Aubergine, Pepper salad

I'm sitting at the airport at the moment and wondering how things have changed, how life has moved on and even what I enjoy has changed. The term salad used to evoke a sense of something you had to do in order to get to the good stuff or something that only herbivores would eat. It also evoked feelings of annoyance because it was coupled with diet and suffering and those crappy glomail adverts.

As I embarked on my life-style change, I started looking at some vegetables/fruit differently and after I went to Morocco and tasted some of the most amazing salads without a leaf in site. The other thing is that I also went through a stage where I could not eat any more meat, so I just felt like eating vegetables only.

I usually post pictures of some of my dishes on Instagram. My follower's on that platform would request a recipe to the salad. I found this request weird because you just put stuff together and voila salad! but I changed my thinking to realise this is like making any other dish and the salad is the end result.

This post is the start of a departure from the "main-course" type meals that I have been blogging so far. I do not have a step by step picture account but with a salad one picture is enough to convey the idea.

I hope you enjoy the directional change.

Ingredients
1 large aubergine
1 yellow bell pepper
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 Avocado
2 Tbsp feta
10cm long piece of cucumber
Pepper

Method
Dice aubergine and yellow bell pepper, mix with olive oil and place in air-fryer for 30mins
Turn/mix the aubergine/pepper once after 20mins in air-fryer
Remove aubergine/pepper and let cool (15mins)
Dice up avocado and cucumber and place on aubergine/pepper
Sprinkle feta
Grind some black pepper and add additional olive oil for taste

Enjoy!

Please give feedback if you tried and enjoyed the recipe.

Mushroom Cupcakes

Well well well, how lazy have I become!, posts being few and far between. I now realise putting a post at a specific time very week consistently is a very challenging undertaking and I respect people who do it, very much.

I have made a mid-year resolution to try and blog consistently, maybe once or twice a week. Project LOL has developed nicely and I have not posted in 4 months in that direction.......soon.

This recipe was born from what is left in the fridge category. This type or recipe might have already been around but I did think this up on my own. The originality might be in doubt but the thought process shouldn't. This recipe made quite a wonderful breakfast.

Ingredients:

1. 5 Portobello Mushrooms (real big curly beasts, that create a "cuplike" centre)
2. 2 cloves garlic (crushed and diced)
3. 2 Tbsp Olive oil
4. 2 eggs
5. 1 handful coriander (dandhia/dania/dhania)
6. 1/2 tsp crushed pepper
7. 2 Tbsp Feta (Approximate)

Method:

1. Pre-heat oven to 220 degree C
2. Place mushrooms on baking tray, garlic and brush olive oil on mushrooms
3. place mushrooms in oven
4. Insert eggs, diced coriander, pepper in bowl and whisk/beat until you get a running mixture
5. Once mushrooms give a nice cooked smell (10mins), remove from oven and increase oven to grill
6. Insert mixture into mushroom "cup" and sprinkler feta on top
7. Place mushrooms back into oven
8. Watch until top of mushroom becomes slightly crisped
9. Remove from oven and enjoy!

Beef Potjie and potjie event

You might remember from a previous post where I prepared a springbok potjie. Today is also a potjie recipe but it is very easy. What I would like to convey in addition to the meal recipe is an event "recipe". The event in this case is a potjie event.

As with most of my posts this begins with a little rant. I remember my mom going through a lot of effort and stress preparing for the arrival of guests for a meal and/or stay over. Once the guest arrived the entire time would be lots of fun and some of my best memories are from those occasions. In a way it feeds the notion great reward comes with hard work. I recently witnessed this "pre-event stress" and this time tried to argue that all this effort was unnecessary. The general reply was "what would people think off me". This response is also a core problem with people hitting the gym and starving themselves trying to look "good" based on what people "expect", another rant for another time......the vanity effect.

The point I was making is that generally people visit because they want to experience your company, robust debate, catch up, plan, partake in good fortune (baby, wedding), just have fun etc. You as a person or couple or family already bring the main ingredients of a good time, the snacks or meal which causes the major amount of stress is not even discussed or there is a passing comment, "compliments to the chef" which takes all of 1% of the total face to face/event time. These points can be debated but essentially life is too short to sweat the little stuff. Question, " How many people rave about the meat/salad/décor at a braai/barbeque?"..........huh?............I hope my point is made!

Potjie Event Recipe

• Rule 1: Decide on the fly what to place in the potjie and buy those raw ingredients beforehand eg: beef, carrots, oil, potatoes, chicken etc (Marco-ingredients)
• Rule 2: Start fire when guests arrive. I have attached some pictures below on how I start a fire, its clean and takes advantage of the fire's abilities to spread (bush veld fires is an example, little human intervention), this takes about 1 to 1.5 hrs before the heat is raging.

Step 1: Place charcoal (not briquettes) into braai, place blitz on charcoal (I used a old potjie as my braai stand) 

Step 2: Light blitz

Step 3: Let blitz burn out

Step 4: Place potjie on heat source (The fire will spread over time on its own)

• Rule 3: Prepare Potjie with guests (Refer to recipe below)
• Rule 4: Insert Potjie onto fire (weather raging or not)
• Rule 5: Decide on drinks and/or snacks and go pick it up (Generally I offer, cold water, biltong (Jerky) and nuts, normal snacks I have at home) 
• Rule 6: Sit around and chat, throw a ball (of any shape) with the kids/ friends, jump in the pool or whatever the guests came over for, look at the baby, wedding photos, movies (Lord of the rings marathon with Potjie.....what an idea!!)
• Rule 7: Do not disturb potjie until about 3 to 4 hours in, and check if it ready.
• Rule 8:Dish, Eat, continue conversation and have fun.
• Rule 9: Keep dishes to a minimum, hence I enjoy disposable plates and eat with my hands

I know I call them "RULES" they are more suggestions but this process combines the prep and guest visit into one. Also the other plus side is that your guests do not feel inadequate (Unless they are soulless mother fathers) because of your pre-event prep. It is just loads of fun. On to the recipe!

Ingredients:
3 cloves garlic
2 Tbsp ginger
4 Tbsp coconut oil
2 tsp salt
2 tsp pepper
3 cardamom
1 stick cinnamon
1-2kg beef
2 onion
2 tomatoes
4 sprigs tyme and rosemary
Green beans and carrot (This is your choice and depended on space in potjie)
Sprinkle of salt for end

Method:
Liquidise garlic, ginger, 1 Tbsp coconut oil, salt, pepper, cardamom, cinnamon
Marinate beef in paste from above step
Insert 3 Tbsp coconut oil into pot
Insert onions cut into blocks
Insert beef
Liquidise and insert tomatoes
Tie rosemary and type into bunch and insert into pot
Place green beans and carrots
Sprinkle salt at the end
NB: The prep is layered and to not disturb the potjie with spoon in the middle of the cooking time
Cover and place potjie onto fire
Cook for 2-4 hours depending on potjie depth and intensity of fire
Dish and enjoy!

Spinach - slaw

Spinach......the coolest thing about spinach growing up was popeye. This leafy vegetable has been getting a hard time since most of us were juniors. It might have even been classed in the same realm as broccoli. Personally I enjoyed a creamy spinach but the cream part is generally considered unhealthy. One of my good friends from a town called Kathu (yes there is a town by that name in SA), showed me a really nice white sauce and I might place it on this blog in the future with her blessing.

Anyhow almost all the dishes that I have been inserting into this blog have mostly been mains. This dish can be eaten as a main but generally makes a good side. The thing I do not enjoy about spinach is that it takes quite abit time to process the leaf and once you cook it the output is very little relative to the effort. The raw taste is rather bitter and generally people of the sub-continent persuasion will curry it.

What I like about this recipe is that it is quite quick to make, volume-ous, maintains a small crunch and compliments protein mains quite well if needed.

The ingredients can be adjusted to the desired feel and taste

Ingredients:
1 bunch of spinach (a bunch is such an arbitrary measurement, since the bunch "size" is determined by the grocer. "my grocer is better than yours?")
1 handful macadamia nuts (I just had these at home, much cheaper than the other types of nuts, I suppose it could work with other nuts. A peanut is a legume, not a nut nut)
5 Tbsp Olive oil
5 Tbsp Greek Yoghurt
2 cloves garlic

Method:
Remove spinach leaf from stork
Place leaves (obviously after it have been washed), macadamia nuts, olive oil, yoghurt and garlic into blender (food processor)
Blend to desired consistency
You can add in salt if you feel the taste is too natural

Voila and enjoy!