rose petal jam

fusion cooking at it's peak?!

Hi all!

Ok, hands up who likes pie?

Hands up who likes curry?

Hmm... that's a fair few of us who like pie AND curry.

fancy a spot of that fancy fusion cuisine?

Ladies and jellyspoons, may I present...

The CURRY PIE!!

OH. MY. curry pie.

This was something Dominic dreamed up a while ago. We both love pie and peas (as in mushy) but being fans of spicy food and with a serious addiction to tarka dahl, what could be better than a curry pie with a dollop of dahl?

If you wanted to make these it's really easy. Cook up a batch of your favourite curry - ours is a Madhur beef one with lots of roasted and ground coriander seeds and coconut milk - and the only tweaking involved adding some slaked cornflour near the end to thicken it up to a pie filling consistency.

Buy some ready made, chilled shortcrust pastry (make it easy on yourself!)and some foil pie tins.

make pies!

Here they are sans lid.

what we do once the lids are cut out is we sprinkle mustard seeds and cumin seeds on top and gently press in with the rolling pin. Looking at my hand here I can totally sympathise with Lucy in her latest post!

Anyway, I digress...

So, the lids once on, look like this.

Don't forget to cut little slits for the steam!

We then freeze these - along with batches of dahl - again, a Madhur recipe, so that on cold winter days we can take out of the freezer in the morning, with nothing more to do but to shove in the oven when we get in after work. How satisfying.

There is something quite bizarre and utterly gorgeous about the short, crisp, buttery pastry and the rich, spicy filling that is just...mmmm...and with dahl on the side as a carb and to add extra comfort, what could be better on a horizontal raining day? I reckon these would go down a treat on bonfire night too :-)

I am trying to restock the freezer with batch cooked goodies at the moment and would love to hear what others cook up for their freezers.

If anyone would like the recipes for the curry and the dhal I am but an email click away :-)

Christmas begins...

As you know, I love Christmas and can't wait for it to get started each year! This year it begins today with the making of The Christmas Cake. I love Christmas cake and there was always a homemade one when I was younger and at home but I am surprised to say that I don't think I have EVER made one in my own home. Until now :-)

I decided to go for a fail safe recipe and turned to Delia, Saint Delia, patron saint of Christmas and more importantly of recipes that WORK. Apart from on the odd occasion which we will gloss over in the spirit of Christmas...

I won't give you the recipe, but a link to her website where you'll find it here . Delia first published this in 1978 so it's 30 this year and let's face it, it must work if she has never had occasion to tweak it. From the number of people who seem to use this recipe it would seem highly unlikely that anyone reading this would not have tasted it at some point, in someone's home, a cake shop or Christmas fete. Unless you don't like Christmas cake in which case don't bother reading any further cos today, it's all about the cake!

This is last night, as you have to add the brandy to the fruit so it can all mull overnight - aren't the colours outstanding? I love this bowl too, my friend Emma bought me it - it's actually a pasta serving bowl but it makes a great mixing bowl too. It's a pity this blog doesn't have a smell option as the combination of the gorgeous fruit and the kick of the rich scented brandy was wonderful.

It's not so much a fruit cake as some fruit with a bit of cake. As you can see from the picture below, it was totally packed with fruit and nuts. I actually did deviate from the recipe and used dark soft brown sugar rather than the paler kind - oh no! That means if it all goes wrong I can't even blame Delia! Ah well..

Another pretty bowl, this time courtesy of sister Helen :-)

The mixture was so full of fruit that it was actually really hard to stir and I strained my wrist a little - not joking!

I listened to Christmas carols as I made it (I know, a bit OTT) and it was fantastic, a little slice of Christmas in October!

mmmmm...!! There's something about greaseproof paper hanging over the edge of a cake tin that I love! Incidentally I had to buy a new tin as Delia was very firm on the point of size of tin and I didn't have a 7" square one. The only one I could find in town yesterday was in Fenwicks and cost £13.95. I nearly died. 

After I heaved it into the tin I had to lick the spoon and the bowl, quelle chore and Dominic wasn't even here to help. Shame :-)

So do you want to see it, all cooked up?

GORGEOUS! Ahhhh... Christmas has truly begun. Dominic found it really dreadful that there was such a thing as baking that couldn't be eaten straight away - but a little lesson in delayed gratification is good for us all I reckon! So, once cooled, I pricked it all over and fed it some more brandy, then carefully wrapped it in baking parchment and a double layer of foil and stored it away. Only 63 days to go until I can legitimately cut into it :-) I made a square cake rather than a round one because a whole Christmas cake is a bit much for two, even two as greedy as us, so I wanted to divide it up to give some to Helen & Mark and also to Dougie and Andrea, our neighbours at the cottage where we are spending Christmas this year - bliss!

Delia, don't let me down this time!