Day 5 – Banana & Turmeric Smoothie

Another pre-soaked version, and not a green leaf in sight! 1 Banana 1/2 tsp Turmeric 2-3 cm Root Ginger, grated 1 Tbsp Oats 200ml Almond Milk 1 Tbsp Almond Butter Add the oats, turmeric, ginger, almond butter and milk to the goblet.  Stir well and chill overnight.  In the morning add the banana and blend…

My Second Smoothie – Spicy Beetroot & Orange

OK, so 2 in one day is a bit over the top but I’ve still got some experimenting to do and wanted to try something very different to the breakfast smoothie this morning I’ve spent the afternoon prepping the fruit & veg from the shopping and took the opportunity to harvest some the remaining beetroot. …

Sticky Ginger Beetroots Muffins

I’m about to do 3 things that I normally avoid – publish a recipe which isn’t mine and with very limited tailoring, publish a recipe which I think is still a bit flawed and indulge myself in a little editorial. I found 6 copies of this recipe online, identical or so very close, so it’s…

Chilli Jelly -Choose your weapon…

I’ve a freezer full of chillies which I just won’t get through, so what better thing to do that make chilli jelly – perfect for Christmas stocking fillers! But wait – which chillies to use?  I have vast array of varieties and this recipe can be adapted for all.  In due course I’ll make a…

Spicy Pepper Relish

A full flavoured pepper pickle ideal for everyday use on sandwiches, or as a polite condiment.  The fine texture makes this ideal for spreading but prepare the peppers by hand for a more chunky version.  This makes for a warming heat – adjust the quantity of chillies up or down to taste.  The cayenne-type chillies…

My Favourite Chilli Con Carne

My all time favourite comfort food recipe, cooked in advance makes an ideal as a mid-week winter warmer I’m amazed that I’ve yet to write this recipe up.  It’s been a mainstay ever since I went to university many years ago and was really my entry into spicy cooking.  I used to head out to…

Sweet Thai Chilli Macarons – Flora’s Revenge!

And so another series of Great British Bake Off has finished, the nation has finally finished mopping up those tears after Nadiya’s closing speech. A worthy winner from 3 impressive finalists, but part of me wishes Flora had made it through the semis. Also, her desire to plaster everything in sight with macarons was her…

Chicken Korma

Just to show that you can use this method to produce a curry with lots of rich sauce, he’s one of my Chicken Korma’s.  You should be aware that Korma’s don’t usually tick my boxes – I tend to find them too sweet, too rich and too mild for my tastes.  This recipe addresses these…

Chicken & Mushroom Vindaloo

Using exactly the same principles as the Chicken Balti, this Chicken & Mushroom Vindaloo gives a very different effect.  Not one for the feint hearted, but you can scale back on the chillies… Serves 2-3 Ingredients 2 Medium Potatoes, peeled & chopped (New potatoes or waxy varieties are best) 3 tbsp Vegetable Oil 100g Chestnut…

Chicken Balti

Restaurant Curry 1: Chicken Balti. By following the 2 preceding steps you’ve turned making your curry away from being a ‘casserole’ type dish into a ‘stir fry’.  Everything that takes time has already been taken care of and now it’s just a matter of personalising the basics This is a simple Chicken Curry recipe with…

Pre-cooked Chicken for Curry

Stage 2 of creating your restaurant-style curry is to pre-prepare your meat. The target here is to get the meat to a point where the cooking can be completed in a few minutes, and seasoned to a point where the meat doesn’t taste bland in the final curry sauce You can do this in advance…

Base Curry Sauce

Do you want to make a curry just like the ones you get in the restaurant?  Do you want to know how to create a curry in 20 minutes?  Do you have a family with differing tastes and requirements when it comes to Indian food?  Then you need to invest some time up front and…

The Model Restaurant Curry

I first started blogging my recipes many, many years ago on a site I had created which was dedicated to spicy food.  Many of my recipes were focused on creating ‘authentic’ restaurant curries based on experiments which run all the way back to my first ‘real curry’ exposure at University in Bradford.  More recently my…

Cranberry & Cherry Hot Cross Buns

OK, so I’m a couple of days late – these should have been ready on Good Friday but there was so much going on!  A great variant of the traditional Hot Cross Bun, this uses alternative fruits for a alternative the the seasonal favourite.  If you wish, replace the ginger and dried fruit* with 160g…

Chestnut Falafel

These were just an amazing vegetarian alternative for the festive season.  One batch serve as a veggie main course when the carnivores tucked into their turkey, these went down so well I cooked them again as a mix and match option to serve with a batch of meatballs and a vegetable daal.  This recipe has…

Pumpkin and Sunflower Seed Soup

This recipe uses a starchy pumpkin like a kabocha or acorn squash rather than the firmer ‘crown prince’ or butternut squash, which blend down to give the most perfectly smooth texture and amazing dark golden colour.  Because of this texture, it really needs something else to provide a little interest and toasted sunflower seeds go…

Spicy Tomato & Lentil Soup

I love a good tomato soup, and at this time of the year when the tomato plants are abound with fruit I always try something a bit different.  One reason is, I suppose, that I just haven’t managed to come up with a recipe which really does my wonderful fresh tomatoes justice.  Over the years…

Courgette Chocolate Cake with Chilli Ganache

A decadent fudgey chocolate cake with a kick!  This is a proper chocolate cake for adults, not too sweet with plenty of dark bitter chocolate and a rich chocolate ganache that complementary chilli heat.  What’s more it uses up loads of your surplus courgettes. What could possibly be better? …well, you could spilt it in…

Chilli Chocolate Ganache

Dark bitter chocolate and chilli are a classic combination.  Use this as a filling for cakes or biscuits, stir through a vanilla ice cream at the last minute to make a chilli chocolate ripple or even stir through your favourite Chilli Con Carne recipe! A key to making smooth ganache is not to stir the…

Spicy Lentil, Chickpea and Sweetcorn Soup

It’s official – Summer is well and truly over. It’s only 23rd of August 2014 but I’m seriously thinking about switching on the central heating.  It’s only my skinflint Yorkshire roots holding me back, so I’m in need of an alternative central heating.  This is a really simple and flavoursome soup which can be turned…