Sweet Potato Soup with Garlic Oil

A small bowl of this soup works well as a light starter. The garlic oil adds depth to this simple-tasting dish.

1 sweet potato (peeled and diced)

1 celery stick (finely chopped)

1 small onion (finely chopped)

1 dried chili (crushed)

2 cloves of garlic (roughly chopped)

butter

olive oil

vegetable stock

salt and pepper

Flat leaf parsley (to garnish)

- Melt the butter in a saucepan and add the onion and celery. Cover and cook on a low heat until both are soft and transluscent.

- Add the sweet potato and cover with stock, bring to the boil, cover and simmer on a low heat until the sweet potato is tender.

- Season to taste and blend the soup until smooth

- Heat the olive oil in a frying pan, add the garlic and fry on a medium heat until it is lightly browned.

- Place the soup into serving bowls, spoon over the garlic oil, garnish with parsley and serve immediately.

Raw Chocolate

This is a healthier and tastier version of the delicacy. All the ingredients I use are raw and organic.

75 g cacao butter

(1 tblsp coconut oil)

1-2 tblsp honey

3-4 tblsp cacao powder

1 tblsp carob powder

a pinch of good quality salt

Extras: for example nuts, dried berries, cacao nibs, chilli... (This time I used cacao nibs, walnuts and goji berries)

- Grate the cacao butter (and the coconut oil) and melt it in a bowl sitting in hot water.

- Add the honey and powders and mix until smooth.

- Spoon the chocolate mix into moulds with berries, nuts etc. Freeze for about half an hour, or refrigerate for couple of hours.

Sri Lankan White Curry (Elolu Kiri Hodhi)

This mild curry recipe is from Charmaine Solomon's The Complete Asian Cookbook.

3 cups thin coconut milk
1 onion (finely sliced)
2 fresh chillies (de-seeded and split)
2 cloves garlic (finely sliced)
1/2 tsp grated ginger
cinnamon stick
1 stalk lemon grass
8 curry leaves
750 g sliced vegetables (for example courgettes, peppers or beans)
salt to taste
1 cup thick coconut milk

- Simmer all ingredients except for the vegetables, salt and thick coconut milk in a large saucepan for approximately 10 minutes. Then add the vegetables and salt and cook gently until the vegetables are just about tender. Add the thick coconut milk and simmer another 5 minutes.

Mum's Lingon Berry Christmas Cake

This cake has lovely seasonal flavours and the lingon berry makes it moist and gives it a fresh taste.

4,5 dl flour

3 dl dark muscovado sugar

2 tsp vanilla sugar

2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp bitter orange peel

2 tsp ginger

2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

2 dl lightly crushed lingon berries

2 eggs

1 dl double cream

1 dl kermaviili (or cream fraiche)

1,5 dl melted butter

- Mix all the dry ingredients together and then add the eggs and berries carefully.

- Mix the cream and kermaviili (or creme fraiche) in a separate bowl. Add the cream mix and butter to the dough.

- Pour the cake mix into a greased dish and bake low in the oven at 175 degrees for about an hour.

Spicy Lentil Soup

The spicy lentil soup is a perfect winter warmer.

1 onion (chopped)

2 carrots (chopped)

1 stick celery (chopped)

2 inches ginger (finely chopped or grated)

2 cloves garlic (finely chopped)

chili to taste

1/2 tsp turmeric

1/2 tsp ground coriander

1/2 tsp ground cumin

1 tin tomatoes

about 200 g red lentils

1 l vegetable stock

salt

pepper

(fresh parsley/coriander to garnish)

- Sweat the onion, carrot and celery in a soup pan until soft. At the end throw in the ginger, garlic and chili and cook them for about 5 minutes, add the rest of the spices and fry for a further minute.

- Add the tinned tomatoes and blend the mixture. Let it simmer for 20 minutes with the lid on.

- Add the stock and lentils and cook until the lentils are soft.

Apple Tart

2 eggs

1 dl sugar

1 dl milk

2 dl flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 dl melted butter

3 apples (peeled and sliced)

sugar

cinnamon

- Whip the sugar and eggs until foamy.

- Combine the flour and baking powder and then stir this mixture plus the milk into the whisked eggs. Finally add the melted butter.

- Grease the oven dish, and pour in the dough. Top with the sliced apples and sprinkle some cinnamon and sugar on top.

- Bake at 200 degrees for about 30 minutes.

Lingonberry Muffins

I used the same basic batter for these muffins as I did for the mint chocolate ones. These, however are spiced up with some cardamom and lingonberries.

150 g butter

1,5 dl sugar

2 eggs

3,5 dl flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/2-1 tsp cardamom

1,5 dl milk

2,5 dl lingonberries

- Beat the butter and sugar until foamy.

- Mix in the eggs one at the time.

- Mix the flour, baking powder and cardamom together and sieve into the batter, adding milk at the same time.

- Stir the berries gently into the batter.

- Bake at 225 degrees in the middle shelf of the oven for about 15 minutes.