An Onion and Cream cheese Curry

Continuing my current obsession with onions how about a sweet and interesting curry, not the usual curry flavour and probably one of the cheapest dishes out there . . .

- Put some oil in a frying pan to heat on high.

- Peel and slice some onions into biggish slices. You’ll need lots, for myself I used four smallish onions.

- Pop the onions into the hot pan and cook stirring now and then until the slices start to brown and blacken at edges.

- Turn the heat down low and add the spices - a teaspoon each of dried thyme and mint, half a teaspoon of turmeric, a pinch or two of chilli flakes and a couple of teaspoons of cumin seeds.

- let the spices cook for a minute or two (take the pan off the heat if they look like burning) then add a slice of butter.

- Leave to sizzle gently until the onions are well cooked and have gone a honeyed brown.

- season with a pinch of salt.

Serve with some lumps or splodges of cheese, say feta (careful with the salt) or cottage cheese or as I did some philadelphia (cream cheese). And some bread or rice of course or roll it up in a pancake like I did.

I like it quite dry but for rice it might need more of a sauce so I would add some water or yoghurt or even cream at the end.

Potato, Cumin, Yoghurt and Mint soup

Always the bridesmaid, potato rarely gets the starring role in a soup. This is a bit unfair because it has a lovely texture, smooth and creamy with a stickiness about it that is as comforting as porridge is on a cold day. And a potato is a true friend as well, no matter what dire straights I have found myself in there has always been a potato or two in the larder somewhere to make sure I am fed. So today I celebrate the potato with a quite intensly savoury soup that is at the same time tangy as well.

- Gently fry an onion and a clove of garlic (peeled and roughly chopped) in some oil and butter until softly translucent.
- Add in a teaspoon of ground Cunin seeds, a teaspoon of whole cumin seeds, half a teaspoon of ground Blackpepper and half a teaspoon of Turmuric for it's earthiness.
- Stir the spices around a bit for a couple of minutes then add in two or three potatoes peeled and roughly diced, stir around again to mix everything together.
- Pour in a pint and a quarter of vegetable stock, bring to a gentle boil and leave until the potatoes are cooked.
- Blend or liquidise the soup and return to the now washed pan.
- Stir in a tablespoon of creamy greek yoghurt and a small palmfull of sliced mint leaves along with some salt and pepper if required.
- Reheat gently, don't let it boil or the yoghurt will separate into little white bits.
- Serve with another dollop of yoghurt and some more chopped mint.



Student food really but there is nothing wrong with that. Jamie Oliver would be proud of me I think . . . .