Oranges in Syrup

Adapted from a Middle Eastern recipe, this is very refreshing and fairly simple to make. The original recipe calls for pistachio nuts for sprinkling, and of course sugar to make the syrup.

Husband and I agreed that serving fruit in nice glasses, presented prettily and with a sauce and/or topping, makes such a nice finish to a meal. It wouldn't be anywhere near as exciting to sit there and peel an orange to eat. 

 

Serves 2

Syn value is negligible

2 oranges

½ cup sweetener

1 tbsp rose-water

½ pkt sugar free orange flavoured jelly crystals

fat free fromage frais to serve

handful toasted buckwheat

Using a vegetable peeler, peel one of the oranges down to but not including the pith. Cut the orange peel into fine strips and boil in water several times to remove the bitterness. Drain.

Add 300ml water to the orange peel, along with the sweetener and bring to a boil. Sprinkle in the jelly crystals and stir well to dissolve. Add the rose-water and leave to cool, but don't leave it too long, as you don't want it to set to a jelly, just thicken a little.

Completely remove the pith from the oranges and cut them into thin slices. Arrange in two dessert bowls, pour over the syrup, serve with fromage frais and sprinkle some toasted buckwheat over the top. 

 

Middle Eastern Duck Salad

It is very difficult to calculate the syn value for this dish, as Slimming World says that orange juice is 1½ syns for 100ml. I am not using orange juice as such in this recipe, just the juice that is left in the orange after segmenting it. I measured mine and from 3 large oranges, I got 50ml leftover juice – that is ¾ syn between three people. Not really worth worrying about. 

 

Serves 2-3

¼ syn on Extra easy (see note above)

2 duck breasts

1 tsp sumac

3 oranges

small bunch of flat leaf parsley, chopped

150g spinach

½ red onion

100g pomegranate

400g anya potatoes

a few prigs of fresh coriander

2 tsp rose water

1 tbsp red wine vinegar

½ tbsp sweetener

2 tsp cumin seeds

Remove the skin and all visible fat from the duck breasts. Make several long slits in the flesh and sprinkle with sumac. Rub the spice in with your fingers and leave to marinate for an hour or so. Fry for around 10-15 minutes until cooked through. Thinly slice.

Dry fry the cumin seeds for a few minutes until fragrant, then coarsely grind using a spice grinder or a pestle and mortar.

Remove the skin and pith from the oranges and cut into segments. Squeeze the remainder of the pithy core into a bowl to get the rest of the juices out. Mix the orange segments with the parsley.

Mix the orange juice with the rose water, vinegar, sweetener and cumin seeds.

Cut the potatoes in fairly thick slices and boil until just cooked. Drain. Sauté in Fry Light over high heat until nicely browned. Add a tablespoon or so of the dressing and mix well, leaving for a couple of minutes to infuse the flavours.

Finely chop the red onion and mix with the pomegranate seeds and coriander.

Place the spinach in the bottom of a shallow salad bowl and add the potatoes, oranges, duck slices and pomegranate seeds, in that order. Drizzle over the rest of the dressing and serve. 

 

Tabouleh with Grilled Chicken

The first time I had this dish was in a Lebanese restaurant in Libya, and from the first bite I was hooked. Tabouleh is a very refreshing summer salad and goes with almost any grilled meat. It can also be served as part of a meze table or in pita bread. I used Joe's 'Hot and Spicy Chicken Fillets', which to me are tasty rather than spicy, but each to their own. I love Joe's meat, and although it is no longer officially Slimming World approved, you can work out the syns (or rather lack of) on his website. I order their marinated meat and sausages in bulk and keep in my freezer. 

 

Serves 2

Syn Free on Extra Easy

1 cup bulghur wheat

juice of 1 lemon

½ bunch fresh mint, finely chopped

½ bunch flat leaf parsley, finely chopped

2 large tomatoes

1 small onion

salt and freshly ground black pepper

Grilled chicken to serve

Put the bulghur wheat in a large bowl and add the lemon juice and a couple of tablespoons of boiling water. Leave to soak for 30 minutes, adding more water if necessary if it feels too dry, although you don't want it soggy either.

De-seed and finely chop the tomatoes, catching any juices and add to the wheat. Peel and finely chop the onion. Finally add the herbs, making sure the wheat is cold by this stage as the mint will discolour on contact with anything hot. Season well to taste and serve with the grilled meat. 

 

Ful Medames

It is thought this dish dates back to Pharaonic Egypt, and it is now a staple for breakfast in large parts of the North East Africa and the Arabian peninsula. I fell in love with ful in Yemen, where we were served it most mornings along with their wonderful freshly baked flat bread. 

 Ful in Yemen, served with bread for scooping up. Cutlery was rarely provided. 

Some people like it completely mashed up with the consistency of mushy peas or even a smooth mash, but if I am not serving it with bread I prefer it with some of the beans retaining a little of their original shape, just for some texture. I am not sure how authentic the fried egg is, but who cares...

Husband said he wasn't convinced about beans for breakfast, until I reminded him he loves baked beans with his fry-up. “But that's baked beans, they're OK” was his reply. Ugh, you can't win...

Serves 2

Syn Free on Extra Easy

1 cup dried fava beans, soaked overnight

2 tsp bouillon powder

2 small onions, chopped

2 tsp cumin seeds

2 tomatoes, deseeded and chopped

handfal flat parsley leaves, chopped

2 eggs

You need to really start this two days before you want to eat it, soaking the beans overnight. The next day, drain and rinse the beans and cook them in a large saucepan with water and bouillon powder for an hour until the beans are nice and soft. Drain and retain the cooking liquid. You can of course get up early on the morning you want to eat this to cook the beans, but I am so not a morning person that I prefer to cook them the day before. I suppose you could leave them overnight in a slow cooker.

Heat a pan with Fry Light and sauté the onions and cumin seeds until soft. Add the cooked beans and mash using a potato masher; or if you want a smoother consistency, use a hand held blender. Add enough of the cooking liquid or water to get a consistency of porridge. Add the chopped tomatoes and stir to combine. Leave on a low heat while you fry the eggs.

Stir the parsley in to the bean mixture, dish out on to two plates, and top with a fried egg. 

 

Harissa Paste

Although you can buy jars of harissa paste in most good supermarkets, it is so worth making your own, as the taste is far superior, and you know exactly what goes in it. I would wholeheartedly recommend wearing gloves while you do this.

Step 1

Take a few chillies, garlic, salt, cumin seeds and olive oil.

Step 2

Char the skin of the chillies, using a naked flame such as cook's blow torch or a gas flame; or you can grill them on a very high heat.

Step 3

Place the charred chillies in a plastic bag as you go along, trying to keep as much air out of it as possible.

Step 4

Scrape the skin off the chillies.

Step 5

Remove the seeds.

Step 6

Peel the garlic.

Step 7

Grind the cumin seeds.

Step 8

Whizz the garlic and chillies together to form a paste.

Step 9

Mix the chilli and garlic paste with some olive oil, the ground cumin and a little salt.

Will keep for a very long time in a crew top jar in the fridge. Use sparingly, as it is hot.  

Khoresh Ghormeh Sabzi

A good friend and colleague was married to an Iranian for over 20 years, and this was her signature dish when entertaining. I fell in love with the subtle flavours and have since cooked it several times myself at home. Visiting Iran in 2007 we were lucky enough to be served this in a private home, and being taught how to cook it by the hostess.

You can buy dried ghormeh sabzi mixed herbs at Bristol Sweetmart, but failing that, use a mixture of chives, parsley, turmeric leaves and coriander.

Khoresh Ghormeh Sabzi

Serves 2

Syn Free on Extra Easy

300g lean stewing beef

2 onions

½ cup ghormeh sabzi

½ tsp turmeric

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tin of red kidney beans

flavoursome stock

Sauté the onion in a little Fry Light for a few minutes, then add the beef and cook, ensuring that the meat is nicely browned all over. Add the herbs and spices and enough stock to cover, then simmer over a very low heat for half an hour. Add the drained kidney beans and simmer for a further 30 minutes. Serve with rice and vegetables of your choice. 

http://www.slimmingworld.com/

Freekeh Salad with Sumac Lamb

Always one to try something new when I see it; when I discovered a box of Freekeh on the shelves of Bristol Sweetmart the other day, I couldn't resist buying it.

Freekeh is a roasted green wheat which is particularly popular in Palestine, the Arabian peninsula and Egypt. According to Wikipedia: "The wheat is harvested while the grains are yellow and the seeds are still soft; it is then piled and sun-dried. The piles are then carefully set on fire so only the straw and chaff burn and not the seeds. It is the high moisture content of the seeds that prevents them from burning. The now roasted wheat undergoes further thrashing and sun-drying to make the flavour, texture, and colour uniform. It is this thrashing or rubbing process of the grains that gives this food its name, farīk or “rubbed.” The seeds are now cracked into smaller pieces so they look like a green bulgur."

The initial plan was to make this as a vegetarian salad, but a surplus lamb shank changed that plan. Buying three of any piece of meat usually proves difficult as the store normally packages them in twos. Although shanks were available to buy singularly at the butcher counter, they were much smaller and looked inferior.

This recipe would work equally well with other cracked wheat such as bulgur, or even couscous or rice.

Freekeh Salad with Sumac Lamb, Figs and Feta

Serves 2

Syn Free on Extra easy providing you use the cheese as your Healthy Extra A

150g cooked lamb

1 tsp sumac

100g freekeh

5-6 small fresh figs, quartered

100g feta cheese, cubed

½ red onion, thinly sliced

small bunch of flat leaf parsley, chopped

Cut the cooked lamb in to small slivers and coat with the sumac. Leave in infuse for a while. Cook the freekeh in plenty of salted water for 30 minutes or until cooked to your liking. Mix together all the ingredients and serve.

This was a great salad to take for a car picnic today, although I did carry the feta cheese and parsley separately and mixed in just as I was serving. 

http://www.slimmingworld.com/