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Alan Ladd’s Kidney Deluxe

Feb20

As some of you may remember, we have a vast collection of “Golden Oldies” (movies) – limiting the movies up to the early 1980s……. (See much more on Jo’s own Blog “manningtreearchive.com” for your enjoyment).

We enjoy watching those wonderful movies leisurely in our home with a glass of wine (or two!) and appreciate the many ‘stars of yesteryears’ and we bemoan the sad fact that they don’t’ make stars and films like that anymore, and what a pity it is.

A few days ago I wanted to see a 1957 film which at a much younger age I must have seen at least three times; “The Boy On A Dolphin” – I remember that I liked the story, I liked Alan Ladd but most of all I liked Sophia Loren whom I had met and had tea with at a fashion show in Frankfurt/Main.

There is a song in this film, sung by (unaccredited) the smoky-voiced Julie London – oh how we love this song (ok I admit it here – we love them all) and particularly, her wonderful voice and interpretation of each individual song (you remember her “Cry Me A River?”). Who cannot remember this (to us) slightly haunting performance of one of her most famous songs “…Saddle the Wind” from the film with the same title which was released in 1958 (See in-depth review of this film posted on October 18, 2012 in Jo’s own site.)

“There’s a tale that they tell of a dolphin
And a boy made of gold.
With the shells and the pearls in the deep,
He has lain many years fast asleep;
What they tell of the Boy on A Dolphin,
Who can say if it’s true.
Should he rise from the depths of the ocean,
Any wish that you wish will come true.
You say he’s only a statue,
And what can a statue achieve.
And yet while I’m gazing at you,
My heart tells my head to believe.
If the boy whom the Gods have enchanted,
Should arise from the sea,
And the wish of my heart could be granted,
I would wish that you loved only me.”

And whilst Jo was looking for the Alan Ladd film in our library he came across an old recipe, tucked away many years ago in the cover of this DVD of one of Ladd’s favourite recipes “Kidney Deluxe”. It is a slight variation of our very own “Devilled Kidneys”, which I nevertheless will post here shortly.

I was not able to get mushrooms, bacon and Sherry for the moment and so I cannot show you any photographs. But I leave you with some images from this enjoyable movie instead.

So, here I am with the recipe (for 4 people) for Alan Ladd’s “Kidney Deluxe”

Ingredients:
¼ x kg lamb kidney
2 x Tbsp butter
4 x slices bacon, diced finely
5 x Spring onions, chopped
10 x large button mushrooms, chopped
1 ½ x Tbsp butter
1 ½ x Tbsp flour
¼ x tsp salt
Dash of pepper
1/3 x cup Sherry (dry) (or equal measure of red or white wine)
Parsley, chopped (for garnish)

Method:
Wash kidneys. Cover with cold water. Bring slowly to a boil and simmer for 20 minutes. Drain and slice, cutting away fat and tubes.

Sauté bacon in 2 Tbsp butter until crisp. Add scallions and mushrooms; sauté for 5 minutes.

Add kidneys and cook for another 5 minutes.

Melt in a saucepan 11/2 Tbsp butter and stir in flour. Cook over low heat until blended. Add water. Bring to a simmer, stirring: cover and simmer for 5 minutes. Add gravy, Sherry wine, salt and pepper to kidney mixture. Cover and simmer for another 5 minutes. Garnish with parsley.

That’s it! Enjoy.
Carina

Bejewelled Cupcakes

Feb7

Hallo – hallo! I am once more back again!

Some of you might remember telling you that my late mother never taught me to bake any of her beautiful cakes. Was that the reason why I never even attempted baking for my family and friends? I don’t know really; and to be frank with you I also was always a bit “scared” in case I made quite a fool of myself.

Luckily neither Jo nor I have a so called ‘sweet tooth’ – so we never missed that divine piece of ‘sweet temptation’ on our extensive travels around the world, with the exception of one of the various times when we visited the world famous Hotel Sacher in Vienna. How can anyone decline a piece of their Sacher Torte (with 2 spoons, please) and a glass of delicious champagne?!

But the other day we suddenly both felt like having a piece of cake with our tea but could not be bothered to call a UBER to take us to a bakery. Then I remembered a cake recipe my friend Heidi in Berlin used when cake was needed at very short notice. So a quick call to her, recipe written down, needed ingredients checked, cake baked and 20 minutes later enjoyed with a nice cup of Darjeeling tea whilst listening to the heavy unseasonably rain outside.

So here now I share with you Heidi’s recipe and hopefully you too will bake this cake.

I am quite proud of myself for having done this after decades shying away from this but, as the saying goes “…one is never too old to learn” – so watch out for maybe another cake experience soon.

Take care and Namaskaram
Carina

Ingredients for 6 Cupcakes
100 g Butter, softened
250 g Flour
200 g Sugar
1 tsp Vanilla Sugar
4 Eggs
1 tsp Baking powder
Pinch of Salt
Ingredients for top
100 g Almonds (skinned and cut into little sticks)
100 g Sugar
Any good jam (solid, not liquid)

Method
Heat your oven to 200 C.
In a bowl mix Butter, Sugar and Vanilla Sugar very well until creamy.
Slowly add eggs, one after another, and mix well
Mix flour, baking powder and salt and add to the above mixture.
Now butter your baking sheet or cupcake pan, sprinkle flour over this and shake off any excess flour.
Cover your baking sheet with the batter, smooth out top.

With a small spoon make a dell in the batter and add a good generous dollop of your favourite jam into this.
Mix the almonds and the sugar and sprinkle over the batter with tiny butter flakes on top.
Bake in the hot oven for app. 20 minutes.

That’s it – enjoy Heidi’s recipe with a nice cup of tea or coffee.

G O A L ! …..

Jun20

“……… I DO THIS, MY WAY! …..”

G O A L ! …..

….. and my version of German Zwiebelkuchen.

As most (if not all) of you know by now the Football World Championship is on.

Last Sunday the match was Germany vs Mexico.

Jo and I settled down in front of our TV anticipating (and keeping fingers crossed) that Germany would beat Mexico, although by a narrow margin.

But what disappointment was in store for us. I am no football expert but it looked like the Germans played a game not up to their usual standard and their fans expectations.

And so when the first goal came in the first half – it was for Mexico.

Jubilation on their side, despair on my home country’s side!

And despite a bit more effort in the second half and a few near (goal) misses, the game ended 0:1.

Congratulations Mexico and ‘better luck next time’ Germany!

And since I did not want to spend too much time in the kitchen I made one of our long time ‘fast food’ dishes. No pizza for us – I cannot remember ever having eaten a pizza on our many trips to Italy or anywhere else. But ‘Zwiebelkuchen’ (Onion cake) – now that is a different matter.

So here my recipe I like to share with you:

Ingredients

225 g flour
110 ml water
25 g butter
1 pack (2 tsp) dry yeast
Pinch of salt and sugar.
And for the Filling:
400 g Onions, thinly sliced
150 g Bacon, cut into small cubes
1 Tbsp Oil
2 Eggs
100 ml cream
125 g Cheese (I used Cheddar), grated
Salt, Nutmeg, Pepper, to taste

And this is how I made it:

In a bowl mix flour, yeast, sugar and salt. Once done add the cold water and the softened butter and knead this into a dough. Let this rest for app 30 minutes.

Roll out the dough and line a Quiche-dish, which you have buttered before, (if you double this recipe then it’s better to use a baking sheet).

In a bowl mix together eggs, cream, salt, nutmeg and pepper.

Now heat up the butter and some oil and add the onions and bacon frying this mixture only until colour changes slightly. Remove pan from fire and add egg/cream mixture. Check your spices.

Now add everything on top of the dough lined dish, sprinkle a generous amount of cheese over this.

Bake in the preheated oven at 200 C ca. 30 minutes.

Serve with a nice dry white wine or a lovely chilled beer. Prost!!!

That’s it – enjoy.

Namaskaram
Carina

Pancakes Surprise

Jun6

“……… I DO THIS, MY WAY! …..”

Pancakes Surprise
(Pancakes filled with –tinned- Tuna fish and a variety of vegetables)

We all had this situation at one time – you are in need to relax after a hard day at work and now ready to sit down and watch a nice film. No cooking that evening for once. And then the doorbell goes and friends from out-of-town ‘pop in’ to say ‘Hello’. Here go all the beautiful plans for that evening, but soon the joy of seeing these good friends takes over.

Of course they stayed for supper, which was very nice. But what to do? A look into my (nearly barren) fridge – big shopping day was ‘tomorrow’ – and into my larder (store cupboard) and I came up with the idea of serving my faithful standby ‘pancakes surprise’.

These are savoury pancakes filled with all sorts of delicious items like here with Tuna and various vegetables and another one with very spicy Quark.

My friend and I quickly went to work in the kitchen while the men caught up with the latest news. But soon we were able to join them for a drink of our delicious Sula wine from the Nashik region of western India, 180 km northeast of Mumbai.

For 2 people you will need:

For the pancakes
125 g flour
¼ l milk
2 eggs
Salt (to taste)
Some butter to fry the pancakes

For one of the fillings:

Some Butter
1 Tbsp flour
¼ l milk
Salt and pepper (to taste)
1 tin of Tuna fish (in water)
2 Tbsp Capers
1 Tbsp lemon juice
250 g assorted vegetables (here I used finely grated carrots, peas, cauliflower)

Here is how I do this “… my way”

Make medium sized thin pancakes and keep warm.

Now heat butter, add flour and whilst stirring all the time, cook this until smooth. Add the cold milk bit by bit – keep stirring – ; bring to boil and add spices.

Add the vegetables (I only blanched the cauliflower florets) to the Béchamel sauce and slowly cook for a few minutes.

Add drained Tuna and Capers, salt, pepper and lemon juice – bring once again to the boil for a couple of minutes.

Take an ovenproof dish and using a small piece of soft butter smear this all over the inside of this dish.

Take some of the Tuna/Vegetable filling and spoon all over the pancake – continue until all the pancakes are filled. Roll each one up tightly and add to the ovenproof dish.

Bake in the pre-heated oven by 180 C for 20-30 minutes or until the pancakes are really golden brown.

N.B. Most vegetables can be used here, depending on your imagination and what you have in your larder.

Here is how I do this “… my way” (Part 2)

Before our friends arrived I had already made our own Supper ready to be enjoyed later on. I thought I will share this one with you as well – it’s so easy, quick, delicious but very filling.

I made:
3 large thin ‘dosas’ (Pancakes) using whole wheat (Atta) flour, egg and milk

When they were done I used up my home-made Quark by adding to this salt and pepper (to taste), Lots of Spring onions, finely chopped, 2 tsp Kashmiri Chilli powder, a generous helping of our beloved Lingham’s Chilli Sauce (it all depends how much heat you can take), mixed all this well and spread this mixture evenly over all 3 pancakes. Added one on top of the other and then rolled all this tightly together. With a serrated knife I cut our portions.
No need to keep in oven. Any left overs keep well in the fridge for the next day when I heat this up until just warm.

That’s it – enjoy.

Namaskaram
Carina

Quiche Espanola!

Aug10

Memories of a month in Madrid…..
…..and a Quiche named “our own Jewels in the crown”.

Some time ago we took our girls for a month long family holiday to Spain – to the beautiful and lively city of Madrid in fact. We rented a beautiful little flat in a nice and most convenient area. From here we took many trips, mainly by bus, to some of the interesting little towns often only a one to two hours bus ride away. There is so much to see – the towns, like Toledo and El Escorial by themselves, the churches, galleries, Museums etc. – so much beauty not to be missed!

Frequently arriving back ‘home’ late, we did not feel like cooking but just wanted to “chill out” as the girls called it. So to make one of my nice party/picnic/TV-viewing Quiches the day before was just the right thing to do. The only company this Quiche needed was some lovely red wine and/or Cava. Bliss!
So, to make this dish now when I am rather busy with house- and other matters, makes sense – only Cava is missing!! And instead of Spanish Red we have our Indian SULA.

For a 9 inches (22.5 cm) flan dish, I used the following:
250 g tender corn kernels (frozen) thawed
250 g tender green peas (frozen) thawed
2 x large onions, very finely chopped
5 x garlic cloves, very finely chopped
1 x red large Capsicum, finely chopped
1x yellow large Capsicum, finely chopped
1 x green large Capsicum, finely chopped
½ x a generous bunch of fresh Coriander, washed and finely chopped
3-4 x Tbsp Olive Oil

Salt and some Pepper, to your liking
3 x Tbsp Flour
4 x Eggs, room temperature
2 x tsp red chilli powder (or less if you can’t stand the heat)
½ x tsp Cumin
10 x drops (at least) of Tabasco – optional – (this Quiche does need some heat)

Method:
Drain the de-frosted corn and peas (separately!) in a small colander. Heat most of the oil in a wide pan, add onions, garlic and the entire chopped capsicum stir and cook at medium heat for 5-8 minutes. Add salt and pepper. Let this mixture cool down a bit and then add the coriander – stir.

Now ‘blitz’ the corn only until a very fine paste. Add this and the flour into a bowl, add your eggs and mix everything very well.

Combine the Capsicum mixture with the corn/flour/egg-mixture, stir and finally add more salt (if needed), Chilli powder, Cumin and of course Tabasco – stir once more.

In the meantime I have pre-heated my oven to 200 C. The total mixture gets filled into the flan dish and baked in the oven for ca 45 minutes.

Since ovens vary I recommend you check around the 45 minutes stage. In my case I switch off but leave the dish in the oven. Do not let the Quiche get dry – slightly moist is delicious.

This dish is equally good warm or cold; I happily freeze any left-overs.

So, that’s it again – enjoy – Guten Appetit.
Carina

KOHLRABI

Jun25

I love vegetables and salads – I really do.

Looking at some of the posts and sites on the Internet I see that quite a few are flooded with what I like to call the “fashionable vegetable of the week”. In most cases I cannot get those here which is as well, since I hesitate joining the general bandwagon – instead I prefer to dig deeper into my recipe box from around the world and go for the “old fashioned” dishes – some forgotten for a couple of decades (or more?) because they ran out of favour with the young fashionable cooks.

Germans just love their kohlrabi and children do in particular. It’s so versatile; it can be eaten raw (in salads for example) or cooked. The normal standard way to serve cooked kohlrabi is with a delicious simple butter/cream/lots-of-black-pepper sauce. The vegetable is either sliced into small cubes but mostly into small ‘French fries’.

To be honest I happily could eat myself through the many many recipes which I learned from my own family and friends all those years ago and now that our Hypermarket started stocking those little “Sputniks” (as we children then called them) they will be used in my kitchen a lot.

I made this dish a few days ago when yet again we had to be out and about and did not feel like eating, as we normally do, in a Restaurant in town. I made this dish the night before, kept in the fridge and re-heated on 200 C in my (gas-)oven. This was a good decision and I enjoyed my Kohlrabi a lot.

Today I will not give you the exact measurements here, since it all depends on the size of the individual vegetable and your personal requirements. So, do what I do in situations like this, be flexible!!!

Basmati rice, cooked and kept aside
2 x or more kohlrabi, peeled
1 x carrot, peeled and very finely chopped
1 x large onion, chopped finely
Pinch of fresh nutmeg
1 x dollop of butter
Pinch of salt and a generous! pinch of black pepper
¼ l of the kohlrabi cooking liquid
2 x Tbsp of cream
3 x Tbsp of nice cheese, like Gouda or strong cheddar, grated

Cut peeled kohlrabi in half and boil in salted water for 15-25 minutes (again, check, because it all depends on their size) When cooked and cooled down ready to handle, scoop out some of the inside without damaging the walls.

Now for the sauce; heat butter on medium heat, add chopped onion, the carrot and the scooped out kohlrabi flesh and sauté for a couple of minutes. Add cooking liquid and cream; slowly cook for a few more minutes. Take off flame and add ½ of the grated cheese, mix.

Take an oven-safe dish and add the kohlrabi.

Fill the kohlrabi with the cooked rice and spoon the sauce over the vegetables, with the remaining cheese sprinkled over this.
Bake in a pre-heated oven for app. 30 minutes or so (again – you will have to check – oven heat various and once again, in the end it all depends on the size of the vegetables.)

That’s it – ready – enjoy – Guten Appetit.

Namaskaram
Carina

Gratin with just a little ‘kick’

Jun16

Our version of ‘Broccoli and Cauliflower Gratin’

Maybe one of you dear Reader Friends has been to an English Public School? You have? Oh, then of course you will NOT recognise this particular version of the (in-) famous school “Broccoli and Cauliflower Gratin”, since I have tried to give it a little bit of Carina’s flavouring.

And since my family and I always liked this home-made Gratin I now like to share this recipe with you in the hope that you might as well.
It goes well with chicken and meat but is also just lovely by itself, the amount of grated cheese and red chilli flakes added will have to be to your personal liking (but do not amiss all together, since this dish needs a little ‘kick’).

So without further ado here is my version for you hopefully to prepare for your family as either a side dish or a main meal.

For just 2 people I suggest:

1 x small broccoli, broken into smallish florets
1 x small cauliflower, broken into smallish florets
¼ x cup of natural plain thick yoghurt
½ x of grated sharp cheddar cheese
A sprinkling of dry red chilli flake, depending on your heat tolerance
1 ½ x tsp wholegrain mustard
2 x Tbsp or so of breadcrumbs
Salt and pepper to taste

In lightly salted boiling water cook broccoli and cauliflower for maybe 8 minutes or until they are just tender. Do not over-cook the vegetables!

Drain well and transfer to a lightly buttered flameproof dish.

In a bowl mix together yoghurt, red chilli flakes (if used), mustard and grated cheese, and of course also with salt and pepper. When this is done spoon over your vegetables.

Sprinkle the breadcrumbs over the top and grill under a pre-heated grill until golden brown.

Serve hot with maybe a chunk of French bread.

That’s it – all done – Guten Appetit.
Namaskaram
Carina

A Marriage of Fennel & Carrot

May18

Hallo – hallo – yes, I am back!

But do not worry, I will not bore you with the many stories of WHY I have been away from my computer that long – too many to be told – but just in case there are one or two of you who actually missed me (  and no this is not meant to be in an arrogant manner) the main reason for being off the air for 2 months is quite a simple one – I needed (and wanted) to do some other things around the house, away from the computer desk!!!.

So today I like to introduce you to one of my favourite vegetable dishes. I am not always able to get Fennel here, so when I see it in our Hypermarket I buy some bulbs and make the most of it.

300 g Carrots, peeled and sliced thinly
300 g Fennel, cleaned and sliced thinly
15 g plain oats
15 g butter
50 ml Vegetable Stock, (I use a Knorr Cube)
50 ml Cream (light)
1 small onion, chopped finely
2-3 Garlic (optional) finely chopped
Salt and pepper to taste

Melt butter (but do not let it get brown!), add oats and stir for 1 minute before adding all the carrots and fennel, onion and garlic. Mix and stir for another minute or two. Add prepared stock, cover and on medium heat let it cook for 10 minutes or so. Before serving add Cream, spices and bring to your table.

In our house I serve mainly some creamy mash potatoes with this for myself and rice for JS.

That’s it – ready – Guten Appetit!

This is one of my “Speedy-Gonzales” vegetable dishes which is wonderful just by itself or with meat or chicken and ideal for all of us who are “in a hurry” since it can be on your plate in less than 30 minutes.

Namaskaram,
Carina

D J U V E C – my first ‘fast food’

Feb2

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(Tomatoes, Capsicums, Meat, Paprika and Rice – all in one pot!)

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When I grew up in Bonn the words “Fast food” and ‘Street food” were so not used to us – they simply had not entered my generation’s vocabulary – yet!

Nor was the myriad of Middle- and Far Eastern spices known to any of us – yet!

But it introduced me to the wonderful world of spices – and I certainly have not left this ‘spice world’ – yet!

In our schools and colleges we started to learn about different countries in the world, especially on our continent, although hardly any of us had ever ventured out of Germany – yet!

For us Youngsters, a special treat after a visit to the cinema was normally a (newspaper-) cone filled with freshly made ‘fries’ with a dollop of ‘mayo’ on top.

Places like any of those now well-known Burger places, Mo-Mo Restaurants, Pizza Parlours, various Coffee- and Tea Bars, etc. etc. did not even exist in our country – yet!

But all was going to change one day – the first “foreign” Restaurant opened, just opposite the Main Train Station, in our still sleepy little town, by then already the new Capital of Germany.

My memory plays a little dance in my head – it annoys me that I cannot remember the real name of this restaurant, even searching through my box of old old notes from around the world, did I not come up with the right name. So, I herewith name this place “The Balkan Restaurant” (you never know, it just might have been its name all along).

Of course, like Youngsters all over the world, we had to explore en bloc after school/college before heading home. We thought we were in heaven no less – delicious smelling foreign food, big portions, relatively little money and when sharing a plate between 2 or even 3 people it was not a ‘budget killer’.
After having sampled through the menu once or twice soon we established a dish called by the strange name of DJUVEC was our favourite.

The word Đuveč derives from the Turkish word Güveç, which means casserole (traditionally cooked in an earthenware pot).

Having typed this so far I now feel sort of peckish (nothing was left over from yesterday when I prepared this dish from memory, more or less).

Ingredients for 2 pretty hungry people or
Ingredients for 4 with big salad and flat bread on the side

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½ kg lean Meat (see notes), cleaned and cut into small pieces
1 x large onion, chopped
4 x garlic cloves, finely chopped
2 x large green chillies, cut finely
½ x large red Capsicum (known as Paprika in Europe), cut small
½ x large yellow Capsicum, cut small

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½ x large green Capsicum, cut small
3 x large Tomatoes – skin and seeds removed and cut small
300 x g long grain Rice (I like to use top Basmati rice), wash and keep aside
1 x tsp of mild paprika powder
1 x tsp of chilli powder
Salt and pepper, to taste
1 x Tbsp of tomato paste
2 Tbsp Oil
1 ltr of good meat broth, keep aside

Method:
In a wide pot heat oil, add your chosen meat (see notes) and fry very quickly, stirring all the while. Take out and keep aside.

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Add onion and garlic to the oil in pot and then all the Chillies, Capsicums (Paprika) and now let all this cook on low heat for a few minutes. Keep stirring often. Now add the previously fried meat, salt, pepper, paprika powder, chilli powder and the tomato paste – stir and add enough meat broth so that it just covers all this.

Cover and now let it simmer for 30 to 45 minutes (depending on the meat you are using – keep checking!) If needed just add some more broth – don’t let it go dry or even burn!!!!

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Halfway through add the tomato pieces. Stir once gently. Now mix your washed rice into all this and add more of your meat broth. Keep simmering for maybe another 20 minutes or so without stirring; but towards the end of your cooking time check to see if more broth is needed.

Rice should still have a nice soft ‘bite’ and the whole dish is meant slightly on the moist side rather than dry.

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That’s it – all done – serve and enjoy. Guten Appetit!

Notes: You can use Pork, Beef, Veal.

I have eaten this also with some wonderful very hot sausage like ‘Chorizo’ – and it was quite delicious, too.

Namaskaram
Carina

Celery/Leek Soup with my little twist

Jan25

According to the Oxford Dictionary Diaries the phrase . . . “warm the cockles of one’s heart” means in plain English “to give one a comforting feeling of contentment”. And sweet Molly Malone from Dublin’s Fair City could tell you a thing or two here.

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‘Comfort feeling of Contentment’ is what I am looking for if and when I am either down with a flu/cold or just simply feel slightly below par.

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As long as I can remember I nearly always have made my weekly pot of delicious home-made soup, ready to be consumed at any time or portioned off and frozen for later use. It does not matter if now again I live in a hot or cold climate – the aroma from the vegetables, the wonderful spices wafting from my special soup mug gently up my nose immediately tells certain brain cells of mine “get better – and snap out of this negative mood you are in” – and rest be assure it always works like a dream. And yes, this is one of the reasons why I still continue to conjure up soups, not following recipes most of the time either.

I know that a great number of my blogger friends are right now living in colder climate – and that’s one reason why I like to share one of my favourite “winter warmers” with you (never mind we and some other dear friends live in a hot climate) – sitting around your own kitchen table with bowls of hot steaming soup in front of you and either nice thick chunks of granary bread or Arabic hoops on the side for ‘dunking’. Especially for you, who have just come in from clearing snow off your pathway, de-frosting the car, or just came home from a long crisp walk.

So therefore, without long ado – here is last nights “Carina’s Special” for you to enjoy hopefully as well.

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The amount of ingredients you see in the first picture turned out to be a generous four-portion-soup. And here is what I used:

1 x medium onion, chopped
1 x fat leek, washed thoroughly and sliced
4 x cups of celery, well washed, ends trimmed and rest chopped
1 x medium/large washed but unpeeled potato, diced small
5 x garlic cloves, peeled and finely sliced
1 x small piece of fresh ginger, finely sliced
2 x heaped tsp of cocopowder
1 x Tbsp Olive oil
1 x Tbsp hot curry powder
Salt, to taste and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
½ x tsp of turmeric powder
4 – 5 x cup of vegetable stock (I used Knorr cubes)
1 x tsp of dry oregano
1 x tsp of dry rosemary (or a twig of fresh one)
Some celery leaves for garnish and celery seeds (if you can get them)

METHOD:
First of all, have all your vegetables prepared as mentioned above and keep aside on a board.

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Set a large medium high vessel on MEDIUM heat and after a couple of minutes add the olive oil, followed by the onion, leek and the celery, stir, cover and cook gently for app. 10 minutes, stirring half way through again.

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Now add curry powder, stir and gently cook for another 2 minutes only.

Add potatoes, nearly all the stock and the herbs, stir and continuing to simmer for 20 minutes or so, until the vegetables are tender. We don’t like them too mushy – so you may have to adjust simmering time.

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When done, switch off heat and let soup cool down slightly (I switch on the Ceiling fan).
10 minutes later I puree the vegetables in my “Mixy” until they are nice and smooth.

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Now check your soup for any possible additional spices needed.
Return all this to your vessel and gently re-heat until piping hot.
Switch off the heat and add your previously prepared coconut milk powder, stirring gently. Do no remove vessel – allow the previous heat deal with the added coconut milk.

Serve in individual soup plates, bowls or cups decorated with a sprig of celery leaves and if you have, a light sprinkling of celery seeds.

You can also do, what I sometimes do, add a few prawns quickly boiled in chilli water! For a little kick.

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You do not need much else, apart from delicious healthy bread or hoops for dunking – little culinary heaven!!!

That’s it – all done – enjoy!

Namaskaram
Carina

Note: The statue shown above has been moved to Suffolk Road while a light railway line is being built in Grafton Road, but is expected to be returned to its original place in 2017.