Category: Nigella Lawson

Fish Finger Bhorta

It will come as no surprise, says the person who recently made a cake from Pepsi Cola and Peanut Butter,  that every now and then, I like to indulge in a little bit of what might be called trashy food.  Such was the case this week when, due to an event being cancelled because of lockdown, I found myself with an evening free and all the ingredients for Fish Finger Bhorta in my fridge!  I have been dying to try this recipe ever since I read about it in Nigella Lawson’s Cook, Eat Repeat but had never actually got around to shopping for the specific ingredients.

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And when I say ingredients I mean spinach.  I always have fish fingers in my freezer (for me they are one of life’s great comfort foods), onions and the requisite spices in the pantry.  But I usually just buy those one-serve packets of baby spinach from the supermarket and use the whole pack in whatever I need spinach for.

However, again, thanks to lockdown and idiot people who had stripped the shelves of the local supermarket of all the pre-packed spinach, I had to buy loose spinach from the greengrocer.  Apparently, I have no idea how much spinach is required for one meal and bought way too much.  So I had leftover spinach.  I had a night free.  I was in lockdown, in the middle of winter.  If ever there was a time for comfort food in the shape of a fish finger bhorta this was it!

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So, you might be wondering, what on earth is a bhorta?  (I am going to assume we all know what fish fingers are).  Well…the best I can figure out from the interwebs is that bhorta (aka Bhurta) is a spicy Bangladeshi concoction of mashed-up stuff.  Can be veg, can be chicken, in this instance via Nigella the substance to be mashed is the humble fish finger.

This was soooo good!!!! I was a bit worried when Nigella said to cook the fish fingers for around 25 minutes. That’s about double the amount of time I normally cook them for.  However, who am I to question the Queen?  The fish fingers were gloriously crunchy, the onions delightfully pickle-y, the rest was a spicy mustardy melange of yum!  And just look at the colours!!!  The bright orangy yellow of the crumbed fish against the vivid pink of the pickled onions, the bright green of the coriander and the darker green of the spinach!  This is not only a delicious meal but also a bit like a work of modern art!

And all that spinach makes it healthy too!

Now, I am never going to question Nigella who is one of my food heroes…but…oh lord…dare I even say it?  But..you know what may make this even better?  A little bit of raita or other yoghurty something on the side.  Just to add a bit of creaminess to the crunchy, spicy, herby, mix.

Fish Finger Bhorta 2

Actually, you know what though?  I don’t think Nigella would mind.   After all, she freely admits to adapting this recipe from a tweet by Ash Sarkar.  And in her introduction to the recipe she says

This dish says something so fundamental about what cooking is, about how we adapt to ingredients that are new to us and make them part of lives…..Honest borrowing is the natural province of the cook and recipes are living evolving entities”

My yoghurty thing on the side is just another evolution!

Here are two traditional bhortas for those who might want them:

Aloo Bortha

Chicken Bartha

And here is Nigella’s recipe.

Have a great week!

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REPOST – Devil’s Food Cupcakes

What better way to end my devil themed blogiversary party than with some Devil’s Food  from the Domestic Goddess?

I adapted Nigella’s recipe into cupcakes and much deliciousness ensued!

Devil's Food Cupcake1

These were easy to make, and tasted amazing!  A deep chocolate flavour and they were (apologies in advance) super moist.  They also lasted for close to a week in the fridge…we are after all only two people and the mix made 15 cupcakes.  I took half  into work to share the love but someone managed to eat all of his half by himself.  Not so fussy after all it appears!

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If you head over to You tube you can see Nigella make this cake herself and hear her utter my favourite phrase of the clip when she speaks about mixing the cocoa, muscovado sugar and hot water into  a “malevolently dark syrup”.  It is Devil’s Food Cake after all!

Devil's Food Cupcake3I pretty much followed Nigella’s recipe except that I added a tablespoon of coffee granules into that same “malevolently dark syrup” because it wasn’t already rich and dark enough!  Also because I made cupcakes, I adjusted the cooking time.  Mine were in the oven for 18 minutes.

Devil's Food Cupcake4Can I just say….that frosting!!!!!  OMG.   I ate so much of it I felt sick.  Then I ate some more because it was so good!

 

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Devil’s Food Cupcakes

A luscious chocolate cake with a rich chocolate frosting. Sinfully Good!

Ingredients

Scale

For the Cake

  • 50 grams best-quality cocoa powder (sifted)
  • 100 grams dark brown muscovado sugar
  • 250 millilitres boiling water
  • 1 tbsp coffee granules (optional)
  • 125 grams soft unsalted butter (plus some for greasing)
  • 150 grams caster sugar
  • 225 grams plain flour
  • ½ teaspoon baking powder
  • ½ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 2 large eggs

For the Frosting

  • 125 millilitres water
  • 30 grams dark brown muscovado sugar
  • 175 grams unsalted butter (cubed)
  • 300 grams best-quality dark chocolate (finely chopped)
  • Sprinkles to decorate

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 180°C/gas mark 4/350°F.
  2. Line muffin pans with cupcake liners. I made 15 cupcakes from this mixture but the number of cupcakes will depend on the size of your containers.
  3. Put the cocoa, the coffee, if using, and 100g / half cup dark muscovado sugar into a bowl with a bit of space to spare, and pour in the boiling water.
  4. Whisk to mix, then set aside.
  5. Cream the butter and caster sugar together, beating well until pale and fluffy.
  6. While this is going on, stir the flour, baking powder and bicarb together in another bowl, and set aside for a moment.
  7. Still mixing, add the vanilla extract into the creamed butter and sugar . Then drop in 1 egg, quickly followed by a scoopful of flour mixture, then the second egg.
  8. Keep mixing and incorporate the last of the flour. Then fold in the cocoa mixture, scraping the mixing bowl well with a spatula.
  9. Divide this batter into the cupcake liners, filling to just over halfway.
  10. Place in the oven and cook until a skewer comes out clean – it was around 18 minutes for me but will depend on the size of your cupcakes.
  11. Remove from the tins and cool on a wire rack.

For The Frosting

  1. Put the water, 30g / 2 tablespoons muscovado sugar and 175g butter in a pan over a low heat to melt.
  2. When this mixture begins to bubble, take the pan off the heat and add the chopped chocolate, swirling the pan so that all the chocolate is hit with heat, then leave for a minute to melt before whisking till smooth and glossy.
  3. Leave for about 1 hour, whisking now and again.
  4. Spread or pipe the frosting over the cupcakes.
  5. Decorate with sprinkles or your decoration of choice.

Notes

If you want to make this as a large cake, watch Nigella’s You Tube clip or you can find the recipe here

If you’re serving these to guests or even if there is just two of you, make sure you spirit one of these away in case you have the need for a Nigella inspired midnight feast!

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Have a great week!

The Devil Cocktail

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