The best tomato sauce ever

Finally, this long day is coming to an end as I cuddle up in my duvet (yes it is still so cold and wet here, I miss Mauritius!). I've just finished my demography coursework and food prep for my long day at university tomorrow. It has also just hit me that I only have one week of lectures left, ever! This is quite a scary thought but I am excited and can only hope that good and exciting things await!

This recipe is definitely one of the simplest ones on this blog. However, it is also probably one of the tastiest things you'll make! I remember when I used to work at a local cafe, the head chef Jaimie would also give me tips passed down from his mother! He always went on about how the secret to a good tomato sauce is to add in carrots and celery and to allow for the sauce to slowly simmer. I took on his tips, and I was definitely not dissapointed. I skipped out the celery because I made this in a rush, but definitely use it if you have it in stock. I also used canned tomatoes because they are already slightly cooked down but you could swap this for fresh tomatoes, cooking for sauce for longer. This sauce could be used for a variety of things, use as is with pasta or couscous or add in some cooked tofu, chicken, veggies etc. Use it in lasagnas or even to stuffed and roast some butternut, the options are endless.

EASY TOMATO BASE SAUCE

•  2 cloves garlic, crushed
• Half a large onion, finely chopped
• 1 can of tomatoes
• 1 medium sized carrot, grated 
• 1 tsp of fresh or dried herbs: basil, thyme or oregano
• Salt
• Olive oil

1. In a saucepan on low heat, pour in a couple of tablespoons of olive oil. Add in the garlic and onion and let this good for a good 5-10 minutes until lightly browned.
2. Add in the grated carrot and let this cook down for a further couple of minutes. Add in the herbs.
3. Pour in the can of tomatoes, breaking them up. Let the sauce simmer for a minimum of 30 minutes, storing occasionally and adding water if it dries up.
4. At this point, you can add in any cooked meat or vegetables. I added some vegetarian mock meat and some grilled courgette slices.
5. Season and enjoy.

Healthy take on pecan pie coming up soon!

Xx

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Indulgent brownies

Hello! I hope that you all managed to have a great weekend no matter where and what you got up to. After an intense Max Fitness class yesterday morning, it was time for some weekend baking. I decided to make some gooey indulgent chocolate brownies for a house party that night and then went on to making more brownies later on during a baking session with a friend. To me, my weekends are never complete without a little fun in the kitchen:)!
Although these brownies are 100% unhealthy, I do believe that a little indulgence now and then is necessary for one's sanity! I remember bringing these into work as an intern and they were an instant hit! These brownies are guaranteed to put smiles on faces wherever you take them. If you do want to healthy version, try my aubergine brownies for rich gooey ones or my sweet potato ones for a lighter, more cake- like one.

INDULGENT BROWNIES

• 185 g dark chocolate, broken up
• 185 g butter
• 3 eggs
• 275 g sugar
• 85 g plain flour
• 40 g cocoa

1. Preheat your oven to 175 degrees Celsius.
2. If you are using a microwave, melt the butter in a large bowl and remove from the microwave. Add in the chocolate pieces and stir around. The residual heat should be enough to melt the chocolate. Alternatively, you can use a double boiler to melt the butter and chocolate together. Once combined, set aside to cool.
3. In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs and sugar until light, fluffy and doubled in volume. This is (muchh!) quicker with an electric mixer and can take between 5 to 10 minutes.
4. Fold the cooled chocolate mixture into the frothy egg mixture, making sure not to over mix.
5. Sieve the flour and cocoa into the batter, folding until the flour is just incorporated, once again, not over-mixing as this would deflate and reverse all the hard work put into beating those eggs!
6. Line a baking tray with some grease proof paper, pour in the brownie batter and smooth the top with the back of a spoon.
7. Bake for 20 minutes, the edges should look crusty and when you shake the pan, the middle should have a slight wobble but still look quite firm. If it is still very wobbly, leave for a couple more minutes before checking again. The trick is not to overcook these as they will continue cooking for a little while out of the oven. Leave to cool before slicing up.

You could jazz these up with some melted white/ milk chocolate, crushed nuts, coconut etc.

Here are a few recent 'foodie moments'. The top two are from this week's vegan dinner party. I definitely do not regret starting this weekly vegan affair. Although it does require a little extra thought and planning, it is great discovering all these new and delicious dishes that I probably wouldn't have tried otherwise! Dessert was this amazing avocado chocolate pie. Bottom left is this simple but delicious tomato sauce I recently made, which will be posted soon and to it's right is a carrot cake I made for my friend's 21st recently.
Enjoy!

Xx

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Vegan cheesecakes- really worth making!

So vegetarian 'Come dine with me' style dinner parties have now become part of my weekly routine. Last week was my turn to host and to add to the challenge, one of my friends decided to become vegan for Lent. Although initially uninspired at the thought of vegan desserts, I decided to finally make a nut based cheesecake after having putting it off for such a long time. Results were great and this has now become a definite keeper!

Variations: Although I used raspberries for this batch, you could play around with ingredients and use something that is more accessible and readily available to you. For instance, use the same amount of fresh juicy mango flesh or for flavours such as chocolate, peanut butter or lemon, use bananas as they are bland and would add volume to the mix along with a couple of tablespoons of cocoa, peanut butter or lemon juice. Taste the mixture and alter to your preferences.
Note: You do need some sort of blender for this. A strong hand held blender works just fine. I use the word 'about' in the ingredient list as this was one of those "alter as I went along" recipes, best thing is to use my figures as a guide and taste/alter as you go along.

RASPBERRY VEGAN CHEESECAKES
For about 6 individual cheesecakes

• About 45g oats
• 20g of  nuts (preferably easy to blend), I used almond meal, but walnuts and pecans work just fine
• 1 large tbsp maple syrup / honey if you're not vegan, alter to taste
• 1-2 large tbsp of coconut oil

1. Preheat the oven to 170 degrees Celsius.
2. To make the crust, blend the oats and nuts until you obtain a powdery, lump-free mixture, pour in the sweetener of choice and oil until everything comes together.
3. Divide the crust into greased individual mini muffin pans (I used silicon muffin cases just to make sure they didn't stick, but if not, greasing well should do the trick). How many you make will depend on how thick you want your crusts to be. Press the mixture firmly down with the back of a spoon and bake for about 8-10 minutes until golden brown. Remove and leave to cool.

Raspberry filling

• Around 150 g cashew nuts (unsalted preferably), wash and soak in warm water for at least 40 minutes until soft
• Around 60 g of raspberries or other fruit, I would add more next time!
• About 5 generous tablespoons of coconut milk
• About 5 tbsp of maple syrup/ honey or more according to taste
• 6 tbsp of coconut oil (helps to set the cheesecake)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tbsp lemon juice, optional if mixture tastes too rich
• Fruit to garnish, optional

1. Blend the drained cashew nuts, berries (or selected variation), coconut milk and sweetener of choice until broken down nicely. 
2. Slowly pour in the coconut oil whilst blending on high and you obtain a smooth mixture. Add in the vanilla and lemon juice. The mixture should be relatively thick, similar to chocolate mousse or instant pudding.
3. Pour the mixture on top of the completely cooled bases and leave in the fridge for a couple of hours, or if in a rush freeze for an hour or so, making sure to leave in the fridge a little before serving.
4. Decorate with fruit, nuts etc.

Enjoy!

On another note, this week was my best friend Nan's birthday! It saddens me to think that in a couple of months, all my University friends will be heading off to different parts of the world to start new chapters in their lives. I decided to make Nan a pink ombre rose birthday cake which we surprised her with during one of our Econometric teaching sessions. Here's the surprise video played to her during our session, with amazing vocals by Mr Anthony!
Click here for video

Xx

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Cookie madness

So yesterday was Shrove Tuesday, the day before Lent begins, the Christian period of preparation for Easter. However nowadays, the day is most commonly referred to as 'pancake day' by many. Sadly, for some reason, the pancake addict did not make any pancakes yesterday, I blame all the university work! However, Instagram and Facebook have been full of pancake inspiration and here's a mouth watering example I had to share with you by njstramfam from Instagram.

Given the amount of time spent on campus nowadays, I've been desperate for some easy to carry, sweet,  satisfying and healthy snacks. What better than some cookies?! I decided to play around with a few recipes that I found online as well as with what I had in stock and came up with some 'Nutella' cookies and some soft and chewy cinnamon & ginger cookies. Both really hit the spot! The Nutella ones are more filling and 'textured' whereas the spiced ones are lighter and much softer.

NUTELLA INSPIRED COOKIES

Makes around 15 cookies

• 50 g hazelnut, roasted
• 10 dates, soaked, drained and puréed 
• 25 g ground almond
• 2 tbsp cocoa, slightly less if you aren't keen on bitter dark chocolate
• 40 g whole wheat flour
• 1 tbsp peanut butter
• Pinch of cinnamon
• 1 egg
• 2 tbsp coconut oil
• 1 tbsp honey (optional, alter sweetness to taste)
• 1 tsp vanilla (optional)

1. On a hot (dry) frying pan, lightly roast the hazelnuts until fragrant. Flake off and discard the excess skin.

2. Chop up (or bash with a rolling pin like I did) the hazelnuts into small chunks and keep aside.

3. Mix together the date purée, peanut butter, egg, vanilla, honey and coconut oil until well combined.

4. Fold in all the rest of the ingredients, including the nuts and combine until the mixture is uniform. 

5. Form mini balls of the dough, place on some grease-proof paper on a baking tray and press the cookies into shape with the back of a fork.

6. Bake at 170 degrees Celsius for 10-12 minutes, they burn really easily so keep your eyes on these!

7. Once cooled, dip/decorate with melted dark chocolate and store in an airtight container.

SOFT AND CHEWY SPICED COOKIES

• 10 dates, soaked, drained and puréed 
• 40 g coconut flour/ whole wheat/ oat flour
• 40 g ground almonds
• Pinch of baking powder
• 0.5 tsp cinnamon (or more!)
• 0.5 tsp ginger (or more!)
• 1 tbsp coconut oil 
• Pinch of salt
• Half an egg
• 1 tbsp honey

1. Combine the date purée, coconut oil, egg and honey together.

2. Fold in the ground almonds, choice of flour, baking powder, spices and salt and mix until you obtain a soft dough. If too sticky add a little more flour and if too dry looking add a little honey/ egg. Also, try the dough and alter according to our taste, I added a lot more cinnamon and ginger because I love spiced baked goods!

3. Use the same method of shaping cookies as with the Nutella cookies or if you want very thin and slightly crisp cookies, refrigerate the dough, roll between two pieces of grease-proof paper and form into circles. Both work great, the thinner cookies are delicious sandwiched together with light cream cheese and banana slices.

4. Bake at 160 degrees for around 13-15 minutes until 'dry' to touch and slightly browned.

These are very rustic and homely cookies but I find that there is something so comforting about spices in baked goods which makes them irresistible :)!

Enjoy 

Xx

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Quick and healthy lunch

Given my pancake making addiction, I question why I have never thought of making my own savoury crepes/wraps?! Better late than never I suppose! These are so easy to make and will definitely be my new quick slap up lunch perfect for a day in the library. To make up for the fact that I've been a little slow on posting recipes recently, you have two more recipes coming up soon! A healthy Nutella inspired cookie and a simple cinnamon cookie, if there are any specific requests, please do email them to me :)

SIMPLE SAVOURY CREPE

Per crepe (approximately depending on your pan size)

• 2 tbsp whole wheat flour
• 2 tbsp milk
• 2 tbsp water
• Salt and pepper (chilli/ paprika for a spicy kick)
• Half an egg

1. Mix everything together with a fork until smooth and well combined.
2. On a well greased and hot frying pan, pour and spread the batter to form a large and thin pancake.( It is really important to make this as thin as possible).
3. Once the sides start 'lifting' away from the pan, flip the pancake and do so for a couple of minutes until it turns golden brown in colour.
4. Fill with anything you desire. I sautéed some garlic, sundried tomatoes, spinach and mushrooms and added some light cream cheese to the wrap! Delicious!

I've been pushing myself much more with regards to exercise recently, mainly doing HIIT workouts and using heavy weights on most days, definitely feeling stronger and fitter:)!

Xx

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Honey and cinnamon roasted apple wedges

The long painful wait after exams has finally ended! Results are out and I am definitely pleased with the outcome! However, term two is now in full swing and given the ever increasing list of assignments and a time-frame of only a couple of months of Uni life left, the pressure is definitely mounting! Sadly, my lack of posts is definitely due to the fact that I have a dissertation as well as five other assignments to work on with fast approaching deadlines. If you have an Instagram account, follow "mojojojo473" as I regularly post food pictures on there.

Now on to today's recipe, this was something I just whipped up to go along with my long night of work. Although simple, this is surprisingly yummy and satisfying. A savoury alternative would be some roasted sweet potato wedges with guacamole and light cream cheese yum yum!

HONEY AND CINNAMON ROASTED APPLE WEDGES

• 2 large apples
• Cinnamon
• A couple of tsp of honey

1. Cut your apples into wedges. Place onto a baking tray and sprinkle with cinnamon and drizzle with honey.
2. Bake in a preheated oven at 175 degrees Celsius for 15-20 minutes.
3. Serve with melted dark chocolate or dip of choice.

PEANUT BUTTER DIP

• 1 tsp peanut butter
• 3 tsp light cream cheese

1. Lightly warm up the peanut butter to loosen it up. Mix in the cream cheese until well combined.
2. Plate up and top with anything your heart desires! I added some desiccated coconut, chia seeds and chopped nuts.

Xx

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Aubergine and spiced chickpea dish

This is definitely a long due post! Settling back into the routine of University has been quite difficult given that this is my last term ever! Everyone just seems to be wanting to do as much as possible during these last few months as a student. Before I get on to my main recipe, here are a few of the other dishes that I've made recently! I tried to go for a healthy take on lasagna/cannelloni with homemade whole wheat pasta, which was a hit and will be posted soon.

Although I do think that St Valentine's celebrations has just become a huge overrated commercial affair, I can't deny what a great excuse to bake it entails! I made a few St Valentine's goodies for my friends, lecturers and PASS students to distribute tomorrow. The cupcakes are definitely worth making and anyone who is willing to, here's the recipe.

I hosted a vegetarian 'Come dine with me' dinner party yesterday night, which although nearly didn't happen due to the severe weather and warnings, was a great success! 

I made a spinach and ricotta lasagna, a big mixed salad, some sweet potato and lentil nut roast and a grilled Aubergine and chickpea sort of warm salad followed by warm chocolate fondants and homemade raspberry frozen yogurt.
The Aubergine dish really reminded me of 'chatini bringel', a traditional Mauritian side dish and I feel that this is a nice way of making a main course out of this gorgeous vegetable.

GRILLED AUBERGINE AND SPICED CHICKPEA DISH

• 2 medium aubergines
• 1 400g can of cooked chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• 0.5 tsp cinnamon
• 0.5 tsp ground cumin
• 0.5 tsp ground coriander seeds, optional 
• Chilli flakes, optional
• 0.5- 0.75 can of chopped tomatoes 
• 1 onion, chopped finely
• A couple of teaspoons of lemon juice
• A few walnuts, pine nuts or any nut of choice for crunch, optional 

OPTIONAL YOGURT SAUCE

• About 10 tbsp thick natural yogurt or Greek yogurt
• 1 garlic clove, crushed
• A few broken walnuts
• A few coriander leaves, roughly chopped

1. Thinly slice the aubergines horizontally into long slices. Cook them either in an oven, a frying pan or on the barbecue, varying cooking time until aubergines are soft and browned. I put mine on a baking tray with olive oil, salt and pepper and baked for 15 mins at 175 degrees Celsius. 
2. In a large frying pan, fry up the chopped onion until translucent, add in the cinnamon, cumin and coriander and fry off for a minute or so.
3.  Add in the chickpeas and chopped tomatoes and simmer on low heat for about 10 minutes, you might need to add a little water if it dries up. Once the chickpeas are tender, season with salt, pepper, lemon juice and optional chilli flakes.
4. If you are making the yogurt sauce, just mix together the listed ingredients and season with salt and pepper.To plate up, arrange the Aubergine slices on a large plate, scatter on the spiced chickpeas and top with fresh coriander, nuts and the yogurt sauce.

Enjoy! I think that the smokiness of the aubergines, the spicy yet refreshing 'tomatoey' chickpeas and the cool yogurt sauce all work so well together and would be perfect for a big family lunch spread in Mauritius, oh how I miss home right now!

Happy St Valentine's everyone.

Xx

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