Monday's Massaman Curry

Let me set the scene for you... It's raining (typical), it's been a long day at work (typical) and you're hungry (also typical!). 

So here's the recipe for your Monday night pick-me up...

... Massaman curry.

Jamie Oliver wrote about this recipe in this week's Sunday Times magazine, and it's a good'un! 

Now this recipe starts off with a competition. Drum roll please...

In the blue corner it's the mean, tough, hard on the outside but soft in the middle, squash! 

And over in the red corner it's YOU!

This is a battle of upper arm strength (of which I have none!), to get into that squash and chop it into four pieces so you can roast it and soften up that delicious golden flesh!

Once you do manage to break into that tough nut (get it?!) pop the pieces into a roasting tray, drizzle with olive oil and season with some salt and pepper before roasting for 1 hour at 180degrees.

Now comes the fun part ... It's a sensory spice explosion and your whole house will be filled with an intense aroma that will get your appetite going even more than it already is!

Start by toasting a quarter teaspoon each of cloves, fennel seats, cardamom seeds, peppercorns and chilli flakes in a dry pan for a few minutes. 

Then, if you have a mortar and pestle, get grinding! (Or cheat like me and use your coffee grinder!) But add a quarter teaspoon of ground turmeric and ground cinnamon now too.

Whilst your spices are grinding away, chop a quarter red onion, a slice of ginger, 1 large clove of garlic and a quarter stick of lemongrass. Gently soften these in the dry pan for a few minutes too.

Then combine your ground spices, softened onion mix with a small handful of fresh coriander and the zest of half a lime. And blend away with a few glugs of veggie oil. The fragrance of this is going to blow you away!

Once you have your spicy paste - this is going to form the base of the curry - warm it in a large pan (the largest you have!) and add to it half a chopped large white onion and about 250g of halved new potatoes. This would be the point that you would add any meat or fish to it if you wanted.

Pour in 1, 400ml can of light coconut milk, and 3/4 of a can of water. Then add 2tbsp of tamarind paste, 2tbsp of soy sauce and 1tbsp of Palm sugar (you can use brown sugar if that's easier). 

Bring it to the boil and allow to simmer for about 30mins to let the potatoes cook through.

Then a couple of minutes before you're ready to serve add the silken tofu cut into 2cm cubes and about 200g of sugarsnap peas (basically one packet). Only cook these for a few minutes so they keep their snap!

Finally add the juice of half a lime and taste - season to your liking!

And then serve up your hearty, spicy, piping hot curry along with fluffy white rice, and wedges of squash. 

Sprinkle over some fresh coriander and then simply sit back, relax and tuck in. 

Initially I did think this was all a bit cumbersome, especially all that toasting and then grinding and then blending of the spices (and on a Monday night!). BUT ... it was so delicious ... Jamie definitely proved yet again he knows what he's doing (don't know why I ever doubted that man!).

I imagine that you can choose whatever vegetables you want to add to your curry, all that's important for this is that spicy paste. Let me know what variations you enjoy!

Happy cooking!

Read More »

'Tis The Season For Charitable Gifting

Haven't decided what you're going to gift your mum, dad, siblings, friends, special someone yet?

Well no need to look any further! I have the answer right here for you!

The David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust!

(Well OK, not the entire wildlife trust itself ... but read on and I'll explain)

Poaching has reached crisis level worldwide. And especially in Kenya where it is predicted that if it continues at its current rate, the African Elephant will be extinct in the wild in less than 10 years. And its even sooner for the Black Rhinos. (Not least because of the silly aristocrats that you'll have read about recently in the news that think its OK to slaughter 20 elephants as a birthday treat! I was so appalled when I read that! Anyway, rant over.)

2 Christmases ago, I was back home in Nairobi spending some R&R time with my family, and we went on a day trip to the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust Elephant Orphanage.

Everytime I visit Nairobi, I try to make it to this place, so I can witness such humanity first-hand and donate a little extra to help these wonderful people do their incredible work. And this year I'll be donating a bit more and fostering an elephant-orphan.

Have a look at a few of my snaps from the last time I visited these hungry babies at meal time! 

Did someone say lunch? ... Charge!!!

Mud's good for wrinkles didn't you know?

Chug chug chug:

The DSWT was founded in 1977 by Dame Daphne Sheldrick, in honour of her late husband David Sheldrick who was a renowned conservationist and founding Warden of Tsavo East National Park, home to the majority of Kenya's elephant population.

Its mission statement reads: "The David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust embraces all measures that compliment the conservation, preservation and protection of wildlife. These include anti-poaching, safe guarding the natural environment, enhancing community awareness, addressing animal welfare issues, providing veterinary assistance to animals in need, rescuing and hand rearing elephant and rhino orphans, along with other species that can ultimately enjoy a quality of life in wild terms when grown."

At the core of its work, is the world renowned Orphans' Project. Through this, the DSWT has hand-raised more than 150 baby elephants and 10 baby black rhinos and reintegrated them back into the wild. All of this has been part of the battle against the world's quickly diminishing wild elephant and rhino populations, second to the threat of poaching and loss of habitat.

Not only do they save orphaned baby elephants and rhinos from otherwise unavoidable death without their mothers, the DSWT do considerable work treating injured wild animals, habitat conservation and are hugely involved with de-snaring and anti-poaching projects too.

So enough of me praising this organisation! Watch this short clip, and it'll tell you everything you need to know.

So, for Christmas this year, forget about that extra bottle of Chanel No. 5 or that pair of shoes that you don't really need, and do something GREAT with your money...

Donate to the DSWT and be part of the fight to protect these magnificent creatures.

You can donate here. 

Many thanks, and Merry Christmas/Happy Chanukah/Have a lovely festive season!

Read More »

Family Fun

This weekend my mum pulled off something special!

DISCLAIMER THOUGH ...

*We all helped ... a bit...*

My smartypants mother has finally completed her PhD! Insane or what?!

And so, we thought it was about time we got as much of our family together for a little celebration.

After a day of putting together quite a feast in the kitchen, we shared cuddles, bubbles, laughs and lots of love.

This variation of roast potatoes was a veggie version of a recent recipe in The Times magazine! 

So easy - slice potatoes as if you're making dauphinoise, Mix in a large bowl with melted butter (instead of duck fat as per The Times), salt, pepper and oregano (we used rosemary though!) and bake for 1hr 15mins at 200 degrees. 

Easy peasy and hands down the best roast potatoes I've had in a while!

We had two types of pasta going! We figured this was a safe bet, as everyone loves pasta! 

You can't go wrong with Spaghetti Napolitana! Finger kissingly bellissima just like the Italians (or in our case Indians) do it!

And then for the (slightly) more adventurous there was baked Rigatoni with spinach and green peppers in a cream sauce and a baked cheese topping...carb overload, cheese overload = absolutely divine!

And then what happened next was great ... my little sister got involved and got her hands stuck in making desert. Delicious apple crumble with custard and pouring caramel sauce. This literally vanished as soon as I put it down on the table so there are no photos of the finished product! Testament to just how indulgent it was!

Clearly our theme was carbs, carbs and more carbs! But I mean, who's complaining? Right?!

Once we got all the prep underway and cooking, it was time for all the family to pile in!

And I got to play with the camera - I'm not very good at taking photos yet, it seems my hands are not very steady, and I've not quite worked out how to adjust the shutter speed for those action shots!

But anyway here's a selection of the less blurry shots!

My dad and his aunt - apparently this is their first ever photo together! Even though they've lived with each other for so many years!! (And you can just see me clicking the photo in the mirror!)

My dad's cousin/brother/best friend ever! These two grew up together in Mombasa, and from the stories were unbelievably naughty. They pulled off some pretty great stunts in their time including moving a neighbour's bed from his bedroom to his flat roof and then lurking about laughing while they saw him running around searching for it! (Not sure I'd have got away with doing anything remotely as cheeky as a child!)

My dad's aunty and uncle, and my cousin brother - budding psychiatrist Rajiv!

My aunty and cousin with the newest family member Aidan!

My mum being congratulated by my aunty Naina!

And my mum's bestie tucking into dinner! We had a bit of a production line going with all that food!

My talented little sister who clearly had a big appetite on the weekend with the size of that plate!

But the star of the show was our newest addition - here again with his yummy mummy!

What I love about our family is that everyone just gets stuck in, makes some noise and has a good time! There are no formalities with us and its a more the merrier kind of attitude.

I love family time. They're my favourite dinner party guests and I can't wait till we have them all over again!

P.s. try out those potatoes - they look great when they come out of the oven with a crispy top - and they're definitely a crowd pleaser!

Read More »