Exotic coleslaw

Exotic coleslaw
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This is a lovely way to make a plain coleslaw slightly more sexy. This slaw makes a great lunch when paired with some cold chicken. It is a great side dish with grilled fish or chicken. Although you can make this dish fresh, it tastes best if you make the salad 1 day in advance and garnish it before serving.
Servings Prep Time
2-4 people 15 minutes
Servings Prep Time
2-4 people 15 minutes
Exotic coleslaw
Print Recipe
This is a lovely way to make a plain coleslaw slightly more sexy. This slaw makes a great lunch when paired with some cold chicken. It is a great side dish with grilled fish or chicken. Although you can make this dish fresh, it tastes best if you make the salad 1 day in advance and garnish it before serving.
Servings Prep Time
2-4 people 15 minutes
Servings Prep Time
2-4 people 15 minutes
Ingredients
Dressing
Garnish
Servings: people
Instructions
Making the salad
  1. Slice and grate all the veg.
  2. Mix the ingredients of your dressing. Taste and season to taste. Add more lime juice if needed.
  3. Mix the veg and the dressing thoroughly. Ideally, you let the salad stand in your fridge for 24 hours.
Just before serving
  1. Chop the koriander leaves. Mix half of the leaves through the salad.
  2. Place the salad on a large serving dish and sprinkle with the remaining koriander and pomegranate seeds.
Recipe Notes

This makes a great barbeque side dish. Find more barbeque ideas here.

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Bulgur salad

Bulgur salad
Print Recipe
This makes a great lunch dish, I love taking this to work. It is also our family's favorite side dish with a barbecue. Sometimes I like to make a large amount, and eat it for lunch and dinner multiple times in the week. You can serve this salad luke warm or cold.
Servings Prep Time
4 people 20 minutes
Cook Time
20 minutes
Servings Prep Time
4 people 20 minutes
Cook Time
20 minutes
Bulgur salad
Print Recipe
This makes a great lunch dish, I love taking this to work. It is also our family's favorite side dish with a barbecue. Sometimes I like to make a large amount, and eat it for lunch and dinner multiple times in the week. You can serve this salad luke warm or cold.
Servings Prep Time
4 people 20 minutes
Cook Time
20 minutes
Servings Prep Time
4 people 20 minutes
Cook Time
20 minutes
Ingredients
Main ingredients
Dressing
Presentation
Servings: people
Instructions
  1. Prepare the bulgur according to instructions on the packet. Let it cool for at least 20 minutes.
  2. Mix the main ingredients.
  3. Mix the dressing and stir though the salad.
  4. Season to taste with salt, pepper and lemon juice.
  5. Sprinkle with some extra parsley, feta and nigella seeds.
Recipe Notes

Great with grilled vegetables, meats and fish.

Try more barbecue (side) dishes.

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Crunchy kohlrabi slaw

This is coleslaw with a twist. I love preparing a large batch of any type of coleslaw. I bring it to work, serve it as a side dish with some fried chicken (like chicken fingers) or with our barbecues in the summer.

Kohlrabi1

The kohlrabi has both great crunch and lovely subtle cabbage flavor. It pears great with the apple and the fresh dressing. It can be prepared day(s) in advance, making it a practical dish too!

Kohlrabi slaw

  • 2 kohlrabi, sliced in match sticks, or coarsely grated
  • 1 large apple, in match sticks
  • 2 handfuls of walnuts, roughly chopped
  • 1 handful of parsly, sliced in fine slivers
  • 1 handful of mint leaves, sliced in fine slivers
  • Dressing:
    • 1 tbsp mustard
    • 2 tbsp good quality mayo (or even homemade mayo)
    • Juice of 1 lemon
    • 2 tbsp yoghurt

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Home made hummus dip

Humus3This is our families new favorite dip: hummus. We like dunking into hummus with chunks of home made pita breads or freshly sliced veg such as paprika or cauliflower.

Hummus is surprisingly easy to make. All you need is a good blender. Every ingredient you put in is healthy, making it a guilt free dip full of nutrients. Hummus should be nice and smooth.

Dress up your hummus with lots of garnishes, as this is a feast for both your eyes and your taste buds. A large plate of hummus is great as a starter while you get the barbecue going, or when you are serving multiple dips like aioli and tzaziki.

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Homemade hummuschickpeas

  • 220 gr tinned or boiled chickpeas (rinsed and drained)
  • 70 ml olive oil
  • 1 tbsp peanut butter (non chunky)
  • juice of half a lemon
  • 1 garlic clove
  • 1 tbsp good spicy paprika
  • To garnish:
    • drizzle of olive oil
    • juice of half a lemon
    • a few chickpeas
    • chopped flat leaf parsley
    • a dash of paprika
  1. Blend your hummus ingredients to a smooth dip, it should not contain chunks and be soothingly smooth.
  2. Add salt and pepper to taste. If your hummus needs freshening up, add lemon juice.
  3. You can keep this hummus in a jar or container in your fridge for a number of days.
  4. To serve, spread the dip out over a large serving dish and garnish generously.

Corn muffins

CornMuffin2These corn muffins make a great side dish with Mexican food or a barbecue. I first made these when I was looking for a side dish with  a chillli that I could make a day in advance. They are silky and soft. These muffins don’t dry out too quickly. They are great with a generous helping of butter or dipped in a hearty chilli sauce.

Corn muffins (10 muffins)

  • 125 grams of plain flour
  • 75 grams of corn flour
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 20 grams of sugar
  • 175 ml of butter milk (or regular milk)
  • 1 egg
  • 35 grams of butter
  • 1 cup of corn kernels
  • Optional: handful of semolina for the crunchy top
  • Optional, for extra filling:
    • Fried onion rings
    • Slices of jalapeno peppers

Preheat your oven at 200 degrees C.

Mix and combine your dry ingredients. Mix and combine your wet ingredients. Combine all your ingredients.

Divide the batter over the muffin tins. Place the filling in the middle of the muffins. Sprinkle each muffin with some semolina for a crunchy top.

Cornmuffin4

I like to hint at the filling by placing a pepper or onion ring on the top. This prevents my toddler from eating a spicy muffin.

Bake your muffins for 20 minutes or until risen and golden.

These muffins taste great warm but they also keep or freeze very well.

Read about more BBQ favorites here.

4 principles for a tasty salad

A good salad is about balance and contrast. If you keep the following 4  principles in mind, you can make special salads every day of the year.

  1. Don’t combine too many ingredients, the best salads have around 5 main ingredients. This ensures you taste every ingredients shines.
  2. Make a simple dressing that compliments your ingredients. If you insist on using a complex dressing like a ceasar dressing, keep your salad even more simple: using up to 3 ingredients. For more information on ceasar salad read about my dutch ceasar salad here.
  3. Balance your flavors. Make sure you have a sharp/spicy, sweet, salty, sour, savory and bitter component in your ingredients and dressing.
    Sparpness can come from unions, chili or pepper.
    Sweet can come form honey in your dressing or some fruit or sultanas.
    Salty can come from some cheese, bacon,salty nuts or even sea salt.
    Sour can come from sertain lettuce leaves or butter milk in your dressing.
    Savory kan come from nuts, croutons or bacon.
    Bitter notes can come from your choice of leaves, cheese or fruits like grapefruit.
  4. Balance your textures. Make sure you have a variety of textures. Croutons or nuts for some bite, soft cheese or pears, creamy dressing and crunchy lettuce or cucumber.

FestiveLettuce1

The other day I made a tasty well balanced salad using endive leaves, feta cheese , union, tomatoe and bacon with a simple honey mustard dressing. For the honey mustard dressing combine equal quantities of mustard and honey. For a more runny dressing add water of (butter) milk to this mixture.

Tzatziki

My husband loves a good barbeque. But before the meat is ready we like knibble on something. For us, that’s crispy bread and taziki. This yoghurt dip ticks all the boxes for me, both the garlic flavour and the smooth and rich, creamy texture. Normally such a delicious sauce is based on so many fats, like your mayo based  sauce. But a taziki is yoghurt based and by comparison much healthier. This is why I must insist you use full fat greek yoghurt for this, non of that crazy diet stuff. Plus, full fat yoghurt contains more nutrients as well.

Feel free to replace my 2 favorite soft herbs with other options such as chives, dill or parsley.

I know this is hard, but try to let this sauce stand in the fridge for an hour, so the flavours are properly combined.

Just enjoy this sauce with crunchy bread, pita’s, falafel, naan’s, roast meat or with potato chips!

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Tzaziki

  • 1 cucumber
  • 4 tbsp salt
  • full fat greek yoghurt
  • 1 tbsp lemon juice
  • 1 handful of fresh mint
  • 1 handful of fresh koriander
  • 2 cloves of garlic

Grate your cucumber with a course grater. Now we will drain the water out of the cucumber to intensify the flavour. So bear with me and add all the salt to the cucumber. Mix this well in a bowl and leave to stand on one side while you continue with the other ingredients.

Finely chop the mint and coriander. Grate the garlic cloves.

In a large bowl add the Greek yogurt, lemon juice, chopped herbs and garlic. Season with a small amount of salt and pepper.

After 10-30 minutes of steeping rinse your grated cucumber in a collinder. This should clean away all that salt. The cucumber needs to be as dry as possible. I do this by first pushing as much water as possible through the collinder. After this I squeeze the grated cucumber between my hands. Add the dry handfuls of cucumber to the yogurt mix.

Stir your tzaziki thoroughly. Let it stand in the fridge for an hour (or overnight), and salt to taste before serving. This sauce will keep for a couple of days if stored in the fridge, that is, if there is anything left!

GreekStew4

Tzaziki is also great with some oven chips, or as a side dish with a Greek lamb stew.

Fabulous five BBQ recipes!

It’s summertime and we are crazy for barbecues. Here comes my list of favorites!

  1. Mustard chicken. Makes for sweet and succulent morsels of chicken every time! Tastes great with some potato salad and a flower salad!
    Chicken1
  2. Fried sweet potatoes. I found a great recipe on www.theyummylife.com, still have to try it!
  3. I love having a good baked potato. I am the least patient cook in the world. So I pre-cook my potatoes in the microwave. Simply wash your potatoes and prick them all sides with a fork. Cook them in your microwave for 3 minutes, then turn them around, feel if they are soft as this means they’re cooked. If not blast them for another 2 minutes, then check them again. Wrap your potatoes in foil and crisp them up on your barbecue.
  4. Zucchini/courgette or aubergine are great for grilling too. Just slice in 5 mm slices. Sprinkle them with olive oil and thyme. Season to taste and grill on each side.
    aubergine
  5. Grilled asparagus, precook them if the stems are thicker. Just lightly coat them with olive oil. Season them after grilling and dress with a few drops of lemon.
    asperagus

For more great barbecue side dishes:

Barbecue side dish: beetroot carpaccio

Beetroot is a vegetable I had to learn to appreciate. Beetroot carpaccio always does the trick for us and our guests. I make it on a festive and large dish, this recipe serves about 2 people. In these fotographs I used yellow beetroot.Beetroot2

I make this dish very often, so I like to vary the ingredients depending on the contents of my refrigerator. Just discover your own favorite set of ingredients and let me know how it turns out!

Beetroot carpaccio

  • Three boiled beetroots (boil in water for 75 minutes and then peel)
    Use mixed colors of you can.
  • 200 grams white cheese – my favorite is soft goats cheese, but feta cheese works as well. On occasion I have use crumbled Boursin as well.
  •  Generous sprinkling of fresh or dried herbs. I like using mint, basil and/or dill.
  • 2 spring onions finely sliced – although your plain onion would work as well.
  • Honey
  • Olive oil
  • Balsamic vinegar or other sweet vinegar
  • Optional extras:
    • Ribbons of smoked salmon
    • Capers

1. Make fine slices of beetroot and arrange these on your plate.

2. Crumble your cheese on the beetroot. I like a generous cover of cheese.

3. Sprinkle on the herbs and onion. (And optional extras.)

4. Drizzle with honey, vinegar and a generous helping of olive oil.

5. Season with freshly crushed black pepper.

Beetroot1

Tip: This salad tastes great on a piece of fresh bread too.

Simpel starters : Bruschetta

bruchetta

We love eating dinner al fresco. But not every food is equally appropriate for this. This snack makes perfect finger food with a glass of wine in your sunny garden.

Combined with a pasta salad and some veggies it makes a lovely summer meal or a great starter at a barbecue.

You can make the garlic oil by simply finely slicing the garlic and covering it with olive oil. After half an hour the oil will have a lovely garlic flavor. You can keep this oil for a few days.

Rockin Bruschetta (about 12 servings)

  • 1 jar of Rockin Rocket pesto
  • 12 slices of mozzarella
  • Cherry tomatoes in different colors
  • Slices of old bread
  • Garlic olive oil
  • Olive oil
  • Balsamic vinegar

bruchetta1

Brush the bread slices with the garlic oil, then grill or toast them. Season the slices generously with salt and pepper while they cool. I quartered all bread slices to create the right bruschetta size.

Halve the tomatoes, dress them with a drizzle of olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Season the tomatoes and toss to dress them.

Spread the Rockin Rocket pesto on each slice. Layer the mozzerella and a few tomatoes on each slice. Take your bruschetta and enjoy.