The Kitchen
Mashed Aubergine Pickle (Bhanta ko Chokha)
Something to spice up your life!
2 Large Aubergines
4 Whole dried Chillies
1/2 inch fresh giner
Salt to taste
4tsp Mustard oil
Heat Oven to 175oC/350F. Prick the aubergines with a fork in two places, rub then with oil and wrap in foil. Bake for 45mins to 1hr until soft. Remove from oven unwrap and leave to stand for 30 mins . Remove skins.
Finely shop/grind chillies, ginger and salt. Mix the skinned aubergines with the spice mixture and mustard oil. Mix throughly.Serve with rice/bread, as a veg side dish with dal etc..Enjoy.
Chocolate Fudge
January is supposed to be the month for new resolutions and a healthier lifestyle after an indulgent Christmas, but forget that and try this
Nigella Lawson’s Chocolate and Pistachio Fudge
350g Dark Chocolate
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 tablespoon butter
150g unsalted shelled pistachios
Method
1. Place the chopped chocolate, condensed milk, butter and salt into a heavy-based pan over a low heat and stir until melted and well combined.
2. Place the nuts into a freezer bag and bash them with a rolling pin, until broken up into some large and some small pieces.
3. Add the nuts to the melted chocolate mixture and stir well.
4. Pour the mixture into a 23cm/9in square tray, smoothing the top with a wet palette knife.
5. Let the fudge cool, then refrigerate until set.
6. Cut into small pieces approximately 3cm x 2cm/1¼in x ¾in. Cutting 7 x 7 lines in the tin to give 64 pieces best achieves this.
7. Once cut, the fudge can be kept in the freezer – there’s no need to thaw, just eat straight away.
Sprouts
Let’s keep it topical and go for sprouts. Love them or hate them everybody has an opinion. Personally I can’t stand the traditional boiled sprout, with the kind of aroma that you’d normally try to blame on the dog under the table. I was brought up somewhere between the “if you can still count them they aren’t done yet” school of cooking which my gran adhered to and my mother’s view that they are best eaten cold in a sandwich. (Not joking) Most people would have been put off for life.However, my fairly recently acquired Grandmother-in-law dislikes the naughty little green vegetables as much as I do and she (now in her nineties) tries two, every year, at Christmas, eating them first so as not to spoil anything else, just to see if she has learnt to like them in the last twelve months. As yet, she has had no great sprout epiphany but is determined to try again next year. Spurred on by such determination, I have resolved to at least try to eat some.As I see it part of the problem is the boiling.Let’s approach the wee green beasties another way. They do have, it cannot be denied even by the most avid sproutaholic, a certain sulphurousness which is in my opinion amplified by boiling or steaming in plain, not very highly flavoured tap water. My usual way of counteracting this when required to eat boiled sprouts in public, is to cover them liberally in mustard, horseradish, or any other pungent and spicy condiment available. So . . . why not use this to our advantage in cooking them at home.Sprout Stirfry (Mmmm yummy yum yum)A selection of seasonal veg, including sproutsOil of your favourite kind for stirfrySpicy things like fresh chillies, fresh ginger, garlic, coriander etcCashew nuts or pine kernels or peanuts for nuttinessProceed in the usual stirfry way and be amazed.
