I would call the sauce a tomato-ginger reduction or something, I probably also wouldn’t have cooked it in the microwave.

Variation: A few days later I made a vegetarian version using cubes of aubergine and tofu instead of salmon and sweet potatoes and it was really fantastic.  I started roasting the aubergine and tofu cubes with just a little oil for about 20 minutes before I added the sauce, so they went slightly firm and crispy, as opposed to turning into a ratatouille-kind of mush.

Serves 2 people time: 30 or so mins difficulty: 3/5 taste: 4/5

Ingredients

2 salmon fillets, with skin (cooking times will depend on how big the fillets are, or if they are still a little frozen in the middle, like mine were – use your judgement)

2 or 3 sweet potatoes, depending on how large they are, peeled and cut into wedges or chunks (sized according to the approximate cooking time of the salmon)

1 onion, cut into wedges (a tasty but optional extra – brings gooey, caramelised and burnt edges, irresistible)

Flavourless cooking oil or spray

salt

For the sauce:

2 or 3 large-ish ripe Tomatoes, diced (blanched and skinned if you can be bothered, but it doesn’t really matter for this dish)

1 red chilli, de-seeded and finely chopped

1 clove garlic, crushed or finely chopped

1 piece fresh ginger, about 1 ½ times the size as the garlic clove, grated or finely chopped

1 tbsp kecap manis (this is one of my new favourite things, its an Indonesian soy sauce that has been thickened with copious sugar.  Ottolenghi features a lot of recipes that call for this – it’s a really useful addition to your spice/condiment cupboard.  Essentially its like teriyaki sauce in a handy squeezy bottle, very cheap and available at your local oriental/South-East Asian supermarket.  Oh and kecap means sauce in Malay – ketchup, gettit??)

1 tbsp soy sauce

1 dessertspoonful sake

1 dessertspoonful ketchup

Preheat the oven to 190-200 c.  Make a few slashed in the salmon skin and arrange the fillets skin side up in a tray with the sweet potatoes and onion wedges all around in a snug, single layer.  Drizzle with a small amount of oil or spray, shake a little salt over and put in the oven to roast.  The idea is that the sauce gets added halfway through the cooking, to allow the fish and veggies to crisp up, and to stop the sauce from burning.

Combine the sauce ingredients in a microwave-friendly bowl and cook on full for about a minute, until it is hot and looks amalgamated and a little bit mushy.  You could also warm the ingredients up in a pan.  When the salmon and sweet potatoes have had about 10-15 minutes, spoon the tomato sauce on the tray in blobs over it, so that there are bits covered in sauce, and bits that are not, and to continue to cook for another 15 minutes or until the salmon and sweet potatoes are cooked, hopefully with some crispy salmon skin.

'Sexy' Peanut Sauce

This is so exciting, my first ever guest blogger, Alli.  I first tried this incredible sauce on my first ever Shabbat in Willesden, which was also the day I met Alli.  Vegan Canadian Thanksgiving was a bit of a drop in the deep-end, but it was brilliant.  I learnt all about poutine, the Québécois accent (thanks Danny) and the Canadian National Anthem ‘Oh Canada…’ Best of all I got to meet Alli, and try her amazing cooking.  And this sauce really is sexy.  I know it might seem like an odd combination but it totally works.  I spent most of my student mealtimes experimenting with peanut butter on noodles in one form or another, but this one really nails it – and the alternative version is really good too.  Its great on noodles, as a spoonful in a stir fry, or simply as a dip.  Big thanks also to the wonderful Amanda – who needs to come and visit again soon!

If anyone wants to be featured as a guest blogger on The Great Cookery Adventure then all you have to do is cook me something amazing :) 

And now I proudly introduce the wonderful Alli:

When I started University, I wasn't able to cook-- which led to me depending on the kindness of my friend more often then not. One day, my friend Amanda (who is obsessed-- to put it lightly-- with peanut butter) taught me her favourite recipe for pasta: Peanut Noodles. Miri decided that this sauce is sexy, and voila: Sexy Peaunt Noodles!

6 TB of each of the following:

- Rice Vinegar

- Sugar

- Soya Sauce

- Oil (I like to use Sesame oil, but vegetable oil will suffice).

1/2- 3/4 cup of Peanut Butter (depending on how much you love peanut butter). I prefer crunchy, as then you get the chunks that you get in a Pad Thai sauce, but creamy is delicious as well.

Put together over heat until you can no longer see or feel the sugar or peanut butter (5-7 minutes on a good flame). Serve hot on noodles, or use as a dip.

ALTERANTIVE VERSION

Slightly less sexy, but here you go!

I was cooking for a friend who doesn't like peanut butter, but had few ingredients (or little time) to make him his own separate dish. So instead, I mixed the following:

6 TB of Rice Vinegar (note: I ran out of Rice Vinegar (I make this a lot!) so I used half regular vinegar and half rice vinegar)

5 TB of Sugar (I was cooking for "health conscious" people)

6 TB of Soya Sauce

6 TB of Vegetable Oil (I was cooking for someone who hated Sesame Oil-- my friends are picky!)

1/4 cup of Peanut Butter

I cooked them the same way I normally do, and I served them on noodles-- lovely dish, got lots of praise! 

Enjoy :)

Thai green chicken salad

This is a really lovely salad, perfect for summer lunches.  Its light and refreshing and really delicious.  Serve it on a large plate with the chicken all in one layer, making the whole thing look beautiful and easy for people to help themselves.

Time: 45 mins difficulty: 3/5 Taste 4/5

Approx 5 chicken breasts

2 limes, zested

2cm square piece of ginger (and some galangal if you can get it) peeled and finely chopped/grated

1-2 sticks lemongrass, bashed very hard with a heavy knife and sliced up a little bit if soft enough

2 cloves garlic, crushed

Half an onion, or 3-4 shallots, finely diced

Large handful fresh coriander, roughly chopped

Small handful mint, roughly chopped

3 cardamom pods, split

2 small green chilies, with the seeds removed from one of them (or both, or neither, depending on how hot you like it) and finely sliced

1 can of coconut milk (if you vigorously shake the can before you open it, the solids at the top will integrate with the  liquid below, saving you much work mixing it up with a spoon later)

for the salad:

1 packet of rocket

2 spring onions, finely sliced

small handful fresh coriander, chopped

1 handful cashew nuts, split in half

To make the marinade for the chicken, mix together the lime zest, coriander, shallots, ginger, garlic, mint, cardamom and chilies in a large, shallow non-metallic dish.  Add the sticks of lemon grass and (shaken) coconut milk, stir together and add the chicken, making sure each piece is completely coated in the mixture.  Leave to marinade for a few hours.

About 15 minutes before you are ready to cook the chicken, preheat the oven to 180c (or turn the grill on to medium/high).  Squeeze the juice from 1 of the zested limes into the marinating chicken.  When the oven is hot, arrange the chicken in a roasting dish in a single layer with a little bit of the marinade spooned on top.  Cook for about 25 minutes and check to see if its cooked, and give it another 5 minutes if needed.  Chicken breasts really shouldn’t need more than 30 minutes to cook, unless they are really thick.

You can make the salad with the chicken more or less straight after the oven, or keep the cooked chicken in the fridge until ready to make the salad.  When ready to serve, scatter the serving dish with the rocket.  Slice the chicken and arrange on the plate in a single layer (with the big lumps or marinade goo scraped off), and top with the spring onions, coriander, cashew nuts, and a squeeze of lime juice.  Serve, maybe with some cold noodles or sticky rice and enjoy!