Arford Books Cooks

Easy recipes from Apple Tree

Category: Sides (Page 2 of 3)

Lightest, fluffiest vegan naan

28/12/2020 /

This is very simple and uses just seven vegan ingredients plus water. I think these naans are even better than traditional naan breads. Makes about 8 breads. And you don’t even have to knead it! First make your yeasty liquid:

  • 3/4 cup warm water
  • 1 tsp active yeast
  • 1 tsp sugar

Combine and leave for ten minutes until frothy. Meanwhile mix up:

  • 2 cups plain flour
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 3/4 tsp baking powder
  • 3 tbs vegan yoghurt
  • 2 tbs olive oil
  • (optional – 3 cloves garlic, minced)

Now add about three quarters of the frothy water. Mix to a sticky dough, adding more frothy water if it is too dry. Knead briefly, just to combine and make a ball. Place in a bowl, cover with oiled cling film and leave to rise 1-2 hours in a warm place. If you used fast acting yeast it may rise quicker than that.

Heat a hot plate or dry heavy based frying pan so they are sizzling hot. When the dough is ready, knock it back and break it up into 8 balls. Leave to rest for another ten minutes. Roll out on a floured surface to make naan shaped ovals about half a centimetre thick. Put on the hot plate. When bubbles appear on the ncooked surface after a minute or two, flip over and cook a similar time on the other side. Remove and keep warm while you make the remainder.

To serve you can brush with melted vegan spread and sprinkle with salt, more minced garlic, chopped coriander or just serve plain. Eat fresh with your Indian meal, they are amazing.

Rice ‘n’ Peas

14/12/2020 /

Not peas actually, but beans. Here’s a quick nearly authentic version to go with any Jamaican dish. Serves four as a side.

  • Half a large onion, chopped
  • Dash of vegetable oil

Saute the onion in the oil until transparent. Add

  • 1 green chilli, deseeded and sliced

Saute a few minutes more. Add

  • 225 gm long grain white rice

Stir until coated in oil. Add

  • 1 tomato, chopped
  • 900 ml vegetable stock
  • Pinch of dried thyme or a teaspoon thyme leaves

Cover and simmer for ten minutes. Add

  • 1 tin of either red kidney beans, black beans or black-eyed beans
  • Optional: 50g coconut cream

Heat for another five minutes. If the water hasn’t been absorbed, remove the lid and heat until it dries out. Add

  • Chopped coriander leaves or parsley
  • Adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper

Serve as a side dish for four people. You can make this a main course by stir frying 200g pork mince with the onion at the beginning, which would serve 2-3.

Awesome Chilli Sauce

20/10/2020 /

This is the best chilli sauce you will ever make. Ever. If you grow your own chillies, perfect. If not you will have to buy a lot, but it’s worth it. Here goes. Obtain:

  • 400g red chillies of your choice.

Remove seeds and stalks. You might think you can get away with chopping one chilli with unprotected fingers, but don’t try it with 400g. Wear gloves or you will suffer. Put your chillies in a food processor or blender with:

  • 10 cloves of garlic
  • 200ml water
  • 70ml cider vinegar

Whizz until finely chopped. Add to a saucepan with

  • 60g soft brown sugar
  • 2 tbs salt

Bring to the boil and simmer for 20 minutes or until thickened. Stir to prevent sticking and burning. Sterilise some jars or small bottles, fill with the sauce while hot, seal then leave to cool. It will keep in a fridge for several months, but it is highly likely it will all be consumed well before then.

Vegetable Biryani

Cheat’s quick veg biryani

11/10/2020 /

OK, true Indian cookery affionados will probably cringe at this, but if you want a tasty meal ready in under 20 minutes and fewer than 100 ingredients you are in the right place. I’m giving the quantities here for one person, you can scale up x2, x3 and x4 but as this is a microwave dish I’m not guaranteeing it will work for larger quantities because I haven’t tested it for more servings. You can adapt it for the Instant Pot then you can go larger.

Here goes, per person. You can chop and change the choice of vegetables. It can be one or two types, or a gathering of anything you have to hand.

  • 70gm basmati rice
  • 140ml vegetable stock (or 160ml if your veg are on the dry side)
  • 0.5tbs curry paste (any will do)
  • 120gm vegetables – sliced mushroom, chopped beans, peas, chopped pepper, chopped carrot, cauliflower florets, diced potato, diced sweet potato or any combo that takes your fancy. You can use chopped onion but best to saute these first.
  • 25g dried fruit such as sultanta, raisin, chopped dried apricot

Put the whole lot in a microwaveable container such as a pyrex bowl, and cover. Microwave on full power for 6 minutes. Stir around, the rice at the bottom may be dry. Microwave for another 6 minutes. If you are scaling up, you may need to cook for slightly longer but only a minute or two. Leave to stand for 5 minutes. Fluff up and add:

  • 25g shopped cashews or flaked almonds
  • 0.5tbs chopped fresh corianer if you have it

Serve with a blob of yoghurt on top and chutney on the side. If you have a few long-life naan breads in the cupboard, heat one in the toaster. If you have grabbed a pack of uncooked popadums you could microwave a couple of those instead. Grab a bottle of lager and away you go.

Allotment Salad

Allotment Salad

01/07/2020 /

This is the perfect salad to serve with a roast on a hot summer’s day when cooked vegetables would be simply too much to take. This takes a bit of prep so it is good for a Sunday lunch or for guests. This is enough for six people. It keeps a day in the fridge at a pinch.

Prepare your vegetables, put a large pan on the hob full of boiling water and have a large bowl of iced water to hand. You will also need a scoopy thing and a colander or paper towels.

  • Handful of tender French beans, trimmed and cut in half
  • Handful of asparagus stalks, cut into 4cm lengths
  • Handful of tenderstem broccoli, cut in half
  • Large handful of frozen peas
  • 6 spring onions, chopped into 1cm lengths
  • 6-8 radishes, sliced
  • Half or whole sweetheart cabbage, tender inner leaves, thinly sliced
  • Bunch of mint leaves, shredded

Boil your asparagus for 2 minutes. Immediately cool in the iced water, then drain and dry.

Boil your French Beans for 4 minutes. Immediately cool in the iced water, then drain and dry.

Boil your Broccoli for 2.5 minutes. Immediately cool in the iced water, then drain and dry.

Boil your peas for 1 minute. Immediately cool in the iced water, then drain and dry.

Mix all your vegetables in a large salad bowl. make a dressing:

  • 6 tbs olive oil
  • 1 tbs Dijon mustard
  • Juice of 1 lemon

Gently toss the dressing through the salad.

Saffron Couscous

28/04/2020 /

An easy way to tart up couscous as a side dish. This makes a side dish for four.

  • Generous pinch of saffron fronds
  • 3 tbs boiling water

Place them in a saucepan and let the saffron steep for 20 minutes while you make something else.

  • 2-3 tbs pine nuts

Dry fry the pine nuts until they look a bit brown. Set aside.

  • 225g couscous
  • Equal volume of boiling water or vegetable stock
  • Pinch of salt
  • 2 tsp olive oil

Put all this in the pan containing the saffron. Cover and leave for five minutes.

  • Leaves from a small bunch of parsley, chopped.

Stir in the pine nuts and parsley. Fluff up with a fork and serve. Good alongside falafels, pittas, hummus and courgette and tomato

Falafel (reliable recipe!)

28/04/2020 /

I have tried several recipes and not all of them work. This one does! It needs a bit of preparation but it’s well worth it. Here are quantities to make a generous pile to feed four.

  • 225g dried chickpeas

Either soak overnight, or cook for 5 minutes in your Instant Pot and leave for a further hour in the water.

  • Optional – 1 small onion
  • Bunch of parsley leaves
  • 2 garlic loves
  • 1 to 3 tbs chickpea/gram flour
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp ground cumin
  • 0.5tsp ground coriander
  • Pinch cayenne pepper
  • Black pepper

Put these and the drained chickpeas in a food processor with about 50ml water. Start with 1 tbs flour and add more if it looks too crumbly. This is because some chickpeas seems to be less sticky than others. Process to a coarse paste that sticks together. Add a spash more water if necessary, or a touch more flour even. Cover and refrigerate for about an hour.

Make little balls 2-3cm in diameter – you will make about 20 with this batch. A small icecream scoop is useful. Heat a pan full of oil to about 160degC and shallow fry the balls in batches. You may need to flip them halfway through cooking if your oil isn’t deep. They are cooked when the outside goes brown and crispy. Drain on kitchen paper and keep warm until ready to serve.

Lebanese Courgette and Tomato (Koussa Wbanadoura)

28/04/2020 /

An easy side for a Lebanese meal. This is nice and sloppy so it goes well with dry dishes like couscous and falafel. This serves 4 as a side.

  • 1 small onion, chopped
  • 1 tbs oil

Saute gently until translucent.

  • 2 courgettes, sliced thickly and quartered.

Add to the pan. Saute until starting to colour.

  • Pinch of chilli flakes
  • Salt and pepper
  • 4-6 tomatoes depending on size, diced.

You could use a tin of chopped tomatoes if times are hard. Now gently stew all this in a covered pan for 15-20 minutes. Add a splash of water if it is drying out. That’s it! Job done.

Wild Garlic Pesto

Wild Garlic Pesto

28/04/2020 /

This is wonderful on chicken, fish, or anything else you want to zap up.

  • Handful of fresh young wild garlic leaves.
  • Tablespoon of grated parmesan
  • Tablespoon of capers
  • Two or three anchovy fillets from a tin
  • Glug of good olive oil.

Zap the lot with a stick blender. Add more oil if it is too much of a lump. You want it spoonable. You can use it straight away, but it will improve if left in the fridge overnight.

Beer mac'n'cheese recipe

Beer Mac’n’Cheese

21/02/2020 /

The American classic. This is for two people as a main course, easy to scale up or down. It can also be served as a side like in American diners.

  • 10g butter or substitute
  • 1 clove garlic, crushed and chopped

Heat the butter in a flameproof pan (like a le Creuset casserole dish and gently fry the garlic

  • 50g spinach

Add to the pad and wilt

  • 400ml milk
  • 200ml pale ale
  • 170g macaroni, penne or curly pasta

Add to the pan, bring to the boil and simmer 20 minutes

  • 150g mozzerella cheese sliced
  • 100g cheddar cheese grated
  • 1 tsp cornflour in a little milk

Add to the pan and stir to thicken. Keep heating gently to melt the cheese. Place under a grill to brown the top if you like. Serve with crispy bacon!

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