Sunday 15 January 2017

Mexican style Scrambled Eggs...Mein Bhi Nigella!!!

Mexican style Scrambled Eggsbecause the fridge needed to be cleaned...because it is one of our favourite breakfasts...because when this shows up on your facebook newsfeed as a reminder from Nigella’s page you just HAVE tocall it Indian style if using rotis (spice it up), call it Sri Lankan style if using Malabar paranthas (add more veggies) or call it Spanish style if using Crisp Fried French Fries orcall it anything, but do make it! Works well for breakfasts as well as lazy (or "just for one") lunches and dinners J



  


Mexican style Scrambled Eggs


Instructions:


  • Soft Tortillas, corn or regular flour, 2-3
  • Tomato, finely chopped, 1 medium to large (deseed, if in the mood; instead of fresh tomato I used some leftover cooked down tomatoes that I had in my fridge)
  • Spring onion, 1 or Red Onion, ½ small, finely chopped (optional)
  • Green chillies, finely chopped, 1-2 or Red Chilli flakes, 1 tsp (deseeded and chopped)
  • Eggs, 3-4 large
  • Splash of milk or cream (optional)
  • Fresh Coriander/Cilantro leaves, roughly chopped, a handful (optional)
  • Salt, to taste
  • Oil, 1 tbsp



Instructions:


Halve the tortillas and then roll them up all together into a sausage shape. Cut the rolled up tortillas into thin strips.

















Heat ½ tbsp oil in a non stick frying pan. Add the tortilla strips, toss around and fry for a few minutes in the pan until golden crisp. Remove from the pan and keep aside.










Heat the remaining ½ tbsp oil in the pan. Add the onions, tomatoes and chillies and cook for a couple of minutes till onions start going soft.

Whisk the eggs in a small bowl with milk/cream, if using.

Put the fried tortilla strips back in the pan, stir a couple of times to coat the onion tomato mix. Add in the whisked eggs, salt and coriander, if using.

Toss around and stir till the eggs are cooked to your liking. Remove from heat and serve immediately!



(Recipe adapted from Nigella Lawson from here)

Thursday 5 January 2017

Date and Chocolate Loaf Cake...Happy New Year!!

Date and Chocolate Loaf Cakebecause this is the first post of the year and must cater to at least one resolutionone of mine this year is to try and cut down on refined sugaralthough to be honest, if your food habits are anything like mine, half a date is all that you should ideally have on your dessert plate (if at all!!)Jbut, then again, if your food habits are anything like mine, when the cake craving strikes and nothing else but a cake would do – this is the one you should focus your attention onadapted from the Baking Legend Mary Berry’s recipe from her book “Baking Bible”, this one uses the least amount of butter and sugar in a date cake that I could find amongst all my recipe books and on the world wide web (yes, I could have cut down the chocolate thingy but hey, a girl has got to live a little!!)worth mentioning - the dates don’t overpower the taste and even the date-hating hubby approvesWishing everyone a very Happy New YearI do hope that this year all of us are able to stick to our resolutions longer than ever before J (which means you may find a cake with avocado and stuff here soon enough!!) Cheers to a good year ahead!! J





Date and Chocolate Loaf Cake



Ingredients:


  • Stoned Dried Dates, chopped, 150gms ( I used Organic Mejdool dates)
  • Boiling Hot Water, 150ml
  • Plain Chocolate, 35 % cocoa solids, 100gms
  • Dark Chocolate, 70% cocoa solids, 50gms (the original recipe specified 150gms of plain chocolate, 39 % cocoa solids)
  • Butter, 45gms (If unsalted, add a pinch of salt to the flour)
  • Instant Coffee powder, 1 tsp (my addition)
  • Regular All Purpose Flour, 225gms
  • Baking Powder, 1 tsp
  • Baking soda/ Bicarbonate of soda, 1 tsp
  • Demerara Sugar, 45gms (the original recipe specified regular castor sugar)
  • Walnuts, 100gms (the original recipe specified 150 gms Brazil nuts)
  • Egg, 1 large
  • Milk, 150ml
  • Vanilla Extract, 1 tsp ( my addition)
  • Demerara Sugar, for sprinkling on top, 1 tbsp (I skipped)




Instructions:


Pre-heat the oven to 180C (or 160C fan). Grease and then line a 2lb loaf tin with parchment paper (2lb/900g loaf tin is about 21cm long, 11cm wide and 7cm high )

Stone and roughly chop your dates into (kitchen scissors are easiest for this). Place in a small bowl and pour over the boiling water. Leave to cool and soak for as long as you have – minimum about 30-40 minutes to overnight. ( Chop dates into ½ cm to ¾ cm pieces if you want to hide the dates in the cake, slightly bigger pieces if serving to people not prejudiced against eating dates
!!)

Break up the chocolate into small pieces and melt with the butter in a small bowl over a double boiler or in a microwave.

Roughly chop the walnuts and reserve about 2 tbsp for topping the loaf.

Whisk the egg, milk and vanilla extract in a bowl.

Sift the flour, baking powder and baking soda (and salt, if using) into a bowl.
Stir in the sugar, coffee and walnuts until thoroughly combined.

Stir in the egg mixture into the dry ingredients, adding the dates and their soaking liquid and the chocolate mixture. Beat well and pour into the prepared tin.

Level the surface and sprinkle over the reserved nuts and sugar.

Bake in the centre of pre-heated oven for about 30 minutes, then loosely cover with parchment paper or foil and bake for a further 35-40 minutes or until the cake is risen and nicely browned and a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean.

Leave to cool in the tin for 10 minutes before removing cake to a wire rack.


The cake can be kept, wrapped in foil or stored in an airtight container, for about 3-4 days.