Plantain Nachos with re-fried beans and cottage cheese

Nachos has always been a favourite snack when I am out with my friends. Therefore as I took the decision to avoid gluten, I was keen to recreate this without the nacho chips. On holiday in Cuba, my friends and I fell in love with Plantain and living in Brixton where plantain is readily available, I thought I would give this classic a makeover.

Ingredients

• 1 plantain, thinly sliced.
• 1 TSP smoked paprika
• 1/2 can of black beans
• 1 TSP Cumin powder
• 1 TSP Hot Chili Powder
• 1 TSP corainder powder
• 1 garlic minced
• Chopped tomato
• Chili powder
• Cottage cheese

1. Tossed the sliced plantain in the smoked paprika and olive oil. Roast in the oven for 20 minutes on 200 degrees.
2. Heat the minced garlic in olive oil in heavy based pan. Once the garlic begins to brown, add the black beans. Gently heat these for 5 minutes. After 5 minutes, add a few tablespoons of water and the cumin powder, chili powder and coriander. As the beans start to soften, use a potato masher to mash and continue to fry for another 5 minutes. Take off the heat after this.
3. To make the salsa heat the chopped tomato with chili powder.
4. Now arrange the nachos - do this by taking the nachos out the oven and topping with re-fried beans, salsa and a dollop of cottage cheese.

Roasted cauliflower in curry powder with tandoori prawns and cottage cheese

I tend to use cauliflower to make cauliflower mash, which is amazing a replacement for rice in sushi rolls. Last night I fancied a curry and wanted a mix between a sauce and some dry veg - basically a cross between a shashlik and a prawn curry. So I created the below.

Ingredients

• 200g Cauliflower
• 1 Garlic clove
• Curry Powder
• 1 TBSP ginger-garlic paste
• 1 TSP hot chilli powder
• 1 1/2 TSP paprika
• 1 TSP Garam Marsala
• 1 TSP Coriander Powder
• 100g cottage cheese (or you can use yogurt if you prefer).
• Juice of 1 lime
• Prawns

1. Heat the over to 200 degrees.
2. Marinate the prawns in half of the lime juice.
3. Chop the cauliflower into pieces, add to a baking tray and toss in olive oil and curry powder. Mince the garlic and sprinkle over the top. Place in the oven and bake for 20minutes, if required sprinkle with water every so often to prevent cauliflower over drying, as opposed to adding more oil.
4. To make the sauce, mix together the ginger-garlic paster, hot chilli powder, paprika, Garam Marsala, cottage cheese and coriander.
5. Stir fry the prawns and when cooked, mixed in the sauce and cook for a further minute.
6. Plate up the roasted cauliflower and tandoori prawns and enjoy.

Raw Pad Thai

Thai food is probably my favourite type of  food in the world. I love the taste of coconut and the spices they use, however I am not a fan of noodles and was keen to make a healthy version of my partners favourite Pad Thai.

Ingredients:

Pad Thai

• 2 Carrots
• 1 courgette
• Handful of green beans
• Half a white cabbage
• Coriander
• Prawns
• Handful crushed nuts (peanuts or cashews)

Dressing

• 2 TBSP Cashew butter 
• 1 TBSP soy sauce
• Juice of 2 lime
• 1 TBSP of honey (add more if you prefer it sweeter)
• 1 garlic minced
• 1 tsp of ginger grated 

1. Juice one lime and marinate the raw prawns in them, set aside for 30 minutes.
2. Mandolin the carrots and courgettes and place in a bowl.
3. Chop the top and tail of the green beans and chop in half. Add to the carrot mix.
4. Shred the cabbage into thin slices. Mix all the vegetables together.
5. Cook the prawns.
6. To make the dressing, simply mix all the ingredients together.
7.  Pour the sauce over the vegetables and mix together.
8. Add the prawns and chop some coriander and sprinkle over the top. Finally finish off with a sprinkle of crushed nuts.

Vegetarian Morrocan Spiced Pie

This recipe is ideal for a dinner party. It can be made a day in advance (which I would recommend as it deepens the flavours) and is enjoyed by both vegetarians and meat eaters.

You can play around with this recipe substituting some of the flavours and spices for different ones, as long as you keep the core ingredients.

Below I have used puff pastry but in the past I have used filo pastry which I prefer, especially at a dinner party as as it is slightly lighter and easy to combine with a three course meal.

You can make your own pastry but shop brought pastry tends to be of a high quality and I would recommend for convenience.

Ingredients:

Butternut squash ( 1 large or 2 small)
Cumin and coriander seeds for roasting
Ground cumin, paprika, coriander ( if you don't like coriander use parsley and likewise if you like spice add chili flakes)
Pepper
2 garlic gloves
I lemon juice and rind
2 red onions
Tin of chickpeas
Fresh coriander/ parsley
Ginger
Bag of spinach
2tbsp honey
Handful of pistachios, flamed almonds and cranberries (can use other seeds/nuts like sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, raisins etc)
Filo or puff pastry (I prefer filo)

Optional: natural yogurt, Harissa paste and fresh coriander

Method:


1. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees and once heated place the butternut squash in coated in some oil. Take it out after 20 mins. The skin should now be soft enough to peel away with a small knife. Remove the skin and chop into cubes and coat in cumin, coriander and paprika. Pop back in the oven until soft (about 30mins)

2. Whilst the squash is roasting, toast the cumin and coriander seeds on a hot dry frying pan. When you start to smell the spices, add some oil, a chopped garlic clove, a cube of chopped ginger and the chopped onions. Fry the onions for ten minutes until browned and the add paprika, spinach, pistachios, almonds and honey. Cook until the spinach wilts and then take off heat and add the cranberries.

3. Now make the houmous. To do this my add chickpeas, chopped garlic, fresh coriander,lemon rind, cumin and paprika to a pan and heat in oil and lemon juice. Cook until the chickpeas are soft and then take off the heat and use a food processor to blend to a paste. At this point I add some natural yogurt to make the paste smoother and less stodgy.

4. Once the squash is cooked, you can assemble the pie. You do this by laying out the pastry sheets in a square or round baking tray. Then place the butter squash in the middle, this will form the bottom layer. Next add a layer of the chickpea Paste, followed by a layer of the spinach mix, then add another layer of the chickpea paste and finish with a layer of the spinach mix. Then fold the pastry sides over so the top is open but the sides are covered and the edge of the top.

5. Now leave in the fridge until you are ready to cook it. When ready cook at 180 degrees for 20 mins or until brown.
Serve with a yogurt sauce ( simply yogurt, Harissa and fresh coriander).

Then enjoy!