Mixed Vegetable Bhaji

Onion Bhajis are quite popular as a snack or appetiser item in the UK. Like most Indian dishes that could be found in the west, I'm not really sure about the authenticity of the recipes used but they taste great :-)
I am taking more liberty with the bhaji, adding more vegetables in the mix to make these crisp, mildly-spiced fritters. I hope my Indian friends won't mind...
These are best made with chickpea flour (gram flour, chana besan). I suppose plain flour could be substituted but one would miss out on the sublte, nutty, chick pea flavour.

Mixed Vegetable Bhaji

2 cups chickpea flour
1 cup thinly sliced brown onion
1 cup julienned sweet potato
1/2 cup julienned zucchini
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp turmeric
salt
cold water
oil for frying

1 tsp mint leaves, chopped finely
1/2 cup natural yogurt

In a bowl, mix together the flour and spices. Add the vegetables and mix well. If the batter is too dry, add some cold water, a tablespoon at a time. You do not want a runny batter, it should be thick enough to make patties out of.
Season with salt. Take a tablespoon of the batter at a time, form into balls and flatten with your palms to form patties.

Heat up the oil and deep-fry the patties until crisp. Let the fritters sit on paper towels prior to serving.

In a small bowl, pour the mint leaves into the yogurt and stir. Serve the bhajis with this dip.

Blue-Eye Cod with Cherry Tomato Stew

Fish. I just don't cook it enough. I love it but my creativity with fish usually stops at baked salmon. Having found a fish I love will definitely change this, though. Blue-eye cod (Trevalla) is firm, delicately-flavoured and just lends itself to so many ways of preparing.

Blue-eyes are huge for eating fish. The four cutlets I picked up from the fish monger weighed almost 1.6kilos. That's 400g of succulent fish meat in the photo above. I'd normally stay away from large fish as I haven't really got the knack for preparing them. Tuna and swordfish seem to always turn out too dry, obviously from overcooking. However, Blue eye was easy to get perfectly crisp on the outside yet moist and tender on the inside.

I was going to prepare this simply fried with a bit of tartare sauce on the side but the husband came home with an interesting loot after a fishing trip on the river. No, he didn't manage to bag a decent catch (the bream were too small and had to be tossed back in) but his fishing buddies sent him home with a bucket of beautiful, juicy cherry tomatoes and a few fresh bay leaves from their garden. These went nicely into a ratatouille-style vegetable stew that beautifully-complemented the fish.


Blue-Eye Cod with Cherry Tomato Stew
serves four

olive oil
1 fennel bulb, sliced thinly
1 medium brown onion, sliced
1/2 tsp minced garlic
1/2 c very ripe cherry tomatoes, chopped finely
4 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 Tbsp sugar
3 bay leaves, torn
1 yellow capsicum, sliced thinly
1 cup cherry tomatoes
1 Tbsp chopped flat-leaf parsley

2 x 400g Blue-eye cutlets
1/2 Tbsp tumeric (optional)
1/2 c flour
salt and pepper

To prepare the vegetables, heat up the olive oil in the pan and toss in the fennel and onions.
Cook until soft. Add the garlic, chopped tomatoes, balsamic vinegar, sugar. Mix around until the tomatoes are soft. Throw in the bay leaf and cover with the heat on low. Simmer until the sauce has thickened up.
In the last few minutes of cooking, add the capsicum and cherry tomatoes. Mix around until thoroughly heated up. Do not let the tomatoes get overcooked. Season with salt and pepper and keep warm.

In the meantime, lightly dredge the fish cutlets in a mix of flour, tumeric (if using), salt and pepper. Fry on both sides until golden and the outsides are crisp.

Serve with the tomatoes and capsicum stew. Garnish with flat-leaf parsley.

Lamb Shank and Lentil Stew

Old friends from Zurich were on a flying visit to Sydney last week and we were lucky enough that they had time to pop over for dinner. Aaahh, it was good to reminisce.
Over some lovely wine and soft candle light, we talked about cushy jobs and corporate jollies, drinking Weissbier and getting gas, ski trips and some cranky swish Swiss, dwarves (don't ask!) and weddings. Which are all in the past.

As if on cue, one of the four-year olds in the next room screams which brought all three sets of parents running. Nothing serious, it was just your run-of-the mill pre-schooler fight on whose turn it was with the Hula hoop/Charlie and Lola book/kitchen knife. And just like that, we were jolted back to the present. Beer-brain has been replaced by nappy-brain. Mortgages, jobs, kiddy tantrums, petrol prices....
Yet, everyone is happy and content. Which is what counts.

When I found out that my friends were visiting, I got concious of the fact that I am several kilos heavier than when they saw me last. The vain person in me wanted to make it out as though it was the new look I was going for- you know, the curvy Nigella Lawson-sort of domestic goddess...'Dahhling, let me pop one more of those gorgeous deep-fried chocolate eclairs in my mouth'
Seriously, I just wanted to give my friends a taste of a flavourful, rustic, home-cooked meal that they must be missing while travelling. Nigella's creations, though mostly 'celery-challenged' (as one journalist puts it), are downright comforting and would fit the bill nicely.
One of the things I made for the night was adapted from Nigella Lawson's Aromatic Lamb-Shank Stew recipe.
I thought the use of soy sauce in a (non-Asian) stew was a bit dubious but I loved the resulting flavour. I also had some Chermoula on hand and adding it packed a bit more complex punch.

Lamb Shank and Lentil Stew

olive oil
6 pcs lamb shanks
1/2 c finely chopped onion
1tsp minced garlic
1tsp minced ginger
1Tbsp Turmeric
1 Tbsp chermoula
1 tsp cinnamon
3 Tbsp Marsala wine
1 Tbsp soy sauce
3 Tbsp honey
water
1/2 c lentils (I used split mung bean)
salt and pepper to taste

Heat up some olive oil in a dutch oven/cocotte and brown the lamb shanks. Take the lamb shanks out and drain on absorbent paper.
In the same oil, cook the onion and garlic until soft. Then add the ginger, tumeric, chermoula and cinnamon. Stir around for a minute or so but do not let the spices burn. Add the Marsala and soy sauce and stir until it starts bubbling up. Stir in the honey.
Put the lamb shanks back in the pot and then cover in cold water (around 4 cups).
Let it get to boil and then turn the heat down to low. Simmer covered for approx 1 hour, or until the meat is tender.
Add the lentils and simmer uncovered for a further 20mins. Season with salt and pepper.

*I like to cook this stew in advance and then skim off the fat after it has been sitting in the fridge overnight. The flavours develop better upon re-heating.

** I served this with spinach rice. I sauteed the spinach in butter and cardamom and mixed in some cooked rice then topped with almond slivers. Next time, I will go back to serving this with polenta. I prefer something a bit 'more bland' as a backdrop for the various flavours.