It’s nibble time

Every dinner party should start with some nibbles and drinks. Our ‘go to’ nibbles have always been posh crisps but now, on SCD, potato crisps are out of the question and most shop bought nibbles contain illegal ingredients such as sugar and starch.

Every SCD kitchen probably has lots of nuts in thepantry and I have been experimenting to find the best result. I love the sweet and salty flavour combination so that’s waht I went for.

So, it’s nibble time!

Sweet Chilly Roasted Mixed Nuts

Ingredients:

100-150g raw Pecan nuts

100-150g raw blanched Almonds

100-150g raw Cashew nuts

(Or use any raw nut combination you like)

25g butter/ghee/coconut oil

2 tsp Honey

1tsp Chilly Flakes

1/2 tsp cooking or table salt

1/2 tsp Pink/Maldon/kosher salt (whichever you have)

Method:

1. Heat the oven to 150°c and line a large baking tray with aluminium foil.
2. In a small saucepan on a medium heat, gently melt the butter with the honey, chilli and cooking salt.
3. Measure all the nuts into a large mixing bowl, pour the melted butter-honey mix ontop and mix thoroughly until all the Nuts are covered.  Sprinkle the pink salt and mix again, then tip the nuts onto the lined baking tray.
4. Roasted for 7min, mix well and roast for another 5min. It’s important to keep your eye on the nuts as every oven is different and you don’t want them to burn.
5. Remove from the oven and mix thoroughly again. Aa the nuts cool they might stick, so keep mixing them every few minutes.
6. Serve warm or cold. Store in an air tight container and try to leave some for the gusts…

Enjoy!

Flippin’ easy pancakes

Before coming to this country I never heard of Shrove Tuesday but like any tradition that has anything remotely to do with food, I embraced it and started flipping pancakes with a variety of toppings – as much As I tried, the sugar and lemon part of the tradition does not excite my taste buds at all.

Pancakes for me are weekend food, when you have time in the morning to indulge and surprise your other half with breakfast in bed, the kind that gives you energy for the rest of the day. When I started cooking the SCD way I naturally tried to find good replacements for my usual pancake recipe. After exploring some recipes I found online and in cookbooks, trying all sorts of ingredients such as ground almonds, coconut flower and cashew nuts, I finally landed on a recipe that really ticked all the pancake boxes: quick & easy to make, good flavour & texture and keeps you full for long.

Some notes on the recipe:

• The recipe is child friendly. I usually use a small food processor to make the batter, but if kids are making it and they are not old enough to use sharp electrical appliances, they should use the manual option of the process.
• The quantities make apron 10 small pancakes and 4-5 large ones.
• I believe the first batch of pancakes is always a ‘sacrifice to the pancakes gods’ and usually rippes, scrunches or burns, so don’t panic if the first few pancake aren’t perfect, just hide them at the bottom of the pile.
• I like using coconut oil for frying the pancakes. It burns at high temperature which makes it a bit healthier than other fats or oils, but the best bit about it that it fills the kitchen with scents that send me back to the streets of Bangkok.

Banana Pancakes

Based on this recipe, with my changes

Ingredients:

1 ripe Banana (the riper the better)
2 Eggs
1 tbsp nut butter (any nut butter you have at home, almond, cashew or peanut are all good, as long as they are pure)
1 tbsp Coconut Oil for frying (it’s good for frying as it burns at hight temperatures but you can use any other vegetable oil or butter/ghee you prefer)

SCD Banana Pancakes batter, made in a processor and made manually in a bowl

SCD Banana Pancakes Ingredients

Method:

1. If you have one, chop the banana and it with the eggs and nut butter in a small food processor or blender and blitz to a smooth batter.
2. If you are doing it manually, use a fork to mash the banana to a puree on a plate or cutting board, then place the banana in a bowl with the eggs and nut butter, whisk to a smooth batter.
   
3. Warm the oil in a frying pan on the hob to a high heat.
4. Lower the heat to medium and using a small measuring cup to dollop the batter into the hot pan.
5. When small bubbles appear on the pancakes, it’s time to flip them and fry for another minute on the other side (just like with wheat based pancakes).
   
6. Continu making pancakes until the batter is all used up, then serve with fresh fruit and drizzle honey on top.
   

Enjoy.