Pumkin and Lentil Korma

Vegetable boxes are great. Delivered to your door, you never quite know what will be in there until you open it, a birthday every week ! As well as the joy of finding unknown vegetables I find it also encourages me to use up what is there as well, if only to make room for the next lot. Like the big green pumpkin (well squash to be strictly correct) that has been in the larder for a week. But what to do with it ? Well how about a mild and warming pumpkin korma using some of those big green lentils waving at me from another shelf. Add in some onions and spices and simmer it all in coconut milk and . . . my idea of Winter heaven really!

- Peel and slice up a couple of onions and fry slowly in some oil and butter along with a chopped up clove of garlic.

- Meanwhile peel the squash (maybe a third of a big one), scoop out the seeds and chop into bite sized chunks.

Then look through your spices - I kind of new what I was after but usually open a few jars and smell them until I find a few that go together.

- Once the onions are soft, sweet and turning honey coloured tip them out into a bowl

- Bring the heat up and pop in the squash and cook on a high heat until they brown at the edges and soften a bit.

-Lower the heat again, put the onions back in along with the spices. I used a teaspoonful of ginger root (grated out of the freezer) the same of ground cumin along with half a teaspoon of whole seeds a teaspoonful of ground coriander seeds. Next comes half a teaspoonful each of of turmeric for colour and earthyness, ground cardamon for fragrance and the same of cinnamon because it goes well with all squashes and says Winter to me. Finally a pinch of chilli powder adds a little warmth.

- Add in a couple af handfuls of lentils, a handfull of blanched almonds, the same of cashews and stir it all around to mix the flavours for a minute or two.

- Pour in a can of coconut milk (400ml) and enough water to cover everything and leave to simmer softly until the lentils are cooked, twenty minutes to half an hour probably. Add more water if it gets a bit dry looking and stir every now and then to stop it sticking.

- Finally squeeze in the juice of a lemon and add salt if it needs it.

Serve just as it is with a big splodge of creamy sour cream, more sliced almonds and lots of coriander and mint leaves for freshness.

Yummy ;-)

Oh and this is the sort of dish that reheats well, so make it the day before and have it when you come in tired and cold . . .

Bread, Chilli oil, Salt and Nutella

Sometimes your tastebuds need comforting, like sitting too close to the fire on a frosty day.

I have a terrible habit. When I clear up after mealtimes I dispose of any leftovers. Into my mouth usually. This could be my upbringing (“think of the starving Africans”) but is more likely because I am a bit of a greedy pig. But when you have leftover bread cooked with crunchy sea salt and chilli oil, and there is a jar of Nutella in the larder . . . well.

The salt brings out the nuttiness of the hazelnuts, the chewiness of the bread complements the waxy softness of the chocolate spread and afterwards you are left with a pleasant burning sensation on your lips, almost too hot but just not quite . . .

Life is for living.

Banana, Cardammon, and Orange muffins

Kiwis love banana loaf. I can’t say I do - to be honest it comes a close second to pasta salad as a pointless use for leftovers. But I am not a kiwi and that many of them cannot be wrong, and . . . I quite often make a Nigel Slater recipe of bananas roasted with cardamom, sugar, butter and orange juice ( which is delicious ) and . . . I had some ripe bananas and . . . needed to make something to take to my meditation class, so after a quick google search for vegan muffins I sort of put them all together and this was the result.

- Put the oven on to heat - 150 c (because my oven is on the hot side, probably 175 c normally).
- Put two cups of self raising flour in a bowl along with a pinch of salt, half a cup of sugar and half to one teaspoons of ground cardomom seeds ( I like to crush my own in a pestle and mortar because they taste better and I like all the different sized bits you get)
- Add in the grated zest of a couple of tangarines or an orange.
- Peel three ripe bananas and squash them with your hands to mash roughly mash them ( great fun! ) and add to the bowl along with a quarter cup of oil.
- Then squeeze the juice out of you tangarines or orange and make it up to one cupful with more orange juice from a carton ( or more oranges if you have them )
- Pour this into the bowl, quickly mix, and spoon into a muffin tin.
- Cook for 30 to 40 minutes until golden brown.

Allow to cool and dust with icing sugar for prettiness.

I liked them, and so did the meditators, but at work today feelings were mixed - perhaps a bit too strange for them ? I suppose you have to be careful playing around with old childhood favourites.