Spinach and cheshire cheese pockets

Puff pastry with a twist. A light vegetarian recipe for those not afraid of trying new things. The combination of spinach and cheese is not in itself surprising, but spinach is cooked Mauritian style with ginger and garlic, transforming the whole thing into a unique combination of flavours.

You'll need:
puff pastry (20 x10 cm)
A big handful of fresh spinach leaves
fresh ginger (or ready made paste)
one small garlic clove crushed into a paste
a few slices of Cheshire cheese
sour cream
black pepper

1. Start off by preparing spinach filling. Cook fresh spinach on a dry pan with a splash of water together with garlic and ginger. It doesn't need to be cooked into a pulp, just softening it should be enough as it adds a nice texture to the dish. It will take just a few minutes to make. Once done, remove spinach from the pan, strain any spinach juices (the filling cannot be watery as it will affect the pastry) and chop with a knife.

2. Prepare two square slices of puff pastry of approximately 10x10cm size. Lay the spinach filling on one of them, leaving a 1cm edge. Put some Cheshire cheese on top and cover with another layer of pastry. Glue the edges of the square together. You might also use a fork to add a pattern.
3. Put your square pocket(s) in an oven preheated to 180 degrees for around 15min or until the pastry is ready (i.e. turned golden brown).
4. Prepare spinach sauce by cooking a few more spinach leaves on a dry pan, this time without any spices. Transfer the spinach into a container, add sour cream and freshly ground black pepper and blend.

Bon appétit!

PS. The spinach and cream sauce also works very well as a dip for example to go with prawns:

Chicken tikka masala

A mildly spicy curry for those who do not like too much hotness. Not to be confused with chicken tikka, which is simply spiced chicken grilled on skewers. Extremely popular in the UK, where it can be considered a national dish. As with every curry, there are many variations of the dish - the only thing that they all have in common is an orange coloured sauce (masala). Here is my take on it, inspired by Hairy Bikers' recipe.

You'll need:

    one chicken breast

 For the marinade:

    4 spoons of natural yoghurt

    4 cm of ginger

    2 cloves of garlic

    black pepper

    cumin seeds

    ground fenugreek seeds

    ground coriander seeds

    cinnamon

    sweet paprika

    pepper cayenne

    one clove (crushed)

    turmeric

    salt

For the sauce:

    2 onions

    3 cloves of garlic

    4cm of ginger

    turmeric

    3 spoons of tomato concentrate

    1/2 glass of water

    a pinch of salt 

    a pinch of sugar

    2 spoons of sour cream 

    butter (for frying)

1. Cut the chicken breast into pieces, put in a bowl, add the spices and yoghurt and stir. Put aside in a fridge for at least 4 hours or better overnight.

2. To prepare the sauce, first chop the onions, garlic and ginger. Melt the butter on a frying pan and start by frying the onion for 3-4 minutes. Then add garlic, ginger and turmeric and fry for one more minute, being careful not to burn the spices. Add the tomato concentrate, pour the water and allow to simmer until the sauce reduces. At the end add the sour cream and stir. The sauce should have a nice orange colour. Put the sauce aside to cool down.

3. In the meantime prepare the chicken. It's best grilled. In home conditions you might either use a grill option in your oven if you have one, or alternatively (all other grilling options failing) fry it on grilling pan.

4. Before you add grilled chicken to the sauce, you need to blend it. The smoother the sauce the better! Then add the chicken and warm everything up again, e voila!

Bon appétit!

Channa masala (channay)

A wonderful Punjabi vegan dish with a fresh citrus note. Popular in northern India as well as in Pakistan. As usual I don't give precise spice measurements since it's a question of individual taste - I leave it to you how spicy you would like it to be ;) Don't let the long list of spices scare you off, it's really easy to make.

You'll need:
a can of chickpeas (200g)
a can of chopped tomatoes
one onion
2 cloves of garlic
3cm of ginger
cumin seeds
garam masala
turmeric
ground coriander seeds
pepper cayenne
one red chili (or dried crushed chili flakes)
sweet paprika
fresh coriander leaves
a splash of lemon juice
1/2 glass of water
black pepper
a pinch of salt

1. Finely chop the onion, ginger and garlic. 

2.Warm up oil on a deep frying pan. Once it's warmed up, start by frying the onion for a few minutes, then add garlic, ginger, cumin seeds and chili. Allow to fry for another minute or so, being careful not to burn the spices.

3. Add garam masala, turmeric, ground coriander, pepper cayenne and paprika and stir.

4. Add canned tomatoes and water. Add some salt and black pepper for taste.

5. Rinse your chickpeas and add to the pan.

6. Allow to simmer for around 30 minutes.

7. At the end of the cooking, when the the sauce has reduced, add a bit of lemon juice. Serve with fresh coriander leaves.

Bon appétit!