Beetroot, Apple and Mushroom Rice

I may seem a little fixated with apples at the moment. There are three reasons for this. Firstly, they're in season. Secondly, they're free. Thirdly, they're delicious and should be used in savoury dishes far more than they are,

This was cooked up for lunch with a veggie friend and accompanied a vegetarian chilli cooked to this recipe. We served it with grated mature cheddar and sour cream.

Ingredients

200g/7oz long-grain rice

3 beetroots (Used pre-cooked here, but only because we were out of fresh)

3 apples 

A good handful of mushrooms

Half tspn cumin

Half tspn ginger

Cider / cider vinegar

Olive oil - tablespoon

Cook the rice. If you want to go wild, pop a vegetable stock cube in the water. Some folks prefer to let the rice cool before adding to the wok, to avoid clumping, but I rarely bother and find my rice clump free. If only life was clump free (sigh). 

Core the apples - they don't need peeling - and chop. Chop the beetroot and the mushrooms and then warm the olive oil in a wok / large frying pan.  Once the oil is hot, add the fruit and veg to the pan and give a good stir. Add the ginger and cumin and stir again. All you're looking to do here is soften the apples and beetroot (if you're using fresh). Add the cider or cider vinegar (or white wine vinegar if you have neither). Let the liquid boil down - only take a minute or two - and then add the drained rice. 

Stir like Noël Coward to get that great beetroot colour distributed evenly though the rice.

Serve! 

Nachos with a Veggie Chilli Dip

Nachos are the perfect accompaniment to a cheesy DVD when you feel like slobbing out. Tonight we had a packet of Tangy Cheese Doritos, but wanted something a bit tastier than the sugary (and expensive) branded dips. This recipe  beats them hands down. 

Forget the cheese and the sour cream and this dip works for vegans. 

Ingredients

2 small onions

4 cloves garlic

Half a large green sweet pepper

3 tomatoes 

Tin of red kidney beans

Splash of veg oil

Tspn hot chilli powder

Tspn smoked paprika

Half tspn mustard powder

Half tspn chilli flakes

Tspn oregano

Tspn Marmite 

Chop the veg nice and small. Fry the onion and the garlic until soft, then add the red pepper and the tomatoes. 

Add the spices and the oregano. 

Put in the beans - and the water from the can. It's a poor man's stock. Stir in the Marmite (or Sainsbury's own brand - cheaper and tasty).

Let the sauce thicken, probably 25 - 30 minutes, then serve with sour cream and grated cheddar cheese. 

Smoked Paprika & Chilli Roasted Potatoes

We all love roast potatoes, but that doesn't mean they're beyond improvement. I like to give my potatoes a bit of zing once in a while and these potatoes are going to be perfect with a bargain free range chicken with a rather nice sage & apple stuffing. Life would've been better if the chicken had its giblets, but hey ho.

Ingredients

Potatoes

2 tablespoons oil - I used rapeseed as short of olive oil

Teaspoon smoked paprika

Pinch of hot chilli powder

Good pinch of onion powder

Sea salt

Black pepper

Cut the potatoes into small chunks. I went for skin on, but peel away if you prefer. Boil for a few minutes, turn off the heat and leave in the water to cook further. 

Pour oil into a large mixing bowl and add the paprika, onion powder and chilli. Mix well. 

Drain the potatoes and put them in the bowl with the seasoned oil. Stir vigorously. Decant into a roasting tin. Season with the sea salt and pepper. 

Pop into a hot oven - 220 or 200 if using a fan oven. They'll need to be stirred a couple of times during cooking. 

Sweet Potato & Spinach Curry with Desiccated Coconut!

If you're cooking on a tight budget, substitution of ingredients is fairly standard. You tend to use what you have in the cupboard no matter how compelling Nigella may be when she's adding a pinch of dried mosquito posing pouch into the pan (I'd use smoked paprika as a near enough replacement).

I'd not cooked this dish for a long time and had always used coconut milk, but not having any and being unwilling to shimmy along to the Earlsdon Co-op to make a purchase, my thoughts went to the desiccated coconut on the shelf. 

A quick bit of googling and it appears that you can get coconut milk and flour from boiling desiccated coconut! I couldn't be bothered to go the while hog, but thought that a short cut of boiling the desiccated coconut would add both flavour and texture to the curry. I think it worked rather well, and was a lot cheaper. 

Ingredients

3 sweet potatoes

Spinach (I used frozen)

Large cooking onion

3 cloves garlic

Red pepper

Peas

Cherry tomatoes

Medium curry powder

Stock cube - vegetable 

Sweet paprika

Celery salt 

Black pepper

Cooking oil - I used olive

Fry the onion and garlic slowly, add the curry powder to taste, start with teaspoon. Add in a decent pinch of sweet paprika and of the celery salt. 

Stir well, then add the sweet potatoes, chopped into smallish pieces, and the red pepper. Another good stir and then in goes the stock. Cover everything.  

 After about fifteen minutes add the spinach, the cherry tomatoes and the peas. Cooked for another five or ten minutes until the sweet potatoes are nice and soft. 

I served this with homemade flatbread