A Craving for Curry.

It’s cold and rainy and what could you want more than to cozy up on the couch with a delicious bowl of fragrant and spicy prawn curry.  Full of flavour and packed with flavourful spices like cumin, coriander, cinnamon, cardamom and turmeric, this curry is not only aromatic but also wonderfully healthy.  Adding curry leaves brings a signature South Indian flavour to the dish. The tanginess of tamarind and fresh lime mixes well with the creamy coconut sauce.  Finally, the addition of fresh prawns lends a light touch to this curry and even makes it a good summer dish. 

Additional garnishes like fresh coriander, cucumber slices, pappadums and steamed basmati rice make this a complete meal. Try out my recipe for this fragrant prawn curry tonight!

The pictures and recipe posted here are from Artisan Magazine, a collaboration between myself and two friends/colleagues. We want to share and tell stories that inspire us and bring out the artisanal side of life.  Whether an interesting do-it-yourself project, a food story and recipes, an interview with talented artisans or a peek inside beautiful studios and locations – the emphasis is on highlighting the simplicity and beauty of ‘local’, small-scale artisans creating meaning through their work.

I’d love for all of you - my friendly readers - to check out the magazine here – you can download it for free and read a number of mouthwatering recipes from various issues. Also feel free to check out our website, spread the word and like/share us on facebook to enter into a great giveaway! Thanks friends! 

Photo Credits: Artisan Magazine Issue 1 (Art Direction: Leigh Ann Thomas, Photography: Natalie Hunfalvay Styling/Recipe: Bhavani Konings)

A memorable muffin.

There is a cafe in an area of Toronto called Kensington Market.  When I lived there I used to spend my Saturdays getting a deliciously hot and strong cappuccino and walking from stall to stall to see the various fruits and vegetables grocers had to offer.  My morning was finished with a snack or lunch at an amazing vegan food spot called Urban Herbivore.
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Now this is the type of cafe I would want to run -- if I wanted to run a cafe, that is.  The place works because it offers a simple and fresh menu, often using overlooked ingredients that add that perfect little touch.  They even make their own bread for sandwiches -- it's those little details that make a place like this so memorable.

One of my favourite items from this cafe is a sweet potato muffin.  This is a serious muffin -- not one of those cake-like, sweet and fatty offerings drummed up by many bakeries and cafes.  In addition to using sweet potatoes, these muffins have whole grains and just enough sweetness.

This is my version of their muffin -- sweet potatoes, ripe bananas, sweet crimson raisins, wholegrain spelt oats, wholemeal flour, olive oil and agave syrup.  Definitely try this recipe out and if you're ever in Toronto, definitely visit Urban Herbivore - you won't be disappointed!

*side note: this blog does not advertise -- I am not paid to write about or recommend any of the restaurants or food products mentioned here -- I simply provide my opinion or take on things.

sweet potato muffins**
makes 12 muffins

1 cup spelt oats

1/4 cup crimson raisins (or any other kind)

2 ripe bananas, mashed 1/3 cup olive oil
1 egg, lightly beaten 
1/4 cup dark agave syrup
1 and 1/2 cup wholemeal flour
1 and 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground cardamon
1 and 1/4 cup sweet potato, cubed, cooked and cooled

Preheat oven to 175 degrees C.
Place oats and raisins in a medium bowl and add enough boiling water to cover. Let soak about 10-15 minutes.  For wet ingredients, mix mashed bananas, olive oil, egg and agave syrup in a large bowl.  For the dry ingredients, place flour, baking soda and spices in a bowl and mix.  Strain soaked oats and raisins (rinse with cold water until cooled) and add to wet ingredients. Add dry ingredients to wet and mix carefully - don't over-mix!, then add in cooked sweet potatoes.  At this point if mixture is too dry, add either 1/4 cup yoghurt or 1/4 applesauce.

Place batter into muffin tin and bake about 30 minutes or until knife inserted comes out relatively clean (because you're using bananas you want to keep some moisture) Take out and let cool - serve with cream cheese - enjoy!

*note this is not a vegan muffin but if you want to make it so, just remove egg and replace with apple sauce.

Fruit & Nut...and a muffin.

Oh, and chocolate! You can't have fruits and nuts without a touch of chocolate.

This delicious combination of fruit, nut and chocolate came together to make these delicious banana and hazelnut muffins.  Perfect for the morning or any other time of the day, these muffins are exploding with banana flavour and a touch of spice.

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Sometimes muffins can be heavy and dense but using half flour/half hazelnut meal, ensured that these sweet little treats were kept light. In addition to the sweet ripe bananas, I added a touch of brown sugar, spices like mace and cinnamon and a necessary addition - chocolate! Not just any chocolate - these were pieces of dark hazelnut filled chocolate - the perfect pairing of fruit, nut - and chocolate. Try it out!

banana and hazelnut muffins
makes 12 muffins

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup hazelnut meal (if you can't find/make then use almond meal)
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 cup brown sugar
pinch sea salt
1/4 tsp ground mace
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
2 whole eggs
1/4 cup non-fragrant oil
2 medium ripe bananas, mashed
50g dark hazelnut chocolate, cut into pieces

Preheat oven to 175 degrees C. Line a 12-hole muffin tin with paper cases.
In a medium bowl sift dry ingredients - flour, hazelnut meal, baking powder, sugar and salt. Keep aside.
In another bowl, beat eggs lightly and mix in oil and mashed bananas. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and mix just until incorporated - don't overmix! Then mix through pieces of hazelnut chocolate.
Spoon mix into cases and bake for about 20 minutes. Take out and let cool. Enjoy!

Eat your veggies

This morning I had my favourite combination for breakfast: a cup of hot coffee, a banana, and a delicious little muffin. Not a regular muffin but a pumpkin-carrot one with light orange glaze. OK – the glaze part doesn’t really sound like healthy breakfast but we are eating our veggies here, so no complaints!

A little foodie photography project

Dear friends I have something excitng to share with you.  A little while ago, my new blogger friend Aurelie at Pause Gourmande (a lovely French blog) asked me to participate in an interesting blogger project.  She was going to put together an online magazine and asked me to share a few photos and recipes.

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Here is the link to the magazine’s spring issue.  I think it looks great and that Aurelie did a fantastic job of turning this project into a beautiful magazine.  I love the compositon of her photographs and the light and subject is always gorgeous.

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The magazine and all the recipes (spiced chocolate date cakes and red wine braised lentils) are in French. I adore the French language and encourage you to try my recipes out! For those who don't read French – no worries – I’ve posted everything about the recipes below…

A common dessert here in Australia is sticky date pudding – a velvety rich date cake topped with a buttery rich caramel sauce. Not that I don’t love indulging in creamy, heavy desserts (they definitely have a place in my kitchen!), but the warm and sunny weather here often inspires me to make something lighter yet still rich and generous. These spiced chocolate cakes are moist and have a great natural sweetness provided by the dried dates. I use warming and fragrant spices like cinnamon, cardamom and ginger to add a kick to the subtle flavours of dark chocolate. This may sound a little heavy but these little bundt cakes require only a small amount of flour, which makes them moist, light and airy - just perfect for a lovely sunny day! Once cooked and cooled I keep them in the fridge because I love the texture of a cooled spongy cake. You can serve the cakes on their own, dusted with cocoa or with some vanilla whipped cream and/or ice cream. Try making them and you won’t be disappointed.

spiced chocolate date cakes 

recipe makes 4 smallish bundt cakes

*use organic ingredients where possible

180g dates (pitted)

280 ml water 

1 tsp baking soda

60g dark chocolate – broken into small pieces

60 g butter, softened

20g raw sugar

2 eggs

100g self raising flour (if using plain flour make sure to add baking powder as a raising agent)

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp ground ginger

½ tsp ground cardamom

pinch sea salt

Preheat oven to 160 degrees Celsius.

Place a small pot with dates and water on medium heat and bring to the boil.  Once at boiling point, turn off the heat, add baking soda and let sit 10 minutes to cool – then blend mixture until reaches puréed consistency and stir in chocolate pieces.  In the meantime, in a separate bowl beat butter and sugar until creamy, add in eggs one at a time until well incorporated.  Add date mixture to bowl and stir well.  Sift in flour, ground spices and pinch of sea salt. Pour thick batter into greased bundt moulds and bake on centre shelf in oven 30-40 minutes until knife inserted comes out clean.  Take out and let cool on racks. To finish dust cakes with dark cocoa powder and enjoy. 

Lentils are a common dish at my house – they are not only inexpensive but they are also wonderfully versatile and can carry lots of different flavours. A lot of Indian cooking is based on the use of lentils: it not only adds protein and heartiness to vegetarian dishes but also thickens soups and sauces. There are many varieties of lentils but one of my favourites (which actually isn't that common in Indian cooking) is the Puy lentil or French green lentil. Since puy lentils hold their shape during cooking, they keep their lovely toothsome texture. The small little discs of speckled green lentils are not only useful for salad type dishes but they are also beautiful to serve on a plate. The flavours in this dish aren’t complicated –  I sautéed onions, garlic and carrots, deglazed with red wine, used lots of fresh herbs like bay leaf, rosemary, thyme and basil and finished it with a splash of balsamic vinegar for an added richness and sweet tang. I served my lentils with sautéed chicory greens and pan fried halloumi cheese.

red wine braised lentils with fresh herbs

recipe serves 4

1-2 tbsp olive oil

½ red onion, finely chopped

1 carrot, peeled and finely chopped           

2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

3 fresh bay leaves

1 sprig rosemary

1 sprig thyme

1 cup Puy lentils, rinsed

½ cup red wine (I used a full bodied wine like Cabernet Sauvignon)

3 cups water or stock

sea salt and cracked black pepper

1-2 tbsp balsamic vinegar

1 cup fresh cherry tomatoes

sprinkle of dried chili

Place a Dutch oven or sauté pan with high edges on medium heat.  Once pan is hot, add oil and onions, carrots and garlic to sauté for 5 minutes. Add bay leaves, rosemary, thyme and lentils – stir for a few minutes.  Add red wine to deglaze pan and cook off alcohol – about 1-2 minutes.  Add 3 cups of water or stock and simmer until lentils are just cooked about 20-25 minutes.  Make sure to add more water if needed to finish cooking lentils.  Season lentils well with sea salt and pepper, add balsamic vinegar and stir 1-2 more minutes.  Once off the heat, add a little extra virgin olive oil and stir through fresh cherry tomatoes and a sprinkle of dried chili. 

Serve lentils on their own or with sautéed chicory and pan fried halloumi as I’ve done. Of course, this dish must be enjoyed with glass of delicious red wine.

Prime time for pears

It’s autumn in Sydney. The change in season has brought rainy days but also a change in the produce available. The fruits of the summer – mangoes and berries – have been replaced by apples, peaches and pears. Pears are the least expensive fruit at the moment so I buy a lot of them. What do you do with a kitchen full of pears, you ask? Try poaching them.

For some, poached pears may conjure up bad memories of old-fashioned desserts - overcooked and mushy fruits drowning in far too much sugary syrup. But don’t be fooled: poached fruit can be a light alternative to heavy and creamy desserts and it can be a beautiful dish to impress friends with at dinner parties.  

To add richness to an otherwise cheap dessert, use a delicious, dark red wine (a wine you would drink) and fresh, strongly scented spices like star anise, vanilla bean and whole green cardamom.

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When in season pears are already very sweet so I just add some honey to bring out their flavour, which also gives the perfect stickiness factor to enrich the dark red winey syrup. 

honey and wine spiced pears

serves 4

4 firm pears (use any type but I used Bartlett)

full bodied red wine* – use enough to cover pears (1/2 bottle or more)

1 tbsp organic honey

2 green cardamom pods – crushed

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 vanilla bean – scraped

1 star anise

Peel pears and place into small pot.  Cover pears with red wine (dilute with water if desired), add honey and spices.  Place pot onto medium heat and simmer pears until just soft or a knife inserts easily into flesh. Once cooked, keep poaching liquid in pot, remove pears and keep aside. Reduce poaching liquid until thick and syrupy (make sure to watch as it can burn).  Plate pears and pour a little syrup on top.  I served these alone but you could also serve with gelato/ice cream and/or biscuits. Enjoy.

*if using all wine is too strong for your taste, add some water to dilute