Light Spicy Chicken Kebabs

These are quick and easy but need an hour of marinating first. Serves 4.

Ingredients:
500g chicken-boneless, skinless thighs- cut into approximately 3cm chunks
4 garlic cloves- crushed
1 teaspoon of tandoori spice or powder
1 teaspoon ground coriander powder
1 teaspoon mild curry powder
1/2 teaspoon turmeric.

40ml olive oil

8 bamboo skewers- cut in half. Cut the blunt end with kitchen scissors to sharpen. Soak in water 1 hour.
Place oil and spices in a bowl. Season with salt and ground pepper, mix.
Add chicken- mix well
Cover and marinate in fridge 1 hour or overnight.
Thread chicken pieces onto skewers
Cook on a barbecue or in a frying pan on high for 1 minute to brown.
Turn heat to medium- fry on all sides, leaving for 3 minutes each time- until cooked through.
Approximately- 12 minutes in total.

Tomato Salad Serves 4

1 punnet cherry tomatoes- quartered
1 green chilli - seeds removed - finely chopped
1/2 a red onion, thinly sliced
Add 10 minutes before serving:

1 teaspoon sugar
A squeezed half lime and a pinch of salt

Cucumber, Lime and Iceberg Salad:
Serves 4 -6
2 Lebanese or 1 telegraph cucumber
1 small iceberg or cos lettuce
1 and 1/2 limes cut into wedges.
Handful of mint leaves

Cut the cucumbers into strips and then into slanted diagonal pieces
Put the small, torn pieces of lettuce in a bowl.
Scatter over the cucumber and lime wedges.
Add the torn mint leaves.
Sprinkle with salt and ground pepper 10 minutes before serving.
Immediately before serving drizzle with olive oil.

Serve the kebabs and salads with Indian breads if you need some carbohydrates or more filling food.
Serve with a chilled white wine or a glass of ice cold light beer.

TIP:

These are juicy, so don't really need any sauces. You could serve them with spinach raita or mango
pickle, if you want an extra moistener, when eaten with rice or chapattis.

Rustic Wholewheat Savoury Tarts

 GOOD For YOU - Quick to make

Ingredients:
1 and 1/2 cups of wholemeal/wholewheat flour
1 teaspoon of baking powder
1/4 of a cup of olive oil
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon salt.
This makes good quick oil pastry that is quite soft before baking. Enough for 2 tarts.

Using a food processor, combine the contents above. Pulse until a soft dough forms. This happens very quickly. Remove dough. Knead very lightly just to form a ball. Divide this into 2.
Form these halves into 2 discs about 4 cm in diameter .
Wrap in plastic and chill at least 15 minutes.

There are loads of toppings you can try. The tart pictured above has kale, spring onions, tasty cheese, parmesan  and red capsicum then is scattered with toasted pine nuts after baking. Ricotta or Feta are great. Bacon makes a good topping too.
If using kale or spinach, cook using very little water until tender, then drain well.
If using asparagus, also cook until just tender, drain.
If using onions other than spring onions, fry until transparent first.

Preheat oven to 375 F or 190C
Remove pastry from the fridge-leave to rest a few minutes.
On a lightly floured surface  roll out the discs to approximately just under 1/4 inch or 1/2 cm thick circles.
Carefully lift the soft dough, using 2 metal slices, onto a baking tray or into 2 metal tart tins.
Pinch the edges to create little rims.

Place cheese on the bottom of the tarts, not parmesan- reserve this for the top.

Put the drained greens on top of the cheese.

Sprinkle with onions of your choice.

Garlic if you like it. Chopped fresh herbs like oregano or parsley are always great.

Sprinkle with a little salt and some freshly ground black pepper.

Add chopped red or yellow capsicum, about half of one, for colour.

Add some bacon strips if you are not serving the tarts with any meat.

Lastly top with 4 tablespoons of grated parmesan cheese.

Bake near the bottom of the oven to get a nice crispy base, for about 30 minutes.

Meanwhile toast the pine nuts in a dry pan, watching carefully so as not to burn them.

Remove tarts from the oven, scatter with pine nuts. Add torn basil if you like. Cut tarts into quarters.

Lovely warm, hot or cool. Serve with a pork chop, or italian sausage and baked tomatoes.

Enjoy your rustic tarts- guilt free. Low GI. Plenty of fibre and iron.

A glass of dry cider or white wine goes well with the vegetable versions.