What's Your Poison

You'll have gathered by now that when I'm in Spain I eat very well......too much probably, nevertheless, I eat fresh ingredients on a daily basis. Back home in England it's so easy to go off track, supermarkets are swamped with convenience food, take for example onion bhaji, you can buy a pack of ready made bhajis for less than a couple of quid, stick them in the oven and 10 minutes later they're done! The fact that they are not authentic, are full of preservatives and are like eating a bathroom sponge becomes irrelevant somehow. We divert our attention away from the fact we're eating rubbish because convenience is paramount.

An onion bhaji cooked from scratch bears no resemblance to those stodgy old things you'll find hanging about on supermarket shelves. Ironically nothing could be easier than mixing a few onions with a bit of flour and water and frying the mix for a few minutes, I'll go one further and say if you put some dried chick peas in a food processor or coffee grinder within seconds you'll have your own gram flour. Suddenly a couple of quid seems rather expensive for six bhajis! Dried chickpeas are cheap, fresh onions are for most people a cupboard staple add a bit of curry powder and you're laughing, or in my case salivating.

My aforementioned neighbour Tony rustled up a plate of hot crispy bhajis, to accompany them he made some delicious koftas. The name kofte comes from the Persian word grind, basically koftas can be made from any minced ingredients be it lamb, beef, potato or even cheese. Lamb stands up better to the spices than beef although it's popular to combine both meats. Talking of spices, where to start? You can combine as many or as little as you personally prefer, some of the more popular choices are: cumin, ginger, chilli, fennel, paprika and harissa paste. Personally I find onion is a must although it has to be grated and the excess liquid squeezed out. Mint is the perfect pairing for lamb, as is peppery parsley, a combination of any of the spices mentioned (depending on what you have in your cupboard) some minced garlic and fresh chilli make for delicious koftas. Alternatively you could opt for sweet spices: cinnamon, allspice or nutmeg. As with the bhajis, these koftas are easy to make and are a great value recipe, another great option for the barbecue!

Onion bhajis

Recipe
1 large onion, thinly sliced
1 garlic clove, minced
1 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon curry powder
5 tablespoons gram flour
Water and oil
Place onion slices in bowl, add a pinch of salt, garlic, turmeric and curry powder, mix well
Add the gram flour and mix adding a little water at a time until a soft dough forms

Heat oil over a high heat, drop mixture in by the tablespoon and fry until golden

Lamb koftas

Recipe
400g lamb mince
Zest of 1 lemon
1 grated onion
Finely chopped mint and parsley or coriander
And your choice of spices, Tony used a teaspoon of cumin, chilli powder, mustard seeds, cinnamon and some grated ginger

Place all ingredients in a bowl and combine well

With damp hands divide into equal portions, shape the mixture into cigar shapes and chill for at least 1 hour

Heat a pan with ample oil, cook kebabs until golden on all sides

Drain koftas on some paper towels and serve immediately

A top tip, Tony mixed a tub of Greek yoghurt with a teaspoon of shop bought mint sauce, the perfect accompaniment!

'The food you eat can be either the safest and most powerful form of medicine or the slowest form of poison'
-Ann Wigmore

Love Donna xxxxxx