butter chicken
I remember vividly when and how I fell in love with Butter Chicken. The month was May, the year 2011 the place a small, ramshackle restaurant in New Delhi, India. I had been in Delhi studying since early March of that year and had months to go before heading back home to Cape Town to finish off my degree. Most of the food I had been exposed to in the city until then had not been to my liking, mainly because I did not at the time have much of a palette for hot and spicy food. One day when my friend and I went out as we often did to get out of the campus, I decided to try out Butter Chicken, which I was assured was the dish with the least heat on the menu. I was immediately hooked. For me it was the creamy texture and how the spices were tempered with yoghurt and tomatoes that made this meal a winner. Fast-forward to 2021, I’ve been enjoying this meal for a decade. The recipe below is my take on this delicious meal and I hope you can use it to switch up your chicken meals once in a while.
Scones, Scones, Scones
This is my recipe for yumminess produced in under an hour. These scones are perfect for a weekend or weekday morning. All you need to do is set your alarm an hour early to make sure that you stay in your family’s good books for an entire week! My scones are light, fluffy and golden. The sugar content ensures that they are sweet enough to enjoy on their own and not too sweet that you can’t add jam and cream. I really like adding ½ a teaspoon of cinnamon for that added bit flavour. You can also add a teaspoon of nutmeg for that additional flavour pop. Go on, give this recipe a try and let me know how popular you become in your home.
Creamy Tomato &
Spinach Trout
New Year, New Me! That means a concerted effort towards diversifying our meals to incorporate healthier alternatives. My ultimate goal is to work in 3 meat-free dinners a week, but I’m also honest enough with myself to take this slowly in order to prevent a full mutiny in my home. So my strategy has been to work in more seafood alternatives and make them so delicious that they become a first choice rather than a consolation prize. Lol.
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I developed this recipe one evening when I was completely spent after a full day of work but also really keen to have a good meal on the lighter side of things. Of course, having been born in the seaside town of East London and living in Cape Town for 18 years, my love for seafood is unquestioned. In my earlier years the go-to fish was either Hake or Snoek, which were cheap and readily available to a working class family. As I got more exposed to the variety that the sea has to offer, my palette suddenly started making more and more demands for different flavours and textures of seafood. Trout and salmon definitely rank high up on my list of palette pleasers. This recipe for a Creamy Tomato & Spinach Trout screams “eat me now”. It’s relatively light and packed full of flavour. The only caveat I will give is that you should be careful to not overcook it otherwise you’ll waste all that money you spent on the trout! Enjoy.
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Ingredients
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500-600g Trout fillets
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¾ cup fresh cream
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200-300g fresh baby spinach
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â…“ cup finely chopped onion
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â…“ cup chopped red or yellow bell pepper
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½ cup rosa tomatoes
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1 tbsp. olive oil
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2 curry leaves
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1 tbsp. fish herbs or fish spice
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Salt & pepper
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Method
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Cut up the Trout into your size of choice and fry in a non-stick pan for 2 minutes of each side. You can add 1 more minute if you prefer you Trout well don though I would not recommend this. Season with salt and pepper and set aside.
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In the same pan, sauté onion and red bell pepper until soft. Add curry leaves. Add tomatoes and spinach and allow to simmer with water drawn from the spinach. The spinach will wilt in about 3 minutes or so. Do not drain the water.
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Add cream, fish spice, salt and pepper. Allow to cook and reduce into a creamy sauce. Taste and add more seasoning if needed.
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Place the Trout back into the pan with the sauce in and allow to simmer for 2 minutes.
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Serve immediately with mash potato.