I have named this recipe Sexy Quince because... i honestly didn't know how amazing it would taste until it was done, and now i feel like this fruit/recipe is completely under-rated. We were given some quinces from Michael's Mum (Sandra) and we really didn't know what to do with them. We decided perhaps something like Quince Muffins? Michael's dad (Les) suggested we stew or poach them in some way, because they're not the kind of fruit you just throw into your cooking. So! After a little bit of discussion and research in regards to quinces, this is the recipe we came up with.

Ingredients:
Quinces (i used 4 in this recipe, but had a lot of syrup leftover)
1.5 cups water
1 cup sugar
2 tbsp lemon juice
2 tsp vanilla bean paste



Let's DO eet:
So, throw your water and sugar into a saucepan on medium-high heat. Stir it around until it's mostly dissolved. Now add in your lemon juice and vanilla paste. I suppose if you wanted to get fancy, you could add something else in like cinnamon.... but we're just keeping this simple.

You will want to be pretty careful when you're cutting up the quince; it's a bit tricky and i almost lost a finger. The easiest/best way i found was to cut them into quarters, then cut out the seeds and peel them... then cut each quarter into thirds. You can throw them into the pot as you're cutting them, that way you're not bringing the temperature down by adding them all in at once. Now you will want to bring this to the boil, and then pull the temperature right down low. Pop a lid on, and let it simmer away for about an hour. That's it! You're done. You will notice a beautiful colour change as they cook.


You can eat them straight away while they're warm - they would be absolutely HEAVENLY with a scoop of ice cream... or you can put them in the fridge for later and the colour will brighten & deepen even more. Yay for pretty food! And seriously, they melt on your tongue. Yuuuuum! Hmm, i wonder if these will last long enough for us to puree them and make muffins? Maybe not. NOM-NOM-NOM! Enjoy. ^.^

Who doesn't love a good korma? This recipe turned out better than i expected; we used a recipe from our 'Vegetable Bible', but this is a bit of a variation. You can get 4-6 servings out of this recipe, and you can put it in the freezer.

Ingredients:

• 95g unsalted cashews
• 1 tbsp garlic
• 1/2 tbsp ginger
• approx 200ml water
• 55g ghee or vegetable oil
• 1 large onion (chopped)
• 1tsp cardamom powder
• 1tsp cinnamon powder
• 1tsp turmeric
• 250ml cream
• 140g potatoes
• half a cauliflower (cut into small florets)
• 1tsp garam masala
• 2-3tsp chili flakes
  
• 1 medium aubergine/eggplant (cut into small pieces)
• 140g green beans (chopped)
• salt & pepper
• fresh mint or coriander (chopped - to garnish)

Let's DO our THANG:

The first thing you want to do is dry cook the cashews in your pot until they are browned and delicious. The smell is amazing, a bit like popcorn. Once browned, set one handful aside for garnish, and put the rest into a blender with the garlic, ginger, and about a tablespoon or so of water. Szhoozsh it up until it makes a paste. Leave this to one side.

Okay, now you want to melt your ghee/vegetable oil in a pot (make sure this pot has a lid for later simmering). Once it's all melted, you want to brown your onion (should take about 5-8 mins), then you can add your nut paste.

Stir it around for about 5 mins, and now you can add in your cardamom, cinnamon, and turmeric. Just after adding these powders you can start to stir in the cream and the rest of your water. From here, you bring it to boil, and then let it simmer (covered) for about 5 mins. It should start to smell really yummy at this point!

Okay, now you can add in your potatoes, cauliflower, chili flakes, and the garam masala. If you're like me and you really like garam masala, you can add in a little extra (tee hee). Now, you want to let it simmer again (covered) for another 10 mins. The potatoes should start to get a little bit softer before you add in your green beans and your aubergine.

Now, our original recipe said 'simmer for 5 mins or until vegetables are tender'. Excuse me? Potatoes do NOT take 5 mins on medium heat. They need much longer. For us, it was almost another 15 mins on simmer, but it's entirely up to you to check and taste your potatoes.

Just before serving, you will want to add a little bit of salt and pepper. Now, it's really your choice as to how you serve this. You can have it 'as-is', or you can have it with brown rice, white rice, or cous cous.

We chose cous cous simply because we were really hungry and cous cous is really quick n easy to make! Hehe. We used chopped mint and our leftover handful of roasted cashews as a garnish (the ones we didn't nibble on whilst cooking!) ENJOY!