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Black Bean and Corn Chilli

Olive Oil
1 tin 400g Black Beans, drained and rinsed
1 small tin Corn Kernels
200g tinned crushed tomatoes
2 tablespoons Mexican Chilli Powder
1 clove of garlic, crushed
1 small onion (red or white) finely chopped
1 lime (juice)

Fry garlic and onion in olive oil until soft.
Add black beans, corn and mexican chilli poweder and stir until well combined.
Add tinned tomatoes and simmer for 5 - 10 minutes.
Season and add lime juice.


Serving suggestions:
Top with fresh coriander, avocado, a small dollop of lite sour cream and a handful of corn chips.
With rice.
In burritos with cheese and lettuce.
Leftovers the next day with lettuce, tomato and avocado as a mexican flavoured salad for lunch.

Mexican Chilli Powder

You need this for some of the Mexican recipes I'm going to post. You can sometimes buy it in the spice section of the supermarket, but I couldn't find any so I made my own.

 4 tablespoons ground cumin
3 tablespoons paprika
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/4 teaspoon chilli flakes
1 tablespoon oregano
2 teaspoons garlic powder
2 teaspoons sea salt

 Put it all in a ziploc bag and give it a shake. This will last you quite a few mexican meals.

Back Again!

After a long hiatus, you know, of a few YEARS, I am back in the cooking zone and have some recipes to share. Can't promise they will all have pics, but I want to share some of the yummy healthier versions of my favourites. Also, all these recipes are quick, less than 30 minutes, cos we are all busy, and it needs to be easier than takeout.

Chocolate Bread and Butter Pudding with Honey Roasted Pears

This one is for you Ella! This recipe is from Cuisine Magazine, September 2005 Issue 112 Page 90.

For the Pears
3 firm Beurre Bosc pears sliced lengthways to 1cm thickness and cores removed.
3 Tablespoons liquid honey
4 Tablespoons brown sugar
Seeds from 1/2 a vanilla bean

Preheat oven to 190 degrees. Combine all ingredients in an ovenproof dish and mix well. Bake for 30-45 minutes until the pears are starting to caramelise. Allow to cool before using.

For the Pudding
3 tablespoons butter
4 croissants sliced into 2cm slices
1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
3/4 cup of 70% cocoa chocolate, chopped
3 eggs
2 tablespoons castor sugar
3 tablespoons brown sugar
cream or marscapone to serve

Preheat oven to 160 degrees. Grease a 2 litre pudding dish or similar with the butter. Press down a layer of croissant, then a layer of pears, a sprinkling of cinnamon, followed by a layer of chocolate. Repeat until all ingredients are used up, ending with a croissant layer and sprinkling of chocolate. Whisk eggs, cream and sugar together and pour mixture over pudding and press down on croissants so that they absorb some of the liquid. Allow to sit for half and hour. Sprinkle with brown sugar and bake for 45-60minutes until the liquid has been absorbed. Cool for 20 minutes before serving.

Quick and Easy Dhal

I made this for a quick dinner on Sunday - we ate it like soup with bread. Should probably have got some Naan! I made this using patak's so its not that authentic.

1/4 jar Patak's Korma paste
1 Onion
1 400g tin of chopped tomatos
1 cup of Red Lentils
1/4 teaspoon chilli powder
Water

Fry the onion and curry paste until onion is soft. Add lentils, chilli powder and tomatos and 1 1/2 tomato tins of water. Stir and simmer for half an hour until lentils soft. Put it through the blender and serve.

Pea and Ham Soup

Super easy and super yummy.

2 glugs of olive oil
1 onion - chopped
75 - 100g bacon rashers - chopped
1 1/2 cups of dried split peas
2 cups of water
2 cups of stock (I made mine with vegetable stock cubes)

Heat the oil in a heavy bottomed pot. Fry the onion and bacon rashers in the oil until onion is starting to go golden. (Leave the fat on the bacon - your soup will be tastier). Add split peas, water and stock and bring to a simmer. Simmer for an hour with the lid on, stirring occasionally - especially towards the end or your soup will stick to the bottom of the pot. Serve with bread and butter. Yum.