Sweet potato and chickpea burgers with homemade braai relish

This is a blend of this recipe for the patty and this one for the relish with some small changes. It worked quite nicely eventually.

Should make around 4 patties

1-2 sweet potatoes (should be around 500g or so)
400 ml tin chickpeas
1 lemon, zest and juice
cumin, cinnamon, salt and pepper to taste
burger rolls, tomatoes, salad leaves, gherkins to serve

These quantities make quite a lot of relish. You could cut them in half if desired:
1 onion
6 tomatoes, or 2x 400 ml tins of diced tomatoes
garlic to taste
1-2 tbsp peri peri sauce (or to taste)
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp tomato sauce/purée
salt, pepper, cayenne pepper to taste

Chop up the sweet potatoes into chunks and steam until soft. Drain and rinse the chickpeas, then chop them up in a food processor. Once the sweet potatoes are ready, add them to the chickpeas, add the seasoning, and mix in (don't use the food processor). Form into four patties (or as many as you want) and put them in the freezer for about 30 minutes or so. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees.

After 30 minutes, put the patties on a baking tray and put in the oven. Cook for about 25 minutes or so. Once they are "cooked," fry them in a pan to firm them up well.

While the patties are in the freezer or the oven, dice the onion and garlic and gently cook in a pot until soft. Add the tomatoes, peri peri, soy sauce, tomato sauce, and seasonings and cook on a low temperature for around 20-30 minutes, stirring occasionally to stop it catching on the bottom of the pot.

Serve in a roll with your preferred toppings (the gherkins, tomatoes, salad leaves and braai relish really worked well with this). You could also make some chips if you are feeling energetic.

Kale and marscapone-stuffed chicken on a bed of roast vegetables

So this was nice...

The vegetable quantities are for about 4 people, but the chicken is only for about 2. Increase the stuffing and wrapping proportionally based on the number of people, and add a breast for each person eating. It's more or less the same as this recipe, but some small tweaks have been made.

Chicken and stuffing (quantities for 2 breasts):
2 skinless chicken breasts (these should be relatively thick, so that you can cut them open and stuff them)
50-60 g kale, roughly chopped and well washed (about 25 g per breast)
2 tbsp mascarpone (about 1 tbsp per breast)
1-2 garlic cloves
zest of about 1/4 to 1/2 a lemon, plus juice if desired
Provencal herbs
a dash of olive oil
seasoning
6-8 rashers of smoked bacon, depending on breast size and how much bacon you might want

Vegetables:
250 g parsnips, peeled and sliced
250 g sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped into thinnish discs
2 onions, peeled chopped into quarters
100 g mushrooms, washed and halved or quartered if needed
1 red pepper, sliced up into strips

Preheat the oven to 200-220 degrees, depending on your oven. Boil the kale for about 4 minutes to soften it up, then drain it, squeeze out the remaining water, and blitz it in a food processor with the mascarpone, garlic, lemon olive oil and seasoning. Cut along the chicken lengthways and stuff the kale and mascarpone into the cavity. Wrap the bacon tightly around the chicken and season. Topelt ei kärise.

Add some oil to a baking tray or dish, then put the vegetables in and toss to cover with the oil, and season, then put in the oven and cook for about 10 minutes. Once the 10 minutes are up, mix the vegetables, put the chicken on top of the vegetables and cook for another 20 to 25 minutes, turning the chicken and mixing the vegetables halfway through. Once the chicken is cooked, cover with foil and leave for a bit, then serve with extras in waiting.

This is really good. Enjoy.

Vegan(ish) lentil curry

A slight adaptation of something I found at the Hungry Hutch. Definitely worth a look:

Ingredients:

2 cups lentils, washed
2 red peppers, cut up into chunks
1 medium-sized sweet potato, peeled and diced
Onion, peeled and diced
Garlic to taste, minced
Chilli to taste, chopped finely
About a tablespoon of chilli powder/garam masala
About a tablespoon of turmeric
900 ml chicken or vegetable stock
2 tomatoes
400 ml coconut milk
Salt and pepper to season
Basmati rice, coriander, and plain yoghurt to serve

Fry the sweet potato for about 3-5 min in a fair-sized pot (3-5 litres minimum), then add spices, onions, peppers, garlic, and chillies and cook for another 5 min or so. Add the tomatoes, mix well and cook for another 2 min, then add stock and coconut milk. Add lentils, bring to the boil, season with salt and pepper, and then let simmer for 40-45 minutes. Serve over rice, with coriander and yoghurt if desired.