Skip to main content

Tikka and carrot salad

The instant the sun parts the the clouds in this part of the world everybody begins to BBQ regardless of whether or not it's actually warm or if anyone's hungry. Inn my family this leads to a feasting and celebration of abundance that reaches its peak well beyond frozen burgers, one thing that is perpetually popular is Tikka (paneer, chicken, lamb. Potentially anything).  As always with outdoor grilling salad is important. 


Tikka marinade 
Natural yogurt 
Ground Cumin 
Minced Ginger 
Minced Garlic 
Paprika 
Ground Coriander 
Salt 


  1. Mix together all of these ingredients. 
  2. Taste and balance 
  3. Slather liberally onto paneer or meat the morning before your BBQ
  4. Grill to taste 


Carrot salad  
10 Carrots 
An Onion 
A good knob of ginger 
A red chilli (a big mild one)
Lime 
Coriander 
A handful of Almonds (flaked)


  1. Put the almonds in a skillet and lightly toast them by heating them without oil untill they begin to change color and you can smell them. Remember to remove the almonds from the pan rather than just taking them off the heat (or they burn every time). 
  2. Grate the carrots and finly slice the oinion and chilli. Salt the onions and leave them to one side. 
  3. Grate the ginger using a microplane (or mince it).
  4. Finely chop the coriander. 
  5. Combine the ingredients in a serving bowl toss well with lime.  


Rieta 
Yogurt 
Cucumber 
Mint 


  1. Pick and chop the mint. 
  2. Dice the cucumber quite finley 
  3. Stir together with the yogurt



Serve in big bowls on the table along with some kind of wrap (chapati would be traditional) some mango chutney and a good beer. Enjoy in the sun whilst remembering all the other times you ate in the sun with the people you love. 


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Pea and mint risotto

‘A sophisticated alternative to mushy peas.’ If I were inclined towards guilt one of my major guilty pleasures would be come dine with me. a trashy reality TV show where five people have dinner parties and slowly come to loathe each other over a week. In most cases the food is the least interesting part of the show being usually either disgustingly pretentious or just disgusting. However, on two occasions there were dishes that appeared on the show and have, after some experimentation, been added to my repertoire. This is an indulgent main to serve with goats cheese and any kind of beetroot salad or a truly decadent side dish for fish. The mint makes it if you don't have mint make something else, it’s foul without it. Pea and mint risotto part one (pea pesto) Frozen peas or broad beans (about 250g, peas if you’re making the risotto) Parmesan (one wedge from the supermarket) Mint (as much as you can me arsed to pick) Lemon (half zest, some of the juice, to taste) Salt (t...

Cheese Souflee

 'It's not posh I promise' ok I know its a soufflé and mostly you see them made by extremely high strung cartoon chefs and deflated by loud noises. and I know French food is often seen as fussy and intricate. My experience of French food is quite different.  My mum traveled to France as a young woman and waiting at a ferry terminal for a bus to Dijon looked for a cookbook for French foods to cook at her friends farm house. she had the good fortune to pick up an unfussy volume of what was mostly French peasant cuisine.  We still eat meals from it (including our now traditional Christmas eve boeuf bourguignon).  growing up we used to have cheese soufflé to use up odds and ends of cheese or to 'tart up a salad' mom makes it now with absolutely no measurements of any kind. serve this with French salads (we have a remoulade, a cucumber crème fresh salad, and a grated carrot, cumin and parsley salad here) This is based on the recipe that is in moms cook book, I've bas...

Shakshuka

  'The perfect brunch' Shakshuka has its origins in the middle East. but in our family it's a traditional breakfast for birthday weekends away.  It's indulgent but easy. We did a couple of bits to make it a bit extra but it is essentially a very simple tomato and egg afair.  Ingredients An egg per person  Tomatoes (nice ripe fresh ones, you live or die on your tomatoes rough chop) Peppers (two, red and/or yellow, rough chop)  Onions (finely diced)  Cumin  Paprika  Chilli flakes  Salt  Olive oil  In an oven safe skillet soften your onions in the olive oil. When your onions are soft scatter in a teaspoon or two of cumin sautee for a few minutes until fragrant.  Add your peppers, a shake of chilli flakes and a good teaspoon of paprika sautee for a few minutes then add the tomatoes.  Let the tomatoes break down and reduce until the consistency is saucy.  Break the eggs into our shackshuka and throw the whole poodle into t...