Peppery Roast Butternut Squash.

Allot of people don't really know what to do with butternut squashes - I've never to this day, ever seen anyone pick one up at a supermarket!

This recipe is so easy and delicious; It can also be kept for a few days, if you don't fancy eating it a couple of days in a row. Or alternatively, it can be frozen and eaten later.

ingredients:

Butternut Squash
Vegetable Stock
Ground black pepper
Sea salt
Olive Oil
Fresh Chives





Slice the Butternut squash in equal portions and place on baking a baking tray. Rub the slices with olive oil and season with salt and pepper (use the desired amount of salt only at this point - you can use half of the ground pepper now and the rest near the end to keep the peppery flavour strong)

Bake the squash until it's becomes caramelised and soft - whilst waiting, you can can bring your stock up to the boil and let it simmer. Once the squash is ready, let it cool a little and remove the tough skin. Add the squash to the simmering stock.

Add the remaining ground black pepper and blend everything together. The consistency of your soup is up to you - A proper butternut squash soup should coat the back of a spoon nicely. Now add your finely chopped chives (if you think some other herb suits the squash better, then by all means experiment)

Enjoy :)

Thai Broth with Chicken and\or Vegetables

(picture stolen from the Interweb)


As i was on my weight loss mission - this is probably the one thing I really looked forward to eating. As me, you may also suffer from carrying a few extra Ib's during the winter months, because naturally we prefer hot foods then and the vast majority are higher in saturated fats and carbs. Sure, if you're really careful, you can avoid the weight gain - but what the heck.

This broth is a beautiful blend of sharp tastes, sour, sweet and heat.

Ingredients:

for around 5 large servings, you will need:

• 4Ib Chicken thighs (on or off the bone, makes no difference)
• 2 larg onions
• 1 red and yellow pepper
• mushrooms (I use shiitaki and funny looking mini mushrooms growing from one lump - I can't remember their name)
• fresh or frozen garden peas
• 4-5 spring onions
• 1 large lime
• Fresh coriander
• pinch of cumin seeds
• 3tbs Thai fish sauce
• 2tbs Dark Soy sauce
• pinch of sugar
• freshly grated black pepper and sea salt
• fresh ginger
  
• fresh garlic
• 1 large chili
• 1/2 pint chicken or vegetable stock
  

To start with - make sure you have all you vegetables sliced in nice strips or equal sizes to help even the cooking process. Keep the Ginger sliced, as you would with the vegetables - finely chop the garlic.

Have a hot pan on the ready and pour in a Little sesame oil or vegetable oil. If you're choosing the none Veg option, then you have to fry the chicken off first and seal it. Once it's sealed, remove and put it to one side.

For the vegetarians, you can start from this point and obviously miss out the re-introduction of the chicken later.

To the hot pan, add your chili, Garlic and ginger and let it fry off for about 1 minute - before adding the onions. Let them soften, then add the peppers and mushrooms. add half of the sliced spring onions and let them soften also.

Re-add the chicken and let the flavours mix for 3-4 minutes. Add your cumin seeds, salt, pepper, sugar, soy and fish sauce and half of the fresh lime juice. At this point, you will either love the smell or detest it. The fish sauce can give off a little pong - but i like it :) let these now work with the rest of your ingredients for about a minute (or until you can't take enough of the smell) and throw in your stock and top the lot with (roughly) 1.5 Litres of water.

The above cooking process, in between the cooking and re-adding of the chicken, shouldn't take more than 15 mins. You now need to cook it until the chicken is cooked all the way through.

About 5 mins before the end - add the peas (if frozen - if fresh, then you need to add at the same time as the peppers and mushrooms) and half of the coriander.

To serve- add the remainder of the chopped spring onions and coriander.

If you would like noodles - then simply prepare some egg noodles seperately and add them to the bowl.

hope you enjoy. I still do :)

Humous.

If you're the type of person who likes little snacks in-between main meals, then this quick and simple humous recipe is delicious. As I've had nothing except a cup of soup today, I just fancied a light, quick and healthy snack before dinner tonight.

Ingredients:

• Chick peas (tinned variety is probably the best)
• Extra-Virgin olive oi
• Garlic
• sea salt and cracked black pepper

Personally, I love garlic - so for the average taster, 1 clove per 1 tin of chick peas should be plenty. Add all of the above ingredients to an electric blender/processor and whizz until there's a nice thick paste. About 3 table spoons of olive oil should do for 1 tin of chick peas.

I've just had mine with some ryhbread - but you can have humous with any sort of cracker or even well done cold toast.

Lemon, Ginger and Paprika chicken with couscous

Well, here I go with my first recipe. I've literally just cooked and ate this in about 20 mins - that's how easy and straight forward it is. Easy and healthy.

Now, I'm not here to give you exact measurements of ingredients or to tell you what you should and shouldn't use. If you find an alternative better for you or your diet, then go for it.

I also apologise for the poor picture quality, I can assure you, it tasted a million times better than it looks ;)

Ingredients you will require:

For the chicken:

• Boned and skinned thighs
• paprika
• salt
• juice of half a lemon (per 4 thighs should be surf ice)
  
• sliced fresh ginger
• 6 tbs of chicken or veg stock
• cherry tomatoes
• baby leaf spinach

For the Couscous

• Dried Couscous
• Sea salt and cracked black pepper
• Extra virgin olive oil
• Chicken or veg stock
• Spring onions (1 per portion)
  
• Tin of chick peas
• Tin of black eyed peas
• White wine vinegar
  

Cooking the chicken:

I find cooking the chicken thighs in a good, non-stick wok the best way to keep the meat moist and juicy. Pre-heat the wok until it smokes and use a couple of tea spoons of oil. Olive oil has a high burning point, but i find it spits allot more in a wok than veg or sun flower oil. For best results, please don't shake chicken about in the wok. If it's a good non-stick pan - it will seal the chicken nicely, without burning or sticking.

• lie thighs open and flat in the wok and sprinkle with paprika and salt. Let one side brown and turn over. Sprinkle the opposite side with just paprika (don't want to much salt) and let it cook for a further 4-5 mins.
  
• Flip the chicken back over and squeeze in the lemon juice.
  
• Let the juices amalgamate and add the sliced ginger and tomatoes.
  
• once the tomatoes start breaking down, add the stock.
  
• lastly, add the spinache and let it wilt.

For the couscous

couscous is a great ingredient. It's versitile, healthy, filling and quick and easy to make. If you can get your hands on some Isreali couscous, that's even better.

• Add couscous to a deep bowl and just cover with hot stock and cover with cling-film. I just use stock cubes - ignore the TV chefs who snarl at people for using the cube. The Easier option. If you're not a great fan of stock - then hot water will do. Note: Couscous has to be well seasoned, before it's worth eating!
  
• Once the couscous has absorbed the stock, you will notice it's probably doubled in size. Season well with sea salt and cracked black pepper.
• Add olive oil and the white wine vinegar.
  
• Add the black eyed peas and chick peas.
  
• Add the spring onions and cherry tomatoes at the end for a bit of texture.

Enjoy!

Intro..

Hello people,

My name is Vaheed and I love food!

Well, who doesn't ? Every person I know loves food. There's nothing better than seeing/feeling the collective excitement on family and friend's faces when going out to eat - or waiting for what's cooking to be ready. lovely.

I got in to cooking 6 years ago. Well, when I say 'got in to' - I mean I didn't have a choice. I moved away from home for work - so had to cook for myself from time to time. When I decided to do something about my ever expanding waist-line 2 and a half years ago, that's when i really studied and understood Foods/ingredients and their properties allot better. I have no doubt that my understanding of certain foods helped me lose the 4.7st (so far) . I've since watched a million cooking programs, bought a million cooking books (well my wife has..hehe) and invested in 2 food businesses :)

From today, and as often as I can, I will be blogging about food I have cooked, watched being cooked and places I've eaten and what I thought of them. I hope people can try my ideas and let me know what they think of them. I am not a professional chef - I'm an aspiring cook. Happy reading and safe cooking.