Cabbage and Peas curry

A speedy curry that's ready in less than 15 minutes, It is delicious with rice or chapatti. Normally I like my cabbage sliced paper this and cooked into a cabbage curry, however when I am in a hurry and need a speedy curry I cheat and throw the cabbage in my food processor and just shred it coarsely. Believe it or not  but cutting a vegetable in different shapes really makes the curry taste different too!!! I would say my favourite way is the arduous paper thin sliced cabbage curry but this shredded version is not bad either.

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Cabbage and Peas Curry

by Nayna Kanabar 30 th September 2014

Delicious Peas and Cabbage curry cooked in less than 15 minutes.

Ingredients:

• 240g White Cabbage
• 60g Frozen Peas
• 1/2 teapoon Salt
• 1/2 teaspoon Chilli powder
• 1/2 teaspoon Turmeric powder
• 1/4 teaspoon Cumin powder
• 1/4 teaspoon Coriander powder
• 1 tablespoon Tomato puree
• 1 tablespoon Olive oil
• 1 pinch Mustard seeds

Method:

1.Cut the cabbage into quarters and place into the food processor and shred it coarsely.
2. Add the oil in a pan, when it is hot add the mustard seeds and wait for them to splutter.
3. Add the shredded cabbage and the peas followed by the salt, chilli powder, cumin powder, coriander powder and turmeric and toss the cabbage to cover it with the spices.
4. Salute the cabbage for 5- 7 minutes after which add the tomato purée and stir it into the cabbage. Sauté the cabbage for another 5 minutes, the cabbage should be cooked but still have a bite. Transfer to a serving dish.

Details

Prep time: 5 mins Cook time: 12 mins Total time: 17 mins Yield: Serves 2

Submitting to:
In my VEG BOX ~Cabbage
Event by citrusspiceuk  guest hosted by Motions and Emotions.

Food Bloggers Meet at Le Restaurant de PAUL, London

Originating from a family of Charlemagne Mayot and his wife  who were agricultural workers in the Artois region of Northern France, opened  a small bakery located in rue de la Mackellerie in Croix, near Lille in 1989. Who was to know then that 125 years later with five generations the small bakery would grow and evolve into a chain of fantastic bakeries all over the world.  As the chain expanded Pauls introduced tea room and restaurants within their bakeries. Pauls continues to be a family owned company built on the foundations of time-honoured production methods passed down through five generations. A commitment shared in more than 25 countries today Paul bakeries have branches in London, Washington, Dubai, Tokyo, Singapore and Moscow. At Pauls you can drop in to pick up your lunch on the go, sit and enjoy a cup of coffee and a slice of cake or a lavish afternoon tea or even enjoy fine dining in their restaurant.

A group of my blogger friends and I were invited recently to sample the amazing cuisine at Le Restaurant de PAUL in Covent Garden. On arrival as we walked into the boulangerie and pâtisserie the sight and smells of the awesome cakes and bread had us all mesmerised. We were shown to or table in the back of the bakery, which was decorated in French style with beautiful vintage furniture, lights and paintings. The ambiance was very warm and welcoming. The menu is themed on traditional French home cooking and many of the dishes were inspired by this theme.  Being a vegetarian, I was a little worried that my choices would be limited however I was pleasantly surprised to see that there were quite a few dishes that were suitable for vegetarian.

For the starters  a couple of my friends and I chose to share the vegetarian sharing platters which consisted of vegetable crudités, pickled cauliflower, sautéed mushrooms, boiled eggs, dips and roasted Mediterranean vegetables. My other friends chose the charcuterie platters and the baked Camembert. 

The platters were beautifully presented on rustic chopping boards and I particularly loved the way they were placed on the tables on top of a set of condiment jars to add height , this is one idea I will definitely use at my next dinner party. The starters were served with a basket of assorted fresh warm French breads and cheese gougères.

For my main course I chose the Roasted Stuffed Pepper with Grilled Vegetables and Rice, the dish not only tasted delicious as it was perfectly seasoned but it was very colourful and pleasing to the eye too. My friends enjoyed Confit of Duck with Olives, Demi Poulet au Grain Rôti a L’Estragon, Toulouse Sausages with Mashed Potatoes and Bordelaise Sauce, and Sea bass with braised fennel and potato cakes, potato fries and mash. Everyone really enjoyed their main courses, which were accompanied with the house wine, sparkling and still water and juice. Everyone agreed that the food was cooked to perfection and was delicious.

Our final course was the dessert, we were spoilt for choice here but ultimately after much deliberation, I chose the Millefeuille ; thin layers of flaky pastry with delicious vanilla custard and strawberries, my friends enjoyed the Strawberry Frasier, coffee with macaroons and the amazing  Dark chocolate tart, all these desserts were washed down with piping hot coffee.

My friends that accompanied me for this meal were Sylvia, Karen, Tina, Manjiri, Bintu and Heidi. (You can see them all in the picture above) I had a wonderful time and would like to thank Fiona Maclean who put us in touch with the PR for Le Restaurant de PAUL in Covent Garden and to Karen for organising the meal.  The service, the food and the hospitality we received at Le Restaurant de PAUL was outstanding and its one place I will definitely revisit as now I am convinced that being a vegetarian I will have no problem eating there.

I was invited to Le Restaurant de PAUL in Covent Garden to enjoy their hospitality all the views and opinions in this review are my own.

You can see reviews of all the other bloggers at the meal below:
Karen
Fiona
Manjiri
Heidi
Mabintu
Sylvia
Tina

Blackberry Jam

In August we went on a family holiday to a place called Shatterford in Worcestershire. We stayed at the idyllic cottage on the Shatterford Lakes. The spacious cottage is surrounded by 6 adjoining fishing lakes that are filled with fresh natural spring water from the valley.

The lakes are perfect location for fishing and also for walking. The serene setting has stunning views, it is perfect for relaxing and you will see plenty of wildlife, hens, chickens, sheep and dear around the lakes. 
A well kept road leads to the lakes where you can stop to enjoy the views, have a coffee in the cafe or enjoy a picnic on the rustic picnic tables dotted around. Each lake is surrounded by a path allowing you to walk around them. There is lots of bracken, greenery, wild shrubs and bushes and plenty of blackberry bushes. 

 August is prime time for the berry season and we found that the blackberry bushes had plenty of ripe juicy berries all ready to be picked. Picking the berries was not a difficult task, although filling the basket was as they were so temptingly juicy and delicious that it was really hard not to pop them straight into your mouth.

We picked lots of blackberries which we later made into blackberry jam and also apple and blackberry crumble. The unadulterated flavour of the blackberries was truly delectable.

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Blackberry Jam

by Nayna Kanabar 14th September 2014

Freshly foraged English blackberries made into delicious summer blackberry jam

Ingredients:

• 3 cups Blackberries
• 1 cup Sugar
• 1 Lemon

Instructions

1. Rinse the blackberries in water to remove any dirt and pat them dry on some kitchen paper.2. Place the blackberries with the sugar in a heavy bottomed pan and place the pan on the medium heat and bring the mixture to a simmer.3. Extract the juice from the lemon and add it to the blackberries and sugar.4. Simmer the blackberry jam for 25-30 minutes stirring intermittently. 5. Place a glass plate in the fridge, to check if the jam is ready, drop a blob of of jam onto the cold place and leave it to cool for a couple of minutes. After a couple of minutes draw a channel in the jam using your finger, if the jam remains parted it s ready. If the channel fills up the jam still need more cooking.6. Once the jam is ready, remove it from the heat and allow it to reach room temperature. 7. Transfer the jam to sterilised glass jar.

Details

Prep time: 5 mins Cook time: 25 mins Total time: 30 hour Yield: 1 jar

Chocolate Fudge cake with Strawberries

Rich and delicious chocolate fudge cake with chocolate dipped juicy strawberries.

Ingredients:

275 g caster sugar
175 g soft margarine
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
175 g natural yoghurt
225 g self raising flour
50 g cocoa
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

For the icing:

50 g margarine
30 g cocoa
5 tablespoons milk
240 g icing sugar

For Garnish:

White chocolate hearts and stars
20 strawberries
120 g milk chocolate

Method:

1.Preheat oven to 170 degrees C /325 degrees F
2. Line the sides and base of a 9 inch spring form baking tin and grease it.
3. Melt the milk chocolate in the microwave for 2 minutes  and when it is fully melted, dip 6 strawberries in them and leave them to set in the fridge.
4. Slice the remaining strawberries in half keeping the leaf on and keep aside for garnishing later.
5. In a bowl add the sugar and margarine and beat until light and fluffy.Add the yoghurt and eggs and beat again until fully incorporated.together.
6.Sieve together the cocoa, flour and bicarbonate of soda and add it to the butter and egg mixture. Fold the mixture until all the flour is incorporated.
7. Add the cake batter to the prepared baking tin and smooth the top.
8. Bake in the preheated oven for 40-45 minutes until a skewer inserted in it comes out clean.
9. Remove cake from oven and leave to cool in the tin.
10. Once cake is cooled remove it from the tin and remove the paper lining.
11. Place the cake top side down on a serving dish.

Making the icing:

12.In a pan add the margarine, when it has melted take it off the heat. Sieve the cocoa and icing sugar into the melted butter. Add the milk and whisk together to form the chocolate ganache.
13. Let the ganache cool slightly, than pour it over the cooled cake and spread it on the sides and top of cake.
14. Let the ganache  set for 15 minutes.
15. After 15 minutes , add the 6 chocolate dipped strawberries on the top of the cake and place the remaining strawberries halves around the circumference of the base of the cake.Decorate the top of the cake with chocolate hearts and stars.

I have baked this cake for the great Verbaudet summer bake off, since the theme was summer, I have used strawberries in my cake. To participate in this bakeoff,  Verbaudet sent me the great British Bake off recipe book, some edible decorations, measuring spoons and oven gloves.

Blueberry and apple smoothie

Refreshing breakfast smoothie with antioxidants and healing power of ginger.

Ingredients:

200 g fresh blueberries
I apple
1 tablespoon goji berries
1 large cup of ice cubes ( approx 20)
1 cm piece of fresh ginger peeled
1 tablespoon honey

Method:

1. Wash the blue berries, reserve a few for garnish and add the remaining to the Optimum 9400 blender.
2. Core the apple and cut it into chunks and place it in the blender.
3. Add the cube of ginger and goji berries together with the ice and honey. Blend to a smooth purée.
4. Transfer to serving glasses and garnish with few blueberries before serving

I made my Blueberry and Apple Smoothie in the Optimum 9400  blender, it is a great blender that will create amazing smoothies, ice creams, sorbets, smooths, nut milks  in a jiffy. It also grates, slices and grinds.
The Optimum 9400 is currently available at a special price of £ 329.00, it comes with a 30 day money back guarantee with free return postage of you are not totally satisfied with it. To read more about it and purchase one you can check my review here. 

Submitting to:
Lets Cook with Apples event by simply.food