Tandoori Chickpea and Halloumi Tagine with Quinoa and Mint Raita

This recipe came from an idea I had to mix the use of my Tagine with a basic Masala marinade recipe I'd tried out a few times, I also discovered that the Tandoori Masala Spice I picked up is pretty tasty. The dish itself has an interesting taste and paired with the slow cooked halloumi, the overall outcome is pretty impressive. Served here with a basic side of Quinoa but also goes well with rice, cous-cous or even in traditional Moroccan fashion, enjoyed straight from the Tagine with bread - no need for knives, forks, spoons or any of that nonsense. Serves 4.

Ingredients -
2x Small Onions, grated or finely chopped
2x Cloves of Garlic, grated or finely chopped
1tsp Tandoori Masala Powder
400g Tinned Tomatoes
400g Tinned Chickpeas, drained
200g Halloumi cheese, sliced
200g Mushrooms, sliced
2tbsp Tomato Purée
200g Quinoa
Spinach
Oil for frying

For the marinade -
Juice of 1 Lemon
3tbsp Olive Oil
150g Natural GreekYoghurt
2x Cloves of Garlic, Chopped
1tsp Ground Turmeric
1tsp Paprika
1tsp Ground Ginger
1tsp Chili Powder
1tsp Ground Cumin
2tsp Tandoori Masala Powder

For the Quinoa -
Rind from the Lemon, finely grated
1tsp Coriander seeds, ground
Chili flakes (or a pinch of chili powder)
1x Pak Choi, sliced

For the Raita -
150g Natural Greek Yoghurt
1/2 Cucumber, chopped into small cubes
2x heaped tsp Dried Mint
1/2 tsp Ground Coriander
1/2 tsp Ground Cumin

Method - To begin, empty the yoghurt into a blender (or container suitable for use with a handheld blender) adding in the lemon juice, garlic, olive oil and spices (shown above). Blend the ingredients together and set aside for now. Next prepare the mushrooms and halloumi as stated above and add into a large bowl. Next, drizzle the Tandoori marinade into the bowl and stir well. 

Once thoroughly mixed, preheat the grill to a medium temperature. Whilst the grill is warming up, line a grill pan with tin foil and empty the contents of the mixing bowl into the pan, spreading evenly across the surface to ensure everything cooks evenly.

The tandoori mix will take around 20 minutes to cook under the grill so whilst that is cooking you can prepare the rest of the sauce. Note: make sure that you keep turning the tandoori mix every few minutes to ensure it cooks thoroughly.

Add onions, garlic, tandoori masala powder and a little oil to a large frying pan and heat to a med/high heat for around 5 minutes until the onions begin to brown. Add in the tomato purée and mix well. Next stir in the drained chickpeas and a couple of handfulls of washed spinach (you can get away with adding a fair amount of spinach as it reduces quite quickly once added to a sauce). Add the tomatoes over the top of the spinach, stir well and reduce to a medium heat. Preheat the oven to 180ºc.

Once the tandoori mix has cooked, transfer the contents of the grill pan into the frying pan, before mixing and finally transferring to the tagine. Place the lid onto the tagine and place into the preheated oven, cooking for 45 minutes.

Rinse the quinoa before cooking. Next add to a pan of water and bring to the boil, once boiling reduce to a simmer and allow to cook for around 20 minutes (until the quinoa becomes soft). During this time you can prepare a flavouring for the quinoa, in this instance I have used pak choi, chili flakes, a little garlic and crushed coriander seeds, cooked lightly in oil for around five minutes just before the quinoa is cooked. Finally, once everything is mixed together add some lemon rind into the quinoa before serving.

For the raita, add the yoghurt to a bowl and mix in the mint, cucumber, cumin and coriander. This is best served cold as a dip so should be kept refrigerated until served.

one, two, three, four...

JAB

Mushroom, Walnut and Dill Pâté with Crusty Garlic Bread

This was a recipe I tried out on Valentine's day earlier this year that was very successful. I apologise for the lack of photos accompanying this recipe but I will add more later when I get around to making this again.

Ingredients-

For the Pâté - 
125g green lentils

150g Mushrooms, finely chopped

80g Walnuts, finely chopped

2x Garlic Cloves, finely chopped

1x Large Onion, finely chopped

3tsp Fresh Dill, finely chopped

3x Sprig of Thyme, finely chopped

Juice of 1 Lemon

Flour to thicken

Olive Oil to fry

Salt and Pepper to taste

For the Garlic Bread - 

1x French Baguette, Thinly Sliced

3x Garlic Cloves, peeled

Olive Oil

Method- Bring a large pan of water to the boil and add in the lentils, cooking for around 30 minutes until the lentils are very soft. In the meantime preheat the oven to 140°c and lightly brush the slices of bread with a little oil, place onto a sheet of greaseproof paper and heat in the oven for about 10-15 minutes until the bread becomes golden brown and crusty. Once removed from the oven, vigorously rub a clove of garlic onto the hot bread, the crustiness of the bread will pretty much grate the garlic and the heat will cook the small amount that is left on the bread's surface, set aside to cool.

Add the onion, garlic, herbs and a little oil to a large frying pan and fry over a gentle heat for around 5 minutes. Next add in the mushrooms and walnuts and fry for a further 10 minutes until the mushrooms are soft. Once the lentils are cooked enough, drain away excess water and add the softened lentils into the frying pan. Due to the consistency of the lentils you should now be able to roughly mash up the mixture using a wooden spoon. Add salt and pepper to taste along with the juice of one lemon, ensuring to filter out the seeds. 

This will be the finished Pâté mixture, it may however be a little too moist though due to the amount of water taken on by the lentils during cooking. To remedy this, gradually add plain flour to the mixture, one tablespoonful at a time - sprinkling evenly over the mixture and stirring well after adding each spoonful. Once the correct consistency has been achieved dish out the mixture into small bowls, allow to cool and serve with the crusty garlic bread and side salad.

More to follow!

JAB

Stuffed Courgettes and Honey Mustard Roast Potatoes

Courgettes stuffed with mushrooms, pepper, cheddar cheese and breadcrumbs served with delicious potatoes roasted in a wholegrain honey mustard dressing. Serves 2. Simply leave out the cheese for a vegan friendly version of the courgettes.

Ingredients-

For the stuffed Courgettes-

2x Large Courgettes

1x Tomato, diced

1x Red Pepper, diced

150g Mushrooms, finely chopped

1x Onion, grated

3x Cloves of Garlic, grated

Breadcrumbs (one slice of bread lightly toasted and crumbled)

250g Cheddar Cheese, grated

For the Potatoes -

300g New Potatoes (with skins left on), washed and halved

3x tbsp Olive Oil

2x tbsp Lemon Juice

2x tsp Honey

2x tsp Wholegrain Mustard

Method - To make the dressing for the potatoes, simply mix together the oil, lemon juice, honey and mustard in a small bowl.

Bring a pan of water to the boil and add the potatoes, preheat the oven to 180°c. Parboil the potatoes for 15 minutes. Once the potatoes have cooked, remove them from the heat, drain and place them on a baking tray. Spoon over the dressing and place in the oven, cooking for around 25 minutes. Whilst cooking, it is a good idea to turn the potatoes every 5 minutes or so and spoon any excess dressing back over the top of potatoes to give them a nice, even coating. 

Whilst the potatoes are cooking add boiling water to a large pan, add the courgettes and simmer for around 7 minutes, until the courgettes begin to soften. Once cooked, remove the courgettes from the water and empty the pan.

Halve the courgettes and scoop out the soft inside with a spoon and mash with a fork. Set the courgette skins to one side on a grill pan. Heat some oil in a frying pan and add the onion, garlic and any herbs you want and heat for around 5 minutes. Next add the mushrooms, tomato, pepper, half of the breadcrumbs and half of the cheese and mix well, cooking for a further 5 minutes. This mixture makes up the stuffing for the courgettes.

Spoon generous amounts of the mix into the courgette skins, topping with the remainder of the cheese and breadcrumbs. Cook in the oven at 180°c for 15 minutes, until the cheese starts to bubble and the breadcrumbs become crisp.

JAB

Chick Pea & Sweet Potato Burgers

A tasty, vegan-friendly burger recipe. For this recipe I used tinned chickpeas as they need no preparation once drained. You can use dried chickpeas, however, they will require soaking and cooking beforehand. This amount of mixture produced about 10 burgers, great for keeping in the freezer for a quick to cook meal. Also, a large pan is vital here, as the amount of mixture you will end up with can make quite a mess. You can always personalise your burgers by chopping and changing what herbs, spices and nut combinations you like.

Ingredients-

1x Onion, grated

3x Cloves of Garlic, grated

300g Sweet Potato (around 2 medium sized potatoes), sliced and cubed

400g tin of chickpeas, drained

2x Carrots, peeled and grated

A small amount of fresh Ginger, peeled and grated (about 16g)

200g Mushrooms, finely chopped

200g Mixed Nuts, finely chopped (Walnuts, Pine Nuts, Brazil Nuts and Cashews)

1x tsp Cumin powder

1x tsp Smoked Paprika

½x tsp Chilli Powder

180g Plain Flour

1x Lemon, juice

Oil for frying

Method - Prepare the ingredients as stated above. Bring a pan of water to the boil, add the sweet potato and cook for around 10 minutes, until the potato begins to soften. Whilst the potato is cooking, add some oil to a large frying pan, heat to a medium temperature and add the onion, garlic and spices to the pan. Heat for around 5 minutes, until the onion begins to brown. 

Add the mushrooms to the frying pan and heat for 5 minutes until they begin to soften, once soft add in the chopped nuts and turn the heat down as low as possible. Once the potato has cooked, drain the water and add in the chickpeas. Mash them together roughly, using a fork. Take care not to make this mixture too smooth as you will mash it further later in the recipe and making it too smooth can result in the burgers becoming too sloppy. Add the potato and chickpea mixture, ginger, carrots and lemon juice into the frying pan and mix together. 

Once mixed, remove the pan from the heat. The flour must now be mixed in, the best method for doing this is to measure out the 180g of flour into a bowl and gradually sprinkle, one tablespoon at a time over the mixture and stir well between each tablespoon added. After adding the first few spoonfuls the mixture will noticeably begin to thicken.

Now, in a separate frying pan, heat some more oil to a med-high temperature for frying the burgers. Once the mixture is completed, place a suitable amount onto a floured bread board and use your hands to shape into burger sized patties, ensuring to coat both sides with flour (as shown below) and add to the oil.  

Fry the burgers, turning them regularly until they are crisp and golden brown. They will be ready to serve straight away. I recommend cooking all of the patties and either freezing or refrigerating them. To reheat they can be cooked in the oven or refried.

Particularly nice with mustard, pickles, roasted Curly Kale and Broccoli.

JAB