Egg-free butter-free choc biscuits

Ingredients

180g all-purpose flour
180g sugar
30g Cocoa powder
25g ground almond
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/3 cup almond milk

Method

Mix all dry ingredients slowly.  Add oil and mix again.  Finally, add almond milk until a soft dough forms.  It will not be as hard as a usual biscuit dough simply because it does not contain any butter.  Not to worry, trust me - it will taste really good!  Use a pint glass to cut the dough into circle shapes and put onto a tray in a pre-heated oven at 190 degrees C for around 20 minutes.  Enjoy while it is warm with a nice Espresso or a well-brewed Iranian tea!

Broad bean surprise (Baghali Ghatogh)

It's a cold Winter's day.  It seems like it will rain all day and I fancy a warm meal to eat with a chunky piece of bread!  Such days call out for pulses.  This is a traditional, northern Iranian dish which my aunt perfected and which she taught me last time she was in Nottingham.  It's quite simple, and doesn't need many ingredients... and here's the recipe.

Ingredients
2 cups broad beans (fresh or dried)
2 tablespoons Dill (fresh or dried)
1 tablespoon fresh parsley
3 garlic cloves
2 medium eggs
2 cups water
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
Salt & pepper

Method

Chop the garlic finely and fry in a pan.  Add the broad beans and fry for 5-7 minutes then add the chopped parsley, turmeric, pepper and dill.  Fry for a few minutes. Add the water and reduce down by half.  Add eggs without stirring and allow to cook before mixing in.

Poached egg salad

It's Sunday and I had a very heavy day yesterday with steak dinner and drinks and etc, so today I decided its going to be salad, but as it is a Sunday you want to make some effort for your meal. Here is the recipe for what I have made, poached egg salad.
Ingredients:
For the dressing:
Balsamic vinegar: 2 table spoon
English mustard: 1 tea spoon
Mayonnaise: 1 tea spoon
Salt& pepper

For the salad:
Cucumber:1/2
Yellow pepper: 1/2
Celery: 1 stem
Lettuce: 3 leaves
Egg:2 poached

Mix the dressing ingredients and pour it at the bottom of the plate you are serving the salad in. Add the lettuce, for extra oomf grate the cucumbet, pepper and celery and pile them in the middle, put the poached egg on top of them, add some fresh chopped mint to garnish and dig in!

Plum khoresh

This is my all time favourite and my mom's is the best, so why not sharing the joy. Here is the recipe, it is for 2-3 people.
Lamb(diced): 300 grams
Dried plum: 200 grams
Onion: 1 medium
Tomato puree: 1 Table spoon
Sugar:100 grams
Cinnamon:2 tea spoon
Turmeric, salt and pepper
Veg oil: 1-2 Table spoon
Water( boiled): 1 cup
Dice the onion and fry it in some veg oil, add turmeric and fry it for 30 seconds with the onion, add the lamb and let it brown. Add the tomato puree , dried plums, cinnamon, salt pepper and fry for a couple of minutes, finally add the sugar to the mixture. Add the boiled water until it covers the ingredients. Put the lid on and let the heat do its magic for around an hour until the lamb is soft and tender. Serve with fluffy rice with a glass of cold ice tea.

Chicken pie with almond, pear preserve and saffron

I have never made pie crust, the idea of 1/2 cup butter was never very encouraging. But I found this butter less pie dough recipe and also had some cooked chicken around, so thought why not give it a try. I have also made it a bit differntly so that it has an Iranian twist on it. So here is the recipe, this makes two individual pies.

For the pie crust:
Flour:1&1/2 cup
Almond (ground):2 table spoon
Sugar:2 tea spoon
Salt: 1tea spoon
Veg oil: 1/2 cup
Saffron:1/4 tea spoon
Water:1/3 cup
Milk:2 tea spoon

For inside of the pie
Chicken(cooked & shredded):1 cup
Pear preserve:2 table spoon

Add the flour, salt, sugar, ground almond and saffron, mix all the dry ingredients. Slowly add the oil and work the dough, add the milk and water and work it until it looks right. Thin the dough and lay it in the oven proof indivual pie pan. Add the chicken and put one table spoon of the pear preserve on the top and cover with another layer of pie crust. Put in a pre- heated oven (190 degrees) for around 25 minutes unril golden. Serve with fresh green salad.

Olive meze pizza

I have bought olive meze from a shop in Nottingham and it was too good, I thought I had to share and even more make a greco-roman feast, an olive meze pizza. Here is the recipe:

Lamb: 4-5 pieces
Olive meze: 1/2 jar
Cheddar:150 gr
Pizza dough

I made the pizza dough by mixing normal flour, olive oil, salt, baking powder and water. Cook the lamb and shred it.
On a pizza dough spread a good amount of olive meze and then add the shredded lamb and cover with good old cheddar. Put it in an oven for 25-30 minutes until golden and by then the house smells heavenly. I hope you like it as much as I did.

Leek & onion spaghetti

It has been a very long time since my last post, but the schools are open, the weather is cool and it is time to cook. What better than some comfort food, spaghetti. Here is the recipe:
Onion: 1 medium
Leek: 3 stems
Milk:1/2 cup
Soft cheese: 1 table spoon
Spaghetti: 100 g
Veg oil: 1 table spoon
Salt and pepper
Water: 4 cups

Boil the water and add spaghetti, salt and some oil, cook it until soft and then drain the spaghetti.
Chop the leeks and the onion, fry them in a pan with a little veg oil, when slightly golden, add the milk and the soft cheese, let it cool for 3-4 minutes and add the cooked spaghetti to the mixture, the only thing left is to enjoy!