Some Striking Salads for the (not so)Bleak Midwinter

29 December 2023

As 2023 draws to a close, let’s take a look at some striking winter salads to liven up the end-of-year table. To complement our perennial favourite, our Olivier (with an Edge) salad, we’re looking to a coleslaw variation to add some colour to the New Year’s Eve spread. With the new year just around the corner, KCC wishes all its readers a prosperous and peaceful 2024, full with culinary adventures and many more mouth-watering meals!

KCC’s take on Olivier salad uses olives instead of meat

This winter has been a strange one here in Kazakhstan. We should be in the depths of winter now, but the snow didn’t arrive until the first week of December. Then there was a week or so of freezing weather with the temperature dipping to -28c, but now, as we approach the end of December, there’s very little snow on the ground in Almaty – it’s even been raining, which is really unusual at this time of the year.

KCC’s coleslaw variation with pear and rocket

The purple hues of red cabbage pair so well with the orange of carrots and the green of rocket. For a bit of bite, we’ve added some grated radish (we used green radishes, but you can use red radishes or mouli if you can’t find green ones), along with some grated pear and pomegranate seeds for a sweet and tart note. Add in some pumpkin and sunflower seeds and raisins before dressing with tahini and pomegranate sauce.

Ingredients (serves 3-4)

100 g shredded red cabbage
100 g grated carrot
50 g chopped rocket
50 g grated green radish
50 g grated pear
25 g pomegranate seeds
25 g raisins
1 teaspoon dried oregano
2 teaspoons pumpkin seeds
2 teaspoons sunflower seeds
1 tablespoon tahini
1 tablespoon pomegranate sauce
a slice of fresh lime

Method

In a large bowl mix the red cabbage, carrot, rocket, green radish, pear and pomegranate seeds together. Add the raisins, oregano, pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds. Make a dressing with equal parts pf tahini and pomegranate sauce and thin with a bit of hot water to obtain a smooth consistency. Pour over the salad, stir well, give it a squeeze of lime and serve.

The HummusVariations: Beetroot and Walnut Hummus

02 November 2023

Hummus is one of those dips that we come back to time after time here on KCC. Beyond the classic basic dip of chickpeas, tahini, garlic, lemon juice and olive oil, the possibilities are endless. Our latest version is inspired by a recent trip to Myrtos, Crete where we tasted a beetroot-driven hummus at the excellent O Platanos restaurant.

In the past, we’ve made a turmeric-infused hummus and one from red beans, now here’s our latest variation. Beetroot is one of our favourite root vegetables, and it’s really good for you to boot. Taking some tips from Georgia, where a similar dip called pkhali is a regular feature on the dinner table, we’ve added some walnuts to give this hummus an extra protein boost.

Ingredients

125 g baked beetroot – grated
125 g crushed chickpeas
50 g tahini – mixed with up to 50 ml of hot water
25 g toasted walnuts
One garlic clove
100 ml aquafaba (chickpea water)
a few dashes of olive oil
Two teaspoons of sumac
pinches of ground cumin and coriander

Method

Grate the beetroot and then put in a large bowl and crush with a fork (you can also put it in the blender, if you have one). Add the mashed up chickpeas and stir well. Combine the tahini with hot water until you have a creamy paste and then add to the mix.
Add the crushed, toasted walnuts, finely chopped garlic and sumac (this replaces lemon juice to give the hummus a citrusy kick without the acid) and stir together. Add some aquafaba and some splashes of olive oil and blend until the dip achieves your favoured consistency. Season with cumin and coriander and serve with warm pita bread.

Hasty Tasty Avocado Tzatziki

12 October 2023

Over the next few weeks on KCC, we’ll be looking at some dishes inspired by a recent visit to Crete, Greece’s largest island.

Avocado Tzatziki – with love from Crete!

Crete has dishes not commonly found in other parts of Greece, including hortapitakia, small pies filled with leafy greens and fresh herbs picked from the slopes of the island’s plentiful mountains and a tzatziki made with avocado – check the recipe for this dish below.

KCC spent some time this summer in Myrtos on the south-east coast of Crete. A favourite taverna was O Platanos, which had some imaginative takes on some Greek classics, such as avocado tzatzikl, beetroot hummus, fried manouri cheese with honey and sesame seeds and a moussaka made with sweet potato.

Avocado Tzatziki à la Platanos, Myrtos, Crete

Ingredients (makes four servings)

200 ml Greek yogurt
75 g avocado
75 g cucumber
One garlic clove
Add fresh basil, oregano or dill (to your taste)

Simply smash the avocado, grate the cucumber and mix with the yogurt and then add crushed garlic if using and the herbs of your choice. Hey presto, your tzatziki is ready! Serve with warm pita bread.

Grip Green Shakshuka

9 April 2022

With spring greens making a welcome reappearance, it’s time for a brunch special – green shakshuka, North Africa’s breakfast star.

This dish, usually made with tomatoes and peppers, is originally from Tunisia but has now spread all over the Middle East.

For our spring greens version, we made a bed of cumin fried onions, banana peel, radish leaves and spinach on which to poach some eggs for our sublime, zero waste brunch special.

Ingredients (for two servings)

one medium onion
one banana peel
100 g spinach
50 g radish leaves
four eggs
one teaspoon cumin seeds
one teaspoon chilli powder
25 ml olive oil

Method

Heat the oil in a heavy-based pan and add the cumin seeds. When they start to pop, add chopped onion and cook for five minutes over a low heat. Add the banana peel (to prepare, use a knife or spoon to scrape off any remaining banana flesh (use this in a cake, smoothie or banana bread) and then slice the peel into 1 mm strips).
Stir fry for another five minutes and then add the chopped radish leaves and three minutes later add the washed and chopped spinach. Cook until the spinach starts to wilt.
Make a depression in the mix and pour an egg into it, repeat with the other eggs, sprinkle chilli powder over the eggs put, put a lid on and steam until the eggs are set

Nauryz Noodles

21 March 2022

Happy Nauryz – the day of the Spring Equinox that marks the start of the new year in some parts of Asia. it’s a big celebration in Central Asia with a focus on things coming back to life after the long winter months. This year we’ve made some green noodles inspired by shivit oshi – dill noodles from Khiva, Uzbekistan, to mark the coming of spring.

As you may recall, here on KCC we’re not huge fans of dill, aka the devil’s weed, so we replaced it with spinach to give our noodles their distinctive green colour. We served our noodles with an orange and green stir fry made from pumpkin, carrots, spring onions, beansprouts and broccoli.

Shivit Oshi – dill noodles in Khiva, Uzbekistan

We washed our Nauryz noodles down with some Turan Tiger beer as a nod to the year of the tiger.

Ingredients (makes four servings)

For the noodles

300 g plain flour
100 ml water
40 ml olive oil
120 g spinach

For the stir fry

100 g spring onion
300 g pumpkin
200 g carrot
300 g broccoli
200 g beansprouts
50 ml olive oil
20 ml soy sauce
Two teaspoons cumin seeds

Method

For the noodles

Pour boiling hot water over the washed spinach leaves and leave for one minute. Drain and then cover with cold water. Drain again and put in a blender with the water and blend to a smooth paste.
Stir the oil into the flour and then add the blended spinach. Mix well and knead the dough. Make sure it is neither too sticky (add more flour if so) or too crumbly (add more liquid if so). Cover with cling film and leave in the fridge until you are ready to use it.
Roll the dough to 1 mm thickness on a lightly floured surface. Fold the dough over three or four times and then cut off 2 mm slices and pull out the noodles by hand.
Cook in a pot of boiling water for five minutes – taste to check that the noodles have the texture that you prefer (e.g. al dente or softer). Drain and serve immediately.

For the stir fry

Heat the oil in a heavy-based pan and add the cumin seeds. When the seed begin to pop, add the chopped spring onions and stir fry over a medium heat. Add the pumpkin, cut into 1 cm cubes and stir fry for five minutes.
Next add the broccoli and stir fry for another five minutes over a medium heat. Add the grated carrot and beansprouts along with the soy sauce and cook for a few more minutes. Serve on a bed of noodles.

In Praise of Pakora

22 April 2021

The anniversaries are coming thick and fast here at Knidos Cookery Club and to celebrate our 150th post we’re bringing you a hassle-free recipe for pakora, a spicy fritter from the Indian subcontinent, that can be prepared in under 30 minutes.

Pakora are a great snack that you can eat at any time of the day and are easy to make – just coat vegetable or paneer cheese slices with a spiced chickpea flour batter and then deep-fry them. For a more user friendly and healthier take on this street food classic, you can bake them in the oven as we did with this batch.

We’ve used cauliflower to make pakora this time round, but you can use onion, carrot, potato, peppers, mushrooms or combinations of more or less any vegetable you have handy. Paneer cheese (or halloumi) also works well with this versatile batter. We like to serve the pakora straight from the oven with a yogurt-based cucumber raita to dip them into.

Ingredients (makes enough for 3-4 people)

100 g chickpea flour (also known as gram or besan)
100 ml water
250 g cauliflower broken into florets
One teaspoon each of: chia seeds, cumin seeds, turmeric, ginger, chilli powder, black pepper

Method

Heat the oven to 200 c. Put the chickpea flour in a large bowl and add the seeds and spices. Slowly add the water and mix to form a batter that is neither too dry nor too runny. Stir in the cauliflower florets and coat thoroughly.
Place the individual florets on a baking tray and cook in the top half of the oven for 20 minutes or so – keep an eye on them and if they start to char a bit then they are ready.
Serve them straight away with a raita sauce made from yogurt, cucumber and mint.

Ready Steady Pumpkin Chilli

15 October 2020

The Knidos Cookery Club kitchen was forced to decamp to Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan this week as an unfolding political crisis rocked this Central Asian state that neighbours Kazakhstan.

In the spirit of the recently revived 90s TV cookery show, Ready Steady Cook, we grabbed a selection of items after a quick dash around the nearest supermarket and came up with a red bean and pumpkin chilli, continuing our October Squashfest theme.

Hasty tasty pumpkin chilli with Kyrgyz naan

We had to opt for a bit of convenience this time as it’s hard cooking in a strange kitchen, so we bought a jar of a spicy tomato sauce called Cobra, and used ready cooked red beans. If you have more time on your hands, then substitute the Cobra with KCC’s very own spicy tomato sauce and soak some dried beans overnight.

Ingredients (Makes 3-4 servings)

500 g pumpkin
250 g spicy tomato sauce
250 g cooked red beans
50 ml olive oil

Method

Heat the olive oil in a frying pan and then add the pumpkin, chopped into 2 cm x 1 cm cubes, and stir fry for five minutes over a medium heat.
Add the spicy tomato sauce, stir well and simmer for 20 minutes or so until the pumpkin is cooked but firm.
Add the red beans and stir well and heat through. Serve with boiled rice and some crusty bread.

Hash Greens: More Mücver Variations

17 September 2020

This time round on KCC we’re returning to mücve r, Turkey’s versatile courgette fritter, with our take on that brunch staple Hash Browns. This mücver variation adds potato and garlic scapes to the mix to give us a fritter we’ve dubbed Hash Greens.

These fritters are super-easy to prepare and cook and are great as part of a breakfast or brunch. They can also be served in a roll to make it closer to a veggie burger.

Garlic scapes – a long internode that forms the basal part or the whole of a peduncle

We came across garlic scapes, the edible stem that grows from the bulb, on a recent visit to the local greengrocer while looking for green beans. This flavoursome peduncle gives a milder garlicky kick to soups, pestos and stir fries. It’s not an overpowering flavour as it adds a subtler, roasted garlic undernote to these dishes.

Ingredients (Makes 6-8 fritters)

One medium courgette (zucchini) (approx 200 g)
One medium potato (approx 200 g)
One small onion (approx 100 g)
50 g garlic scapes
100 g chickpea flour
25 g mixed fresh herbs
One teaspoon cumin seeds
One teaspoon chilli flakes
One teaspoon turmeric
One teaspoon black pepper
50 ml olive oil

Method

Grate the potato and courgette and mix together in a large bowl. Finely chop the garlic scapes and add to the bowl. Stir in the chickpea flour and add the herbs (use and fresh herbs you have e.g. parsley, coriander, mint) and spices and mix well so you have a smooth that’s neither too dry and crumbly nor too wet and sloppy.
Heat the oil in a frying pan. Form the mix into golf-ball sized patties and then put in the pan and flatten with a fish slice or spatula. Fry until golden-brown on both sides. Serve as part of a breakfast or brunch or in a bun as a burger with toppings of your choice.

Falafel to the Fore

18 June 2020

This time round on Knidos Cookery Club we’ll be taking an armchair culinary tour to the Middle East and looking at the origins of the humble falafel. Arguments abound as to where this street snack par excellence originated, but most likely it was Egypt according to the evidence.

The Egyptian version of this tasty bite is usually made with fava beans, known as fūl in Arabic, which is thought to be the base for the name falafel , whilst in other parts of the Mediterranean region chickpeas are preferred.

With both chickpeas and fava beans in short supply in Almaty at the moment, it was back to the drawing board to look for an alternative base for our falafel. While stocking up during lockdown in our local shop we came across a pack of millet and a spot of googling revealed that this would work just fine as the base for our take on the falafel.

We baked them in the oven rather than deep-fried them as it’s a lot less hassle. Be sure to use plenty of parsley, cumin, coriander and chilli powder to spice up the millet. The resulting falafel were crisp on the outside but soft and fluffy in the centre, just as they should be.

Be careful when cooking millet as it has a tendency to stick to the pan if you don’t keep an eye on it and stir regularly. We found it best to rinse and soak it for a few hours before cooking as this reduces the time needed to cook it.

Ingredients (makes 12-16 falafel)

150 g millet
300 ml water or vegetable stock
one garlic clove
one bunch of parsley
one teaspoon cumin
one teaspoon coriander
one teaspoon chilli powder
Sesame seeds to coat the falafel

Method

Rinse and then soak the millet in a pan for four hours. Drain the millet and cover with water or vegetable stock. Bring to a boil and then simmer until the liquid is absorbed. Stir regularly as the millet will stick to the bottom of the pan if not watched carefully.
Finely chop the parsley, both leaves and stalks, mince the garlic clove and add to the cooked millet. Add the spices – if you want to give your falafel more oomph, double the amount. Mix well and then form into balls. Roll the balls in the sesame seeds and then place on a tray and oven bake for 20 minutes at 200 c, or until the falafel turn a golden-brown colour.
Serve in pita bread with salad and sauces of your choice or as part of a salad – we made one from cucumber, tomato, spring onion, celery, red cabbage and radish. These falafel will keep in the fridge for a few days so you can cook a large batch at the same time.

Lockdown Brunch: Bubble and Squeak

30 April 2020

Nearing the fifth week of lockdown here in Almaty, Kazakstan. We’ve found that one of the ways of coping with this situation it to try and stick to as normal a routine as possible. This means logging on in the working week to see if there’s any work around and then trying to switch off from everything as much as possible at the weekend.

With this in mind, we’ve come up with a classic weekend, switching-off brunch featuring that classic British comfort food – bubble and squeak, or fried potato and cabbage cakes to the uninitiated. You really can’t beat a good fry-up after a hectic evening spent zooming and netflixing and supporting the local viniculture industry.

Bubble and squeak takes its name from the sizzling, spitting sounds the mixture makes when being fried. Its a great way to use up any leftovers you have – you just need the base of mashed potato and boiled cabbage. We’ve spiced it up with some coriander, cumin and turmeric and also added in some fresh spinach. Serve with baked beans and a fried egg to get your weekend off to a flyer.

Ingredients (makes four hearty cakes)

One large potato
100 g cabbage
50 g spinach
Two spring onions
One teaspoon cumin seeds
One teaspoon turmeric
One teaspoon coriander
Oil for shallow frying

Method

Cube the potato, cover with cold water and bring to the boil in a heavy-based pan. Simmer for five minutes and then add the finely chopped cabbage along with the coriander, turmeric and cumin seeds. Simmer for another five minute and than add the chopped spring onion and spinach.
Drain off any excess liquid then mash all the ingredients together with a fork or a potato masher. Season with salt and black pepper according to taste. Heat the oil in a frying pan. Form the mixture into golf ball-sized pieces and then place in the frying pan. Flatten the balls with a spatula or fish slice and fry on a medium heat. After five minutes, turn the bubble and squeak over and cook for another five minutes until a golden-brown colour on both sides.