Moroccan style fish.

I got that recipe from one of my favorite cook books - ''Greedy girls diet'' by Nadia Sawalha.
I would highly recommend this book as it contains hearty, honest and almost 100% clean recipes with a Middle East touch, which I love.

I've changed the recipe a little bit to suit my skills ;) Nadia recommends to cook the fish in the oven but I cannot really trust my oven, even when it's fish baking.

It's easy, cheap, quick and delicious. And clean eating approved :)

Ingredients:

white fish fillets (I use pre-packed frozen fish fillets from Asda or Sainsbury's)
olive oil
1 onion, thinly sliced
4 garlic cloves, sliced
2 tbsp ground sweet paprika
1 tbsp ground cumin
1 tbsp of Harrissa
1 can of chopped tomatoes
1 red pepper, cut into strips (I use frozen mixed peppers)
zest of 1 unwaxed lemon (I use lemon pepper instead)
 1 can of chick peas (drained) or 1-2 cups of cooked chickpeas
fresh coriander or parsley
black pepper
salt (if used)

Method:

First thing is to defrost the fish (if you use frozen). I used to leave frozen fish in a fridge overnight and use it in a morning - I always cook dinner early in a morning as my daughter got only one nap daily.
Start from frying lightly onion and garlic on a 1 tbsp of olive oil in a big pan. Add spices and Harrissa and stir well until combined. Add pepper, tomatoes and lemon zest. Bring it to boil, reduce the heat and let it simmer for 15 min. Add chick peas and fish. Cover the pan and simmer for about 10 min when fish is cooked.

Serve with brown rice, sprinkled with chopped coriander or parsley.

Chickpeas and vegetable curry.

This dish is my own interpretation of a vegetable curry. I rarely use ready recipes, I rather create everything what can make quick and tasty meal.
This one is one of my favourites. You can use any vegetables you want and any spices you fancy.
It's quick, healthy, clean and filling too. Served with basmati or brown rice - makes an easy and delicious dinner.

2 cups of boiled chickpeas ( or 2 tins - drained )
1 large sweet potato
1 large or a few small potatoes
1 large onion
2-3 cloves of garlic ( or more if you want to )
2 tbsp of tomato paste ( I use 1 tbsp of Harissa sometimes )
2 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil
1/2 tin of coconut milk or 1 sachet of creamed coconut

Spices:
you can use whatever you want to, my basic is always ground corriander, paprika and cumin. I like Ras-El-Hanout as well. I don't use salt but you can use it, of course.

This is the base of curry.

Next thing is vegetables - the choice is yours. Sometimes I just leave it plain, like the base. When I add vegetables, my favourites are: pumpkin or buttersquash, courgette, mixed peppers and mushrooms. I like baby carrots in it too. Choice is big and all depends of what you got at home and what is in season.

Preparation:
Light fry chopped onion and garlic on olive oil, when it changes colour add spices and tomato paste. Stir all the times, otherwise it will burn. Add about a cup and half of water. Mix it well to combine spices with liquid.
Add potatoes - cubed, stir, cover the pan and cook until potatoes are half soft (it doesn't take long as they are cubed). After that time add the rest of vegetables (if you use them). After about 5 min add coconut milk and curry is ready when potatoes and vegetables are soft and sauce became a little thick. 
To make sauce more thick, cook curry without cover or blend some of the vegetables and put them back to the pan.

Another version of this curry is prawn curry - just add prawns at the time of adding spices.

It's an example of a quick, easy and very tasty meal. And it's clean eating too :)

Homemade hummus.

Once you've made the hummus by yourself, you will never buy it.  I guarantee.  All you need is a food processor and a few ingredients.

Main ingredients: chickpeas, lime, Tahini paste,  extra virgin olive oil,  lemon pepper.

The main ingredient is chickpeas. I used to buy tinned but since I've discovered dried chickpeas I just cook them at home. They taste better and it's cheaper, too. I got that idea from Ayten and I love it. Hope she won't mind if I share it here :)

So wash the dried chickpeas, put them into a large pan (they will grow) and pour warm water on them. Leave them for about 3 hours or overnight. They will become soft and will visibly bigger. Wash them again, put them into pan again, pour hot water on them and leave them to boil until soft. Drain them and leave to cool. Use them straight away or divide them into freezer bags to freeze. If you want to use them, just defrost  for about 1 hour before using.

Dried chickpeas soaked in a pan.

Homemade hummus.

2 cups of cooked chickpeas (or 2 tins - drained)
2 tbsp of Tahini paste
1 lemon or lime
1 clove of garlic or dried garlic powder
extra virgin olive oil
salt (if used) - I don't use salt

Put chickpeas, garlic and Tahini paste into food processor. Squeeze some lemon/lime juice - the amount depends how sharp you like your hummus. Just try, you can always add more. Turn the food processor on. Pour some olive oil but be careful again - you can always add more. To cut down the calories I like to add just a splash of warm water if I'm not happy with the consistency. Blend until you are happy with the consistency. I like my hummus crunchy.
That's all. Add a pinch of salt if you use it. Done :)

This is a recipe for a plain hummus. By adding some more ingredient you ca n make different flavour every time. Here are some ideas:

• sundried tomatoes 
• garden peas and fresh mint
• cooked beetroot
• fresh herbs: basil, corriander, chive, parsley, dill - anything you like
• chopped onion
• fried (caramelised) onion
• sweet paprika powder
• chilli powder or black pepper