Haloumi with Raita and Witlof Salad on Crispy Poppadoms

From The Modern Vegetarian, Maria Elia, Kyle Cathie, 2009.

I love to eat haloumi so when I find a recipe that includes it I usually want to make it.

There were many parts to this recipe. The first and the easiest was to slice the haloumi and to fry it quickly until it was golden on both sides. It was then put aside while a spicy mix was made.

The spice mixture was made by mixing together 2 tablespoons mango chutney, a touch of grated fresh ginger, a pinch each of ground turmeric, paprika, cumin and coriander, a goodly amount of chopped fresh coriander and some salt and pepper. This mixture was spread onto the haloumi and when the dish was ready to be assembled this was placed in the oven to heat through.

I needed a poppadum for each person and these proved the most difficult part of the dish. The instructions said that they were best fried until they puffed up. They certainly puffed up but they also rolled up. So I tried the other method of using the microwave. This was better though not perfect by any means but I did get enough to use.

A raita had to be made by mixing together 3 tablespoons Greek yoghurt, a small amount of cucumber peeled and deseeded and cut into fine dice, ½ Granny Smith apple diced, a tablespoon finely chopped red onion, a little grated fresh ginger, a pinch each of ground coriander and garam masala, chopped coriander, and the juice of ½ lime. I really liked the addition of the apple to add its tart sweetness to the raita.

The salad greens were prepared by slicing a witlof finely, a small amount of fennel sliced, 2 dates sliced, shredded mint, chopped coriander and some watercress. These were all carefully mixed together and dressed with a dressing of lemon juice, olive oil, a touch of white wine vinegar and salt and pepper.

The dish was arranged by placing a poppadum on each plate. On top of this went a helping of the salad greens, some raita, and finally the warmed haloumi with its spice mix.

This was quite a lot of work to prepare all of the pieces so I don’t think it was worth all the effort. It was tasty, brimming with a mix of tastes, but I think that they were somehow lost when it all came together. It was also not the easiest to eat as the poppadum underneath slipped around the plate. Nevertheless, I did enjoy it. 

Taste: ✔✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔

Dukka-Rolled Soft-Boiled Eggs with Chickpea Puree

From The Modern Vegetarian, Maria Elia, Kyle Cathie Ltd, 2009.

Sometimes a build-up of bits and pieces occurs in the refrigerator so this week has been one of finding recipes that can make use of these. I had made tattie hushie to use up some cauliflower and a leek waiting patiently in the vegetable section. There were a few figs bought once on the spur of the moment and still waiting for their moment so, combined with some left over blue vein cheese, they were turned into a disappointing figs à la bourguignonne. Now I wanted to use up a can of chickpeas in the pantry and the end of a loaf of bread made earlier in the week. This recipe looked as though it would make a good light meal.

Firstly I made the dukka. Some hazelnuts (the end of a packet) were roasted in a 180ªC oven. After them a few sesame seeds (again the end of a packet) went in to be roasted. Now a couple of teaspoons of coriander seeds and a little less of cumin seeds (another packet being emptied) went in the oven for a couple of minutes to release their wonderful aromas.  These all went in a blender with a teaspoon salt, a good few grindings of black pepper, about half a teaspoon of paprika and a large pinch of cayenne pepper. They were ground to a rough, not too fine mix. That was the dukka ready.

Now it was time to make the puree. I heated a little olive oil in a pan and then dropped in two chopped garlic cloves and removed the pan from the heat. The oil was swirled around to absorb the garlic flavour and a large pinch of cayenne was added together with about half a teaspoon of smoked paprika. A drained can of chickpeas was added to the pan with 150ml water. It now went back onto the heat to warm it through. It was then pureed and salt added to taste. This was a really tasty puree and I had to limit the amount of tastings I gave it.

One egg per person was now placed in boiling water and cooked for 4 minutes. The recipe called for 5 minutes and I should have stuck to that because when I tried to shell the eggs when they were cooled I had great difficulty.

A slice of bread for each person was placed under the grill and toasted.

A fennel was finely sliced and added to a pan with a chopped garlic clove and a little oil. When it was cooked it was removed and into the pan now went a large pile of rocket and baby spinach leaves. When they had wilted the fennel went back into the pan with the juice of half a lemon and it was turned off.

It was now ready to put everything together. The bread was covered with a goodly amount of the chickpea puree. Over this went a helping of the wilted leaves. The eggs were supposed to have a little olive oil dribbled on them and then to be rolled in the dukka. My eggs would not have survived this treatment so they were just placed on the wilted greens and the dukka was sprinkled over.

I truly enjoyed this meal. I was ready for something that was light and not too filling. This was just right. It had a wonderful mix of flavours that all went together really well. The puree had a touch of heat from the cayenne and a slight smokiness from the paprika. And there was a little bitterness from the greens, matched with the sourness of the lemon. The egg poured its yolky sauce over all, spreading the spicy crunch from the dukka. I could go for this easily again.

Taste: ✔✔✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔

Butternut Pumpkin Tagine with Buttered Chilli Couscous

From The Modern Vegetarian, Maria Elia, Kyle Cathie Ltd, 2009.

I always enjoy a good tagine. The hot spicy dishes go down well in cold weather. This one was quite a breeze to make.

An onion was sautéed with a pinch of salt until softened, then a couple of chopped garlic cloves were added together with ground cumin, ground ginger, paprika and crushed coriander seeds. These were sautéed until their fragrance filled the air. At this stage I added a can of tomatoes, a couple of red chillies split along their length, a pinch of saffron, a little honey and a cinnamon stick. About two cups of water were added and all was brought to the boil. Butternut pumpkin, peeled and cut into pieces, was now added, the lid was put on and it was cooked for about half an hour.

It still appeared to be a little too watery at this stage so I took off the lid and let it cook a little longer. It was tasted for seasoning and adjustments were now made. Chopped coriander was added.

In the last few minutes of the tagine’s cooking the couscous was made ready. Couscous was placed in a bowl with some chopped green chilli, lemon zest and butter. Salt was added and boiling water was poured over. It was now covered and left to stand while I chopped up some dates and more coriander. At serving time it was fluffed up with a fork and the dates and coriander were added.

The tagine was served with flaked almonds on top.

As I expected when I began, this was a tagine that was full of spicy flavour with a hint of sweetness from the honey. The dates were a pleasant addition to the couscous.

Taste: ✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔✔

Carrot Pancakes with Hummus and a Feta Salad

From The Modern Vegetarian, Maria Elia, Kyle Cathie Ltd, 2009.

The first thing to do for this recipe was to make the carrot hummus. The carrots were boiled until tender. They were then blended with a can of chickpeas (drained), a garlic clove, salt and pepper, juice from half a lemon, 2 tablespoons of tahini and a little ground cumin. Some olive oil was added to assist in making a puree.

The hummus made it was time to make the carrot pancakes. These were simply made; it was only a matter of mixing all the ingredients (quite of list of them) to form a batter. The ingredients were carrots (150 g grated), a chopped onion, a couple of chopped green chillies, 2 teaspoons each of cumin seeds and ground coriander, one teaspoon of fennel seeds, chopped coriander, 1 teaspoon of baking powder, 100 g chickpea flour (luckily I had enough in the pantry), 50 g semolina, salt, and sufficient water to make a thick batter. I used about 150 ml.

The mixture made enough for four large substantial pancakes which were simply fried in olive oil.

The salad was a mix of a little watercress, a peeled orange cut into segments, some micro sprouts, some mint leaves, some bean sprouts and flaked almonds (I used cashews). These were tossed with a dressing made of vinegar, olive oil and Dijon mustard with a garlic clove and a pinch of sugar. Feta cheese was then crumbled into this mix and a pinch of cinnamon sprinkled on top.

The dish was served by placing one pancake on a plate, spreading a pile of hummus over this and then topping it was the salad.

The elements all went well together. I found that the pancake was a little stodgy though flavoursome.  The hummus with its carrot base helped alleviate the heaviness of the pancake, as also did the splendid salad mix.

It is always a surprise to find that sometimes you have purchased a book and it has become overlooked and languished on the shelf. This seems to be the case with this book which is filled with recipes that are modern and have little unexpected twists to them. I must spend more time with it.

Taste: ✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔