True Grit

Film night at KitchenFairies HQ again.  Tonight the choice was True Grit.  The only food mentioned in the film is sofkee - which seems to be some kind of sweetcorn porridge, sometimes made with bacon and chillies.  However, none of us are fans of sweetcorn - and that just sounds like really, really earnest - so, I chose a maize product that we do like - nachos and paired it with veggie chilli - with sour cream, cheese and guacamole, as I thought that was wild west enough.  I also did some burgers for the veg dodger.  It was delicious.

Chilli

Olive oil

Onion

Garlic

Cumin seeds

Chilli flakes

Courgette

Mushrooms

Red pepper

Bouillon

Oregano

Red kidney beans

Butter beans

Tin of chopped tomatoes

Dark chocolate

Lime juice

Sour cream, grated cheese and tortilla chips to serve.

Guacamole

Avocado

Red onion

Tomato

Lime juice

1.  Chop onions, crush garlic and fry gently.  Then add a pinch of cumin seeds, some crushed chilli and the rest of the chopped mushrooms, courgette and red pepper.

2.  Drain and rinse the beans and add them to the softened vegetables.  Add a pint or so of vegetable stock and simmer, add a pinch of oregano.

3.  Add a tin of chopped tomatoes, and simmer.

4.  Five minutes before serving add dark chocolate and allow to melt in, then spritz with lime juice just before serving.

5.  Make the guacamole by chopping the avocado flesh, half a red onion and a ripe tomato.  Mix and add the juice of half a lime.

6.  Heat tortilla chips by covering in foil and putting in the oven for 5 minutes.

7.  Serve, with sour cream and grated cheese.  Scoff.

Veggie chilli, guacamole - rice and tortilla chips

Another bitterly cold day so I thought we deserved a bit a warming comforting summat.  Also, there was an avocado from the veg box which needed using up - so, why not a bit of chilli?

Veggie Chilli
Olive oil
Garlic
onion
carrots
red pepper
mixed herbs
chilli flakes
green beans
turkish beans
red kidney beans
vegan bouillon
water
salt and pepper

basmati rice

Guacamole
red onion
tomato
avocado
juice of half a lemon

tortilla chips
natural yogurt (or sour cream)

It takes about 45 minutes, start to finish ... but you could let it simmer away happily for longer if you were busy with something else.

1.  Soften chopped onion in olive oil.
2.  Add chopped carrots, red pepper and green beans with the crushed garlic.
3.  Turn all the veg over in the pan for a couple of minutes, then add a good pinch of mixed herbs and a sprinkle of chilli flakes.
4.  Add a teaspoon of bouillon powder and about a pint of water.  Simmer.
6.  Put the rice on - I put it in a cast iron pot, cover with water to an inch above the surface, bring to the simmer, cover and pop into a coolish oven.  This will wait patiently until you are ready.
5.  Add a tin of turkish beans (like greek giant beans, but a bit smaller - in a tasty tomato sauce).  Add a drained tin of kidney beans.  Simmer for another 20 minutes, adding water and seasoning as necessary.
6. While it's simmering chuck together the guacamole - chop a red onion, finely.  Chop a tomato and add to the onion.  Scoop the flesh out of the avocado and add that too - squish the mixture with a spoon.  Squirt on the juice of half a lemon - mix and keep covered, in the fridge, until you are ready to eat.
7. 5 minutes before serving pop the tortilla chips into the oven in an oven proof dish, to warm through.
8.  Serve, scoff - adding yogurt if you wish.  Grated cheese would be another possible garnish.

Lovely!  Would have been vegan except that I am not vegan, and I like the coolness of the yogurt.  The guacamole was particularly well received, as there was a bit of a crunch left in it - and we like that :)

Chili jam

Love this stuff... 1 kilo ripe tomatoes - chop and boil, zizz 4 red chillies with 4 cloves garlic, decent knob of fresh ginger.  Add to tomato mush with 600g sugar, 600ml red wine vinegar and tbsp fish sauce.  Bubble away gently for at least 30 mins.  I then zizzed a bit with a stick blender to smash up tomato skins, but this is not essential.  Carry on simmering until a jam consistency is reached. (skin wrinkling on blob on cold saucer).  Put in jars - scoff with cheese and cold meat, or pretty much anything you fancy having chilli jam on.  Victim says Appleby Organic Cheshire Cheese is the best!