Grow Your Own: chillies

Chilli's often get wasted if you buy a bag of them from the supermarket. A cheaper way to buy them is loose from a local shop. An even cheaper way is to buy a plant and grow your own!

They are really cheap from a garden centre from about May (about £4 from B&Q or Homebase, cheaper probably from a plant stall somewhere). Just keep in on a sunny windowsill and water when dry but not too much. If the soil is dry, water it. If it goes a bit yellow, you've watered it too much so leave it alone for a while and it should perk up.

First there will be flowers. Then come the chillies. And the more you pick, the more will grow. Like magic! If it is a green variety then pick them when they look like chillies. If they are red, purple or yellow, then they will be green to start with but will change colour as they ripen in the sun.

If you cook with a lot of chillies then this is definitely the cheapest and most handy way to go.

If you get really into it then try growing from seed! You will need to sow them in about March on a warm windowsill.

Sweet Potato, Coconut and Chilli Soup

I had this in The Broadway Cafe in Nottingham and it blew me away.  So I've been experimenting and inventing my own version. This is the simple test one I came up with. You can easily tweak this and add onions, stock, spices etc if you fancy it. But it really doesn't need it.

1 large sweet potato, peeled and diced.
1 can coconut milk
1-2 red chillies, finely chopped.
Olive oil (or coconut oil if you have some)
Water

Heat a large pan with enough oil to cover the bottom thinly. When it's hot, add the diced sweet potato. Cook, stirring occasionally, for about 10 mins or until the pieces are slightly browned.

Turn down to a medium heat and add the chilli and coconut milk and cook until the sweet potato is soft.

Either use a stick blender or jug blender and whizz it up until smooth.  You may need to add some water to get it to 'soup consistency'. Season to taste.

Aubergines with Saffron Yoghurt

Aubergines rule.  Even more so if you haven't got any meat lurking about but don't fancy salad. The vegetable equivalent of halloumi. This is super easy and I found the recipe (originally by Sabrina Ghayour in The Guardian) and have tweaked it a bit.

(per person)
1 aubergine, sliced
2 tablespoons of greek yoghurt
2 pinches saffron (or turmeric and cumin if you don't have any)
Olive oil
nigella seeds (if you have them)
3 pickled red chillies, thinly sliced (or half a turkish pepper or whatever chilli you can find*, to taste. I actually found finding pickled chilli's surprisingly hard to find but did eventually, in Sainsbury's)
Flat leaved parsley, chopped (about half a handful)
A clove of garlic

First heat either a griddle pan or a frying pan to medium hot.  Then brush each slice of aubergine with olive oil and cook in whichever pan you're using until golden. Brush the other side with oil and flip until also golden.

Meanwhile, make the yoghurt. Grind up the saffron and add a tiny bit of boiling water to make a golden liquid. Grate the garlic and add both these to the yoghurt, mixing well.

Simply arrange the aubergine slices on a plate, drizzle the sunny yoghurt sauce, sprinkle over the chillies, nigella seeds (if using) and parsley. Nom.

* Scotch Bonnet is probably a really bad idea here. Tasty rather than deadly!