Rabbit Recipes: Arancini (Or: Why I Always Make Too Much Risotto)

I have, until very recently, had a deep phobia of deep fat frying. I am a scaredy cat and I'm clumsy, and the two together + boiling oil has never seemed like the best idea to me. Marrying into a Gujarati family has meant I've had to face this fear as perhaps 50% of Gujarati snacks and breads are deep fried. I in no way aim to emulate this ratio in my diet but every now and again I do like a freshly cooked samosa or a puffed puri.

This is an Italian recipe that I first came into contact with in Carluccio's (I love Carluccio's!) The taste of these delicious, crispy risotto balls filled with melting cheese, remained there in my subconscious until I was faced one day with a massive batch of leftover risotto and couldn't face eating it for the third day in a row. And then, DING! I remembered.

This is ridiculously easy if you have leftover risotto to hand. I would actually also like to try making an Indian version using leftover khichuri, a type of lentil risotto - possibly filled with mincemeat or paneer.

All you need is leftover risotto (fresh isn't gluey enough to make the balls from so you'll just have to make a bit extra!), breadcrumbs, a relatively hard cheese (I used Edam here but cheddar is excellent too), and a beaten egg to use as egg wash. And one of these (I'm not sure what they're called but available from any good Indian hardware/cookware shop!), which has considerably lessened my fear of deep frying. I can stand half a metre away and gingerly poke the cauldron of oil!

Cube your cheese into 0.5cm ish pieces. Mould the cold risotto around the cubed cheese into balls.

Then get a conveyor belt type thing going (preferably photograph yours in the right order) with risotto balls, egg wash, breadcrumbs and empty plate at the end, with forks in each to stop things getting too messy.

Get your oil nice and hot (drop a grain of risotto in it and if it sizzles and rises to the top, it's ready, if it sinks, it needs to be hotter. If the oil is smoking, it's too hot and you need to - carefully - take it off the heat for a bit).

Drop 4-5 of the breaded arancini into the oil (you can use the spoon to do this ) and fry for 5-6 min until golden brown.

Remove with the sieve-spoon/similar implement and place on a plate with sheets of kitchen roll. Repeat with batches of arancini.

I like to serve them with a crisp salad to cut the fried-ness, and two or three dips (sweet chilli-mango, chilli mayonnaise and ketchup, usually!)

p.s. burning a candle is THE best way of getting rid of frying smells. That's your Diptyque/Yankee/Jo Malone addiction justified, isn't it?

Arm Candy, that ole blogger cliche

When I was at uni, I used to take great pride in my stacks and stacks of bangles, bracelets, cuffs and beads which I used to meticulously match to my outfit every day and which used to go from wrist to close to my elbow on both arms, Indian bride style. (In fact I made one of my best friends in the world through our matching sets - that and Goodness Gracious Me). Alas, I no longer have the time to do that (make the most of it, students) and I spend far too much time in silent whispery archives and libraries to jangle and clatter quite so much. That said, I do always jingle a bit, as these I never take off - my dozen hand carved silver bangles which were given to me by my beloved uncles:

The polish I'm wearing here was actually given to me from the beloved friend mentioned above, and is OPI's Jade is the New Black

Close up of the Bangladeshi floral hand carving <3 br="br">

But I do keep seeing people on Instagram proudly displaying wrists full of jewels (if you wish to follow my endless pictures of other people's cats and my lunches, I am nazneen372), and I have a hankering to reload. Perhaps not quite as gaudily as before - now I am thinking of delicate pieces, semi precious stones, and whimsical charms that might nestle and peek from under my bangles. Should I stick to silver? Should I mix metals? I don't rightly know!

But these are some of the pieces that have caught my eye of late:

I've always loved the more delicate pieces Lola Rose does:

QVC, £18.36

 Also rather pretty but a bit chunkier to make more of an impact (and would co-ordinate with my engagement ring :) )

QVC, £18.36

 I love seed pearls so this delicate bracelet with the tiniest tiniest pearls does sing to me:

Oliver Bonas, £18

And really rather gorgeous, this, like a garland of tiny flowers:

Oliver Bonas, £18

Finally I couldn't not have a rabbit charm, could I? (I'd have NNA as the initials, to stand for me, my sister and my bro):

Etsy, £18

What's on your wrists? Do you like to keep it simple with a single piece, or do you go to town on mixing it up?

Supermarket Sweep Saturdays

I love supermarket clothing ranges. They're great value, usually good quality and you can sneak dresses in with your weekly shop. I really rate Tesco and Asda for good quality basics like thick cotton tights, T shirts and socks but they also come up with some lovely alternatives to Peacocks and Primark (both of which seem to be getting more and more expensive, whilst quality declines). So I thought I'd do a weekly rundown of things I like that come from supermarket ranges. Due to its price bracket (and the fact that my local branch is directly opposite Asda) I'm going to include Matalan in with Asda and Tesco. I wish Sainburys would bring their clothing range online because it's very nice too!

So this week, the following have caught my eye.

Just how snuggly is this? 

Matalan, £20

 

 

 

I love the scalloped detailing of this coat which makes it look a lot more expensive than £40:

Tesco, £40

Not sure what the leather on these might be like but I'm impressed that are even ARE leather, at £38:

Asda, £38

Do you buy from supermarket clothing ranges? Which is your favourite?

Friday Frock returns!

And what a frock to return with. This is, I think, could be close to being the favourite of my THREE rabbit print dresses. (Yes, three!) Monsoon really knock it out of the park with this - I love the tulip shape, the pinky-cream colour, and the lovely, elegant elbow length sleeves. (The print's not too bad, either...)

I wore this outfit to see some of my oldest, dearest friends for what was a beautiful afternoon of food, drink and laughter - and giraffes. There's little in the world that's better, for me. I only wish all my favourite people weren't scattered all over the place. Hmmph. Personally, I think they all need to move to Southampton.

Dress, Monsoon; shoes, Poetic Licence; cardigan, Topshop; embellished headband, Primark; bee earrings, Dorothy Perkins; flower and pearl necklace, Accessorize.

Gothic Red Riding Hood

My one buy for the forseeable future is one I'm just so excited about. It's my Gothic Red Riding Hood coat!

I can't tell you how long I've been searching for a coat like this (since I was 8 I guess when I last had one?)

Last year I got completely fixated by this coat and ordered it when a discount put it just about into my price range:

But the flared skirt swamped me and the bright red just didn't work with my skintone.

This one, however, is just so perfect (this is me trying it on in an 8 in Topshop, but I've now got a properly fitting 10 (these babies are huge!) in my rabbit paws. It's a great colour and although quite swingy and widening, it's an easy silhouette that works nicely with dresses and doesn't swamp me at all. Plus it feels a bit like a cape without all the tricky armhole stuff.

I tend to go all out with themed outfits as some of you may gather. So eventually I'd like to put some whimsical fairytale brooches together on this coat. I've compiled a few of my favourites here:

Whimsical Brooches by nazneen372 featuring wood jewelry

Wool coat
£120 - topshop.com

Layla Amber wood jewelry
hannahzakari.co.uk

I Am Acrylic brooch
hannahzakari.co.uk

wooden teapot brooch by i am acrylic | notonthehighstreet.com
notonthehighstreet.com

Silhouette Brooch Little Red Riding Hood by karamboola on Etsy
£9.24 - etsy.com

vintage button and bramble corsage by goody gum drop designs |...
notonthehighstreet.com

Velveteen Rabbit Brooch by EllyMental - Folksy
folksy.com

Rabbit Recipes: Dhokla Muffins

Dhokla is a Gujarati steamed fluffy savoury cake made with gram flour and topped with mustard seeds, desiccated coconut and coriander. As they're steamed and made from protein-rich chick pea flour, they're one of the few relatively healthy Gujarati snack foods and are very, very popular with Bartimaeus, my mum, and most folks who try them. There's a lot of different kinds, and different levels of difficulty in making them. It's possible to just buy a Gits packet and add water but having tried this recipe, I really don't see the point and it's much cheaper this way. In place of "curd" I used greek yoghurt and used 2 tsp baking powder instead of "eno fruit salt", but I think using probiotic yoghurt would work to help the batter rise too. I also omitted the ground green chillies and put a pinch of red chilli in there instead.

Pre-topping

I can't really take any credit for this recipe, because it's not mine. However, what I can take credit for the presentation/method. Previously, I've used my mother in law's steaming technique of pouring the batter into a foil lined steamer and hoping for the best. This is pretty disastrous - it's a wet batter, and most of it leaks, you have to stab holes in the foil which don't really work and there isn't enough air then circulating for the dhokla to rise nicely. You end up with a sad, flat, wet yellow pancake and no fluffiness at all.

But when thinking up recipes as I drifted off to sleep one day (as I am wont to do) I realised silicone muffin cups would solve all this - and result in cute little individual dhoklas. I would recommend greasing the liners with a little oil/ghee (especially in the edges/nooks as that's where the most sticking happens) and leaving to cool before turning out. Each set of 8 muffins took me about 6-8minutes to steam and the recipe I've linked to made over 30 of the lovely little things.

With the topping

The traditional way to eat them is with Gujarati green chutney but I didn't have any (!) so I served them with sweet chilli-mango sauce (a hybrid of sweet chilli sauce and mango chutney. it is so much awesomeness!) and chilli ketchup.

Whilst they're technically a snack, they're breadlike and I think can be used in the place of blander carbohydrates quite easily. We had them with my Indian spiced scrambled eggs (which I will post about another day) for a tasty twist on brunch. I like the idea of dunking them in soups - lentil, carrot and coriander, chilli bean. And I want to experiment with fillings - particularly a chilli paneer centre, but I think I'd need to make full sized muffins to get enough structure to hold it (watch this space). They're definitely going to be a staple in the Rabbit-Bartimaeus household!

Best Things in Life are Free

Ah Janet and Luther, you're righter than I have ever known. For many reasons, I'm going on a complete non-essential no-spend. I need to reconfigure my life and what makes me happy - it's not things, but people, experiences, memories that do that, in the most long-lasting and joyful of ways. So here's a list of things that are free/non-"stuff" based that I can and should enjoy more.

1. Listening to music - on the radio, on Spotify, from my substantial CD collection. Music takes me away from things in a way buying stuff never could, to good places.

2. Reading, especially utilising my local libraries and bolstering my knowledge of the classics, which are more often than not, free on Kindle.

3. Writing/drawing/making/sewing - why do I spend so many hours idly browsing online shops when I could be DOING something that stimulates my brain and makes me feel more positive about myself?

4. Spending time with/talking to friends - I hide away and get lost in my own world, forgetting others need me, and that I need them too.

5. Exercise/cooking - I need to lose some weight, my immune system has hit rock bottom, I'm exhausted all the time and I need to get myself fit and strong again because WINTER IS COMING. And I never feel as buzzy as when I've exercised, which I will need when the days get shorter and I get sleepier. I also want to experiment with healthy versions of Indian classics. I have so many recipe ideas in my head that never make it to the plate - paneer filled steamed dhokla muffins, for one. 

6. Enjoying/contributing to my community. Little makes me feel happier than knowing I belong somewhere, that it's home. I should really celebrate that more and contribute to it. Because that's how you really feel part of something. And our city has so many things I haven't explored, writing groups, galleries, museums - I need to go out and explore all it has to offer, and give something back.

7. Gardening - my little garden is not looking so happy right now. But the little time I've spent in it (mostly pruning the weeds - or de-gardening as we have termed it) has been some of the most relaxing, rewarding and physically demanding work I've done. I'd love my garden to be a little purple floral oasis this time next year, a space we can relax in and enjoy. I'd love to grow plants from seeds and see them bloom. How smileworthy will that be?

8. Remixing and customising my clothes. I'm going through a grungy phase at the moment. So my instinct would usually be to rush out and buy that pricey velvet dress I featured, new makeup, new jewellery. Except I can so easily do grunge with my existing wardrobe anyway. I have heaps of dark, vampy nail colours. I have a black maxi dress I have layer up for winter. I have dark, moody scarves and long snuggly cardigans. I HAVE LONG BLACK HAIR. So I'm not rushing out to buy it after all.

9. Learning more about my faith. I've been on a journey back to Islam this year. It's not something I speak much about either here or to my friends and family. But it has immeasurably enriched my life and helped me through many difficulties this year. So I want to give it the attention and time it deserves from me.

10. Writing my blog - you'd think with all the shopping, I'd be updating the blog all the time. Er no. Ironically, I don't even really like "OMG LOOK AT ALL THIS NEW STUFFS I HAVE BROUGHT OMG" posts (especially not when they commit that heinous spelling crime of crimes) but my favourite bloggers are the resourceful, creative remixers who also let you into their full and rich and multidimensional lives. I love seeing a dress twice or three times on a blog - resurfacing like an old friend. I love trying out a blogger's personally crafted recipe. I love seeing nail art and creative layering combinations of talented nail bloggers. I love to read book reviews - perversely, even of books I'd never read. So all this - this is what I want for my little corner of the internets.

I should be dreading this no-spend. But actually, I'm really excited about it.