Recipe #2 - Masala paste

This recipe is extremely easy, and a great paste to have on hand for marinades, as well as a wide range of Southern Indian dishes.

Put the following into the food processor:
3 large tomatoes (I like to de-seed them, using only the flesh)
2 large onions, roughly chopped
1 tsp garam masala
1 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp ground coriander
3 seeded fresh chillies
1 tsp garlic, crushed
1 tsp ginger, grated

Process, and slowly add a little (about a tbsp or two) of white vinegar, until it forms a paste.

We use it to baste meat (lamb or chicken) kebabs, or use it to cook any masala dish.

Cook Strait Social Club

Three really talented musicians. They played last night (Sept 15) at the Harbourlight in Lyttelton. Excellent value for money .. the show lasted nearly 3.5 hours. One set each, then all together for a final set. Lots of new material amongst some oldies! Only a few more dates in their tour to go, though.

Recipe #1 - Lemon Yoghurt Cake

This is post #1 from the collective pen of Team Simply Catering. In this blog we (all of the staff at Simply Catering) will from time to time post recipes from our cafe, but may also add ramblings about anything that interests us, which currently range from gardening to exercise, local music and events to restaurants.



Recipe #1: Lemon/Yoghurt Cake



As this has been requested more than any other, we thought we'd begin here.



1 3/4 c sugar

2 lemons

pinch of salt

2 eggs

1 c oil

1 c plain yoghurt

2 c self raising flour





Grease a ring tin, and line with baking paper on the bottom as well as up the sides and around the centre ring to form a collar, an inch or 2 above the sides of the tin. Preheat oven to 180 degs.



In a food processor, mix the sugar, salt and zest of 2 lemons until well mixed. Add the juice of the 2 lemons, oil, yoghurt and eggs, and again mix well. Add the self-raising flour, and pulse until just mixed through.



Pour into tin (carefully avoiding the centre paper lining), rest a few minutes, and fan-bake at 180 degs for 45 minutes.



Tips: Don't over-mix the final stage (s/r flour) - it won't matter if you can still see specks of flour in the mixture. Don't open the oven until 45 minutes to check - trust me, it'll be fine!