Amba Haldi -white turmeric Pickle

Amba Haldi is also known as Curcuma Aromatica, white turmeric or mango ginger. It is grown in the Himalayan region of India and it is only available in the monsoon region.  It contains curcumin, vitamin A, protein, fatty acids, minerals and carbohydrates and has anti-inflammatory properties as well as strong antibiotic ones. Due to its many medicinal properties it is used in skin care and to get rid of throat infections and nasal and tracheobronchial congestion. It can be consumed raw or it can be dried and used in powder form. Amba Haldi is delicious eaten raw in salads or eaten in the form of pickle. 

Made without oil or spices this simple preserved Amba Haldi pickle is healthy and delicious . With its salty and tangy flavour it is a perfect accompaniment to rice dishes.

Ingredients:

120 g/4 oz Amba Haldi

Juice of two large lemons

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder

Method:

1. Peel the Amba Haldi and either cut it into thin round slices alternatively you can cut it into juliennes.

2. Place the Amba Haldi in a sterile jar and add to it the lemon juice, salt and turmeric.

3. Mix well and store in the refrigerator.

4. It can be eaten immediately.

You may like:

Preserved Lemon Pickle

Submitting to:

Lets Cook Pickle event by simply.food

Gain popularity Event by JCO

Giveaway ~ Free tickets to Grand Designs Live.

WIN TICKETS TO GRAND DESIGNS LIVE LONDON 4th -12th May 2013

Property and Design guru Kevin McCloud is heading back to London this spring to host the ninth consecutive Grand Designs Live show. To celebrate its return, simply.food has teamed up Grand designs and they are offering simply.food readers the chance to win one of 5 pairs of tickets to this award winning contemporary home show.

Grand Designs Live 2013 will play host to over 500 exhibitors at London’s ExCeL Centre from the 4th – 12th May 2013 and is the perfect show for those seeking inspiration and expert advice on home redecoration, renovations or even full scale self-build projects. You will find everything you need under one roof in one of the show’s six dedicated sections - Grand Build, Grand Interiors, Grand Kitchens, Grand Bathrooms, Grand Gardens and Grand Technology.

Indulge in food heaven in GRAND Kitchens, sponsored by Miele at the centre of a foodie paradise where visitors can sample and purchase a wealth of culinary delights and kitchen appliances, visitors will find the interactive Live Kitchen Experience from Miele boasting a wealth of top chefs and celebrity guests cooking live on stage as well as the Grand Restaurant where visitors can dine whilst soaking up the full atmosphere of the show.

Grand Designs will also be celebrating the nation’s first ever National Self Build Week at the show in partnership with the National Self Build Association, inspiring and educating Grand Design hopefuls to go about building their dream homeVisitors can try their hand at sustainable build techniques, get FREE consultations in the Ask an Expert Advice Centre sponsored by Velux as well as shop from 100's of unique products that can’t be found on the high street. You will see fantastic ideas brought to life in the Interiors Theatre, live cooking demonstrations by top chefs in the Miele Live Kitchen Experience and even be able to explore Kevin McCloud’s Green Heroes - an annual exhibition showcasing his very favourite eco innovations of the year., You can also join Kevin in debates on topical issues surrounding homes and design with renowned TV & industry experts at the Grand Theatre in partnership with The Green Deal.

For those not lucky enough to win, book via www.granddesignslive.com or call the Ticket Hotline on 0844 854 1348. 

Follow the latest Grand Designs Live show news on Twitter @GDLive_UK 

• How To Enter and terms and conditions:
• Simply complete the Rafflecopter widget below to verify your entries
• Entries can be via blog comment, Facebook, Twitter etc
• This competition is open to UK residents only .Please read the rules below .
• Leaving a blog comment is mandatory and failure to do so will void any other entries.
• Closing date - 21th April 2013 6.00 pm
• Competition winners tickets are valid for any one day of the show between the 4^th– 12^th May to Grand Designs Live at Excel London
• Tickets are non transferable – one pair of tickets per winner only.
• Complimentary tickets obtained through this offer may not be duplicated.
• All tickets will be scanned on entry to the show

How Rafflecopter works:

• You will need to complete the mandatory entry first – usually making a blog comment. You can do this by clicking on leave a comment at the bottom of the post and leaving your reply in the comment box. Please note your comment will not show immediately as it needs to be moderated however rest assured it will appear on the site, so carry on with rest of entries.
• Login to Rafflecopter – click to see what the question is. Make a comment answering the question on the blog.
•  Go back to Rafflecopter and click the green button to tell me you have made a comment, this will unlock all the other options. All entries are checked to see that the mandatory question is answered, if its not all bonus entries will become void. 
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Preserved Lemons

Preserved Lemons a lovely ingredient that can be used  to give dishes a tangy citrus flavour , commonly used in  Middle Eastern and Greek style dishes these preserved lemons add a citrus zing to many dishes.

Ingredients:

8 unwaxed lemons washed and dried.
4 tablespoons salt
Juice of two lemons

Method:

1. A large screw top jar that has been sterelised by washing in boiling water and dried in the oven.
2. Cut a cross in the top of each lemon but keep the base intact.
3. Fill the slits made in the  lemons with salt.
4. Tightly pack the salted lemons into the jar and top with more salt between the lemons.
5. Pour over the juice of two lemons into the jar.
6. Screw the lid tightly and leave the jar in a cool dry place for 5-6 weeks.
7. Shake the jar daily to distribute the juices formed by the salt and lemon juice.

8. Lemons are ready to be consumed once they have gone soft and changed from a bright yellow to an almost orange colour.Takes about 5-6 weeks.
To use the lemons wash the access salt off the lemons and use them  to make pickle, add them in salads, marinades and many Middle Easten/ Greek dishes dishes.They will last up to a year once they have been preserved.The preserved lemons can also be eaten as they are or made into Indian pickles.

You may like:
Carrot Pickle
Preserved lemon pickle

Submitting to:
Flavours of Greece Event by simply.food guest hosted by PJ of seduce your tastebuds.
Lets cook Pickles event by simply.food

 

Giveaway Wahl Eco Kettle ~ Review

Every time you use a normal kettle, it is almost certain that you will boil a lot more water than necessary wasting time, energy, and adding to carbon emissions.With the ECO Kettle we can boil as much or as little water that we need. The Wahl ECO Kettle looks like a stylish electric jug kettle in appearance but it has a special feature; an internal reservoir that holds a full capacity of water ready for use, and the ECO control knob allows any quantity; from a single cupful to full capacity  to be released into the separate chamber for boiling. This results in only boiling the amount of water you need and there will be no more wasting of energy boiling surplus water.

Wahl sent me this kettle to review, the kettle has a nice jug like appearance, its light weight with clear marking on the side in milliliters so you know exactly how much water is in the boiling chamber. The lid has a a central control knob that you can lock to boil the complete kettle. A removable filter in the spout is an added feature that enables you to remove it to clean it for scale periodically. The chrome finish gives the kettle a classy look. The kettle also has an auto cut out should you accidently switch the kettle on without water in it. 

My only concern was I found the central locking knob a little flimsy and difficult to twist whilst locking the lid to fully boil the kettle.I  was worried that if I over twisted it it would break off.Also when you refill the kettle and if  the knob on the lid is left in locked position it will not click shut and could cause an accident as the lid would remain partly open and cause a spill.

My rating  for this kettle:

Style 5/5

Function 4/5

Design 4/5

Energy saving 5/5

Total score 18/20

I would definitely recommend this kettle as I love the feature of only boiling the necessary amount of water and saving energy. The ECO kettle has been awarded the prestigious 'Recommended' mark by the Energy Saving Trust .I am not surprised at this as it really is an energy saving kettle.To see how the kettle works in action you can click this video

Thankyou to Wahl for sending me the Eco Kettle to trial. All the opinions and views expressed in this review  are my own.

Wahl have been very generous and they have agreed to send 1 Eco kettle to a simply.food reader as a giveaway prize.

How To Enter:
Competition/Giveaway open to Residents in the UK only.

Simply complete the Rafflecopter widget below to verify your entries

·         Entries can be via blog comment, Facebook, Twitter etc

·         Please read the rules they form the terms and conditions of this Giveaway

·         Closing date – 30th April 2013

How Rafflecopter works:

• You will need to complete the mandatory entry first – usually making a blog comment. You can do this by clicking on leave a comment at the bottom of the post and leaving your reply in the comment box. Please note your comment will not show immediately as it needs to be moderated however rest assured it will appear on the site, so carry on with rest of entries.
• Login to Rafflecopter – click to see what the question is. Make a comment answering the question on the blog.
•  Go back to Rafflecopter and click the green button to tell me you have made a comment, this will unlock all the other options. All entries are checked to see that the mandatory question is answered, if its not all bonus entries will become void. 
• Rafflecopter will tweet, like and follow on your behalf.
• For information on how to find the URL of your tweet click here. 
• For bonus entries you can return to this page and enter the daily bonus entries. 
• If you are still unsure as to how Rafflecopter works please do check out this short video.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Preserved lemon Pickle

Delicious tangy and spicy lemon pickle made with preserved lemons.

Ingredients:

Preserved lemons:

8 small lemons
2 tablespoons salt
Juice of 2 lemons

Spice mixture:

1 teaspoon fenugreek seeds
1 teaspoon mustard seeds
8 red dried chillies
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons sunflower oil
1/4 teaspoon mustard seeds
10 black peppercorns

Method:

1. Wash the lemons and dry them.
2. Slit the lemons but not right to the bottom so that the lemon is in four quarters but bottom in intact.

3.Sprinkle some salt in the center of each lemon and place the lemons in a streriliesd jar.
4. Add any remaining salt to the jar and add the juice of two lemons.
5. Close the lid and leave the jar in a cool dry place.Once a day shake the jar to mix the lemons.
6. After 3-4 weeks the lemon skin will soften and change from the bright  yellow to a dull yellow this indicates lemons are ready for use.


Pickle spice:

7. Dry roast the fenugreek seeds, and mustard seeds for 2-3 minutes and transfer to a grinder.

8. Dry roast the red chilies for 2-3 minutes and transfer them to the grinder.
9. Add 1/4 teaspoon salt and grind this spice mixture to a fine powder.(Do not be tempted to add too much salt as lemons are already salty from being preserved salt.)

To make pickle:

10. Drain the preserved lemons and cut them into quarters.
11. On a tray place some kitchen paper and spread out the lemons to dry out for 1 day
12. The next day cut the lemons into bite sized pieces and place them into a bowl.
13. Add half the spice mixture and reserve the rest for use on another occasion.
14. Add the peppercorns to the lemons
15.Heat oil in a pan , when it is hot add 1/4 teaspoon mustard seeds and wait for them  to splutter.
16.Take the oil off the heat and wait for it to cool slightly.
17. Add the oil to the lemons and mix well.
18.Transfer the pickle to a sterilised jar and store in cool dry place for a day to allow spice flavours to infuse.
19. Pickle is ready to eat next day.

This recipe was adapted from Jayshrees blog Samayalarai. She made the pickle with limes, I have also changed the quantity of the spice mixture slightly and used sunflower oil instead of ginelly oil.

You may like:
Carrot pickle

Submitting to:
Lets cook pickle event by simply.food

Round Up Flavours of United Kingdon

The month of March we were cooking British food for "Flavours of United Kingdom." in the Flavours of series 4. The event was guest hosted by Sukanya of Saffron Streaks. Thankyou to Sukanya for guest hosting this event.
Here is the round up.

The month of April we are once again at PJ'S blog Seduce your taste buds where she is guest hosting Flavours of Greece in the" Flavours of" Series 4 Europe. Do drop by her blog to find out how you can participate.

Round Up ~ Lets Cook for Kids Event

Thankyou to all the participants who sent in all these delicious Kid Friendly dishes.
Lets Cook for Kids Round Up