Frugal Feasts 1

Butternut Squash and Cashew Biryani

This is the first of our budget busting meals for January coming in just under £5 for 4 people excluding dry spices and garlic, it’s hearty enough to feed the family or if piled onto a pretty serving dish, special enough to serve for friends. 

It is no accident that this meal is meat-free. I’ve overdone the meat over the festive period and while I feel no need to detox completely, my body is crying out for something more gentle on the digestive system. The textural contrast between the nuts and the roasted butternut squash provide a delightfully filling and healthy dish whilst the gentle spicing makes this suitable for all the family.

I’m using the slow cooker for this. It means a little preparation beforehand but once the onions, spices and squash are sorted just place all the ingredients into the pot and forget about it until dinner. You can of course cook this in the oven in a large casserole dish with a lid.

Ingredients

1/2 large butternut squash, peeled and chopped into large chunks
2 large onions, finely sliced
3 cloves garlic, grated
2.5cm fresh ginger, grated  
225g basmati rice
Seeds from 5 crushed cardamon
2 kashmiri chillies
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp coriander
5 cloves
Small cinnamon stick
1 litre vegetable stock of your choice10 peppercorns
1/2 tsp tumeric
100g cashew nuts (unsalted)
Salt and pepper

Spices Required for this dish

Method

• Place chopped butternut squash onto a baking tray, drizzle with vegetable oil and season with salt and pepper. Roast in a hot oven 180 degrees for about 20 minutes until softened and nicely toasted on the edges. Remove from the heat.
• Grind the dry spices in a spice grinder or with a pestle and mortar.
• Heat 1 tbsp vegetable oil in a frying pan, fry off onions on a medium heat until crispy and golden, add the  ground spices and garlic and ginger. Fry for 1 minute to release the flavour. Make up 1 litre of stock and add this to the onion mixture. Add the sultanas and simmer for 5 minutes until the sultanas have swollen slightly. Check seasoning at this point as seasoning after will disturb the layers. Add salt and pepper if needed.
• Pour 2 ladles of the stock and onion mix into the slow cooker pot. Add a thin layer of rice, followed by half the butternut squash. Repeat, finally adding remaining stock mixture carefully.
• Place lid on slow cooker and place on a low setting. If cooking in a conventional oven, add layers as above to a large casserole dish with a lid. Heat oven to 150 degrees, check the rice after 1 hour. Once the stock has fully evaporated the rice should be fluffy and perfectly cooked.
• The slow cooker will take approximately 2 hours. Just before serving scatter with unsalted cashews and some coriander if you wish.

Costings are approximate

1/2 butternut squash £0.75
275g basmati rice £0.85
Vegetable stock pots £0.60
100g cashew nuts £1.20
40g sultanas £0.15
2 onions £0.40
2.5cm piece ginger £0.20

Skatnetti Omelette..

A delicious alternative to a basic omelette kindly  submitted by Matt, a lovely supper dish that I can't wait to try, it may even be tonight's dinner if I can get hold of the ricotta.
I'll add my comments when I've made the dish but I can't see what's not to like. Now off to buy some cheese...

Ingredients:
900g or 2lb small potatoes.
1 tbsp olive oil.
1 large onion.
2 garlic cloves.
6 or so sun dried or vine tomatoes cut into small strips.
1x 400g artichoke hearts, drained and halved (definitely optional!)
250g/9 oz ricotta cheese.
4 large beaten eggs.
2 tbsp milk.
50g parmesan cheese.
3 tbsp chopped thyme.
Step 1. Peel potatoes and cut into thin slices, then place in a bowl of cold water to prevent turning brown.
2. Bring large pan of water to the boil + add potato slices and simmer for 5-6 mins until tender.
3. heat oil in large pan or skillet. Add chopped onion and garlic to pan and cook stirring every now and then for max 3-5 mins.
4. Add sun-dried (or alternative) tomatoes and cook for further 2 mins.
5. Place potatoes at the bottom of a deep, ovenproof dish. Top with layer of onion mix, (artichokes) and ricotta. Then repeat layers in same order ending with a potato top.
6. Beat eggs and milk + half of the parmesan, add thyme + salt + pepper to taste and pour over the potatoes.
7. Top it off with the rest of the parmesan and bake in a pre-heated oven for 20-25 mins at 190 degrees C or until golden brown. 
Serve and then get full up!!!

By Matt Ling... 

I promised I'd make it, wow it was tasty but I had to make it difficult for myself. Despite visiting 3 supermarkets I failed to get hold of ricotta. What does one do at times of culinary crisis, I turned to the internet and made my own. 

Really simple too, milk, salt and lemon juice. That's it, oh okay you do need a thermometer but I'd made this in 20 minutes, it was very mild but as it was being used in cooking it worked perfectly.

Matt, here's my finished dish, loved the layered potato and I did add some pancetta as you suggested.

Sweet Potato and Pepper Enchiladas

This is a favourite veggie dish of mine and when I served this at a Tex-Mex night recently, it went down a storm with the vegetarians and meat eaters alike. I generally make a large amount of the enchilada sauce, it can be used as a base for pasta dishes and is handy to keep in the freezer. Once again, this is quite spicy so reduce the amount of chilli to your own taste.


Serves 4

6 corn tortillas
2 large sweet potatoes (about 400g when peeled and chopped)
2 red and 1 yellow pepper
2 large onions, 1 diced, 1 chopped into half moons
1 bay leaf
2 cloves garlic
2 birds eye chillies
Handful chopped coriander
Salt and pepper
50g goats cheese
100ml red wine
1 tin tomatoes
1 tbsp tomato puree
Dried oregano
Grated cheddar to serve

First make the sauce;

• Fry onion, garlic, bay leaf and 1 birds eye chilli until the onion is softened and slightly golden.
• Chop 1 red pepper into small chunks and add to the onion mixture, cook for further few minutes until pepper begins to soften. Do not worry about chopping too finely as sauce will be blended when finished.
• Add 100ml red wine, 1 tin tomatoes and 1 tbsp tomato puree, season to taste and allow to simmer for 5 minutes. Add tsp of honey or sugar if necessary. Set aside to cool.

For the filling;

• Meanwhile boil sweet potatoes until cooked, drain, mash until smooth with a little butter.
• Fry remaining onion, chopped chilli, red and yellow peppers (cut into strips) in a little olive oil until softened, add 1 tsp dried oregano and cook gently for 2 minutes. Add to mashed sweet potato and season well. Add coriander and leave to cool.
• Remove the bay leaf from the enchilada sauce and blend well.
• Once cooled, add chunks of goats cheese to the sweet potato mixture. Spoon some of the mixture down the centre of each tortilla and roll, placing each stuffed tortilla into a baking dish.
• Top with the enchilada sauce and grated cheese, bake in a preheated 180c oven for 20 minutes or until cheese is bubbling and molten and serve.