Recipe and Hint Sheets
Over the years we have picked up a lot of recipes and hints to help you get the best from your ingredients. These recipes are here for your downloading and cooking enjoyment. Feel free to use them and pass them on to others.
All we ask is that if you do pass them on, please send the whole intact file (with our logos, contact details etc...)
| Recipes | |
| Middle Eastern Almond Cookies | This recipe is based on a Middle Eastern almond biscuit recipe. These biscuits are also gluten free since they use ground almonds rather than wheat flour. The orange blossom water gives them a lovely exotic touch. |
| Baklava | Baklava is a Middle-Eastern sweet made by layering nuts between sheets of filo pastry. It is sweetened with an aromatic syrup. You can often buy baklava in Turkish restaurants and souvlaki bars. Now you can make your own! |
| Buckwheat Groats | Buckwheat groats are eaten in Russia, Poland and Easten Europe. They fill the same niche as rice or couscous and their nutty flavour works perfectly with a rich, hearty stew. They are the traditional side dish for stroganoff. |
| Butter Chicken | This recipe is based on the chicken makhani recipe we use at home with the ease of using a ready made paste. This is more a method you can follow if you wish to make a yummy butter chicken with the delicious Ferns' paste. |
| Chapati Bread | Making your own chapati bread is fun and if you do have a gas stove top, it is so worth watching them inflate! |
| Chocolate Chestnut Cake | This recipe is based on a Nigella Lawson recipe. It is a great cake for special occasions! |
| Coffee Roasting | When you roast your own coffee you end up with the freshest and most flavourful beans. It's not difficult and doesn't require any specialist equipment. It's also an incredible amount of fun! |
| Corn Tortillas | Corn tortillas pre-date the flour tortillas that seem to have been multiplying on supermarket shelves recently. They have existed in Central America since pre-Columbian times, and are surprisingly easy to make. There is no raising, no baking and they are speedy enough to be whipped up for range-style eggs in the morning! Why not get your mates to shape the dough as they stand around the BBQ and then cook them on the hotplate? |
| Couscous (for 2) | This is the best way we have found for getting the couscous nice and fluffy, without doing it the traditional Moroccan way of several hours of steaming. |
| Falafel | Falafel are suprisingly easy to make. The hardest part is remembering to leave your chickpeas soaking before you leave for work so they are ready to go when you get home. The spices and amounts arenÕt set in concrete. In fact, most familes will have their own secret recipeÑwhy not develop your own? |
| Fig stuffed biscuits | A simple cookie recipe, but containing a sweet, crunchy filling of figs. These biscuits look impressive but aren't that hard to make. |
| Figs in a Red Wine Syrup | This very adult tasting syrup is beautiful with any rich creamy dessert. It goes well with ice-cream, pancakes or cheesecake. Adding some balsamic vinegar would make a relish that could easily be served with a cheeseboard. |
| The best fish pie | Fish pie is a wonderfully comforting dish. When made well it can also be complex and sophisticated. Give it a bash with this recipe, then make your own variations. |
| Fast Ful Medammes | When you eat breakfast in Egypt it is likely that this is what you will be served. In fact, it has been served in Egypt since the time of the Pharaohs and is virtually unchanged to this day! Ful Medammes are made from very slow cooked fava beans (broad beans). They usually take hours and hours in a slow cooker, but canned ful medammes are filling, healthy, and very, very speedy. |
| Haricot Bean and Thyme Cassoulet | This recipe comes from the Vendee region on France's Atlantic coast. It is traditionally made with the huge excess of fresh haricot beans that arrive with the harvest. You can make it with canned haricot beans, or any other type of bean really. A filling farmhouse meal from a country that really, really knows how to eat! |
| Kebab Tabei | This recipe is based on a pan braised mince dish we found in a Persian book by Neda Afrashi. It is a great mince dish for the family, when you are tired of meat balls and lasagne. You can vary the portion of mince. I did half this for our family of four but we had a lot of accompaniments! |
| Masman Curry (Thai) | Masman curry is Muslim in origin. It is most commonly made with beef, but can also be made with duck, chicken, or tofu. It has less heat, but is more aromatic than red or green curries. The roasted peanuts add a wonderful flavour and crunch to the finished dish. |
| Mexican Hot Chocolate | Mexican hot chocolate is delicious, much better than your average hot chocolate! |
| Orzo Pasta Salad | Orzo is unusual pasta in the shape of rice. It is added to stews and soups, but also makes a wonderful salad ingredient. This is pure Mediterranean! |
| Smoky BBQ Ribs | There are various ways to cook up melt off the bone ribs. This recipe uses Bite Me's amazing Maple Syrup And Hickory Sauce for delicious US style ribs. |
| Sour Cherry Cake | This cake is very typical of Eastern European cooking. Simple and tasty. It can be made with preserved sour cherries, fresh sour cherries, or even sweet Marlborogh style cherries. The character will change, but it will be equally delicious. If you are using sweet cherries you might want to reduce the sugar down a bit, or it might be too overpowingly sweet. |
| Sour Cherry Soup | It might seem like weird on top of weird, but cold cherry soup is a summertime staple in Hungary. The refreshing sourness is perfect on a hot day, and the cinnmon and vanilla work perfectly with the flavour of the cherries. |
| Speculaas (Spicy Dutch Cookies) | Traditionally enjoyed on December 5th - SinterKlaas - St. Nicholas' day but can be enjoyed any time of year. This recipe you can keep in the freezer and slice off a couple of biscuits round whenever you feel the desire for a yummy spicy biscuit with your coffee or tea. This recipe is based on Allegra McEvedy's anytime cookies. |
| Vietnamese Fresh Spring Rolls | A summer roll or spring roll is a Vietnamese food consisting of pork, shrimp, herbs, rice vermicelli and other ingredients wrapped in rice paper. They can be filled with just about anything fresh and crunchy. Vietnamese Spring rolls are served cold, and are not fried. |
| Za'atar | The Lebanese believe that za'atar, a mixture of thyme, sumac and sesame seeds, gives strength and clears the mind. For this reason, before leaving home on exam days, all school children eat a slice of bread spread with a mixture of zaatar and olive oil! |
| Shiitake Soup | A simple soup, that packs a lot of flavour - great for winter. |