Matcha and Red Fruit Loaf Cake

A moist loaf cake with a hint of matcha, a Japanese green tea powder.

Split Green Pea & Coriander Soup

This is a winter warmer which you can fix up within an hour or so. Split peas are garden peas left in their pods to fully mature and when dried, and the skins removed, they split naturally. They contain a lot of fibre as well as protein so adding legumes to your soup will not only  make a tasty change from the traditional soups which use potatoes to bulk out other vegetables, it will also make it healthier.

Easy Buttery Lime Loaf Cake

Here's an easy and versatile loaf cake. Ready within less than an hour; great with your coffee or a scoop of ice cream, even a drizzle of raspberry coulis for dessert. A simple cake for the fussiest of eaters among us.

Quick & Light Raspberry Cheese Cakes

Ever feel the urge for something dairy-loaded and sweet but with only half the fat?  I did and I didn't want to wait hours for my fix. Depending on the recipe, some cheese cakes can take a long time to set especially if you're required to refrigerate the batter. I decided to bake my cheese cake (no need to wait hours for cake to set in the fridge) in small ramekins which meant that baking time is further reduced. These cheese cakes are ready to be devoured within an hour of prepping and cooking time!

Fig & Almond Muffins

One of the joys of eating with the seasons means looking forward to your favourite fruits. Figs are definitely one of them and right now there are plenty of them at the markets here: sweet, fleshy and crunchy seeds combined, ripe figs are one of nature's most moreish offerings. So when I came across this recipe in the BBC GoodFood magazine, I just had to give it a go.

Zucchini Fritters (Gluten Free)

Chickpea flour, otherwise known as Gram flour across the subcontinent, is what is usually used to bind vegetables together in bhajis or pakoras (South Asian fritters). Whereas plain flour weighs the fritters down and may need a pinch of baking powder to give lightness, the chick pea flour in this recipe makes them very airy and crispy. The batter becomes sticky and no egg is needed, so you can really taste the star ingredients: courgettes, pockets of salty Feta, garlic and fragrant basil.

Healthy Breakfast Muffins (No Sugar)

This one is for those of you and you know who you are on a diet this summer. When put to the challenge of making light muffins, I rose up to meet it and after two attempts, this by-no-means humble muffin surprised me. It packs a healthy punch with a list of superfood ingredients; perfect to start your day with.

Simple Spicy Sliders

On holiday back home I had spent all week eating veg and was very happy to do so knowing that in my part of France I would never be able to find veg like bitter gourd (kerala), or  those baby aubergines with silky skins and not to mention all the lovely alternatives to spinach:  fresh mustard and fenugreek leaves. These are veg with sharp flavours that never let you forget them.

However, once the holiday was over I began craving some meat and naturally this primal urge had to be satiated through a no fuss, hands on experience: cue sliders (burgers or kwaab as my family calls them) with some nostalgic spicy notes to satiate my homesickness for the food of my youth.

Poached Black Cherries

This doesn't need an introduction; a great late spring-summer fruit whose steamy embrace stains fingers, lips and clothes, so be warned! Poaching cherries enhances their sweet and tart flavour. With spices thrown in to the mix it becomes a very grown up dessert. Serve the cherries and the delicious juice with vanilla ice-cream, yoghurt, sponge cake or absolutely whatever takes your fancy.

Purple Carrot Soup with Oregano and Chipotle

'I think it pisses God off if you walk by the colour purple in a field somewhere and don't notice it.'

(Quote from Alice Walker's The Colour Purple)

 

This looks deceptively like a beetroot soup but it is not, besides beets are not the only purple vegetable. Ancient varieties of carrots are purple, yellow and  even white. It is unfortunate that the popular orange variety, which came about in the sixteenth century through cross breeding in the Netherlands, is the only variety available at the supermarkets.

Moreish Double Chocolate and Banana Muffins

These muffins are melt-in-the-mouth moist with mashed banana,  cocoa powder and 70% cocoa chocolate chips to boot. Very moreish indeed. Dieters look away now!

Marché des Lices in Rennes, France

There are several markets in Rennes, big and small, held on most days of the week. If you want to get the complete list of Market days see the tourist office link here. Today's shopping spree took place at the Marché des Lices in the old town centre, open from 7.30am to 13.30pm every Saturday. It's one of the most beautiful market places in France and also the third largest with around 300 farmers who come to sell you their produce. You can find anything food related here from seasonal fruit and vegetables produced from around the corner literally (my Green Zebra tomatoes in a previous post came from Pacé, just 8km from Rennes), artisan breads and jams, rotisseries and snack food (think galette saucisse here rather than chips and burgers), cheese and meat, seafood and fish, herbs and spices and even coffee. There is also a flower section and the other usual suspects: buskers, petitioners and cute kittens looking for homes.

Moist Summer Cake Laced With Tonka Bean

This cake was a bit of an experiment.

Blueberry, Buttermilk & Coconut Muffins

These muffins came about after a quick inventory of fridge and cupboard staples: a bag of frozen blueberries taking up too much space in a shoe box freezer, a packet of unopened dessicated coconut shoved to the back of the cupboard and half a bottle of fresh buttermilk lurking next to a milk carton on the fridge shelf.

Green Zebra Tomatoes in Curry

You'll find me strolling among the food aisles at the supermarket with my eyes peeled, not on a shopping list, but on the star of the show: food! I start with the produce, hoping to get the freshest and most inspiring, and then find a recipe for it. Of course I reserve this for days when I have time. But then again, food is something that I often make time for. So this is exactly how I came across these green zebra tomatoes a while ago. Their emerald striped skins stood out from the crowd: Hello I thought as I walked over to touch one.

Last-Minute Mascarpone Parfaits

Mascarpone cheese is so vesrsatile it can be used in soups for creamy thickness, in custard batter for quiches and tarts, and most especially in desserts such as spicy tirimisu as well as last-minute parfaits layered like a tirimisu.

 I like the taste of these parfaits better after a couple of hours in the fridge but they can also be eaten right-away if you can't wait! Just make sure you have some mascarpone cheese stored in your fridge at all times along with some lemons (also very versatile for cooking and cleaning).

Cucumber and Lime Raita

I always have a tub of Greek yoghurt in my fridge; it's just so versatile. I eat a bowl for breakfast with pieces of whatever fruit I have at hand, topped with either honey or maple syrup for sweet goodness. Dessert is similar; after a big meal try either this pomegranate and pecan pudding or the cutting corner's Kulfi (ice-cream) for something light. 

Greek yoghurt is also great for making quick and simple raitas which are fresh yoghurty sides that go really well with  hot curries. The blow of the heat is cushioned against the raita's creamy lightness, giving you extra protein for the road. Alternatively use this as a dip for dunking large pieces of bread or carrot sticks in.

Radish Greens with Potatoes



Apero time with a bunch of French Breakfast radishes, washed and eaten raw with a pinch of sea salt. Not one to waste food, I hung on to the radish greens and used them to make a wholesome veggy dish such as 'Saag-Aloo' (spinach and potatoes), except I substituted the Saag for the left-over radish greens.

Tirimisu with a Hint of Spice

An Italian student recently told me a story about tirimisu that went something like this: the working girls of Venice would work up such an appetite that they needed a quick-fix to satiate their hunger. In combining mascarpone, eggs and coffee they had come up with the ultimate 'pick-me-up' cake needed to continue working into the night.

Cutting Corners Kulfi

                                               

        

Cutting Corners Kulfi

I call this my cutting corners Kulfi because having slaved over the authentic recipe which aside from being time-consuming (cooking the milk until it is reduced) is also frustrating. Example, after an hour of freezing you had to break up the crystallized milk with a whisk which, in my case, meant that the milk solids would get stuck in the metal wires and rattle inside there.                    

The Habanero Chilli



 Habanero chillies can look a lot like their larger cousins, bell  peppers. But don't be fooled by their petite size and elegant shapes: round, lantern-like, or oblong - these little creatures will bite!

Cauliflour & Comté Quiche

Shoo or was that Chou?

'Out of my way!' The old man was trying to get off the bus - the obstacle, a pear-shaped lady with a couple of plastic grocery bags. She hadn't heard at first. 'Oh excusez-moi' she begged when he brushed past her, hitting one of the bags (accidently I hoped, looking on).

Cranberry & Coconut Chicken Curry

My local supermarket has been selling fresh American cranberries in sporadic bursts of late. Imported. I know about food miles but given that every other veg I buy is produced in France and some even a few kilometres from down the road, the occasional exotic fruit or veg isn't too bad, is it? So the minute I spotted them, they were winging their way (under a mile more) to my kitchen.

Chocolate and Speculoos Terrine

I'm not a big fan of meat terrines, but I recently got acquainted with this dessert one.
Let me introduce you to Chocolate and Speculoos Terrine!

Carrot Pancake

Carrot cake or pancake? What to make?

Decisions, decisions...and so goes my mid-morning musings playing to the drum of a rumbling tummy's cravings.

Chocolatey Lamb Curry

Chocolate, ginger and chillies - these are a few of my favourite things. A good dose of chillies and chocolate release endorphins, the body's natural painkillers, and ginger stimulates the blood circulation. Three superfoods not to mention aphrodisiacs which deserve some loving attention.

Poached Pears with Lime Kulfi

A poached pear doesn't need any fussing or fancy and over the top trimmings; the pear's elegant shape speaks for itself: simply sublime. And simple to poach too. Here's how.......

Pomegranate & Pecan Pudding

Have I ever told you about the pomegranate one?

No? Well, sit back and I'll begin.

Gobi Manchurian

                                      

It's the year of the Dragon - a symbol of power, strength and luck. To celebrate the Chinese New Year, I decided to try out an Indo-Chinese recipe; a fusion of ingredients and cooking techniques from both cuisines developed by the Chinese community in Kolkata (formerly Calcutta) in India. Some of you might already be familiar with the Indian dish 'Gobi-Aloo' (cauliflower and potatoes) - a simple and tasty vegetarian curry. Gobi Manchurian marries essential Indian ingredients such as garlic, ginger and onions (the holy trinity of Indian cuisine) with Chinese ingredients such as Soy sauce.

Black Treacle Brownies with Cranberries

These black beauties, rich in colour and strong in flavour, contrast well with the ruby-like cranberries. The black treacle adds moisture as well as minerals and iron  - a good substitute for sugar - and the cranberries add a tart chewiness as well as having antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. And let's not forget the life and soul of this party - chocolate! Dark chocolate with  70% cocoa content -rich and bitter in taste - is high in magnesium which makes these brownies almost guilt-free!

Chilli Potato Cutlets

This hearty little snack can be found in most corners of the globe under different names: potato cakes, patties, pancakes or cutlets as they are called in the Indian subcontinent. But what’s in a name if they are all the same?