On the road again...

It's 7:15am and I'm on the train to London to catch a plane to Germany.  I'm very excited to be visiting my youngest sister and her family and to be there for my nephew/godson's 8th birthday.  Yes, it did mean waking up just after 4am today to get the train at 5:27am but it's so worth it.  Mr Happy Larder even got up to take me to the station - best husband ever!  Keith the dog was slightly puzzled to see us so early but pleased nonetheless.

I do have some more recipes I want to write about.  There is the one for chickpea burgers and red pepper hummus I promised but also another one: Mexican chicken mole (mole means sauce & is not to be confused with the blind furry critters answering to the same name & living underground :-)).  It's a one-pot slow cook sort of meal and very tasty indeed - next time I'll tweak it a little as I was a bit conservative with the chilli but I'll write about all of that early next week when I'm back.

In the meantime, have a happy & healthy weekend! xx

A nice cup of tea...Masala chai made easy

Oh, I love drinking tea and coffee!  There is just something about starting the day with a hot drink.  And whilst I am trying not to overdo the coffee consumption, a nice cup of tea can't be that bad for you, can it?

Masala chai - a spiced tea

For a while now I have been meaning to make masala chai, a spiced milky Indian tea.  Now, from what I understand this is usually quite sweet but in my recipe I cut down on the sugar since I always have my tea and coffee unsweetened.  It was delicious with all those wonderful flavours of the spices and yet I don't have to fear that my new addiction will cost me my teeth.  Yes, after having had just one cup of the stuff I am already hooked :-)  No doubt families all over India have their own recipes for this and I bet it tastes different in every other household.

If you don't have the time to make this from scratch whenever you fancy a cup, why not put ground spices together with a little dried milk in a jar and when you are ready for your fragrant tea, simply pop a tea bag into a mug, add some of the mix and pour hot water from the kettle on top.  Leave to steep and enjoy - couldn't be easier!

Easy-peasy pitta (pita) bread

Pitta pockets

I've not done that much baking lately but put that right over the weekend when I made pitta breads for the first time. 

These little pockets are a lovely alternative to sandwiches, especially when stuffed with all sorts of things - salad, hummus, chicken,...the list is endless.  The version I tried didn't contain any yeast and was therefore a lot quicker to prepare.  I opted for wholemeal flour and am really pleased how these came out :-) 

I turned mine into a yummy lunch with red pepper hummus and a vegetarian chickpea burger - delicious!  I will post the recipes for both soon.  For now, I can highly recommend giving these a try!