salad

Tabouleh For School… eh!

Last term at school I got roped into going into MissT’s class to talk about healthy food, where our food comes from and do a demonstration. So I cooked pizza from scratch and the children all made their own. It was great fun for the kids… and me! Although I think the cleaners are still finding bits of pizza dough in the carpet!

This term I got asked if I could give Dj’s class a simple recipe because they were working on following instructions. So the idea was that they would make something and then write down what went in it and how they did it.

I emailed the class teacher, Miss H, a recipe for Tobouleh as I though it was a simple recipe and it didn’t involve too much cooking… the thought of Dj and hot things just scares me!

The thing is, after they had made the Tabouleh at school I ended up with Kids and parents asking me for the recipe. So I thought I may as well put it on the blog because to be fair it is a great recipe. It’s healthy, a little goes a long way, it’s not time consuming and it’s great for Kids and adults pack-up.

Now this isn’t exactly how they made it at school. For one thing you use bulgar wheat in Tabouleh. At school they used couscous which is fine, it works well but I do recommend trying it with the cracked bulgar wheat. I prefer it so much more and it is a little more healthier.

Unfortunately I have no picture of the finished result. I will put one in at a later stage.

Tabouleh

500g Cracked Bulgar wheat

5 tablespoons oil (olive, sunflower or rapeseed)

1 medium red onion finely diced

2 cloves of garlic chopped

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1 teaspoon paprika

1 teaspoon of dried mint

1/2 teaspoon chilli powder (or more or less to suit your taste)

1 teaspoon salt

Good grind of black pepper

1 red pepper diced

A handful of frozen peas

600ml of hot stock (vegetable or chicken)

Juice of 1 lemon or a tablespoon of fresh

Some chopped fresh herbage if you have any (coriander or parsley work well)

Method

Gently heat the oil in a heavy bottomed saucepan and add the onion and garlic stir for a minute and then add the spices, dried mint and stir again. Add the red pepper, peas and seasoning to the pan and stir in. Now add the bulgar wheat and stir through to coat with the spices. Add the stock so that it is just above the level of the bulgar wheat. Cover the pan with a tight fitting lid or tinfoil and turn off the heat. After twenty minutes the bulgar wheat should have absorbed all the water and be ready. Before you serve it add the lemon juice and fresh herbs. It can be eaten straight away or left to cool and refrigerated to eat another time. It also freezes well if frozen in plastic containers.

So there you go! Easy. If the Kids of St T of C year 3 can follow it then you parents should have no problems!

Let me know how you get on!

Not All Pirates Eat Meat!

I was winding an old friend up a couple weeks ago who happens to be a Vegan, he also bears an uncanny resemblance to Jack Sparrow, especially when he gets the full costume on…come on, stop swooning ladies!

Anyway to make it up to him I promised I would put a post on the Blog that featured a Vegan recipe. So Steve… ahem, sorry, Captain Jack ‘A-Hoy mi seafarin’ shipmate. Shiver mi timbres an get ya cooking pot at the ready!”

Ok it might not be Salmagundi (every pirates favourite) but it is Vegan and it’s packed full of protein which sometimes can be lacking in a Vegan diet

‘Ome Made Houmous (Hummus to our friends over the pond…) with Pitta Bread & Turkish Salad

Houmous is dead easy to make and so much better than shop bought. My recipe makes a lot! It’s easy to halve or quarter the recipe though. Or you could freeze the extra. It will keep in the fridge for up to ten days providing its in a sealed container.

For the Houmous you will need:

500g dried chick peas soaked overnight (you can use canned)

1 jar Tahini (300g)

About 10 cloves of garlic (or more or less depending on your taste) chopped

Zest & juice of of two lemons

About 200ml olive oil or sunflower will work fine too

Plenty of slat and freshly ground black pepper

Ground paprika

To Make:

Drain and rinse your chickpeas. Place in a deep saucepan and cover well with water. bring to the boil and boil for ten minutes. Remove any scum that floats on the surface.

After your chickpeas have boiled for ten minutes, turn down to a simmer and cook for another 45 minutes or until tender.

Once cooked, drain and let the water evaporate from them while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.

Once your chickpeas have cooled a little mix all the ingredients, except the paprika, in a large bowl and put through a blender or food processor or if your a true pirate you can use a masher or the back of a fork, it will just end up a little more course. If the mixture is a little dry and thick you can add a little more oil or some cooled down boiled water.

Once your Houmous is ready put into a serving bowl and sprinkle with a little paprika.

For the Pitta Breads you will need:

(makes 8)

350g strong white bread flour

1 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons dried yeast

2 tablespoons oil (olive or sunflower)

250 ml warm water

1 teaspoon sugar

To make;

Mix the sugar yeast and water together in a jug. After 10 – 15 minutes it should have a nice foamy head.

Mix the flour and salt together in a large bowl. Add the olive oil, make a well in the centre of the flour and pour your water/yeast in. mix together to form a soft dough. take out the bowl and give a knead for a good 5 minutes using a little more flour if the dough is still sticky.

Put back in the bowl and cover with a damp cloth or cling film. Leave for an hour to rise.

Put your oven on the hottest setting it will go on

Once ready knock back the dough and knead again until smooth. Divide the dough into eight balls and then roll each out into an oval about 1/4” thick. Place on a greased baking sheet and leave to prove for 10 minutes.

Cook the pittas in the pre-heated oven for about 1 – 1 1/2 minutes each side. When ready wrap the Pittas in a clean tea towel to keep warm.

To make the Turkish Salad

Finely shred 1/2 a white cabbage. Grate one or two carrots. Slice one medium sized onion.

Mix the cabbage, carrot and onion in a bowl. Sprinkle approximately two teaspoons of salt and the same of sugar over the salad and mix again.

Squeeze the juice of one lemon or a tablespoon of bottled over the salad and a couple dashes of white wine vinegar. Give the salad a good grind of black pepper and a pinch of ground cumin., mix again and the salad is ready to serve. It will keep for a good five days in the fridge.

To serve split your warmed Pitta breads and spread liberally with the houmous. Pack in as much salad as you can. You know have a Vegetarian/Vegan equivalent of a Kebab! You can of course sprinkle some Chilli Sauce (in our case, ‘Ome Made) over and it does benefit from some yoghurt and mint (but then that wouldn’t be vegan).

So there you have it. ‘Ome Mades first ever Vegan recipe.

“Aaaaar enjoy mi scurvey kerr!”

Pimms, Friends & Slow Cooked Lamb

We hadn’t seen a friend of ours (an old neighbour) for a while, and we still had half a bottle of Pimms in the pantry that he had bought up on his last visit!

We seemed to be having a good run of weather so we thought it was time to invite him round for Pimms and a bit of decent nosh.

We decided to do slow roasted lamb, Middle Eastern style with Turkish salad, Tzatziki, ‘Ome Made Chilli Sauce and pitta breads.

I started the lamb off in the oven but finished it off in the smoker which gives it an incredible flavour. There’s a video on the Blog and You Tube (OmeMadeByUs) of me preparing the lamb (if you want a chuckle!)

We also had lots of Pimms which was great because we had plenty of fresh Borage leaves and flowers to put in (so much better than cucumber!)

So here’s the recipe for the lamb;

Slow Roasted Lamb Middle Eastern Style

1 x whole shoulder of lamb (leg works as well, but I prefer shoulder for slow cooking, you could also get a half shoulder but the leftover meat is great to use in other dishes)

Marinade (don’t be scared to experiment with these ingredients, they’re only a rough guide)

garlic 3 – 6 cloves (depending on taste) finely chopped/crushed

ginger – 1 inch piece finely chopped

chilli powder 1-4 teaspoons (again depends on taste)

Cumin powder 3 teaspoons

cinnamon 1 teaspoon

all spice/pimento 1 teaspoon

dried mint 1 teaspoon

2 teaspoons of salt

lots of black pepper (grind until it hurts!)

Juice from a lemon (and zest) or two table spoons bottled lemon juice

1 tablespoon oil (I tend to use olive for this but anything goes)

Method

Mix all the marinade ingredients together (you can use ready bought Ras el hanout mix instead of the individual spices if you want).

Slash the meat with a sharp knife so the flavours penetrate the meat and then rub in the marinade… vigorously! Go on slap it on! The meat would benefit from being left in the marinade overnight if you have chance to prepare the dish a day in advance.

Put the meat in a roasting pan with a couple tablespoons of water and then cover tightly with tin foil (it’s sometimes a good idea to use two pieces)

Put in the oven at 165 C/330 F to be ready after 6 hours or 145 C/290 F to be ready after 8 hours (either way you could leave it for a couple hours longer and it will still be fine).

This is a great dish to do if you are out for the day or at work and you want to come in to have something practically ready to eat!

This has to be one of our household favourite meals. It’s like an up-market kebab! I don’t remember having Pimms before my late night kebab when I was younger though!