What's Cooking Thursday #2: Lactose-Sensitive Marble Cake!

This recipe comes from The Guardian I tried and tested it and it worked perfectly. I chose to use a cake tin however instead of a loaf one and it came out great for a first go!

I decided to then go on a mission and feed everyone this delicious marble cake so I made multiple! One managed to sink, but still tasted good apparently!

I have a family member who has a lactose sensitivity. It basically means that he has a bit of a bad reaction to some dairy products but can have fresh whole milk & yoghurt from the farm and eggs are fine.

This recipe includes butter, creme fraiche, milk and dark chocolate. These were the four things that I needed to find alternatives for.
 Butter was fine as I knew of Flora's Vitalite - I didn't find this however on the few occasions I looked for it and settled on some vegan margarine instead.

The milk wasn't a problem as there are many alternatives such as soya milk, coconut milk, almond milk, etc.

The creme fraiche I knew alpro has a version of, but I couldn't seem to find it whenever I went looking for it. I settled on  coconut yoghurt. I didn't particularly like the taste and it was a bit strong if you were to use it in the recipe as is. However I put in 25g of extra sugar (so instead of 175 I put 200g of sugar while making this) and this balanced the taste wonderfully - you couldn't even tell!

The chocolate I ended up looking at (for ages, ask my husband!) was made just with soya and no milk - even though the allergy warnings still applied.

And it turned out brilliant!


Do you have anyone that you need to make things for especially lactose intolerance, gluten-free, etc? Do you have trouble finding alternatives? How do you make the alternatives work just as great as the original?

What's Cooking Thursday #1: Minced Meat with Pitta Bread

What's Cooking Thursday is a series of different recipes of meals & desserts that I've been cooking recently. Although I don't always like my own cooking I do like my mum's and most of these are her recipes. I hope you enjoy!

I don't know about you, but sometimes I can't be asked to make an elaborate dinner. I want something easy, quick, flavoursome and wholesome. My absolute go-to is this minced meat (keema) recipe that I've learnt from my mum. She adds tons of spices to her food to really amp up the taste!

INGREDIENTS

1kg minced meat
1 1/2 medium-sized onions or 2 small onions
1 tsp garlic
1 tsp ginger
1 tsp ground garam masala
1 tsp groun coriander
1 tsp ground cumin seeds
1 tsp curry powder
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp salt
1/5 tsp of chilli powder
2-21/2 tbsp tomato puree/paste
3 tbsp oil
a generous helping of mixed vegetables
one handful of fresh coriander leaves
You can also add 3 medium-sized boiled potatoes to add to the very end!

I usually give my meat a rinse underneath the tap and squash all the water out and let it sit for a bit before I put it in the pot.

 

Finely chop your onions and chuck them into your pot along with enough oil to coat them while frying. 

 

Cook them until just passed golden brown - it doesn't matter if a few bits are darker or lighter than the rest so long as you have a general golden colour throughout. This helps with the flavour and colouring of the minced meat. You'll want to turn the heat down to its lowest point

You'll now want to add a mug full of hot water and turn the heat right back to bring to the boil. 

Here we will now add our 1tsp of ginger and garlic as well as our tomato paste

And now we're adding 1tsp of the rest of our spices (ground garam masala, coriander, cumin, curry powder, paprika, salt) and 1/5 of chilli powder - or you can add to taste. It is better to add less chilli powder and to leave or to add to taste later on.

You mix all the ingredients together and you leave on the heat for 2-4 minutes until you can start to see the oil bubbling in the pan.

You now add your minced meat!

And mix thoroughly until it's covered in the sauce. You the leave this alone to boil with the lid on for about 3-4 minutes so that the water can escape from the minced meat

You then check on it and see how much water has come up and add to it if necessary. At this stage I usually add half a mug.

I now add in the mixed veg to cook along with the minced meat and leave to cook for 15/20 minutes on a slightly lower heat. I usually take this time to wash up and to clear up my kitchen counter so most of it is clean!

Now that it has cooked you can add the fresh coriander and taste the minced meat. You may add to your liking here. I like to add at least 1/2 tsp of everything and maybe 1/5 tsp more chilli powder.

Mix thoroughly when you add more!

 

You'll now want to get rid of any excess water. So you crank up to high heat and stir consistently until all of the water has evaporated.

 And it is complete!

Serve with pitta bread and enjoy!