Spicy Pumpkin Mash
This pumpkin mash is a zesty alternative to the regular
pumpkin mash and tastes great with bread. It is super easy to prepare and can
be prepared just before serving.
What you need:
600 g sweet pumpkin deseeded, peeled and cut into chunks
1 pinch sugar
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 teaspoon five spice powder
½ teaspoon red chilli powder
1 dried bay leaf
1 table spoon olive oil
Chopped coriander for garnish
How to cook:
1.Boil the pumpkin till it is tender, and breaks with a fork.
2.Add oil to a hot skillet. Add all the ingredients except
the pumpkin and salt to the oil, and sauté for 2 to 3 minutes.
3.Remove from fire, and add the contents of the skillet to the
boiled pumpkin.
4.Add the chopped coriander, and mash the pumpkin partly, and
fold in the spice mixture into the mashed pumpkin.
5.Do not mash the pumpkin completely, just mash haphazardly
such that there are small chunks of pumpkin left in the mash.
Serve!
This delightful dessert can be served with a handful of mixed berries on the side or an irresistible raspberry sauce poured over the cake.
What you need:
Sponge Cake vanilla* : 1
Mascarpone Cheese or any Cream cheese : 200 gm
Icing sugar : 3 tablespoon
Fresh Raspberries : 2 cups
Castor Sugar : 2 tablespoon
Lemon Juice : 1 tablespoon
Water : 1 cup
Coffee powder : 1 tablespoon
Chocolate cubes : 50 gms
*You can either get a sponge cake from the supermarket, or prepare it at home based on the directions below. Both work equally great, so if you are short of time, this dessert allows you to make that compromise.
How to Make:
1. Cut the sponge cake from the middle into two parts using a sharp knife such that they are now two sponge cakes.
2. Mix coffee powder into half cup of hot water, and pour it over a large plate.
3. Dip the sponge cakes one side only over the coffee.
4. Melt the chocolate and pour it over one of the sponge cake,one side only.
5. Beat mascarpone cheese with icing sugar in a bowl till it becomes smooth and fluffy in texture.
6. Pour the beaten mixture into the same sponge over the chocolate, and top with half of the raspberries.
7. Place the other sponge over it slowly and carefully, so that it sits right above the other one.
8. Your raspberry sponge cake is ready. Decorate it with some more raspberries and leftover cheese at the top.
9. Put water, raspberries, castor sugar, lemon juice in a pan, and bring to a boil over high heat.
10. Reduce the heat and let the raspberry sauce thicken to a syrup like consistency.
11. Put the cake and the sauce in the refrigerator, and serve when cold.
12. To serve the cake, cut a piece and place on a plate and pour a spoonful of the raspberry sauce over the cake. Enjoy :))
This recipe is super easy to prepare and is delicious to taste. Try this super simple recipe as a side with roti or bread or on its own.
What you need:
2 large potatoes diced into small cubes
1 packet of spring onions finely chopped
1 tablespoon melted butter or vegetable oil
1 pinch turmeric powder(optional)
Salt to taste
Crushed Black pepper to taste(optional)
How to Cook:
Boil the potatoes till they are soft but not mushy.
Add oil to a pan, and pour in the potatoes, spring onion.
Add the salt, turmeric powder, and stir for two to three minutes.
Remove from heat and sprinkle crushed black pepper. Serve hot!
Five Spice Fish Curry
The key to cooking Asian curries the right way is to discard all those spice packets that you have from the supermarkets, and make your own spice paste at home. It is super easy to prepare and makes the curry taste a lot better and much more fragrant.
What you need:
For the five spice paste(will make about 2 teaspoon of paste):
1 inch Cinnamon stick
2 cardamoms
2 cloves
1 dried red chilli(optional)
8 black peppercorns
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 inch ginger (peeled)
3 cloves of garlic(peeled)
For the curry:
Fish(12 cubes) cut into cubes and marinated for 15 minutes with half a teaspoon of turmeric powder and half a teaspoon of coriander powder
green chilli 1
bay leaf 1
Onion Chopped 1 medium
Sugar 1 pinch
Salt 1/2 teaspoon
Chopped Coriander 1 table spoon
Five spice paste 2 tablespoon
Olive Oil 2 tablespoon
Water 1 cup
How to Cook:
1.Put all the ingredients in the five space paste into a mixer blender, and grind to a fine paste. Alternatively you can use mortar and pestle to make the paste. This is your five spice paste.
2.Pan fry the marinated fish about 1 minute each side, and set aside in a plate.
3.Add the chopped onions to the oil. Then add the five spice powder, bay leaf, sugar to the oil and sauté for 2 to 3 minutes, till the onion has turned brown.
4. Add green chilli, salt and water, and simmer for 2 to 3 minutes over high heat. Then add the pan fried fish to the boiling curry , and let it simmer over low heat for 3 to 5 minutes.
5. Turn off the heat. Garnish with Chopped Coriander and serve hot with white rice.
Thanks to my dear friend for introducing me to this yummy dessert. The combination of milk with orange is so flavourful, it will always leave your palette with a sweet and exotic taste.
What you need:
2 sweet oranges peeled and deseeded(sliced if large)
Orange zest of 1 orange
500 ml of full cream milk
1/2 cup sugar
How to cook:
Boil milk in a pan.
Add sugar, orange zest and then keep stirring until the milk thickens and the cream starts to solidify into small lumps. The milk should ideally reduce to half in volume.
Turn off the heat, and let the milk be cooled.
Add the sliced oranges to the cold milk.
Refrigerate for an hour.
Serve cold. Enjoy!
Note: the key to the taste of this dish is to make sure the oranges are very sweet, so do taste your orange before adding them to the dish. If you buy very ripe oranges, which have a strong and sweet fruity smell, you will not go wrong.
This fabulous and easy vegetable stir fry takes a few minutes to make and makes an excellent side dish.
What you need:
Thin Beans - 1 packet
(you can substitute this with long beans or French Beans)
Feta cheese cubes/Paneer - Half Cup
Salt to taste - Half Tea Spoon
Castor Sugar - one pinch
1 medium Tomato cut into small cubes
Five Spice Powder - Half Tea spoon
Vegetable Oil - 1 1/2 Tablespoon
Preparation Time : 8 minutes
How to Cook:
Cut Beans into half. Add Oil to a skillet or pan. Pour in the beans. Add Salt , sugar. Cover with a lid and cook for 5 minutes. Take out the beans from the skillet. Now pour 1/2 tablespoon oil into the skillet. Add the five spice powder and tomato, and cook for about 2 minutes till the tomatoes are soft and the oil starts to separate from the tomato, and it is all mushy. Now add back the cooked beans to the skillet. Add the cheese and cook for another 1 minute.
Sprinkle ground black pepper and Garnish with chopped coriander leaves. Serve Hot.
