Cooking under pressure

Cooking and feeding a child can be even more taxing when you are displaced, like us. We have been in temporary accommodation while our new house is finished. For the last three weeks I have had a two-burner hotplate on a tiny kitchen counter to cook. I have had to be resilient and find recipes that would be quick to make, healthy and tasty. We have tried to eat out whenever the thought of being, let alone cooking in a cramped apartment has got the better of us.

On a Monday night we decided to try The Blue Breeze Inn, the new venture of Mark Wahlbank and Che Barrington of Moo Chow Chow. We went as a big group of ten and were seated on a large round private table. We had the banquet menu to try a good selection of everything on offer. Hospobaby loved the Bang Bang chicken that had smoked bacon that she loves. Zoya is partial to dumplings so the pork and prawn Shumai and prawn Har Gau were her favourites. After having seven dishes and sides each of us found it terribly hard to reach the door. We would definitely take Hospobaby back there.

I have had to contend with having a two year old on my hands 24/7, with all our moving we have had to pull Hospobaby out of daycare. In order to preserve my sanity as well as Zoya’s we have enrolled in activities to keep us busy. After our first Jumping Beans session we headed to the Lucky Taco truck in Ponsonby.

I am crazy for Mexican food and her dad Sid loves Asian cuisine, hence it comes as no surprise that whenever you ask Zoya what she would like for her next meal she will reply with either “tacos” or “dumplings”. Hospobaby was so excited to have her wish come true. I ordered the pulled pork taco for Zoya and a chipotle prawn one for me. We got Horchata, a traditional milky drink. We waited by the back of the truck so Hospobaby could see her tacos being made. She couldn’t understand why the tacos were being made in a truck. She kept calling the Lucky taco truck, a fire truck so loudly, that she managed to distract Otis Frizzell who was busy dishing out tacos at a hundred an hour. Zoya loved her pulled pork taco and made it disappear in no time. I had to fend her off my spicy prawn taco for the risk to setting her mouth on fire. The sweet Horchata was the perfect finish to our tacos. Hospobaby’s satiated smile made me feel like a champion mom.

It is hard feeling like champion when you cant get a meal on the table because you are running out of time or in my case are cooking in an alien and limited kitchenette. This quesadilla recipe that I have adapted from Nigella Lawson’s, Nigella Express has saved me on a couple of nights. It takes minimal kitchen equipment and is ready in literally 5 minutes. Some times cooking is not hard as we think it is…

Ingredients

30g thinly sliced cured ham (I use parma ham or prosciutto)

3- 4 slices of pickled green jalapeno chilli peppers cut up finely

50 g grated cheese

100 g queso fresco or goat’s cheese

1 spring onion finely sliced

small bunch of coriander

olive oil

Soft flour tortillas

Shop bought salsa

Method

Heat a pan and drizzle with olive oil.

Place some ham on the tortilla and then on one half pile up all the ingredients (leave out the jalapenos for the little people)

Fold the tortilla into half and grill in the pan

Take off the heat once light brown in colour and slice into 3 wedges

Serve with salsa or ketchup for the hungry little mouths.

Hospobaby's 2nd birthday

Hospobaby’s second birthday fell on a Tuesday this year so we decided to give her a weekend birthday bash. Instead of a grand party we thought we would buy her a bike and spend as much time with her as we could, doing things that she enjoys.

We started on Saturday evening with staff dinner at our restaurant Sidart followed by cake pops covered in hundreds and thousands from Whoopie pie. Sunday morning we grabbed a quick bite at Toru café in Ponsonby Central. Hospobaby got her favourite gingerbread man and stole crinkle chips from each of our plates. She tucked into my soft shell crab sandwich and her dad’s Serrano ham and truffle toastie.

Tummies full we headed off to Butterfly creek. Hospobaby fed the Billy goat and alpacas, got scared of the crocs and was in awe of the butterflies. On our way home we made a stop at the supermarket. One of Hospobaby’s presents was to help her dad cook whatever she liked for dinner. In theory this sounded like a great idea at the time, which was much harder to execute. Zoya couldn’t move past blueberries and corn in the produce section. She had a tough time deciding between making pasta or tacos. We settled on the pasta, we had basil growing in the vege garden to make a pesto sauce.

At 5 pm the father and daughter chefs donned their aprons and set to work. Hospobaby counted the garlic cloves and put them in the liquidizer, along with the basil and pinenuts. She learnt how to use a microplane to grate the Parmesan. She helped her dad put the orecchiette into the boiling water.

Corn kernels kept disappearing from the chopping board and into Hospobaby’s mouth. Sid showed her how to use a whisk and beat the eggs for our mini pavlovas, they whipped cream together and added passionfruit. Finally she got to decorate the mini pavlovas with blueberries, feijoas and strawberry ice cream.

As I sat across the table enjoying the beautiful meal cooked by my two beloved chefs, I couldn’t help but feel proud of Zoya as she kept basking in the glory of the fact that she had helped make this meal.  A weekend with the family doing what we love best, I wonder how many more birthdays we can get away with preserving the happiness and innocence and celebrating just being together.

Hospobaby’s birthday Orecchiette pesto pasta- Serves 4

For the pasta

2 corns on the cob

350 gms Orecchiette pasta (dry shell)

2 chicken thighs (boneless and skinless)

olive oil

For the pesto

100gms pinenuts

bunch of basil

5 cloves garlic

olive oil

50g grated Grana Padano parmesan cheese

Salt to taste

Boil the orecchiette as per packet instructions and drain. Cut the chicken thighs into 1 cm pieces and sauté in a pan with some olive oil. Using a knife slice the kernels off the cob and add into the pan to sauté. Put all the ingredients for the pesto into a liquidizer and add olive oil as required till it blends into a smooth paste. Once the chicken is cooked add the pasta to the pan and the pesto. Toss quickly and turn the flame off, as further cooking will split the pesto. Serve with grated Parmesan.

Note

Orecchiette is easily found in gourmet shops like Farro fresh

Hospobaby's sweet adventure

Oh I know we are saying a very reluctant goodbye to summer, but I couldn’t, just couldn’t keep Hospobaby from trying the decadent gelatos on a stick at Milse in Britomart.

On a previous visit to Ortolana and Milse without our little foodie both Sid and I missed Zoya so terribly we had to repeat the experience with her again.

So on Anzac day we went to Ortolana for brunch. Everything tastes fresh and beautiful at Ortolana, this is perhaps the one restaurant that I enjoy the “garden to table” experience. We ordered the pork Piadina, an unleavened flatbread stuffed with soft cheese, sliced air-dried pork and mustard leaves.

Hospobaby devoured half of the Piadina by herself, though she picked the mustard leaves out. As she was merrily drinking her orange juice, we ordered our mains. 

Sid ordered the chicken that was crumbed in Parmesan and I ordered the beetroot lasagnotte that came with hazelnuts. Hospobaby had a few bites from each of us; she favoured her dad’s dish, which she believed was chicken nuggets. Hospobaby loved catching the last dregs of sunshine in Ortolana’s courtyard looking at patron’s dogs.

After our meal at Ortolana we swung around to the back and caught chef Brian Campbell at work in his temple of desserts. Milse makes me think I am in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. I want to eat everything and I am not even the child in the room. Hospobaby chose the chocolate gelato, while having tried the salted caramel on our last visit Sid and I settled on a chocolate dessert instead. Zoya refused to share her dessert with us and I completely empathize, I had to share half of my square chocolate dessert topped with a chocolate truffle that hid under it the most sensational salted caramel with Sid. Girls should never have to share chocolate with anyone, ever.

As we started to pack up to move to our brand new house we got informed that the compliance certificate was still about 2 weeks away, as a result we are now living in a serviced apartment in the city. Oscar the dog is in the kennel. I cant go back to the student flat days and so refuse to cook in a tiny kitchenette. After a quick and delicious meal at Mexico we decided to treat ourselves at Milse again this time for dessert. Sid ordered apple, salted caramel, feijoa and thyme, I ordered Gianduja (chocolate) banana and hazelnut. As we waited for our deserts to be made, hospobaby made the staff run around. She got a mint and chocolate macaroon to start, followed by another trip to the display that yielded a chocolate lavender truffle. Finally she persuaded the waitress to give her an orange and passion fruit gelato on a stick. We have decided to pretend that we are on holiday rather than wallowing in self-pity about being homeless; Milse made us all forget our sorrows and carried us into the land of sweet sweet dreams.

Experimenting with spices

How do you get a kid to eat spicy food? I often get asked this question. Perhaps it’s because we are Indian. The answer is to define what is spicy food. Chilli powder is not the only spice used in Indian food. We have been introducing hospo baby to spices since she was a baby. We would put cinnamon in her apple puree, cardamom in her pumpkin mash. Turmeric is a natural antiseptic, a pinch added to her milk bottle helps heal any infections.

I don’t cook as much Indian food as I would like at home, being married to a chef means eating dinner together at odd hours, usually after midnight. Eating a curry is just not appetizing or easy to digest that late at night. We reserve satiating our craving for curry to the weekends. Usually we order takeaways from Little India but when we found Cinnamon room in Parnell we quit the comforts of home to enjoy Indian food there, because it is as close as it can come to actually eating in India. They have “fulkas” on the menu, soft indian bread made out of unleavened flour, this is hospo baby’s favourite, she dips it into her lamb saagwala quite happily. 

Last weekend we tried iVillage, Cinnamon room’s sister restaurant in the newly refurbished Victoria Park. It did not disappoint either, the curries reflected depth of flavours and perfectly balanced spices. The owners found out that it was hospobaby’s birthday recently and made “kheer” rice pudding for her and a chocolate naan bread topped with 100’s and 1000’s. Sid and I have tried numerous cowboy Indian places, ones with creamy and sweet butter chicken or others who promise to deliver “Indian street food Tapas” and fail miserably.

I am now over cautious about spending money trying new Indian restaurants and stick to the tried and tested.

Curries are not the only form of Indian food, you can add Indian spices to your everyday meals. Rub some steak with curry powder and a dash of garam masala sear and serve with mint yogurt. Zoya loves chicken tikka salad, I rub some Patak’s chicken tikka paste, salt and pepper over chicken breasts and cook it in a pan, slice it and serve it with yogurt and mango chutney. I add baby spinach and carrots for us to make it a carb free meal. Hospo baby also loves peas, this maybe my mother’s doing. She has passed on this simple recipe for peas and yogurt, which I hope you will try no matter what your age.

Hospobaby’s favourite Indian-spiced yogurt and peas.

1 cup of fresh/frozen peas

1 teaspoon of cumin seeds

1 teaspoon of coriander seeds

1 teaspoon chilli powder

½ teaspoon turmeric powder

1-teaspoon coriander powder

1 clove of garlic

½ an onion finely chopped

½ cup of unsweetened plain yogurt

Salt to taste

1.     Heat a teaspoon of oil in a pan and add the cumin and coriander seeds. Let them crackle.

2.     Crush the garlic and add it to the pan with the chopped onions

3.     Now add all the spices and salt and sauté for 2 minutes, if the spices start to stick to the pan add a bit of water to loosen it up.

4.     Add the peas and mix everything together. Sauté for another 3-4 minutes until the peas soften.

5.     Take the pan of the heat. Beat the yogurt and add it to the pan. If you add the yogurt while the pan is on the hob it will split. The yogurt should form a sauce for the peas, you can add as much as you like to adjust the intensity of the spices. Serve immediately with basmati rice or rotis.

Hospobaby tip: try wholemeal frozen Kawan roti’s available at your local New World or at any Indian grocers; it is a much healthier alternative to naan breads.