Jacky Puzey

Shade Home is about food, hospitality, dress – sharing recipes and homes to create new spaces of cultures, sharing familiar things like foods to think about home and allegiances, but also about differences – how would you cook that?

The Shade Activist suit lining is printed with intertwined blackberry bushes and banana trees, from a conversation Jenny, Baljinder and I were having about recipes  – Jenny’s Mum’s dumplings, Baljinder’s Mum making the best chapatti, my Gran and Mum making crumbles. All of us had histories of travel and migration – how long do you live in a country before you know what is good to pick and eat?

Shade Home would like to share our recipes with you. Some are adapted from existing recipes, others made up in the kitchen. Try them, experiment, enjoy them!

Pineapple Raisin and Coconut Crumble by Shade Hostess Jacky Puzey, adapted from a Cranks recipe and Julius’s pudding skills in Nairobi

Pineapple crumble

ingredients

for the crumble

300g/12oz white flour

150g/6oz caster sugar (I like golden granulated raw cane sugar)

200g/8oz unsalted butter, cubed – or vegetarian margarine is good too, should you be vegan/allergic to dairy

a handful/2 tbsp approx of dessicated coconut

for the filling

1kg/2lb pineapple –as ripe as possible, approx 2 pineapples for this quantity

25g/1oz raw cane sugar (or to taste if the pineapples are super-sweet)

250g/8oz golden sultanas, or raisins if you like…

50g/2oz dessicated coconut

15ml/1tbsp rum or brandy – marsala is also fine, but NOT gin/vodka, wrong taste. You don’t need the alcohol if you don’t have it.

5ml/1tsp ginger, finely chopped

Method

Preheat oven to 200 deg C /400 deg F/ gas 6

Make the filling – Peel and cut the pineapple into even-sized chunks (more or less!) and place in pan with all other ingredients for filling- simmer for about 5 mins or so. Pour the pineapple into an ovenproof dish.

Make the crumble mix – mix the flour and sugar together, add the cubed butter or margarine. Rub in lightly until mix resembles soft crumbs, add big handful of dessicated coconut and mix that in too.

Sprinkle the crumble mix generously and loosely over the filling – don’t press it down or you will lose the desirable crumbly texture. Also, NB this crumble topping is generous on its quantities – what you don’t decide to use, it freezes great for the next time pineapples are in stock!

Bake in the preheated over for about 35mins, but you know your oven! Until crumble is set in large lumps and pale golden in colour.

Serve with – well, my Dad likes custard as that’s how Julius did it in Kenya. I like crème fraiche because its nice and tart with the pineapple. Some people like cream. Vegan soya cream is also fine. Icecream would be good as long as the flavour goes with the pineapple….

Vagar Chicken Curry by Bill Wagay from Spice Up Your Life, St Nicholas Markets, Bristol

Bill and Suki Wagay from Spice Up Your Life did the food for Shade Home at St Nicholas Markets, and Bill did a great demo of this chicken curry, which is delicious. The recipe has been copied from the article celebrating Bristol’s market in The Daily Telegraph 2007.

Vagar Chicken Curry

For two people, heat some sunflower oil and add a quarter of a teaspoon each of ground cumin, turmeric, garam masala and chilli; three-quarters of a teaspoon of salt, half an inch of fresh grated ginger, one teaspoon of black mustard seed and a small cinnamon stick. Next, add two cloves of chopped garlic.

When the spices crackle, add 1¾oz/50g of butter, then 9oz/250g of boned chicken. Cook for a minute and then add half a tin of chopped tomatoes, four fresh tomatoes, chopped, and one teaspoon of tomato purée.

Cook in a covered pan for five minutes, take off the lid, add half a glass of water and cook for another 10 minutes. Serve with rice and poppadums.

Borscht by Shade Explorer Ruth Jacobs

Ruth’s Special Borscht Recipe

Borscht Recipe

To make loads!

About 8 large beetroots

4 carrots

4 red onions

3 sweet potatoes or other root veg, swede or turnip will be fine.

one quarter small red cabbage shredded

Juice and zest of 1 lemon

Tin of chopped tomatoes (optional)

teaspoon of honey

splash of apple juice

At least a litre of water or veg stock (not the salty shop bought stuff though)

Splash of cheap red wine or balsamic vinegar.

Bay leaves, sage, ginger, paprika, cumin, fennel seeds, mace, mustard seeds, coriander, black pepper to taste.

Yoghourt and chopped chives to serve.

To make the soup

Peel onions and chop finely (put swimming goggles on if your eyes react badly to onion!)

Put in a very big pan and fry gently in a little oil.

Peel and dice beetroot, carrots and sweet potatoes and add to onions in the pan.

Add herbs and spices, freshly ground is best.

Saute for a little while till it starts to smell nice, then add water/ stock and tin of chopped tomatoes if using.

Stir gently and simmer for about 30 mins.

Add shredded red cabbage, cook a bit more.

Add zest and juice of lemon.

Make sure all the vegetables have cooked to softness, then put in a blender or liquidiser and blend it all up till it goes smooth.

Stir and taste.

If you think it needs more sweetness add honey and apple juice.

If you think it needs more bite, add a splash of red wine or balsamic vinegar, and / or more pepper. It should be quite thick but still pourable, if it is too thick add a little water. If too runny, cook more.

Simmer for another 5 mins or so, and serve with yoghourt and chopped chives swirled into it.

A lovely warming earthy soup with a great reddish purple colour, and sweet root vegetable taste, balanced by a hint of sourness.

In summer, borscht can be served cold as a refreshing and tasty starter.

If you like your soup chunky you don’t need to blend it, but I prefer it smooth.

Potato Latkes by Shade Explorer Ruth Jacobs

Potato Latkes

A traditional Chanukah snack – these fried treats are easy but time consuming to make, tasty, surprisingly filling, and definitely not for slimmers!

About 10 large white potatoes

5 large white onions

self raising flour or matzo meal

1 egg

salt and pepper

vegetable oil

Serve with horseradish / horseradish and beetroot sauce / gherkins.

To make the latkes

Peel and grate the potatoes and put in a large covered bowl

Peel and chop the onions as finely as possible, you may need swimming goggles for this,

Add to potatoes in bowl, leave for 1 hour for juice to run out.

Wrap mixture of potato and onion in a clean teatowel and squeeze as much juice out as possible. Put mixture back in bowl.

Stir in one egg and some self raising flour or matzo meal.

Add salt and pepper to taste.

Warm oil in a large heavy bottomed frying pan.

Make little fritters in the palm of your hand and drop into hot oil.

Fry them on both sides till golden brown

Drain on kitchen paper and serve hot.

Best served fresh on day of cooking or day after. Can be reheated under the grill.

Shade Explorer Ruth’s Spicy Apple and Pear Chutney recipe

(when we visited the Shade Home of Mary and Pip, to plan their event, Shade performers Ruth and Baljinder pounced on the masses of windfall apples in the garden)

Spicy Apple and Pear Chutney
About 12 – 15 large apples, eating or cookers, windfalls are fine with the bad bits cut out.
The same of pears, as above
6 or 7 large white onions
About 200g sultanas and 100g chopped dates
A bulb of garlic
4 cardomoms
5 fresh bay leaves and a sprig of rosemary
The zest and juice of 1 lemon
Chilli, coriander, cloves, cumin, cayenne, cinnamon, mustard seed, ginger, black pepper
Demerara or muscovado sugar
At least 500ml cider vinegar

Peel, core and chop the fruit (not too small)
Peel and chop the onions finely (I use goggles for this!)
Peel, chop and crush all the cloves of garlic in the bulb
Put it all in a very big pan,
Grate the lemon zest and then squeeze the lemon juice and put that in
Add the vinegar and put onto the heat to simmer, the vinegar should be sufficient to cover the fruit.
Add herbs and spices, whole spices freshly ground are best, you’ll need plenty, and add enough chilli to give a good kick.
Stir gently,
Add sultanas and dates.
See how sweet it is and add as much sugar as you think is necessary. This varies according to taste and how sweet the fruit is.

Simmer and stir gently for 1.5 hrs / 2 hrs, it should go quite thick and brown and smell rather chutney-ish. After cooking, if you can see the bay leaves and rosemary, remove them from the mixture.
Sterilise about 15 medium sized jars and lids with hot water and miltons steriliser,
Rinse out with hot water and fill them while the chutney and the jars are still hot.
Cut out paper parchment circles and put them on the top of the chutney to seal.
Screw lids on and leave to cool.
Store in a cool dark cupboard for at least 3 months before opening, to let the spices and vinegar mellow out. Keeps for years!