Sweet Vegetable Curry with Za'atar Roasties

All week Hub has been requesting Indian for dinner so last night I decided to appease him. So glad I did because this meal was amazing! Serves 2 hungry people ;)

Ingredients for Za'atar Roasties

5-6 roasting potatoes • za'atar spice • olive oil • sea salt

Start by preparing your potatoes first. Preheat your oven to 200C and get a large pot of water boiling on the stove. Peel and roughly chop your taters into chunks, then toss them into the water once it's boiling. Cook them until soft and you are able to pierce them easily with a fork. Strain your potatoes and jostle them lightly around the strainer until the edges are roughed up and kind of mushy. Lightly oil a baking tray and lay out your taters. Generously season them with crushed sea salt and za'atar spice. Then drizzle a bit of olive oil on the potatoes and whack them into the oven for about 30 minutes. 

Za'atar is a mix of Mediterranean spices and my friend Molly gave me a massive bag and mentioned that one of my favorite chefs Ottolenghi uses it in his recipes. I don't think I could find this in Rio, but here's a simple recipe by Bon Appetit if you can't find it locally.

Ingredients for Sweet Vegetable Curry

coconut oil • 1/2 tsp cumin seeds • 1/4 inch cinnamon stick • 1/4 tsp allspice • 2 cardamon pods • 1 red chili finely chopped • 1 medium onion chopped • 1 tsp ginger paste • 1 tsp garlic paste • 1 can chopped tomatoes • 1 can of coconut milk • 1 veggie bouillon cube • 200ml water • 2 tsp chili powder • 1/4 tbsp turmeric powder • 1 tsp curry powder • 1 tsp coriander powder • 1 tsp cumin powder  • 1 large sweet potato cubed • 1 large carrot thinly sliced • 1 green bell pepper • 1/4 cup of golden raisins • 1/4 cup cashew halves

Last year I took an Indian cooking class at Rashmy's Kitchen and this is a modification of one of her delicious recipes, which I cook all the time. First we are going to create a masala paste by heating up a large deep pot with a little bit of coconut oil over a med-low heat. Add the cumin seeds, cinnamon stick, allspice, cardamon pods and red chili and sauté them until the spices become fragrant and the cumin seeds crackle in the oil. Then add in the chopped onions, garlic paste and ginger paste and sauté until golden brown. The garlic and ginger pastes are easily made with a blender by taking each peeled product and blitzing it with a little bit of water. 

Remove the onion mix from the stove and puree it in a blender, adding a bit of water if necessary. This is your masala paste. Add it back into your pot with a little bit of coconut oil and fry over a medium heat for a few minutes. Then add in the chopped tomatoes, coconut milk, veggie bouillon cube, water, chili powder, turmeric powder, curry powder, coriander powder and cumin powder.

Give that a stir and add in the sweet potato, carrots, bell peppers, raisins and cashews. Bring the curry to a boil and then down to simmer and let cook uncovered for approximately 20 minutes or until the carrots and potatoes are fully cooked. Check in on your roasties, they should be crisping up nicely and be done around the same time as your curry. And voila!

This was so good especially the roasted potatoes. My god that za'atar spice was amazing. I added lightly steamed broccoli on the side to balance out the meal and it was the perfect end to a perfect Sunday.

Gettin Over the Hump: Salmon Farms

I used to love salmon. I liked the hearty texture, its distinct flavor, I liked it raw, but equally enjoyed it well done. 

The past few months I've been researching aquaculture and salmon farms and I'm disturbed by my findings. Most of the salmon in supermarkets and restaurants comes from farms, enclosed pens set-up in fresh water inlets created to meet market demands and mitigate the overfishing of wild sea life. The problems and health risks associated with farmed salmon has literally put me off my fish and I wanted to share my research with you. If we want to be thriving in health, then we should know what's going into our food. So the next time you're in the mood for this pink fish, consider these things before buying:

If you're going to buy salmon, make sure it's wild. Here's a guide on how to tell the difference between wild salmon and farmed salmon.

Farmed salmon is riddled with disease, toxins and unnatural added ingredients.

The overcrowded pens are polluting our fresh waters and harming local wild salmon.

Farmed salmon is higher in fat than wild salmon and higher in omega 6 fats, which is bad.

(I devoured this open-face smoked salmon sandwich in a little country pub a few years back)

Cashew Cream Sundried Tomato Pasta

It's been awhile since I've felt inspired to make something new, so I'm excited to share this recipe that I made the other night. Hub and I have been on a real pesto kick and I've been making batches of the traditional basil version for a while, but on Friday I thought I'd make a sundried tomato version. It ended up turning out more like a creamy cashew sundried tomato sauce, which was absolutely delicious and easy to make. It's also vegan and gluten-free! 

Ingredients

5 sundried tomatoes + 1/4 cup of sundried tomato oil • 2 tomatoes diced • 1/4 cup of roasted salted cashews, soaked in water overnight • 1 large garlic clove • 1/2 tbsp dried oregano • juice of 1/2 lemon • Bunch of spinach rinsed • 500g button mushrooms sliced • 1/2 red onion sliced • 250g gluten-free pasta • olive oil • salt & pepper

Start boiling a large pot of water for the pasta. While the water is warming up, prepare the cashew cream sundried tomato sauce. Heat up a sautée pan with a little bit of olive oil and cook the diced tomatoes over low heat until soft and mushy. Poor the tomatoes into a blender and blitz until smooth. Then layer-in the soaked cashews, lemon juice, sundried tomatoes and their olive oil, garlic clove and oregano. Blend until smooth and creamy and add salt & pepper to taste. Set aside.

For this recipe I used roasted salted cashews which is all I could find locally, but raw cashews would be fantastic in this dish. They would also be slightly healthier without the added salted and oil from the roasting process. 

This on its own was heaven, could eat it with a spoon.

By this point the water should be boiling, so add in your pasta and cook as directed on the label. Lately I've been enjoying gluten-free pasta and it cooks very quickly, so be careful not to overcook. I go back and forth on the gluten-free thing, but I find eating gluten-free helps with my sluggish digestion. However, any pasta will do in this recipe and preferably wholegrain. Drain and reserve 1/2 cup of the cooking liquid. 

Taking the same pan used for the tomatoes, add a little bit of olive oil and sautée your onions and mushrooms until soft and nicely browned. Combine the onions, mushrooms, spinach and pesto into the pasta and mix until well coated, adding enough reserved cooking liquid to moisten. 

Season to taste with salt and pepper and voila!

This turned out so, so good! I've always loved rich and creamy pastas, so this was 

a real treat to have and no dairy necessary.