So, I turned beetroot into crisps! Beetroot can be eaten raw or cooked. If you have some beetroot left in your kitchen and don’t know what to do with them, try to make beetroot crisps! It shouldn’t take you long to do. You can either bake or fry (it’s a bit oily if deep-fried, so I opted for baking).

Slice the beetroot thinly, arrange the slices on a baking tray and bake them under 180 degree celcius (on the middle or lower rack of the oven) for about 10 - 15 minutes or until they are dry and crispy. You have to check them from time to time just to make sure that they are not burnt (if they come in different thinness) unless you use a mandolin!

By the way, I have started a group on flickr called ‘Cook it in a creative way’. The idea of this group is to push everyone’s limit in cooking. I will regularly select a main ingredient, then it is up to your imagination to turn it into a creative dish and take the best shot of it! Feel free to join!

I am a big fan of curry. As a fish lover, naturally, Fish Curry becomes one of my favourite dishes. It never fails to make a bowl of boiled rice tasty. I remember my mom used to make it quite spicy until it made me sweat while eating this yummy dish. For those who can’t take spicy food, don’t be put off by the spiciness of this dish, you can reduce the spiciness by putting less chilies.

Recipe for this simple yet scrumptious dish, here you go.

A meal for 2

2 fillets of haddock, cut into big chunks (or your choice of any white fish)
1.5 onions (cut into rings)
1 clove of garlic
1cm chopped ginger
1-2 red chilies sliced thinly, lengthway (use only 1 or 0.5 chili for less spiciness)
some curry leaves (either fresh or dry)
3 tomatoes (cut into wedges)
2-3 tbsp of fish curry powder (I use ready mixed fish curry powder, Malaysian brand e.g.: Babas, Alagappa etc)
4 tbsp of coconut milk
300ml of water
10 okras
salt to taste
2 tbsp of tamarind juice (mix a chunk of the tamarind paste with hot water and stir, then squeeze to obtain the juice)
some olive oil

Method:
 

Pre-cooking:
Mix the curry powder with water to make it into a paste.

1. Heat a small pot at medium heat with some olive oil and throw in a pinch of mustard seeds. Once the mustard seeds start to pop, lower the heat a bit and add in some curry leaves and wait till they start to release their fragrant.
2. Start to add the onions, ginger, and chilies. Cook until onions start to soften.
3. Once onions are soften, add in the curry paste that has already been prepared. Make sure all the ingredients in the pot are well coated with the paste. Stir for about 5 minutes for the curry paste to release its fragrant.
4. Add in tomatoes. Stir well.
5. Once tomatoes start to soften, add in coconut milk, tamarind juice and water, stir well and let it come to the boil.
6. After that, add in the okras and fish fillets, season with salt. Put the lid on and cook for about 15-20 minutes under low to medium heat.
7. Finally, serve this dish with boiled rice.

No, it’s not the latest Pixar animation I am referring to. I am talking about this classic French dish from the Provence. However, about the movie Ratatouille, I think it’s gonna be a hit at the cinemas! Young and old would love it - it applies to the ediable Ratatouille too!

I love Ratatouille, either as a side dish or as a meal on its own. It is a stew vegetable dish. So, it is very important to get the freshest produce, preferably organic. Not to forget, a good cocotte like Le Creuset never fails to make a good pot of Ratatouille. This is such a special dish that you can prepare and eat in any seasons. I usually make a big portion of Ratatouille and keep it for a day or two. It tastes even better the next day!

How to make it? Well, the following will answer your question:

(The quantity shown makes about 2 meals for 2 people)

Ingredients:

8 tomatoes
(I use 2 cans of plum tomatoes. Get the best quality of canned plum tomatoes possible)
3 onions
2 peppers
1 eggplant/aubergine
2 courgettes
4 potatoes
3 cloves of garlic
some olive oil
salt and pepper
1 tbsp of tomato puree
1 or 2 bay leaves
some Herbes de Provence

My method: (classic method is to cook each vegetable seperately, quite time consuming)

1. Use a cocotte if you have one, if not a normal cooking pot. Drizzle some olive oil (about 4 tbsp).
2. Chop the onions and put them into the pot and cook them under medium heat.
3. The bay leave goes in the same time as onions.
4. Chop the garlic and put them into the pot.
5. Chop the potatoes. Add them when the onions start to turn soft. Stir and cook for 5 mins.
6. Followed by chopped peppers. Stir and mix well.
7. Final two vegetables - courgette and aubergine. Chop and throw them in and stir in well.
8. Allow all the vegetables to cook for about 10-15 mins.
9. Start to season with salt and pepper. Then, add some Herbes de Provence. Mix well.
10. Add the tomato puree and plum tomatoes.
11. Keep stirring until all of the ingredients are well mixed.
12. Once everything is merged together, turn the heat to low and put the lid on.
13. Cook under low heat for about 1 hour.

Voila! Your Ratatouille is ready to be served. You can either serve it with rice, bread, steak, chicken or have it on its own. I had mine with Conchiglie (shells pasta). I added mushroom in my Ratatouille, not the traditional way but hey, it still tastes good.

Note 1: Slice aubergines in lengthways into 4 slices, rub with salt and put them in the colander and leave to drain for about 3o minutes. This is to remove some of the water and the bitterness from the aubergines.

Note 2: You can always fine-tune the recipe according to your own taste once you’ve made your first Ratatouille with some hands-on experience. Just remember, cooking is an art and optimal creativity would perfect the dish!