Community Cookbook
LAST week, just about every branch of the mass media worldwide — Cyprus Today included — featured the launch of Together: Our Community Cookbook, a charity recipe book backed by the Royal Foundation telling the story of the Hubb Community Kitchen, a group of local women who came together to cook in the wake of London’s Grenfell Tower fire as a way of providing food, support and love to their community when it needed it most. With a foreword written by HRH The Duchess of Sussex, the book’s launch was guaranteed to hit the headlines but the story behind the book is a genuinely heart-warming tale of women from different cultures all cooking, swapping recipes, talking and laughing, healing and looking forward after the tragedy of losing homes and loved ones.
The women of the Hubb community describe it as a place of good food, love, support and friendship and all profits from sales of the book will be used for the benefit of the Hubb Community Kitchen, helping to widen its reach in the community, and enabling similar projects to continue transforming lives through the power of cooking.
The 50-plus recipes from 12 different cultures are divided up into Breakfast, Snacks, Sharing Plates and Dips, Lunches and Dinners, Salads and Sides, Desserts and Drinks. Each recipe is introduced by a very brief little backstory from the person who contributed it. Although some have a long ingredients list, many of the recipes are simple, passed down through the generations by word of mouth. Here are some for you to try. As ever, you can tweak the ingredients to suit yourself (eg use tofu if you don’t eat meat).
MUNIRA MAHMUD’S GREEN CHILLI AND AVOCADO DIP (serves four)
2 green chillies, halved and deseeded 25g fresh coriander 3 tablespoons plain yoghurt Grated zest and juice of two lemons
4 garlic cloves, peeled Flesh of a ripe avocado 4 tablespoons mayonnaise (optional) Salt and pepper
Put all the ingredients except the mayonnaise into a food processor and blend until smooth. Taste and adjust the seasoning if necessary. Add mayonnaise (if you wish) and stir to combine, then transfer to a serving bowl.
Mrs Mahmud’s other contributions to the book include her oven-baked samosas, filled with a mixture of diced and shredded vegetables, and seasoned with fenugreek, cumin, turmeric and cinnamon.
One of the most eye-catching photographs in the book is of a rich chicken dish described by its contributor as “a particular
AYSHA BORA’S COCONUT CHICKEN CURRY (serves four)
1 large chicken, jointed into eight pieces, excess skin trimmed away 1 large, ripe tomato, roughly chopped
1 onion, quartered 15g fresh root ginger, peeled 4 garlic cloves, peeled 6 serrano chillies, stems removed and deseeded (use fewer if you prefer milder curries) 2 teaspoons ground cumin 1 teaspoon ground coriander 1 teaspoon ground turmeric 2 tablespoons coconut oil 2 x 400ml tins coconut milk 3 eggs, hard boiled, peeled and halved Juice of half a lemon Salt and pepper 10g fresh coriander, chopped, to garnish Rice, chapatis or flatbreads, to serve
Score each piece of the chicken in two or three places, slicing about 1cm into the meat.
Put the tomato, onion, ginger, garlic, chillies, cumin, coriander, turmeric and some salt and pepper into a food processor and blend to a rough paste. Rub onethird of the paste all over the chicken, into the cuts and under the skin; reserve the rest of the mixture. Refrigerate the chicken for at least an hour, or up to five hours.
Preheat the grill to the highest setting, and line a large baking tin with foil.
In a large pan, melt the coconut oil on a medium heat; add the remaining paste and cook, stirring occasionally, until all of the moisture evaporates. Increase the heat slightly and cook for three to five minutes until the paste is thick and dark. Add the coconut milk and simmer for 25–30 minutes until the sauce is thick.
Meanwhile, put the marinated chicken, skin side up, in the lined baking tin and grill for 15 minutes, until well coloured and charred, then turn the chicken over and grill for another five minutes to make sure it is cooked through.
Stir the chicken and any juices into the curry pan, bring to a simmer, cover and cook for five minutes until the flavours have combined. Taste and adjust the seasoning if necessary. Add the boiled eggs and the lemon juice to taste. Sprinkle with the chopped coriander and serve with rice, chapatis or flatbreads.
We’ll finish for the time being with the Hubb Community Kitchen version of a traditional Iraqi dish.
AHLAM SAEID’S GREEN RICE (serves four)
500g lamb neck fillet or boneless lamb shoulder, cut into 3cm cubes 1 litre chicken stock (can be made with two stock cubes) 300g basmati rice 250g frozen broad beans 4 tablespoons sunflower oil 2 garlic cloves, crushed 40g fresh dill, finely chopped 2 tablespoons dried dill
For the cucumber, dill and yoghurt sauce:
1 cucumber, coarsely grated 500g full-fat natural yoghurt 1 teaspoon dried dill 1 tablespoon olive oil Salt and pepper
Place the lamb and stock in a large pan and bring to the boil. Skim off the foam on the surface, reduce the heat to medium-low and gently simmer for an hour (or an hour-and-a-half if you are using lamb shoulder), until cooked through.
Wash the rice and leave to soak for 30 minutes. Blanch the broad beans in a pan of boiling water for two or three minutes, drain and refresh under cold water. Remove the outer skins.
When the lamb is cooked, drain and reserve the stock. Heat half of the oil in a heavy-based pan and fry the garlic until it just starts to colour. Add the cooked lamb and fry for five or six minutes until evenly browned, stirring all the time. Add the broad beans and half of the fresh and dried dill and cook for two minutes. Transfer to a plate, set aside and keep warm.
In the same pan, heat the remaining oil on a low-medium heat. Drain the rice and add to the pan, stirring until all the grains are coated with oil. Add 500ml of the meat stock, bring to a simmer, cover with a tightfitting lid, then turn the heat to the lowest setting and cook for 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, make the yoghurt sauce. Mix the grated cucumber and yoghurt in a bowl. Season to taste. Sprinkle with the dried dill and drizzle with the olive oil.
When the rice is ready, stir it with a fork to fluff it. Add the rest of the fresh and dried dill, the reserved meat and broad beans, and stir gently. Add a little of the reserved stock if you need extra moisture and cook on a low heat for about eight minutes. Serve immediately, with the cucumber, dill and yoghurt sauce.