I’m so glad that exams are finally over! My final exam was on Friday, and on Saturday I thought I’d be feeling really good, but in actual fact, I didn’t. I’ve done really well with my coursework, and was desperately hoping to get a first, which I have! However, my exams have really brought my marks down. Even though I studied hard, it got to a point where even if you know everything on the lecture slides and the stuff we covered throughout the year, none of us could answer the questions on the papers because we just didn’t cover them! Quite infuriating! Anyway, Ed came and stayed the night on Saturday, and we played badminton. The on Sunday, we went to our tennis club’s open day, where it was the busiest I’ve ever seen it! It’s quite rainy today, but luckily yesterday the weather held out and it turned out to be a pleasant day.

For my family today, I made the kefta tagine. In Morocco, Tim and I had kefta, but not in a tagine with eggs quite like this. When I looked the at the recipe, the photos looked really nice, but I thought it as just gonna be a sort of bolognaise sauce and didn’t really think it’d be too nice with rice. But it turned out ok actually! Would probably go just as well with pasta!

Below you can see some pictures of some of the food we had with the Moroccan flat bread. I never took a picture of the bread, but fortunately it managed to sneak its way into some of our pictures. I also didn’t take a photo of the kofta we ate that one time… The top left picture is one of the only times we ate pasta, and the top right was in Tangier, the day we left for Madrid airport.

I also made some Moroccan flat bread, which they have everywhere in Morocco, and it turned out to be just like it (which I was surprised about, because the last time I made bread it was a hard rock of something completely inedible)! I was pretty pleased, and I love fresh bread from the oven, when it’s warm and smells of yeast.

Moroccan Flatbread
Adapted from: About Moroccan Food
Makes 2 loaves

Ingredients
• 4 x cups plain white flour
• 2 tsp salt
• 2 tsp sugar
• 1 x sachet dried yeast (7g)
• 1 ¼ cups warm water
• 4 x tbsp olive oil
• extra flour

Preparation
Prepare a baking sheet with grease-proof paper, and 2 tbsps olive oil. Sieve the flour in a large bowl, and add the salt and sugar. Make a well in the centre, and add the yeast, 2 tbsps olive oil and water into the centre. Mix together, and knead on a floured surface for 10 minutes. Make sure that the dough is soft yet firm, but not sticky to the touch.
Split the dough into two, and form into balls. Place on the baking tray and cover with wet kitchen roll for 10 minutes.
Then, use your hand to flatten the dough out into about ½” thick discs, and score two lines through the dough in a cross formation. Cover with the wet kitchen roll for an hour.
The pop them into an oven preheated to 180◦C for 30-35 minutes.

Moroccan Kefta Mkaouara
Adapted from: Almost Bourdain
Serves 4-5

Ingredients
• 2 tbsps oil
• 500g minced beef (or lamb)
• 1 tsp paprika
• 2 tbsp dried parsley
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• 1 x onion, diced
• 2 x garlic cloves, diced/minced
• 2 x 400g tins of chopped tomatoes
• A small handful of fresh corianders leaves and finely chopped stalks
• 4 x eggs

Preparation
Pop the minced beef (or lamb), parsley and ½ tsp paprika into the bowl, and a good shake of salt and pepper. Use your (dampened) hands to mix it all together, and form tight little balls; I got 26.

Heat 2 tbsp oil in an oven-proof dish over the stove, and brown the meatballs all over. Remove them with a slotted spoon and put them on a plate.
Add the diced onion and garlic into the remaining oil and fry until they start to turn brown. Add ½ tsp paprika, the coriander stalks and a few leaves and the tinned tomatoes (with another shake of salt and pepper). Simmer for 10 minutes before adding the meatballs
Bring to the boil, and cover, leaving to simmer for 15-20 minutes.Preheat oven to 200◦C.
Crack four eggs onto the top of the dish, and pop, covered, into the oven for abotu 10 minutes (or until the eggs have just cooked).
Serve with salad, the remaining coriander leaves, soft, fluffy rice, and khobz!

Bon Appétit!!

Yesterday was Dan‘s birthday. He came over for a birthday meal, and then we surprised him with a lovely chocolate cake! I know that a curry isn’t particularly a special meal, but I thought that one made from scratch, along with naan bread, would be a nice effort for any occasion!

This curry was actually a really nice level of spiciness. I like a bit of heat, but I find that too much just overpowers and destroys the rest of the flavours in the dish. This was perfect. There was spice, but you could still taste the other flavours. However, the curry looked a little anaemic; so I improvised and added some turmeric to make it a deeper colour of yellow.

This was also a nice opportunity for me to make some naan bread! The original recipe stated that you should stick the naan with water to the pan, and then turn it upside down to expose the top of the bread to the flame to create those large blister-type bubbles on top. But I didn’t want to create a mess, and decided to play it safe. They came out more like pancakes…but they still looked quite nice and people always appreciate when you’ve gone to extra lengths. The dough however, was extremely sticky (which I believe is what naan bread dough is supposed to be like), so next time I’ll try it the way the original recipe stated.

We served this curry with a really nice salad; with olives, fresh strawberries and hard-boiled eggs. My mum makes such amazing and colourful salads. And this curry definitely thickens up the next day!

Well, I hope you enjoy making this beautiful and aromatic dish as much as I did! I absolutely love cooking for others, because for me it’s not only nice to see people enjoy and compliment something you’ve worked hard on, but it’s also a way to share time together and bond. Food is something that everyone has in common, which is most probably why going out for a meal is always something people find a socially fun thing to do.

Chicken Korma
Adapted from: Jamie’s Ministry of Food, pages 74 & 99
Serves 6

Ingredients
For the curry paste:
• 1 tbsp walnut oil
• ½ tsp cayenne pepper
• 1 tsp garam masala
• ½ tsp sea salt
• 1 tbsp tomato purée
• 5 tbsp desiccated coconut
• 2 tbsp ground almonds
• 2 tbsp dried coriander leaves
• 2 x cloves garlic
• ~20g fresh root ginger
• 1½ fresh green chillies

For the curry:
• 800g diced chicken (or chicken breasts, thighs or legs)
• ~40g fresh root ginger
• 2 x onions
• a large bunch of fresh coriander
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tsp butter
• 1 x drained can of chickpeas
• 1 x 400ml can of coconut milk
• curry paste (as made above)
• turmeric (optional)
• enough natural yoghurt for a large dollop each
• 1 x lemon
• enough rice for 6

Preparation
For the curry paste:
Pop the cumin and mustard seeds into a frying pan, and put on high heat. Don’t add any oil, but leave the seeds on high heat until you can smell their wonderful aroma and you can hear them start to crack. Don’t leave it for any longer though, otherwise they’ll shoot out all over the place.

Finely peel and chop the ginger and garlic cloves. Not forgetting to cut the chilli, too. Pop that, along with the toasted seeds, into a small blender. Then add the rest of the ingredients to a blender, then whiz everything together until it’s a nicely ground paste.

For the curry:
Peel and finely cut the garlic along with the onions. Remove the leaves from the coriander and set aside for garnishing later, and finely chop the stalks.

Put a large casserole dish on high heat and throw in 1 tbsp olive oil. Add the chicken and brown it all over, then toss in the onions, ginger and coriander stalks. Add 1 tsp butter and cook until the onions are soft, but not browned.

Then, add the curry paste, the coconut milk and the drained chickpeas. Fill up half of the coconut milk tin with water and mix that into the curry, too. Bring the mix to the boil, and then leave to simmer for 45 minutes. If the curry looks a little pale, add some turmeric until you’re satisfied with it’s colour.

In the meantime, cook the rice! And when that’s all ready, serve with a fresh wedge of lemon, a dollop of yoghurt and a sprinkle of coriander leaves.

And for the naan…

Homemade Naan Bread (Pancake Style)
Adapted from: Rasa Malaysia
Makes 6

Ingredients
• 2 cups (330g) plain flour
• ¾ tsp baking powder
• ¾ tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 1 tsp sugar
• ¾ tsp salt
• ½ tsp olive oil
• ½ cup (150g) yoghurt
• ½ cup (125ml) warm milk
• butter for brushing
• coriander, lemon, garlic, coconut, black peppercorns (for the type of naan you want)

Preparation
Sieve the flour into a large bowl, and add the baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, sugar and salt.

Form a well in the centre, and add the oil and half of the milk. Then mix together and add the rest of the milk slowly, until a dough is formed that’s slightly sticky to touch, but leaves an indent when you press it.

Knead the dough for 5-7 minutes, and then cover and keep in a warm place for 2 hours.

Separate your naan into six balls (it will be hard as the dough is sticky wet your hands to make it slightly easier).

Then, heat a non-stick pan on high, and use a brush to brush a little butter to thinly cover the surface.

Stretch out one of your naan balls into an oval, and place it in the skillet/wok. After it has cooked on the bottom, use a spatula to flip it over, and press down on the naan to make it thinner and to spread it out, so as much of the dough is cooked as possible. This is similar to the technique I used for making banana pancakes.

Continue to cook on both sides until they’re slightly brown and crispy.

Do this with the other 5 balls, and set aside to cool. Then, you can reheat in the oven at 200°C for 5-10 minutes (or under the grill for a few minutes) with a sprinkling of water when you’re ready to serve them with your curry!

Enjoy your meal.

I love bananas, and I love bread, so why not combine it to make beautiful banana bread? This bread is lovely for breakfast toasted or untoasted with peanut butter, dulce de leche or my favourite, Nutella. However, make sure you spread it thinly! The banana taste is quite subtle and you’ll kill it with too much spread. As a result, it’s even nice on its own, and I would take slices with my into uni to have with a cup of tea for lunch and for snacks.

The smell of this bread when it’s in the oven fills the kitchen with such a sweet scent, everyone will want a piece by the time it’s been baked. It smells wonderful and tastes absolutely scrumptious when it’s eaten straight out of the oven.

Banana bread smells wonderful and tastes amazing when it’s fresh and warm, straight from the oven.

I originally made a loaf with half of the measurements that I’ve given in the recipe; it didn’t rise too much, and was pretty pathetic looking. Therefore, I doubled the recipe to yield twice as much, as I found it a lot easier to bake with more dough because 1) it looks more impressive, and 2) it seems to rise a little more.

The things with this recipe, is that it doesn’t have to be banana and raisin, you can replace the raisins with other dried fruits, chocolate chips, nuts, or anything you wish! You could perhaps also add spices and flavourings of choice, such as cinnamon and vanilla essence.

Banana and Raisin Loaf
Adapted from: Food For Torte
Makes 18 scrumptious slices, but the recipe can easily be halved

Ingredients
• 370g plain flour
• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• ½ tsp baking powder
• 75g butter
• 75g low-fat vanilla yoghurt
• 130g sugar (this can always be reduced or substituted with low-calorie Hermesetas sweetener)
• 4 x eggs
• 5/6 bananas, preferably overripe
• 50-60g raisins (or: walnuts dried fruits, chocolate chips, etc.)
• 1 tsp butter to grease

Preparation
Chop the bananas up into a bowl, and mash the bananas with a fork or a potato masher.
Preheat the oven to 180◦C.
Melt the butter in the microwave and mix in the sugar.
Then sift in the flour, bicarboante of soda and baking powder, and mix.
Beat in one egg at a time, and then fold in the bananas and raisins (and whatever other ingredient of choice).
Grease a loaf tin using a sheet of kitchen roll and a little butter.
Spread the batter into the tin, and try to even out the top. Bake for about an hour, or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean (make sure that you don’t mistake batter for banana!).

Enjoy.