Making the time to cook…

I was in Frankfurt for work this week and managed to squeeze in dinner with some dear friends who asked why I stopped writing my blog. I haven’t stopped…. I just have not had the time to sit down and write. Don’t worry I said… I’ve still been cooking and photographing, it’s just the sitting down to write thing which hasn’t happened. So thank you… you know who you are…my priority this weekend was to write.

Last Sunday would have been my mother’s birthday. With so many other things happening in our hectic world, it would have been easy to carry on as if it was a normal weekend… With one son back from a 24 hour school trip to the Battlefields in Flanders (WW1 history trip) and needing to spend the weekend rehearsing and filming with his friends for a charity review performance at school, as usual time was scarce. However, we all were aware that it was a weekend tinged with deep sadness, and in the spirit of keeping our memories alive we maintained our family tradition of her favourite Sunday lunch of roast lamb, followed by Apple Crumble.

Aside from my non-meat eating brother, we are a family of lamb eaters… from early days in Singapore i have memories of amazing roast lamb with rosemary and garlic, Lamb curries, barbecued lamb chops, koftas, murtabak (more likely with mutton) and the list goes on. Even now we will eat lamb at least twice a month, either curried, roast – normally slow roast with moroccan spices, or in the summer, luscious juicy BBQ lamb chops or kebabs.

One of my favourite interpretations of Lamb curry is a Lamb Rogan Josh (recipe on a photograph). This is an original recipe from my mother, but I added an aubergine as i believe that lamb and aubergine are pretty much the perfect combination. I cubed it and roasted it until soft, then added it to the cooked curry. I served this with rice and attempted to make Cabbage Fritters, again, a dish from my childhood. However, my mother didn’t have a recipe for this, so it was a little bit of tasting and trial and error. I’m pleased to say that everything went down well with my toughest critics… my boys and my father!

With half term upon us and a little holiday ahead, my aim is to continue cooking, and up the writing…!

Bengali Cabbage Fritters

Ingredients

1/2 Onion sliced lengthwise (1 medium onion)

1/2 white cabbage – shredded finely

1/2 teaspoon,ginger, grated (optional)

2 green chillies,finely chopped

8 curry leaves,finely chopped

1/4 tsp Turmeric

pinch of salt

1/2 cup rice flour

oil for frying

Method

Slice onions lengthwise,shred cabbage,and finely chop curry leaves,ginger and green chillies.
In a large mixing bowl ,add all ingredients except oil and mix well.
Set aside for 10 minutes so that mixture releases moisture.
Squeeze and mix well again .Add some water if required. Texture should be quite stiff.
Put the oil in deep frying pan (I use my wok)
Make sure the oil hot for frying. drop the mixture in oil in bunches.
Stir them occasionally.
Fry them till golden brown colour & crisp. They can be cooked ahead and warmed up in the oven.