Spicy Harrisa Chickpea Cakes with Chunky Raita

Here's a super quick, super healthy vegetarian dish perfect if you are stuck in a lunch time rut, like myself! The harrisa paste gives the chickpea cakes a real hot and smoky kick, with the raita being the perfect cooling accompaniment. This can easily be made ahead of time and reheated in the microwave and added to the raita salad, if you are office based. But equally this dish is a perfect starter for a dinner party or also throw the cakes in a pitta or flatbread for a wonderful alternative to a sandwich. Whatever the occasion, there is no excuse not to give these babies a go!!

Ingredients

• 1 tin of chickpeas, drained
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 3 tbsp of chopped fresh flat leaf parsley
• 1 tsp of harrisa paste
• Salt & Pepper
• 1 egg
• 2 slices of bread, blitz to breadcrumbs

Raita

• 50ml of natural yogurt
• 1 tomato, deseeded and diced
• 1/4 cucumber, peeled, deseeded and diced
• Salt and pepper
• 2 tbsp of chopped fresh flat leaf parsley
• 5ml extra virgin olive oil
• 3 tbsp diced red onion

Method

1. Add all the chickpea cake ingredients to a food processor and blitz to a batter style consistency.
2. Wet your hands and shape into small patties (cakes). I got 10 from this recipe, but you can make them smaller for canapes or bigger for burgers.
3. Heat a non stick pan to medium and add a small amount of olive oil.
4. Fry the chickpea cakes for 4 minutes on each side.
5. To make the chunky raita, simply combine all the ingredients and stir well. If you have mint or coriander, this would also work.
6. Enjoy. These can be stored cooled for 2 days in the refrigerator and reheated gently on a pan for for 1 minute in the microwave.

Feta & Beetroot Tabbouleh - The Perfect Summer Side

With summer here (mostly in spirit, not in weather at the moment), we tend to look to lighter, fresher meals rather than warming & comforting meals. This very healthy, light and filling salad is one such example of how I'm lightening up my meals. Forget mash potato and roast root veggies!! This gem of a salad has it all. The Bulgar wheat is low in GI, the feta cheese gives a salty cheesy hit, and the beetroot adds nutrition and a wonderful colour. Finally the typical salad ingredients that make up a tradition tabbouleh of cucmuber, onion, tomatoes and herbs (flat leaf parsley & mint) add a fantastic freshness. 

This salad can be the main dish of a meal, serve with some flat breads and natural yogurt, or it can be a great side dish for a tagine, roast chicken/lamb, BBQ, or as I did here, Moroccan Meatballs.

Ingredients

• 100g Bulgar wheat
• 400g of chicken/vegetables stock
• Salt & Pepper
• Half a cucumber
• 6 cherry tomatoes
• 2 spring onions
• 1 lemon
• 2 tbsp Olive oil
• 1 tbsp of fresh mint
• 1 tbsp of fresh flat leaf parsley
• 1 cooked beetroot
• 50g of feta cheese

Method

1. Put the Bulgar wheat in a saucepan and add the stock. Cook on a medium heat for 15 minutes, or until all the stock has been absorbed. 
2. Remove from the heat and allow to stand for 10 minutes, before fluffing it up with a fork.
3. Meanwhile, prepare the salads. Half the cucumber length ways and scoop out the seeds. Then dice the cucumber. Quarter the tomatoes. Slice the spring onions very thinly. Cube the feta, and dice the beetroot.
4. Add all the salad ingredients to the Bulgar wheat along with the lemon juice and chopped fresh herbs. Season well with salt and pepper and drizzle with olive oil. 
5. In my experience this tastes better when made ahead as the the flavours really develop.

 

Moroccan Lamb, Potato & Aubergine Stew

Although I've never been to Morocco, I adore Moroccan cuisine. My first taste of Morocco was in a small little family run restaurant in the heart of Paris; and I've been hooked ever since. I love slow cooked meats, and I love one pot wonders even more!!! This dish actually tastes better if made a day ahead of needing it. Moroccan dining is my way of eating, its about being social and sharing; lots of accompaniments and everyone just digging in. Super casual. it's not fussy nor posh.

I entered a Lamb Tagine recipe in a Kerrygold Recipe Book competition a few years back and my recipe was selected to be published in the recipe book. This Lamb, Potato and Aubergine stew is a twist on my traditional Tagine recipe Serena's Moroccan Lamb Tagine

This recipe is perfect to feed a crowd and can be easily doubled or trebled, and just supply more pittas and yogurt for scooping up the yummy sauce.

Ingredients

• 1 lbs diced lamb
• 2 tbsp ground cumin
• 2 tbsp ground coriander
• 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1 tbsp turmeric
• 2 tsp ground black pepper
• 1 tsp of maldon sea salt
• 1 tbsp ground ginger
• 1 tsp ground Cinnamon
• 4 minced garlic cloves
• 1 diced onion
• 1 tin chopped tomatoes
• 2 carrots thickly sliced on diagonal
• 3 potatoes,peeled and quartered
• 1 aubergine, diced
• 2 tbsp runny honey

Cous cous to Serve

• 100g cous cous
• 1 tsp of turmeric
• Generous handful chopped Coriander/flat leaf parsley
• 50g of flaked almonds
• 1 tsp of olive oil
• 1 250g tub Greek yogurt (to serve)
• 4 mini pitta breads (to serve)

Method

1. Combine all the spices, garlic and onion and rub into the meat
2. Leave to marinate, preferably overnight, although an hour should be sufficient.
3. In a lidded oven proof casserole dish, add the olive oil on a medium heat. Brown the meat, in batches if necessary.

4. Add all the meat back into the casserole dish, adding the carrots, tinned tomatoes, potato & aubergine.
5. Bring up to the boil and put lid on the dish and put in a preheated oven for 1.5 hours at 180 degrees.
6. Meanwhile, put cous cous in a bowl, add the olive oil and the turmeric and mix well; season with salt and pepper and pour over 180mls of boiling water. Cover for ten mins.
7. Fluff with a fork, adding half the chopped coriander or flat leaf parsley.
8. Put the flaked almonds on a baking tray and toast in the oven, keeping an eye on them as they can burn in matter of seconds. Once toasted add to the cous cous.
10. Remove the casserole dish from the oven and add the runny honey.
11. Return the dish (uncovered) to the oven for a final 20 mins to brown.
12. Put the pittas in the oven to warm through.
13. Remove the dish from the oven and present to the table in the dish adding the chopped coriander/flat leaf parsley.
14. Put the cous cous, yogurt and pittas in bowls on the table and let your guests help themselves, Moroccan style! Enjoy.

Indian Sweet Potato Cubes with Garlic Curry Mayo - An Indian Take on a Spanish Classic

These potato cubes are gorgeous and can be eaten as a main meal or would be a fabulous side dish. They are a variation of my Quick Patatas Bravas recipe from Spain. By using sweet potato we are making this dish super healthy, and by boiling and baking the potatoes, we are continuing with our health trend. It's only when I add mayonnaise into the mix that the calorie content increases, so for the health concious, you can omit the curry mayo, however it's every bit as important in this dish I think. Use low fat mayonnaise if you want to be good.

Ingredients

• 1 large sweet potato, peeled and cubed
• 1 tbsp of ground cumin
• 1 tbsp of oil, a flavorless oil
• Ground black pepper

Garlic Curry Mayonnaise

• 1 tsp of mild curry powder
• 5-7 tbsp of mayonnaise
• Juice of 1/4 of a lemon
• Ground black pepper
• 1/4 tsp of garlic paste
• 1/4 tsp of coriander paste

Method

1. Add the cubed potatoes to a saucepan of cold water and put on a medium heat. Bring the water to the boil and cook for 4 minutes.
2. Drain the potatoes and allow the steam to escape for a few minutes. This helps the potatoes dry out a bit.
3. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees.
4. Add the potatoes to a bowl and pour in the olive oil and sprinkle over the cumin. Stir to ensure all the cubes are coated. 
5. Lay the cubes in a single layer on a baking tray lined with baking paper.
6. Grind over the black pepper and bake in the oven for 20 minutes until the cubes are crispy on the outside and fluffy in the middle.
7. Meanwhile to make my garlic curry mayonnaise, simply combine the mayonnaise, garlic puree, curry powder and pepper. Mix well. Add the juice of the lemon and stir to combine completely.
8. To Serve, scattered the potatoes in a platter and place the mayonnaise in a little bowl, alternatively you could pour the mayo over the sweet potato, bravas style.

Lamajun - Turkish Lamb Pizza

When I  attended the Ballymaloe Sushi course in 2011; not only did I learn how to make all types of sushi; but there was an added bonus of learning a few Turkish dishes also, as Shermin Mustafa was giving the course with Darina Allen. What a treat!!!

I intending on trying out Shermins Lamajun (Turkish pizza bread) many a time, but I never got round to it. Now all day I've had a hankering for this truly delicious pizza; it's like an itch I gotta scratch. So I  rooted out my Ballymaloe notes and googled Lamajun for a while before I decided on how I'd like to cook my own.

This recipe is adapted mainly from Shermins notes from the Ballymaloe Cookery School.  I've just substituted a few items, based on availability to me and also to satisfy my feta craving.

You can also eliminate the use of a food processor by using lamb mince as opposed to chunks and finely dicing everything by hand. Do whatever works for you! That's my motto!

You can use this recipe to create smaller lamajuns, a great little canape for that perfect mezze party.


Ingredients


For the Base

• 275g of plain white flour
• 225ml of natural yogurt

For the Topping

• 1 Tbsp of olive oil
• 1 onion, chopped finely
• 1 garlic clove
• 200g of lamb, diced
• 4 tomatoes, deseeded and diced
• 2 tbsp of chopped fresh mint
• Salt/pepper
• 1/2 tsp of cumin powder
• 1/2 tsp of cayenne pepper

To serve

• Cous Cous
• Feta cheese, cubed
• Lemon Wedges

(Shermins recipe calls for lots of flat leaf parsley, but I've substituted mint and coriander as I couldn't get hold of the parsley and I wasn't waiting to pick some up to make this dish.)

Method

1. Using a food processor, blitz the onion, garlic, spices, tomatoes and lamb together. Season well.
2. Mix the flour and the yogurt together to form a soft dough
3. Divide the dough into balls (50g each) and roll out as thin as possible.
4. Spread the whizzed lamb mixture on to the rolled out base, on a baking tray dusted with flour. Close in the sides of the dough to prevent the mixture pouring out onto the baking sheet.
5. Bake in a preheated oven to 200 degrees for 17 minutes.
6. Serve with lots of lemon and herbs and scatter over the feta. (You can put the feta onto the lamajun before baking if you wish.

This is a different method to Sharmins recipe, this for me is the express lazy method, as Shermin would sweat and cool the onions first before add to the raw lamb mixture.She then would fry the prepared lamajun and then grill the lamajun; as opposed to my 1 step of baking in the oven.

 But this works just as well; its probably not as authentic, but that's alright with me. As long as something's tasty and easy, that for me is the main thing.

Harissa & Marmalade Sticky Chicken Wings

When I was recently organizing a casual dinner party for some people I hadn't cooked for before I was faced with the prospect of cooking something that everyone would like. I knew anything to do with seafood, salads, and cheese was out!!!! I was cooking a lamb for main and I didn't want the dinner party to be a total meat feast either. I thought to myself, 'whats more of a crowd pleaser than chicken wings?!!'

EVERYONE loves chicken wings!! Dilemma averted. There was a moroccan theme to the dinner party, so I came up with  Harissa chicken wings! The harissa paste has just the right amount of smoke and heat to give the wings a real kick. But I felt the wings lack that sticky, messy consistency. So last night I made the wings for dinner for myself and my husband, and added some orange marmalade to the marinade. I must say it worked a treat! Napkins and bowl of water of the ready. For me a sign of good chicken wings is sticky fingers that are licked clean.!!!! You could say Finger Licking Good!!!


This recipe of completely simply to make, nothing fussy about it at all; with the end result looking so impressive your diners will think you've been slow cooking and basting for hours.

I teamed the wings with cous cous and a yogurt dressings to be a winning main course, but of course you can leave these out and serve the wings solo, though they are screaming for a cooling sauce accompaniement.

So here it is:

Harissa & Marmalade Wings with Apricot Cous Cous and a Herby Yogurt Dressing

Ingredients

The Wings

• Chicken wings (4-5 per person)
• 2 tbsp of cumin seeds
• 3 tbsp of coarse sea salt
• Juice of half a lemon
• 2 tsp of harissa paste
• 3 tbsp of honey
• 2 tbsp of orange marmalade
• 2 crushed cloves of garlic
• Salt/pepper

The Cous Cous

• 200g of cous cous
• 300 ml of boiled water, with saffron strands (saffron optional)
• 5 tbsp of chopped dried apricots
• 5 tbsp of toasted flaked almonds
• Handful of fresh mint, flat leave parsley, & coriander
• 2 tbp of olive oil
• Salt/pepper
• Juice of half a lemon

The Herby Yogurt Dressing

• 125ml low fat natural yogurt
• Handful of fresh mint, flat leave parsley, & coriander
• Juice of half a lemon
• Salt/pepper

Method

The Wings

1. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees
2. Line a baking tray with kitchen paper
3. Lay the chicken wings out in a single layer
4. Coat the wings with the cumin seeds and sea salt
5. Bake in the oven for 40 minutes
6. To make the marinade, combine the remaining wing ingredients and stir the mixture well.
7. Pour over the chicken after the 40 minutes has lapsed.
8. Ensure all the wings are covered and bake for a further 30 minutes.
9. Return to the oven once or twice to turn the wings and baste them with the escaped marinade.

The Cous Cous

1. Put the cous cous in a bowl and pour in the oil and salt/pepper
2. Mix with a fork
3. Pour over the boiled water infused with saffron
4. Cover the bowl with cling film or a plate
5. Leave for ten minutes until all the water's absorbed.
6. Fluff up the cous cous with a fork (not a spoon)
7. Add the chopped apricots, herbs, lemon juice and almonds.
8. Stir to mix together well.
9. To serve spoon the cous cous on a wooden board and leave a whole in the centre for the wings. (very Jamie Oliver of me!)

Herby Yogurt Dressing

1. Add all the ingredients into a bowl and stir well to combine.

To Plate Up

1. Place the cous cous on the wooden board
2. Place the chicken wings in a pile in the middle of the board
3. Drizzle with the yogurt dressing liberally and have a small bowl of the remaining dressing for individual use.
4. Scatter lemon wedges and leftover chopped herbs
5. Lots of napkins, and a bowl of warm bowl are necessary to keep the fingers clean.

Quinoa, Chickpea & Carrot Herb Salad

I’m really on an middle-eastern inspired buzz at the moment. It’s so spicy and fragrant and fresh though, it’s quite easy to get carried away with middle-eastern inspired dinners every night of the week.

I BBQ’ed a butterflied leg of lamb over the weekend and I had lots of small sides, such as hummus, cous cous, herb salads, honeyed carrots etc. It was divine to say the least. This salad really was a chance to use up all the leftovers in fridge from the ingredients in making all those sides.

So that is how I came up with my Quinoa, Chickpea & Carrot Herb Salad w/ Cumin Squash Wedges!!!!!! Fresh and invigorating, not to mention extremely healthy. I made extra for lunch the following day. It can be stuffed into a pitta pocket with some feta and natural yogurt and be the envy of all work colleagues with their limp ham salad sambos…..

Ingredients

Serves 4

·         1 drained tin of chickpeas

·         75g of quinoa

·         2 carrots, cut into batons

·         1 lemon

·         1 small carton of natural yogurt

·         1 tomato, deseeded and cut into strips

·         3-4 spring onions, sliced

·         2 tbsp of chopped flat leaf parsley

·         2 tbsp of chopped coriander

·         2 tbsp of chopped mint

·         2-3 tbsp of hummus (shop bought or from this blog)

·         ½ red chilli, sliced thinly

Cumin Squash Wedges

·         ½ a butternut squash, cut into thin wedges

·         2 tbsp of ground cumin

·         Low cal spray

Method

1.       Firstly make the wedges and get the quinoa on the boil.

2.       Preheat the oven to 220 degrees

3.       Lay the wedges on a baking tray and sprinkle with the cumin powder, and spray with low cal spray.

4.       Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes

5.       Boil the quinoa according to packet instructions (normally 15 minutes)

6.       To assemble the salad get a large bowl and add the herbs, carrots, spring onions, tomatoes and chickpeas.

7.       When the quinoa is cooked, rinse under cold water and drain, removed excess moisture with kitchen paper before adding to the salad.

8.       Stir well to distribute the quinoa.

9.       Place some hummus in centre of salad and top with the chilli strips and wedges of lemon.

10.   Serve with natural yogurt (low fat is fine), and the wedges.

Low Fat Carrot & Cumin Falafel

I'm finally in my new kitchen (even though its on it's last legs), so I've been busy cooking up some dishes to make up for the time I lost moving [ and trying to get the stove to work]. It's my last day before I go back to work and start the commute so I thought I'd set some time aside and make a lunch today, that will do nicely for lunch tomorrow also to take to work.

For those of you that know me, I'm a big fan of the high protein, low carb approach to my food, especially mid week. It's because of this that I had decide to make carrot and cumin falafels which are made with predominately chickpeas. Chickpeas are a great source of protein and are very filling and low fat.
Falafels are basically deep fried pattys made from chickpeas and usually used as a filling in a pitta bread or as part of a salad originally from the Middle East.

My falafels are not deep fried [heaven's forbid no!!), they are instead baked in the oven for 20 minutes or so. My falafels will be used in a salad, but please yourself. Falafels are absolutely divine in a pitta with crispy lettuce, tomato slices and cumcber with a tahini dressing.

Makes 20 mini falafels

Ingredients

• 400g can of chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• 1/2 red chili, deseeded
• 1 carrot, peeled and roughly chopped
• 1 garlic clove, quartered
• 2 tbsp of cumin powder
• salt and pepper
• Juice from 1 lemon
• 2 tbsp of flat leaf parsley
• 1 egg white
• 2 spring onions, chopped

Method

1. In a food processor, add all the ingredients
2. Whizz until smooth
3. Preheat the oven to 210 degrees
4. Place the whizzed mixture in the fridge to firm, while the oven is preheating.
5. Get a baking tray and line with baking parchment
6. Using a teaspoon, make 20 little balls from the falafel mixture and place on the baking sheet.
7. Bake in the oven, from 15 minutes and then turn and cook for a further 10 minutes.
8. Serve as part of a mezze or as the main attraction for a salad.

I'm serving mine falafels with 1 tbsp of cous cous, 1 tbsp of hummus, rocket leaves, and stuffed peppers. Falafels are not complete without some low fat natural yogurt and lemon juice.

Harissa Spiked Vegetables with Quinoa, Feta & Almonds

Harrisa is a hot smoky red pepper paste used in North African cooking to flavour meat and stews. Here I’m using it as a marinade diluted with lemon juice to give a wonderfully smoky heat to roast vegetables. This is a low fat supper which keeps well for lunch the next day also. However this a great marinade on meat and poultry as it really tenderises the meat , keeping it moist and succulent.

Serves 2

Ingredients

·         2 small sweet potatoes, diced

·         100g quinoa

·         1 red pepper, cut into chunks

·         1 yellow pepper, cut into chunks

·         2 red onions, peeled and quartered

·         8 mushrooms, halved

·         4 tomatoes, deseeded and quartered

·         1 lemon juice

·         2 tsp of harrisa paste

·         3 tbsp chopped fresh coriander

·         60g of low fat feta cheese, cubed

·         2 tbsp of toasted flaked almonds

Method

1.       Preheat oven to 200 degrees

2.       In a jug, mix the lemon juice and harrisa paste

3.       Add the chopped vegetables to an oven dish, spreading them out in one even layer

4.       Pour over the marinade and mix to ensure each and every piece of vegetable is cooked

5.       Roast for 30 minutes, turning halfway.

6.       Meanwhile, cook 100g of quinoa according to packet, drain and allow to steam dry.

7.       Add the quinoa, feta, almonds and coriander to the roasting dish to combine all the flavours and serve.

Baked Figs Wrapped in Parma Ham

This is a light sweet glamorous starter, that wouldn’t pile on the pounds. Figs can be quite difficult to get, but if you see them in the supermarket, you should definitely take advantage. They are grown in sunnier climates. The figs I bought in the supermarket were from Turkey.

Figs can either be part of a salad, a starter or as a sweet treat.

This elegant starter is really easy to make and very fast, it’s a delicious sweet  starter with a balsamic kick. The figs are brushed with a honey and balsamic  glaze, wrapped in parma ham, then baked for 10 minutes in the oven, The plates can be prepared in advance with just a bed of rocket scattered with chopped walnuts. To make this more indulgent you could add a small cube of goats cheese to the centre of the gifs, but I made them without the goats cheese on this occasion, trying to keep the calories down.

Serves 2

Ingredients

·         6 fresh figs

·         1 bag of prewashed rocket leaves

·         2 tbsp of chopped walnuts

·         6 slices of parma ham

·         1 tbsp of honey

·         1 tbsp of balsamic vinegar

·         1 tbsp of olive oil

·         Salt & pepper

Method

1.       Preheat the oven to 180 degrees

2.       Line a baking sheet with baking paper

3.       Trim off the tops of the  figs and cut a cross in the top of them, stopping ¾ way the way down the fig.

4.       To make the honey and balsamic glaze, wisk together the honey, balsamic, oil and salt and pepper in a jug.

5.       Rub each fig with the honey and balsamic mixture and wrap a slice of parma ham around each fig

6.       Pour any remaining glaze over the figs and bake for 10 minutes.

7.       Meanwhile, to plate up put a bunch of rocket leaves in the centre of your plate and scatter with the chopped walnuts.

8.       Place 3 figs on each plate and pour over the baked juices which ecaped the figs, this is your dressing.

9.       Decorate the plate if you like with a little balsamic syrup.