Spiced Clementine and Cranberry Muffins

These beauties will be perfect for breakfast or brunch over the festive period, all the flavours of Christmas in a tidy little muffin with a crunchy crumble top.
These are best eaten the day they are made so, if I am making them for breakfast, I like to measure all the dry ingredients, prepare the cranberries and get the yogurt and egg in a jug in the fridge the night before so it is all ready to be mixed and baked when I get up.

Makes 12 Cupcake Sized Muffins

 

Ingredients

75g Dried Cranberries (sweetened)

Zest and Juice of 2 Clementines

50g Light Muscovado Sugar

100g Caster Sugar

200g Self-Raising Flour

1 teaspoon Bicarbonate of Soda

1 teaspoon Cinnamon

1 teaspoon Ground Ginger

100ml Natural Yogurt

1 Large Egg

150g Butter, melted

For the crunchy topping

25g Light Muscovado Sugar

25g Plain Flour

25g Soft Butter

• Preheat the oven to 175C (fan).
• Tip the cranberries into a small pan with the juice of two clementines (having removed the zest from them before cutting in half and squeezing).
• Put them on a gentle heat until just boiling then turn the heat off and leave them for 15-20 minutes.
• Measure both the sugars, the self-raising flour, bicarb, cinnamon, ginger and the fine zest of the clementines into a mixing bowl and stir thoroughly to combine.
• In a measuring jug, mix the natural yogurt with the egg.
• Make the mixture for the crumbly topping by simply mixing together the sugar, plain flour and soft butter until you have a clumpy crumble.
• Line your bun tin with cupcake or muffin cases.
• Take your mixing bowl of dry ingredients and pour in the yogurt mixture, the now cooled and plumped cranberries and the melted butter, then mix quickly but thoroughly with a fork or spatula until it is all combined.
• Spoon the mixture into the cases (you will notice that it is getting a bit bubbly and puffy) then sprinkle some of the crumble mixture on each one.
• Bake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes until they are risen and golden brown (if you are unsure you can insert a skewer into one of them to check it comes out clean).

Baked Lime and Ginger Nut Cheesecake

Ginger nuts work amazingly well in this cheesecake, making a buttery and very crunchy base for the zingy, lime cream cheese filling.  It also goes without saying that the combination of ginger and lime is a classic one, it just so happens to be particularly heavenly in cheesecake form! 

It is better to make this the evening before you want to serve it, as it needs to cool down slowly in the oven, ideally overnight, then chilled.

I have topped it here with sugared, chopped pecans (see below) and a mixture of whipped double cream, soured cream and icing sugar.  These are fantastic additions but feel free to leave it undecorated, to be enjoyed in its pure cheesecake form.

 

Ingredients

200g Ginger Nut Biscuits

100g Butter, melted

400g Full Fat Cream Cheese

the zest and juice of 1 Large Lime or 2 small Limes

175g Caster Sugar

200ml Soured Cream

3 Large Eggs

 

• Blitz or bash the ginger nut biscuits to a fine crumb then stir in the melted butter and mix thoroughly.  Press these buttery crumbs evenly into a spring-form tin (approx. 22cm diameter) and chill until needed.
• Preheat the oven to 150C (fan).
• Whisk the cream cheese, lime zest, juice and caster sugar until creamy.  Then slowly whisk in the soured cream and eggs until completely combined and smooth.
• Pour the cream cheese mixture onto the ginger nut base and smooth over the surface. 
• Bake it in the preheated oven for 45 minutes, then turn the oven off, leaving the cheesecake inside (it will still have a bit of a wobble at this point).  If possible, leave it in the oven until it is completely cold, preferably overnight.  Then remove the cheesecake from the oven and chill in the fridge for at least two hours before removing it from the tin.
• Decorate the top if you wish or leave it as it is and serve with a dollop of cream.

 

Note: I prepare the pecans for the top by roughly chopping them then sizzling them for a few minutes in a frying pan with a knob of butter and a tablespoon or so of caster sugar (light brown sugar is good too).  Allow them to cool completely before using them on the cheesecake.

Fluffy Pancakes

Amazing straight from the pan with a generous squeeze of golden syrup.  Even better with a few rashers of crispy bacon...

 

Makes around 14-15 pancakes

Ingredients

100ml Natural Yoghurt

50ml Milk

1 large Egg

25g Butter, melted

125g Plain Flour

1 teaspoon Bicarbonate of Soda

Pinch of Salt

 

• Mix the yoghurt together with the milk and egg.
• Gradually tip in the flour, whisking constantly (I use a balloon whisk) to prevent lumps.
• Add the bicarbonate of soda, salt then the melted butter and whisk until smooth.
• Put a dry frying pan on a medium heat for a few minutes to heat up.
• Spoon dollops of batter into the pan, a heaped tablespoon (approx.) per pancake.  I cook 4 at a time but you may be able to fit more in your frying pan.
• The pancakes will be ready to flip over after a few minutes when bubbles begin to burst on the surface.  They will need to be cooked on the other side for a further minute until deep golden brown on both sides and puffy.
• Serve as soon as possible!

Sticky Toffee Pudding Cupcakes

Beautiful, rich yet completely moreish little cupcakes of pleasure.  They are such a treat, particularly when served with a dollop of softly whipped cream...

Makes 12 Large Cupcakes or 18 Smaller Fairy Cakes

Ingredients

100g Soft Butter (spreadable is fine)

175g Light Muscovado Sugar
1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract

 1 Large Egg

225g Plain Flour

1 teaspoon Baking Powder

175g Dates, finely chopped

1 teaspoon Bicarbonate of Soda

200ml Boiling Water

For the Toffee Topping

150g Light Muscovado Sugar

100g Butter

50ml Double Cream

 

• Preheat the oven to 200C (fan) and put paper cases into a bun/cupcake tin.
• Cream the butter and sugar together with the vanilla extract until fluffy then slowly whisk in the egg and half of the flour with the baking powder.
• In a separate small bowl, sprinkle the bicarbonate of soda over the finely chopped dates then pour over the boiling water.  Mix thoroughly to combine.
• Whisking slowly, carefully pour the dates and hot water into the cake mixture and add the rest of the flour, whisk until combined.
• Spoon the mixture carefully (it is quite runny) into the cake cases then bake in the preheated oven for 20-25 minutes until well risen, puffy and firm to the touch.
• While the cakes are cooling make the toffee sauce topping.  Put the sugar, butter and cream into a small pan and heat gently, stirring as it melts.  When it starts to bubble turn it down and let it simmer for about 3 minutes, stirring to make sure it doesn't burn on the bottom of the pan.  After this time all the sugar should have dissolved and you will have a golden brown sauce, set this aside to cool and thicken.
• After about half an hour the sauce should be thick enough to spoon onto the cupcakes but not run straight off, leave it for longer if it's still too runny.  There should be ample sauce to generously cover all the cupcakes whilst leaving a little extra for the cook to try (just to check it's ok of course).

                           

Hot and Fragrant Chicken Curry

This wonderfully tasty and versatile curry is a midweek staple in my house.  It really is very easy and can be tweaked to suit your mood; hot and spicy, mild and creamy, sweet and nutty...whatever you feel like.

I do not apologise for using curry powder, I don't have the time nor the inclination during a busy week to start dry roasting and grinding whole spices.  I believe that if you find a good quality curry powder that you like then boost the aromatic spices with a touch of garam masala, you're onto a winner.  I use Bolst's Mild Curry Powder that I buy from my local specialist food shop (The Wild Food Company in Malmesbury), it's got very rounded spices and I like to control the heat myself.  For the heat I usually use generic red chillies, they are not normally particularly hot so I will use one for the flavour then up the heat with dried chilli flakes if I want to.  If I'm feeling like a hot, hot, hot curry I use scotch bonnet chilli peppers...these are seriously hot though, so beware!

I always remove the skin from the red pepper by putting pieces of pepper under the grill until the skin blisters and blackens.  It is not essential to do this but I feel it concentrates the sweetness and makes a smoother sauce.
This is great made with either breast or thigh meat.

 

Ingredients

500g Chicken Breast or Boneless, Skinless Thigh, cut into chunky pieces

1 Large Red Onion

1 inch cube Fresh Ginger

3-4 Garlic Cloves

1 Fresh Chilli, to taste (see notes above)

1 Red Pepper (with the skin removed by blackening it under the grill)
Sunflower Oil

2 teaspoons Curry Powder

1 teaspoons Garam Masala

Salt and Black Pepper
Water or Stock

Lemon Juice to taste

Sugar to taste
Fresh Coriander

Optional Additions : Cream, Coconut Cream, Ground Almonds, Tomatoes
 

• Start by making a paste with the onion, ginger, garlic, fresh chilli and red pepper.  I do this in my mini-chopper but you can use a blender (using a glug of sunflower oil to help it along) or just chop it all together as finely as possible on a board.
• Heat a couple of tablespoons of oil in a large frying pan or wok then add the onion paste with a generous seasoning of salt and black pepper.
• Cook for a couple of minutes, stirring it around on a high heat then add the curry powder and garam masala.  This now needs to be cooked for another few minutes until the spice aroma is rising from the pan and the oil is separating slightly.
• Tip in the chunks of chicken and stir them around to coat with the spicy paste.  Do this until the meat is sealed then pour in enough water or stock to cover the meat (you can use coconut milk instead at this point if you like).
• This now needs to be cooked for 15-20 minutes until the liquid is reduced and the chicken is cooked.
• At this point you can tailor it to how you like it, possibly by adding a few tablespoons of double cream or coconut cream, maybe sprinkling in a handful of ground almonds to thicken and enrich the sauce.  At the very least you will need to taste your curry and adjust the seasoning as needed, I always add a few squeezes of lemon juice, a sprinkling of sugar to balance and possibly a touch more salt.
• Finish with a stir-through of fresh coriander (if liked) and serve.



Sweet Coconut Flatbread

These delicious flatbreads make an excellent accompaniment to a curry and are very easy to make.
I normally use semi-skimmed milk to bind the dough together, however I use coconut milk instead if I'm opening a tin to use in something else.
They can be made a few hours in advance then warmed up, wrapped in foil in the oven for 5-10 minutes.

                                     

 Makes about 10 flatbreads

Ingredients

200g Plain Flour

2 teaspoons Baking Powder

50g Butter

50g Desiccated Coconut

Pinch of Salt

50g Caster Sugar

Approx. 6 tablespoons Milk or Coconut Milk 

• Tip the plain flour into a large bowl with the baking powder.  Cut the butter into small pieces, add it to the flour then, using the tips of your fingers, rub it into the flour until it is all in little lumps.
• Add the coconut, salt and sugar and mix thoroughly to evenly distribute. 
• Add the milk or coconut milk a couple of tablespoons at a time, mixing vigorously until it comes together in a firm dough.  Wrap the ball of dough in cling film and chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.
• When you are ready to make the flatbreads break off a golf ball sized piece of dough and roll it between your hands into a ball. 
• Generously flour your work surface and rolling pin then roll out the ball of dough, flipping it over and moving it after every roll to keep it from sticking.  Roll it out until it is a couple of millimetres thick if you can.  Set aside.
• Repeat this with the rest of the dough, stacking the rolled out discs between pieces of greaseproof/baking paper or sprinklings of flour.
• Put a griddle pan or frying pan onto a high heat then dry cook the flatbreads for 1-2 minutes each side until cooked through and patchy golden brown.
• Stack and eat immediately or allow to cool then wrap in foil to heat later.

 

Beef Rendang

This beautiful Indonesian dish is a slow-cooked stew of beef with coconut and spices, which reduces down over hours of cooking so the meat is meltingly tender coated with a rich, aromatic sauce. 
There are lots of recipes for rendang, each differing slightly.  The constants are lemongrass, ginger, coconut, tamarind (or another sour element like lime juice) and sugar.  This is how I like to make it, relying more on the fresh 'spices' rather than going in heavy with cinnamon sticks, cumin seeds and cardamom pods.  It is best made the day before it is to be eaten.
I love to serve this quite simply with fragrant jasmine rice and maybe a steamed green veg.

Serves 2-3

Ingredients

500g Chuck Steak (or any braising beef), cut into chunky pieces

1 Red Onion, roughly chopped

4 large cloves of Garlic, roughly chopped

2 Red Chillies, roughly chopped

2 thumb sized pieces of Ginger, grated (should be about 2 tablespoons)

1 stalk of Lemongrass, finely sliced

2 tablespoons Sunflower Oil

1 teaspoon Ground Coriander

Half a teaspoon Turmeric

Half a teaspoon Cinnamon

400ml Tin of Coconut Milk

4 Kaffir Lime Leaves

3 teaspoons of Tamarind Paste (or more lime juice if you can't get it)

Juice of half a Lime

Sea Salt

1 teaspoon Sugar (palm sugar if you have it but don't buy it especially)

25g Desiccated Coconut

• Put the chopped onion, garlic, chillies, ginger and lemongrass into a blender or mini-chopper and whizz until very finely chopped.  You can do this on a board with a sharp knife if you don't have a blender.
• Pour the oil into a large saucepan and put on a medium heat.  Tip the onion paste into the oil and cook for a few minutes then add the coriander, turmeric, cinnamon and a generous seasoning of salt.  Continue to cook for another 5ish minutes until it is turning golden brown and aromatic then add the beef.
• Stir the beef to coat it in all the spicy onion mixture and seal it.  Pour in the coconut milk then add the kaffir lime leaves, tamarind paste and sugar.  Bring to the boil then turn down to the slowest simmer.
• This now needs to be simmered slowly for 2-3 hours, stirring occasionally to make sure there is nothing sticking to the bottom of the pan.  If you prefer you can cook this in the oven on a low heat.
• The result you want to achieve with a rendang is to reduce the majority of the liquid until there is hardly any sauce left.  However, I like to do this in a couple of stages; when the sauce has reduced greatly and the oil begins to come out, turn the heat off and leave to cool for 20 to 30 minutes.  You should then be able to pour off most of the excess oil.  At this point it's good to taste the sauce, add the lime juice if needed and salt or sugar to balance.  You can now continue to cook the rendang or it can be chilled until you are ready to serve it.
• In a dry frying pan toast the desiccated coconut until golden brown (be careful because it burns easily) then give it a blitz in a blender. 
• When you are ready to serve the rendang put it on a low heat and, when it starts to bubble stir in the toasted coconut.  Simmer for 5-10 minutes until piping hot and serve.