On the first day of Christmas my true love sent to me ... 30 onion bhajis! #12BitesOfChristmas

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#12BitesOfChristmas

Ok, it’s not yet the first day of Christmas ... and the song doesn’t quite go like that but over the next few weeks, I’ll be doing the 12 bites of Christmas – delicious little morsels, savoury and sweet, to tantalise your taste buds.

So, for the first bite of Christmas, the thing I made for thee is... an Onion Bhaji. This recipe is frighteningly easy and can be rustled up in about 20 minutes once you know what you are doing. Even better, these onion bhajis are vegetarian and gluten free. They can be prepared in advance and frozen, ready to whip out at a moment’s notice for delighted visitors.

This recipe assumes you’ll be having friends over for drinks or that you love onion bhajis as much as I do. It is easily halved 

For about 30 bites of crispy, spicy, oniony gorgeousness you will need...

4 medium onions – about the size of a tennis ball

2 teaspoons cumin seed

1 teaspoon coriander seed

1/2 tsp fennel seed

160g gram flour (chickpea flour)

40g rice flour (for added crispiness)

1 teaspoon ground turmeric

1-2 hot green chillies, finely chopped* (these can be left out if you’re not a fan)

30g fresh ginger, finely grated

2 fat cloves of garlic, crushed

2 tablespoons finely chopped coriander leaf or flat leafed parsley

2 tablespoons of plain (unsweetened) natural yoghurt or Greek yoghurt

1 tablespoon of lemon juice

½ teaspoon salt

You will also need approximately 8 – 9 tablespoons cold water.

Sunflower oil for deep frying

Make up the mixture when you are ready to cook.

First, prepare the onions – peel them, then halve them top to bottom and cut into fine strips. Break up the strips with your fingers so that there are no large clumps clinging together.

Next, lightly toast the cumin, coriander and fennel seeds in a dry frying pan over a medium heat. They are done when you can start to smell toasted spices! Remove them from the heat and crush them roughly using a pestle and mortar, or the spice grinder you got last Christmas and still haven’t used, or simply chop them roughly with a knife.

Place the gram flour and rice flour in a large mixing bowl along with everything else except the water and the onions and mix to combine.

Now stir in enough cold water to make a thick batter, adding a little at a time. (I find that 8 tablespoons makes a slightly more substantial bhaji and 9 tablespoons equals more crunch – both have their merits.)

Finally add the onions and mix gently until every strand is coated with the batter.

Heat the oil in a deep-fat fryer to 180°C.  Also pre-heat your oven to 100°C if you are planning to eat them immediately - the first few batches need to be kept warm as you work your way through the mixture.

Take walnut sized portions of the mixture in your hands and press gently into a ball before releasing carefully into the hot oil. Avoid overloading the fryer as it will lower the temperature and the bhajis will stick to each other and also become greasy.

Careful now...

 If they haven’t resurfaced after about 45 seconds, gently release from the bottom of the fryer basket with a long-handled tongs. Continue to fry until deep golden brown – about two minutes in total.

I think these ones are doing the backstroke

Drain over the fryer until any excess oil stops dripping and place the cooked bhajis on a heatproof tray lined with kitchen paper. Place the tray in the oven. Cook the remainder of the mixture, keeping the finished bhajis warm until ready to serve.

Look what I caught! 

Alternatively, let them cool on the tray. Freeze in one layer before packing into a suitable container and reheating – from frozen – at about 160°C for about 10 – 15 minutes or until piping hot.

Independent taste tester verdict: "Really very good. Is anyone eating that last one?"

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Good Elf – a hot cocktail to help Santa on his way

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To: Santa Claus
c/o The North Pole

Dear Santa,

Long after I stopped believing in you - and no matter how naughty I’d been - I’d wake up on Christmas morning, to find a treat-filled stocking with a Mandarin or a Satsuma hiding in the toe. I must either have (accidentally) notched up a few brownie points during the year or perhaps you continued to believe in me.

On Christmas morning the scents of orange, the log fire, and pine from the Christmas tree would intermingle to form a signature Christmas scent as I and my siblings opened our gifts, swapped our gifts, fought over our gifts, broke our gifts, and played with the packaging.

Dear Santa, I do try to be good... but I deserve to be on your naughty list this year. I made you some cupcakes in case you got a little peckish on your way around the world. However 48 fondant eyeballs, 12 fondant moustaches, 12 fondant noses, 12 fondant carrots and 24 woolly fondant bobbles later, I’m afraid all that sugar got the better of me, and  I ate your share. (Burp!)

48 eyeballs, 12 moustaches, 12 noses, 12 carrots, 24 woolly bobbles, 1 tantrum, and 1 Good Elf later...

Dear Santa, I happen to know you are partial to orange liqueur so I have created this cocktail as a little Thank You. It's an excellent and warming alternative to mulled wine, but don’t take too long in getting here though. It smells rather tempting... (Hic!)

Dear Santa, if you like this little tipple and want to recreate it at home then you will need...

Coriander simple syrup

100g runny honey (or sugar)

100ml water

3 tablespoons coriander seed, roughly crushed 

Place the honey (or sugar) and water in a small saucepan and bring to the simmering until the honey (or sugar) is completely dissolved in the water. Now add the crushed coriander seed and leave to steep overnight. Strain to remove the seeds and keep in a screw top jar or bottle. (This will keep for at least a month in the fridge). 

Santa’s Little Helper

40mls Cointreau (or other triple sec-style orange liqueur)
1 – 2 teaspoons coriander simple syrup (see recipe above)
80mls fresh Mandarin or Satsuma juice
80mls fresh water
1 slice of orange stuck with 5 cloves 

In a tall (preferably heat proof*) glass, mix the Cointreau and the simple syrup. Put the orange juice and water in a small saucepan and bring to simmering. Add to the glass and float the slice of orange with cloves on top. 

*Santa, if your glass is not heat proof, place a metal spoon in the glass before adding the hot liquid. 

Your Good Health (or Good Elf!) and a Merry Christmas!

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Cointreau Cumberland – a saucy little number !

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It’s funny how Cumberland Sauce has ended up being a quintessentially English sauce when it has its roots in Germany – a bit like the royal family, you might say.

Traditionally, it comprises port and redcurrant jelly with a few other bits and pieces - ground ginger, powdered mustard etc. It should be thin, and sweet-ish, a pretty ruby colour with the gentle kick of a retired can-can dancer.

Let’s go with the dancer analogy: If I was a critic watching this sauce prance around the kitchen I would scribble the following notes:

A little too thin to carry the role... a touch too sweet... needs more attack...

Thicker than the traditional sauce - and golden rather than ruby - this saucy little Cointreau-laced number is more than able to high-kick its way across your taste buds and is well able to stand up to rich pâtés or terrines. (It is also delicious with the inevitable cold turkey and ham.)

For a sauce with more attitude you will need...

1 lemon

1 large orange

200g plum jam (or similar flavour, not too dominant)

4 tablespoons Cointreau (or other orange liqueur)

10g fresh ginger, thinly sliced

1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

100mls fresh orange juice

1 teaspoon Dijon mustard  

1.           First, using a vegetable peeler, thinly peel the zest from the lemon and the orange, leaving as much of the white pith behind. Trim the peelings with a sharp knife to remove any of this bitter pith that still clings to the zest. Cut the peel into 4cm lengths trimming the edges so they are straight (this looks nicer in the finished sauce). You can discard the uneven trimmings. Cut the strips of zest into the thinnest shreds you can manage. Put them in a small bowl and cover with boiling water to soften the flavour.

2.           While the zest is soaking, place the plum jam in a small saucepan, with the Cointreau, ginger, lemon juice and orange juice. Heat gently until simmering and allow to bubble gently for about 8 minutes, stirring occasionally. This will help evaporate some of the alcohol.

3.           Pass the sauce through a strainer to remove the ginger and any fruity pulp from the jam and fruit juices. Taking a little of the strained sauce, added it to the mustard, mixing until smooth. Return this mixture to the sauce. Drain the shredded zest and pat with kitchen paper to remove any excess water before adding to the sauce. Leave to cool. 

I particulary love this sauce with this ridiculously easy chicken liver pâté.

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Spiced Orange Shortbread – a celebration of festive laziness

Pin It Laziness is vastly under-rated. As far as I am concerned it is an unrecognised but significant catalyst for inspiration, motivation and resourcefulness. Laziness prompts the dawning of that great realisation: there must be an easier/faster way of doing this – whatever this is. That realisation, in turn, sparks creativity in pursuit of that easier/faster way.

Oh I wish it could be Christmas every day-ay-ay! 

I had been planning a chickpea and chorizo stew as a savoury change from all the sweet baking I’ve been featuring lately, but the chickpeas need overnight soaking and there’s lots of gathering of herbs and chopping of vegetables and slicing of meats involved. That’s not normally any hassle at all, but I have yet to trim the Christmas tree, write the Christmas cards, wrap the Christmas presents – all on my To Do list today - and I want something I can produce quickly, with minimum effort – something extremely lazy.

I ask myself what could be easier/faster? The answer that quickly springs to mind is shortbread.

Measure! Mix! Bake! (Eat!!!)

It couldn’t be lazier easier. Measure. Mix. Bake. What’s more, it is so true to my philosophy - simple ingredients, magical food – that I know it is meant to be.

Santa baby, slip some shortbread under the tree for me...

I don’t have a particularly sweet tooth, but shortbread is my downfall. I can safely say this one is the best I have ever made. With the barest touch of clove and cinnamon and studded with tiny nuggets of caramelised orange peel, it is utterly festive. I have redeemed my complete lack of effort slightly by dipping half of these little stunners in melted dark chocolate. Oh, raise a glass to laziness!

For about 30 shortbread cookies you will need...... to pre-heat the oven to 170°C

175g butter, softened

75g caster sugar

200g plain flour

50g corn flour

¼ teaspoon vanilla extract

¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon

¹/₁₆ teaspoon ground cloves

a pinch of fine table salt

2 tablespoons candied orange peel, diced

2 tablespoons iced water

1.      Place the butter and sugar in a food mixer or a large bowl and mix together until fluffy and paler in colour.

2.      Mix in the plain flour, corn flour, vanilla essence, ground cinnamon, ground cloves and salt. When these are mixed into a fine sandy crumb, add in the candied peel.

3.      Finally, add in the water, mixing just until the ingredients come together in a ball.

4.      Roll out on a floured surface to a thickness of about 7mm / ¼ inch. Cut out Christmassy (or other) shapes and place on a non-stick (or lightly floured) baking sheet. Squash any off-cuts into a ball and re-roll.

5.      Bake the cookies in the pre-heated oven for 12 – 15 minutes or until evenly golden.

6.      Transfer to a cooling rack. When cold, dust with icing sugar or dip in decent quality melted chocolate – dark, milk, or white, I’ll leave it up to you. I’m feeling far too lazy to make that decision!



Aaah - the perfect antidote to Christmas shopping!

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