Microwave Crisps/ Chips

I was in a discount shop (as usual) and saw The Joie Healthy Potato Chip Maker for £5.99. It is small and neat, all the parts fit together for storage( although I needed a little masking tape to keep them other). It has 4 pieces, a bowl, a mandolin lid, a hand protector (so you don't slice your fingers on the mandolin lid) and a cooking rack for the microwave.
The mandolin lid goes on the bowl (after removing the cooking rack) you use the hand protector with the potato to slice it into very thin slices. The hand protector prongs are slippy and did not grip the potato well, so I chopped my potato in half and the flat surface gripped the potato better. Do be careful when slicing your vegetables, I had to do it very slowly. One large potato made a lot of crisps (or chips if you live in America) and yes I did peel my potato but that's personal choice.

I put my potato slices into a larger bowl containing hot water with a little salt dissolved in it so they did not discolour, I know other people recommend adding vinegar or lemon, but my potatoes did not seem to need it.
I dried the potato slices as needed on kitchen paper and placed them into the cooking rack. My first batch did stick a little as the potato I sliced was very large so the sliced touched as they cooked, the next batch (after leaving a little time for the microwave to cool) I placed a slice every second slot on the cooking rack, these turned out really well. One tip is to turn the potato slices midway as the outside outed faster the the inside so this made them cook more evenly.

It seemed like a lot of work but as the crisps were fat free and once sliced it only a case of turning on the microwave between doing other things, it was not so bad. Do you good firm potatoes, the not old potatoes you want to use up as the taste really does depend on the quality of your potato. For flavouring I use a little salt and herbs. It is up to you but I think they do need some sort of flavour.

I really like this product and need to experiment and see if it will work with other vegetables.

Carrot and Daikon Pickles

 













I love all types of pickles, some takes months before you can eat them, but this recipe is a favourite and is very quick way of making tasty pickles. This is based on a Japanese pickle recipe that is traditionally eaten in the New Year's celebration called kohaku-namasu.
It does not have many ingredients but is super tasty. You can add a teaspoon of mirin to the vinegar/ sugar mix for a more traditional taste and I used cyder vinegar instead of rice wine vinegar because I prefer it you can experiment with other vinegars also :)

Ingredients

• 300 gms/  Daikon (also called a mooli, winter radish, white radish)
• 70 gms Carrot
• 2 Heaped teaspoons course salt (I used course sea salt)
• 4 tablespoons vinegar (I used cyder vinegar but you could you rice wine vinegar)
• 2 teaspoons sugar or honey

 

Cut the carrot into slices (I cut at an angle) and than into small matchsticks, add to a bowl

 


Repeat cutting the daikon into matchsticks and add to the bowl.





 

Sprinkle with the salt and mix well. Leave for 20 minutes than drain off the liquid. Squeeze gently to get as much liquid off as possible.





Mix the vinegar and sugar together in a separate bowl, until the sugar has dissolved. 
Transfer the cut carrot and daikon matchsticks to a lidded jar. Add the vinegar/ sugar mix to the jar and mix well.
 
Leave for a minimum of 4 hours turning the jar to mix occasionally, or if you prefer over night. Keeps for several days in a refrigerater (although in my house there's never any left for the refrigerater)

Serve in small individual bowls can also be served sprinkled with sesame seeds. 

New lid with a little house

Over time I really don't know what happens to pot lids, some get dropped and broken, others  just disappear leaving good pots so when a lid is needed you have to use a plate or a lid from another pot and just does not do the job. So here's my latest find and it was in the bargain section to, a silicone lid that fits most of my lidless small to medium pots. It has a cute little house in the middle which lets steam rise through it. Its microwave and dishwasher safe (if only I had a dishwasher, maybe someday) its about 8" in diameter. Most importantly it works really well and makes me smile seeing the steam come through the chimney everytime :) Below is a photo of it on my meduim sized saucepan.

Veggi Haggis

Burns night is the 25th January and Sainsburys was selling half price haggis. I have never had haggis before mainly because its animal parts but this was a veggie haggis and bargain priced so I thought something different.

It was very simple to cook - place in foil and bake in the oven. I was not sure of the smell and the look, but tried it. To my surprise it was very tasty, a little like a spicy nut roast, its not been in the supermarket since, so I am now on the lookout for a veggie haggis recipe to make myself :)