Some of the best recipes seems to come from experimenting with the things you actually have available than trying to follow an established formula. This soup came from just this. I wasn’t feeling too well recently, not really feeling like eating and certainly not cooking. I looked around the kitchen to see what was available. I found: a courgette, some carrots, a leak and a sweat potato.

I pealed all, chopped into small pieces, boiled water, added a pinch of salt, put them all together and it turned out to be just what my system needed. The proportions I use are:
1 Courgette (aka Zucchini)
6 Carrots Medium size
1 Leak
1 Sweat potato

Pinch of Salt…you can always add but you can’t take away.

Add all the vegetables to a pot and cover with water. Once you have brought the water to boiled, you can cook for between 20 to 30 minutes on a lower fire.

I like my soup with chunks of vegetables, although you may want to zip through a machine.

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The Perfect Breakfast ….. if you happen to like a proper breakfast….. 

1        Onion

1        Tomato

4        Fresh Eggs

Cheese (Friends of mine have since tried Mascarpone, yogurt, Ricotta…..)

Fresh Herbs – I particularly like Mint and Thyme, but you could consider Parsley, etc..

Olive Oil

COOKING INSTRUCTIONS:

Chop onion and tomato into small chunks.

Heat Olive Oil in large base frying pan.

Add Onion and cook (this on a relatively high fire - I use 8 on electric) – normally about 3 minutes

Add Tomatoes and leave to cook - for about 3 to 4 minutes (on a lower heat - I use 6 on electric)

While this is being cooked, beat the eggs and grate cheese. Add herbs at this stage also.

Add cheese to egges and  into the frying pan to the onions and tomato mix. Lightly stir in cover with lid – cook on low fire - I use 6 on electric but could be lower if you have time and if you prefer your omelettes humid (like only the Spanish seem to be able to do…..).

You should aim for a humid looking finish. Don’t let the eggs cook dry. Cook for about 4 to 5 minutes.

I don’t add salt, as you can always add this after to taste. If you use a chedder type cheese, you probably will not need salt at all.

Serve with fresh bread……better with a good brown bread.

Best with fresh coffee…..

Best on Saturday & Sunday, when you have time to cook and enjoy it.

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This recipe was given to me by a very close friend, Yussuff. If you get this right, you will be cooking one mean curry…..

INGREDIENTS:

1 Whole onion chopped into small pieces i.e. not too small.

3 Cloves of Garlic chopped into small pieces

10 kg Chicken: This should be free range chicken chopped into KFC size pieces. We always take the skin off the chicken as this is the part with most fat.

4 Heaped spoons of Curry powder: This is a bit intuitive and you need to be careful with this. The curry powder is what will give the curry the taste.

Yussuff used 4 very heaped soupspoons of Lalah’s curry powder. You may not get this brand of curry powder where you are or you may prefer to mix your own spices. Just make sure that you have sufficient powder.

Vegetable oil. I use olive oil, so I guess you can use the oil you would generally use.

2 kg Potatoes

Small tin of peeled tomatoes

IMPORTANT: I should also add that prepared Curry Powder contains salt. And this percentage could be between 5% and up to 20% of the powder. So if you or a member of your family have problems with high blood pressure, it may be best to buy the individual spices and mix yourself. This could be fun as you can choose the ones you like and the ones that is best for your blood type.

COOKING INSTRUCTIONS:

EVERYTHING IS DONE ON A SLOW FIRE:

PREAMBLE……

This is NOT a fast food meal. Although it does not take a long time to cook you will need to have time to get all the preparations right. It’s nice to cook this in a kitchen with some family and friends, although only two people will actually be working.

You have to make sure that you have a big enough pot. West Indians have what is called a CARAHEE, which is a cast iron pot that has a rounded bottom. If you don’t have one of these, just a large normal pot will be fine. (Imagine: The size of the carahee that we used was too big for a single burner of the cooker, so it was necessary to use two of the burners).

We were cooking 10kg (20lbs) of chicken, so the quantities detailed will need to be adjusted for smaller weights. Just be careful on the curry powder quantities.

Yussuff seasoned the chicken overnight in garlic and mixed spiced. You could chose not to but this does make a difference.

The mixed spices that he used was from the brand RAJAH, whose ingredients were: salt, paprika, sugar, mustard flower, flavour enhancer-monosodium glutamate, black pepper, onion, garlic, celery, herbs, spice extracts…..you can choose to season with a selection of spices…..always worries me these monosodium glutamates…..

This is IMPORTANT. HE DID NOT ADD ANY WATER during the cooking process as he always cooked with the lid to the pot. This makes the curry drier and much tastier. Don’t, however, be afraid to add water if the curry is sticking to the pot. If you do add water make it hot water (if cold water is added it will have an effect to what’s in the pot, as we are cooking on a low burner) and add soup spoon quantities at a time. By cooking on a slow fire, the water created by cooking with the lid closed and naturally from the ingredients will be sufficient.

2. STEP BY STEP DETAILS:

· Slowly heat the oil.

· When the oil is hot, fry the onions until they slightly golden.

· Add garlic at this later stage. Onions obviously take longer to cook, so adding the garlic later will avoid burning.

· When the onions and garlic have cooked (and this means slightly brown) add curry powder.

Slowly mix the curry powder into the natural juices created from the cooking process. Let this cook slowly for about 20 minutes. You can add a slight drop of hot water if necessary, but don’t over do it, as this will weaken the taste of the curry. The curry should cook in the oil and the onion/garlic and the steam created from cooking with a closed lid. Occasionally stir this mixture as to ensure that it does not stick to the pot.

· After the curry powder has cooked (and you have to remember that these are spices that need time to cook) add the chicken pieces. You will need to stir the curry paste into the chicken as much as is necessary to ensure that all the pieces are well covered. Depending on the quantities you may want to do this in stages.

· Potatoes will take approximately 20 minutes to cook although the longer cooked the more they will absorb the curry flavour.

· Add the small tin of peeled tomatoes finely chopped.

IMPORTANT: Keep the lid of the pot at all times when not stirring. The natural liquid of the chicken will create the liquid that will make the sauce that you need.

Chicken will take no more than 1 hour to cook. But don’t rush this. The longer and more patient you are, the better the curry will taste.

4. SERVE WITH BASMATI RICE:

I say Basmati as that is my preference. See separate cooking instruction.

5. PREPARE CHICKEN:

Use fresh chicken, preferably farm fresh. The more you know about where your food comes from, the healthier you will be. Remove skin (this is a preference of Yussuff). He generally uses just the thigh and leg of the chicken, although I quite like the wing and breast of the chicken. The breast, if pieces are too big, will be very dry, so use small pieces for best results.

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This really is a very simple recipe for cooking great basmati rice. I say basmati rice because for me this has the best body and flavour of all the different rice I have tasted and is consistently great with all kinds of curry.

I must also say that this recipe was learnt from an friend many years ago. At first you may not believe it works but believe me it does and you will be amazed how much flavour the rice maintains as a result.

What you need:
1. A small pot (depending on the quantities of rice you will make) that has a lid that closes tightly.
2. Small quantity of extra virgin olive oil.
3. A strainer/sieve/colander
4. Basimati rice.

How To Cook Rice in 17 minutes:
1. Wash rice in the strainer/sieve. Allow water to just flow through the sieve for about 30 seconds.
2. Heat a small quantity of olive oil in the pan you are using. There is no set amount of olive oil. I just use sufficient to greese the bottom of the pan. The purpose of the oil is to merely stop the rice from sticking to the bottom of the pan.
3. When the olive oil is hot, add the washed rice to the pan and stir. This will dry the water from the rice and lightly cover the rice with olive oil. Do this for about 30 seconds, stiring the rice over at all times, in order to ensure that it does not stick to the bottom of the pan.
4. Add the same qualtity of water as you are using for rice. If one cup of rice, then the same cup of water. This is important…..don’t try to be clever here…..this works.
5. Bring the water to boil. Place lid to the pan and lower the fire to a minimum heat. Cook for 17 minuted at this low fire. If you are cooking with electric, then it’s best to pre-heat a minimum heat, so that you can exchange the pan to the pre-heated ring.

VERY IMPORTANT: DO NOT OPEN THE LID OF THE PAN FOR THE FULL DURATION OF THE 18 MINUTES. The rice is being cooked by the steam created and if you let the steam out, the process stops.
Open after the 17 minutes and you will serve perfect rice.

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