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I love Borani and have ever since discovering it a few years ago in my Taste of Persia cookbook by Naomi Duguid. The idea of a savoury, creamy yogurt dish with vegetable toppings was naturally a hit for me, and I've been playing around with it ever since. I am not sure a Persian would recognise it much, but that's not the point. I am making tasty food, not necessarily culturally authentic food. Since trying Ottolenghi's Sweet Potatoes in a Tomato and Tamarind Sauce last week from his Flavour cookbook, it occurred to me that the spiced and roasted sweet potatoes could potentially go very nicely on a borani, so we tried it, with some additions and modifications, and it worked beautifully! I added some spinach, but hoped that adding it to the sweet potatoes under a cover in the oven it would wilt. It didn't. Instead it dehydrated, and added a bit of texture to the dish and was delightful. The joy of mistakes in the kitchen! Ingredients: 1 kg yogurt 1 tsp thyme 4 sweet potatoes, chopped into bite sized pieces 1 tbsp maple syrup 2 tbsp olive oil 1 tsp cardamom 1 1/2 tsp cumin Juice of 1 lime 3 tsp pul biber 2 handfuls of spinach 1 spring onion, chopped Salt and pepper to taste 1) Drain the yogurt at least an hour through a cheese cloth (or clean dish towel) over a bowl (and keep the whey! It's great as an ingredient in other things! I drained mine into the bowl I used for step 2 and have flavoured whey now) You can drain it up to overnight depending on how thick you want it and how liquidy it is to start with. 2) Place the sweet potatoes in a large mixing bowl and add the maple syrup, olive oil, cardamom, cumin, salt and pepper, lime juice, and pul biber. Mix well then spread out on a baking sheet (grease proof paper or a silicon sheet can be helpful here!) and bake at 240°C for 25 minutes, covered with foil. The uncover and bake for a further 10 minutes until the bottoms of the potatoes start to caramelise. 3) Place the spinach in with the sweet potatoes and mix well. Cover with the foil again and bake a further 5 minutes or so until the spinach is cooked (dehydrated and crispy if it comes out like mine). Allow the sweet potatoes and spinach to cool a little. 4) Place the yogurt in the same mixing bowl that you used in step 2 and add thyme, sumac and some salt and pepper. (I used a salt flavoured with Alpine herbs and flowers). Mix well. 5) To serve spoon yogurt into bowls and top with the sweet potato and spinach mix. Sprinkle spring onions over the top. Enjoy! I loved this! I found the interplay of flavours witty and stimulating. Or maybe that was the conversation at dinner... But the acidity of the yogurt played against the sweetness of the potatoes and the deeper flavours of the spices, and off against the sharper note of the lime and the freshness of the spring onion. Another Borani variant for the books! Little Bit is a bit of a yogurt aficionado and lost no time in stuffing it by the handful into his mouth. He can use a spoon, quite well even, but was in too much of a hurry. Not the most sophisticated or well-mannered dinner companion, but certainly flattering to the cook.

Looking into fenugreek a while back, I came across a description of it comparing fenugreek's taste to that of maple and the fact that fenugreek is sometimes used as a maple substitute. That gave me an idea. What about if I used fenugreek in something that often has maple syrup added to it, like pancakes. The idea niggled for a while until I finally tried it. The pancakes worked really well. They were missing a little richness to the maple flavour, but with butter or yogurt they were really tasty! Less sweet obviously, than adding maple syrup to a dish, and the flavour was more delicate, but very tasty. Ingredients: 1 1/2 c flour 2 1/2 tsp baking powder 1 tsp fenugreek powder 3 tbsp sugar 3 tbsp melted butter 2 eggs 3/4c milk 1) Combine dry ingredients, then gradually add wet ingredients. Add an additional splash of milk if necessary for the batter to be just thin enough to pour. 2) Melt butter in a skillet then cook the pancakes in two-tablespoon-dollops (or bigger if you want) over medium heat until bubbles appear and pop on the surface and it goes from shiny to matte, then flip. Serve hot with butter, jam, syrup or fruits. Or anything else you fancy. I really enjoyed these. They had a definite maple flavour but without added sugar. I enjoyed mine plain with butter, which gave them an extra richness that brought out the maple flavour. These are definitely coming back out! The only aspect I wasn't delighted with was the texture. They were a little heavier than usual, and I don't know if fenugreek requires a little additional liquid or rising agent, or if there was a mix-up somewhere. To be tried again I guess, and I will see. If you try them, let me know what you think!

And we're back. Again, maybe, sort of. It's been a busy summer, with a move, visitors and Little Bit starting daycare. And the pregnancy of course. We are getting closer and closer to the Littler Bit making an entrance. I have been too busy and exhausted to post, and it's been longer than I would have liked, but Hey! I'm back now, at least for a little while. We'll see how things shape up with a newborn, but that's a bridge for another time. In preparation for the Littler One's arrival, I've been stockpiling food in the freezer, and that has included some breakfast foods for Little Bit, like pancakes, waffles and muffins that can easily be got out and reheated for him (this also allows him some variety in his breakfasts while I can have my porridge most days). It's that season again in the hedgerows and on the hillsides, and in the gardens of those who don't deadhead their roses. Rosehips are ripening, and I decided to use some rosehip purée to trial a new muffin recipe. Here it is. Ingredients: 1 1/4 c flour 1 tsp baking powder 1/2 c oats 1/2 tsp allspice 1 c sugar 1/2 c veg oil 1 egg 3/4 c Rosehip purée 1 1/2 c apple, coarsely grated 2 tbsp cacao nibs 1/2 c walnuts, chopped 1 -2 TBSP dried orange peel 1) Mix together dry ingredients. Gradually add in wet ingredients and mix well, then the apple, orange peel, cacao nibs and nuts. Combine. 2) Spoon into muffin cups, and bake at 180°C for 45 minutes. I am really pleased with these, and apparently so was Little Bit as he inhaled 2 and a half muffins as soon as they were cool enough to touch. I feel like the flavours were very nicely balanced, and the muffins were lovely and moist. Hurray for a new rosehip recipe! I also decided to try something new with this recipe and baked these in the air fryer. It is not something I've ever done, but I've seen a lot of chatter about using air fryers for different things on online foodie groups. In light of rising energy prices and all, these are supposed to be more efficient than traditional ovens. I baked the muffins at a slightly lower temperature, 170°C, for 14 minutes in the air fryer and they came out beautifully. I had to bake them in two batches, but that still took only 2/3 of the bake time. New method available! Yay!

Still on our baking kick with my sister, we were playing with more Christmas cookie ideas. We decided to play around with the flavouring of sugar cookies, adding some cocoa and some Christmas Mix spice. We tried it a first time and found that the chocolate came on too strongly and the spice not strongly enough, so we tried it a second time, tweaking the amounts a little bit. To deepen the flavour and add a festive note to it, we swapped out some of the sugar for maple sugar. On the second go, we decided we liked the balance. Here it is: Ingredients: 1/2 c butter 1/2 c sugar 1/2 c maple sugar 1 egg 1 tbsp milk 1 tsp baking powder 1 tbsp mix spice 3 tbsp cocoa 1 1/2 c flour 1) In a large mixing bowl, cream together butter and sugars. Beat in egg and add milk. Gradually add dry ingredients and mix well. 2) Roll into balls 1 inch in diameter and place spaced out on a greased baking sheet. Alternatively, chill for an hour, then roll out to just shy of a cm thick and cut out with cookie cutters. (in the picture above, Little Bit tried out his Christmas profiled roller - repeatedly so the shapes are a bit unclear, but lots of fun!) Flatten with a butter knife dipped in cold water. Bake at 190°C for 8 minutes. 3) (Optional: decorate with icing and sprinkles!) These came out very tasty! We talked about brushing them with melted butter, but forgot to do so while they were hot. They are also probably rich enough as it is, but maybe I'll do so at some point. It may be nice to add nuts or maybe orange, whether dried or candied, next time... Something to think about. Definitely best had hot, but they were still good the couple of days afterwards too! Don't forget to leave some for Santa with a glass of milk.... or some grog, if you have a sea-shanty-obsessed toddler. Just beware jolly fat men flying a sleigh on too much grog! Ho ho ho and a bottle of grog, and to all a goodnight!

I've avoided making spring rolls for years, assuming them to be difficult. I don't know why I decided that these were too daunting as I quite happily make other similar things like dumplings and ravioli... Then a few weeks ago, I bought rice paper on a whim, thinking it was about time I tried to make these. This was my first attempt, and though not perfect, they came out very tasty and I was very happy with them. The main thing that needs work is our frying technique, as the rice paper seemed to almost melt away in some places. If anyone has tips on that, please do share! Ingredients: 15-20 sheets of rice paper (depending on how full you stuff them) 1 carrot julienned 2 spring onions sliced 1/2 head of garlic, crushed a knob of ginger, peeled and grated 1/3 c of shitake mushrooms, rehydrated and sliced 1 c beansprouts 1 tbsp rice wine vinegar 1 tbsp soy sauce 3/4 - 1 c peanut oil for frying For the sauce: 3 tbsp soy sauce 1 tbsp honey 1 tbsp rice wine vinegar 2 tsp chili flakes 1) Sauté carrot and spring onion in oil for 1 minute. add mushrooms, bean sprouts and garlic, and cook for a further 4-5 minutes. 2) Remove from the heat and add ginger, soy sauce and rice wine vinegar, mix and leave to cool. 3) Soak each sheet of rice paper in warm water for about a minute (make sure it is properly submerged or only one side will get wet and it will roll up!) Place a sheet on a piece of damp paper towel or a dish cloth. 4) Place 1 tbsp of filling in the centre about 2 cm from the bottom edge. Fold up the bottom edge and then fold in each side and roll up to the top. Place each spring roll on a plate with a damp paper towel and cover with another damp cloth. Do not let them touch or they will stick. 5) Heat oil (about 1 cm deep for shallow frying) in a deep frying pan over medium heat. Gently place each spring roll in the oil and using two forks, cook them evenly , turning them in the oil after about two minutes. When they are crisp and golden, take them out and drain them on dry paper towels. Don't let the spring rolls touch in the oil, or they stick together! 6) For the sauce, mix all ingredients together and let sit until the spring rolls are ready. Enjoy! They came out crispy with fresh tasting crunchy veg in the centre. They paired wonderfully with the sauce we mixed up and with the Tom Kha Gai soup. It made a light but very flavourful dinner.

I know, I know. I post a lot of tarts. That is because we genuinely eat a lot of tarts though. They are quick and easy to assemble, (especially if you use store-bought crust, although I rarely do), endlessly versatile, and make a great light lunch or side for something... and I like them. This one was a case of "what do we have in the fridge?" and taking as little time out from decorating the Christmas tree with the family as possible. I also liked that, completely by accident, the colours were Christmasy. For the crust, I used some of my home-made lemon vinegar instead of water as the liquid, feeling that the flavour would go well with the courgette. Ingredients: 1 1/4 c whole wheat flour 1/2 c butter, cold 1/4 c vinegar 1 tsp zaatar 1/2 leek, cut in rounds 1 courgette, sliced 1 red pepper, sliced 1 1/2 - 2 c ricotta 2 tsp sumac 1 tsp thyme salt and pepper to taste 1) Place flour in a large mixing bowl and cut the butter into it. Rub the flour and butter together with fingertips until a crumby consistency is achieved. Add vinegar and mix, without kneading, to form a dough. Chill for about a half hour. 2) Roll out the crust and line a pie plate with it. Spread with a layer of ricotta and sprinkle with half the sumac. Lay rounds of leek over the ricotta, then arrange courgette and pepper over that. Spoon the remaining ricotta over the whole, and sprinkle the remaining sumac, thyme, salt and pepper over the tart. 3) Bake at 180°C for about a half hour. This made an excellent, easy and tasty lunch. I didn't have as long as I would have liked to drain the ricotta, and was worried that the tart would come out too wet as a result, but it didn't. It was lovely and light, with beautiful distinct flavours, all playing nice together. Definitely a keeper!

With lots of fresh chanterelles available (they still have moss on them at the grocery store) and autumn coming on, something warm and filling but not too heavy celebrating seasonal produce seemed in order. This time I didn't make the spätzli myself, but the dish came out tasty and colourful! Ingredients: 2 tbsp olive oil 2 onion, chopped 3-4 c chanterelles 1-2 c pumpkin, chopped 1 c ham, diced 1/2 - 3/4 c spinach, wilted 500 g spätzli 1 c mozzarella, grated 1 tsp thyme Salt and pepper to taste sour cream to dollop 1) Heat oil in a skillet. Sauté chanterelles. Allow them to give up their liquid, tip this out, and add the onions. Sauté until translucent and add other ingredients except the sour cream. Mix well. 2) Place in a preheated oven at 180°C until the tops are crispy and the cheese is melted. Dish up and dollop with sour cream. Super simple and tasty, this dish hit the spot! Approved of by Hubby and Little Bit, this one's a keeper. And with all the chanterelles recently, ways of using them are necessary. This dish was tasty with the ham but could also easily do without.

The Domestika course I am doing introduces three different architectural textures to replicate in chocolate - terrazzo, marble and concrete. This was my first attempt at making bars at all, and more specifically my first attempt at making terrazzo bars, with contrasting main flavours and chips. It was also my first time using spirulina, chlorella and açai for colouring. I overdid the chlorella and spirulina a little, making for darker colours than I had intended, but I intend to learn from that next time and add the colours in smaller increments. I made three different bars using the previous chips I had made and a different base chocolate flavour and colour for each. The first was amchoor and spirulina with grapefruit and black pepper chips. The second was sumac and chlorella as the base, with orange peel and earl grey tea flavoured chips. The third was a black sesame and açai base with kafir lime and turmeric chips. All three of these went over very well with my test audiences, quite flatteringly so. The tempering succeeded and the flavours interacted very nicely. I found the bars a little busy though but was assured by others that this was not the case. The terrazzo chip idea was interesting, and matching up flavours has been a fun challenge, but I might stick more with one or two flavours in future instead of three or four. As this was my first time making bars, I also played around with some texturing using crumpled wax paper wrinkled in different directions, and a plastic baggy. I am pleased with the different looks and had fun testing the three methods. Making the moulds was fun, my first time playing with legos in years! I had intended to be further along in the course by now and had hoped to be able to give chocolates of my own making and design to people for Christmas, but alas I have been a bit sluggish and haven't moved my studies in this field along as fast as I ought. Oh well. Mayhap next year I will be ready!

As Mentioned in Day 42 of The Challenge We made baking powder biscuits ( sort of non-sweet scones, very tasty if not strongly flavoured despite the unflattering name) for our Pork Shoulder Roast, and then decided to have the rest for dessert with a blueberry and port sauce and a chocolate sauce. It was very tasty, with the sauce melting the dollop of crème fraiche over the top, although possible not strictly speaking necessary after the pork roast. A beautiful way altogether of celebrating our last night of holiday before going back to work. Ingredients: For the biscuits: 2c flour 4 tbsp butter 2/3 c milk 2 tsp baking powder For the Blueberry Port Sauce: 2 c blueberries 2 tbsp sugar 1 tsp cinnamon 1/4 c ruby port 1) Mix the flour and baking powder together and then cut the butter into the flour in small pieces. Rub the butter into the flour with fingertips until it forms a crumby dough. 2) Add milk and mix it into a light, soft dough, then knead briefly until smooth. 3) Roll the dough out to 1-1.5 cm thick on a floured surface. Cut with a floured cutter or glass into rounds and place these on a greased baking sheet, leaving a little room for the biscuits to expand. Bake 12-15 minutes at 230°C, until golden brown on top and risen. 4) To make the blueberry and port sauce, place berries in a saucepan with 1/4 c water. bring to a simmer, and cook gently for 10 minutes or so. Add the sugar, cinnamon and port and stir, cooking until the desired consistency is reached. Taste test and adjust sugar or spicing. 6) Serve the biscuits hot with the sauce drizzled over and a dollop of crème fraiche. Decadent but quick and easy, this was beautiful for a lazy evening.

There's been a bit of a hiatus since my last posts due to some travelling, the first trimester of a pregnancy and fun things like planning a move. As things are beginning to settle down again though, I have some exciting recipes to share from the last little while. I hope you enjoy! My last citrus jam that I made over the winter was a lemon jelly. Unlike most of my others, like the G+T Lime Marmalade or the Spiced Grapefruit and Rum Marmalade, I decided to take the more elaborate route for this one and actually process the peels properly rather than just blitzing them into the marmalade. I also decided to try using my Apple Pectin that I made in the autumn to see how it went. And then I added bits... NB if you do not have homemade apple pectin, replace with the recommended amount of a store bought one. Ingredients: 1 kg lemons 3 1/2 c apple pectin 1 l water 2 c sugar 2 chilis, minced 2 - 2 1/2 tbsp ginger, peeled and minced 1) Using a vegetable peeler, remove a thin layer of peel from the lemons and set the strips aside. Juice the lemons into a large pot, discarding what remains of the pith. Add the sugar and the pectin and water, and bring to a boil. Stirring, reduce to a simmer. 2) Meanwhile, thinly slice as much of the peel as you want. Add this and the chili and ginger to the pot. 3) Cook until the marmalade thickens. You'll want to test readiness by putting a drop of the hot jelly on a saucer which has been in the freezer. Give it a couple of seconds to cool and then prod it. If the top of the jelly wrinkles, it is ready to put into jars. 4) While the jelly is cooking, boil 4 or 5 jars with their lids in a large pot at a rolling boil for at least 15 minutes. When the jelly is ready, carefully extract one jar at a time from the pot and fill it. Wipe any spills from the rim of the jar, seal and place upside down on a cloth to cool. Once sealed the jars of jelly should keep well in a cool dry place for a good while. The jelly came out very nicely. It ended up being a different colour than I had originally pictured, both because of the pectin and because of the chilis. I had some doubts about my pectin, but those have been cured. If anything I used a little too much of it. I really liked the flavour when it was fresh and can't wait to try it now that the flavours have had a bit more of a chance to develop. Not using the bulk of the lemon peel as I did for the other marmalades, my output was drastically reduced, from about 10 jars to about 4. Those 4 are worth it though! They are a clear jelly instead of a thicker bodied marmalade. Occasionally not taking the lazy route pays off! They are different beasts, the marmalades and the jelly, but both very tasty. All in all, it's been a lot of fun playing around with different citrus jams this winter!