Potato Roti with Coconut and Mint Chutney

From Potatoes from Gnocchi to Mash, Annie Nichols, Ryland Peters & Small, 1999.

I was making a dal and felt that these potato roti might be just right to accompany it.

I put some potatoes on to cook and while this was happening put 70g of desiccated coconut in a bowl and covered it with some warm water. This was left to soak for about half an hour.

When the potatoes had boiled I mashed them with about 12g of butter and added to them a finely chopped green chilli, a pinch of dried chilli flakes, half a white onion chopped finely, salt, half a teaspoon of ground cumin and of  ground turmeric, and some chopped fresh coriander. I mixed this well and left it while I finished the chutney.

The coconut was drained, saving the water for the dal. I pressed the coconut to removed as much liquid as possible then mixed in 100g of yoghurt, half a green chilli chopped finely, about of tablespoon of dried mint (the recipe called for fresh but I feel that sometimes the dried has a better flavour), a little salt and a pinch of sugar. The chutney was ready.

I now mixed 75g of plain flour into the potato. Using my hands I mixed it in carefully to make a dough. I now picked off pieces and rolled them out on a flour-sprinkled bench. I guess my roti were roughly 10cm across, though I didn’t worry too much about making the rounds too regular. They were now cooked in a lightly oiled pan, about 2 minutes each side.

I always seem to enjoy something that includes potato and these roti, soft though they turned out to be, were good eating. You certainly couldn’t use them to scoop up any dal but rolled they worked well to eat alongside it. The chutney worked well as an accompaniment.

This is an old favourite book. It’s packed with recipes that all include potatoes and they are arranged according to the cuisine: the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and so on. While it’s not a vegetarian book there’s plenty in it that doesn’t feature meat.

Taste: ✔✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔✔

Baked Zucchini

From Dinner Party Cookbook, The Australian Women’s Weekly.

My other vegetable accompaniment for the burgers was this simple recipe.

Two zucchini were sliced in half lengthwise. A small baking dish had butter placed in it and it went in the oven until the butter had melted. The zucchinis now were rolled in the butter to cover them. They went in the oven with the potato casserole and cooked about the same time. When they were served the butter remaining in the casserole was poured over as a sauce.

 

Easy as—and useful when the oven is already on.

Taste: ✔✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔✔✔

Potato Casserole

From Dinner Party Cookbook, The Australian Women’s Weekly.

I was looking for vegetables to accompany burgers; I prefer to eat my burgers without the buns even though I guess this doesn’t make them burgers but it’s the way I like them.

About 250g of potatoes were put in the saucepan with salted water, brought to the boil and cooked. They were then mashed with a little butter. The mash was placed in a small greased casserole.

An egg was beaten with half a cup of cream. Some grated cheddar cheese was stirred in, the mixture was seasoned and then poured over the potato mash. It went in a 180ºC oven for about half an hour until it was golden.

This was a different way to eat mashed potatoes. It was tasty—as mash always seems to be. I’m not too sure about calling this a casserole which always suggests to me a more liquid mix rather in the manner of a stew. Perhaps Potato Bake would suit it better.

Taste: ✔✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔✔

Edamame Burgers with Brown Rice and Apple

From Veggie Burgers Every Which Way, Lukas Volger, Wakefield Press, 2010.

I have two vegetarian cookbooks based entirely on making burgers. This one is by far the better of the two. The recipes are just of themselves whereas in the other book the recipes seem to be trying too hard to be something else—like in vegetarian restaurants where they have meals that are trying to be meat.

This burger began with sautéing some pumpkin seeds in a dry pan until they had become golden. They were put aside and the pan was used now for doing the same with some sesame seed. They have a shorter cooking time so needed to be done separately.

They went into a blender and a cup of defrosted edamame seeds and a tablespoon ground flax seeds (linseeds) were added. The mixture was pureed, though still leaving some texture to it. This was now placed into a bowl and the following ingredients added: two tablespoons rice flour, 1½ cups cooked brown rice, a tablespoon molasses, 2 teaspoons soya sauce, 1 teaspoon sesame oil, and one apple peeled and cut up finely. The mixture was now complete and only needed cooking.

When I looked at the burger mix I had some doubts about whether this was going to hold together but the instructions warned that it should hold together if cooked correctly. The method described was to have a very hot pan, place the burger in and cook it for 2 minutes then turn down the pan to medium heat and continue the cooking. I tried this; the burgers fell apart somewhat, especially at the turning them over stage.

They were served with potato casserole and baked zucchini. The burgers—or burger crumble—were very tasty, so much so that I didn’t mind that they had fallen apart. They had a crunchy chewiness from the brown rice while the savoury edamames were enhanced by the sweetness of the molasses and apple.

These are worth trying again, possibly taking the pureeing a step further although I did enjoy the texture as it was. I had thoughts of using an egg but that would quite alter the flavour. A possibility would be to add a little more rice flour to bind it.

Taste: ✔✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔

Blackberry Crumble

From Kitchen Seasons, Ross Dobson, Hardie Grant Books, 2007.

Blackberries were going cheap at the markets so I grabbed a couple of punnets and then had to decide what to do with them. This easy recipe presented itself in Kitchen Seasons.

The blackberries had a tablespoon of caster sugar added to them together with a teaspoon of cornflour. They were then placed in a buttered casserole dish and left for half an hour while the remainder of the recipe was prepared.

I used 120g plain flour and rubbed into it 60g butter. Brown sugar (50g) was now stirred in. This mixture was poured over the blackberries and it went into a 180C oven for ¾ hour. It had then turned golden and was ready.

We had it with ice cream—cream would perhaps have been better because the crumble tended to be too dry for the berries and cream would have made it all a little more moist. Nevertheless it was enjoyed but a thinner crumble would have been much better. The illustration in the book appeared to have a much thinner one.

Taste: ✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔✔

Pappardelle with Brussels Sprouts, Leeks and Truffle Cream

From For the Love of Food, Denis Cotter, Collins, 2011.

I still had leeks to use up and a quick search located the interesting mix of ingredients for this pasta dish.

A leek was cut in half and sliced thinly. About 200g of Brussels sprouts were sliced thinly. A couple of garlic cloves were sliced. They all went into a frying pan with a knob of butter to sauté.

Meanwhile a large saucepan of salted water was put on to bring to the boil.

The vegetables became nicely softened after about 5–10 minutes and 100ml white wine was added to cook for a couple of minutes.

The water was now boiling so the pappardelle was added.

About 200ml of cream now went into the frying pan and was brought to the boil at which stage some grated Parmesan cheese, some freshly grated nutmeg, a little truffle oil and salt and pepper were stirred in.

The pappardelle was ready. It was drained and some placed into individual serving plates. The vegetable mix with the sauce was added on top.

The sauce was creamy and savoury while the vegetables still had a little bit of bite left to them. While I am a fan of Brussels sprouts I’m not that sure that I fully enjoyed them in this form as much as I usually do. The meal was appreciated but it’s not one that I would race back to make.

Taste: ✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔✔