Travels for Taste

Tales of travel and food with a touch of spice

Grilled fruit kebabs with a chilli honey drizzle

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I have been craving some grilled food for a while. But my waistline will not take kindly to anything greasy so I went and bought myself a bunch of juicy peaches, nectarines and bright red strawberries and decided to make myself a huge bowl of fruity grilled goodness.

Grilled Fruit Kebabs with a chilli honey drizzle
Grilled Fruit Kebabs with a chilli honey drizzle

I know the weather is dreary and not really right for starting up a barbeque so it is a relief that I can still get great results with a good griddle pan. Perfect for testing out my new cast aluminium grill pan then?

I really like the colour combination of red and black and because this cast aluminium grill pan is from the ultra-light cookware range by House of Fraser it is so much easier use especially to flip pancakes in! I was also a bit worried that now that I am in a new house and my new kitchen has electric hobs ( I so miss the gas hob! sob sob…) how things would turn out but the grill pan works on electric hobs just as fine as well as solid hot plates, gas, ceramic hobs, halogen and induction – so versatile. The best part is that it has a little groove on the side where your wooden or plastic spatula can rest – very handy.

Cast aluminium grill pan from the House of Fraser
Cast aluminium grill pan from the House of Fraser

Grilled fruit kebabs with a chilli honey drizzle

Manjiri Chitnis
Perfect for summer, a great way to enjoy fruit, vegetarian and vegan-friendly fruit kebab dish
Print Recipe
Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 5 minutes
Course Appetizer
Cuisine Indian
Servings 2

Equipment

  • Wooden Skewers
  • Pan

Ingredients
  

  • 1 cup Chopped fruits – pineapple, peaches, kiwi,banana
  • Sea Salt to taste
  • Blueberries for garnish
  • 4 tbsp Honey
  • Generous sprinkle of smoked paprika
  • 1 Lemon juice
  • 1 tbsp mint leaves chopped fine

Instructions
 

  • As it was the first time I was using the grill pan, it needed to be washed with warm soapy water before-hand and left to air dry. Also, the pan works best on the hob that matches the size of the pan
  • Chop the fruit into large kebab-sizedpieces
  • Allow the pan to heat for 2minutes so that it is the right temperature – this may not be required on a gasflame hob
  • Carefully place the fruitpieces on the pan and gently press down with a wooden spatula. This ensuresthat the fruit will not bruise too much but also will ensure that the softflesh touches the hot ridges to give it the trademark grilled effect
  • Allow for about 2 -3 minutes, about 1.5 minutes each side on high heat but check by flipping over gently. Thesofter fruit especially the peaches and kiwi will take lesser time on the panwhile the pineapple and banana will take longer
  • Sprinkle some sea salt overthe fruit
  • After the fruit has dryroasted on each side transfer to a plate and set aside
  • Remove the pan from the hoband move to a rivet or a cooling down and allow it to come down to roomtemperature
  • In a small pan over low heat,add the honey and some water to dilute give the mixture a little, mix thesmoked paprika powder as per taste and immediately take it off the heat. Pourthe lime juice in and the add the chopped mint leaves, mix well
  • Alternating between pineapple,kiwi, strawberry, and peach cubes gently thread the grilled fruit onto theskewers. I like the little wooden skewers which makes it easier to eat them aswell. Add a blueberry at the end of each skewer for visual effect
  • Pour the tangy honey drizzleonto the grilled fruit and garnish with some finely chopped fresh mint leavesfor a fresh and light taste. Squeeze some more lemon juice on top before serving
Grilled Fruit Kebabs with a chilli honey drizzle
                                                            Grilled Fruit Kebabs with a chilli honey drizzle
*With thanks to House of Fraser for sending me a Linea Cast Aluminium Grill Pan  28cm  for review.  As usual all opinions expressed here are entirely my own.

A slice of Costa Rica – Casado

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With summer firmly on it’s way out and Autumn settling in, the chilly nights demand some great comfort food. I wanted to try something different so I choose a popular Costa Rican dish – Casado. Why? Well, it’s the ideal comfort food, easy to put together and tastes amazing! Best part is it’s very easy on the pocket and if you plate it well, it looks like a posh meal – no one would guess what went into making it!

Costa Rican Casado
Costa Rican Casado

Casado literally means a ‘married man’ and it is said that the name probably originates from how the local men expected food to be served when they were eating outside so that it reminded them of familiar tastes of a home cooked meal. An authentic Casado which is served at ‘sodas’ or local cafes is accompanied by what is known as a Lizano sauce. The brand name Lizano is now generic and retails in N. America.  Since this sauce is yet to hit UK shores ( believe me I did a fair bit of looking around in shops that sell Mexican ingredients, Asian, Carribean and most of my local supermarkets) I finally decided to make my own ,which was a great decision – why ? Well scope to experiment and innovate for one, coupled with freedom to incorporate easy to procure, local ingredients – resulting in a deliciously moorish creation! A traditional root vegetables dish from Costa Rico called Picadillo is a popular side dish with rice and tortillas. You can safely say that the gravy sauce is a marriage of sorts between the Lizano sauce and the Picadillo. I have done a fair amount of customisation and the most interesting part of cooking Casado was creating the gravy sauce, combining it with root vegetables and serving it as a wholesome gravy side dish. Let’s get started with the sauce aka gravy as this will take the most time to cook of all the other sides.

Costa Rican Casado
Costa Rican Casado

Root Vegetable Gravy Side

Manjiri Chitnis
Easy, delicious vegetarian gravy dish
Print Recipe
Course Main Course
Cuisine Costa Rican
Servings 2

Equipment

  • 1 Heavy Bottomed Pan
  • 1 Chopping Board
  • 1 Sharp Knife

Ingredients
  

  • 1 Medium juicy tomato – finely chopped
  • 2 Small red onions finelychopped
  • 3 Medium carrots chopped intotiny cubes
  • 3 Small sweetfresh peppers finely chopped
  • handful Cauliflower florets
  • handful Very finely chopped Sweet Potato
  • 1 tbsp finely grated celeriac
  • 2 tsp garlic puree
  • 1/2 dry red Kashmiri chilli
  • 1/2 tsp thick tamarind puree
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 1 tsp dried red chilli flakes
  • 2 tsp freshly grated black pepper
  • 1/2 tsp Sugar
  • 1/2 tsp Turmeric
  • 1/2 tsp Roasted cumin powder
  • 2 tbsp Oil
  • Salt as pertaste
  • Handful finely chopped fresh coriander leaves

Instructions
 

  • In a large saucepan, heat oil and add the chopped onions, add the garlic puree and cumin powder and stir well
  • When the onion starts toreduce add the bay leaves, the chopped tomato and chopped sweet peppers, stirthe the tomato & peppers around vigorously bit to get them to release theirjuices and reduce the flame to a minimum
  • Throw in the finely choppedcarrot cubes, sweet potato, grated celeriac, tomato puree and add enough water to cover this mixture
  • Cook with lid on till the sweet potato and carrots begin to soften, then it’s time to toss in the cauliflower florets, season with the dry red chilli, tamarind, cracked black pepper, salt and sugar and give it a good stir
  • Let this cook on a low flame with lid for about 25 minutes
  • Keep opening the lid, stirring and adjusting the water if it becomes to run dry, we need a gravy-like consistency
  • When it is done, add in some finelychopped coriander. The tamarind should give it a bit of tangy twist, while the dried Kashmiri chilli gives it colour and mild heat, the sweet pepper and tomato puree work their magic together and the gravy is delicious and wholesome, what with so many veggies hidden inside!
Root Vegetable Gravy Sauce

Red Kidney bean side

Prep and Cooking Time: 15 min

Ingredients:

  • 1 can of red kidney beans
  • 1 medium sized red onion
  • 2 large tbsp tomato puree
  • 1 tsp garlic puree
  • 1 tsp red chilli flakes
  • Salt to taste

Method:

  1. In a large saucepan, heat oil and sauté the chopped onions, add the garlic puree and stir well.
  2. After the onion has sautéed, add the tomato puree and stir then add the beans and mix well.
Red onions for Kidney Beans
Red onions for Kidney Beans
  1. Add some water to the mixture and reduce the flame to a minimum, cook with a lid on but check often so that it does not burn or run dry.
  2. 4.Since the canned and ready to eat red kidney beans are preserved in salty water, check the taste before adding in any more salt, chuck in some dry red chilli flakes for flavour and set aside.
Red Kidney Bean side is done
Red Kidney Bean side is done

Boiled white rice

  • Cook 1 cup rice using exactly double the water and a pinch of salt

Fried Plantain

  • Peel and chop the plantain into large chunks and fry in hot oil in a kadhai or wok until they are a light brown. It’s easy for them to char so get them out as soon as the colour turns a golden shade of brown, allow to cool on a plate on a bit of kitchen roll to soak excess oil.
Plaintains peeled

Don’t fret if like me you can’t peel the plantain I simply use a knife and remove the thick green skin, even if that means that the plantain pieces are hexagonal or cubes now, well I never was too good at geometry 😉

Frying Plantains in Kadhai

Fish

  • Casado can be served with meat, fish or chicken. Chop one large fillet of fresh salmon and pan fry both sides till done in about 1 tbsp oil.
Salmon Pan Shallow Fry

Cheese Tortilla

  • Heat a large flour tortilla –shop bought on a pan and adds a generous helping of grated parmesan cheese on tortilla. Just as the tortilla heats up and the cheese shows sign of melting fold the tortilla in half and flip over and toast each side till you have a crispy yum cheesy tortilla, slice into neat triangles ready to be served.
Tortilla on pan with grated cheddar

Cabbage Salad

  • Chop a fresh cabbage fine to get one large handful of cabbage, add half a red onion and a small handful of finely chopped cucumber, squeeze half a lime, sprinkle some cracked black pepper, a small amount of fresh finely chopped coriander and toss all these together. Easy-peasy right?
Folded Tortilla

Serve the steaming hot rice with the salmon on the side, topped with some of the root vegetable gravy. Mop up the beans with the cheesy tortilla and munch on the sweet fried plantain with generous bites of the tangy cabbage salad in between mouthfuls of everything else.

Costa Rican Casado
Costa Rican Casado

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