Masala chai-inspired bread and butter pudding

30 mins to 1 hour preparation time
1 to 2 hours cooking time
Serves 6

Ingredients

• 425ml/15fl oz double cream
• 425ml/15fl oz whole milk
• 180g/6oz golden caster sugar, plus extra for the topping
• 2 large sticks of cassia bark or 2 cinnamon sticks
• 2 dried bay leaves
• 2 large black cardamom pods
• 1 small handful fennel seeds
• 10 cloves
• 2 small handfuls green cardamom pods
• 1 loaf good-quality day-old sliced white bread
• 125g/4½oz unsalted butter, softened, plus extra for greasing
• 75g/2½oz flaked almonds
• 2 free-range eggs
• 6 free-range egg yolks
• 100g/3½oz unsalted shelled pistachio nuts, lightly chopped plus extra to serve

Preparation method

1. Place the cream, milk, sugar and spices in a large saucepan and bring to the boil. Remove from the heat and leave to infuse for 20 minutes, or longer if possible.
2. Meanwhile, remove the crusts from about nine slices of bread. Butter liberally on one side and cut into triangles.
3. Sprinkle half of the almonds into a dry heavy-based, non-stick frying pan and toast over a medium heat. When golden-brown, transfer to a small plate or bowl to stop them from cooking further or burning.
4. Place the eggs and egg yolks into a large jug and whisk until combined. Strain the infused milk and cream through a sieve onto the eggs and whisk until smooth to make a custard. Discard the spices.
5. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4. Liberally butter a 1.5 litre/2¾ pint baking dish, then place a single layer of buttered bread on the bottom. Pour over enough custard to cover and soak into the bread, pressing lightly to ensure it is soaked through. Sprinkle over a few toasted almonds and layer with more bread, custard, then almonds.
6. Once you have finished layering the ingredients, pour over a final layer of custard and then sprinkle the top with untoasted almonds, chopped pistachios and a little more sugar.
7. Place the dish into a larger roasting tray, then pour in boiling water until it comes halfway up the side of the dish. Transfer to the oven and bake for 30 minutes, or until golden-brown and set; remove from the oven to rest before serving. If the top looks like it is starting to brown before the inside is set, cover loosely with foil for the remainder of cooking.
8. Serve the bread and butter pudding and garnish the plate with toasted pistachios
   
   Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/masala_chai-inspired_21870

Satay dressing

Ingredients
3 cloves garlic
4cm piece ginger, peeled and
roughly chopped
1 dried chilli
Grated rind and juice 1 lime
4 Tbsp crunchy peanut butter
1 Tbsp fish sauce
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp honey
½-1 cup boiling water

Method
Toss the salad ingredients together in a large bowl.
Whiz the dressing ingredients in a blender until smooth, adding ½-1 cup water depending on the thickness you prefer.
Serve the satay dressing in a jug or bowl alongside the salad.

Source: http://recipefinder.msn.co.nz/recipes/taste/766881/nutty-slaw-and-satay-dressing
From Taste magazine, October 2007.

Marrow and tomato masala

Marrow throws out much liquid as it cooks. In fact, so copious are the juices generated it is almost a chunky broth.

If you don't fancy eating the skin of the marrow, simply scoop off the flesh with a spoon and leave the skin behind. However, if the marrow is fresh and young, this should not be necessary. Do try and find curry leaves, however, as they do add to the aroma of the thing.

Serves 4 (more like 5-6 with rice)

1 marrow, about 1 kg
salt
2 onions, peeled and thinly sliced
2 garlic cloves, peeled and sliced
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 tbsp masala paste (used Patak's Madras paste from Sainsbury's Camden. Good.)
12 curry leaves, fresh or dried (optional)
750g ripe red cherry or baby plum tomatoes
freshly ground pepper
50g butter, thinly sliced

Preheat the oven to 160C/gas mark 3. Trim the ends of the marrow, cut it in half down through the middle and then halve each piece lengthways. Scrape out the fibre and seeds with a teaspoon and then cut each quarter in half yet again, also lengthways, giving 8 marrow "boats" [next time might be included to slice into chunks, as difficult to fit into anything at this length].

Sprinkle salt generously over all cut surfaces and place the marrow in a colander for about 40 minutes to leach out a modicum of the juices. Rinse and dry in a tea towel.

Meanwhile, in a large lidded pot, fry the onions and garlic in the oil until golden. Add the masala paste and stir around for a few minutes. Lay the marrow pieces, skin-side down, on top and add the curry leaves, if using, then tip over the tomatoes. Season and dot with the slices of butter. Cover and place in the oven to cook for about 1½ hours.

Delicately decant into deep soup plates, so each one has 2 pieces of marrow, a spoonful of the tomatoes and plenty of aromatic broth.

Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2010/mar/28/simon-hopkinson-recipes-vegetarian-option

Yomi's Rice and Lentil Salad

-Boil wild rice, set aside till it's cool
-Cook lentils in bouillon - when cooked, let it cool down
-Roast sunflower seeds in hot frying pan, add a little salt
-Split pomegranate, and collect seeds
-Fry some garlic in a small amount of olive oil, add some lemon and a spoon of honey
-Chop parsley
-Mix the whole lot in a large bowl, and let it cool down.

Done.

Chocolate Mousse

Doubled the recipe below and got 7 portions.

125g plain dessert chocolate
4 large eggs, separated
2 tsp instant coffee dissolved in 3 tsp hot water
1.5 tbsp Tia Maria or other coffee, chocolate or orange-flavoured liquer
3 tsp caster sugar

- Melt chocolate.
- Immediately drop in eggs yolks; beat vigorously until mixture begins to thicken.
- Stir in coffee and liqueur.
- Allow to go quite cold. [not too cold - proved difficult to mix in]
- Beat the whites until they just hold soft peaks.
- Beat caster sugar into whites.
- Pour chocolate mixture into bowl of egg whites and blend. [lose quite a lot of volume while mixing to get even consistency]
- Spoon into large or individual bowls.
- Leave to set overnight.

Source: Evelyn Rose

Chocolate Dipped Vegan Cookie Dough Balls

Made these with Jude. Would be raw apart from the chocolate. Though they would actually be better without the chocolate in the balls themselves. Given that dark chocolate is strong, dipping them in alone would have been sufficient and allowed more of the nuts flavours to come through.

http://ohsheglows.com/2010/12/02/chocolate-dipped-chocolate-chip-cookie-dough-balls/

Spiced Roasted Pineapple

Ingredients

• 200g/7¼oz caster sugar
• 4 green cardamom pods, lightly crushed
• small pinch saffron strands
• 3 star anise
• 1 cinnamon stick, broken
• 8 black peppercorns, left whole
• 10 fennel seeds
• 300ml/10½fl oz water
• 1 tin pineapple, or 1 whole pineapple
• Serve with cream or ice cream

Preparation method

1. Preheat the oven to 200C (try 220c next time?)
2. Place the sugar and spices into a heavy-based pan and pour over the water. Bring the mixture to the boil, stirring well so that the sugar dissolves, then reduce the heat until the mixture is simmering and continue to simmer for 20(? 10 mins too short) minutes, or until the mixture has thickened and resembles syrup.
3. Strain the mixture into a clean jug, discarding the whole spices (reserve the strained liquid). Set aside to cool.
4. Meanwhile, lay the pineapple pieces onto a roasting tray. Drizzle over two thirds of the sugar syrup, then transfer to the oven and roast for 20(? 10 mins too short) minutes, basting regularly with the remaining sugar syrup.

Adapted from: http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/spicedroastedpineapp_91275.pdf