Hot Dish and Salads

This week a feature in the Western Telegraph of a recipe taken from a new book by the vegan writer Ella Mills inspired me.  It was described as cauliflower and cashew nut pilaf tray bake and I had most of the ingredients either in the Food Hub bag or in the store cupboard.  I substituted the cauliflower for broccoli and it was fine.

First slice an onion, crush a garlic clove and break the broccoli into florets and lay them in an oven dish or roasting tin.

Next mix together ½ teaspoon each of turmeric, cinnamon and ginger, 1 teaspoon of coriander and 1 teaspoon of cumin seeds.  (If you have them you could use a cinnamon stick and fresh ginger.) Scatter the spices over the onion and broccoli and add some olive oil and mix it all together and spread in a single layer in the oven dish.  Place in the oven (180°C) for 10 minutes to just soften the onion and warm the spices.

While that’s in the oven prepare the other ingredients: trim a handful of French beans (1-2 inch lengths), roughly chop a handful of cashew nuts, grab a handful of dried sultanas and rinse 4 handfuls of white basmati rice the toss them all in the hot oven dish and mix well.  Pour over some hot vegetable stock to cover everything then cover the dish with foil and return to the oven for 25 minutes.  Before serving the recipe suggests a squeeze of lemon and a little hot sauce, both optional but well worth it.

Sorry, no photo as we were too hungry but if you’re interested the recipe is on page 60 of the August 24th edition.

I’m going to have a session preparing and cooking some of the other ingredients I have in my fridge.  There’s going to be coleslaw (cabbage, onion, carrot etc.) a bulgur salad (rehydrated bulgur, cucumber, salad onions, tomatoes, lemon juice and olive oil, a potato salad using the small potatoes, some gherkins, sliced radish and onion covered in horse radish mayo.  I will also make some hummus and all that will make a perfect grazing selection with crispbreads or oatcakes to enjoy while watching the TV over the weekend!