Tomato & Coriander Salad (Salsa)

Quick & easy to make Salsa


Regular readers will notice that I have a lot of recipes with Tomatoes. True, I like tomatoes and they are good for you - a real bonus. This could be referred to as a Salsa or a Salad.

This quick side-salad is also good with cheese on crackers or toasted bread. It looks just as good as it tastes. Adjust the hot ingredients to your own liking.


Ingredients:
5 or 6 medium tomatoes, diced [ I often use cherry tomatoes for this especially in the summer when they are just full of sweetness, about a dozen or so]
1/2 cup of roughly chopped [fresh] coriander leaves
1 Red onion, diced
Juice from 1/2 a lime
1/2 a red chilli and 1 tbs of Olive Oil - or - 1 Tablespoon of chilli dipping sauce [adjust according to how much heat you like]


Directions:
Mix everything together and allow the flavours to infuse for at least 30 minutes before eating. The Chilli Dipping Sauce adds sweetness and heat (along with a touch of garlic); I tend to use it in preference to a chilli but that's a matter of taste.

Tomato Relish

Sweet yet Spicy

A superb home-made relish to use as as an accompaniment with cold meat and salad or on sandwiches. Best made from home grown tomatoes to really bring out the tomato flavour.

Ingredients

4 kg ripe tomatoes
1½ kg onions
½ kg apples, peeled and cored
½ kg sweet peppers (red and yellow look best) diced
A couple of fiery hot chillies, or the contents of a jar of pickled chillies
1 kg sugar
3 level tablespoons hot curry powder
4½ level tablespoons mustard powder
¾ teaspoon Cayenne pepper
1.7 L white vinegar
1 tablespoon cornflour

Method
  1. Peel and dice tomatoes, onions, peppers and apples.
  2. Place in a large pot and cover with vinegar.
  3. Add the sugar and bring the mixture to the boil. Boil rapidly for five minutes.
  4. Combine all the spices and stir into the relish mixture.
  5. Boil gently for one hour, removing scum progressively and stirring frequently.
  6. To thicken the relish, add the corn flour to a little water and mix to a smooth paste.
  7. Add a little of the hot liquid from the relish mixture until the paste is the consistency of thin cream.
  8. Add the paste to the relish mixture and stir continuously for around 5 minutes until it thickens.
  9. Bottle into hot, sterilised jars and seal when cold. Makes approximately 12 medium sized jars.

Notes

Tomatoes are much easier to peel if you drop them into boiling water for a minute or two. If relish mixture appears to be too watery during cooking reduce it down by leaving the lid off the pot. This relish will keep for up to 12 months in a cool cupboard.

Scale down the ingredients to make a smaller batch. Works best with fresh tomatoes; may work with tinned tomatoes but haven't tried it, do let me know how it works out if you do try.

Much Better Granola

Part of the healthy yet tasty series!


I recently reviewed my Granola recipe and realised that I've changed how I make Granola! I'm not great at following recipes in the first place, I tend to use it as a guideline and then adjust according to how I'm feeling, what's in the cupboard and how it tastes as I go along.

At any rate, my much improved Granola is detailed below. Significantly there is no SALT in this, not even sure why there was salt in the original as I rarely use salt. I also found Flax seeds in my local store - these are very good for you. I use maple syrup and honey interchangeably.


Ingredients:
2 cups of rolled oats
1/2 cup of wheatgerm
1/2 cup of mixed seeds [sunflower, flax, sesame, poppy]
1/4 cup of unsweetened dessicated coconut
1/2 cup of dried fruit [raisins, mixed peel etc]
1/3 cup of honey or maple syrup
1/4 cup of oil
Splash of water

Directions:
Pre-heat your oven to 100c/220f.

Mix all the dry ingredients together in a large bowl, except the dried fruit. Combine the honey, water and oil and pop into the microwave for 1 minute - don't worry too much about the exact measurements but you should have about 3/4 of a cup of liquid. The mixture is much easier to handle when it's warm and the honey is a lot less sticky.

Mix the liquid into the dry ingredients and stir well until everything is well coated.

Spread out on a baking tray and pop into the oven for 15 minutes. Remove and stir in the dried fruit; give it a good mix. Another 15 minutes in the oven before removing for another stir around - make sure it's browning evenly. Pop back for a final 15/20 minutes.

Remove and allow to cool before storing in an air-tight jar; as it cools it will get crunchy. It should hold for quite a while but I'll bet it doesn't last that long.

Enjoy with natural yoghurt.


Variations:
Use 1/4 cup of apple juice instead of the water and reduce the honey to 1/4 cup.

Easy Choclate Cake

Decadent & fool-proof - a rare combination

Chocolate cake is always a real crowd pleaser but may cooks are put off by the complicated steps, masses of ingredients and time it takes. Now, a really easy cake to make but with fantastic results. A rich dark fudgy taste.

It took me less than 1/2 an hour to make; it will probably take even less to polish it off!


Ingredients:
240g Butter
270g Dark chocolate
6 eggs, separated
250 g sugar
120g flour (sieved)

Directions:
Preheat he over to 180c. Prepare a spring-bake cake tin by buttering and dusting with flour - this stops the cake sticking to the tin.

Melt the butter and chocolate in a glass bowl over a pan of simmering water; allow the chocolate to melt slowly without the glass bowl touching the water. Meanwhile, whisk the 6 eggs yolks with the sugar until thick. Also, whisk the 6 egg whites until frothy with soft white peaks.

When the butter and chocolate and fully melted, add to the egg yolks and sugar and mix well. Fold in the sieved flour and when fully mixed fold in the egg whites.

If you're feeling extra decadent, add some broken chocolate pieces to the mixture before pouring into the prepared tin.

Bake for 40 minutes or until the sides are set. Allow to cool before removing from the tin; dust with icing sugar. It will hold for a few days and in fact will taste better the day after it's made - if you wan wait that long!

Serve with Baileys whipped cream and a few raspberries... or just eat it!

Originally from Domini Kemp's tweaked recipe from Alice Waters.