Tag: snack

Bean sprouts

~ Sophie ~ Leave a comment

I know right? I’m so excited that you can make these easily at home in small quantities, rather than buying a giant bag (why is the bag always so big?!) using it twice and then watching as the rest turn to slime in the veg drawer. These are so crunchy and delicious!

  • Some dried mung bean – that’s literally it. As many of them as you like. I usually do about a quarter of a cup
  1. Tip your dried beans into a sieve and rinse them thoroughly under running water
  2. Put the beans into a large-ish jar and fill it up with water, leaving the lid off
  3. Leave the beans there overnight at room temp (in a cupboard to stop the cat from drinking from the jar)
  4. Drain and rinse the beans
  5. In the empty jar, put a layer of damp paper towel, then some beans, then some paper towel, then some beans etc
  6. Finish with a layer of paper towel and put the jar back in the cupboard – it needs to be stored in the dark
  7. Leave them there for 4 days, dribbling a little water over every day to make sure they stay damp
  8. Then tip them out of the jar, wrap them in a new piece of paper towel and store in a sealed bag in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.

2 sorts of sausage rolls

~ Sophie ~ Leave a comment

Different, but both delicious. Lovely nibbles. Makes 16.

  • 400g pork sausage meat (or sausages squeezed out of its skins)
  • 320g puff pastry sheet
  • 1 tbsp wholegrain mustard
  • 3 tbsp onion marmalade
  • Handful dried breadcrumbs
  • Large handful of fresh herbs, finely chopped (sage, parsley, chives, savoury)
  • 1 clove garlic, grated
  • Black pepper
  • 1 egg, beaten
  • 1 tbsp mustard seeds, cracked a little with a pestle and mortar (or 1 tbsp kalonji/black onion seeds)
  • 1 tbsp pul biber (or ½ tbsp paprika)
  1. Pre-heat the oven to 190C fan (210C)
  2. Take the pastry out of the fridge 15 mins before you’re ready to make the sausage rolls
  3. Divide the sausage meat in half into 2 bowls
  4. Into one half, mix the wholegrain mustard, onion marmalade and dried breadcrumbs
  5. And into the other, mix the chopped herbs, garlic and a good grind of black pepper
  6. Mix well until the ingredients are completely combined
  7. Unroll the pastry and cut it lengthways down the middle into 2 strips
  8. Form each sausage mixture into a long thin cylinder the length of the pastry strip and place one down the middle of each strip
  9. Along the long edge, tightly roll the pastry over the sausage meat and then keep rolling until the sausage is enclosed and the edge is underneath
  10. Repeat with the other roll
  11. Brush the top with egg. Onto the onion and mustard rolls sprinkle the mustard seeds or kalonji, and on the herb and garlic rolls sprinkle the pul biber or paprika
  12. Wet a sharp knife with a little water and cut the sausage rolls into 8 equal-sized pieces. If the knife starts to stick, just wet it again
  13. Lift the little rolls onto a lined baking tray and pop into the oven
  14. Bake for 20 mins until golden brown and cooked through
  15. Lift the sausage rolls off the tray onto a rack to cool before scoffing enthusiastically

Cornflake crunch

~ Sophie ~ Leave a comment

The ultimate crunchy-munchy, sweet-salty snack. Hugely flexible – feel free to use different nuts, different seeds, different nut butter, anything you’ve got to hand. Highly recommend breaking it into shards of different shapes and sizes so every snack need is covered.

  • 75g cornflakes, roughly crushed
  • 45g unsalted peanuts, nicely toasted in a dry pan and roughly chopped
  • 35g coconut flakes
  • 2 tbsp pumpkin seeds
  • 2 tbsp sunflower seeds
  • 1 tbsp sesame seeds
  • ½ tsp flaky sea salt
  • 130g maple syrup
  • 50g natural smooth peanut butter
  1. Heat the oven to 160C fan (180C)
  2. Line a large baking tray with greaseproof paper, and have a second sheet the same size ready to go
  3. Tip all the dry ingredients into a mixing bowl and stir
  4. In a separate small bowl, whisk the maple syrup and peanut butter
  5. Tip the gooey syrup mixture into the cornflake bowl and mix gently but thoroughly
  6. Scrape onto the lined baking tray, roughly flatten and spread out with a spatula. Then lay the second piece of paper over the top and, using a rolling pin, flatten the mixture so it’s an even thickness of about ½ cm
  7. Remove the top sheet of paper, then bake for 25 mins, turning the tray once halfway through to make sure it bakes evening. It should be golden all over with toasty bits around the edges
  8. Leave on the tray to cool completely for at least ½ an hour, then break into shards. You can eat it straight away (I dare you not to have at least one piece immediately) or store in an airtight container to eat later. Keeps for a couple of weeks.

Pepitas

~ Sophie ~ Leave a comment

Seedy, munchy and spicy. And they’ve got the cutest name of any snack!

  • 150g pumpkin seeds
  • 1 tsp garlic oil
  • ½ tsp salt
  • 2 tsp chilli flakes
  • 1 tsp caster sugar
  • Wedge of lime
  1. Heat a small heavy-based frying pan over a medium heat
  2. Dry fry the pumpkin seeds, stirring as they swell and get a lovely toasty flavour
  3. Add the garlic oil and salt
  4. Stir and cook for a couple more mins
  5. Add the chilli flakes and stir in
  6. Then sprinkle the sugar over and stir constantly until it starts to melt
  7. Tip out onto a plate to cool slightly
  8. Serve straight away with the lime wedge to squeeze over

Spiced crispy chickpeas

~ Sophie ~ Leave a comment

Munchy, crunchy and more-ish. Plus super-easy to make and endlessly adaptable with whatever spices you like. What more could you want for snacking or mezze or salad topping?

  • 1 tin chickpeas, drained and rinsed
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • ½ tsp hot smoked paprika
  • 1 tsp cumin
  • 1 tsp coriander
  • ½ tsp garlic powder
  • Pinch cinnamon
  • ½ salt
  1. Pre-heat oven to 180C fan (200C)
  2. Tip the chickpeas onto a tea towel or some kitchen towel and dry gently, but thoroughly. If you’ve got time, leave them to air dry for 10-15 mins for extra crispiness
  3. Toss them with 1 tbsp oil and tip onto a lipped baking tray in a single layer
  4. Roast for 20 mins. While they’re cooking, mix the remaining oil with the spices
  5. Remove the chickpeas from the oven and scrape over the spiced oil
  6. Toss everything together and pop the tray back in the oven for a further 10-15 mins until fragrant, golden and crisp enough to rustle when you shake the tray
  7. Cool on the tray and eat straight away!

Caramelised chilli nuts

~ Sophie ~ 1 Comment

Sweet, savoury, spicy, crunchy and nutty – possibly my favourite ever snack. You will probably burn your tongue in your eagerness to put them in your mouth. I don’t recommend this, but I do understand it.

  • 200g mixed whole nuts (I usually use blanched almonds and cashews – also works well with peanuts. Outstanding with macadamias. Not walnuts)
  • 1 tbsp unsalted butter
  • 2 tbsp caster sugar
  • ½ tsp salt
  • ½ tsp chilli flakes
  1. Toast the nuts in a dry pan (ideally a non-stick one as you’ll be melting sugar in it in a minute). This is an exercise in patience, as you’ll want to do it quickly but the best results are achieved by taking it slow over a low-ish heat. You want them golden all over and not even a tiny bit burnt
  2. Turn the heat up to medium, add the butter and stir to coat the nuts as it melts
  3. Sprinkle over the sugar, salt and chilli flakes
  4. Now you’ve got to pay attention. This is where it could all go deliciously right or disastrously wrong. Stir the buttery nuts constantly, moving them around the pan to coat them in the sugar as it melts and caramelises. This will only take a couple of minutes. If you leave to go and answer the door/check your phone they will burn.
  5. When they’re all coated and glistening (and oh SO hot), tip them out onto a tray lined with greaseproof paper and leave to cool completely. The caramel will harden into a crisp coating around the spicy, salted, toasted nuts.

I’m sure these would be delicious chopped roughly and sprinkled over a salad, but they never, ever get that far in my house. It’s a struggle to make them last more than an hour.