Zhoug - coriander and chilli sauce

 

Sometimes spelt Zhug. I make this when I've got the remainder of a large bunch of coriander bought for another dish. I freeze in ice cube tray for use with pulse based dishes, especially Mexican based ones, or to add to a guacamole, salsa and so on!

Adjust quantities based on amount of fresh coriander being used.

Into food processor put

• 4 medium cloves garlic, roughly chopped
• 2 packed cups fresh coriander (mostly leaves but skinny stems are ok) Note to self to work out what this equates to weight wise when I next make this
• 4 medium jalapenos. Depending on your heat preference, optionally remove seeds. 
• 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
• 1 teaspoon ground cardamom
• ¾ teaspoon ground cumin
• ½ teaspoon dried chilli flakes

Process until everything is finely chopped then slowly drizzle in 180ml extra-virgin olive oil scraping down the sides every now and then and blending until it is mostly smooth. 

African Peanut Stew

Just spotted a variant of this recipe which is cooked in slow cooker. The author also freezes all the ingredients apart from the stock so its ready to go into the slow cooker once defrosted. Put it all bar the spinach into slow cooker and cook on low for 6 hours. Add spinach towards the end

Otherwise:

Lightly fry 1 diced onion, 4 crushed cloves garlic, 1 tbsp grated fresh ginger with 1 teaspoon cumin, half a teaspoon each of ground coriander and salt, quarter teaspoon cayenne until onion is translucent.  Add 1 can chickpeas in water (liquid and all), 1 diced large sweet potato,  1 can chopped tomatoes, half a cup of unsweetened Peanut butter (crunchy or smooth) and four cups of vegetable stock.
Bring to simmer and cook until the sweet potato is tender (about 20 minutes). Add water if getting too dry.
Add couple of large handfuls of spinach and cook until wilted.

Serve with coriander salsa. Chop 25g coriander leaves, 1 red chilli and combine with juice of lime.

Note - if using up large bunch of coriander then make the rest into the base for the Laksa soup recipe: 25g fresh coriander, 1 red chilli, 2 garlic cloves, .5 inch root ginger, 1.5 tsp lemongrass paste, juice of lime - process all OR finely chop by hand and combine