Ravishing Runny Raita…

This yummy, slightly hot dipping sauce or raita, was originally supposed to be a “chutney”, but it turned out way too runny to be spread on anything. It is, however very very tasty, and spooned or poured over an Indian dish or a bowl of plain rice, it is very moreish and delicious.

Makes a great dip for poppadoms while you are waiting to serve your main curry.

Green Raita

12 tbsp low-fat Greek yoghurt

2 tbsp fresh lemon juice

4 tbsp fresh mint, finely chopped

4 tbsp fresh coriander, finely chopped

1 large green chilli, finely chopped

1/2 tsp salt (or to taste)

Place all ingredients in a bowl and blend thoroughly with a hand blender, until smooth. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Happy Fooding!

Veg, Veg & More Veg

I have been lucky enough to be given two separate lots of freshly picked vegetables in the last 10 days – from a friend who works for a distribution centre that is the go-between for markets gardens and supermarkets. Wow, it has been great. Above is the first lot I was given – the second lot was slightly different and included Brussells sprouts, sugar snap peas, carrots, apples, pears and avocadoes as well as more of the above!

Of course I’ve made the most of this bounty, looking for new and old veg-related recipes to use everything up. I made a batch of chargrilled capsicum, which has turned out better than usual simply because the capsicums are so uber-fresh and sweet.

I made a big pot of vegie soup, and one night I threw a heap of vegies on to the bbq, basting them with soy sauce and grilling to perfection. OMG the mushrooms cooked like this tasted divine!

I subscribe to an ezine called Weekend Notes, which sends me a daily roundup of what’s happening in and around Perth, as well as fun activities for kids, easy recipes, restaurant/cafe reviews etc. For a morning tea at work last Friday I made Zucchini Hummus, from Weekend Notes, which came out really well, although mine actually looks a slightly different colour and not as smoothly processed, as the original. A great alternative to a chickpea hummus, and low fat as no oil added apart from the natural oil in the tahini. Mmmmm I love tahini! I made a loaf of fresh bread in the bread machine (thanks machine, for waking me at 4.15am with your loud whirring……) and cut this into squares to serve the hummus with, instead of the usual crackers.

I still have plenty of vegies left, so am thinking something quiche-related and something curry-related might be happening in my kitchen later this week. And I need to find something to make with the apples and pears.

Happy Vegetable Fooding!

Wonderful White Stuff

Sometimes, you can go literally years in between making something, and then you suddenly rediscover it. That’s what happened with this recipe – I was looking for an easy dip to make, to take to a cheese-&-wine-by-the-river evening, so that I wouldn’t be just taking a lump of cheese and a packet of crackers. I wanted to flesh it out a bit, to make my little cheese platter contribution amongst 25 people, a little less plain.

Rummaging around in my recipe e-files, I saw this dip and thought hmmmm why haven’t I made this in so long?! A trip to the supermarket post-dentist (I am funding my dentist’s retirement at the moment, with all of the work I’m having done!) to buy a can of cannellini beans, and 5 minutes later the dip was sitting in the fridge alongside a Wensleydale-with-cranberries block of cheese and a bottle of Yellow, all ready to go.

The texture and flavour of this dip is similar to a chickpea hummus, only minus the garlic. It’s great spread on toast too.

White Bean Dip

425 gm can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed

1/4 cup low-fat Greek yoghurt

1/4 cup hulled tahini (sesame paste)

2 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped

1 tbsp lemon juice

1/4 tsp paprika

cracked pepper, to taste

Mix all ingredients together in food processor until smooth. Refrigerate until ready to eat, then serve with crackers, squares of fresh bread, triangles of pita bread, or carrot/celery sticks. And wine and friends of course 🙂

My city at dusk

Happy Summer Fooding!

Party Nibbles 2

Also for Christmas, I whipped up these little beauties!  Haha, they look so professional, but in fact this is a complete cheat’s canape……I got this idea a few months ago at an afternoon tea put on by my lecturers when I finished my Diploma.

All this is, is 2 packets of those little vol-au-vent cases that you buy ready-made, and in them I have spooned red and green Wattle Valley crunchy dips – half are red with a spot of green on top, and half are green with a spot of red on top – all nice and Christmasy looking! I used Chilli dip for the red, and Basil for the green, but you can use whatever flavours/brands you like.

These bought vol-au-vent cases are pretty dry tasting, so you need to make sure you put as much dip inside as you possibly can. This is not easy without making a big mess and getting dip all over the bench – you need a couple of tiny teaspoons and you must hold your tongue the right way lol.

Happy Summer Fooding!

Ham Dip

Super easy, this dip also makes a great filling for sandwiches.  I think you can get this particular meat paste at Aussie online food shops, but there are sure to be local equivalents in all countries anyway.

Ham Dip

250 gm tub low-fat cream cheese

~60 gms (1/2 a jar) Pecks Devilled Meat Spread

2 spring onions, chopped

1 tbsp milk

1 tbsp lemon juice

1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

1 tsp seedy mustard

cracked pepper, to taste

Place all ingredients in a food processor and blend until smooth. Refrigerate for a while to firm up, then serve with water crackers or other dipping style biscuits.

Happy Fooding!

Another Greek Review…

I’ve been in Brisbane for 10 days, attending the wonderful Koala Conventions annual embroidery week –  loads of fun, fantastic stitching workshops, and LOTS of food! Last Tuesday night we went as a large group, to Kapsali Greek restaurant.

The food was a banquet organised specially for function groups, so large platters were brought out, first of dips, then hot treats like calamari and saganaki.

Between courses the waiters got up and did some Greek dancing, then they made all of us get up and have a go – in fact the whole restaurant pretty much joined in. Lots of fun.

Main course platters included lamb that just melted in the mouth, and delicious garlic potatoes. By then we were all so full because we had pigged out on the dips and cheese, so quite a bit was left on the platters. I hate to see food go to waste but we just couldn’t eat it all. As for dessert (baklava and fresh fruit) I couldn’t touch a thing.

A great night, lots of laughter and big garlic breath fumes in our room (I was sharing with my mum, who flew to Brisbane from Melbourne to join me for the embroidery week) afterwards!

I fly home to Perth today with mountains of washing to do, 2 new embroidery projects to complete (I did actually finish the 3rd one, which is the first time ever that I’ve been able to do that within the workshop week) and a lot of stuff to unpack. A wonderful 10 days was had by all.

Happy Fooding!

Elies Tent

Here’s another restaurant review for you…….I love Middle Eastern food – Lebanese, Arabian etc. so I was really looking forward to this meal at Elies Tent.

Overall opinion – quite nice, but not outstanding and I think I’ll try elsewhere before I go back again.

Hummus & Babaganoush

We had a banquet as this was the best value and is a good way to try a bit of everything. Whilst the dips were pretty good (hummus and babaganoush) I’m sure the pita bread to go with it was just a bought one from the supermarket – VERY dry and brittle – whereas it should be piping hot and soft, served freshly out of the oven.

Falafels & lamb puffs

The nibbles of falafels and lamb puffs were delicious, as were the lamb and chicken kebabs – a tad burnt but for my taste I didn’t mind that really.

Lamb & chicken kebabs

The tabbouleh was superb – lemony fresh and salt with loads of fresh flat-leafed parsley; my photo of that turned out blurry though 😦

Finally there was a big plate of rice, which was quite sweet with cinnamon, fruit and almonds in it – very gluggy – topped with shaved cooked chicken and lamb that was very dry. I ate as much as I could anyway as I hate waste, but in the end we really did leave quite a bit on the plates.

Meat & rice

It was worth a try, but I won’t go back there again except maybe for a big bowl of their tabbouleh one lunchtime!

Happy Fooding!

First Pate Attempt

My aunt makes the BEST chicken liver pate in the world, it is divine. She only makes it for special occasions these days, I think because it is very high in fat and we’re all being careful about that kind of thing as we get older.

I saw some chicken livers on special this week and decided to have a go at making a batch myself – but I wanted a slightly healthier version if I could manage it. I did some surfing and compared a heap of recipes – my goodness, there are SO many versions out there! Some have a HUGE amount of butter in them, so I discounted those and in the end narrowed down 5 recipes that I liked the sound of, and then made up my own. I was a tad nervous but omg it was SO easy, I can’t believe I haven’t made it before! And it tasted great – I think I’ll play around with different herbs for different flavours, but as a base recipe I’m really happy with what I came up with. I’ve frozen it in several tubs, as it does freeze really well. I had some for breakfast this morning on a toasted English muffin. Heavenly. And definitely a bit healthier than many of the recipes out there.

Chicken Liver Pate

1 tbsp butter

1/2 brown onion, roughly chopped

500 gms chicken livers, trimmed of any fat/sinew

1/2 cup red wine

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp white pepper

1 tsp dried thyme

1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil

Melt the butter in a pan and saute the onion until soft. Add the chicken livers and cook until browned. Add red wine, salt, pepper & thyme, and simmer for 5 minutes or until livers are just cooked.

Place the mixture in a food processor and mix until smooth, then add the olive oil (with the motor running) until well blended.

Refrigerate for a few hours before using. Use within 5 days, or freeze.

Happy Fooding!

Real Falafels…

I’ve been making my own baked falafels for a few years. About a year ago I tried one of those dried falafel mix boxes, where you just add water and an egg or something. Disgusting! Then a couple of months ago I saw some nice looking ready-made ones in a vacuum-sealed packet, in the supermarket. They came in different flavours and were on special so I thought I’d try them, as we were going away on the boat that weekend and wanted easy nibbles to take with us. Also disgusting! SO dry and tasteless.

I think I’ll just stick to my tried and true homemade ones. I bake them rather than fry, as I do not like food where all you can taste is oil. These are easy and delicious, and if you don’t like the yoghurt dipping sauce, sweet chilli is just as good.

Falafels

425 gm can chickpeas, drained

3 tbsp fresh mint, finely chopped

2 tbsp fresh coriander, finely chopped

1 medium carrot, peeled & grated

1/3 cup breadcrumbs

3 cloves garlic, crushed

1 egg

1 tsp cumin seeds, ground

Sauce for Serving:

1 cup low-fat Greek yoghurt

1 tbsp fresh mint, finely chopped

1 tbsp lemon juice

1 tsp lemon zest

1/2 tsp chilli paste (optional)

Mash the chickpeas in a food processor until smooth. Place in a bowl and mix with all other ingredients.

With clean hands, form into smooth oval shapes of about 1 tbsp of mixture each. Refrigerate for an hour, then bake on a greased oven tray at 200C for 20 minutes (turning over after 10 minutes).

Serve with dipping sauce – mix all sauce ingredients together and refrigerate until needed.

Makes 16.

Happy Fooding!

Let’s Go For A Dip….

Summer holidays, swimming, drinking beer, having bbqs, and loads of heat and sunshine! That’s what’s filling my days at the moment, as well as lots of visitors. Now my mum is here with me, for her first visit to Perth since 1980!

This quick and easy dip fills the “keep it cool” menu perfectly. When I served it recently, all of the English people present said it looked and tasted just like Heinz Sandwich Spread – which I’ve never eaten but I take their word for it!.

I can’t take the credit for this recipe – I found it here at one of my favourite recipe sites, Best Recipes.

Carrot & Gherkin Dip

250 gm tub cream cheese (I used low-fat)

1/4-1/3 small onion, very finely chopped

1/2 cup finely chopped carrot

2-3 tbsp Fletchers gherkin relish

cracked pepper, to taste

1 tsp milk

Mix all ingredients until well combined. Refrigerate until serving. Serve with your choice of savoury crackers, celery sticks or carrot sticks.

Happy Summer Fooding!