Barbecue Mackerel with Tomato Salad

This is the ultimate summer meal. Mackerel is one of my favourite fishes to eat – it is rich, soft with a distinct fishy taste, but it’s delicate enough to take on the flavours of the BBQ smoke and the spicy marinade. I love this meal as an alternative to your usual BBQ – it’s quick and simple but packed full of flavour.

In the summer months, mackerel can usually be found at a reasonable price from your fishmongers (I picked up 2 for £3). Unless you’ve got the stomach to do it yourself, remember to ask them to gut and clean them for you! If the fish is fresh, it will have firm and shiny skin with glassy eyes – dull or cloudy eyes are the easiest way to tell if the fish isn’t fresh.

Here’s what you’ll need to serve 2:

For the mackerel:

2 whole mackerel (gutted and scaled) / 1 lemon / 1 chilli / salt / pepper / 2 tbsp olive oil

For the tomato salad:

4 large tomatoes / 1/2 tbsp olive oil / 1 large handful of coriander / salt / pepper

To serve:

Fresh tiger bread / green salad

1. Light the BBQ – I bought a disposable one from the £1 Store. It was just the right size for 2 fish, and took only 10 minutes for the coals to get hot enough.
2. Whilst the coals are heating up and the flames are dying down, prepare the fish. Finely chop the chilli and slice the lemon into 4 thick rounds. Score the fish on each side 3 times, and fill with chilli. Place the lemon in the slit made by the fishmonger. Cover in olive oil and season to taste.
3. Once the BBQ is hot enough, cook the fish on each side for 5-6 minutes, until flaky all the way through.
4. While the the fish is cooking, prepare the tomatoes. Cut them into small chunks, and cover with olive oil, finely chopped coriander and a lot of salt and pepper.

Et Voila! It’s as easy as that. Serve with crusty bread and a green salad.

Enjoy!

Keralan Goat Curry with Chapatis

I’m lucky to live in a part of London which, culturally, is vastly diverse. It’s the reason that buying goat for curry is no more unusual than buying chicken, lamb or beef. You might not be able to find it in your local supermarket, but if you go to a butcher’s shop (especially Halal or Asian butcher’s) you’re more than likely to be able to pick some up. I choose it as it is much cheaper than lamb (around £5/kg) but has a similar taste. My butcher advertises Curry Goat– it comes as bite sized pieces of goat, some on the bone, some not. As the name suggests, it’s perfect cooked slowly in a rich, spicy curry sauce.

I served it with chapatis – a soft, thin bread. Simple and delicious.

Here’s what you’ll need to serve 4:

(P.s. The pasta sauce jars don’t actually contain pasta sauce – they’re home to vast quantities of spices. The nutella jar doesn’t actually contain nutella – that’s for my boyfriend’s father’s homemade garam masala. The salt vat doesn’t actually contain salt – that’s filled with black mustard seeds!)

For the curry:

1kg goat / 1 large onion / 3 cloves garlic / 1 tin plum tomatoes

1/2 tbsp mustard seeds / 1 tbsp coriander powder / 1/2 tbsp chilli powder / 1 tbsp masala powder / 1/4 tbsp turmeric / salt to taste

For the chapatis:

2 cups flour + extra to dust / 1 cup water

First, prepare the curry. This takes around 20 minutes to prepare and 90 minutes to cook, so make sure you set aside enough time!

1. Prepare the goat by removing any excess fat. Leave the meat on the bones – it adds a real depth of flavour to the sauce and picking it off the bones with your fingers at the end is all part of the fun!
2. Finely chop the onions, ginger and garlic
3. Heat oil in a large sauce pan. Add the mustard seeds and place the lid on the pan. The seeds will begin to crack and pop – when the popping finishes, the oil is ready.
4. Add the onions and sweat for a couple of minutes, then add the garlic and ginger. This needs to be done on a high heat, so stir constantly to ensure there is no burning!
5. After about 5 minutes, add the spices. Different sources will tell you different things about how and when to add the spices (some recommend making a paste with water, for example). My boyfriend and his family adds all the spices to the hot pan in one go, then stir vigorously so that the onions are covered in a thick coating of spices
6. Continue stirring for 30 seconds to a minute to allow the spices to cook – the mixture will easily catch on the bottom of the pan so stir constantly! Next, add the chopped tomatoes.
7. Bring the mixture up to the boil and add the goat.
8. Turn the heat right down, and leave to simmer very gently with the lid on for 45 minutes, and then remove the lid and continue to cook for 45 minutes.

Whilst the curry is simmering away, you can begin to make the dough for the chapatis. Honestly,these breads are almost fool proof.

1. Place 2 cups of flour into a large mixing bowl
2. Measure out 1 cup of tepid water, and add it very slowly to the mixture
3. Knead the dough on a floured work surface – the longer the dough is needed for, the more elastic it will become, and the softer your chapatis will be
4. Once satisfied that the dough is soft, leave in a covered bowl until 10 minutes before your curry is ready!
5. Divide the dough into 8. Roll each into a ball and flatten it a little, then coat it in flour. Roll it out on a clean work surface until as thin as possible
6. Place the chapati on a hot and dry shallow frying pan. After about 30 seconds, the dough will begin to puff up and blackened spots will appear. Flip the bread over, and cook for a 30 seconds on the other side, and it is done! Repeat for the further chapatis.

Okay, so we got hungry and in our haste I forgot to take a photo of the finished product. But I promise you it looked delicious. The meat was so tender it fell of the bone, and the breads were made even more amazing by being dipped in the rich gravy. And the smell was something else!…Mmmmm.

Chocolate Dipped Meringues

I love meringues – you can hardly believe how low in calories they are for something so sugary and delicious! After making semifreddo a few weeks ago, I attempted making meringues with the left over egg whites. They were simply a disaster.I had to throw the mix away because I under-whipped the whites but didn’t realise until after adding the sugar.

I hate failure, so today I asked my Nan her recipe and tips and I had another attempt:

Okay, they’re far from perfect. Nan’s rules are simple:

2 ounces of sugar for every large egg

Whip the whites until they form stiff peaks – the mixture shouldn’t move about the bowl when tilted

Add the sugar slowly – about an ounce at a time

Don’t over-whip the whites – they’ll flop

My mixture was much better than last time, but I think in an effort to add the sugar slowly, I over-whipped the whites. It was thick enough to pipe into lovely little droplets, but 2 minutes later my beautiful mini meringues had sunk into little puddles.

I put these in the oven at 140C for 30 minutes, turned off the heat and left them in there to cool. I then dipped them in dark chocolate to make them look a bit prettier, but it also makes them taste more luxurious!

The size of the meringues meant that they cooked in much less time than my grandmother recommended – instead of an hour, they were colouring within 30 minutes. However, this was such a blessing! When bitten in to, they were soft and marshmallow-y in the middle, and lovely and crunchy on the outside! Perfect!

Although they tasted great, I won’t rest until I have a perfectly shaped meringue!

Giant Chocolate Orange Jaffa Cake

I wanted to treat my friends this weekend – it’s been a long week so we deserved it! I was racking my brains for the perfect revision week bake when I decided to make a giant, gooey version of my boyfriend’s favourite revision week snack: The Jaffa Cake.

I found a recipe on the trusted BBC Good Food website, and after a read I decided it sounded doable. The cake is a dense, moist orange sponge, made with natural Greek yogurt, topped with a layer of orange jelly (I cheated and bought a packet mix) and then covered in a rich, creamy chocolate ganache.

 

It wasn’t until the cake was in the oven that I decided to read the comments – apparently it falls apart on assembly. And they were right! The cake came out the oven, and it looked and smelled delicious as I left it to cool. The top has to be painted with apricot jam – it’s supposed to act as a glue. Then, I carefully (and surprisingly) managed to flip the orange jelly out the cake tin in which I left it to set and on to the top of the cake. At that point, the jelly began to slip and slide off the top of the cake, even though I had turned the cake upside down so that it was perfectly flat! Nonetheless, I soldiered on and covered it in chocolate. Aesthetically, it was a disaster (please don’t mock the photo!) – my beautiful cake was now covered in a pool of chocolate mixed with jelly. I was pretty sad.

Luckily, never has the saying “never judge a book by its cover” been truer. Wow.The cake was moist, rich and had a deep orange flavour running through it. What’s more, it was a beautiful bright yellow colour as a result of the orange zest. The jelly was nothing special (24p for a packet mix…shhh…), but somehow it added a delicious freshness to the cake. And all that covered with melted chocolate ganache: mmmmm!!

I served it with ice cream. It made for a really delicious, rich, but fruity desert! If I were to make it again (which I will), I’d abandon the Jaffa Cake idea – if it weren’t for the jelly the cake would have tasted and looked like a beautiful chocolate orange sponge.

Find the recipe here: http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/giant-jaffa-orange-cake

 

What I’m Buying and Why…

So, study leave is upon me. That means hours upon hours in the library. And what do I think about when my mind starts to wander? Food,of course!

The revision period is a tough time to be counting calories. I know that eating right will be good for my concentration (as well as my waist line), but try telling my cravings that. I’m the kind of person who plans their day (and thus, their revision plans) around what and when they’ll eat. This will be my 5th year sitting exams, and trust me – I’ve tried it all: from not caring and eating what I want when I want (ahem..whole packs of biscuits for breakfast, lunch and dinner), to being strict and eating the purest, healthiest foods. So, for the past week I’ve been planning my meals, and it’s working! I can’t cut calories or food groups when revising as hard as I am – I don’t think it’s good for my concentration. Instead, I’ve simply been aiming to eat 1,500 kcal daily.

Another important thing to think about during revision periods is money. I love to treat myself in times of stress, but when the time of stress is lasting 4 weeks (i.e. exam period), that can be an expensive treat. In light of that, I’ve been shopping around for bargains and here’s what is working for me…

Breakfast:

People say this is the most important meal of the day, and I couldn’t agree more. However, hauling myself out of bed in time to get to the library often means I don’t have long to prepare anything fancy. Instead, I go for one of the following:

 A bowl of cereal / fat free milk / black coffee – 110 kcal

Fat free yogurt / teaspoon honey / black coffee – 115 kcal

Homemade ice coffee with fat free milk (200ml) / 5 whole almonds – 120 kcal

For cereal, I always go to Iceland. They sell all the big brands in family sized boxes and almost always have good deals (50% free or 50p off). You just can’t go wrong! For fat free yogurt, I believe that the basic supermarket own brands are just as good as any fancy brands and half  the price!

Lunch:

Normally, I lovea salad full of greens and vegetables. In revision mode, however, I crave carbs and meat. Not only that, I find I get serious food envy over all the people in the library with their delicious smelling sandwiches! I simply can’t afford to buy my sandwiches, and you’ll be lucky to find a ready made sandwich for less than 400 kcal. I make my own with low fat bread, and delicious gammon ham:

2 slices low fat bread / 60g ham / teaspoon mayonnaise – 230 kcal

I get my ham from Iceland – they do a great deal on cooked gammon ham trimmings (450g for 175g). It tastes like proper deli ham .. yum yum yum!

Snacks:

This is my downfall. I love snacking, and I can’t resist when I’m stuck in a library all day. Fruit is great for a snack, and I eat a lot of it. However, it often doesn’t fill the gap. Here are my top buys:

Weight watchers cheese puffs – 75 kcal

Cadbury’s freddo bar – 95 kcal

Galaxy ripple snack size – 95 kcal

Banana / apples / grapes

I allow myself one packet of cheese puffs, one chocolate snack bar, one banana, and as many apples and grapes as I’m craving. Weight watchers do a great range of crisps – they have hardly and calories and a low fat content when compared to your usual brands, but they don’t skimp on quantity. As a girl, I can’t resistchocolate. For under 100 kcal, I’d say freddos or a snack sized Galaxy bar are perfect – they satisfy my cravings and I can eat them guilt free. You can normally buy all these snacks in a pound store, too! For fruit, I go the market – it’s gives me scope to bargain and get a really good deal.

Dinner:

I have to vary my dinners, or I get bored. However, I have to plan my dinners at least the day before, or my cravings will get the better of me and I’ll end up cooking something expensive or fattening (or both!). Here are my favourite low effort meals:

Spaghetti / Sardines / Mixed salad leaves / Cherry tomatoes – 400 kcal

Stir fried vegetables / Chicken breast / Reduced sodium soy sauce – 270 kcal

Fish curry / 1 pitta bread – 400 kcal

Spaghetti and sardines is one of my favourite meals – I make it all the time. It’s unbelievably cheap, very filling and so healthy (sardines are rich in vitamin B12, vitamin D, omega 3 and protein). I understand that pasta is normally a no-go for dieters, but I wouldn’t deny myself this delicious, nutritious and wallet-friendly meal!

I make stir-fried vegetables and chicken when I am too impatient to prepare anything else – it takes less than 10 minutes if you buy the packets of stir fry vegetables! The packets normally serve 2, but as I rarely serve these with noodles (or any other carbohydrate), I’ll eat a packet to myself – that’s only 160 kcal! If I’ve had a really food-filled day, I’ll often leave the chicken breast out and have a satisfying meal but very guilt free meal.

This fish curry is a corker – I’ll share the recipe another day. But, rest assured, any home-made curry can be made with hardly any fat at all!

I know that these menus aren’t particularly awe-inspiring, but it can be tricky thinking about how to eat well when you really don’t want to. If any of you have any ideas for guilt-free snacking, please leave a comment and let me know!

Having said all that, the weekend is now upon us and it’s baking time! I’m preparing a giant jaffa cake for my flatmates, and I’ll be posting the recipe tomorrow!

Honey Semifreddo

Okay, so this isn’t one for the dieters. But, if you’re looking for a treat on a hot summers day, make this.

I saw this recipe whilst watching re-runs of some of Nigella Lawson’s old TV series and I decided that I had to make it. I’d never made or eaten semifreddo before, but it’s a new favourite – the texture is silky smooth, and it melts in your mouth to reveal a mellow honey flavour. After a painful 3 hours wait whilst it froze, I smothered it in more runny honey and was left with a rich, velvety, frozen delight!

You can find the recipe here: http://www.nigella.com/recipes/view/honey-semifreddo-239

1. Line a 900g / 2lb / 1 litre loaf tin with clingfilm.
2. Beat the egg and egg yolks with the honey in a bowl, over a saucepan of gently simmering water, until the mixture is pale and thick. Nigella recommends doing this by hand, but I used my electric hand whisk and it worked just fine.
3. Whip the double cream until thick, and then gently fold in the egg and honey mixture. This can take a while, but be patient and careful not to knock out the air. Pour into the prepared loaf tin, and cover carefully with clingfilm before putting it in the freezer for about 2-3 hours.
4. When it is ready to serve, turn out the semifreddo on to a suitably sized plate and cover with honey.

What’s more, the recipe only requires 3 ingredients and cost me only £3! It will serve 6, and I can hardly believe that such a luxurious tasting desert can be made so cheaply!

I really recommend making this – it’s so cheap and takes less than 10 minutes to prepare, but really impresses!

Good luck and enjoy! xo

Spicy Chicken Burgers, Sweet Potato Chips and a Yogurt Dressing

After the dip in the ice cold pool (see previous post) I fancied treating myself to a delicious, but (almost) guilt free dinner. This is the kind of meal I could eat every night – it’s so satisfying and filling, and other than the bun (which I would usually miss out) it’s low in fat and high in protein. I love to eat this on a summers evening, and it’s a great one to cook for friends – it’s fuss free but sooo good. It’s so simple that it doesn’t really need a recipe, but I’ll share anyway.

Serves 2

For the chicken burgers:

• 1tbsp Tandoori spice mix (this is almost always in the spice section, but is sometimes with the packet mixes for sauces)
• 3tbsp fat free yogurt
• 2 chicken breasts
• 2 burger buns

For the sweet potato chips

• 1 large, or 2 small, sweet potatoes
• 1tsp vegetable oil
• Seasoning to taste
• A pinch of chilli powder

For the yogurt dressing

• 4 tbsp fat free yogurt
• juice from 1/2 a lime
• small handful of chopped coriander

Coat the chicken breasts in the spice mix and yogurt – leave it to marinade in the fridge for 2-3 hours.

Chop the sweet potato into wedges. Place in a large baking tray. Cover in the oil, seasoning and chilli. I find it best to use your hands for this as it is easier to make sure all the wedges are evenly covered. Put the chips into a hot oven (200 C) for around 40 minutes, or until they are soft in the middle and crunchy around the edges.

Whilst the potato chips are cooking, mix the yogurt, lime and coriander together.

15 minutes before the potato chips are ready, start to cook your chicken. This is best done on a griddle or a barbeque! The chicken breasts will need around 15 minutes cooking time, and they should be flipped half way through. Cooking time will vary on the size of your chicken breast.

When they’re cooked, assemble your burger! Serve with a green salad, and enjoy guilt free indulgence! xo

 

 

Swimming for Fitness

Since I embarked on my weight loss battle, I have been trying to find an exercise regime which I can stick to and enjoy! Going to the gym, however, fills me with dread. I’m not sure what it is: the thought of being out of breath, sweaty and uncomfortable for an hour, being in a room surrounded by fellow students who are faster than me or stronger than me, or all of the above.

I do, however, love the post-work out feeling. If I keep my eyes on the prize I can just about manage a good gym session. I figured out a routine in January and I’ve kept it the same ever since: 30 minutes cardio (I run using the hill settings, meaning my thighs and glutes get an extra work out 😉 ), followed by 3 sets of chest flies (whilst lying on an exercise ball – that way my chest and my abs get a work out), 3 sets on the hip abduction machine and 3 sets on the hip adduction machine.

Although I think my routine is perfect for me, I’m still waiting to develop that craving  for the gym that fit people talk about in sports magazines. So, last month I decided to mix up my weekly routine – I started going to the gym twice a week instead of three times, replacing that session with a 45 minute swim.

 

Having grown up on an island, swimming is second nature to me – I’m actually quite good at it! I hadn’t realised before, but swimming really does work so many muscle groups. It’s great for boosting your bust and toning your upper arms, and breast stroke really works your legs too.

In the swimming pool, it’s easy to push yourself to the next level – you might get out of breath but no one (not even you), will realize how hard you’re working out: there’s no redness and no sweating!

According to the NHS website, a slow swim for a 60kg person will burn 240kcal in 30 minutes. By working a little harder, I definitely burn more calories than I do in 30 uncomfortable minutes on the treadmill.

Since the sun was out this weekend, my boyfriend and I decided to go to our local outdoor swimming pool. Much to our disdain, it was unheated, and after the weather we’ve been having, it was freezing. I think it’s fair to say I swam less than 10 meters. The pool was packed with people – people in swimming lengths in wetsuits. Surely I burnt calories by merely trying to stay warm!?

Nonetheless, on a hotter day I will be back at the lido. I can honestly say that swimming is an exercise form I enjoy. (Well…at least tolerate…)

Orange Polenta Cake with Orange Cream

It’s revision time at uni. And when I revise, I bake – I call it procrastibaking.

I had some fine polenta in my cupboard, so I decided to modify a BBC recipe and make myself a treat. The original recipe can be found here: http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/12341/orange-polenta-cake

I love cooking with polenta – it adds a rich yellow colour to bakes, as well as a fantastic crumbly texture and a fantastic moistness.

I used self raising flour rather than plain flour with baking powder, purely for convenience. The cake rose so much, with the batter almost tripling in thickness. Yum. Other than that I kept the recipe the same, it was so simple and so easy:

• Cream 250g caster sugar and 250g butter until light and fluffy (I maintain that this is the most important part in any cake recipe)
• Add 4 eggs, 1 at a time
• Fold in 200g SR flour and 140g polenta
• Once combined, mix in the juice and zest of 2 oranges (the smell is fantastic!)

The recipe says it will be ready in 45 minutes (160C oven), but it actually took over an hour.

Whilst it was cooking, I made an orange cream. It’s unbelievably simple and just adds a hint of orange, but really lightens up the cream. All you need to do is gently mix 150ml double cream with juice from 1/2 an orange. The pectin in the orange will thicken up the cream to a whipped consistency without the need for whipping!

This is a great cake for sharing – it’s simple but different. Although it sounds fancy, it can be really cheap to make (polenta can be picked up in Asian supermarkets for 50p / 500g). As a student, I couldn’t ask for much more!

Happy baking xo

Payasum: An Indian Desert

Before meeting my boyfriend, I’d never tasted an Indian pudding. A few months ago, he decided to make Payasam for me, and I’ve been hooked ever since.

It’s a milky desert, vaguely reminiscent of rice pudding, with added spice, of course. Instead of rice, it’s made with vermicelli noodles. These can be found in most big supermarkets, but are much cheaper if you can find an Asian supermarket. It’s not quick to make, but it’s very simple and definitely worth the time it takes.

We used the model of Rick Stein’s recipe (http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/sweet_milk_pudding_with_68274) , but altered it according to taste to make it more like the recipe of my boyfriend’s family and friends.

You will need:

• 50g vermicelli noodles, broken into pieces
• 1 liter full fat milk
• 2 tsp butter
• 4 tbsp sugar
• 1/2 tsp cardamom
• A handful each of cashews, pistachios and raisins

The steps are simple, and once you’ve made it once, you can alter quantities and cooking times to suit your taste:

• Bring the milk to a gentle simmer – leave it to reduce by half (this takes 10-20 minutes).
• In the mean time, melt 1tsp butter in a frying pan. Toast the vermicelli noodles so they take on a bit of colour (they will be straw brown when they’re done).
• Once the milk has reduced, add the noodles and simmer for another 20 minutes, or until the milk has reduced by almost half again (remember the milk will thicken as it cools, so take it off the heat just before it’s the thickness you desire).
• Stir in the sugar and cardamom until fully dissolved – have a taste of the mixture at this point, as you may like to add more of either.
• Toast the nuts and raisins in the remaining teaspoon of butter and use to decorate.

We usually serve this in mugs – it helps with any slurping you might need to finish up the noodles!

On a hot day, this is best served ice cold, so leave in the fridge for a couple of hours before you indulge. However, on a cold day or in the evening, I love this desert warm – there’s something about the milky cardamom that I find comforting.

I hope you enjoy! xo