shizzling - (mis)adventures in food

Hummus recipe - Turkish / Middle Eastern chickpea and tahini dip

Preparation: 10 minutes. 

Hummus is very commonplace in the UK these days, with supermarkets selling many different variants. This home made version, based on an authentic recipe from my friend Burcak at My Food Chronicles, makes a huge amount for the same cost as a small tub from the supermarket - and I think it tastes better. 

Cacık recipe - Turkish spinach, yoghurt & garlic dip - Cacik.

Preparation: 10 minutes. Marinate: 1 hour min. 

There are variations of Cacik that use ingredients such as cucumber or lettuce. This recipe uses spinach and I chose it because it's one of my favourite meze dishes from my times working in Istanbul. It's generally served as a meze - one of a number of small dishes that are shared as a meal. 

Yoğurtlu Havuç recipe - Carrot and yoghurt salad meze

Preparation: 5 minutes. Marinate: 1 hour min. 

Yoğurtlu Havuç is a Turkish recipe that combines grated carrot, garlic and yoghurt. The simplicity of the ingredients really lets the sweetness of the carrot shine.

It's typically served as a meze - one of a number of small dishes eaten together as a meal or as the starter to a meal.  It would go equally well as a BBQ side dish. 

Red Chipotle Vodka, Green Chipotle Vodka, Jalapeno & Habanero Vodka - 3 chile vodkas

I just put these three chile vodkas together using chiles that I have smoked and dried myself. 

From left to right we have: red chipotle vodka, jalapeno and habanero vodka, and green chipotle vodka. They might be used as Xmas presents or, just as likely, I might keep them until my birthday on New Year's Eve to use as spicy shots.

I only put them together a couple of minutes before these photos were taken and you can see that the vodka is already starting to take on the colour of the chiles. 

Spicy Omelette with sausage, jalapeno & nopales recipe

Serves 2 as a light lunch

Preparation: 2 minutes. Cooking: 10 minutes. 

I just knocked this up for a quick lunch and thought it was so nice that I'd post the recipe. 

Quick Sangrita recipe - a spicy Mexican tomato drink to sip with Tequila

Preparation: about 3 minutes. 

Sangrita is a spicy Mexican tomato and orange based drink that is traditionally served alongside tequila - the idea is to sip from each in turn rather than knocking it down as a shot. There are many different recipes for Sangrita - this is my attempt at creating a quick and easy recipe using ingredients that are readily available in UK supermarkets. 

Prawns Diabolo recipe - with a massive hit of garlic and chile

Serves 4 as a main course

Preparation: 10 minutes.  Cooking: 15 minutes. 

This is one of the main courses I served up at a dinner party recently, along with Prawns in Creamy Guajillo sauce and Sea bass Veracruz style. I wanted to showcase contrasting flavours from the Mexican culinary repertoire and I think I managed. 

The Diabolo sauce is fiery and garlicky and really packs a punch. One of my dinner guests said that the sauce was reminiscent of Vindaloo curry in terms of the spice and pungency of flavour. 

Mini Quesadillas recipe

I had some mini corn tortillas (4 inch diameter) left over in the fridge so I thought I'd have a go at using them as the basis of a quick lunch with other bits and bobs that I had lying around.  The result was this tasty and moreish mini Quesadilla recipe. 

Nuclear Nuts recipe - Mexican nuts with Piquin, Chipotle and Dried Habanero

Served as a bar snack / nibbles

Preparation: 10 minutes. Cooking: 10 minutes. 

This weekend I made a variant of my Mexican Roulette nuts that was both dangerous and addictive.  I made my own chipotle chilli powder and also sprinkled habaneros from my garden that had been dried into very pretty, but deadly, chilli warheads. 

Dried Habanero warheads are distributed throughout the nuts.

Mexican Roulette - Spicy Mexican Peanuts with Piquin Chiles recipe

Served as a bar snack / nibbles

Preparation: 10 minutes. Cooking: 10 minutes. 

I adapted this spicy Mexican peanut bar snack to contain whole dried Piquin chiles that can deliver a Russian Roulette style spicy surprise. The recipe uses economy brand peanuts and then dresses them up to make a very special snack that  gets gobbled up whenever I make it.