FRIED MARINADE DOGFISH

This is a typical dish from Andalucía and we LOVE it! Frying is not difficult, I am going to show you how to prepare authentic marinade, just delicious!

INGREDIENTS

- 1/2 kg dogfish with no bones and cut into cubes

- Thick salt 

- Orégano

- White wine vinegar

- Cumin

- Water

- Paprika

- 3 or 4 cloves of garlic

- 2 Bay leaves

STEPS

Put all the dices of fish in a bowl

Add:

a spoon of thick salt

A spoon of oregano 

Mash the cloves of garlic using a pestle and mortar 

Add them into the bowl 

Continue adding:

A spoon of paprika 

A tablespoon of cumin 

The bay leaves (broken into small pieces)

Measure one glass of water

Pour it into the bowl

Measure one glass of white wine vinegar

And pour it into the bowl with the rest of ingredients

Stir well. Leave the fish marinade during 24 hours.

The day after, soak the fish as much as possible

Cover it with wheat flour.

Prepare a pan with abundant sunflower oil. Once it is ready, fry it in every side.


Enjoy it!!

VEGETARIAN LENTIL STEW (with pressure cooker)

This is a classic stew to have when weather is cold. It's very nourishing and fat free as it's cooked with no meat. We normally have it as a single course meal, but it can be served as a starter.

INGREDIENTS

- 250 lentils ( I use "Pardinas" class. They are smaller and it is not necessary to soak them before cooking)
- 2 small carrots
- 1 medium potato
- 1 green pepper
- Half red pepper
- Half onion
- One clove of garlic
- Vegetable stock
- Salt, black ground pepper
- Olive Oil

STEPS

First of all, let's prepare the vegetables.
Grate the tomato

Chop the onion, garlic and peppers finely

Peel and slice the carrot. Peel and cut the potato into pieces

Prepare the pressure cooker with some olive oil and heat it

Once the oil is hot, add the peppers, onion and garlic. Use a pinch of salt to make cooking easier.

Cook till they get brown. Add the carrot and potato

Stir the vegetables and cook during two minutes, Add the tomato and mix with the rest of ingredients. Season with some salt and ground black pepper

Now introduce the lentils

Stir everything and cook till they have absorbed all the liquids

Pour water. You have to cover all ingredients

Shred the vegetable stock

And add it to the pressure cooker

Cover it. Use medium - low heat . When pressure starts coming out, count 20 minutes

They are ready!!

Yummy!!!

FALAFEL

100% vegetarian chickpea croquettes! They are delicious and a nice starter. I normally make more quantity than necessary and freeze what I am not going to use, as the croquettes perfectly preserve flavors when frozen. Then it is not necessary to defrost, you can fry them directly in a deep fryer. There is a yogurt sauce that goes ideal with them and I am also going to show you how to prepare it

INGREDIENTS (for the croquettes)

- 200 gr chickpeas (they must be left soak for at least 12 hours)

- Fresh parsley

- Fresh coriander

- 1 onion 

- 2 cloves of garlic

- 3 teaspoons of cumin

- 1 sachet of baking powder (I forgot to put it on the photo, but it is necessary! It makes the falafel being fluffy)

- Salt, ground pepper

- Olive oil 

INGREDIENTS (for the yogurt sauce)

- Dry mint 

- 1 grinded clove of garlic

- Juice obtained from a lemon

- Virgin olive oil

- Salt, ground black pepper (it is not on the photo but it is needed!)

- 1 natural yogurt 

STEPS (to prepare the croquettes)

You have to leave the chickpeas soaking in a bowl with water for at least 12 hours

Then drain them as much as possible

I am going to prepare the dough for the croquettes in the Thermomix, putting all the ingredients together at the same time. If you don´t have a Thermomix you can use a mincer. First of all you should mince the chickpeas, and then the rest of the ingredients. Once you have everything minced, mix all till you obtain a    thick dough.
In my case, I put the drained chickpeas inside the Thermomix jar

The onion, peeled and cut into pieces

Parsley (I was no able to find fresh parsley at the supermarket, so I am using two big spoons of this concentrated one, if you have fresh parsley, use at least half bunch)

Coriander (I don't like this herb but it gives falafel a special flavour. In my case I don't use much quantity, but add it according to your taste)

Cumin (3 - 4 tea spoons) and salt

2 cloves of garlic

1 sachet of baking powder

Close the Thermomix jar and set the machine Speed 1 during some minutes. The dough must look like this:

You must leave the dough settle for at least 1 hour

Then prepare a pan with abundant olive oil and heat it

Take small portions of the dough and squeeze them as much as possible with your hands (they will expel liquid from the vegetables, remove as much as you can for easier cooking) You can mould falafel as balls or in my case they are like small burgers. It is more comfortable to fry them with this shape, but it is up to you, choose the way you prefer.

Oil must be very hot when you place the falafel on the pan.

When they are brown on one side, turn them carefully and fry the other one.

Yummy!! They are crunchy outside, soft inside... delicious!

SAUCE PREPARATION 

Pour one natural yogurt in a bowl

Add a mashed clove of garlic

Squeeze half lemon

And add the juice into the bowl

Mix everything and put some dry mint

a touch of virgin olive oil

salt and black pepper

Mix everything well. If you think the sauce tastes very strong or if it is too liquid, you can add one spoon of mayonnaise

Serving suggestion:

Falafel wrap 

Inside a "tortilla" with lettuce, tomato and onion, dressed with yogurt sauce and a pinch of ketchup