Zucchini flowers stuffed with moroccan spiced chickpeas

serves 4

150g butternut pumpkin, chopped
300g tinned chickpeas, drained and rinsed
2 tablespoons currants
4 red Asian shallots, finely chopped
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 1/2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 teaspoons coriander leaves, chopped
2 teaspoons parsley leaves, chopped
12 zucchini flowers with stems attached

Garlic and lemon butter
100g ghee
4 garlic cloves, crushed
1 teaspoon ground coriander
pinch cayenne pepper
1 tablespoon lemon juice


Place the pumpkin pieces in a steamer and cover with a lid. Sit the steamer over a saucepan or wok of boiling water and steam for 5-8 minutes, or until the pumpkin is soft. Transfer the pumpkin to a bowl, allow to cool and then mash well with a fork.

Meanwhile, coarsely mash the chickpeas in a separate bowl. Add the currants, shallots, cumi, cinnamon, lemon juice, coriander and parsley and season with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Fold the mashed pumpkin through the mixture until well combined.

Carefully remove the stamens from inside the zucchini flowers and trim the ends. FIll each flower until almost full, then gently twist the flower times to secure the filling. Lay the stuffed flowers in the steamer so that they fit snugly in a single layer.

Meanwhile, to make the garlic and lemon butter, melt the ghee in a small saucepan over medium heat. Add the garlic and 1/2 teaspoon of salt and saute for 2 minutes, or until the garlic starts to turn golden brown and the butter is frothing. Add the coriander and cyenne pepper and cook for 30 seconds. Stir in the lemon juice.

Put three stuffed zucchini flowers on each plate and drizzle with some of the hot garlic and lemon butter.

Potato Gnocchi With Spinach, Orange and Pine Nuts

Serves 4 people

Ingredients

Gnocchi:

• 500g roasting (floury) potatoes
• 85g plain (all-purpose) flour

Sauce:

• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 30g butter
• finely grated zest and juice of one orange
• 125g baby English spinach
• 3 tbsp pine nuts, toasted
• freshly shaved parmesan cheese, to serve
  

Method

• To make the gnocchi, cut the unpeeled potatoes into uniform pieces, roughly the size of a lemon. Arrange in a single layer in a large steamer and cover with a lid. Set the steamer over a saucepan or wok of boiling water and steam for 25-30 minutes or until the potatoes are tender but not breaking up ( you can boil the potatoes if you would prefer, doesn’t take as long ). Transfer to a bowl and leave to cool. Cover loosely and refrigerate for 4 hours or overnight. This helps to give a dry, light-textured dough.

• Peel the potatoes and cut out any blemishes. Mash in a large brown using a potato masher or ricer (don’t do this in a blender or food processor as this will result in a starchy puree that wont form a light dough). Add a large pinch of salt and half the flour. With clean hands, lightly work it into the potatoes. When you have a mix dry enough to clump together, add the remaining flour and work it in to give a soft dough that is damp, but doesn't stick to your fingers. Transfer to a floured surface and lightly knead until it is smooth. Rest the dough for 5 minutes.


• Pull off one-quarter of the dough and roll it with your hands to a long rope about the thickness of your thumb. Cut this into 3 cm lengths. You can leave the gnocchi either as it is, or roll each one in your hands into an egg shape. Repeat with the remaining dough.


• Put the olive oil, butter, orange zest and orange juice in a large frying pan over medium heat until the butter melts. Remove from the head and reserve.
  Spread the gnocchi single layer in a large steamer and cover with a lid. Sit the steamer over a saucepan or wok of boiling water and steam for 5 minutes, or until the gnocchi are cooked. They will be slightly sticky on the outside at this stage so lightly flour your hands. Transfer to the frying pan and stir over medium head to coat the gnocchi in the butter sauce. Repeat with the remaining gnocchi.


• Add the spinach, increase the heat and cook, stirring, until the spinach wilts. Add the pine nuts and season with salt and freshly ground black pepper.


• Serve at once with parmesan shavings.

Kheer

(Serves 6)

150g balsmati rice
20 cardamom pods
2.5 litres milk
30g flaked almonds
4tbs sugar
30g saltanas

Wash the rice, then soak for 20 minutes in cold water. Drain well. Remove the seads from the cardamom pods and lightly crush them with a mortar and pestle

Bring the mild to the boil and add the rice and cardamom. Reduce the heat and simmer for 11/2 - 2 hours or until the rice has a creamy consistency. Stir occasionally to stop the rice sticking to the pan.

Dry fry the almonds in a frying pan for a few minutes over medium heat. Add the sugar, almonds and sultanas to the rice, reserving some almonds and saltanas. Mix, then divide among bowls. Serve warm, garnished with almonds and sultanas.

Apricots In Cardamon Syrup

(Serves 4)

300g dried apricots
3 tablespoons caster sugar
3 table spoons slivered, blanched almonds
1cm piece of ginger, sliced
4 cardamom pods
1 cinammon stick


Soak the apricots in 750ml of water in a large saucepan for 4 hours, or until plumped up

Add the sugar, almonds, ginger, cardamom to the apricots and bring slosly to the boil, stirring until the sugar has dissolved. Reduce the heat to a simmer and cook until the liguid has reduced by half and formed a thick syrup. Pour into a bowl, then refrigerate.

Aloo Chaat

1kg small salad potatoes, unpeeled
80ml tamarind puree
4 green chillies, seeded and finely chopped
4 tablespoons chopped coriander (cilantro) leaves
2 teaspoons chaat masala

Boil the potatoes in their skins for 15 minutes, or until just tender. Peel the potatoes and slice them into small rounds. Put them in a serving bowl.

Mix the tamarind puree with 2 tablespoons of water. Mix all the other ingreedients with the tamarind, then season with salt.

Gently toss the potato rounds with the tamarind mixture and serve.

Chucumber

Ingredients

1 red onion, finely chopped
2 small cucumbers, about 200g, finely chopped
100g ripe tomatoes, finely chopped
3 tablespoons finely chopped coriander (cilantro)
1 red chilli, finely chopped
1 green chilli, finely chopped
1 1/2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 tesspoon oil
125g unroasted peanuts, roughly chopped
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 1/2 teaspoons chaat masala

Directions

1. Stir together in a bowl the onion, cucumber, tomato, coriander, chillies and lemon juice
2. Heat the oil in a frying pan over high heat, add the peanuts and salt and fry for one minute.
3. Sprinkle the peanuts with pepper and chaat masala.
4. Fry for two minutes.
5. Remove peanuts from the heat and add to the onion mixture.
6. Season with more salt, to taste, just before serving.

NOTE: The seasoning is added at the end to prevent the ingredients releasing too much juice before serving.