Sweet potato, baby spinach and grain salad

Got a potluck BBQ on the weekend and you’re down to bring a salad but can’t think of one that’s actually a crowdpleaser and won’t get upstaged by the BBQ’d goods? Try this one. It’s easy and quick to throw together, is reasonably healthy and tastes delish. Remember to wait to dress the salad right before serving – no one likes soggy spinach leaves.

Salad ingredients

• 1 large bag of baby spinach (about 400-500g), washed and checked to make sure there are no wilted / sad looking leaves
• 1 large sweet potato, cut into small 2cm cubes
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tin lentils, preferably the low / no added salt kind
• 1 handful mint leaves, roughly chopped
• 1 handful toasted pine nuts
• 1 handful pepitas
• 1 cup quinoa (any kind – red / white / black)

Dressing

• 1 tbsp manuka honey
• 1 tsp paprika
• 2 tbsp olive oil (preferably extra virgin)
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Juice from 1/2 a lemon
• 1 tsp mustard (I like to use hot English mustard)

Method

• Preheat oven to 200 degrees Celsius.
• Rinse the quinoa in cold water, and boil about double the amount of water. Place over a medium heat and bring to the boil. Reduce to a simmer for 10 to 15 minutes, or until tender and the liquid is absorbed. Once the liquid is absorbed, turn off the heart leave the lid on for about 5-10 minutes.
• While the quinoa is boiling, toss sweet potato cubes in olive oil in an oven tray and then place in oven to bake. Because the pieces are quite small, they shouldn’t take very long to cook through – approximately 15-20 minutes should do the trick. Once cooked, remove from oven and set aside to cool.
• You should now have all your cooked elements set aside to cool slightly.
• Add all dressing ingredients into a bowl and mix thoroughly. You could alternatively add all ingredients to a jar, close jar with lid and shake to mix the dressing.
• Add all remaining salad ingredients into a large mixing bowl. Add in the cooked quinoa and sweet potato and mix thoroughly. Dress the salad right before serving.

 

Chicken tikka masala galettes

Ever wonder what to do with leftover curry? Two words – savoury galettes. Imagine your favourite curry encased in flaky, buttery, spiced pastry goodness. Sounds almost too good to be true.

Don’t be intimidated by its name, galettes are easy-peasy to make. Galettes are basically free-form tarts. They’re also really great if you’re gluten intolerant, or have gluten intolerant dinner guests – all you need to do is substitute the plain flour with a gluten free flour (like coconut flour or almond meal) and curry mixture, and you’re good to go!

I’ve added turmeric to the pastry here because it adds a real kick of spice. You could substitute with powdered cumin or coriander, or even some garam masala instead.

Ingredients

• 250g x leftover chicken tikka masala curry (you can use any leftover curry as long as it’s not too runny in consistency – for instance, eggplant and potato curry also works a treat)
• 1/2 cup rice flour
• 1/2 cup all purpose plain flour, sifted
• 1 x teaspoon baking powder
• 1 x teaspoon turmeric powder
• 100g x unsalted butter, cubed
• 3-4 tablespoons of cold water
• 1 x tablespoon milk, for glazing
• Pinch of salt
• Approximately 10 curry leaves, deep fried and crushed

Method

• Combine the rice flour, plain flour, turmeric powder, baking powder and salt in a large mixing bowl.
• Add the butter to the mixing bowl, and with your fingers, gently rub the dry ingredients and butter together until the mixture starts resembling clumps of sand. You should still be able to see streaks of butter in your mixture. Don’t be tempted to over-work the mixture, as the streaks of butter are what give the pastry its flaky layers.
• Then, add cold water to the mixture, one tablespoon at a time and combine the mixture with your hands until the pastry starts coming together.
• Form the pastry into one large ball and turn on a cold, flat surface and knead gently a few times before re-forming the pastry into a ball and wrapping into plastic wrap and refrigerating for 30 minutes to rest. Now for the filling.
• In a bowl, using forks (or your fingers), shred the chicken into small chunks and remove any bones in the curry. Keep the curry mixture cool, so it won’t melt the pastry before baking.
• Once the pastry has rested, divide the pastry into four portions and roll out to about 1/8 inch thick round-ish pieces about 4-5 inches in diameter, and transfer to a lined baking tray.
• Spoon the curry mixture into the middle of each pastry round, making sure to keep a one inch border of pastry around the filling. This will make it easier to fold the edges of the galette to encase the filling.
• Carefully fold the edges of the pastry inwards in small, overlapping folds until your galettes are formed (see picture below).

• Brush each galette generously with milk and bake at 200 degrees Celsius for 30 minutes.
• You can even makes these galettes ahead of time, and place in fridge until you’re ready to bake them.
• Sprinkle the crushed curry leaves on the top of each galette, and serve with a dollop of yoghurt.

This galette pastry recipe is super versatile. If you’re not going with a curry filling, leave out the turmeric, and try some of these other savoury galette fillings instead:

• Sliced potato, leek and lemon thyme – arrange the sliced potato and leek on pastry rounds and top with a slice of camembert / brie / blue cheese and lemon thyme.
• Figs, walnuts and caramelised onions – spoon the caramelised onions on pastry rounds, and top with chopped figs and walnuts.
• Tomato, mozzarella and basil – arrange slices of tomato and mozzarella, and basil leaves on pastry rounds, and top with cracked black pepper and a drizzle of olive oil.
• Leftover roast chicken and walnuts – arrange shredded pieces of roast chicken and walnuts on pastry rounds, and top with one tablespoon of leftover gravy.