Mum's Home Cooking

So, here I am again relaxing whilst the grandparents take over bedtime duties. Yes, I have had a nice day off today and have had the luxury of being fed also. We arrived this morning armed with yesterday's left over soup, spinach pie and tarts for lunch which were all finished off. We then braved the cold to work up a bit of an appetite in the park before the feast Mum prepared. We had a traditional Anglo-Indian dish of ball curry (meatball, nothing weird going on here!) with yellow rice, salad and soda cakes (a type of flat bread made with yogurt). The soda bread is really worth a go, it is an old, highly coveted family recipe so this is indeed a rarity, it is really worth having a go at these, they are amazing.  The girls had the meatballs with a tomato sauce and penne although I must say P really tucked into the curry and rice even though it was 'spiky'! 

Soda Cakes:
These recipes are age old so measurements are guessed, if you want to have a go you may need to play around a bit, it is not one to try when you are in a rush but once you have made it, it is a pretty quick one. Here goes, in a large mixing bowl use around two mugs of flour, 2 level tsp bicarbonate of soda, salt to taste and natural/ Greek yogurt at room temperature. Add as much yogurt as it takes to make the mixture into a soft pliable dough. Leave this dough to stand for around 2-3 hours at room temperature.

These melt in the mouth accompaniments need to be eaten as soon as they are cooked, so when you are ready to eat roll into a small ball in your hand (use a little flour to prevent sticking), then sprinkle some flour onto a surface and roll out into a disc around 1/2 centimetre thick. Meanwhile heat oil in a frying pan, enough to deep fry, until very hot (little ones were banned from the kitchen at this point, too scary to think about). Lay one of the discs in and fry quickly until golden and starting to puff, turn over until that side looks golden and puffed to then place on kitchen paper to soak any extra oil. Serve immediately and watched them go! This is a firm favourite in our family, they are not greasy at all but light, fluffy and soft and great to mop up those curry juices with.

The curry was a two day job and very involved, Mum has her feet up now so I won't start grilling her on ancient recipes but I am sure this one will crop up again.

The girls had pasta meatballs which were very quick and easy:

Meatballs:

Use good quality steak mince and roll into balls. You can add more to these depending on what you have in the cupboard and how adventurous you are feeling. Herbs, dried or fresh always add great flavour and some add breadcrumbs (I keep a supply of these in the freezer, just blitz up and good quality bread you have that has gone a little dry and pop in a freezer bag, can be used from frozen). You can also add a beaten egg if you are having trouble keeping the balls held together. I always like to brown my meatballs in a little oil, no anaemic looking food round here, it also helps to seal in the flavour. Then set aside ready to drop into the sauce to cook later.

Tomato Sauce:

Saute the onions and garlic slowly over a low heat. If there are no herbs in the meatballs add some basil or oregano now. Add a tin of chopped tomatoes (the ones with herbs in can add some nice flavour too). And there you have it a home made pasta sauce the kids will love with none of the nasties some of the jars can contain. If a little acidic add a little sugar to counter. 

Cooking with Kids:

P has really enjoyed making her own meatballs before although you have to be absolutely scrupulous over hygiene, not only the hands washed before cooking but be careful if breaking eggs and handling raw meat as both can be dangerous if ingested. Despite this P is now a bit of an expert as she would put it Peppa Pig style!

Have a great weekend and let me know if you give it a go!