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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.

With citrus fruit now in season, one way of preserving them is in a curd - a custard-like jam that keeps in the fridge for about 4 weeks and in the freezer for about a year. It requires eggs and butter, making it rich and creamy, but less long-lived. I have experimented with making various curds at different times, and enjoy them all. Grapefruit curd is a particular favourite. It is also something that always seems like it will be more complicated and difficult than it is. Some recipes call for egg yolks, others for whole eggs. I've done it with both in the past and both work. The curd is maybe a little richer when made with egg yolks rather than whole eggs though. This time, going away a day later for Christmas, I didn't want extra egg whites hanging around, so I used whole eggs. Feel free to substitute though. As you cook until it thickens, I don't tend to change the proportions much, the curd just thickens faster with egg yolks than whole eggs. Ingredients: 5 eggs 1 c + 3 tbsp sugar (250g) 1 1/8 c butter, diced (250g) Juice of 1 1/2 grapefruits, reduced by about 1/3 Zest of 2 grapefruits 1) Place a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water, making sure that the bottom of the bowl doesn't touch the water, forming a Bain Marie. In this, whisk together the sugar and eggs until uniformly combined. 2) Add the zest and the juice and whisk well. Add the butter a cube or two at a time, waiting to add the next cube until the previous ones have mostly melted. Continue whisking and adding butter cubes until all the butter is added and melted, and the curd begins to thicken. (Optional extra step for a smoother curd: Strain the curd when it has begun to thicken, removing the zest and any other bits. I find this unnecessary and don't mind encountering bits of zest, but the choice is yours). 3) Meanwhile, sterilise jars in boiling water for 15 minutes. When the curd has begun to thicken, spoon the hot curd into freshly boiled jars and seal immediately, making sure the rims of the jars stay clean. As the curd cools, it will seal the jars. ( I needed three jam jars for this quantity of curd). The curd should keep in the fridge for about 4 weeks or in the freezer for about a year. Once opened, be aware that it is made with eggs, so consume it relatively quickly. I am pleased with how this turned out, and am planning on conserving more citrus this way as they come into season, so stay tuned for any variations!

A traditional Cheese Tart, or a Tarte au Fromage, is an old favourite. My dad has made it for years, and I absolutely love it, sometimes with a little twist. This time, to cut down the richness a little, I added leek and some of our Carrot Top pesto (well, proto pesto as it doesn't yet have nuts or cheese added). The combo had some zing, and some fresh greenness, and some leeky freshness, as well as all the cheesy richness. I was in a hurry, so I'm afraid that it was a store bought crust, first one in two years, but the tart didn't suffer for it. Ingredients: Crust for 1 tart 2 - 2 1/2 c grated cheese (something mature!) 3 eggs 2/3 c cream 2 /3 c milk Nutmeg, freshly grated 2 tbsp flour 1 tbsp butter 1 leek, sliced 2-3 tbsp carrot tip pesto 1 tomato sliced Pepper 1) Melt butter in a pan and sauté leek over medium until softened but not browned. 2) Beat together eggs, cream, milk, flour and nutmeg. Line a tart pan with the crust. Spread pesto along the bottom. Layer leeks over the pesto, and spread the cheese over the leeks. Pour the egg and milk mixture over the cheese. Lay tomato slices over the whole. Liberally grind pepper over the top. 3) Bake at 180°C for 20-25 minutes, until golden brown on top. Eminently satisfying as a quick easy supper before a walk in the snow, but this would have worked equally well as a lunch, or alongside soup. I was very happy with how this turned out.

When I posted my home made mayo recipes a while back, a friend asked me for a ketchup recipe. It's been a little while coming, for which I am sorry, but here it is. Or rather, here they are, as I am posting a couple of options below. When first asked about a ketchup recipe, having only made it a couple of times before I took a look around other recipes and let the ideas percolate for a while (and got busy with work and potty training a toddler, among other things)... and then didn't get back to it right away. Yesterday was a very rainy day though, so I decided it was a good time to have something simmering away on the stove all afternoon (well, several somethings. We made yogurt, apple pectin, salted caramel ice cream, goat's cheese and burger buns too.) When checking different methods a while back, there was a debate on whether to use tomato passata and paste or chopped tomatoes (from a tin or fresh), so I decided to do both yesterday and see how they came out and which I liked best. I also used dried vs fresh garlic and onions in the two recipes. I therefore made two basic variants, and then tweaked, separated out portions and tried further variants through the afternoon. In the evening, having been informed by my Guinea pigs that the only way to truly test ketchup was with a burger and some fries, I made burgers with fresh buns and my sister brought down her fryer to make chips. Long story short, we tried four different ketchup variations yesterday, detailed below. We all liked all of them (and all ate a bit too much). So here they are. Ketchup One: Sharp and Bright Ingredients: 1 1/2 tbsp olive oil 800g tin of chopped tomatoes 1 onion, minced 4 small cloves garlic, crushed 1 tbsp dried oregano 2 1/2 tbsp sugar 3 tbsp red wine vinegar Salt and pepper to taste 1) Heat oil in a saucepan. Sweat the onions and garlic until soft, then add the oregano and cook for another minute. 2) Add other ingredients and cook for about 2 hours, stirring regularly, until thickened. Blitz until smooth and taste test, adjusting as necessary. Ketchup Two: Deep and Rich Ingredients: 3 c tomato passata 1 tbsp olive oil 1 tbsp dried onion 1 1/2 tsp garlic powder 2 1/2 tbsp sugar 3 tbsp red wine vinegar 1 tbsp dried oregano Salt and pepper to taste 1) Heat oil in a saucepan. Briefly fry the dried garlic, onion and oregano then add the passata, vinegar and sugar. 2) Bring to a low simmer and cook for about 2 hours, stirring regularly, until thickened and reduced to desired consistency. Taste test, adjusting accordingly. Ketchup Three: Sharp and Rich Ingredients: 3 c tomato passata 1 tbsp olive oil 1 tbsp dried onion 1 1/2 tsp garlic powder 2 1/2 tbsp sugar 3 tbsp red wine vinegar 1 1/2 tbsp apple cider vinegar 1 tbsp dried oregano Salt and pepper to taste 1) Heat oil in a saucepan. Briefly fry the dried garlic, onion and oregano then add the passata, vinegar and sugar. 2) Bring to a low simmer and cook for about 2 hours, stirring regularly, until thickened and reduced to desired consistency. Taste test, adjusting accordingly. Ketchup Four: Deep with a bite Ingredients: 3 c tomato passata 1 tbsp olive oil 1 tbsp dried onion 1 1/2 tsp garlic powder 2 1/2 tbsp sugar 3 tbsp red wine vinegar 1 tbsp dried oregano 1 tsp (or more) tandoori powder/paprika Salt and pepper to taste 1) Heat oil in a saucepan. Briefly fry the dried garlic, onion, oregano and tandoori, then add the passata, vinegar and sugar. 2) Bring to a low simmer and cook for about 2 hours, stirring regularly, until thickened and reduced to desired consistency. Taste test, adjusting accordingly. We enjoyed all four Ketchups enormously. Hubby declares he never wants to buy ketchup again. The four different ketchups all had great flavour, and all of them actually tasted like tomatoes. This was very easy to make, but it did require time spent in or near the kitchen to stir regularly. My favourites were probably One and Three. I made all of them using white sugar. Given that I was already comparing the effect of fresher ingredients vs passata and dried garlic and onions, a further variable I thought would muddy the waters, but I would like to try it with brown sugar at some point as well. I also intend on trying other tweaks, like different herbs or spices, different base vegetables, and tweaking the quantity of garlic etc. I'll keep you posted! And in the mean time, don't hesitate if you have questions, suggestions or ideas! NB: This ketchup is entirely natural. Sugar and vinegar are both to a certain extent preservatives, but not really in these quantities, so be aware that this won't keep as long in the fridge as commercial ketchup. I will see how mine does and let you know!

As mentioned in Day 74 of The Challenge Have I mentioned that it's pumpkin season? Once or twice maybe... Here is a another new twist on pumpkin soup. This time it was smooth rather than chunky, but sweet and gingery. Tasty and warming, it made for an excellent lunch. Ingredients: 1 small pumpkin, chopped 2 parsnips, chopped 2 carrots, chopped 2 onions, chopped A 6 cm chunk of ginger (approx), peeled and diced 1 tbsp olive oil 1/2 c vinegar 1/2 c red cooking wine 1 tsp urfa biber (Turkish black chilli) 1 tsp fenugreek seeds Salt and Pepper to taste 1) Heat oil in a heavy-bottomed soup pot and sauté onions with the fenugreek seeds until the onions are translucent. Add ginger and cook for a few minutes until fragrant (you should be smelling the fenugreek by now too!) 2) Add the vegetables to the pot and cook for a couple of minutes before adding enough water to just cover the vegetables. Simmer until the vegetables are tender (I put my pot in my Wonderbag slow cooker once it had come to a simmer and went out for a walk in the meantime.) 3) Blitz the soup until smooth. Serve with crusty bread. So tasty and a beautiful variant to the traditional pumpkin spice soup. The carrots and parsnips add some sweetness and the ginger brings a nice heat, while the fenugreek (yes, more adventures in fenugreek exploration!) brings a warm fragrance to the soup. I do like the traditional one, but this one will be sticking around too.

As mentioned in Day 77 of The Challenge These were experimental, and came out very well. I wanted bread to go with our lunch. But we were out of bread, so I was going to make baking powder biscuits. But I was out of butter, so I decided to make corn muffins, but then realised that I had used the last of the eggs and milk already. So I made corn muffins with what I had - Apple sauce and apple juice instead of the eggs and milk. They were a bit sweeter than normal, and a little moister, but they worked! Ingredients: 1 c flour 1 c cornmeal 2 1/2 tsp baking powder 1/4 c sugar 2 eggs 1/4 c sunflower oil 3/4 c apple juice 3/4 c apple sauce 1) Mix together the dry ingredients. Gradually add the wet ingredients, mixing well to prevent lumps. 2) Spoon into muffin cups or into a prepared cake tin. 3) Bake at 200°C for 25-30 minutes. These worked very well? They are certainly more sweet than savoury, and worked best with just butter, no jam or chutney really did justice or had its own justice done on these muffins, but they were tasty never-the-less. In future, I might use a little less apple sauce, and probably cut the sugar a little. Definitely worth a try for a bit of variety though!

I wanted to make a mushroom sauce today - preferably with a bunch of different mushrooms. Sadly, all we could find were white or brown button mushrooms, but I still wanted to make my sauce. The next step was to decide what to pair it with - pasta, rice, potatoes? In the end I decided on a creamy garlic mash (using some of my failed mozzarella curds) and a poached egg. It all came out very nicely, simple but filling and tasty. Ingredients: 500g mushrooms (preferably mixed) 1-2 tbsp olive oil 1 onion, chopped 1/2 head of garlic, chopped 1 - 1 1/2 c red cooking wine 1 tsp thyme salt and pepper to taste 1) Heat the oil in a deep pan. Sauté onions and garlic until soft and fragrant, and allow a few to char a little. Add mushrooms and sauté for 10 minutes or so until mushrooms. 2) Add the thyme and wine, reduce heat and cover, simmering gently for an additional 10 - 15 minutes until the wine is reduced and mushrooms have absorbed the wine. Place over mashed potatoes and a poached egg topped with sumac. This was satisfying and balanced, a comfort food if there ever was one. The creamy mash really allowed the mushrooms to shine and the red wine contrasted nicely with the egg.

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!

I made Jerk Chicken for the first time recently, from a recipe in my Spice Bible cookbook, and it worked out really well. One of the next recipes in the book was for sweet cardamom mango. I liked the idea, but instead of sticking with the recipe and having it for dessert, I took the idea and went my own way, turning it into a side to have with the Jerk Chicken. As the mango was a very tasty side, I thought I would include it. Ingredients: 2 tbsp butter 1 mango, peeled and sliced 2 tbsp tomato purée 1/2 shallot, sliced 1 tsp cinnamon 1/2 tsp cardamom powder 1/2 tsp ginger 1 black cardamom pod, crushed 1 1/2 tbsp brown sugar Juice of 1 lime 1) In a small frying pan, melt the butter. Add the ingredients, and stir, cooking until combined and mango is beginning to caramelise, about 8-10 minutes, then serve warm as a savoury side dish. And it was that simple. We also had coconut and raisin rice with the mango and the chicken, and the whole meal was a hit (except with Little Bit, who, having said he was excited, decided he didn't like coconut, chicken or cooked mango for the purposes of this particular dinner. And then promptly went back to liking them again afterwards... The joys of toddlerdom!)

Continuing on my citrus adventures for this winter, I present you with lime curd. Using the same base recipe as my Pink Grapefruit Curd in December, but obviously replacing the large pinky yellow orbs for smaller green ones. And more of them too - by a ratio of about 4. If you recall, I discussed in my pink grapefruit recipe the fact that there are recipes using both whole eggs and egg yolks for curd. In December, because of other, non-cooking related circumstances, I used whole eggs. This time though, I decided to really test the hypothesis, so I made two batches of lime curd, one using egg yolks, and the other using an equal number of whole eggs. Both worked, but because of accidents of... shall we call it life? ... I had some light issues with both. The egg yolk version was interrupted about 6 times by phone calls, so a quiet, chill time that was perfect for it suddenly was not and there was a lot of stop-and-go cooking, involving bringing things back up to temperature, then walking away again etc. The second time, I thought I had picked a good time to make it and had everything prepped along with dinner prep. But then things became rather more complicated than anticipated with Little Bit, including just after adding two of the eggs, so I ended up with little bits of egg white solidifying in the curd. Not ideal! Whisked with the rest of the eggs as they were added though, it came out better than I had hoped. Ingredients: 200 g butter 200g sugar 6 limes, juiced and zested 5 eggs / 5 egg yolks 1) Over a bain-marie, combine the butter, sugar, lime juice and zest and heat gently until the butter has melted, Whisking to combine as it all heats up so that an emulsion is formed. 2) Add the egg 8 (whole or yolks) and whisk continuously over gently heat until the mixture thickens. 3) Meanwhile, sterilise clean jars in boiling water for 15 minutes. When the curd has thickened, spoon into jars, wipe the rim and cap tightly. Place upside down on a clean cloth until cool. So first things first, both of these taste amazing! The egg yolk version thickened less than the other, despite taking a lot longer, but then, I am not sure if that was due to the interrupted nature of the cooking, or down to the yolks or something else. The other has those unfortunate tiny bits of egg white. Both taste equally rich and creamy and the zesty lime flavour comes through equally well in both. (In the centre picture above, I tried a little of each on one piece of bread, for real side by side taste testing). All in all, I stand by my statement from the introduction to my Pink Grapefruit Curd recipe saying that both work and it is up to you whether you want to use whole eggs or egg yolks. And it is especially right about now, after an experiment like this where both parts were interrupted and affected by life in general, this makes me wish even more that I were able to make use of a test kitchen...