Crispy Potato Wedges

A tasty way to stretch a budget!
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp each of basil, thyme, oregano
1/4 tsp paprika
4 to 6 potatoes cut in wedges (into 4 or 6 wedges per potato)
1/2 cup parmesan cheese (optional)
Mix Oil and seasonings together
Roll potato wedges in mixture
Lay flat in ungreased baking sheet
Bake at 210*C for 15min
Sprinkle some parmesan cheese on top and bake for another 15min
Serve hot!
Tasty Tip: wedges go really well with sour cream or mashed avocado

From the Community Kitchens website: www.communitykitchens.org.au

Kachumbar

2 medium-sized onions chopped very fine
3 tomatoes chopped very fine
1 large cucumber chopped very fine
2 green chillies chopped very fine
1/2 bunch coriander leaves chopped very fine
Juice of 1 lemon / 2 limes
Salt to taste
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp vegetable oil
1/2 tsp red chilli powder

Mix all the vegetables together in a large salad bowl and chill.
In a small bottle (must have a tighly-fitting cover), mix the lime/lemon juice, oil, salt, sugar and chilli powder. Put the lid on and shake the bottle well to mix all the ingredients in it and dissolve the sugar.
Pour the dressing over the salad just before you are ready to eat. Mix well and serve.

Rajma (Red Kidney Bean Curry)

This dish is extremely popular not just in North India but elsewhere as well. Serve Rajma with plain boiled rice, Kachumbar salad and your favorite pickle.

2 cans red kidney beans, drained and rinsed under running water
2 tbsps vegetable/canola/sunflower cooking oil
1 tsp cumin seeds
2 medium-sized onions chopped fine
2"piece of ginger jullinned
6 cloves of garlic minced
2 large tomatoes chopped into 1" cubes
2 fresh green chillies chopped fine
2 tsps coriander powder
1 tsp cumin powder
1 tsp garam masala
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
Salt to taste
A pinch of asafetida
Chopped coriander to garnish

Heat the oil in a deep pan and add the cumin seeds. When they stop sizzling, add the onion and fry till soft. Add the ginger and garlic and fry for 2 minutes.
Add the green chillies, tomatoes, coriander, cumin, turmeric and garam marsala powders and fry till the oil separates from the masala.
Add the red kidney beans, 4 cups of warm water, asafetida, salt to taste and cook till beans are very soft (aproximately 10 minutes). Mash some of the beans roughly (this thickens the gravy).
Garnish with corainder and serve piping hot with plain boiled rice and Kachumber salad and a pickle of your choice.

Three Bean Salad

This simple and delicious recipe was given to us by one of the WFD participants.
3 cans of three bean mix, drained
1 can of sweet corn kernels, drained
1 red capsicum sliced finely
2 onions sliced finely
2 tbspn olive oil
2 tbspn white vinegar
Mix all the vegetables together. Pour the oil over the vegetables, pour over the vinegar too. Stir to combine. Refrigerate until required to serve. Serves 30

Potato Pancakes

2 eggs
2 tablespoons plain flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
6 medium potatoes, peeled and shredded
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
1/4 cup vegetable oil

In a large bowl, beat together eggs, flour, baking powder, salt, and pepper. Mix in potatoes and onion.
Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. In batches, drop heaping tablespoonfuls of the potato mixture into the skillet. Press to flatten. Cook about 3 minutes on each side, until browned and crisp. Drain on paper towels.
Serve with a poached egg and sliced tomato, or with sour cream and applesauce, or with a snag and a chop at your next barbeque.

Broccoli Salad

4 cups washed and blanched broccoli florets
1/2 cup peanuts
1/2 cup raisins
1 tbsp minced onion
1 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
Combine broccoli with peanuts, raisins and minced onion.
Thirty minutes before serving, combine mayonnaise, sugar and wine vinegar.
Pour over broccoli mixture and stir to combine.
Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Scalloped Potato

4kg washed potato, sliced in 5mm slices, with the skins on
8 onions, sliced
3 vegetable stock cubes, in 1 cup of hot water
3 pre-prepared sauce sachets, creamy style
2 cups milk
250g cheese
In a large bain marie dish, place the sliced potatoes in 2 layers then cover with half the onions. Pour over the vegetable stock and the milk. Evenly drizzle half of the pre-prepared sauce over the onions. Layer the remaining potatoes over the onions, there should be about another 2 layers. Drizzle the remaining sauce over the top of the potatoes. Spread the other half of the onions on top and cover with the cheese. Cover the top with baking paper and then seal the dish with foil.
Bake in a moderately hot oven for 1 hour then uncover and bake for a further 30mins.

Zucchini & Pumpkin Bread

6 zucchini, medium sized, grated
1.5 kg pumpkin, small diced and roasted
4 onions, diced
250g semi dried tomatoes, drained & finely chopped
4 cups cooked rice
3 cups grated cheddar cheese
450g self raising flour
1 dozen eggs, beaten with 1/4 cup vegetable oil
500g feta cheese, crumbled
In a saucepan brown the onions. Squeeze any excess liquid from the zucchini. In a large bowl combine the cooled pumpkin, squeezed zucchini, browned onions, diced tomatoes, cooked rice, grated cheese and seasonings. Stir until just combined. Sprinkle the flour over and gently combine. Fold the beaten eggs into the mixture then stir in the feta cheese.
Line the holes of muffin trays with baking paper. Evenly divide the mixture amongst the muffin holes. Makes approx 40 individual serves using muffin holes with capacity of 1/3 cup.
Alternatively bake this recipe in a large shallow tray.

Greek Lentil Soup

2 cups brown lentils
4 sticks celery, diced finely
4 carrots, peeled and diced
4 onions, diced
8 cloves garlic, minced
4 tbsp tomato paste
5 litres water
3 tbsp sweet paprika
1/3 cup olive oil

Bring the water to the boil, add the lentils. Allow to boil for approximately 20mins.
In a smaller separate saucepan saute the sweet paprika in some of the olive oil until it starts to change colour. Add the onion, celery and garlic and saute for a little longer.
Add the sauteed vegetables to the boiling lentils. Add the carrot and celery to the lentils.
Season the soup with salt, pepper and the remaining olive oil. Taste then adjust the seasonings.
Simmer the soup until all the vegetables are very soft, approximately a further 30mins.
Serve

Pumpkin and Spinach Frittata

1kg pumpkin
1 large onion, finely chopped
30 g butter, melted
1/2 tsp salt
Pinch ground white pepper
300g frozen chopped spinach, thawed
2 eggs
180 ml milk
185 g farmer's cheese or ricotta cheese
pine nuts
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Coat a large baking dish with oil or cooking spray.
Cut pumpkin in half, and remove seeds; cut into 1/4 inch thick slices. Peel slices, and place pumpkin slices into a large bowl. Toss with onion and melted butter, and season with salt and white pepper. Arrange in prepared baking dish.
Bake pumpkin in preheated oven for 30 minutes. In a mixing bowl, beat eggs with milk, spiach and cheese; pour mixture over pumpkin in baking dish, sprinkle pine nuts over. Tuck spinach, pine nuts and ricotta into cracks between the pumpkin using a small knife. Continue baking for 20 minutes, or until golden brown.
Potato and Spinach Frittata; substitute potato where the recipe calls for pumpkin. Substitute peas where the recipe calls for pine nuts.

Pumpkin Curry with Lentils and Apple

200 g red lentils
200 g brown lentils
2lt water
1 g turmeric
1 tbsp canola oil
1 large onion, diced
2 tomatoes, cored and chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 tsp curry powder, or to taste
1 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp salt
pinch black pepper
pinch ground cloves
230 g peeled, cubed (1-inch), seeded pumpkin
2 potatoes, unpeeled and chopped
2 carrots, peeled and diced
100 g packed fresh spinach, chopped
1 Granny Smith apple, unpeeled, cored and diced
Place the red and brown lentils in a pan with the water and turmeric. Cook over medium-low heat until tender, about 45 minutes. Drain, reserving 2 1/2 cups of the cooking liquid.
Meanwhile, heat the canola oil in a large, deep pot over medium heat. Stir in the onion, and cook until tender and transparent, about 5 minutes. Stir in the tomatoes and garlic; cook 5 minutes more, stirring occasionally. Mix in the curry powder, cumin, salt, pepper, and cloves. Add the cooked lentils, reserved cooking liquid, pumpkin, potatoes, and carrots. Cover, and cook over medium-low heat until the vegetables are tender, 35 to 45 minutes. Stir in the spinach and apple. Cook until the pumpkin can be easily pierced with a fork, about 15 minutes more. Adjust seasonings to taste.

Baked Courgettes & Aubergine

3kg zucchini cut into rounds then halved
1kg tomato diced
1kg eggplant diced
1kg corn cobs cut into 1cm sections
1/4 cup olive oil
Prepare the eggplant; dice the eggplant and place into a large colander sprinkling salt over each piece. Set the colander to drain the salted eggplant over a dish for 30 mins. Rinse the eggplant thoroughly before using.
Drizzle some oil over the base of a baking dish. Place the corn cobs, zucchini, eggplant and tomato into the baking dish. Drizzle with a little more oil. Cover the entire dish with a sprinkle of pepper, homemade breadcrumbs and parmesan.
Bake for 30-40mins in a moderate oven.

Mashed Potato

Firstly remove any shoots from the potatoes.
Wash potatoes and peel them
Cut the potatoes into pieces and put them into a pot of boiling water
Bring the pot to the boil and simmer for 10 minutes.
Using a colander, drain off and discard the water and return the potatoes to the pot.
Add milk to the pot and put back onto the heat until it boils.
Add butter to the potato and mash well. (Remove the pot from the heat to mash)

Mashed potato can be seasoned with many things for a flavour change, try....
Fresh herbs like Parsley or Basil; they give a wonderful aroma and they taste great.
Finely chopped Onion or Spring Onion, or Ham/Bacon, or Garlic and Olive Oil.
Or combinations of the above.

Vegetable tagine with lemon couscous

8 cups soaked chickpeas (start with 3cups dry chickpeas)
1 tub tomato paste
3 litres water
4 x 425g cans diced tomatoes
3.6kg pumpkin, cut into medium sized chunks
2.7kg zucchini or yellow patty-pan squash in chunks
400g green beans, trimmed, halved
2 tablespoon vegetable oil
18 cloves garlic, crushed
4 onions chopped finely
Spices:
4 tablespoon coriander seeds
4 tablespoon cumin seeds
4 tablespoon caraway seeds
4 tablespoons sweet paprika
4 tablespoons ground ginger
Using mortar and pestle, crush seeds to a fine powder. Sift into small bowl; discard husks.
In a large pot bring the water to the boil with the chickpeas, tomato paste and undrained tomatoes.
Heat oil in a frypan; cook garlic and onion, stirring, until onion softens. Add crushed spices and powdered spices; cook, stirring, until fragrant. Add this to the water chickpeas and tomatoes. Add the pumpkin when the water is boiling; return to the boil . Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, 20 minutes. Stir in squash and beans; simmer, covered for about 10 minutes or until squash is tender.
Serve with Lemon Couscous.

Eggplant, Zucchini and Sweet Red Capsicum Stew

"Makes a great veggie main meal!"
1 eggplant, cut into 2.5cm cubes
2 tbsp olive oil
1 red onion chopped chunky
5 cloves garlic, minced/pressed
100 g Basmati rice (Substitute: arborio rice, can of lentils)
1 zucchini, cut into 1cm cubes
150g fresh mushrooms, sliced
(Substitute: button squash)
1 large red capsicum, chopped chunky
(Substitute: Green capsicum, olives)
3 fresh tomatoes, diced (Substitute: 1 can of diced tomatoes)
1 cup Marsala wine (Substitute: stock)
1.5 cups water (Substitute: stock)
salt and pepper to taste
1 tsp ground oregano (Substitute: Basil)
15 g chopped fresh parsley (Substitute: corriander)
Place eggplant in a colander and sprinkle with salt. Let stand 10mins then rinse eggplant and pat dry. Heat olive oil in a Dutch oven or large pot, saute onion and until transparent, add rinsed eggplant and saute until slightly browned. Stir in tomatoes, wine/stock/water, rice, zucchini, capsicum, mushrooms, oregano, garlic, salt and pepper. Cook over medium-high heat until mixture reaches a low boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 45 minutes, or until vegetables are tender. Sprinkle liberally with fresh parsley to garnish. Serve with couscous, rice or pasta.

Vegetable Soup

This was the first recipe cooked in the first session of the City Life Community Kitchens. It is a very tasty recipe. It is hearty and filling, everyone was surprised how much flavour it had.
2 onions peeled and diced
1 carrot peeled and grated
3 sticks of celery chopped
½ swede peeled and grated
1 parsnip peeled and grated
1 sweet potato peeled and diced
1 zucchini
1 can of corn kernels
1 can of Borlotti beans
½ cup red lentils
1½ cups of dry wholemeal pasta
2 litres vegetable stock
2 litres water
3 tbsp olive oil
Oregano ground
Parsley
In a large stockpot heat the vegetable stock. In a separate pan heat the oil. Saute the onions and celery and carrots, when tender add them to the stock.
Bring the soup to the boil, begin to add the other ingredients one at a time,making sure the soup continues to keep boiling.
Firstly add the lentils and beans.
Then add the hard vegetables such as the sweet potato and swede.
Lastly add the zuchinni and corn kernels.
Add the herbs and season with salt and pepper.
Stir frequently while simmering, cook for 30mins.
Add pasta and simmer for another 10minutes or until the pasta is cooked.
Serve with chunky homemade croutons.

Pumpkin Soup

This soup was made at Community Kitchens on 5th August. One of our participants rated this soup 20 out of 10. You cant ask better than that. The croutons are worthwhile making too, the recipe is below and they are much more fun than toast.
Knob of butter and 1 tbsp olive oil
1kg butternut (squash) pumpkin, or jap or kent varieties.
3 potatoes chopped
1 onion diced
2 stock cubes (vegetable or chicken)
1.5 tablespoons fresh ginger, grated or minced well
1 litre of water
Salt and Pepper to taste
Handful of fresh coriander leaves to serve (optional)
.... or fresh parsley chopped finely to serve
dollop of cream to serve (optional)
sprinkle of nutmeg to serve
chunky homemade parmesan croutons

Peel the pumpkin with a potato peeler or small knife. Chop into 2cm cubes. Chop the potatoes into similar cubes, it's up to you whether you peel them first or not. Peel & chop the onion. Melt the butter with the oil in a large pan. Then fry it gently in the pan, with the lid on, until it starts to soften. Check and stir to make sure it doesn't brown. Add the potatoes to the onions and stir to coat well with the oil. Add the pumpkin. Stir well. Cover and cook for 10 minutes on low heat, stirring occasionally. When the potato has started to soften add the water to the pan crumble the stock cube into the water. Turn up the heat and bring to the boil, simmer gently until all the vegetables are soft - about 15 minutes. You might need to add more water. Add just enough to cover the vegetables, or the soup will be too runny. Use a stick blender to liquidise the soup or mash it very well then strain through a mesh sieve (retaining the liquid), push the solids through the sieve with the back of a spoon, stir, then serve. When serving place a dollop of cream in the centre of each bowl, sprinkle with nutmeg. Garnish each bowl with chunky homemade croutons and a pinch of fresh coriander or parsley.

To make chunky homemade croutons, cut an old unsliced loaf of bread into inch thick slices and cut again into cubes an inch wide and deep. Put the bread into a baking dish and drizzle with a little olive oil and sprinkle with some dry grated parmesan cheese. Bake croutons at 200deg Celsius for 10 mins stirring once during that time. Serve on top of homemade soup.

Red Cabbage with Apple

1 Red Cabbage
2 Cooking Apples
2 tablspoons Brown Sugar
3 tablespoons Malt Vinegar
150ml Water
Salt & Pepper
Shred the Cabbage, and peel the slice the Apples. Put all the ingredients into a large saucepan. Cover tightly and simmer on the lowest heat until the Cabbage is cooked (about an hour). Check occasionally to ensure that all the liquid has not dried up. Serves 8.

Chinese-Style Cabbage

115 g shredded Chinese cabbage (wombok)
60 g sliced celery
55 g chopped onion
10 ml vegetable oil
5 ml sesame oil
0.8 g salt
Dash pepper
8 ml soy sauce
In a small skillet, saute the cabbage, celery and onion in oil for 4-5 minutes or until crisp-tender. Sprinkle with salt, pepper and soy sauce.

Colcannon

455 g cabbage
455 g potatoes
2 leeks
235 ml milk
salt and pepper to taste
1g ground mace or nutmeg
115 g butter
Boil potatoes until tender. Remove from heat and drain. Season and mash potatoes well.
In a large saucepan, boil cabbage until tender; remove and chop or blend well. Set aside and keep warm.
Chop leeks, green parts as well as white, and simmer them in just enough milk to cover, until they are soft.
Stir cooked leeks and milk into the mashed potato. Blend in the cabbage and heat until the whole is a pale green fluff. Make a well in the center and pour in the melted butter. Mix well. Serve.