Curried Coconut Quinoa with Tofu and Green Beans

This is my Friday Challenge own recipe using pretty much everything I have learnt over the last few weeks. I focused on using the curry leaf powder because this is something I had no experience with. It has quite a strong flavour so I toned it down with some coconut, which also made the quinoa lovely and creamy.

I also loved the technique used in Simon Rimmer’s recipe for ‘Plantain and Mango Curry‘ where he added turmeric to the water when cooking the plantain which turned them bright yellow. I decided to use this technique when cooking my quinoa and it worked beautifully. Adding turmeric doesn’t add much to the flavour but it does add to the colour! Perfect when your after quite a subtle flavour.

And finally the last thing I have used from my past posts is Jamie Oliver’s Korma Curry Paste. I chose the korma curry paste because I had added coconut to the quinoa and so this would create a lovely mild sauce which will compliment the spiced quinoa and fresh green beans.

I think one thing I might possibly change if I was to make this again, is that it’s a very yellow dish! I like a variety of colours on my plate and so maybe some reds and stronger greens by adding fresh chillies and spinach could make this look better!

Serves 4

150g (1 cup) Quinoa
500ml Water
1 tspn Ground Turmeric
2 tspn Curry Leaf Powder
2 tblspn desiccated Coconut or chopped Coconut flakes
Large Bunch Coriander, chopped
300ml Coconut milk (100ml for quinoa and 200ml for curry sauce)
1 tspn Mustard Seeds
1 tablespn or 1 portion of korma curry paste
4 thick slices of tofu, firm or pressed
Large handful green beans (enough for 4)

In a Colander rinse the quinoa really well then place in a saucepan with the water and turmeric, stir then put a lid on. Heat on a medium heat for 20 minutes untill all the water is absorbed. Check it quite often as you don’t want it to stick to the bottom of the pan.

While the quinoa is cooking place a sauce pan on a medium – high heat and add the mustard seeds and dry fry untill they begin to pop, this releases their flavour.

Once the quinoa is cooked take off the heat and then stir in the curry leaf powder, coconut flakes, mustard seeds, fresh coriander and 100ml of coconut milk untill everything is well combined. Taste and season with a little salt if you want

Put the green beans in a saucepan or steamer and cook.

Meanwhile put the frying pan back on the medium heat and add the korma paste, fry for 2 minutes and then add the coconut milk and stir. Add the tofu slices to the pan and cook for around 12 minutes turning the tofu only once if possible. It is ready when the sauce has thickened and the tofu is hot.

I always get a bit nervous cooking foods such as curries and using spices because I haven’t ever had the chance to travel and learn about the cuisine so these sorts of dishes are just created from what I think goes nicely together. I liked this dish because of the strong curry leaf flavoured quinoa against the creamy, soft and mildly spices tofu.

ps I can’t believe it, I have managed to do over 20 posts for Vegan MoFo so far! Knowing that I had to post much more than usual has actually been fun because I’ve posted about things which before I would have thought might be boring. Such as brands of sausages Id like to try…which actually had the most views of the week! so I think after Vegan MoFo is over I will keep relaxed about my posting schedule and enjoy just sharing more.

Curry Leaf Powder: Friday Challenge!

A couple of weeks ago I used curry leaves in a plantain and Mango curry. The leaves were used to flavour the sauce but were then removed before eating because they are quite tough yet full of flavour. I always think it’s a shame to throw anything away even if it has been used in some way, so I did a little research into curry leaves and I discovered that they are actually very good for you.

“Curry leaves contain iron, fiber and vitamins, including vitamin A and vitamin B. Curry leaves are extremely high in antioxidants, plant sterols, amino acids, glycosides, proteins and flavanoids” (source: Live Strong)

Curry leaf powder has many medicinal properties including -

• A good remedy for nausea and indigestion. Extract juice of curry leaves, squeeze a lime and add a pinch of sugar.

• Chew a few leaves every day to lose weight

• Curry leaves are also known to improve eyesight, so make sure you do not throw away the leaves while eating. It is also believed to prevent cataract.

• Curry leaves are also good for hair growth and colour. If you don’t like its raw taste, you can buy the curry leaf powder widely available in the market and have it with dosa or hot rice. You can also make it at home. This will prevent pre mature greying of hair.

•   Alternatively, you can also add a few curry leaves to your hair oil and boil it for a few minutes. Applying this hair tonic will keep your hair healthy.

(Source: The Times of India)

So I wondered what was the best way to consume the leaf to get maximum benefit. A lot of the sources talk about curry leaf essence but I also found out that you can turn curry leaves into a powder and stir them into rice or use the powder to flavour fish and meats. Perfect! A very traditional recipe is mixed with dry roasted Channa dal like in this recipe by ‘Umas Kitchen Experiments‘ but I like to keep things simple so I have just made a very basic curry leaf powder.

I will be using this powder in my Spices challenge own recipe which hopefully I will post this weekend! It needs a second test run

 

Curry Leaves pre roasting

For this I used 1 bag of curry leaves which was approx 1 and a half cups or a very large handful. First wash and dry the leaves and then spread the curry leaves out onto a baking tray and pre heat the oven to around 180c.

Dry roast in the oven for around 8 – 10 minutes, keep an eye on them because they go from perfect to burnt VERY quickly! Once roasted (they will go crispy and a brown colour) then leave to cool.

In a blender add the dried curry leaves, 2 red chillies, garlic powder and blitz untill it is a fine powder.

Do not make the mistake I did and open the lid of the blender, stick your nose in and sniff hard! I was uncontrollably sneezing and coughing for around 10 minutes this is seriously potent stuff!! I stupidly decided to give it another sniff before cooking with it a few days later and again I was sneezing for ages (around 12 sneezes!). so I say cook with it but yeah dont stick your face in it!

Plantain and Mango Curry (Simon Rimmer Accidental Vegetarian recipe): Friday Challenge!

Nigella Seeds and Curry Leaves are the spices in this mild curry

 

I chose this recipe because I had never used Nigella seeds or Curry leaves before and I was really curious to see what they were like. The recipe is from Simon Rimmer’s vegetarian cookbook ‘The Accidental Vegetarian’ which you can buy here. I haven’t cooked a lot out of it, mainly because my interest is captured by photos and there aren’t many, but everything I have tried has been delicious.

I’m not sure if I made it completely correctly because he describes it as “bright yellow” but mine was more of a pale yellow. I think I added too much yoghurt! Putting the colour to one side it was delicious and the mango was balanced out by the firmer more savoury plaintains.

First you cook the plantain in water with turmeric and once drained they go this beautiful yellow colour -

Bright Yellow Plantain!

The rest of the ingredients were turmeric, nigella seeds, onion, chillis, curry leaves, ginger, yoghurt (I used soya) and mango. Nigella seeds are also called Black onion seeds however they are unrelated to the onion! They are seeds from a herb which bring out a slightly nutty flavour and are good when used sparingly. I love the way they contrast with the creamy yellow sauce. You have to fry them in a little oil first until they pop (kind of like mustard seeds) to get the full flavour.

Curry leaves have also been described as having a slightly nutty flavour so I assume this means they are a good pairing with nigella seeds. It was a bit frustrating because the recipe doesn’t say whether you take the leaves out or not, I tried nibbling on one and it was hard so I googled it and most people say you must remove them from the curry before serving so I did. I’m wondering if like a bay leaf they could be used in a stock to give it a spicy twist!

Mango and Plantain Curry

I have loads of curry leaves back but they can be frozen in an airtight container for a couple of months so I’m definitely going to see what other recipes there are. I think their flavour is very subtle and more of an underlying tone to the curry.

What I have learnt about spices:
Nigella spices are more pungeant and should be used sparingly to enhance a dish, they also look pretty! Curry leaves are more subtle and you can use a lot of them (this recipe uses 25!) they help build the base flavour and should be removed before eating. ~
I really love fruits in a curry and mango was a new one for me! I also like lychees in a curry

Raw Masala Carrot Dip (Leon Naturally Fast Food recipe): Friday Challenge!

Raw Masala Carrot dip with crudites

I decided to focus on spices for October’s Friday Challenge, I have my favourite spices which I use all the time but there are so many I have never tried and wouldn’t know how to blend together. I used a recipe from the LEON; Naturally Fast Food cookbook. It’s such a brilliant book with hundreds of recipes and ideas, so much to look at you can easily lose an afternoon browsing through.

When I think of spices I think of hot, comforting curries but then I stumbled across this recipe which was a cold raw dish and I was extremely interested to see how that could work and whether I would like it or not. I have always “sweated down” the spices with onions etc to bring out the flavours and I was worried that using them without cooking would taste powdery or too one-dimensional. As it turns out it was delicious and I did like it, although I didn’t have any tahini so it was quite sweet. I think if I made it again I would make sure I had tahini to balance out the juices from the orange and lemon.

My favourite crudite to dip in was celery, I found cucumber a bit watery and carrot abit carroty!

The dip is made from carrots, cumin (one of my favourite spices), Garam Masala (a spice mix I have never tried before), lemon juice, orange juice, onion, fresh ginger, dates, olive oil, coriander and raw tahini (which I didn’t have but will add next time!).

Garam Masala is a spice mix made up of cumin, bay, cloves, ginger, cardamom, cinnamon and coriander which have been roasted and then ground and blended to make a dark coloured rich smelling spice… but you can buy it pre made in jars from the super market, luckily! It goes perfectly with the sweet carrots and wasn’t too spicy either. It made the dish very fragrant and fresh which is surprising for a spicy recipe.

The recipe calls to blend untill smooth and I got it as smooth as I could in my very old blender but I actually quite liked the texture a bit rougher, more of a rustic dip, And the colour is just beautiful!

Fresh colours make this dish perfect to serve up at a party!

What I have learnt about spices:
I was so impressed to find a recipe which uses a spice I have never tried before AND it’s vegan and raw, which are two things I’m really into at the moment. I learnt that spice does not equal curry and you can use spice instead to create fragrance and interest in a cold dish. I also learnt from looking at loads of recipes trying to find something to cook that most recipes use a blend of spices and do not just concentrate on one particular spice. I think by the end I will have quite an extensive spice collection in my cupboard.

What’s you favourite spice? 

 

Blackberry Bakewell Cake (BBC Goodfood recipe): Friday Challenge!

I can’t believe I have gone from only making a very small handful of un successful cakes to now baking good cakes every week! Is it because I have more patience now to follow a recipe? or because I really want to learn this time? Whatever it is I am really enjoying it and have a feeling it may be something I continue to practise, especially over the christmas period! (I know I did it – September and I’m thinking about christmas!)

The cake before being sliced to reveal the fruits

So this cake is actually named “Raspberry Bakewell cake” but I have a freezer full of blackberries from my garden so it seemed this was a perfect opportunity to use them. I think the cake was delicious with blackberries, slightly less sweet than a raspberry maybe but a lovely subtle match to the almond flavours. You can get the recipe by following this link

It uses a mix of self raising flour and ground almonds to give it a more crumbly texture and a lovely almond flavour then it is topped with flaked almonds to give it a little crunch. I had thought the flaked almonds would burn on the top of the cake however they came out just lightly toasted which was a relief.

Once sliced in to you can see the layer of fresh blackberries in the middle of the sponge

What I liked about this cake was that the outside was a little crunchy and the outside layer of cake went abit crispy, then the inside is beautifully moist and crumbly with the sweet fruits giving so much flavour. I really think this is be far the best cake I have made so far!

It is very simple to create this layered fruit effect, simply make a cake batter and pour half into a lined cake tin, cover the mix with a single layer of fruits and then top with the remaining cake mixture, top with flaked almonds and bake in the oven. The main difficulty I had was trying to spread the cake mixture over the top of the berries without moving all the berries or ending up with some berries on the top. Some poked out of the side but when I looked at the original picture they had the same effect so I’m happy!

It’s a natural way to bring colour to a cake and it would look beautiful served at any tea party. I’d like to try it with pears or apricots or apples with a toffee sauce, the ideas are endless!

Soo pretty inside the cake!

What I have learnt about Cake?
You can mix different types of flour with ground almonds to create a more crumbly texture with a slightly more natural rustic flavour. Also adding fruits such as berries in the middle of the cake mix makes it moist but not as wet as the courgette cake I previously attempted.
I was also really happy with the effect of the flaked almonds, I have loads left over from this recipe so I will definitely be using those again soon!

Oh I also really really liked the lack of icing in this recipe, I’m not a fan of icing at all and would rather get the sweetness from fruits as done in this recipe

Marbled Chocolate and Sponge cake: Friday Challenge

My Friday Challenge has become a bit of a Sunday Challenge. There is just something about baking, it feels more natural to bake a cake after a nice lazy sunday morning when your feeling relaxed and you have a day free from distractions. Also it feels more accepted to have a slice of cake…or two…on a weekend rather than during the week!

A slice of pretty marbled cake AKA Zebra cake

I saw this technique when browsing pinterest for cake ideas and it looks so simple yet impressive I really had to try it, I followed the link back to a great blog called My Cake School where I found a visual tutorial. The recipes I found all used instant cake mixes, which I was very tempted by, however this challenge is to help me learn to bake so I made my own cake mix.

I decided to dip into my Delia Smith “Complete Cookery Course” which I knew would have a simple sponge recipe I could adapt for this marbled technique. I used the “All in One Sponge” which was so easy to make. I’m also starting to notice that cake recipes use equal measures of flour, sugar and butter so I feel I could begin to put together my own recipe.

Ok so here is how I made the cake:

Split the cake mix in half and add melted chocolate and cocoa powder to one half

Place a scoop of the sponge mix in the tin and then a scoop of chocolate cake mix in the middle

Place another scoop of plain sponge mix on top of the chocolate. Continue this alternating the two mixes untill it is all used up and the cake has spread out to fill the tin

Mine’s not beautiful round rings but you get the idea of what you are looking for

I think my cake mix was a little too thick to allow it to smoothly begin to spread as I added each layer, I would suggest using a looser thin cake mix. Also I really liked the chocolate flavours but you could also experiment with different colours!

Marbled/ Zebra Cake

I don’t think the chocolate flavour came through massively but over all it was a light, sweet sponge. Also I preferred it with no icing, instead I added some fresh strawberries to add some moisture and fresh sweetness. So much nicer than sugary icing!

The Great British Bake off and Mary Berry’s Chocolate Cake (Fast Cakes cookbook): Friday Challenge!

Photo Source: http://www.thegreatbritishbakeoff.co.uk/about

I was a bit excited when the other day my friend told me The Great British bake-off was restarting on BBC. Not only does it time perfectly with my Cake Friday Challenge month but also I had already baked a Mary Berry recipe ready to be put forward as one of my efforts to learn the art of cakes (Mary Berry is one of the judges and quite rightly “The Queen of Cakes”).

For those of you who may not know about this show here is a little summary. Twelve amateur bakers all compete each week to be crowned The UK’s Best Amateur Baker, each week focuses on a different theme such as cakes, bakes, pies, bread etc. For each theme they have to do three challenges, a signature bake which gives them a chance to show off individual skills. Then a technical challenge where they all follow the same recipe (usually with quite varying results) and finally the show stopper round where they are allowed to be as creative as possible. This final round includes things like Celebration cakes.

I watched the first episode this week and guess what they were making…cakes! Although I have to say they were FAR beyond my capabilities so I don’t think you’ll be seeing me as a contestant in the near future. They began with a signature dish challenge where they had to make “upside down” cakes. I found this hugely inspiring and helpful because I had actually been thinking of doing something like this as my own recipe and I feel very stupid because in my head I was going to put the cake batter into a cake tin and then pile the fruit on top and put it in the oven. What a mess I would have made!

Next they had to cook Paul Hollywood’s recipe for Rum Baba’s, a doughnut shaped cake with cream in the middle and fruit around the edges. This round is always brilliant because the recipe they are asked to follow is often vague and it is left down to the contestant’s intuition. I felt so sorry for poor Natasha last night when she decided to take a risk and cook the cake in a Bain- Marie where as everyone else baked theirs. They also have to guess how it will be presented!

Finally there is the show stopper round and this week’s challenge was a “Hidden Design” cake. So when you cut the cake in half there is a design hidden within the actual sponge. Some of the creativity and ideas blew me away! One woman Victoria (My current favourite so far) made a cake which looked like a pie with black birds coming out of the top, when you cut into it there was a picture black bird holding on to a coin within the sponge, it was truly fantastic. Unfortunately I can’t find a picture of it but here is a link to her recipe on the BBC.

So on to my own experimentation with cake – Mary Berry’s First Rate Chocolate cake from her book Fast Cakes.

A slice of Chocolate Cake using Mary Berry’s recipe

This recipe was so easy compared to the Victoria Sponge I made last week, and had a lot less sugar and butter. It is literally a case of mixing ingredients in a large bowl, pour into cake tin and bake in the oven. The sponge is flavoured with cocoa powder so is quite light in colour but it made a lovely fluffy cake. I loved the icing on the top too it was very rich and gooey!

My mum always makes notes in her cook books (something I have taken to doing too!) and so when I saw this I knew this was going to be my next cake..

I actually made this cake twice in the same weekend because I decided it was so easy I could quickly knock it up to take around to my dads for his birthday dinner. Over the two times I made it I made a few mistakes -

1. On my first attempt I thought my icing wasn’t thick enough so I poured in some more icing sugar, however this clumped and made it lumpy and speckled with icing sugar clumps instead of smooth and glossy.

2. On my second time making it I was sifting my flour into the bowl and soon realised my scales hadn’t registered the weight so I had to guess. This meant the cake for my dad was a bit drier than my first one which was a shame.

3. I decided to decorate my dads cake with chocolate buttons so made the icing on the hob then let it cool slightly, then I started to ice and decorate the cake. I have no idea why I did this but I very quickly realised that everything was melting and sliding off the cake and then it hit me – I’ve put the cake plate onto the top of the oven over the warm hob! The chocolate buttons were melting quickly! I had to just stick it in the fridge and hope for the best!

This is the sort of recipe I feel I could have fun playing around with, using different flavours of cocoa powder such as orange and layering caramelised oranges on top or mixing in chocolate chips! For this one I used Green and Blacks Organic Cocoa powder it was delicious!

What I have learnt about Cakes:
Getting the quantity of flour right is crucial as adding even slightly too much can result in a dry cake! Also make sure to sift the ingredients, especially in the icing, because other wise it could be lumpy. I think it’s pretty clear that I also learnt that when decorating the cake it should be kept cold and not placed over a direct heat source……..

I really liked just having the one layer of cake, the victoria sponge looked impressive but was soo big it almost felt like having a whole meal with each slice. This chocolate cake was rich but just a small slice would satisfy. I think I will carry on making one layer cakes but we’ll see!

A Classic Victoria Sponge (LEON Baking and Puddings recipe): Friday Challenge!

I had a bit of a disaster when I set my self ‘Bread’ as my friday challenge subject a few months ago. I learnt how to make a pretty decent bread roll but when it came to adding my own flavours and trying to be abit creative I came up short and realised that it would take a bit more practise. With that in mind I decided to try the whole baking thing again but this time with cakes!

I like cake but I’m definitely more of a savoury person so I thought this would be a challenge for me, but I can honestly say that after eating this victoria sponge I am starting to think maybe I like cake much much more than I realised…

I decided to start with a Victoria Sponge because it is the staple cake recipe which has stood the test of time. It doesn’t have too many flavour additions so I can learn how to bake a standard sponge without being distracted by extras and well it is quintessentially British as it was named after Queen Victoria so it seems apt for these Olympic times! Also since I met Scott he has been asking me to bake him his favourite Victoria Sponge and all this time I have promised one day I will, and now 5 years later I finally have! Even if I did tie it in with some blog cooking, to be fair that’s even better for him as I’m now going to make 3 or 4 more cakes for the month.

The recipe is from my current favourite cookbook range ‘LEON Baking and puddings’ (The book I also made gooey chocolate cakes from). The recipe was really simple to follow and although it took a little bit of work, such as alternating adding the eggs with the flour and beating each time, I can honestly say that this was really quite easy to make! You can buy this book and others from the LEON range here. The recipe for this cake is in the Baking and Puddings book.

A big wedge of Viccy Sponge

I was so impressed with the height of this cake and also how light and fluffy the cake was inside, I’m guessing this was from the amount of times I had to beat the cake mix before baking it in the oven. I didn’t have any vanilla essence so I added some maple syrup to the mix, I was scared this would ruin it but it just added the sweetness that the vanilla would have.
I was alarmed at the amount of sugar and butter went into this cake (330g of each!!) but I guess it is meant to be a treat..to be shared…

The inside of my Victoria Sponge

What I have learnt about cakes:
From my first attempt at baking a cake I feel like this is going to be quite acheivable, it was quite simple and I think as long as you follow the instructions pretty closely then you can’t go too wrong. I left my cake in the oven for 30 minutes whereas the recipe called for 40 minutes however mine is a fan oven and I know from cooking other things that it usually takes a little less than the recommended cooking time. I also remember from watching “The Great British Bake Off” that you shouldn’t open and close the door often as you will cool the oven down and your cake might sink so I only opened my oven twice, once to check and the second time to take it out.
I would like to see what would happen when you mix fruits or nuts into the cake mix before baking, would it be too soggy? Would it tip the fluffy cake off balance? If anyone has any suggestions please let me know

Gnocchi Gratin (‘The Domestic Goddess Challenge’ recipe): Friday challenge

This is one of those recipes that is just a really great weekday meal, it would have been quicker if I hadn’t decided to make the gnocchi from scratch but hey practise makes perfect! I found this recipe on “The Domestic Goddess Challenge” blog so please follow the link to see the full list of ingredients and method! I’m not sure my photo does it justice (it’s hard to make bakes/ gratins look pretty!)

I was so pleased with how my gnocchi came out this time, it felt better doing it a second time around because I knew what to expect. I made the following changes:

• I cut the potatoes up into quarters before boiling them so they would cook quicker
• I boiled the potatoes for longer and only took them out when I pressed down on them with a fork and they broke.
• I got Scott to mash them, he has stronger arms than me so got a much smoother mashed potato to work with

I added some carrots and mushrooms along with the veg Sian suggests in her recipe and also I didn’t add the wine because I didn’t have any! I also roasted my own peppers, it’s very simple just coat a little oil on a whole pepper and put it in the oven for 20-25 minutes. Once cooked you can pull the green stalk out and all the seeds will come out with it. Then peel any thick skin off and slice!
Also, I agree that the bread crumb topping is a must! It just finishes it off beautifully and adds a little crunch.

I served Scott’s with a chicken leg which had a sage and garlic butter under the skin, such a simple addition to the chicken but made it a bit special! I will often serve us up the same vegetarian one pot dish and I’ll have salad and Scott will have chicken, beef or sausages. It’s a lot easier than making two gratins/ casseroles/ curries etc, one veggie and one with meat. Of course Scott doesn’t always have the meat sometimes we just have a complete vegetarian night!

I’ve decided I’m a massive fan of gnocchi in all forms! I love making it, kneading an impossibly soft dough is so relaxing and then it is so easy to cook because it tells you when it’s done. I love how the most fragile little pillows of dough become quite resilient when cooked and can then be popped into a sauce or mixed with vegetables and baked.

What I have learnt about Gnocchi:
Now that I have the basics of how to make gnocchi I can see how versatile it can be and there are plenty of ways to experiment with flavour combinations. They key is to make sure you have a perfectly smooth mashed potato to begin with, any lumps will be very obvious in your gnocchi (trust me I know!).
Secondly you have to make sure you don’t use too much flour otherwise it’ll over power the flavour of the gnocchi, you need a soft but still slightly sticky dough.
And last but not least make sure you cook them in batches (I had a large pan so did 10 at a time) to stop them sticking together.

Can’t wait to have a go at my own recipe, I have some great ideas so I think I may be eating gnocchi every day next week in preparation! mmmm

A Photo Guide to the Globe Artichoke: Friday Challenge

I’ve wanted to prepare a globe artichoke for so long now but whenever I read instructions I feel baffled because it refers to the heart and the choke etc and I don’t know which bits these are! I can now tell everyone else out there putting this off that it is really very easy and it becomes obvious as you dismantle the artichoke which parts are which! For this I followed my trusted River Cottage Veg instructions for ‘Simple Globe Artichoke’. He suggests to serve it with melted butter and lemon juice but I used olive oil, balsamic vinegar and lemon juice.

The point of my Friday Challenges is to learn new skills but also share these with everyone so I decided that I wanted this post to be a step by step guide of how to prepare a globe artichoke so that you can eat the leaves and then remove the heart. So I think I don’t need to say any more (I will find that hard!!) and I’ll let my photos do the talking:

Trim the stalk so its around 3 – 5cm long

Just incase it wasn’t obvious I had cut the stem!

Pull off the tougher leaves around the bottom – I just guessed which ones were meant to be tough and it worked out fine

Place the artichoke into a steamer and cook for about 30 minutes (Stand it upright if your steamer is big enough)

It will now look like this, pull away the outer leaves

The leaves should pull away easily. You can eat the fatter bottom part of the leaf and dip it into the lemon/ balsamic dip!

Stop eating when you get to the thinner leaves! You need to remove all of these and discard them

Underneath all those thin leaves you’ll find this hairy little fella (the choke)! sooo cute! DO NOT EAT……

Scoop out the choke with a spoon! It came out quite easily and was obvious where it ended. Discard the choke!

When you are left with this trim the edges so that the rough outer skin is removed from around the heart and the stem. Then you can eat the heart too! or do what I did – pick it up dip it in the lemon and munch away – an artichoke heart on a stick haha!

I’m afraid there is no photo of the finished trimmed artichoke heart because I didn’t get that far I just took it as you see it in the last photo and dipped it in to the balsamic and lemon and ate it! Delicious! (I didn’t eat the rough skin or stem!)

If you just want to use the heart then I’d just buy canned as it seems an expensive waste to remove all of the leaves without atleast steaming and eating them! If preparing it like this then take your time and enjoy it! It’s such a wonderful vegetable

Next week I’ll actually cook with it!